Because my wife and I were both Lutheran educators, we made several moves to serve different schools during our careers. Our 3 daughters were all born in Memphis, Tennessee, but now these 3 are scattered across the country. One still resides in the Memphis area and another lives in Minnesota not far from a school at which we taught in that state. The other daughter became a Lutheran educator herself and has settled in the Chicago area. I would say that often full-time church workers such as pastors and teachers end up having their children and grandchildren scattered over large regions of the country later in their lives. For us, this is the main reason we make so many trips to visit our children and grandchildren in other states. Today’s story is one in which we find a pastor’s son who was born in Missouri, grew up in Michigan, and lived most of his life in Wisconsin.

In 1891, Rev. Frederick Schriefer became the pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. He served that congregation until 1900. During his time in Farrar, 4 children were born in the Schriefer family and were baptized at Salem. Today’s birthday boy is one of those children born in Farrar. Martin Louis Peter Schriefer was born on May 30, 1898, so today would be his 125th birthday. His mother’s maiden name was Christiane Jungkuntz. Pastor Schriefer had grown up in Babbtown, Missouri, attended Concordia Seminary, got married to Christiane in St. Louis, and then served at a Lutheran church in Plainview, South Dakota for a short time. Rev. Schriefer served Zion Lutheran Church in Lockwood, Missouri from 1886-1891. I don’t think that congregation in Lockwood is still in operation. I found this photo on Findagrave or that congregation’s cemetery. It looks like a church building in the background, and the property shows signs of disrepair.

One child was born in South Dakota and 2 more in Lockwood before the Schriefer’s moved to Farrar. Below is a photo taken of Rev. Schiefer that is found in the history of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar.

Martin Schriefer’s baptism record from the books of Salem, Farrar is displayed below. This is one of those cases when a pastor gets to baptize his own child.

The Schiefer family is found in the 1900 census before they left Perry County later that year. Martin was 2 years old at the time.

When the 1910 census was taken, we find the Schriefer household in Caledonia, Michigan. Martin was listed as being 11 years old and is called a scholar. Rev. Schriefer must have been the pastor of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Caledonia. Caledonia is located just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan.

It looks like Rev. Schiefer and his wife remained in the Grand Rapids area the rest of their lives. That leads us up to the mystery in this story. Martin Schriefer had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918, and it says he was living in Athens, Wisconsin. I have no idea how Martin managed to get from Michigan to Wisconsin. This form also says Martin was a teller at the Bank of Athens.

Athens in a town located in north-central Wisconsin near Wausau as shown on the map below.

The 1920 census shows Martin living in a Gruenwald household as a lodger. Gustav Gruenwald was a blacksmith. Martin was a 21 year-old bank teller at the Athens bank.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Martin’s wife. Her name was Elsa Becker, who was born on March 17, 1900 in Athens, Wisconsin. Elsa was the daughter of William and Minna (Duenow) Becker. She was likely baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Athens because she would be later buried in that congregation’s cemetery. Elsa is found as a baby in the 1900 census. Her father was a farmer in the Rietbrock Township.

It must have been about this time that the photograph below was taken. It shows some members of the Duenow family. Minna is the woman on the left who is holding the baby who is Elsa. William Becker is the 3rd man from the left in the back row.

In 1910 census, we find Elsa at the age of 10.

Elsa is found in one more census as a single woman in the 1920 census. She was 19 years old at that time.

On June 9, 1921, Martin Schriefer married Elsa Becker. A Wisconsin marriage record is shown below that does not contain much information about the wedding.

Based on later census records, it appears that Martin and Elsa had 2 children who lived to adulthood, both girls. The 1930 census shows those 2 daughters in the Schriefer household. They were living in Athens where Martin was an assistant cashier at the bank.

Next, we find the Schriefer’s in the 1940 census. The members of the household were the same, and Martin had the same occupation.

Martin had a World War II draft card completed in 1942.

We can look at one more census entry, the one taken in 1950. Martin and Elsa were both in their 50’s, and they had an empty nest.

Elsa Schriefer died in 1965 at the age of 65; Martin Schriefer died in 1976 at the age of 77. These two are buried together in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Athens.

As it turns out, Martin Schriefer became the only child of Pastor Schriefer who lived in another state most of his life. All of the other Schriefer’s are buried in Michigan. When the Schiefer’s had family reunions, it must have only been the Athens bank teller and his family that had to travel to a different state to get together. Of course, maybe when the 2 Wisconsin Schriefer daughters got married, the Michigan Schriefer’s may have attended their weddings. This summer, when our family gets together in Missouri, the families will have to travel from Tennessee, Illinois, and Minnesota.

Did anyone else notice that the sound of a Schriefer/Becker marriage is similar to the early Perry County pastor’s name of Schieferdecker?