On June 12, 1845, Carl Friedrich Gruenwald was born in Germany, so today would be his 178th birthday. We have evidence that his father was Friedrich George Gruenwald, but all we know about his mother is that she died in 1854 and has a grave marker in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna. She is just identified as Mrs. Friedrich Gruenwald. Carl is often called Charles on documents.

A later census entry says that Charles came to America in 1852. He would have been about 7 years old when he made that trip. We find Charles in the 1860 census when he was 15 years old. He was a farm laborer in the George Thomas household in the Cinque Hommes Township.

I was unable to find Charles in the 1870 census, and he got married during the 1870’s, so let’s turn our attention to the woman that would become his wife. Her name was Johanne Maria Schmidt, who was born on February 28, 1854. She was often called Hanna on documents. Her parents were David and Christina (Hecht) Schmidt. Hanna was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. An image of her baptism record is displayed below.

Hanna is found in the 1860 census at the age of 6. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Next, we find Hanna in the 1870 census as a teenager. Her mother had died in 1863, so Hanna was “keeping house”.

Charles Gruenwald married Hanna Schmidt during the time when Rev. J.F. Koestering was the pastor at both Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg and Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. Pastor Koestering did not place marriage records in the church books of either of those congregations for a while. That explains why we do not find one for the Gruenwald/Schmidt wedding. What is more unexpected is the fact that I also could not find a civil marriage record. We find most of the civil marriage records for weddings that were conducted by Rev. Koestering, but I was unable to find one for Charles and Hanna. Since their first child was born in 1873, they likely were married in about 1872. Since Hanna was a member of Concordia, Frohna, that is likely where the wedding took place.

The German Family Tree lists 7 children for this couple, but not all of them lived to adulthood. All of their children were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Hardly any family trees on Ancestry.com include the 1880 census entry for Charles and Hanna. That is because their surname is transcribed as Grimwald. At that time, there were 3 children in their household. Charles was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

The last of the Gruenwald children was born n 1894, and that child died as an infant. The 1900 census is the next one that we can view. Two children were still in their household, and both of them were teenagers. One son, along with a young man named Charles Feig, were helping on the farm.

The 1910 census would be the last one in which we find Charles. Included in the Gruenwald household was the Henry Degenhardt family. Their daughter, Mathilda, had married Henry in 1905. A young man, Theodore Schlimpert, was also living with them.

Charles Gruenwald died in 1915 at the age of 70. His death certificate is shown here. The informant on this document, Joseph Oehlert, was another one of his sons-in-law.

The Perry County plat maps were produced during the year of Charles’s death, but he still shows up as the owner of some land south of Altenburg.

Hanna Gruenwald is found in the 1920 census as a widow. She was still living in the Henry Degenhardt household.

Hanna Gruenwald died in 1926 at the age of 75. We can also view her detah certificate.

Charles and Hanna are each buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

There are still descendants from this couple that carry the surname, Gruenwald, but there are probably even more descendants that come from their daughters who married and carry other surnames.