The setting for today’s tale is St. Louis. Despite the fact that most of the stories told on this blog take place in Perry County, part of my mission is to tell stories that emanate from the 1839 German Lutheran immigration. As that immigration developed, some folks did not settle in Perry County but chose to remain in St. Louis. You will read about a descendant who resulted from the union of two such original immigrants today that come from two families that stayed in St. Louis…the Schuricht’s and the Tirmenstein’s.

One must be careful when describing a Schuricht who married a Tirmenstein because there were two Schuricht brothers, each of whose names contained a Johann, whose wives were a pair of Tirmenstein sisters, each of whose names contained an Anna. Johann Traugott Schuricht married Anna Marie Tirmenstein in 1846 and began having children. Their 3rd child is today’s birthday girl. Pauline Concordia Schuricht was born on June 29, 1850 and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis.

The neighborhood in which the Schuricht’s lived did not have their census recorded until October of 1850, so we find Concordia as a baby in that year’s census entry. Her father was a merchant.

Next, we find Concordia in the 1860 census at the age of 10.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Concordia’s husband. His name was Eduard Friedrich Reinhold Preuss, who was born on July 10, 1834, so he was about 16 years older than Concordia. Edward was born in Koenigsberg, Germany. He was the son of August and Emily (Stehr) Preuss. A German baptism record for him is available to view.

There is evidence that Edward was married in Germany, and that marriage resulted in some children by that marriage. I don’t know the name of his first wife, but it looks as if she must have died at about the time that Edward moved to America. A later census entry says that Edward came to the United States in 1867, but I will later show evidence that he was still in Germany in 1868. While in Germany, he earned a doctorate and had published a book that argued against a doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church.

Edward Preuss married Concordia Schuricht on May 1, 1870. That wedding took place at Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis. Here is a church record for that marriage.

I located a civil marriage record for that event also.

Concordia had just barely made it into the 1850 census as a baby, and she just barely made it into the 1870 census as a married woman. You will see on this entry that there were already some Preuss children in their household in 1870. They must have been children from Edward’s first wife. What is puzzling is that this entry says they were born in Missouri. Also, Concordia could not have been 30 years old. She was 20 at that time.

Dr. Edward and Concordia had several children. I will state that they had at least 9 of them. After arriving in America, Dr. Edward Preuss was a professor at Concordia Seminary from 1869-1871.

Another short bio of Edward’s life (his obituary) can be found on Findagrave.com. It states that Edward resigned from his position at the Seminary and joined the Catholic church. He became the editor of a Catholic publication, Amerika, shortly after that.

In the 1880 census, the Preuss household contained only children born to Edward and Concordia. Edward was an editor.

We have to wait 20 years before seeing this family in another census in 1900. Three single children remained in their household, and their daughter who had married Theodore Peoples, and their children, lived with them.

At this point, I will also share photos of Edward and Concordia when they were younger.

Dr. Edward Preuss died in 1904 at the age of 70. He is buried in the St. Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery in St. Louis.

Concordia Preuss is found in several more census entries as a widow. The 1910 census shows her living with her son, Henry. Right below that entry is that of another son, Louis, and his wife.

Next, Concordia is in the 1920 census in which we find her living in Louis’s household. Louis was an architect for the city.

Later in her life, Concordia was included in a few photographs of some Schuricht siblings. Concordia is on the lower right of each photo. The gentleman wearing glasses in each photo was her brother, Gustav, who was also a doctor, but he was a medical doctor. The picture on the left includes Concordia’s mother, Anna Marie Schuricht.

The last census in which we find Concordia is the one taken in 1930. She was 79 years old and still living with Louis.

Concordia Preuss died in 1935 at the age of 84. Below is her death certificate.

Concordia Preuss is buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in St. Louis, but there is no gravestone photo on Findagrave.com. I think this is the 3rd recent post I have written that had one spouse buried in a Lutheran cemetery and one buried in a Catholic cemetery.

Another amazing fact about this Preuss story is that 3 sons in this family went on to become Roman Catholic priests. Their mother appears to have maintained her membership in the Lutheran church throughout her life. She was named Concordia, married a professor at Concordia, and was buried at Concordia Cemetery.