This tale begins with the birthday of a baby girl on this date in 1898, making it her 125th birthday. The baby was given the name Flora Henrietta Petzoldt. She was the daughter of Herman and Anna (Scholl) Petzoldt. I can show you a photo of Flora’s parents.

That qualifies her to be the great granddaughter of Friedrich Florian “The Face” Petzoldt. Perhaps the name Flora was a way of honoring her great grandfather. Flora was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Let’s take a look at her baptism record below.

Flora was just one year old when she is listed in the 1900 census. Flora was technically not the firstborn child in her family, but an older brother who was born in 1896, died in 1899, so Flora had to take over the role of being the oldest child in her family. Her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

Next, we find Flora in the 1910 census at the age of 11. Several other Petzoldt children had been born during the previous decade.

A few years after the above census, Flora was confirmed. Her confirmation record is found in the books of the relatively new congregation, Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas.

Flora would get married before the next census, so we will now look at the man who she would marry. His name was Adolph Herman Koenig, who was born on November 11, 1893. I quickly discovered that I had to be careful to find the right documents for Adolph. There was another boy born in 1895 who was also called Adolph Koenig, and, believe it or not, that Adolph Koenig also married a Petzoldt. Flora’s future husband was the son of Gustav and Maria (Tiedemann) Koenig. I can display this photo of Adolph’s parents.

Adolph was also baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. An image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books is pictured here.

Adolph shows up in his first census in 1900 at the age of 6. His grandfather, Zacharias Koenig, was the head of the household. His father, Gustav, was helping Zacharias on his farm in the Shawnee Township. Adolph was the firstborn child in his family.

In the 1910 census, Adolph was a teenager and helping on his father’s farm. His grandfather had died in 1908.

In 1917, Adolph had his World War I draft registration completed. He was still single and working for his father. I found no evidence that he was called into service during that war.

A year later, Adolph Koenig married Flora Petzoldt on September 22, 1918. Their wedding took place at Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. The church record for this event in Zion, Pocahontas’s books is shown here.

We can also take a look at the Missouri marriage license for this couple.

Two photographs, one of Flora and one of Adolph, can be found on Ancestry.com. They look like they were cropped from their wedding photo. I wish I could show you their complete wedding photo.

According to our German Family Tree, Adolph and Flora had 8 children, all of which were baptized at Zion, Pocahontas. Just one child was born before the 1920 census was taken. In that entry, Adolph is called a farm laborer in the Apple Creek Township.

The 1930 census includes 5 children in the Koenig household, all of them girls. It would not be until the last child was born in 1936 before they had a son. Adolph is called a laborer at a truck farm.

The Koenig’s are then found in the 1940 census. There were 5 children remaining in their household, and Adolph is called a road worker for the W.P.A., a work program that was part of the New Deal.

Adolph had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. It says he was a day laborer “anywhere”.

Sometime in the 1940’s, the Koenig family became members of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. Some of their children were confirmed there. One more census can be viewed. The 1950 census lists Adolph and Flora with a daughter, a son, and a grandson. Adolph is not given an occupation.

Adolph Koenig died in 1976 at the age of 82; Flora Koenig died one year later in 1977 at the age of 78. These two are buried together in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

Adolph and Flora’s story is another one in which both the husband and wife spent their whole lives being members of Lutheran churches located in the Shawnee Township of Cape Girardeau County. They were members of 3 different congregations of the 4 that are located in that township.