It has become a habit of mine to use Labor Day to highlight someone in the Loeber family. I will remind you that around these here parts, the Loeber name is pronounced very much like the word, Labor, and certainly not Low-ber. So, recognizing someone from the Loeber family on Labor Day seems like the right thing to do. However, since it is almost impossible to find some special event in the Loeber family to be the exact date on which I am writing, I have to use a different strategy to locate a story to write.

The patriarch of this Loeber family in America was Rev. Gotthold Heinrich (G.H.) Loeber, who was especially noted as being the first pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Rev. Loeber’s wife was Wilhelmine (Zahn) Loeber. Below are two drawings made of the pastor and his wife.

One of Pastor Loeber’s sons, Christoph Heinrich Loeber, who had been one of the members of the inaugural class at the Log Cabin College in Altenburg, would later graduate from that institution, which had become referred to as Concordia Seminary. C.H. Loeber was one of 5 graduates of Concordia Seminary, Altenburg before that institution was moved to St. Louis in 1849/1850. Rev. G.H. Loeber had died in 1849, so when his son was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1850, his father was not present. Rev. C.H. Loeber became the 2nd pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. In 1852, C.H. traveled to St. Louis to marry Anna Marie Lochner. A Loeber family binder we have in our library says that Rev. C.F.W. Walther performed this marriage at Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Louis. Rev. Loeber then brought his new bride to Frohna, and that is where today’s tale begins.

Anna Marie Loeber gave birth to her first child on October 26, 1853, so that was the first labor day for her that is referred to in the title of this post. This child was named Gotthold Heinrich August Loeber. One has to conclude that this baby was named mostly after his grandfather, Rev. G.H. Loeber. This child would usuallly be called Gotthold in his life, but he was also often called G.H.A. Loeber. Gotthold was baptized in the parsonage in Frohna, and his baptism record from Concordia’s books is shown here.

G.H.A. had an interesting list of sponsors for his baptism. The first was Louise Babette Lochner, who I think was Anna Marie’s mother. Next is Franz Julius Biltz, who was one of C.H.’s classmates at the Log Cabin College and was at that time the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. Then the third sponsor was C.H.’s younger brother, Gotthilf Loeber, who would also become a Lutheran pastor. The 5th sponsor was named Emilie Walter, who was from Germany. On the left side of the record, we find 3 more names, although I do not know what role they had in this baptism. There is Rev. Georg Schieferdecker, pastor at Trinity, Altenburg, Amalia Buenger, the wife of Dr. Ernst Eduard Buenger, and Theodore Gruber, son of Rev. Charles Gruber, who was then a candidate of theology.

Our museum has the photo shown below that says it includes Anna Marie Loeber holding Gotthold. I usually look at such photos that are reportedly taken in those early years with questioning eyes. I cannot help but wonder, for example, how this photo could have been taken in 1853 or 1854, unless Anna Marie had gotten to St. Louis.

Gotthold is found in his first census in 1860 at the age of 6. His father was an Evangelical Lutheran Minister. The 15 year-old, Louise Lochner, Anna Marie’s sister, was probably helping her older sister care for the Loeber children.

In 1862, in the midst of the Civil War, Gotthold’s father took a call to Cooper’s Grove, Illinois in the Chicago area. Several more children were born there. Gotthold was also confirmed while he was there. Then, in 1869, the Loeber family moved to Milwaukee where C.H. became pastor at St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church. So, when the 1870 census was taken, we find Gotthold living in Milwaukee as a teenager. Barbara Lochner, Anna Marie’s mother, was living in their household.

Gotthold followed in his father’s and his grandfather’s footsteps and became a Lutheran pastor. When he graduated from Concordia Seminary in St. Louis, his first call was to serve as his father’s assistant pastor at St. Stephen’s. He began his ministry in 1877. In 1879, Gotthold got married. He married Helene Koch on October 19, 1879. I am not going to go into much detail about Gotthold’s wives, but I will tell you that Helene’s brother, Johann Koch, became mayor of the city of Milwaukee. Johann also, along with Rev. C.H. Loeber were instrumental in establishing Concordia College in Milwaukee. Rev. C.H. Loeber was that institution’s first president. The Loeber’s are found in the1880 census before they had children.

Gotthold and Helene had 3 children, but then Helene died in 1885, leaving Gotthold as a widower. He would get married again, but the story of his second marriage is quite interesting. His second wife would be Bertha Gast from St. Louis. Quite a few years ago, I wrote an article, Out of One Room, that was published in the Concordia Historical Quarterly. I wrote in that article about Gotthold’s second wife and their courtship. Rather than write this all over again, I am going to copy the important portion here.

 Gotthold’s wife, Helene, died in 1885 not long after giving birth to their third child.   Gotthold married again on July 28, 1887 to Bertha Gast, who was originally from St. Louis, Missouri. The Gasts and the Loebers were family friends.  August Gast’s second wife, Marie, and Christoph’s wife, Marie, were friends from the time when Marie had stayed in Dr. Walther’s home in St. Louis.   The Gasts traveled to Milwaukee to visit the Loebers on several occasions, bringing with them their two daughters, Maria and Bertha.  Gotthold and Bertha were reconnected when he travelled to St. Louis for the funeral of C.F.W. Walther.  Dr. Walther died in early May of 1887.  It did not take long for Gotthold to act on his desire to take Bertha as his second wife. Gotthold wrote a letter to the Gasts later in that same month, asking for the hand of their daughter, Bertha.    In the envelope was a second envelope addressed to Bertha, with a letter inside proposing marriage.  Both of the letters were answered in the affirmative.

Out of One Room

Gotthold and Bertha had 8 additional children. We cannot view another census entry until 1900, and in that entry we see 8 children in the Loeber household. Gotthold was still in Milwaukee, but he had become pastor of St. Martini’s Lutheran Church.

The 1910 census shows the Loeber couple still supporting several children in their household.

Next, we find Gotthold and Bertha’s household in the 1920 census. Six children, ranging in age from 13-31, were still living with their parents.

We are not done yet. The Loeber’s are found in the 1930 census with 3 daughters and one son, all still single.

I do not know when it was taken, but I can show you this photo of Rev. G.H.A. Loeber.

Finally, the last census in which we find Gotthold Loeber was the one taken in 1940. Three single children were still living in this household. Gotthold no longer was called a pastor. In this entry, his name is given as G.H.A.

Gotthold died in 1944 at the age of 90. Bertha was still alive when the 1950 census was taken, but I was unable to find her in an entry for that year. Bertha died in 1951 at the age of 88. Gotthold and both of his wives are buried together in the Forest Home Cemetery in Milwaukee.

I would have published this post earlier today, but I got wrapped up in reading the many stories written in the Loeber family binder. Most of the stories in that binder were told by G.H.A Loeber. They are so interesting. I could spend days writing posts about some of the stories I read. If you are interested, come visit our museum someday when you have plenty of time, and you can read those stories yourselves.