I located a bicentennial birthday for today’s post. Since that takes us back to 1823, when I find such a birthday boy or girl, they almost certainly were born in Germany or Austria. In today’s case, our bicentennial birthday girl was born in Austria. You will discover that this story will detail a couple made up of two prominent names that show up in the books of Lutheran churches in the Shawnee Township of northern Cape Girardeau County…Starzinger and Meyr. The Shawnee Township is where we find quite a few Austrian immigrants.
Anna Maria Starzinger was born on September 25, 1823, the daughter of Gottlieb and Anna Marie Starzinger. I found two different spellings for her mother’s maiden name. Our German Family Tree gives it as Oettlin, while a Starzinger binder that we have in our research library says it was spelled Ettel. Below is a paragraph from that binder giving some information about this Starzinger family.
Several family trees on Ancestry.com state that Anna Maria was born in Pettighofen, Austria. Prior to her move to America, she got married in Austria, so let’s take a look at the man who became her husband. His name was Joseph Meyr, who was born on July 29, 1819. Joseph was the son of Johann and Eva Maria (Litzelfelner) Meyr. The Litzelfelner (or a similar one, Litzenfelner) name is another one that we find later in the Shawnee Township. Joseph was born in Sicking, Austria. The map below illustrates that Sicking and Pettighofen are just a few miles away from each other.
Although I have no document to prove it, it is reported in the Starzinger and Meyr family binders that Joseph Meyr married Anna Maria Starzinger on February 4, 1850 in Pfaffenberg, Austria, another town in that same area as Sicking and Pettighofen. The first child of Joseph and Anna Maria was born in December of 1851 in Austria. A record in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells says that child, yet another Anna Marie, was born in December of 1852, but that does not jive with the fact that the Meyr family arrived in the United States in June of 1852. The Meyr’s made the voyage to America aboard the ship, Deutschland. We can see them on the passenger list for that ship shown below. It says their child was just a baby.
Also aboard the ship, Deutschland, were some Oberndorfer’s and Mirly’s that also settled in the Shawnee Township. In addition, a year later, in 1853, both Joseph’s parents and Anna Maria’s parents came to America on other ships.
According to our German Family Tree, Joseph and Anna Maria had 8 children. Eventually, once Immanuel Lutheran Church was established, their children’s baptism records began to be found in their books. The Meyr family is found in their first American census in 1860. Joseph was a farmer in the Shawnee Township, and 4 children are included in their household. Also included was a laborer named Charles Wellmann.
Next, we find the Meyr’s in the 1870 census with 6 children. There are several mistakes on this document. First of all, it says several of the family members were born in Bavaria, not Austria. Also, the only child born in Europe was their oldest, Anna Marie. This form says the next two children were born in Bavaria, not Missouri, which is not correct.
When the 1880 census was taken, we find the Meyr household with just 3 remaining children. Joseph was still a farmer in the Shawnee Township.
As it turns out, the above entry would be the last one in which we find Joseph Meyr. He died in 1895 at the age of 76. I will display his death record from the books of Immanuel, New Wells.
Anna Maria was still alive when the 1900 census was taken, but I failed to find her. I searched through the entire Shawnee Township pages with no success. Then, in 1906, Anna Maria died at the age of 83. You can tell that when she died, there was a different pastor at Immanuel, New Wells. Not only is the handwriting different on her death record, but the pastor who recorded this included much more information about the departed. It says Anna Maria was the wife of Joseph Meyr, born in Pettighofen, the daughter of Gottried Starzinger, whose wife’s maiden name was Ettel. It also confirms that today would be Anna Maria’s 200th birthday. Genealogists really appreciate pastors who go to the trouble to include all this information in their church records.
Both Joseph and Anna Maria Meyr are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.
The Austrian Meyr’s that first settled in this region became quite prolific. In our research library, we have 4 thick binders packed full of research that has been compiled on this Meyr family.
A lot of folks that still live in this area can track their family back to the Meyr’s in these binders, even if they themselves no longer carry that surname. I figure those folks, if they are aware of Anna Maria Starzinger’s date of birth, would be celebrating her 200th birthday today.