The man and woman who will be highlighted in today’s story were each part of rather large families living near Farrar, Missouri. This couple would also end up being one of those who each spent almost their entire lives from cradle to grave as members of the same congregation. In this case, that congregation was Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar.

We begin with a birthday boy. Gottfried Friedrich Joseph Rauss was born on September 27, 1890, making today his 133rd birthday. Gottfried was the son of Hugo and Katherine (Ruhkopf) Rauss. The story of Gottfried’s parents was told in the post, 1852 – An Eventful Year for Hugo, which details the fact that both Gottfried’s mother and father were raised by other families after their parents died. Gottfried’s baptism record from the books of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar is pictured here.

Gottfried was also born during the time when Perry County kept birth records. I will display Gottfried’s record below in two images.

When Gottfried was about 5 years old, his mother died in 1895. So, when we see the 1900 census for the Rauss family, Hugo was a widower. He had 4 remaining children in his household, one daughter and 3 sons, including the 9 year-old Gottfried. By the way, one must be careful not to confuse Gottfried with his older son, Gotthilf. Hugo was a farmer.

Hugo’s situation as a single father probably got a bit worse for a while after 1900. During that same year, his 22 year-old daughter, Anna Maria, who was probably doing the housekeeping for the Rauss household, got married. That left Hugo with 3 sons to care for by himself. I don’t have evidence, but I think it’s possible that he may have taken in a young, unmarried single woman to help him after 1900 for a while.

When the next census was taken in 1910, Gottfried was no longer living in Missouri. Like many young Perry County men in the early 1900’s, he went to an area in Nebraska near West Point to find work. Gottfried was living in the Plum Creek Township of Wayne County, Nebraska in 1910. He was working as a 19 year-old farm laborer with M.D. Coleman, another single man.

In 1917, Gottfried had his World War I draft registration completed. He was still living in Wayne County, Nebraska. He was doing farm work for Ernest Greenwald.

I failed to find Gottfried in the 1920 census. I looked for him in Nebraska and Perry County with no success. I thought I had found him living in St. Louis, but that turned out to be his brother, Gotthilf. That was when I discovered that he had a brother with a similar name. Since he would be married not long after 1920, I will now take the time to look at the woman who would become his bride.

Elsie Anna Maria Koenig was born on December 5, 1899, the daughter of Ernst and Magdalena (Roth) Koenig. A post was also written about Elsie’s parents titled, Farrar Koenig-Roth Clan. Elsie’s baptism record from Salem, Farrar is shown here. There is a note on this record that says she was first baptized by her father in an emergency baptism on the day of her birth. It looks as if another baptism occurred in church on December 27th.

Elsie was just a baby when she shows up in her first census in 1900. She was the oldest daughter in her family. Her father was a farmer in the Union Township.

Next, we find Elsie in the 1910 census at the age of 10. You can see that the Koenig household had gotten considerably larger.

Elsie was confirmed in 1913. Right before that event, in February of that year, the last of the Koenig children, a girl named Alma, was born. The photo below of the Ernst Koenig family that was taken in front of their farmhouse, shows the baby, Alma, in her mother’s arms. I suspect that this photo was taken on the occasion of Elsie’s confirmation. Elsie is the girl standing to the right of her mother.

I also failed to find Elsie in the 1920 census. I know that she was no longer listed in her parents’ household. Then, on May 22, 1921, Gottfried Rauss married Elsie Koenig at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. The church record for that event is shown below.

We can also view this couple’s marriage license.

According to our German Family Tree, this Rauss pair had 5 children, all of which were baptized at Salem, Farrar. In 1930, the census entry for the Rauss household included their first 2 children. Gottfried was a farmer in the Salem Township.

The 1940 census displays all 5 of the Rauss children. This time they were listed as living in the Union Township.

The last census entry the public can view is the one taken in 1950. Both Gottfried and Elsie were in their 50’s, and just their youngest 2 daughters were still living with them.

Gottfried Rauss died in 1967 at the age of 76. His death certificate shown below says that he was a patient at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau when he died.

Elsie Rauss did not die until 1996 at the age of 96. A Social Security index states that she died in Jackson, Missouri, so I suspect she may have been in a nursing home there. I find it interesting that a baby that had an emergency baptism would go on to live such a long life. Gottfried and Elsie Rauss are each buried in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery in Farrar.

Gottfried Rauss is one of those Perry County boys who moved to Nebraska in the early 1900’s to find work but would later return to his home in Farrar. With the exception of those few years in Nebraska, Gottfried lived in Perry County most of his life, and all of his and his wife’s church records are found in the books of Salem Lutheran Church.