The birthday girl for today’s post is Wilhelmine Magdalena Arbeiter, who was born on October 10, 1896. Almost all of her life, she went by the name of Minnie, and even has that name engraved on her tombstone. Minnie was the daughter of Henry and Caroline (Rowold) Arbeiter. She was born in the Fountain Bluff Township in Jackson County, Illinois and baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. Two images of her baptism record from that congregation’s books are displayed below.

Minnie is found in the 1900 census at the age of 3. She is called Minna. Her father was a farmer in the Fountain Bluff Township.

The Arbieter family had a photograph taken about 1902. Minnie is the young girl standing in front next to her father on the left.

Next, we find Minnie in the 1910 census. She had recently become a teenager. It was in March of 1910 that Minnie was confirmed at Christ Lutheran, Jacob.

Now, we will turn our attention to the man who would become Minnie’s husband. His name was Clarence Goldstein, who was born on November 17, 1894. My first thought about a man named Goldstein is that he did not have a Lutheran name. He may not have had your typical Lutheran name, but his mother did. Clarence was the son of August Florenz and Bertha (Brockmann) Goldstein. Bertha Brockmann’s parents were charter members of Zion Lutheran Church in the city of St. Louis, one of the early congregations in that city. Having said that, I cannot claim for sure that Clarence was a Lutheran. He is found in his first census in 1900 at the age of 5. His father was a packer in St. Louis.

In the 1910 census, we find Clarence as a teenager. His father is still called a packer, but this time it says he was working for a carpet house. He also had an older brother, Walter, who was a barber.

The standard puzzling question enters the picture at this point. How did Minnie and Clarence become acquainted. My best guess is that Minnie may have gone to St. Louis to find work later in her teenage years and managed to meet Clarence. On June 18, 1916, Clarence and Minnie were at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois, and they were getting married. The church marriage record for that wedding is shown here.

I find it interesting that Minnie was baptized by Rev. Estel and married by Rev. Haertling, both of which have entries in our German Family Tree because they have church records from local congregations in or near Perry County, Missouri. Based on census entries and family trees on Ancestry.com, I conclude that Clarence and Minnie had two children, both boys.

In 1917, Clarence had his World War I draft registration completed. He is given a St. Louis address and was called a chief clerk. The writing describing his employer looks to me like Cuban All Rail Rent.

Later in 1917, the Goldstein’s had their first son, followed by their 2nd son born in 1918. The 1920 census shows Clarence and Minnie living with Clarence’s parents. Their 2 boys are both said to be 2 years old, making them look like twins, but that was not the case. Clarence was called a Ry Clerk for a Railway.

In 1920, Clarence applied for a passport. I will display 3 images of documents included in that application. It indicates that Clarence had the intention of traveling from Key West, Florida. Another image says he was going to make a trip to Cuba, which confirms that Clarence was working for a business involving travel to that country. This application is also the only place where I located a photograph of Clarence. The images are clickable.

We next find the Goldstein’s in the 1930 census which is quite difficult to read. His occupation is given as Agent Dist. for a Railroad.

The 1940 census shows just one son living in the Goldstein household. Clarence’s job is described as a general agent for a steam ship line. That seems to correspond with the reason Clarence applied for a passport back in 1920.

Clarence had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. It states that his employer was the Seatrain Lines, based out of New York.

I found this description of the Seatrain Lines on Wikipedia.

One more census entry can be viewed. The 1950 census indicates that Clarence and Minnie had an empty nest. Clarence still had the same job.

Minnie Goldstein died in 1975 at the age of 78; Clarence Goldstein died in 1978 at the age of 83. They are buried together in the Oak Lawn Cemetery in St. Louis.

Today’s birthday girl married a man who was involved in the transportation and shipping industry throughout his life. Minnie grew up in Jacob, Illinois, a place that had a railroad running through town. Maybe another explanation for how she met Clarence from St. Louis was that early on, he may have worked for the railroad running through Jacob. No matter how it happened, Minnie watched her husband go off to work each day either for a railroad or a steamship line that enabled goods to be transported to their intended destinations.