A few stories have been written on this blog about men with the name, August Roth. Yes, I have found another one to tell today. Caspar August Ludwig Roth, who went by the name August, was born on November 4, 1862. That makes today his 161st birthday. August was the son of Henry and Elizabeth (Roth) Roth. August’s mother was one of the first children born in America to the Roth family that was part of the New York Group. She later married another Roth from Cape Girardeau. After that Roth/Roth couple was married in 1859 in Frohna, they lived in Cape Girardeau. August was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. We can take a look at a transcription of his baptism record. It appears as if August got his other names, Caspar and Ludwig, from his 2 male baptismal sponsors.
August is found in his first census in 1870 at the age of 7. His father was an undertaker in Cape Girardeau.
Next, we find August in the 1880 census at the age of 17. He is called C.A.L Roth in this entry. This time, his father is called a farmer. The family, which had gotten considerably larger, was still living in Cape Girardeau.
Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become August’s wife. Her name was Juliane Elizabeth Bruhl, who was born on January 5, 1864. She was mostly called Julia during her life, so I will use that name in this post. Julia was the daughter of John and Elisabeth (Lehner) Bruhl. She was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can take a look at her baptism record here.
In the 1870 census, Julia was 6 years old. Her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township in Cape Girardeau County.
In the next decade, the Bruhl family relocated to Perry County in the Brazeau Township. Julia was 16 years old when the 1880 census was taken.
August Roth married Julia Bruhl on May 8, 1887. Their wedding took place at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. The church marriage record for this event can be viewed below.
We can also look at the Missouri marriage license for this pair. Rev. Zschoche was the pastor of Concordia at the time, but for some reason, Rev. J.F. Koestering from Trinity, Altenburg performed this wedding. It had to be one of the last weddings done by Rev. Koestering in Perry County before he left in that year.
Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to this couple, one that died quite early. All of them were baptized at Concordia, Frohna. We cannot view the Roth couple in a census until the one taken in 1900. There were 3 children in their household. If I read it correctly, August was a fruit tree agent.
August had a different occupation when the 1910 census was taken. It says he had a harness shop.
When I looked at the next census page from the 1920 enumeration, it made me suspect that August’s shop may have been located in Brazeau. I have written the story of a Brazeau barber named Sittner. I also know that there was once a bank located near the store where the barbering was done.
There is a map of the small town of Brazeau in the 1915 plat maps for Perry County. It shows a parcel of land owned by A.L. Roth, and on that land is a blacksmith shop and a harness shop. I have displayed that map below with an enlarged portion that is easier to read.
The building housing the blacksmith shop still stands in Brazeau.
The 1920 census turned out to be the last one in which we find August. He died in 1924 at the age of 61. Cancer of the stomach is given as his cause of death on the document below. He died at the Lutheran Hospital in St. Louis. It also says that August’s usual occupation was postmaster.
August’s obituary was published in the Perry County Sun.
August Roth is buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.
I was unable to find the widow, Julia Roth, in the 1930 census. However, in the 1940 census, we find her living in her son, Albert Roth’s household, in St. Louis.
Julia Roth died in 1945 at the age of 81. Her death certificate is pictured here.
The above death certificate says that Julia was to be buried in the Bellefontaine Cemetery in St. Louis. There is an entry on Findagrave.com for her, but it contains no gravestone photo.
I learned a bit more about the town of Brazeau by writing this story. If I had the opportunity to visit the Brazeau Museum, which is housed in the old Brazeau School across the road from where August’s harness shop once stood, I might find some old town photos that include the Brazeau Harness Shop.
The 1900 Census lists August Roth as a blacksmith in Union Township of Perry County. The 1910 and 1920 Censuses indicate Roth was occupied as a harness shop owner. The 1915 plat map of the village of Brazeau in the eastern edge of Union Township (Sec. 12, T. 34N R. 12E) shows August Roth owning a small lot within the village upon which he has a residence, a blacksmith shop, and a harness shop.
Just to the west of Roth’s Brazeau village lot is property owned by C.B. Knox. This is believed to be Charles Bennett Knox (1864-1920), son of Henry Benjamin Knox (1834-1924). Henry and Charles Knox can be found in Find-a-Grave Memorials No.61996918 and 61996684, respectively, with both laid to rest in the Brazeau Presbyterian Church Cemetery. The 1898 property owners’ map for Perry County shows H.B. Knox owning a majority portion of the southern half of Section 12 immediately west of Brazeau Village. The 1900 Federal Census of Union Township shows blacksmith Roth in dwelling #76, with Benjamin Knox six dwellings away and his son Charles a further two doors distant. This data indicate that in 1900, August Roth was residing in Brazeau Village.
For the 1910 Census, Roth is in dwelling #23 whereas father and son Knox are in dwellings #66 and #65, respectively – maybe not so nearby, until one notes that the census enumerator visited Roth on April 18, and the Knox folks on April 22 – meaning depending on the enumerator’s route, the Roth and Knox properties could be closer that the census depicts. In the 1920 Census, Roth appears in dwelling #91 (on January20) and Charles Knox in dwelling #78 (on January17). Closer, perhaps.
However, both the 1910 and 1920 Censuses show Roth has a nearby neighbor named John A. Harriman who appears next door to Roth in the 1915 Brazeau plat map. These data indicate that in 1910 and 1920, August Roth was residing in Brazeau Village.
Interestingly, in the 1910 Census wherein Roth is shown as running his harness shop (dwelling #23) 27-year-old Otto Richard Thauwald, in dwelling #25, is occupied as a blacksmith. This information leads one to believe that Thauwald was operating Roth’s blacksmith shop in 1910. By 1920, Thauwald had migrated south to Shawneetown in northern Cape Girardeau County where he ran his own blacksmith shop which he bought from August Lichtnegger in March of 1916 (County Deed Book 63, page 442). Further to the blacksmith story, August Roth’s younger brother, Wilhelm Henry Herman Roth (1874-1928), operated his own blacksmith shop in 1900 in Farrar, Perry County, located a few miles north of Brazeau. It’s not difficult to speculate that perhaps August Roth helped train his younger brother in blacksmithing skills, likely in his Brazeau shop, prior to Herman’s move to Farrar. And then when Herman Roth moved out on his own, August Roth picked up Otto Thauwald as a replacement.
Family researchers say Otto Thauwald was born 1883 in Uniontown, and was confirmed on 11 April 1897 at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. As speculated above, he was likely trained as a blacksmith by Roth, in Brazeau, during the 1900-1910 decade. Thauwald married Juliane Clara Roth on 14 November 1909 in Frohna. Clara (1882-1963) is the daughter of Friedrich August Theodore Roth (1848-1926) whereas the two blacksmith Roth brothers, August and Herman, are sons of George Heinrich Roth (1830-1896).
The exact relationship of the two Roth fathers has not yet been identified. Clara Roth, wife of Brazeau/Shawneetown blacksmith Otto Richard Thauwald, has a younger sister, Emma A. Roth (1892-1986), who in Frohna on 19 September 1914, married Otto Thauwald’s younger brother, Theodore C. Thauwald (1888-1965). Theodore Thauwald served as a New Wells blacksmith in 1910, and as Farrar blacksmith in 1920, 1930, and 1940.
I recently became aware that the records of Bellefontaine Cemetery are online at the following address.
https://burialsearch.com/ecims#/s/354/Bellefontaine_Cemetery_Association
Julia B. Roth is in fact located there and photos of her marker are available. She is buried next to her son Albert.