Today’s post will highlight a man who was born on this day, November 5, 1898. He would have to blow out 125 candles on his birthday cake if he was still alive today. His name was Friedrich Paul Haertling. Even though he did not have the exact same name as his father, he was called a junior. Paul, Jr. was the son of Paul and Lena (Starzinger) Haertling. A previous post was written about Paul and Lena titled, Lena Starzinger Joins the Neighborhood. Paul, Jr. was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can view an image of his baptism record from the books of that congregation shown below.

Paul, Jr., immediately became a resident of what I have referred to as the Koenig-Koch-Haertling neighborhood near New Wells. In the 1900 census, he is found at the age of 1 living in the Shawnee Township. Paul, Sr. was a farmer.

Next, we find Paul, Jr. in the 1910 census at the age of 11. Several other Haertling children had been born during the previous decade. Two years after this census, in 1912, Paul Jr. was baptized at Immanuel, New Wells.

Paul Jr. had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He is given an Altenburg address, but that is because New Wells had their mail delivered from the post office located in Altenburg. Paul was working on his father’s farm.

Paul Jr. is found in the 1920 census as a 21 year-old farm laborer. By that time, there were 7 Haertling children in this household.

Later in 1920, Paul Jr. would get married, so we will now take a look at the early life of the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Rosa Elizabeth Anna Richter, who was born on August 26, 1900. Rosa was the daughter of Arthur and Emma (Moeckel) Richter. A story was written about Rosa’s parents which had the title, Arthur and His Two Emma’s. Rosa was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Her baptism record is pictured here.

Rosa was the only Richter child to be baptized in Perry County. All of the other Richter children were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells, which is located in Cape Girardeau County. The next child after Rosa was born in 1901 and baptized at Immanuel, so Rosa did not spend much of her life in Perry County. Rosa was born too late in 1900 to be found in the census for that year. The first census in which we find her is the one taken in 1910. She was 9 years old and her father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township. A hired man named Otto Dost and a servant girl named Ella Bodenschatz were living in the Richter household.

A photo of the Richter family was taken around 1918. Rosa is standing in the back row on the far right.

Rosa’s mother died in 1919, so when the 1920 census was taken, her father was a widower heading up a family of 9 children. Rosa must have had to take on many of the roles of housekeeping that would ordinarily be accomplished by a wife.

The above census was taken in January of 1920, and her father would marry again in February of that year. Perhaps that freed Rosa to think about getting married to Paul Haertling later that year.

Paul Haertling married Rosa Richter on November 14, 1920 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. The church record for this wedding is shown below.

The Missouri marriage license for Paul and Rosa is displayed here.

According to our German Family Tree, this pair had 4 children. The first child was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, but the remaining 3 have their baptism records in the books of Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. The first census in which we find Paul and Rosa as husband and wife is the one taken in 1930. They were living in the village of Pocahontas where Paul Jr. was a carpenter.

The 1940 census lists 3 children in the Haertling household. This time, Paul Jr. is said to be doing custom work as an operator of a sawmill.

Paul had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. It says he had his own business that did saw milling and threshing work. His address is given as Pocahontas.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Paul was back to being a carpenter building houses. Just 2 sons were listed in their household.

Paul Haertling Jr. died in 1972 at the age of 73. His death certificate below says his usual occupation was a carpenter.

Rosa Haertling died in 1989 at the age of 88. A Social Security death index says that she died in Tipp City, Ohio.

Both Paul and Rosa Haertling are buried in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

Paul Haertling was born into the Koenig-Koch-Haertling neighborhood near New Wells. Rosa Haertling was born in Altenburg, but spent almost all of her childhood around New Wells. Once married, these two moved down the road to the nearby village of Pocahontas where they spent the rest of their lives. Although both of their fathers were farmers, Paul spent very little time in his life farming. He worked with wood and machinery.