Arthur Friedrich Meyr’s birthday is the starting point for today’s post. He was born on November 20, 1898, so today would be his 125th birthday. Arthur was the 5th and last child of Gustav and Clara (Scholl) Meyr. He was baptized, like all his siblings, at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. An image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books is shown below.

Arthur is found in his first census in 1900 at the age of 1. His father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

Arthur’s mother died in 1900, and his father then married Maria Perr in 1901. That couple had 11 more children, so when we see Arthur in the 1910 census, he was part of a very large family. There are 10 children listed in this entry.

Arthur had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He is called a farm hard, and his employer was his father.

Arthur was no longer living with his parents when the 1920 census was taken. He was living in the Hubble Township of Cape Girardeau County in the household of A.T. Lichtenegger who had a retail store. Arthur was called a salesman for that dry goods store. In a previous post, Lichtenegger Market, it told of A.T. Lichtenegger operating a store in Dutchtown when the 1920 census was taken.

It is now time to take a look at the woman who would become Arthur’s bride. Her name was Ida Hedwig Haertling, who was born on July 30, 1902. Ida was the daughter of Martin and Martha (Vogt) Haertling. Like Arthur, Ida was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Her baptism record is pictured here.

Ida is found in the 1910 census at the age of 7. Her family was living in what I have called the “Koch-Koenig-Haertling” neighborhood in the Shawnee Township. Her father was a farmer.

The last census in which we find Ida as being single was the one taken in 1920. She was 17 years old at the time.

I think it must have been about this time that Ida’s Haertling family sat for a family photograph. Ida’s youngest sister had been born in 1912. Ida must be one of the older looking daughters on the right in the back row.

Arthur Meyr married Ida Haertling on April 25, 1926. This was not the first Meyr/Haertling wedding. Ida’s brother, Edmund, had married Emilie Meyr in 1923, but Emilie was not Arthur’s sister. As you would expect, Arthur and Ida were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. The church marriage record for this occasion is shown below.

We can also take a look at the Missouri marriage license for this couple.

Our German Family Tree says that this pair had two children, a girl and a boy. The 1930 census shows this couple with their daughter, Helen. Their son, Elmer, would be born later in 1930. Arthur was a proprietor of an auto repair shop in New Wells.

As it turns out, that would be the last census entry in which we find Arthur. He died in 1939 at the age of 41. His death certificate below says he died at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

The garage that Arthur operated is displayed in the photo below

A paragraph in a book describing the history of New Wells tells that George Meyr, Arthur’s younger half-brother, took over the garage after Arthur’s death.

Ida Meyr is found as a widow in the 1940 census. She was living with her two children, ages 10 and 12.

The 1950 census is the last one we can view. Ida and her son, Elmer, were living in Cape Girardeau where Ida was working at the shoe factory, and Elmer was a cabinet maker.

Ida Haertling died in 1978 at the age of 76, too recently to be able to view her death certificate. Both Arthur and Ida are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

Ida Meyr lived more than half of her life as a widow. A part of me feels so sad that a woman like her spent so much of her time without her husband by her side. I don’t even want to think about how sad I would be without my wife at my side. I trust that Ida, like so many other Christians who have lost their spouse have taken comfort in the fact that an eternal life awaits beyond the temporary life we have here on earth.