Christian Friedrich Schilling was born on December 10, 1885, making today his 138th birthday. Since he is mostly called Fred on documents, that will be the name I use in this post. Fred was born in Frohna to his parents, August and Maria (Schoenborn) Schilling. He was the 8th of 9 children in his family. Fred was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. His baptism record is shown below.

Fred was also born at the time when Perry County was keeping birth records. We can view 2 images of Fred’s birth record here.

Because we cannot view the 1890 census, we cannot see Fred in a census entry until he is already a teenager in 1900. Fred had been confirmed the year before this census in 1899. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Fred’s father died in 1909, so in the 1910 census, we see his mother being listed as the head of the household. Maria is described as a farmer, but 2 sons, August, age 30, and Fred, age 24, were doing the farm labor. A 14 year-old servant girl named Louise Kahnert also lived in this household.

Now, we will turn our attention to the woman who would become Fred’s bride. Her name was Bertha Louise Wunderlich, who was born on August 1, 1894. Bertha was the daughter of Edward and Emma (Schaeffer) Wunderlich. You can trace Bertha’s Wunderlich family back to a time when they lived in Frohna, but then relocated to the Shawnee Township in Cape Girardeau County. Then, Bertha’s father migrated to Kornthal, Illinois where he found a bride. Edward’s story was told in the post, Edward and His Emma’s. Bertha was born in Kornthal and baptized at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Kornthal. We can take a look at this image of her baptism record.

Bertha is found in the 1900 census at the age of 6. Her family was living in the Reynolds Township in Union County, Illinois, which is where Kornthal is located.

When the 1910 census was taken, we find Bertha living in Missouri. She was a 15 year-old servant in the Joseph Saupe household in the Shawnee Township.

It remains a mystery to me how Fred Schilling in Frohna got acquainted with Bertha Wunderlich in New Wells, but somehow they managed. On April 5, 1912, these two were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Their church marriage record is displayed below.

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

The 1915 plat maps for Perry County show the Fred Schilling farm located just west of the village of Frohna.

In 1918, Fred had his World War I draft registration completed.

Our German Family Tree indicates that this pair had 10 children, a few of which did not live very long. All of their children were baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. Bertha was quite a fertile mother, giving birth to 5 children already before the 1920 census was taken. Another child was born in 1920, and their oldest daughter, Irene, also died of influenza later that year. Fred’s mother was also living in this household at the time.

Next, we find the Schilling’s in the 1930 census with 8 children. The oldest 6 children were all boys. The youngest child, Dorothy, was their last child.

The 1940 census indicates that Fred had 5 sons who were helping him on his farm. The daughter-in-law named Emma was the wife of Herbert, the oldest son in this entry.

Fred had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. He signed his name as Fred on this form.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Fred at age 64 is not given an occupation in this entry. His son, Herbert, was doing the farming. Herbert’s wife, Emma, had died in 1945, so he was a widower. A younger son, Clarence, was doing carpenter work. A granddaughter named Carolyn was also included in this household.

Perhaps Fred had no occupation in 1950 because of health problems. He died in 1951 at the age of 65. His death certificate shown below indicates he died of stomach cancer.

Bertha Schilling died in 1980 at the age of 85, too recently to view her death certificate. Both Fred and Bertha Schilling are buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna.

As you can imagine with a family with so many sons, the Schilling surname was certainly passed on to the next generation. In East Perry County, we have today’s Schilling’s who can be classified as Frohna Schilling’s. Another set of Schilling’s would be called the Altenburg Schilling’s. The Schilling name will likely continue to be found around here for a while yet.