Edward Albert Thomas Sebald was born on December 22, 1879, so you will read about his life in today’s post. You will discover that his life turned out to be a rather short one, ending rather tragically. Edward would be celebrating his 144th birthday today. He was the son of John and Barbara (Doernhofer) Sebald. Edward’s baptism record is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, but it is somewhat likely that he may have been one of those babies who was baptized in the church/school located in Wittenberg. Here is an image of Edward’s baptism record from Trinity’s church books. Although he was born in 1879, he was baptized in 1880.

Edward was still a baby when the 1880 census was enumerated. His father was a cooper in Wittenberg. Perhaps he was a cooper at either the flour mill or the brewery.

A story is told that in 1885, John Sebald went fishing with 6 men on the Mississippi River. John ended up drowning during that fishing trip, leaving his wife, Barbara as a widow. Edward would have been only 6 years old at the time. Two other siblings of Edward were even younger when their father died. Barbara never married again, so she raised her family of 6 children by herself from that point on. Edward was confirmed in 1893. We find Edward at the age of 20 when the 1900 census was taken. Edward is called a day laborer.

After her husband’s death, Barbara purchased a small store in Wittenberg. The photo below show this store and the house next door that was their residence. At a later time, when her daughter, Sophia, had married Paul Degenhardt, the Degenhardt’s lived in that house. Then Barbara turned her small store into her residence. Barbara is standing in front of her store in the picture below. As you can see, this residence and store were situated right against the bluff in Wittenberg.

A photograph of the Sebald family was taken in front of Barbara’s house, and if it was taken on the occasion of her daughter, Sophia’s, confirmation, it was taken in 1895 when Edward was about 17 years old. He is standing in the back on the right.

Edward Sebald would be found living in St. Louis and getting married there before the next census in 1910, so we will now take a look at the woman who would become his bride. It turns out that her name would also be found in our German Family Tree, meaning that she had her roots in this area. Her name was Ida Emilie Starzinger, who was born on the Fourth of July in 1888. Ida was the daughter of Franz and Lina (Landgraf) Starzinger. She was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can take a look at her baptism record here.

Ida, like it was with Edward, lost her father at a rather young age. Franz Starzinger died in 1898 when Ida was just 10 years old. Her widowed mother then moved to Wittenberg where she is found in the 1900 census. However, that is not where we find Ida. She remained in the Shawnee Township and was living with her uncle, Charles Starzinger, in the 1900 census. Ida was 11 years old at the time.

I think it is likely that Ida moved to St. Louis at some point after the above census to find work. That would explain how she became acquainted with Edward Sebald. Either that, or Ida may have gotten to know Edward when she went to Wittenberg to visit her mother. What we do know is that Edward Sebald married Ida Starzinger on December 29, 1908. I am discovering that more and more documents are showing up on Ancestry.com that come from a Missouri Synod Lutheran church records collection that they now have available. The church records from Emmaus Lutheran Church in St. Louis can be found in that collection (although for some reason, Ancestry says that congregation was located in Leesburg, Missouri). I went back to the early pages of the Emmaus records, and it says this is the congregation is located in St. Louis. The Sebald/Starzinger church marriage record is displayed below.

We find just Edward and Ida in the 1910 census. They had their 3 children during the following decade. Edward was called an oiler at a machine shop.

Several things took place in the Sebald family during the next decade, including the birth of 3 sons. Since I am still new at finding records from churches like Emmaus Lutheran in St. Louis. I am going to display the 3 baptism records of those sons. I especially found the sponsors for these baptisms to be interesting. So many of them are people who can be found in our German Family Tree. Edward R. Sebald was born in 1911.

Walter Sebald was born in 1913. One of his sponsors was Dr. Palisch from Frohna.

Clarence Sebald was born in 1915.

In 1918, Edward completed his World War I draft registration. It said that Edward was an oiler for the Wm. Lemp Brewing Company. 

The Wm. Lemp Brewing Company was one of the largest brewers in St. Louis. Not long after World War I, this company became the Falstaff Brewing Company. 

Sadly, Edward did not live long enough to make it to the 1920 census. He died tragically in 1919 at the age of 39. His death certificate below says he died of an industrial accident resulting in shock and burns. He was working as an auto mechanic for the Lang Bakery Company.

An obituary for Edward appeared in a St. Louis newspaper. It does not mention the tragic details of his death.

Ida, like her mother and Edward’s mother, never married after her husband died at an early age. She is found in the 1920 census with her 3 boys, ages 9, 7, and 5. Ida had no occupation.

When the 1930 census was taken, we find Ida working as a seamstress in a dress shop. Her boys were all teenagers. Already as teenagers, two of her boys were bookkeepers.

The Sebald’s are found in the 1940 census. The 2 sons still living with Ida were both salesmen. Ida had the same job.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Ida was a lodger along with a few others. She is called a dress operator in a dress factory.

Ida Sebald died in 1968 at the age of 79. Her death certificate says she died at the Mount St. Rose Hospital in St. Louis.

Both Edward and Ida Sebald are buried in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis.

This post ended up highlighting several wives who suffered the early loss of their husbands. Such losses must have made the lives of the widows and the fatherless children quite difficult. But the Starzinger and Sebald widows in this story, along with their children, seemed to cope rather well.