We get to look at a man who would be celebrating a very special birthday today. He is listed in our German Family Tree, but there are no church records attached to his name in that document. I think the main reason he is found in our GFT is the fact that his parents were part of the New York Group that joined the group of immigrants that settled in Perry County in 1839. William Paar was born on December 28, 1848, so today would be his 175th birthday. William was the son of Andreas and Elizabeth (Loskamp) Paar. 

Andreas Paar is found in the directory of members of the New York Group listed in the book, Zion on the Mississippi. This list says Andreas arrived in Perry County with a wife and 1 child. He was called a shoemaker.

Andreas had arrived in America in 1834 and then had gotten married in 1836. His wife, Elizabeth, gave birth to their first child, Christiane Friederika Paar, on April 18, 1839, and then the New York Group left for Perry County 4 days later on April 22nd. That baby was not baptized until July 7th after they had arrived in Missouri. Her baptism record is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. That baby’s sponsors were 3 other members of the New York Group, Christiane Buenger, Friederick Koch, and Christiane Elgen. I find it interesting that it looks like this baby was given names that matched her baptismal sponsors.

Like many other members of the New York Group, it looks as if the Paar family did not remain in Perry County for very long. Already in 1843, when their 2nd child was born, that baby’s baptism record is not found in any church books in the German Family Tree. All indications are that the Paar family moved to Cape Girardeau County. William’s later obituary would say that he was born on a farm near Cape Girardeau in 1848.  We find the Paar’s living in Cape Girardeau when the 1850 census was taken. William’s father was still a shoemaker. Apparently, Christiane Friederike did not live long because she does not show up in this entry.

When the 1860 census was taken, the Paar family was still living in Cape Girardeau. Several other children had been born into the Paar family, and this time Andreas was called a grocer.

William was a 21 year-old clerk in a drug store and still living with his mother when the 1870 census was taken. His father had died in 1863. It appears his mother ran the grocery store.

The 1880 census entry for William is surprising to me. It says William was the only child still living with his mother, and he is described as a retired merchant at the age of 31. I thought maybe the word in front of merchant was actually the word, retail, but the more you look at it, it definitely looks like retired.

William would get married in the next decade. Normally, I would say we will look at the woman who would become his wife, but in this case, there is not much to say.  Her name was Katharina Frank, who was born on Reformation Day, October 31, 1862 in Germany. I was unable to discover the name of her parents, and she did not come to America until 1882, so I cannot show any census entries for her prior to her marriage. William Paar married Katharina Frank on May 22, 1887. The Missouri marriage license shown below indicates that William was living in Jackson, Missouri when this wedding took place. 

According to a family tree on Ancestry.com, this couple had 7 children, only one of them being a girl. Two of the children died as infants. The 1900 census lists 4 children in the Paar household. William is called a county clerk in Jackson.

Next, we find the Paar household in the 1910 census. William was a bank cashier in Jackson with 5 children.

The 1920 census would be the last one in which we find William and Katharina. William was still a bank cashier.

William Paar died later in 1920 at the age of 71. He died 2 days before his 72nd birthday. Pnuemonia is given as the cause of death on the certificate below. His wife’s maiden name is given incorrectly instead of his mother’s.

An obituary for William can be found on Findagrave.com. I will display it below. It fills in a lot of details that cannot be found in the records that I have included in this article.

The Southeast Missourian, Cape Girardeau MO; Dec. 27, 1920
Judge William Paar has been called. Lacking one day of being 72 years old, he closed a life of long service to his fellow man and of benefit to his community.
At midnight Sunday night the summons came, following several days of suffering from pneumonia at his home in Jackson, it was stated early today.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday at St. Paul’s Lutheran church in Jackson, if a brother living in Pennsylvania can arrive by that time.
He is survived by his wife, by three sons and one daughter, William Paar of St. Louis; Adolph, Frank, Oscar and Miss Emilie Paar of Jackson. Mrs. Rachel Schlindwein of Cape Girardeau, a sister, and Adolph Paar of Cabot, Pa., a brother, also survive.
William Paar was born on a farm near Cape Girardeau December 28, 1842, son of Andrew Paar, and while a boy moved with his parents to Cape Girardeau. In his early manhood he was elected city assessor and in 1886 he was elected county clerk, holding that office for 16 years.
In 1887, he married Miss Katherina Frank, whose parents lived in Germany, and who made her home with an uncle and aunt, Mr. and Mrs. Frank, who conducted a hotel on the location near the new Frisco passenger station, now occupied by Kain’s new restaurant.
He moved to Jackson immediately after his marriage and had lived there ever since.
In 1914 he was elected presiding judge of the county court and in 1918 was elected for a second term of four years, two years of which remained at the time of his death.
In addition to the duties of his county office he had also been cashier of the Peoples national Bank of Jackson, since its organization 14 years ago and for more than 20 years had been city clerk of Jackson.
He was a charter member of St. Paul’s Lutheran church of Jackson and its presiding officer for many years.
The life story of William Paar is an important part of the history of Cape Girardeau county, because he has helped to make history in his native county during his half century of manhood.
And his life story is one of service to his fellows, both in his official positions and in his individual activities for better conditions for the public.
As a judge of the county court William Paar was progressive in his ideas and generous in dealing with public problems, although careful in the expenditure of the public funds. He was an official who could distinguish between penury and economy, consequently was always ready to sanction any movement that meant progress and better conditions for the people of his county.
He worked for the public well up to the last, having just returned from attending a meeting of Missouri judges at Jefferson City a day or two before he was taken ill with the affliction that carried him off.
His loss will be felt by every tax payer in Cape Girardeau county, and by every citizen with ambition for better farming conditions and better highways and that loss will be
greater to those who knew him most intimately, because to know him was to love him.

Katharina would also die later during the next decade, but her life took a tragic turn. About a year before her death in 1927, she became a patient at the state mental hospital in Farmington. That is where she died at the age of 64. Her death certificate is pictured here. This document does not give us any help in naming her parents.

William and Katharina Paar are buried together in the Jackson Cemetery.

William’s obituary was a great tribute to his life of service to his community throughout his life. I also find it interesting that William was a charter member of St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Jackson which was established in 1892. In addition his employer, People’s Bank of Jackson fairly recently took over the Bank of Altenburg, so now we have a branch now called the People’s Bank of Altenburg.