I will tell the story that includes a woman who was reportedly born on January 6th according to a document referenced in our German Family Tree. However, every family tree I located on Ancestry.com gives her birthday as January 3rd. Having said that, I found no document to support that date. 

The woman with the debatable birth date is Louise Pauline Sauerbrunn. There are a few things of which we are certain. First, she was born in 1875. In addition, we know that she was born in the vicinity of Kornthal, Illinois, which is found near the Anna/Jonesboro area in Union County, Illinois. Louise was the daughter of Peter and Juliana (Emling) Saurbrunn. A younger sibling of Louise was baptized at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Kornthal, which is a congregation that is no longer active. However, I was unable to find a baptism record for Louise. The Kornthal binders we have in our museum have some church records, but they are kind of hit and miss. Louise is found in her first census in 1880 at the age of 6. Her father was a farmer in the Anna Township.

That would be the only census in which we find Louise before she was married. So, we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Adam John Ziegler, who was born on April 3, 1872. Adam was the son of Fred and Elizabeth (Helmich) Ziegler. He was born in Blue Point, Illinois. When the 1880 census was taken, Adam was 7 years old and part of quite a large Ziegler family. His father was a farmer in the Moccasin Township in Effingham County, Illinois.

Adam Ziegler married Louise Sauerbrunn on April 29, 1897 at St. Paul Lutheran Church in Kornthal. We are able to look at the church record for this event below. By the time of this wedding, Adam was living in the Fountain Bluff Township in Jackson County, Illinois. 

I had to wonder how a man from Jacob, Illinois would become acquainted with a girl from Kornthal. After all, take a look at where these two locations are on the map below.

I found an answer to this question. In 1894, Adolph Dietrich, who was living in Jacob at the time, married Louise’s older sister, Mary Sauerbrunn. It is likely that Mary introduced her sister to Adam Ziegler at some point in time. However, this then begs the question about how Adolph became acquainted with a Kornthal girl, but I guess that will be a question to delve into when I do a story about the Dietrich/Sauerbrunn marriage. 

After his wedding, Adam brought his new bride back to Jackson County. I think this couple had 4 children based on future census entries. The first two children were baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. I will display the baptism records for those 2 daughters.

We find the Ziegler’s in the 1900 census living in the Sand Ridge Township in Jackson County where Adam was farming. We can see 2 children and one of Adam’s brothers living in their household.

A record found in the books of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob says that the Ziegler family transferred out of that congregation in 1901 and moved to Cape Girardeau and later on, to East Cape Girardeau. That record of information for the Adam Ziegler family is shown here. This is where we find that Adam’s birthplace was Blue Point, Illinois. It is also the only place where we find Louise’s birthday given as January 6th.

Evidence seems to indicate that their stay in those areas was not long because when their next daughter was born in 1907, she was born in Jackson County. The 1910 census indicates that the Ziegler’s were living in the Somerset Township of Jackson County with all 4 of their children. That township is located just north of Murphysboro. Adam was still farming.

Next, we find the Ziegler household in the 1920 census. It contained the same members of the household as the entry from 1910.

The 1930 census shows the Ziegler’s with just 2 daughters and a young farm laborer in the household.

The last census in which we find this couple was the one taken in 1940. At the age of 68, Adam was still farming.

Adam Ziegler died in 1944 at the age of 72. We can take a look at this Illinois death record for him.

A few years later, Louise Ziegler died in 1947 at the age of 72. I wish I could locate an Illinois death record like the one above so I could verify a birthday date, but I failed to find one. Adam and Louise Ziegler are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Murphysboro.

The above gravestone does not help us determine a correct date of birth either. Perhaps if we had access to the church records of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Murphysboro, we could determine if I should have written this story on January 3rd or today.