The information shown below from our German Family Tree is the starting point for today’s story. It is what we find for a woman named Carolina Lix. As you can see, there is not much to work with.

The birth date for Caroline Lix is quite debatable. Her gravestone is engraved with the birthday of November 5, 1866. Her death certificate says she was born on November 18, 1866. And, since I was able to find her baptism record, it says she was born on November 12, 1866. I guess it’s safe to say that she was born in November of 1866. Caroline was the daughter of Henry and Mary (Eichmeier) Lix. Her baptism record can be found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. It says she was born on November 12th and later baptized on December 9th. Lynn Degenhardt tells me we are getting closer to having the Friedheim records included in our German Family Tree.

Let’s backtrack a little. Caroline’s parents are found in the 1850 census in which we find them living in Cape Girardeau County. Henry was a carpenter.

Caroline is found in her first census in 1870. By that time, the Lix family was living in the Union Township in Bollinger County. Her father was a farmer. For some unknown reason, Caroline is called Hannah in this entry.

In the 1880 census, the Lix’s were living in the White Water Township in Bollinger County. Caroline’s father was still a farmer. Caroline was a teenager.

Now, we will take some time to look at the man who would become Caroline’s husband. His name was Ferdinand Klemp, who was born on September 12, 1858. His later death record, which I will display later, confirms that date of birth. Ferdinand was the son of Charles and Elizabeth (Witzke) Klemp. I do not know where Ferdinand was baptized. I did not find Ferdinand in the 1860 census, but I did find evidence that his father had arrived in America in 1857, the year before he was born. In the 1870 census, Ferdinand was 11 years old, and his father was a farmer in the Cinque Hommes Township. It also indicates that Ferdinand was born in Missouri. His older siblings were born in Prussia.

The last census in which we find Ferdinand as an unmarried man was the one taken in 1880. He was 21 years old and working on his father’s farm.

Ferdinand Klemp married Caroline Lix on January 29, 1884, making today this couple’s 140th wedding anniversary. Their church marriage record is found in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. We can take a look at a transcription of that record below.

The Missouri marriage license for this pair can also be viewed.

I think there were 6 children born to Ferdinand and Caroline. The first 4 children were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. 

At this point, let me share a Wikipedia article that describes the establishment of a small village that was given the name Lixville. It mentions that an early pioneer to this area was Caroline’s father, Henry Lix. Also, her brother, Louis Lix, was their first postmaster, and the town was named after him.

The location of Lixville is shown on this map.

Right before that community was established in 1897, a Lutheran congregation was established in that vicinity. As far as I know, it was merely known as Lixville Lutheran Church. Our museum has digitized images of that church’s records. The earliest records in those books were from 1894. In that set of records we find the Klemp’s in the membership list already in 1894. I did not look for long in those records, but I did find the baptism record of the last Klemp daughter, Anna Klemp, who was born in 1899. Below is Anna’s baptism record. I find these records very difficult to read.

The 1900 census shows this Klemp household living in the Cinque Hommes Township where Ferdinand was a farmer. There were 4 children in their family. A few of their children had died early. 

It turns out that the above census entry was the only one in which we find both Ferdinand and Caroline. Ferdinand died in 1901 at the age of 42. We cannot view a Missouri death certificate for him because those documents were instituted in 1910. However, we do find a death record for him in the Lixville Lutheran Church books. This record also includes his date of birth.

Caroline is found as a widow in the 1910 census, still living in the Cinque Hommes Township. She is called a farmer, and her 19 year-old son was a farm laborer.

The last census in which Caroline is found is the one taken in 1920. The household consisted of just Caroline and her youngest daughter, Anna. Caroline is once again called a farmer, but this time, there is no indication that she was getting any help.

Caroline Klemp died in 1923 at the age of 56. The last death record in the Lixville Lutheran records was placed there in 1916, so we do not find Caroline’s death record in those books. Her death certificate below states that she died of breast cancer.

Ferdinand and Caroline Klemp are each buried in the Lixville Lutheran Cemetery in Lixville.

I confess that I enjoy writing stories that involve some of the records from local churches that are not part of our German Family Tree…at least not yet. And, in the case of today’s tale, I don’t often find the story of a character that has a town that carries that person’s surname.