A new surname had to be added to our digital images collection for today’s post. That name is Holcumbrink. This is the first time that name has shown up on this blog after almost 8 years of posts. This surname is spelled in a variety of ways on Ancestry.com, but I am settling on the spelling to be found on a later gravestone.

John Henry “Jake” Holcumbrink was born on February 4, 1894, making today his 130th birthday. His parents were John and Lucy Holcumbrink, and it looks as if he was the youngest child in his family. I was unable to locate a maiden name for his mother. I am not exactly sure where he was born, but in the 1900 census, his family was living in St. Charles, Missouri. His father and a few of his older brothers were simply called laborers. John was 6 years old at the time.

Next, we find the Holcumbrink’s living in Louisiana, Missouri when the 1910 census was taken. Jake’s father was a packer for a nursery. Jake and one of his older brothers were machinists at a tool factory.

There was a rather famous tool company located in the small town of Louisana at this time. It was the Buffum Tool Company. Below is a photo of the building that housed this tool factory.

Below are photos of a tool box once sold by this company, along with an ad used by them to promote their business. This company’s logo was a swastika. Since this company went out of business in the 1920’s, that was before the swastika became an evil symbol.

Jake got married in 1915, so let’s take a look at his first wife. Her name was Anna Riley, who was born on October 8, 1894 in Hannibal, Missouri. Anna was the daughter of Charles and Bessie (Copper) Riley. We find her in her first census in 1900 living in Quincy, Illinois where her father was a peddler. Anna was 6 years old at the time.

The map below shows the cities of Quincy, Hannibal, and Louisiana. You can see they are all in the same vicinity along the Mississippi River.

Anna was still living in Quincy when the 1910 census was taken. She was a teenager, and this time her father was called the proprietor of a lunch room.

John Holcumbrink married Anna Riley in 1915. The only record of this wedding I found was this summary of an Illinois marriage record. Adams County is where Quincy is found.

Jake had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. He was called a machinist, and his address is in Maplewood, part of the St. Louis metropolitan area. His employer was the St. Louis Coffin Company.

Jake’s marriage did not last long. In the 1920 census, we find Anna back living with her parents in Quincy. A son named Eugene Holcumbrink was included in this household. Anna’s marriage status is indicated with a “D” meaning she was divorced.

Jake was also back living with his parents who were residing in St. Louis in 1920. Jake was still working at the casket company. His marriage status is given as “S” for single.

Now, we finally get to a character who managed to have a church record in our German Family Tree. Her name was Rosa Lydia Arbeiter, who was born on August 3, 1899. Rosa was the last of 9 children born to Henry and Caroline (Rowold) Arbeiter. Rosa was baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois. Her baptism record in 2 images is displayed here. By the way, Arbeiter means “worker” in German.

Rosa is found in the 1900 census at the age of 1. Her father was a farmer.  You can see that Rosa was part of a very large family.

At about this time, 2 photos of the Arbeiter family were taken. These photos have been displayed on this blog in previous posts. Here is the first one which shows 8 children. I don’t think Rosa was born yet.

The next one includes 9 children. Rosa must be the youngest girl sitting between her parents.

Rosa is found in the 1910 census at the age of 10. 

The last census in which we find Rosa unmarried is the one taken in 1920. She was one of only 3 children left in the family.

John Holcumbrink married Rosa Arbeiter May 28, 1923. The amazing fact about this couple’s marriage is not only how these 2 who lived nowhere near each other became acquainted, but according to a later obituary, the wedding took place in Baltimore, Maryland. I have no idea what circumstances resulted in this couple meeting or getting married on the East Coast.

I did not find any evidence that Jake and Rosa had any children. I also was unable to find these two in the 1930 census. However, when the 1940 census was taken, we find this couple living in the Fountain Bluff Township where Jake was a painter and paper hanger. They were living with Rosa’s mother, who was a widow.

John Holcumbrick died in 1981 at the age of 87; Rosa Holcumbrick died in 1993 at the age of 93. They are buried together in the Murdale Memory Gardens in Murphysboro, Illinois.

This was the story of how the son of a laborer eventually found a wife who was the daughter of an Arbeiter…a worker. It was also the story of a couple uniting the youngest child in each of their families. I think the census entries I failed to find might be associated with the fact that a name like Holcumbrink could easily be misspelled or misread.