Clara Josephine Jahn is today’s birthday girl. She was born on February 10, 1884, which means that today would be her 140th birthday. Clara was the daughter of Oscar and Alwina (Petzoldt) Jahn. That also qualifies Clara to be a granddaughter of Friedrich Florian “The Face” Petzoldt. Clara was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg, even though according to the 1880 census, her family was living in the Shawnee Township of Cape Girardeau County. Because I am not at home, I cannot get at our church records. Clara is found in the 1900 census at the age of 16. Her father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

That would be the only census entry in which we find Clara as a single person. So, we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Alexander Rudolph Ladreiter, who was born on January 21, 1882. Rudolph was the son of Joseph and Pauline (Pechmueller) Ladreiter. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. He also cannot be seen in a census entry until he was a teenager. He was working on his father’s farm in the Shawnee Township when the 1900 census was taken.

Rudolph Ladreiter married Clara Jahn on July 26, 1908 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. I am only able to display the Missouri marriage license for this couple.

The German Family Tree lists 6 children born to Rudolph and Clara. All of their children were baptized at Immanuel, New Wells. In the 1910 census, we find this young couple with just one daughter. Rudolph was farming in the Shawnee Township.

Rudolph had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. It gives him a Shawneetown address.

By the time of the 1920 census, all but one of the Ladreiter children had been born. We find them with 4 children, all girls, in their household. 

This couple’s last child, a son, was born prior to the 1930 census. Rudolph and Clara were in their 40’s, and Rudolph was still farming.

I found a parcel of land in the 1930 plat maps for Cape Girardeau County that is identified as belonging to R A Lad. I think this was the Ladreiter farm. This farm was located just west of Shawneetown.

In the 1940 census, just 2 children remained in the Ladreiter household. 

The last census we are allowed to view is the one taken in 1950. Rudolph and Clara were in their 60’s. Their son, Harold, was living with them, as well as their daughter, Lorna, who had married Gerhard Fieher. That couple had a 13 year-old son, Curt.

Rudolph Ladreiter died in 1960 at the age of 77. His death certificate below states that he died in St. Louis.

Clara Ladreiter died n 1966 at the age of 82. She died while she was a patient at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Rudolph and Clara Ladreiter are each buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

Clara’s Jahn family was living in the Shawnee Township when she was born. If that family had been members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells and had Clara baptized there, then this story would have been one of those in which both the husband and wife would have gone from cradle to grave while being members of the same congregation. As it occurred, the Jahn family had one more child baptized in Altenburg before some of Clara’s younger siblings were baptized in New Wells.