Yesterday, I wrote the story of a man born in Perry County, Missouri who moved across the Mississippi River and found his bride in Jackson County, Illinois. That couple ended up living most of their lives in the Fountain Bluff Township. Today, I will tell a similar tale. In today’s story, it is somewhat difficult to tell if the couple married in the Fountain Bluff Township ended up living in Illinois or Missouri. I do know that they lived west of the Mississippi River. I will explain later, although I think some of you may have this figured out from reading today’s title.

Today’s birthday girl is Anna Sarah Magdalena Bogenpohl, who was born on February 18, 1890. She would go by the name Lena, so that is the name I will use. Lena was the daughter of Henry and Amalia (Kaufmann) Bogenpohl. Here is a photo taken of Lena’s parents.

Before I move on, let me say that Henry and Amalia were a couple that got married in Perry County, but spent their married life in Jackson County, Illinois. That is the reason we find Lena’s baptism record in the books of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob, Illinois.

When Lena was just a young child, her mother died. In a previous post about her parents, Martin, Anna, and Clara, it told the story of Amalia sticking herself with a safety pin while putting on her baby’s diaper and getting blood poisoning, which caused her death.

Early in her life, a photo was taken of Lena and her older brother, Martin Bogenpohl.

Lena is found in the 1900 census at the age of 10. Her father was a farmer in the Fountain Bluff Township. Lena’s maternal grandmother, now named Fredericke Darnstaedt, was living in their household. The surname, Darnstaedt, is another name that hopped across the river to Jackson County, Illinois.

I was once again able to go to our new acquisition of the 1907 Jackson County, Illinois Atlas to locate Henry Bogenpohl’s farm. It turns out that the Bogenpohl farm, like a portion of John Oetjen’s property shown in yesterday’s post, were right next to Christ Lutheran Church.

I was unable to locate Lena in the 1910 census. My best guess is that her surname was butchered by the Ancestry.com person who transcribed her record. Since she would get married not long after that year’s census, we will turn our attention to the man she would marry. His early life was spent in Perry County, so we have to skip across the river to find his information.

Karl (Charles) August Roth was born on February 21, 1888, so he had a birthday quite close to that of his wife’s. Charles was the son of August and Ernestine (Feig) Roth. I am also able to display a photo of Charles’s parents.

Charles was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. His baptism record is pictured here.

Charles is found in the 1900 census at the age of 12. His father was a farmer in the Union Township.

Charles was confirmed in 1902. Then, when the next census was taken in 1910, Charles was no longer living with his parents. He was a 22 year-old hired hand on the Theodore Schuessler farm in the Fountain Bluff Township. This must have been how Charles became acquainted with Lena Bogenpohl.

On January 7, 1912, Charles Roth married Lena Bogenpohl at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. The church record for that event shown below mentions that Charles was from Frohna.

As near as I can tell, this couple had 4 children. The first 2 were baptized at Christ, Jacob, but then at some point after 1914, they relocated. On Charles’s World War I draft registration, it gives his address as St. Mary’s, Missouri, but it says he was farming in Kaskaskia, Illinois.

Let me explain. Back in the early days of Mississippi River Valley history, Kaskaskia, Illinois was located east of the Mississippi River. I think the map shown below of the Randolph County in Illinois was produced in the 1870’s. It shows the little town of Kaskaskia located between the Mississippi River to the west and a smaller river, the Kaskaskia River, right next to it on the east.

In 1881, there was a flood, and after the flood, the channel of the Mississippi River changed. It crossed that little piece of land between the Mississippi and Kaskaskia rivers above the village of Kaskaskia. Now, the Mississippi River flows just to the east of the town of Kaskaskia. That land that was once east of the Mississippi is now west of the Mississippi, and it is still officially located in Randolph County, Illinois. Below is a map of what this area looks like now.

In 1917, when Charles had his World War I draft registration completed, he was living in that area on the west of the Mississippi but is still in Illinois. When the 1920 census was taken, we find the Charles Roth family living in Kaskaskia, Illinois. There were 3 children in their household, and Charles was farming. You can see on the above map that he was farming in the “bottoms” of the Mississippi River, which are similar to the bottoms located in the Fountain Bluff Township where he had spent some time farming.

One more child was born in the next decade, so when the 1930 census was taken, we see 4 children in the Roth household.

In the 1940 census, we find the Roth’s in their 50’s and still living in Kaskaskia.

Charles Roth had a World War II draft card completed in 1942. It’s another document that gives Charles a Kaskaskia, Illinois address, but displays that his post office was in St. Mary’s, Missouri.

The last census we are able to view for Charles and Lena was the one taken in 1950. Just their youngest son, Raymond, was living with them. Charles is given no occupation.

Lena Roth died in 1962 at the age of 72. Despite technically living in Illinois, we are able to view Missouri death certificates for both Lena and Charles. Here is the one for Lena. This document uses the term, Kaskaskia Island as the city in which she lived. She died at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville.

Charles Roth died in 1966 at the age of 78. He also died at the hospital in Perryville.

Charles and Lena Roth are buried together in the Holy Cross Lutheran Cemetery in Ste. Genevieve. So, while they lived most of their lives in Illinois, they attended church and were buried in Missouri.

I have often described folks on this blog as hopping back and forth across the Mississippi River. I can almost state today that this couple landed in the middle of the Mississippi River.