Back in 2021, a post was published on this blog titled, Widowed in Winter – Joined during June in Jacob. One of the characters in that post was a man named Henry Hollmann. The birthday boy in today’s story is another Henry Hollmann. The previous Henry Hollmann was born in Germany in 1870. Today’s main character was born in 1867 in Missouri, so these two Henry Hollmann’s lived at the same time and had similar ages. A few facts make this coincidence even more interesting. Even though neither Henry was born in Jackson County, Illinois, both of them spent a good portion of their lives there. Also, both of their wives had Martha as one of their names. So, let’s get started, and let’s be careful.

Hienrich Hollmann was born on March 4, 1867, thus making today his 154th birthday. Henry was the son of Friedrich and Anna Maria (Rathjen) Hollmann. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. An image of his baptism record from that church’s books is displayed below. Just a quick observation…I do not see Anna’s maiden name, Rathjen, on this document even though a translation we have next to this image gives her maiden name.. Do you see it?

Henry is found in the 1870 census at the age of 4, although I think he was just 3. This entry says Henry’s father was working on a farm.

During the next decade, this Hollmann family made a move. In the 1880 census, we find them living in the Fountain Bluff Township in Jackson County, Illinois. His father was still farming, although this entry says that he had “three fingers gone”.

Now, we must turn our attention to the woman that would become his wife. Her name was Martha Margaretha Stueve, who was born on March 16, 1869. Martha was the daughter of Johann and Rebecka (von Glahn) Stueve. She was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can take a look at her baptism record shown here.

Sadly, Martha’s mother died about 2 weeks after her baptism. Our German Family Tree does not include a record of Johann Stueve’s second marriage, but he apparently married Mary Luehrs not long after Rebecka’s death. Mary shows up already in the 1870 census as Johann’s wife. Martha was just 1 year old in that census entry.

Martha was 11 years old in the 1880 census. We have to be careful here. John’s 2nd wife died in 1877, and he then married Mary Wichern in 1879. In the census entry below, we see John’s wife named Mary, which is actually his 3rd wife.

Henry Hollmann married Martha Stueve on October 25, 1888 at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. The church record for this wedding is pictured here. It indicates that Henry was from Fountain Bluff, Illinois.

We are also able to view the Missouri marriage license for this couple.

Henry must have taken his new bride across the river to Jackson County, Illinois after their wedding. Their first 4 children were baptized at Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. After their 4th child was born in 1895, their next child was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna in 1898, so this family must have moved to Perry County in the interim. We find the Hollmann family living in the Union Township of Perry County when the 1900 census was taken, and Henry was a farmer.

I was unable to find the Hollmann’s in the 1910 census. By the way, I did find a Henry Hollman living in the Fountain Bluff Township in Illinois, but it was the other Henry Hollmann. I think Henry and Martha were living in Murphysboro, Illinois at that time. Their last child, born in 1909, was listed in future census entries as being born in Illinois. The Hollmann’s are found living in Murphysboro when the 1920 census was taken. Henry was called a house carpenter. Two of his older children were working at a shoe factory.

Martha Hollmann died in 1923 at the age of 54. It appears that the Hollmann’s had moved to St. Louis after the 1920 census. Because Martha died in Missouri, we can take a look at her death certificate.

Martha’s death certificate says she was buried in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis. She does have an entry for that cemetery on Findagrave.com, but there is no gravestone photo.

Henry would get married again, but I do not know exactly when. His second wife had a maiden name of Agnes Wilhelmine Dorothea Umbach. I am not going to go into much detail about her life, but I will tell you that she was previously married to Gustav Gokenbach, who also died in 1923, the same year that Martha Hollmann died. When the 1930 census was taken, we find Henry and his 2nd wife, Agnes, living in St. Louis. Henry was still a carpenter.

Henry would die in 1940, but not before he is found in that year’s census. What is interesting in the entry shown below is the fact that Agnes Hollmann is listed at the top and called the head of the household. There are other members of the household with other surnames, and Henry is listed at the bottom and called the husband. At the age of 73, Henry had no occupation.

Henry Hollmann died in 1940 at the age of 73. His death certificate gives stomach cancer as the cause of his death.

Agnes Hollman died in 1950 at the age of 80. Her death certificate is shown below. If you’re interested, you can find a few other details about her life on this form.

One of the most unusual gravestones is found in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis. Agnes Hollmann is buried with both of her husbands, Gustav Gokenbach and Henry Hollmann. I have found situations when a husband is buried with more than one wife, but this may be the first one I have seen where a wife is buried with 2 husbands.

Now, if you have read the story of the other Henry Hollmann, you know about two Henry Hollmann’s who lived at about the same time and lived in some similar locations. Both of these Henry Hollmann’s can be found in our German Family Tree. These two are only 2 pages apart in the GFT. What I cannot find in the GFT, though, is any family connection between these 2 Henry’s.