The birthday girl for today is Cora Wilhelmine Thauwald, who was born on March 15, 1894. That makes today her 130th birthday. Cora was the daughter of Carl and Caroline (Schneider) Thauwald. Cora was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Her baptism record shown below illustrates a trend in the change of spelling of German names. Not only was Cora’s name spelled as Korah on this form, but her parents were called Karl and Karoline. Many times, German names beginning with a “K” got their names re-spelled later in their lives using a “C” to replace the “K”.

Cora is found in the 1900 census at the age of 6. Since her father had died in 1899, her widowed mother was the head of the Thauwald family. Her mother is even called a farmer.

Cora was not living with her mother when the 1910 census was taken, but I was unable to find her in the 1910 census. When the 1920 census was taken, we find Cora living in the Horatio Spencer household in St. Louis and called a maid.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Cora’s husband. His name was Samuel Gabriel Katz, who was born on December 11, 1896. Samuel was the son of Abraham and Esther (Lututosky) Katz. I hope I am not jumping to a wrong conclusion, but I admit that I wonder if Samuel was Jewish. Katz is a typical Hebrew name, and the surnames, Samuel, Gabriel, Abraham, and Esther are also common Jewish first names. Samuel was born in St. Louis and is found in the 1900 census at the age of 3. This census entry gives evidence that his family had Russian roots. Samuel’s father was a day laborer.

In the 1910 census, Samuel was a teenager. This time, his father is called a carrier for a newspaper. Three of Samuel’s older brothers were also part of the work force, and one of them was also a carrier for a newspaper.

Samuel had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. This document states that Samuel was then working as a newspaper printer, and his employer was the St. Louis Globe Democrat.

The 1920 census is the last one that includes Samuel as a single man. This time, his father had no occupation, but Samuel was a printer for a publishing company.

I am not sure about the exact date of the wedding of Samuel Katz and Cora Thauwald, but it was likely in the summer of 1921. A St. Louis marriage license includes June 30th as the date when this form was signed. It may not have been the marriage date. It looks like Samuel had moved to Chicago before he got married because this form gives that as his residence. Cora, on the other hand, is said to be from New Wells.

I managed to find this wedding photograph of Samuel and Cora. It looks like a typical “Roaring Twenties” wedding with the bride wearing a flamboyant hat.

The rest of their lives, we find this Katz couple living in the Chicago area. Based on information found on Ancestry.com, I think this couple had 4 children, one of which died as an infant. In the 1930 census, the Katz’s had 2 children in their household. Samuel was the operator of a publishing house in Chicago.

The 1940 census lists 3 children in the Katz household, all born in Illinois. Samuel was called a linotype operator for an advertising publishing company.

In 1942, Samuel had his World War II draft card completed. This form said Samuel was working for the Superior Match Company in Chicago. Matchbooks were often printed for advertising purposes.

Below is a photo including matchbook covers printed by the Superior Match Company.

Samuel, at the age of 45, wasn’t called into military service during that war, but he did have a son, Robert, who was in the Navy. That son is included on the casualty list shown below. His name is also found on a monument for soldiers missing in action in a cemetery in Manilla, Philippines. Robert likely went down with a ship that was sunk as part of the war in the Pacific.

The last census entry we can view is the one taken in 1950. Samuel was once again called a linotype operator for a publishing company. I find it quite interesting that their daughter is called an IBM operator for a candy company.

I decided to do a search for an IBM machine that may have been used in 1950. I found the photo below which is described as an IBM accounting machine from 1948. It looks like it used what were called key-punch cards. I remember using them in an early Computers class that I took in Seward back in the late 1960’s when computers were in their early years.

Later in their lives, Samuel and Cora had this photograph taken with a baby that was likely their grandchild.

Samuel Katz died in 1965 at the age of 68; Cora Katz died in 1975 at the age of 80. There is an entry on Findagrave.com for Samuel in the Elmwood Cemetery in Chicago, but it has no gravestone photo. There is no such entry for Cora in that cemetery, nor could I find a burial record for her anywhere else. I suspect she was buried in the Elmwood Cemetery, but just has not gotten an entry on Findagrave.com yet.

Cora has one of those stories that has its beginning in Perry County, but later moves to other locations. In this case, she spent most of her life along with her husband living in the large cities of St. Louis and Chicago. It makes me wonder if this couple both born in the Cardinal’s Nation retained their loyalty to the team from St. Louis even after they moved to the land of the Cubs. As a lifelong Cardinals fan myself, I will proudly state that the Katz’s never saw the Cubs win a World Series during all their years living in Chicago.