Today’s birthday girl does not have much of a presence in our German Family Tree. At least not yet. Below is an image of the items included in that document for Bertha Wilhelmine Scholl.

If you look closely, her baptism and first marriage record are not indexed in the GFT. The only church record listed is her second marriage record found from the Friedenberg church, and in that case, we cannot even look at that record. That could change soon because, as you will discover, I will be displaying two of Bertha’s church records in this post.

Bertha Wilhelmine Scholl was born on March 26, 1899, making today her 125th birthday. I am going to backtrack just a bit into the Scholl family tree to explain what branch of that tree from which Bertha came. In 1873, a marriage took place between Herman Scholl and Alvine Tanz. That wedding took place in Uniontown because that was Alvine’s congregation. That couple had a child named Willhelm Heinrich Scholl, who was born in 1874 and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. When the last child in that Scholl family was born in 1887, that child was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. That is also the same year that Wilhelm Heinrich Scholl was confirmed at Immanuel, New Wells. However, that confirmation record for William Heinrich is where the German Family Tree loses track of him.

Wilhelm Heinrich Scholl married Minnie Brune, whose maiden name was Strueve, in 1896. That wedding was performed by a Justice of the Peace, so we will not find a church record for it. Bertha Scholl was the last of the children to be born to Wilhelm and Minnie. Her baptism record can be found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We have that congregation’s records in our museum, but they are still in the process of being indexed so that they can be included in our German Family Tree. Bertha’s baptism record is displayed below.

At this point, I must tell you about some very tragic facts. Bertha’s mother, Minnie, was previously married to Oscar Brune. That couple had a child who was born on July 25, 1893. However, Oscar, the father, died on April 19, 1893, about 3 months before that child was born. That means Minnie was a widow when she gave birth to her first child. She then married Wilhelm Scholl in 1896. I previously stated that Bertha Scholl was the last of the children in her family. There is a reason for this. On March 4, 1899, Wilhelm Scholl died, leaving Minnie a widow. That means that when Bertha was born toward the end of March that year, it was the second time that Minnie was pregnant when a husband of hers died, and gave birth as a widow. How tragic that must have been for her! It also means that Bertha never met her father.

When Bertha shows up in her first census in 1900, she was just 1 year old. Her mother was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township with 3 young children, none of which would have been old enough to help her. These must have been very trying times for Minnie Scholl.

Bertha’s mother never married again. In the 1910 census, Minnie is still called a farmer, but at least at that point in time, she had a son, Henry, who was old enough to be helping her. Bertha was 11 years old in this entry.

Bertha would get married during the next decade, so we will now look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Clarence Walter Seabaugh, who was born on October 15, 1891. Clarence was the son of Andrew and Sarah (Barks) Seabaugh. If you follow Andrew Seabaugh’s family back in time, you would discover that his Seabaugh’s were one of several families to move to Cape Girardeau County in the early 1800’s from North Carolina. If you go back even further, you find them in Pennsylvania. The same type of family history can be found in several families that settled in Brazeau and formed the Brazeau Presbyterian Church. Perhaps the Seabaugh’s were also Presbyterians.

Clarence is found in the 1900 census at the age of 8. His father was a farmer in the Whitewater Township in Bollinger County.

Next, we find Clarence in the 1910 census at the age of 18.

I located the Seabaugh farm on the plat maps made in 1915. It was very near the villages of Millheim and Schumer Springs.

Clarence Seabaugh married Bertha Scholl on May 18, 1916. This wedding took place at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, so this is another church record that I can display that is not found in our GFT.

Trinity, Friedheim’s records also contain a collection of marriage certificates for couples getting married. These certificates contain information not found in their other marriage records. In this case, we see that Clarence was said to be from Millheim, and Bertha was from Hildebrand.

The populated place called Hildebrand is rather difficult to find on map programs or search engines. I have seen this name before, and it always is found in reference to someone who lived near Friedheim. The map below shows both Friedheim and Millheim.

The Missouri marriage license for Clarence and Bertha can also be viewed.

Clarence had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. He is given a Hildebrand address. There was once a Hildebrand post office.

I believe that Clarence and Bertha had 3 children. In the 1920 census, we find the Seabaugh’s living with Clarence’s widowed father, probably on the same farm shown on the map earlier. They had just one young child.

The Seabaugh’s made a move prior to the 1930 census. In that year, we find them living in the Bois Brule Township of Perry County. They had 3 children, and Clarence’s father was still living with them.

In the 1940 census, the Seabaugh’s were living in Perryville, where Clarence was a truck driver. Two of their children were working in the shoe factory.

Clarence had his World War II draft card completed in 1942.

The 1950 census is the last one we can view. In it, we find both Clarence and Bertha working at the shoe factory.

Clarence Seabaugh died in 1962 at the age of 71. We can view his death certificate. It says he died at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Bertha Seabaugh would get married again in 1967. She married Carl Bergmann, whose wife, Oneida (Ochs) Bergmann, had died in 1964. As said earlier, this second marriage for Bertha took place at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg. Carl was 71, and Bertha was 68 when this wedding occurred. Carl Bergmann’s brother, Oswald, was married to Clarence Seabaugh’s sister, Mary, so Bertha and Carl must have known each other for a while. We can view this couple’s Missouri marriage license.

Bertha Bergmann died in 1990 at the age of 90. Bertha is buried with her first husband, Clarence, in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

When Carl Bergmann died in 1989, he was buried with his first wife, Oneida, in the same cemetery. Maybe someday I will write a post focusing on Carl and Oneida’s story.

I have heard that Lynn Degenhardt is getting close to finishing the process of indexing the records of Trinity, Friedheim. When he does, he should be able to better follow the Scholl family. He should also be able to include some more information about the Seabaugh family.