I found today’s tale because a wedding too place in East Perry County, Missouri on this day 130 years ago. Despite the couple’s beginning in Missouri, most of the story took place across the river in Illinois. The highlighted surname is Buchholz, and this Buchholz family is an isolated one in our German Family Tree. I will begin with the groom.

Heinrich Wilhelm Buchholz was born on June 27, 1857. Henry was the son of William and Mary (Spelzhaus) Buchholz. He was born in Millstadt, Illinois. In the 1860 census, Henry is found at the age of 3. His father was a farmer in Millstadt.

I was unsuccessful at finding Henry in another census prior to his marriage. There were plenty of Henry Buchholz’s living all over the country that were born at about the same time, but I could not feel safe about claiming any of them were the Henry Buchholz that was born in Millstadt, Illinois. So, we will now take a look at the woman who would become his wife. Her name was Marie Elizabeth Gentil, who was born on January 15, 1872. In some documents, she was called Elizabeth, others Mary, and it appears people in her family may have called her Lizzie. Since her gravestone calls her Mary, so will I. Mary was the daughter of George and Mathilda (Rickert) Gentil. A family tree on Ancestry.com says that she had a twin sibling that did not survive. Mary was born in Posey County, Indiana, in the city of Mount Vernon.

I feel I must tell you a bit about Mary’s father. He and his first wife had several children, and then in 1874, that first wife died in childbirth. In 1875, he married again. That wife died in 1877, and she died in the state of New York. So, it appears that George had moved his family to New York at about that time. We find George in the 1880 census living in Queens, New York. He is called a laborer, and only one of his children from his first marriage is found living with him. This entry says that child was born in Kentucky, which is a real puzzler.

Mary Gentil is also found living in New York in 1880. She was living with Johann and Barbara Schiezer in New York City. She was called adopted.

Now comes the time when a few Gentil’s make their presence known in East Perry County. George shows up in our GFT when he gets married to Pauline Weber in 1886. Pauline was a widow whose husband had died in 1880. The wedding between these 2 widowers was performed by a Justice of the Peace. Then, just one year later, Pauline died in 1887. Pauline’s death record from Trinity’s books says she died in an accident. However, our GFT also has this note about this situation.

“The death of Pauline nee Schroeder Weber Gentil was suspicious, as George Gentil was tried for the murder of his wife Pauline, but was acquitted.”

We are not able to look at the 1890 census to see whether George was still living around here. Nor can we see if Mary, his daughter, had showed up on the scene by that time. What we do know is that George would get married for the 4th time in 1895 in Indiana. Then, in 1900, George was living by himself in Indiana, and his 4th wife was living with one of her children by a previous marriage in a different location.

Meanwhile, Mary Gentil is found in East Perry County in 1894. The most likely thing that happened was that she chose to go back to living with her father and stuck around for a while. On March 27, 1894, Henry Buchholz married Mary Gentil at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. The church record for this event is pictured below. It states that Henry was from Millstadt.

We can also view this couple’s Missouri marriage license.

It is a challenge to figure out where Henry and Mary were located and what they were doing during the time between their wedding and 1910. Our German Family Tree includes 5 births and baptisms of children for this couple. The 1st 2 were baptized at Concordia, Frohna, the next two were baptized at Salem, Farrar, and the 5th one was baptized at St. Paul’s, Wittenberg. A family tree on Ancestry.com says there were 7 children in their family, with some of them being born in between the other births, with no baptism records to be found in local churches. In the 1900 census, we find the Buchholz’s with 2 children. Henry was a farm laborer in the Salem Township. This entry is one of those that is very difficult to read.

When the 1910 census was taken, we find Henry and Mary living in Grand Tower, Illinois. Their last child was born in 1910 and baptized in Wittenberg, They must have crossed the river to have that child baptized because she is not found in this census entry. There were 4 children in their household.

Next, we find the Buchholz’s in the 1920 census. Henry is said to be a farm laborer and “working out”. Three of his children were also part of the work force.

The 1930 census is the last one in which we find Henry. He, Mary, and their daughter, Bertha, were still living in Grand Tower, and Henry was doing odd jobs at the age of 72.

Henry Buchholz died in 1936 at the age of 78. His Illinois death record says he died in East St. Louis, Illinois. This form says he was a retired truck farmer. It also says he had lived in East St. Louis for 6 years, so the Buchholz’s must have moved there just after the 1930 census.

Mary is found in the 1940 census, in which we find her living with her single daughter, Bertha, in East St. Louis.

Mary Buchholz died in 1947 at the age of 75. We can also view an Illinois death record for her.

Both Henry and Mary Buchholz are buried in the Mount Evergreen Cemetery in Millstadt, Illinois.

Now you know the story of a couple names that show up for a while in East Perry County…Buchholz and Gentil. Between the two Gentil characters, George and his daughter, Mary, they certainly had some intriguing lives. So intriguing that I will deem it a soap opera.