In the early days of this blog, I wrote the story of Samuel Gaebler in the post titled, Gaebler the Grocer. I invite you to read that post to get more details that lead up to today’s story, but I will quickly summarize the early life of Samuel. He married Magdalena Schilling in Altenburg. They had several children who were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Then he moved his family to the Shawnee Township where a few more children were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. The last of their 9 children was baptized at the newly-formed Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas in 1896. Samuel was a charter member of that congregation. Not long after that, Samuel moved his family to St. Louis. I will recount the story of one of Samuel’s boys today.

Friedrich Johannes Gaebler was born on April 1, 1894, making today his 130th birthday. Fred, as he was called, was one of the Gaebler children who was baptized at Immanuel, New Wells. An image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed below. When I looked up this record, I discovered that there were 3 baptisms that took place on April 8th when Fred was baptized.

Since Fred’s family moved to St. Louis prior to 1900, in the first census in which we find him, he is already living in that city. Fred was 6 years old, and his father is called a day laborer.

When the 1910 census was taken, Fred’s father had changed occupations. He was operating a grocery store. Fred, at the age of 16, was an office boy for a wholesaling business.

There is evidence that Fred moved to Chicago and lived there for a short while. When he had his World War I draft registration completed, he had a Chicago address and was working as an accountant. This form says it was signed on June 5th, but does not give a year. It must have been 1917, though, because he would get married in 1917, and this form says he was still single.

Fred would get married later in June of 1917, so he must have returned to St. Louis for his wedding. Now, let’s take a look at the woman who became his bride. Her name was Olinda Clara Tacke, who was born on January 5, 1895. Olinda was the daughter of August and Clara (Hoffmeister) Tacke. She was born in St. Louis. We can take a look at a St. Louis birth record for Olinda.

Olinda is found in the 1900 census at the age of 5. Her father was a tailor in St. Louis.

Next, we find Olinda in the 1910 census as a teenager. She was one of 6 daughters in the Tacke household.

Fred Gaebler married Olinda Tacke on June 25, 1917. In the course of researching this story, I found that the address given on Olinda’s birth record, 3755 California, was located rather near to Holy Cross Lutheran Church in St. Louis. I looked in a book that we have in our library to see if Olinda was baptized there. I did not find her. However, I did locate her marriage record in that book, so Holy Cross is where Fred and Olinda were married.

By the way, on the map below, I have pinned the locations of Olinda’s home address and the address of the Gaebler Grocery Store. They were just a matter of a few blocks away from each other. I don’t have any doubts that the Tacke family shopped for groceries at the Gaebler Store. Olinda no doubt came into the store as well, so it is not surprising that Fred became acquainted with Olinda.

I found a military record for Fred during World War I, so I figure that after his wedding, he was drafted into the military. I did not find him in the Missouri soldiers records, so he might have been drafted elsewhere.

The young Gaebler couple is found in the 1920 census living in St. Louis. Fred was a bookkeeper for an auto company, and Olinda was a saleslady for a jeweler.

During the next decade, the Gaebler’s made a move. By the time of the 1930 census, this couple was living in Columbia, Missouri. They had their only child, a son also named Fred, in 1923. Not only did Fred, Sr. have a new address, he had a new occupation. He was the proprietor of a restaurant in Columbia.

The 1940 census for this small Gaebler family also included Olinda’s mother.

Fred and Olinda are found in a 1951 Columbia city directory which gives us the name of his restaurant. It was called the Black & Gold Inn. Columbia is the home of the University of Missouri, whose colors are black and gold, so it is not surprising that his establishment was given that name.

I found other evidence that Fred changed his occupation at a later time. It looks as if he sold his restaurant and returned to be a bookkeeper.

Fred Gaebler died in 1959 at the age of 64. Since he died in Missouri, we can view his death certificate.

Olinda Gaebler died in 1966 at the age of 71. We can also view her death certificate below.

Fred and Olinda are buried together in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Columbia.

The story of Fred Gaebler is one in which we learn about a boy who was born nearby in our area, only to move away from here at a very young age. With the exception of his short stint in Chicago, he had two later residences, St. Louis and Columbia. So, despite moving away, he mostly remained in the state of Missouri.