Pauline Ruth Schaefer will be one of the highlighted characters today because she was born on April 4, 1899. Ruth would be celebrating her 125th birthday today. She would become another one of those characters who would be born and raised here in Perry County, but would spend most of her life elsewhere. Her future husband would also be born and raised in a rural area in Missouri. These two would meet each other in St. Louis and raise a family there.

Ruth was the first child of Henry and Josephine (Telle) Schaefer. Her parents would eventually have 8 children. Back in the first year of this blog, I wrote a short post about Ruth’s parents titled, Tennessee Telle and Her Tale. The title of that post refers to the middle name of Ruth’s mother being Tennessee. Below are photos of Ruth’s parents.

Ruth was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. An image of her baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed here.

Ruth is found in the 1900 census at the age of 1. Her father was called a landlord in this entry. The Schaefer’s were living in the Union Township.

In the 1910 census, Ruth was 11 years old, and this time, her family was living in the Apple Creek Township of Cape Girardeau County. Her father was a manufacturer at the distillery located in Old Appleton. It looks like Ruth’s mother had given birth to another child every other year.

This story includes several times when I was unable to locate census entries for the characters. This is one of them. I was unsuccessful at locating Ruth in the 1920 census. I suspect that she was living and working in St. Louis because a lot of young ladies from Perry County went to St. Louis in those days to find work. That would also be where she would later get married.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Ruth’s husband. His name was John William Bernhard Hake, who was born on August 12, 1898. He mostly went by the name, William, on documents. William was the son of Henry and Adeline (Kempker) Hake. The original Hake’s who arrived in America in 1844 settled in central Missouri. William is found in his first census entry in 1900 at the age of 1. There were several Hake families listed on the same census page from the Jim Henry Township in Miller County, Missouri. All of the Hake fathers were farmers. William is called Ben J.W. in this entry.

William is next found in the 1910 census. The Hake family was still living in the same place. William was 11 years old at the time. Like his future wife, William was the oldest child in his family.

Probably at about this time in William’s life, a photograph was taken of him and his siblings. The photo is labeled with the names of the Hake children.

William had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He was farming, and his employer was his uncle, Gerhardt Kempker. His address was given as Marys Home, Missouri, which is located not far from the Lake of the Ozarks.

The 1920 census was also a problem in William’s case. I also suspect that William was living in St. Louis by that time, but I was unable to find him in that year’s census. William Hake married Ruth Schaefer on September 25, 1924. At least that is the date given on Family Search that was entered by a Hake family member. William’s later obituary says he was married in 1925, and it says he was married in St. Louis. I found no documentation for this wedding. Since this couple would eventually get buried in the cemetery operated by Trinity and Holy Cross congregations in St. Louis, I looked in the books of each of those churches, but with no success.

This Hake couple had 4 children. When the 1930 census was taken, we find the Hake family living in St. Louis. They had 3 young children, and William was called a chauffeur for a cleaning business. Ruth’s younger brother, Charles, was also living with them.

The 1940 census shows the Hake family with all 4 children. This time, William was called a stone mason with his own business.

William had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. On this form, it says his employer was the Falstaff Brewing Company in St. Louis. His address, 2722 Miami, was just a block or two away from Holy Cross Lutheran Church, so I think by this time, the Hake’s were members of that congregation.

The 1950 census is yet another one in which I was unable to locate William or Ruth. I have every reason to believe that they were still living in St. Louis in 1950. Ruth Hake died in 1969 at the age of 70. We are able to view her death certificate. It says she died at the Deaconess Hospital in St. Louis, and says she was a clerical worker for a religious society. I have to wonder whether she was employed by a Lutheran agency.

At some point in time after his wife’s death, William moved to South Bend, Indiana, and was living there at the time of his death in 1996. He was 97 years old when he died. We are also able to view Indiana death certificates, even with a more recent death, so I am able to show you his. It describes his usual work as being a maintenance engineer.

I am also able to display an obituary for William which adds some more details to his life.

William’s body was returned to St. Louis so he could be buried with his wife. William and Ruth are buried together in the Concordia Cemetery in St. Louis.

I discovered that one of the children of William and Ruth, James Hake, attended Concordia Teachers College in River Forest, and played on their football team. William’s obituary calls this son, Dr. James Hake. Another son, Rogers Hake, also had a Dr. in front of his name.

The evidence points to the likelihood that both William and Ruth, after their early rural Missouri roots, eventually made their way to St. Louis and managed to become acquainted with one another. That city became the home for this pair, and that is where their children were born and raised.