Today’s birthday girl was yet another one who was born and raised in Perry County, but spent most of her life in St. Louis. Her name was Elenora Sophia Elizabeth Frentzel, and she was born on April 7, 1893. Elenora, sometimes called Nora, was the daughter of Alvin and Elizabeth (Ruhkopf) Frentzel. One amazing fact about Elenora’s story is that she had a cousin, Sarah Frentzel, who was born on the same day as Elenora. I have already written a post about Sarah titled, Frentzel/Telle Daughter Marries a Pelle. Both Elenora and Sarah Frentzel were baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Their baptism records are found right next to each other in that church’s books, but they were baptized on different days.

Elenora is found in the 1900 census at the age of 7. Her father was a merchant in the Union Township. You can see that this Frentzel family was quite large, with Nora being one of the younger children in the family.

Next, we find Elenora in the 1910 census as a teenager. This time, her father was called a farmer.

I was unsuccessful at finding Elenora in the 1920 census, but I suspect that she had moved to St. Louis to find work. She was not living with her parents. Now, we will take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was William Robinson, who was born on November 28, 1880. William was the son of Charles and Beulah (Lukens) Robinson. William was born in Kansas. In the 1900 census, the Robinson’s were living in Girard, Kansas, which is in the eastern part of that state, not that far from Joplin, Missouri. Another interesting fact on the entry below is that William’s father was said to be born “at sea”. His father was a painter, and it said William, at the age of 19, was a soldier. William served in the infantry during the Spanish-American War which took place in 1898 and also was active during what was called the Philippine Insurrection which took place from 1899-1902.

Here is where I ran into some trouble with William’s story. I can sum up my problem with saying that there were just too many William Robinson’s. I could not verify that I was looking at the correct William Robinson when I searched for him in the next few censuses.

William Robinson married Elenora Frentzel on November 1, 1926 in St. Louis. This couple’s marriage license below states that both of them were from St. Louis. Based on the address given with the pastor’s name, I determined that this wedding took place at Messiah Lutheran Church.

As near as I can tell, William and Elenora had just one son, and his name was also William. In the 1930 census, the Robinson’s household was made up of these 3 persons. William, Sr. was called an operator at an opera house.

I located a 1930 city directory for St. Louis that included William and Elenora. It said William worked at the Grand Opera House.

The Grand Opera House hosted a variety of entertainment events during its existence including operas, plays, burlesque shows, and movies. I believe William’s job was operating the movie projector at this location. Below is a photo of the Grand Opera House. It was torn down to build the original downtown Busch Stadium.

I found another city directory that included the Robinson’s that was compiled in 1933. This time, it said that William was working at the Shenandoah Theater.

I located this photo of the Shenandoah Theater.

The 1940 census includes the same trio of individuals. William was called a projectionist.

Below are some movie projectors that were in use during the 1930’s and the 1940’s. The 1930’s version is on the left, and the 1940’s version on the right.

William Robinson died in 1941 at the age of 60. His death certificate below says a ruptured appendix was the cause of his death. It also states that his usual occupation was a moving picture operator.

Elenora is found as a widow in the 1950 census. She was living with her son, William, and his wife, Louise.

Elenora Robinson died in 1973 at the age of 80. We can also view her death certificate.

Because of William’s military service, both he and Elenora qualified to be buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis.

With William being employed by a movie theater, I kept having this nagging thought that I had previously written a story about another character who worked at a movie theater. I then discovered that it was Elenora’s sister who was married to a stage hand who worked at a theater. You may want to read that similar story in the post titled, Adeline’s Stagehand at the Granada.