The starting point for today’s tale is the birth of Esther Elizabeth Weith on April 12, 1896. There is a bit of debate about her birthday. That is because Esther’s gravestone says she was born on April 11, 1893, not April 12, 1896. Both the day and the year of birth differ. However, there seems to be more evidence of an April 12, 1896 birthday. Esther was the daughter of Conrad and Anna Barbara (Stuebinger) Weith. She was baptized at the Cross Congregation Church near Longtown. Some of that congregation’s records are now found on Ancestry.com, so I can display Esther’s baptism record below.

Sadly, Esther’s mother died in 1899, leaving her father as a widower. I almost did not locate Esther in the 1900 census. Ancestry.com gives her surname as Keith, not Weith. She was 4 years old and living with her aunt and uncle, George and Lizzie Stuebinger in the Salem Township.

I found a Conrad White in that year’s census living in the Central Township, and he was called a widower. I believe this was Esther’s father.

A younger sister of Esther named Dora was living in a Hacker household and called adopted in that year’s census. Then, in 1902, Conrad married Susana Heise. We find the Weith’s in the 1910 census living in the Central Township. Esther was 14 years old and back living with her father who was a farmer. Dora, who had earlier been described as adopted in the Hacker household, was also back living with her father.

Esther would get married during the next decade, so we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Lawnie Joseph Tucker, who was born on July 1, 1894. His first name is often spelled Lonnie on documents, but his gravestone uses the Lawnie spelling, so that is what I will use. He was the son of Joseph and Ida (Canada) Tucker. Lawnie is found in the 1900 census at the age of 5. That year’s census pages from the Salem Township are often very difficult to read. Lawnie’s father was a farmer.

Next, we find Lawnie in the 1910 census as a teenager.

The 1915 plat maps for Perry County shows where the farms for the Weith and Tucker families were located. The Tucker’s farm was just north of Crosstown, and the Weith farm was south of Crosstown. After the Cross Congregation closed, Zion Lutheran Church was established in Crosstown.

Lawnie Tucker married Esther Weith on January 7, 1915. Their wedding took place at the Church of the Assumption in Perryville, which was a Catholic parish.

This Catholic Church was also called St. Mary’s of the Assumption, and later St. Mary’s of the Barrens. Here is an older photo of that church.

Lawnie should have had his World War I draft registration completed when that war broke out, but I was unable to locate his form. Family Trees on Ancestry.com list as many as 8 children born to Lawnie and Esther, including a set of twins. The 1920 census shows the Tucker’s living in the Central Township where Lawnie was a farmer. There were 3 children listed.

The 1930 census lists 6 children in the Tucker household.

The Tucker’s relocated to St. Louis before the 1940 census was taken. Lawnie was called a pipefitter for a railroad shop. There were 7 children in the family, and several of the children were part of the work force.

Lawnie had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. This form says Lawnie’s employer was the S.G. Adams Company. That was an office products business in St. Louis.

I found this photo of the building that is reportedly the one which housed the S.G. Adams Company.

There is a mystery in the 1950 census. I found several members of the Tucker family listed on a census page. Ethel Caffrey, along with Alvin and Curtis Tucker, were 3 of Esther’s children. Esther is listed as being 53 years old and is called single in the marriage status column. But where is Lawnie? I can honestly say that I do not know. I looked for him. I know he was still alive and would later be buried together with Esther.

Later in her life, Esther had this photograph taken.

Lawnie Tucker died in 1974 at the age of 80; Esther Tucker died in 1986 at the age of 90. These two are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville, which indicates they had returned to Perry County later in their lives. This is where we see Esther’s birth date differing from her baptism record and other documents.

Now you know most of the story of Lawnie and Esther Tucker. There are some holes in the story and some unanswered questions. It appears to be the story of a Lutheran marrying a Catholic, but the bride and groom were each from farms located not far from one another. Sometimes I write stories about a bride and groom that were born and raised great distances apart from one another. Yet quite a few on this blog tell stories about a pair that grew up rather close to each other. Such stories are more common in rural areas such as ours, especially back in the days when people were not as mobile as they are today.