The name, Carl or Charles Boehme, is another one of those names that shows up in several places in our German Family Tree. I have previously written stories that have included this name. You will read another such story today. The highlighted Charles Boehme in today’s post happens to be celebrating his 150th birthday.

Carl Arthur Boehme was born on May 3, 1874, the son of another Carl Boehme and his wife, Ernestine (Schlimpert) Boehme. We have these portraits of Carl’s parents hanging in the research library of our museum.

Carl would be like so many other men who were baptized with the name, Carl, who would later use the name, Charles. He was also called Charlie. Carl’s baptism record is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.

Charles is found in the 1880 census at the age of 6. His father is called a carpenter and a dealer in furniture. At this time, there were 7 Boehme children with Charles being the youngest. Two other children had been born after Charles, but they had died before this census was taken. I have included the John Grosse household that is found right below the Boehme’s. John was also a carpenter. I have included this Grosse family in this image because the youngest Grosse child, Susanna, would go on to become Charles’s wife.

A later map of Altenburg made in 1915 shows the John Grosse property located right next to some Boehme property. So, Charles and Susanna grew up as neighbors on the west end of Altenburg near Immanuel Lutheran Church. I have to think that Charles and Susanna were playmates as young children. If you look at the Boehme and Grosse children in the above census entry, you should notice that most of them were girls.

The receipt shown below dated 1884 for the purchase of some items from the Boehme furniture business, shows a transaction between Charles Boehme (the father) and George Loebs, who had purchased the brewery in Wittenberg. It also lists some bricks on the receipt.

On the receipt above, you will see that some bricks were included. The Boehme’s were also involved in a brick-making business for some time. Here is a photo of their brick-making facility.

Gerard Fiehler managed to find this old photo of the Boehme furniture business that was once located on the west end of Altenburg. It is the building in the middle.

Because we cannot view the 1890 census, a lot of time passed before we see Charles in the 1900 census. Charles was still single and living with his mother, who was a widow because Charles’s father had died in 1899. Charles is called a stock trader. That occupation had nothing to do with Wall Street. He was involved in the trading of livestock, as was his older brother, Gustav.

Now, we will turn our attention to Charles’s neighbor, Susanna Maria Grosse, who would become his wife. Susanna was born on August 7, 1878, the daughter of John and Magdalena (Petzoldt) Grosse. Although the Boehme’s and the Grosse’s were neighbors, they were members of different congregations. Susanna was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at an image of her baptism record here.

I already displayed the 1880 census for the Grosse family. It showed Susanna at the age of 1. When the 1900 census was taken, we do not find Susanna living with her parents in Altenburg. Instead, we find her living in St. Louis, where she was a servant in the household of Julius Weil, who was a haberdasher, along with several other members of the household.

It was likely because Susanna Grosse was living in St. Louis that explains that when Charles Boehme married her on September 3, 1902, the wedding took place in that city. However, a Missouri marriage license was completed for this wedding in Perry County. It is shown here. Rev. Laskowski was the pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in Maplewood.

This couple would have two children, a girl named Alma and a boy named Eugene. The photo below shows Charles, Susanna, and a young Alma.

The 1910 census shows this couple with both of their children, along with Charles’s mother, his brother, and a servant named Arthur Schubert. Charles and his brother, Gustav were trading in livestock.

Charles was one of the older men who I have seen who was expected to complete a World War I draft registration in 1918. He was called a farmer on this form.

The 1920 census shows Charles as a farmer. His older brother, Gustav, who never married, was still living in his household and working as a livestock trader.

Next, we find the Boehme’s in the 1930 census. His brother Gustav had died in 1925, and their daughter, Alma had married Leo Reisenbichler in 1922, so we only see Charles, Susanna, and their son, Eugene, in their household. Charles is once again called a farmer.

The last census in which we find Charles is the one taken in 1940. I have included the household of their son, Eugene, who had married Jeanette Vogel. Eugene was then a buyer of livestock, and Charles was still called a farmer.

Charles Boehme died in 1949 at the age of 75. We can take a look at his death certificate.

I was unsuccessful at locating Susanna in the 1950 census. She died in 1970 at the age of 92. We can also view her death certificate. She died at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Charles and Susanna Boehme are buried together in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

As you read this article, you may come to the conclusion that Charles Boehme was primarily a farmer during his life. I think that is not necessarily the case. I found evidence that he was involved in the furniture business, the brick-making business, and the livestock business. He was also one of the first directors of the Bank of Altenburg when it was established in 1910. It looks like he had his hands in a lot of enterprises in Altenburg.

I was also able to find some additional photos that include Susanna because they can be found on Ancestry.com. First, here is a photo of the John Grosse family that has shown up on this blog before. Susanna is standing in the back row directly behind her father.

I also found these photos of some of the Grosse sisters taken over the years. In the one showing the 3 younger sisters, Susanna is the one on the left. The one showing the 5 older sisters has Susanna sitting in the middle, third from the left.

Not long ago, another Charles “Charlie” Boehme, who happens to be a grandson of today’s birthday boy, visited our museum. He is the man standing on the far right in this photo. The tall gentleman in the middle of the picture is also a descendant of Charles Boehme through his son, Eugene.