There is a long history of full-time church workers who are part of the “Miller” Weinhold family tree. Some are men who became pastors or teachers in the Lutheran church, and others are women who married men who were teachers or pastors. Today, I will tell the tale of a Weinhold man who would become a Lutheran pastor. The amazing statistic is that there were 4 boys who were sons in the Martin Weinhold family from Frohna who became Lutheran pastors. I have already written a few posts on this blog about some of the Pastor Weinhold’s. You will read a post about another one today.

Paul Gerhardt Weinhold was born on January 11, 1893, the son of Martin and Magdalena (Noennig) Weinhold. Paul’s father, Martin, was one of 3 sons involved in the milling business. Joseph Weinhold ran a mill in Wittenberg, and Martin and Gotthilf operated the mill in Frohna. Paul was the 10th child in a family of 14. Paul, like all his siblings, was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. An image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books is pictured here.

Paul is found in the 1900 census at the age of 7. This entry gives evidence that Paul’s father was a miller in Frohna.

On the map below, we see that the Weinhold’s lived in Frohna between Concordia Lutheran Church and that congregation’s cemetery.

A photo was taken of the Martin Weinhold family in about 1908. Paul is standing 3rd from the left in the back row. The caption identifies everyone in the photo. I have to wonder whether the young Frohna photographer, Paul Lueders, took this photo. If he did, he was taking the photo of the woman he would marry in 1910, Sara Martha Weinhold.

On the same day in 1908, another photo was taken of this Weinhold family which included spouses. Once again, Paul is standing 3rd from the left in the back row. These 2 photos are the only ones I found of Paul, and I did not find one at all for his future wife.

I was not able to locate Paul in the 1910 census. I know that he was not living with his parents. I strongly suspect that he was attending one the Lutheran colleges that was training young people to be church workers. Paul would have been about 17 years old in 1910.

I did find an article that was published in the Perry County Republican in 1913 that mentions Paul. It said that Paul pitched for the Altenburg baseball team, and it also described him as a student.

A few years later, another article was printed in the newspaper that once again described Paul as a baseball player. It also says that, by this time, he had been assigned to be the pastor at a church in Newell, South Dakota. Newell is located in the Black Hills vicinity in South Dakota, not far from Sturgis, where the big biker rally is held annually. While Paul was home, he also preached at Concordia, Frohna.

Paul had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. This document confirms that he was a pastor in Newell, South Dakota.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Paul’s bride. She also happens to be today’s birthday girl. Dorothy Sander was born on May 11, 1895, but she was not the only one born on that day. She was one of a set of twin girls. Her twin sister was named Mathilda Sander. The twins were born in Ft. Wayne, Indiana and were the daughters of Carl and Wilhelmina (Steup) Sander. I located these photos of their parents.

Sadly, Wilhelmina Sander died just 10 days after giving birth to her twins. Carl Sander got married again in 1899 to Anna Merz. So, the first census in which we find the twins was the one taken in 1900 when they were 5 years old. Their father was a salesman at a bookstore in Ft. Wayne.

In the 1910 census, we find Dorothy at the age of 15. Her father is called a merchant at a bookstore, although Ancestry.com transposes merchant as undertaker. I do not know what an undertaker would be doing at a bookstore.

In a 1915 Ft. Wayne city directory, we find Dorothy said to be working at the Lutheran Hospital as a nurse. If Paul attended Concordia College in Ft. Wayne while studying for the ministry, perhaps that is how he met Dorothy. In a bit of wild speculation, let me guess that perhaps Paul got injured playing baseball and had to be attended by Dorothy at that hospital.

Paul Weinhold apparently travelled to Ft. Wayne to marry Dorothy Sander on May 7, 1919. All I could find documenting this wedding was the Indiana marriage record shown here.

When the 1920 census was taken, we find the Weinhold’s still in South Dakota, but this time they were living in Gregory, which is located in the south central portion of that state. Paul was called a minister at an evangelical Lutheran church.

Sometime in the next decade, the Weinhold’s moved out of South Dakota. In the 1930 census, they were living in Snyder, Nebraska, and Paul was still preaching. They had 4 children in their household. The oldest daughter was said to be born in Nebraska, followed by 2 children born in South Dakota, which is quite puzzling. That last child born in South Dakota was 5 years old, so the Weinhold’s must have moved to Nebraska after 1925. A young single woman named Louise Weber was also living in their household. She was a teacher at their Lutheran school. Weber is a Perry County name, but this woman was born in Nebraska, and although I know plenty of Weber’s who moved to that area, she does not appear to be connected to them.

Let me say a few things about Snyder, Nebraska. First of all, it is not far from West Point, Nebraska. Quite a few young men from Perry County migrated to that area in Nebraska during the early 1900’s. Also, in the post, Teacher Foelber, it was noted that Herman Foelber was a teacher in Snyder for 23 years before moving to become a teacher in Ft. Wayne in 1913. So, when Pastor Weinhold arrived in Snyder, he may have heard stories about one of their former teachers who had roots in Perry County. The name of the church in Snyder was St. Peter Lutheran Church.

When the 1940 census was taken, we find the Weinhold’s still in Snyder

Paul had his World War II draft card completed in 1942.

Prior to the 1950 census, Pastor Weinhold moved to another congregation. In that years’ entry, the Weinhold’s were living in Whittemore, Iowa. At that time, the Weinhold’s were in their 50’s, and they had an empty nest.

Dorothy Weinhold died in 1972 at the age of 76. According to this death index, she died in California.

Paul Weinhold died in 1983 at the age of 91. His California death index is displayed below.

Paul and Dorothy Weinhold are each buried in the Anaheim Cemetery in Anaheim, California.

Rev. Paul Weinhold spent much of his time in Snyder, Nebraska, but his career was spent in the heartland of America, as displayed in the map below.

I did not take the time to figure out why the Weinhold’s later lived in California where they died and were buried. I will close by saying that Dorothy’s twin sister, Mathilda, also married a Lutheran pastor who spent part of his ministry in Nebraska and died in California. It sounds like a story that I would also like to tell, but Mathilda only has connections to Perry County through her sister.