I often use the term “empty nest”, and I am sure you are well aware of its meaning. Today, our birthday boy, whose surname was Vogel, which means bird in German, never had an empty nest. In fact, because he had 14 children with his 2 wives, and also took in some other children who needed a home, one could say that his nest was always quite full.

August Carl Vogel was born on May 22, 1848, making today his 176th birthday. August himself was part of a very full “nest”. He was child #3 in a family of 9 Vogel children who were born to August and Katherine (Doering) Vogel. I figure that August Carl was born at about the time this Vogel family bought some property near Frohna and became residents of Perry County. A previous post, The Vogels Arrive, gave some details and documentation of August Carl’s parents’ entry into the United States and eventually to Frohna. August Carl’s baptism record is found in the books of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. At the time of his baptism, Rev. Gotthold Loeber was serving both the church in Altenburg and the one in Frohna.

Up to this point, I have called him August Carl, so as not to confuse him with his father, who was also named August, but now I will begin to just call him August. He is found in the 1850 census at the age of 2. He is called Augustus in this entry. August’s father was a farmer.

The farm where August was born and raised can be seen on this map that was produced later in 1915. You can locate 2 parcels of land just outside Frohna for Aug. Vogel.

In 1860, we find August at the age of 12. He then had several younger siblings who had been born in the previous decade.

The last census entry in which we find August as a single man was the one taken in 1870. His father had died in 1868, so now, at the age of 22, August was doing the farming with some help from his brothers.

Next, we will take a look at the woman who became August’s first bride. Her name was Bertha Gruenwald, whose birthday, even though there is a lack of documents to confirm it, was on February 2, 1854. The only place I found that date was on her Findagrave.com entry. Our German Family Tree only indicates that Bertha’s father was named Friedrich, but no reference to her mother’s name. Also, the GFT indicates that her father may have died in Germany, and her mother is buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna with a death date of 1854, which is also likely the year of Bertha’s birth. That is very puzzling. I found Bertha in the 1860 census at the age of 6. It appears that she had been taken in to be raised by the James G. Roth family. The Roth couple was part of the New York Group that had arrived in 1839..

Bertha is still found living in the Roth household in the 1870 census, but she is called a domestic servant. She was 16 years old at the time.

August Vogel married Bertha Gruenwald on November 28, 1872, most likely at Concordia, Frohna. However, at that time, Rev. J.F. Koestering was serving both the congregation in Altenburg and in Frohna. Like is the case in the Trinity, Altenburg books, there is also a “Koestering Hole” in the Concordia books for marriage records. What we do have are 2 different civil records for Perry County. You can see Rev. Koestering’s name on the document below.

Here is an additional civil record of that event.

August and Bertha had 2 children, both of which were baptized at Concordia, Frohna. However, Bertha died in 1876, leaving August with 2 young children, one which had been born in 1875. I believe that child did not live long. Bertha’s death record is found in the Concordia books, and she has an entry on Findagrave.com, but there is no gravestone photo.

August would get married again. His second wife was Maria Gerharter, who was born on November 27, 1854. Several census entries say she was born in Austria. It appears that her family came to America in 1869, and they are found in the 1870 census living in the Apple Creek Township.. Maria was 15 years old.

August Vogel married Maria Gerharter on April 12, 1877 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. The church record for that event is displayed here.

We can also view 2 Cape Girardeau County marriage records.

August and Maria had 2 children prior to the 1880 census. That year’s census entry includes 3 children, one of which was born to August’s first wife. Also included in this household was August’s sister, Agnes, and his mother. In addition there is an 11 year-old boy named Gottfried Dietrich, who was called an adopted son. The Vogel’s were living in Frohna, likely on the property once owned by August’s father.

August and Maria had 12 children together. By the time of the 1900 census, all of them had been born. There were 10 children in the Vogel household at that time. August was a farmer with some help from some older sons.

At some point in time, August and Maria had this photo taken.

In 1910, the Vogel household was down to 4 children. At the age of 61, August was still farming with a few sons.

Two significant events took place in 1914. First, one of August and Maria’s daughters, Emily, who had married Martin Mangels, died in July of that year in Wisner, Nebraska. Martin brought his children back to Frohna and decided to farm his children out to folks in Perry County. Then, in September of 1914, Maria Vogel died at the age of 59. Her death certificate shown below indicates that problems with her liver was the cause of death.

Especially since 2 of the Mangels grandchildren were placed with August, his wife’s death must have presented August with some real challenges. At least, his son, Carl Vogel and his wife Emma (Bergt) and a few of their children, were living with him when the 1920 census was taken.

That would turn out to be the last census entry in which we find August. He died in 1927 at the age of 78. His death certificate is displayed below.

August and Maria Vogel are buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery and have gravestones that we can view.

I figure August Carl Vogel never lived in a household in which had an empty nest. In fact, there are indications that in addition to his 14 children with 2 wives, he had occasion to be taking in other children who needed a roof over their head and food on their table. Perhaps his first wife, Bertha, had an influence on his attitude as a result of her being taken into another household during her childhood. I figure that the Vogel family had quite a large dinner table.