Friedrich Raymond Ruehling was born on June 7, 1874, so today would be his special 150th birthday. Frederick was the son of Herman and Pauline (Petzoldt) Ruehling. He was the firstborn child and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. An image of his baptism record from that congregation’s books is shown below.

I have written about members of this Ruehling family in the past, and I have come to the conclusion that I will not find an 1880 census for them. I do know that the Ruehling’s migrated from Altenburg to Pocahontas sometime around 1880. So, Frederick was already 25 years old when we find him in the 1900 census. His father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township, and Frederick and another son, Rudolph, were helping with the farming. Frederick’s grandmother, Christiane Petzoldt, was also living with the Ruehling’s.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Frederick’s bride. Katherina Theresia Perr was born on December 1, 1877, the daughter of Joseph and Mary (Kraml) Perr. Katherine was the 3rd of 13 children born into her family. She was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can take a look at her baptism record here.

Katherine is found in the 1880 census at the age of 2. Her father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

The photo below of the Perr family has shown up on this blog before. Since Katherine was the second-oldest daughter, she must be one of the older girls standing in the back row.

The only other census in which we find Katherine as a single woman was the one taken in 1900. She was 22 years old at the time. The Perr household was filled with 11 children at that time. Only one of the Perr’s 13 children died as an infant. Since the 12th child was born in 1898, I figure the photo shown above was taken at about the same time as this census. One more child would be born in 1902.

Frederick Ruehling married Katherine Perr on November 26, 1905. These two were married at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. We find this information in the binder we have for St. John’s, Pocahontas that we have in our research library.

The Missouri marriage license for this wedding is diplayed here.

According to our German Family Tree, the Ruehling’s had 3 children, 2 girls and a boy. All 3 were baptized at St. John’s, Pocahontas. In the 1910 census, we find this couple with the 2 girls. Frederick was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

Even though he was already 44 years old, Frederick was required to have a World War I draft registration completed in 1918. It gives him a Neely’s Landing address.

Next, we find the Ruehling’s in the 1920 census. All 3 of their children are listed in this entry.

I think it must have been about this time that the Ruehling’s transferred their membership to Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Their middle child, Artilla, was confirmed at Immanuel in 1922. When the 1930 census was taken, only their son, Eldor, was still living with Fred and Katie. Eldor was helping his father on the farm.

The last census in which we find Katherine was the one taken in 1940. In addition to Fred and Katie, their son, Eldor, who had married Mildred Hesse, and his young family were living with them.

Katherine Ruehling died in 1946 at the age of 68. Her death certificate below indicates heart issues caused her death.

The 1950 census indicates that Frederick was still living with Eldor’s family. The entry has the word retired as his occupation, but it is crossed out. Eldor is called the farmer in the household.

Frederick Ruehling died in 1955 at the age of 1980. His death certificate also mentions heart problems as the cause of death. It also says he died in Frohna. Perhaps his son, Eldor, who is the informant on this form, had moved his family to Perry County.

Frederick and Katharine Ruehling are each buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

There are still Ruehling’s living in both East Perry County and North Cape Girardeau County. There have been Ruehling’s living in both counties for a lot of years. As for Katherine’s Perr family, I have already written several posts about children in that very large family, but I suspect this one about Katherine will not be the last.