Hinrich Steffens was born on July 1, 1859, so today would be his 165th birthday. Normally, you might see his first name spelled as Heinrich, but his gravestone uses the Hinrich spelling, so that is what I will use. To add to that, another more Americanized version, Henry, might be used, but I have already written a post about another Henry Steffens, so I will use Hinrich to distinguish between these two men. What makes this situation more confusing is that both Henry’s married women named Martha, so I will use the spelling, Marta, for today’s bride. You will see why I am able to use that name in later documents.
Hinrich was the son of Claus and Katherine (Katt) Steffens. Although the name Claus Steffens sounds familiar, and there were plenty of Katt’s to settle in Perry County, Hinrich’s parents did not come to America. Hinrich, on the other hand, came to this country in 1881 aboard the ship, Weser. He came by himself. He had an older brother named Claus Steffens, who came to America 10 years earlier in 1871. That was the familiar Claus Steffens who became involved with an orchard in Perry County. Below is the Weser passenger list which includes Hinrich.
Since Hinrich arrived after the 1880 census, and he would get married in the 1880’s, he would not be seen in a census entry in the United States as a single man. Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Meta Martha Hesse, and as I said before, I will call her Marta. I suspect that is how her name was pronounced by her German friends and family. Marta was the daughter of Luehr and Rebekka (Filjen) Hesse. She and some sisters came to America in the same year that Hinrich arrived. The ship, Cimbria, carried these Hesse sisters to this country in 1881. We see them on the passenger list below.
Hinrich Steffens married Marta Hesse on October 25, 1885 at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. The church marriage record for this couple is shown here. The bride is called Martha.
The Missouri marriage license below uses the first names of Henry and Marta for this pair.
I was also able to obtain an image of another fancier version of a Missouri marriage license. Once again, Marta is used as the bride’s first name.
Our German Family Tree lists 6 children born to this couple. All of them were baptized at Salem, Farrar. I know that I have already written some posts about some of the children in this family. We find the Hinrich Steffens family in the 1900 census. By then, all 6 children had been born. Hinrich was a farmer in the Salem Township.
Next, we find the Steffens household in the 1910 census. Two of his sons were old enough to help Hinrich on his farm.
When the 1920 census was taken, we see that Hinrich and Marta were living in the same household with their son, Louis, who had married Maria Versemann in 1913 and already had a few children. Hinrich and Louis were farming together. Hinrich and Marta were both 60 years old at that time.
The 1930 census would be the last one in which we find Marta Steffens. She and Hinrich were living in the household of their youngest son, Theodore, who also had married a Versemann named Hilda. Hinrich was no longer farming at the age of 70.
Marta Steffens died in 1935 at the age of 76. Her death certificate gives several causes of death.
Hinrich is found in the 1940 census still living in the Theodore Steffens household.
Hinrich Steffens died in 1942 at the age of 82 as a result of pneumonia.
Hinrich and Marta Steffens are each buried in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery in Farrar.
On several occasions, I eventually write the story of the parents of characters on this blog only after I have written about the children. The story of Hinrich and Marta is one of those.