An Austrian baby was born on July 23, 1842 named Pauline Pechmueller. Pauline would be 182 years old today. She was the daughter of Mathias and Theresia (Huebner) Pechmueller. When Pauline was 26 years old, she came to America. Three Pechmueller’s are found on the passenger list of the ship, Cimbria, that left Germany in 1869. Pauline and Marie are likely sisters, and Joseph may have also been an older brother. Since Joseph was said to be from Chicago, perhaps he had already been in this country previously, and he went back to Austria to bring over Pauline and Marie.

I really am not 100% sure about what happened to Joseph and Marie, but Pauline managed to make her way to the Shawnee Township of Cape Girardeau County. I found a Joseph Peckmiller who settled in Wisconsin. He lived to 100 years old and had an article published in a newspaper. I will display it here. I did find this Wisconsin marrige record for Joseph, and it gives the same names for his parents as the ones for Pauline.

One fact that I noticed in the article below was particularly fascinating. He bought a team of horses in Missouri, and he and his daughter rode them all the way back to Wisconsin.

There was also an Anna Marie Pechmueller who lived in the Shawnee Township and married Karl Mirly. However, she was born in 1819, which makes it a bit difficult for her to be a sister of Pauline, and she came to this country in the 1850’s. She would have been much older than 23 years old when Pauline came to this country, so she is almost certainly not the Marie Pechmueller shown on the passenger list. However, I think it is very possible that Anna Maria was related to Pauline somehow, and that may have been why Pauline ended up in the Shawnee Township.

I was not able to locate Pauline in the 1870 census, and she would get married in 1871, so I will now turn my attention to the man who would become her husband. His name was Joseph Ladreiter, who was born on January 8, 1834 in Austria. On Family Search, it says he was the son of Melchhart Taubler and Maria Ladreiter, which seems to indicate that he was born out of wedlock. Joseph came to America in 1867 aboard the ship, John Bertram. His name is shown on that ship’s passenger list below. It says he was headed to Missouri.

I also was unable to find Joseph in an 1870 census. On May 11, 1871, Joseph Ladreiter married Pauline Pechmueller at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. I am not in Altenburg for a few da;ys, so I am unable to display church records, but I am able to display a Cape Girardeau County record for this wedding.

Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to this couple. They were all baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells.. When the 1880 census was taken, we find the Ladreiter’s living in the Shawnee Township with 3 children. Joseph was a farmer.

We skip ahead to 1900 when we can view our next census entry for the Ladreiter’s. There are 4 children listed in their household. A few of the older boys were helping Joseph on his farm.

Joseph Ladreiter died in 1910 at the age of 76. That was the first year that Missouri death certificates were made available, so we can take a look at Joseph’s.

Pauline was a widow in the 1910 census. She was living with a young woman, Antonie Reisenbichler, who was a servant.

Pauline is found in the 1920 census living with her daughter, who was also named Pauline. Pauline had married Adolph Rudert and had quite a few children by this time.

Pauline Ladreiter died in 1923 at the age of 80. Her death certificate is displayed here.

Joseph and Pauline Ladreiter are buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells.

I believe that Joseph Ladreiter was the original Ladreiter to arrive in this area. His family tree has grown to be rather large. I have written a few Ladreiter posts in the past. However, today is the first time that the surname, Pechmueller, has shown up on this blog.

I want to take a moment to give a shout-out to Tim Yamnitz. Tim has Perry County roots, but he now lives in Germany. He is an incredible researcher. In my opinion, he puts me to shame. He is also a friend of our museum and has been an important contributor to our research library. I often find the contributor called tyams on Family Search which indicates that Tim has placed a document on that site. Today, I would not have been able to show a likely family connection between Pauline Pechmueller to the Joseph Peckmiller who lived in Wisconsin without Tim’s help. I am so grateful for his assistance.