I am going to begin today’s post by displaying a Perry County birth record for a baby boy that was born on August 15, 1884, thus making today his 130th birthday. You can view it in the 2 images shown below.

The above document says Heinrich Joseph Lungwitz was the son of Herman and Mathilda (Meyr) Lungwitz. What makes this form so unusual is the fact that this child was not named Heinrich. I found no other evidence that this baby had Heinrich either as his first name or a middle name. His baptism record found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg says his name was Amos Joseph Lungwitz. All other future documents say that his first name was Amos, not Heinrich.

Because we cannot view the 1890 census, Amos is already a teenager before we can see him in a federal census. The 1900 census shows the Lungwitz family living in the Brazeau Township where his father was a farmer. Amos was one of 9 children listed in this household, and he was called a farm laborer.

The only other census in which we find Amos as a single man was the one taken in 1910. Amos is called a 26 year-old farm laborer and his father is called a broom maker.

Amos would get married during the next decade, so we will now take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Anna Margaretha Dorothea Hilpert, who was born on January 30, 1882. Since her name appears as Dora on her gravestone, that is the name I will use for her in this post. She was the daughter of John and Margaretha (Blanken) Hilpert. Dora was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. Her baptism record from that congregation’s books is shown here.

Like it was with Amos, Dora cannot be seen until she is a teenager in a census entry. The 1900 census shows her as being 18 years old. Her father was a cooper in Frohna.

The 1910 census indicates that Dora was a 28 year-old servant for a private family. She was the only child left living with her parents. Dora’s father was a cooper of flour barrels, so he almost certainly was working for the Frohna Flour Mill operated by the Weinhold brothers.

Amos Lungwitz married Dora Hilpert on December 28, 1913 at Concordia, Frohna. This couple likely had to wait to get married until the Advent/Christmas season was complete. The church marriage record for this couple is shown here.

We can also view this couple’s Missouri marriage license.

Amos had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He is given an Altenburg address and called a farmer.

Amos and Dora had 2 children, both boys and both baptized at Trinity, Altenburg. Both of these boys were born before the 1920 census was taken. In that year’s census entry, we find both Amos’s widowed father and Dora’s widowed mother living with them.

The 1930 census shows the Lungwitz household with their 2 boys and Amos’s father, Herman. Dora’s mother had died in 1924.

The Lungwitz’s are next found in the 1940 census. Their son, Edgar, had gotten married in 1938, so it was only their son, Elmer, who was living with them. Elmer was helping his father on his farm.

The last census we are allowed to view in 1950 shows Amos and Dora living with their son, Elmer, and his family. Amos is said to be doing carpenter and farm work. Both Elmer and his wife, Erma, were described as being workers on the farm.

Amos Lungwitz died in 1955 at the age of 70. His death certificate below says he died while he was a patient at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Dora Lungwitz died in 1962 at the age of 80. We can also view her death certificate below.

Both Amos and Dora Lungwitz are buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

As you can see in all the documents in this story except for his Perry County birth record that today’s birthday boy was called Amos, not Heinrich. I have no idea how the birth record got the first name of Heinrich for him. I do know that I appreciated typing the names of today’s main characters using just 4-letter names.