I have a confession to make. Not long ago, our new museum director decided to do a blog post on Fridays. That decision would give me a regular day off of writing posts. However, yesterday was the third time that I did research on a story for a Friday publication since she made that commitment. I am a creature of habit. My wife reminded me yesterday morning that I did not have to write a story because it was Friday. I came to the conclusion that today I would write the story that I had researched for yesterday. As it turns out, there is a event’s date in this story for August 22nd, another event that took place on August 23rd, and now the post is being published on August 24th.

Lucie Natalie Koenig was born on August 23, 1896, making yesterday her 128th birthday. This girl went by the name, Natalie. She was the daughter of Edward and Julianna (Rueschel) Koenig. Natalie was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. An image of her baptism record is pictured here.

Before I move on, let me say that in a few previous posts, I pointed out that there was a “neighborhood” in the New Wells area that was populated by people with the surnames, Koenig, Koch, and Haertling. Those names show up on the same census page for a lot of census years. If you look at the above baptism record, you will see that Natalie not only had baptismal sponsors named Koenig, but also one named Koch and another named Haertling.

Natalie is found in the 1900 census at the age of 3. She is called Lucy on this entry. I can tell you that the census page on which this entry is found also has Koch’s and Haertling’s on it. Natalie’s father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

In 1910, Natalie was a teenager. That was also the year Natalie was confirmed at Immanuel, New Wells.

The year, 1920, would be the year that Natalie got married, but she was still single when that year’s census was taken. She was the only remaining child living with her parents.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Natalie’s husband. His name was Alfred Christian Heinrich Kasten, who was born on March 24, 1899. That means he was a few years younger than his future wife. Alfred was the son of Benjamin and Marie (Grebing) Kasten. That means he was the borther of Lina Kasten, a character in the post written about a week ago titled, Ben Kasten’s Son-in-law, Ben. Alfred was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. His baptism record is displayed below.

Alfred was the first child born into his family and is the only child in the 1900 census entry for his family. He was just one year old. His father was a farm laborer in the Brazeau Township.

Next, we find Alfred in the 1910 census at the age of 11. I displayed this census entry in that previous post and pointed out that included in it was Alfred’s grandmother, Wilhelmina Grebing, who was a widow at that time.

I placed this image of the Wilhelmina Grebing farm on the previous post. The Kasten farm was on her land.

Alfred had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. It said he was a farm laborer and lists his father as his employer.

Like it was with Natalie, Alfred is found as a single man in the census taken during the year that he was married. Even though he is given no occupation in this entry, I have to think that, at the age of 20, he was helping his father on his farm.

Alfred Kasten married Natalie Koenig on August 22, 1920 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. That means Natalie was married on the day before her 24th birthday. The church marriage record for this pair is shown here.

We can also take a look at the Missouri marriage license for this couple. This form says Natalie was from Altenburg, not New Wells, even though that year’s census had her living in the New Wells area.

The German Family Tree lists 6 children born to this pair, but 2 of them died as infants. In the 1930 census, we find Alfred and Natalie’s family living in the Benjamin Kasten household along with a variety of other Kasten family members.

By the time of the 1940 census, we find the Alfred Kasten family listed separately with Alfred as the head of the household. However, his father’s household is found just above his in this census, so I suspect that they still lived on the same piece of property. Included in Alfred’s household was Natalies father, Edward Koenig.

I mentioned in my previous post about Lina Kasten that Alfred’s daughter, Melba, would later become my aunt by marrying my father’s brother, Herb Schmidt. Melba was confirmed a year before the above census. Later, Melba would be pinned with the nickname, Mousie. I never called her that name. To me, she was always Aunt Melba.

Alfred Kasten had his World War II draft card completed in 1942.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Alfred had 2 helpers on his farm, both Melba and Gordon.

Later in November of 1950, Melba Kasten married Herb Schmidt. Since I was born in January of 1950, I figure that I attended that wedding, although I certainly do not remember it.

Alfred Kasten died in 1965 at the age of 65; Natalie Kasten died in 1972 at the age of 75. These two are buried in the Trnity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

I enjoyed seeing the fact that Aunt Melba was a farm helper in the 1950 census. One of my vivid memories of my Aunt Melba was that she loved her milk cows and was the person who did the milkiing. She was always involved in helping Uncle Herb on his farm. She was also well known in these parts as a very talented seamstress.

I also cannot end this post without pointing out that Herb and Melba’s daughter, Jay, named her first daughter, Natalie. Jay has told me that her husband’s grandmother also was named Natalie, so it is very understandable why that girl was given that name. I might add that Natalie is not a very common name to be found in our German Family Tree, so I find it rather rare that my cousin, Jay, and her husband, Russ, each had a grandmother named Natalie.