Although we begin today’s story in Frohna, Missouri, that is not where most of the story takes place. This is yet another one of those posts in which a person is born in East Perry County, but early on, moves to a different location.

Natalie Augusta Blancken was born on August 27, 1899, so she qualifies to be today’s birthday girl, celebrating her 125th birthday. Natalie was the daughter of Dietrich and Maria (Eisenberg) Blancken. Natalie was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. An image of her baptism record is pictured here.

Natalie is found in the 1900 census at the age of 3/4. That likely meant she was 9 months old, which is 9/12, and that is reduced to 3/4. You might notice that there were quite a few females in the Blancken famiily. I cut off the image prior to the occupation column, but it says that Natalie’s father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township. This would be the only census entry in which we find Natalie living in Missouri.

The last church record I was able to find in our German Family Tree for anyone in the Blancken family was a confirmation record in 1903. So, it must have been not long after that when the Blancken’s moved away from Perry County. I know that this family spent much of the rest of their lives living in or near Flagler, Colorado, but I was unable to find them in the 1910 census. In that year’s census, Dietrich’s brother, Henry, is found on a farm near Flagler, but not Dietrich. A farm near Flagler was purchased by Dietrich in 1912, so, after that, we find the Blancken’s in censuses. The map below shows where the Dietrich Blancken farm was located.

The 1920 census shows Natalie at the age of 20. Natalie’s father continued to farm, this tme in Flagler.

At some point in time, Natalie can be seen in a photo that included her parents and her siblings. We can view that photo below. Natalie is called Talie in the caption, not to be confused with Tillie.

In the 1930 census, we find this interesting situation. Natalie was still single at the age of 30, and there was a 24 year-old farm hand named Elmer Kueker living in their household. Elmer would eventually get married to Natalie.

Just how did Elmer Kueker manage to get to Colorado and working on the Blancken farm. Elmer Kueker was born on November 14, 1905. Elmer was the son of Henry and Bertha (Hartmann) Kueker. His later draft card says he was born in Red Bud, Illinois. Elmer is found in his first census at the age of 4 in 1910 living in the Prairie du Long Township in Monroe County, Illinois. That is located near the town of Hecker, which is just north of Red Bud.

During the next decade, the Kueker’s moved to Kit Carson County in Colorado, the same county in which Flagler is located. Elmer was a teenager, and his father was farming. A 4 year-old sister was born in Colorado, so the Kueker’s must have moved to that state in the middle of the 1910’s.

We have already seen Elmer in the 1930 census as a farm hand on the Blancken farm, but Elmer is found in more than one census entry for that year. He is also found still living with his parents in Arriba, Colorado. In this entry, Elmer was said to be a laborer on his father’s farm. Arriba is located just a few miles down the road from Flagler.

Elmer Kueker married Natalie Blancken on January 12, 1938. There was a dual parish located in this area of Colorado made up of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Arriba and Zion Lutheran Church in Flagler. This wedding took place in Arriba, but likely was conducted by the pastor also serving in Flagler.

Elmer and Natalie are found in the 1940 census, and Elmer is called a farmer near Flagler. Talie’s mother had died in 1938, so her widowed father was living in this household. There was also a young maid by the name of Wilma Beckmann living with them.

Elmer had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. This is where we find that Elmer was born in Red Bud, Illinois.

The Kueker’s had 2 children born in the 1940’s, but both of them died prior to the 1950 census. These 2 youngsters, a boy name Lawrence and a girl name Lucille, are buried in the Flagler Cemetery in Flagler.

That means we never see these children in a census entry. The 1950 census does not show the Kueker’s with children, but it does show a man and woman named George and Nyla Blancken, who are called a nephew and niece. That is actually not the case. George is indeed a nephew, but Nyla was his wife, not Elmer and Talie’s niece. I guess you could call her a niece-in-law.

Elmer and Talie are shown in the photogaph below.

Elmer Kueker died in 1981 at the age of 75; Natalie Kueker died in 1996 at the age of 96. These two are buried together in the Flagler Cemetery in Flagler.

I find it interesting that a couple made up of a bride from Frohna and a groom from Red Bud, not far from Perry County, both moved to Colorado as children, and then they managed to get married in that state. I think it’s obvious how they got acquainted. They may have seen each other at either the Lutheran church iin Arriba or the one in Flagler, but we also know that Elmer was a farm hand for the Blancken’s for a while. This couple married rather late in life, but early enough to still have children. Sadly, both of their children died as youngsters.