The story I am writing today began with me finding a Wittenber girl who was born on this day. When I discovered that this girl would be a lifelong single person, I also found out that she had a sister who was also born in East Perry County who spent most of her life being unmarried. I have previously written stories that told of siblings who were lifelong single people, and they almost always were found living their entire lives together. Today’s tale is very similar to those stories, with one exception.

Alma Sophie Voerster was born on August 29, 1889, so today would be her 135th birthday. Alma was the daughter of Henry and Katherine (Roenn or von Roenn) Voerster. A previous post told the story about how Alma’s parents both became orphans at very young ages and managed to get married to each other. That post was titled, Orphan Marries Orphan. Henry and Katherine had 4 children who were born and baptized in East Perry County. Three of the four children have baptism records in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. All 4 of these baptisms likely took place at the church/school building located in Wittenberg because the Voerster farm was located near there. Until Wittenberg got their own official congregation with their own pastor in 1903, it was usually the pastor from Trinity who would conduct services in Wittenberg, and when any official act took place there, like a baptism or wedding, the records would be placed in the Trinity books. However, when Alma Voerster was baptized, her baptism was recorded in the books of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can look at that baptism record below. You can see Rev. Zschoche was the pastor who baptized Alma.

I think a few factors may have contributed to the fact that Alma’s baptism record is in Concordia’s books. First, I have read that, although it was usually the Trinity pastor who went to Wittenberg to conduct services, there were other times that other pastors in the area might have performed that function. In addition to that, Trinity Lutheran Church was served by Rev. Grimm from 1887-1889. Then Rev. Roesener served from 1889-1901. I think it is possible that Alma was born and baptized at the time between Rev.Grimm’s departure and Rev. Roesener’s arrival. I think there’s also a possibility that Rev. Roesener was already there, but he may have taken a little while to get accustomed to his new church, and Rev. Zschoche performed the services in Wittenberg while he was becoming assimilated.

While the Voerster’s were still living in Perry County, another girl was born and baptized in 1891. Lena Dorothea Voerster was born on June 19, 1891. Lena’s baptism record is found in the books of Trinity, Altenburg. We can look at it below. Her first name is spelled Lina on this document, but I am going to be using the Lena spelling which is found on later documents and her gravestone.

The last Voerster child that was born in Missouri was born in 1895. After that event, the Voerster’s relocated to Arkansas. We find this Voerster family in the 1900 census living in Mill Bayou, which is found not far from Stuttgart, Arkansas. As you can see from the name Stuttgart, this area had been settled by quite a few people of German descent. Henry Voerster was a farmer. I don’t know what crop he may have grown, but that area of Arkansas is a very large producer of rice nowadays.

The Voerster’s did not remain in Mill Bayou for long. By the time of the 1910 census, this family was still living in Arkansas, but they had moved to Mena, Arkansas, which is located south of Fort Smith near the Oklahoma border and also not that far from Texas.

I have a theory for why the Voerster’s chose Mena as a place to live. In another previous post, The Travels of Adolph and Amanda, it was mentioned that around 1916, Rev. Adolph Birner was the pastor of Trinity Lutheran Church in Mena, Arkansas. Adolph Birner was born and raised in Wittenberg, Missouri. Perhaps the Voerster’s knew an old acquaintance of theirs was the pastor in Mena. A photo of Trinitiy Lutheran Church in Mena is shown below.

If they moved to Mena because Rev. Birner was there, they may have been disappointed that not long after 1916, Rev. Birner took a call to Trintiy Lutheran Church in Shawneetown. The Voerster’s are found living iin Mena when the 1920 census was taken. Alma was 20 years old and Lena was 19 years old at that time. Some more Voerster children had been born in Arkansas. Alma and Lena’s father was still farming.

I think this photo of the Henry Voerster family was taken not long after the above census. A listing on Ancestry.com identifies Lena as the woman standing in the back on the left and Alma as the one sitting on the right in the front. I have my doubts whether that is correct.

I was unable to find the Voerster family in the 1920 census. In fact, the only other census entry I found for the Voerster’s in this story was the one taken in 1930. Even the ones taken later in 1940 or 1950 do not include any of the Voerster’s even though all indications are that they continued to live the rest of their lives in Mena. My attitude right now is that I am not impressed by the census takers around Mena. Below is the 1930 census entry for the Voerster’s. Alma and Lena are the only children living with their parents, and both of them are around 40 years old and still single. At the age of 73, Henry Voerster was a janitor at a bank.

On January 3, 1938, Lena Voerster married Jack Walston. Lena was 46 years old when she was married. We can take a look at an Arkansas marriage license for this pair. Lena’s surname is misspelled on this form.

I was also unsuccessful at locating the Walston’s in the 1940 census. However, when Jack had his World War II draft card completed in 1942, he was given a Mena address, and Lena was listed as the person who would always know his address. Jack’s employer was the W.P.A. (Works Progress Administration) and working on the streets in Mena.

Lena’s marriage to Jack did not last long. According to the document shown below, they were divorced in 1944. I am not giving much information about Jack in this post, but I do know that he was married prior to marrying Lena, and he was married again afterward. I found an Ancestry.com entry for him that listed at least 4 wives that he supposedly had.

It appears that Lena took back her maiden name after her divorce. Both of Alma and Lena’s parents died in the 1930’s. I would not have found Alma in the 1950 census because she died in 1949 at the age of 59. We can view an Arkansas death certificate for her here.

Lena Voerster died in 1969 at the age of 78. Her Arkansas death certificate below says she died at the Leisure Lodge in Mena. It’s a little unclear, but I think there is an X in the box for “never married”, not in “divorced”. We see her called by her maiden name on this form.

I have found photos of both Alma and Lena Voerster.

With the exception of about 6 years when Lena was married, these two Voerster sisters might have lived with each other most of their lives. I wish I had a few more census entries to look at. A niece of these two women has made a comment on Ancestry.com that her Aunt Alma was her Sunday School teacher at Trinity Lutheran Church in Mena. She says Alma was a very pleasant person.