I think everyone has heard of Sesame Street’s “Big Bird”. The German word for big is gross. The German word for bird is vogel. Our German Family Tree contains the surnames, Gross and Grosse. It also contains page after page of people with the surname Vogel. So, if a Grosse would marry a Vogel, I suppose we could call such a pair a Big Bird couple. Using the same logic, I am calling today’s highlighted bride and groom combination a Little Bird.

I will begin with the bird. Amalie Agnes Vogel was born on September 6, 1863, thus making today her 161st birthday. Agnes was the daughter of Alexander and Mathilda (Schupppan) Vogel. Alexander Vogel was indeed part of the Vogel family tree highlighted in the blog post that was shared yesterday, but it goes back a ways. Agnes was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. An image of her baptism record is pictured here.

Agnes is found in the 1870 census at the age of 6. Her father was a school teacher in the Shawnee Township.

In the list of the early teachers who taught at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells shown here, you will see Alexander Vogel as the first one on the list.

The Vogel’s did not remain in New Wells for long. At some point after 1874, they relocated to Topeka, Kansas. That means that they moved from Shawnee Township in Missouri to Shawnee County in Kansas. In the 1880 census, Agnes was a teenager, and her father was no longer in the education business. He was called a painter. There were 6 children in the household. I guess one could say that they had a full nest of birds.

Now, we need to turn our attention to the man who would marry Agnes. His name was George Klein, who was born on December 19, 1862. The only names I could locate for George’s parents were Louis and Sophia Klein. I think there is a good chance that George’s parents both had the name, Klein, when they were married. Klein is the German word for “Little”, so a Klein and Vogel getting together to be married would be a Small Bird combo. George was born in Germany, and his family came to America in about 1870. I found George in the 1880 census at the age of 17 living in Topeka. His father had died in 1875, so his widowed mother was the head of the Klein household. George is called a clerk in this entry. He was part of a rather large Klein family. “Large Klein” sounds like an oxymoron to me.

George Klein married Agnes Vogel in early June of 1886, but I have no official documentation to confirm an exact date. There was an article published in a local newspaper describing that wedding, but it does not include an date. The article does state that the wedding took place at a Lutheran Church in Topeka.

Several Ancestry.com family trees list 5 children born to George and Agnes. When the 1900 census was taken, there were 2 Klein children in the household. George was a harness maker.

Next, we find the Klein’s in the 1910 census, and all 5 of their children are listed. George continued his work as a harness maker. Three of the oldest children were said to be working at what was called a railway shop.

The 1920 census shows the Klein’s with an empty nest. Both George and Agnes were in their 50’s.

The last census in which we find Agnes is the one taken in 1930. George is called the proprietor of a leather goods business.

It appears that George and Agnes moved to Riverside, California in the early 1930’s. I suspect that they moved to California because their daughter, Gertrude, and her husband, William Ode, were living there. Agnes died in 1933 at the age of 69. In the 1940 census, George was a widower living with the Ode’s in Riverside. George, at the age of 77, had no occupation.

George is in the 1950 census listed as the head of his household at the age of 87. William and Gertrude Ode were living with him, and even they were in their 60’s.

George Klein died in 1952 at the age of 89. George and Agnes are each buried in the Olivewood Cemetery in Riverside.

Agnes spent very little time in this area of Missouri. Most of her life was spent in Topeka, Kansas. Then just prior to her death, she lived in the Los Angeles area. Agnes, the young bird, migrated to Kansas, and once she became an old Little Bird, she made one more migration to the West Coast to die.