In recent months, I seem to be running into quite a few life stories in which a main character had their baptism record in our German Family Tree, but that turned out to be the only church record to be found there. That boy or girl, at a very young age, moved elsewhere. Just yesterday, I wrote such a story, and I will write another one today.

Christiane Wilhelmine Bracher is today’s birthday girl. She was born on September 7, 1860, so today would be her 164th birthday. This girl would almost always be called Minnie during her life, as is evidenced by that name appearing on her gravestone. She was the daughter of Carl and Johanna (Braeuner) Bracher. Minnie’s baptism record is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at that record below.

Minnie was born too late in 1860 to appear in that year’s census, and because of that, she never appears in a Perry County census. Back in 2017, Fred Eggers wrote a post on our blog telling the story about how Carl Bracher and a few other Perry County natives moved to Bates County, Missouri after the Civil War. That post was titled, An Early Out-Migration of Original Immigrants. In the 1870 census, we find Minnie at the age of 10. She is called Wilhelmina in this entry. Her father was a farmer in Prairie City, Missouri.

The only other census year in which we find Minnie as a single woman was the one taken in 1880. She is found still living with her parents in the Rockville Township of Bates County.

The Carl Bracher farm is found right on the border between the Hudson Township and the Rockville Township, as is shown on the 2 plat maps here. You may have to click to enlarge them. Two other Perry County names, Fleischer and Braeuner, can also be found on these maps.

I think Minnie moved away from her family not long after the 1880 census. She was married in Deepwater, Missouri and so was the man who would become her husband. So, let’s take a look at him. John Christian Schell was born on July 21, 1861, the son of Karl and Maria Anna (Boppel) Schell.

Just a side note. Not far from Rockville is a town called Schell City. That town’s history says it was named after Augustus Schell. However, I was not able to find an Augustus Schell in the family tree of John Schell. That does not necessarily mean that there is no family connection. It just means that I could not find any.

John Schell was reportedly born in Soulsville, Michigan. However, when we find him in his first census, the Schell family was living in the Monegaw Township of St. Clair County, Missouri. It does not sound like it would be close to Rockville in Bates County, but it really was not very far away. John’s father was a farmer. All of the children, even the 2 year-old son, were born in Michigan, so this family must not have been in Missouri for very long in 1870. Perhaps they moved to this area for the same reason the German Lutherans did…cheap land.

John’s father died in 1871, and his mother then married August Plischke in 1872. When the 1880 census was taken, we find John living in the Plischke household in the Hudson Township of Bates County. This would explain how John would have become acquainted with Minnie. John, at the age of 18, was working on his stepfather’s farm.

John Schell married Minnie Bracher on September 5, 1882. That means they were married 2 days before Minnie’s 22nd birthday. This pair’s Missouri marriage license below says that the couple was married at the residence of a justice of the peace in Henry County, Missouri. Both John and Minnie were said to be from Deepwater Township in Henry County. That was also not that far from Rockville.

Family Trees on Ancestry.com list 5 children born to John and Minnie. All of them were born in Bates County, so I think there is a good possibility that these children were baptized at Zion Lutheran Church in Prairie City. All 5 of their children were born prior to the 1900 census. At some point late in the 1890’s, the Schell’s moved to Kansas City, Missouri. John was called a day laborer in this census entry.

This does not look like a wedding photo, but it is a picture of John and Minnie when they were still fairly young.

In the 1910 census, the Schell’s were still living in Kansas City with 2 remaining children. John was a bottler at a brewery.

The Schell’s relocated back to the Deepwater Township prior to the 1920 census. John was back to farming. He and Minnie had an empty nest.

John Schell died in 1921 at the age of 60. Heart issues are given as the cause of death on the document shown here. This form says he was born in 1860, but I think that is incorrect.

John is buried in the Snodgrass Union Cemetery in Bates County. His gravestone states that he was born in 1861.

Minnie Schell died in 1926 at the age of 65. Her death certificate says she died in Kansas City. Perhaps one of her children was living there and took in Minnie after her husband died.

Minnie Schell is buried in the Forest Hill Cemetery in Kansas City. Her gravestone gives evidence of a child being involved in her burial because she is recognized as a mother. I think at least one child was living in Kansas City.

I was not able to find another photo of John, but I did run across two more photos of Minnie. One of them was taken when she was quite young, perhaps before she was married, and the other looks like she is included with some grandchildren when she was older. You will have to click on them to see the entire photo.

As said before, Minnie spent just a short time in Perry County, but at least the evidence points to the fact that she spent her entire life in the state of Missouri. I do wonder sometimes when I write about these folks from Perry County who moved to Bates County whether any of them took the opportunity to return to the place of their birth to visit relatives.