A few days ago, I wrote a story about a Catholic groom who married a Lutheran bride. Today, I will tell the tale of another such case. The difference is that today’s duo did not end up being buried in different cemeteries. They are buried together in a Catholic cemetery.

I have to confess a mistake. For some reason, I got it in my head that today is September 27th, not September 28th, so you will be getting a post that is based on yesterday’s date. Emma Barbara Boxdorfer was born on September 27, 1899. She was not the only one born on that day. She was a twin. She had a twin brother named Paul Carl Boxdorfer. I may get around to telling his story in the future. These twins would have celebrated their 125th birthday yesterday. The parents of the twins were Albert and Barbara (Rodewald) Boxdorfer. They were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. An image of their records from that congregation’s books is displayed here.

Emma and Paul were infants when the 1900 census was taken. Their father was a farmer in the Central Township.

The Boxdorfer family was even larger when the 1910 census was taken. Four more children had been born during the previous decade. Emma and Paul were 10 years old at the time.

In the 1920 census, Emma was still living with her parents, but not Paul. Paul was living in Crystal City, Missouri where he was working at the glass factory. This would be the last census in which we find Emma as a single woman. This time, the Boxdorfer family was living in Perryville where Albert was called a laborer.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Emma’s husband. His name was Bernard Lawrence Hagan, who was born on February 11, 1898. I am tempted to call him Barney, like I did with another Bernhard a few days ago. He was the son of Vincent and Teresa (Maddock) Hagan. Bernard was almost certainly baptized at one of the Catholic parishes in Perry County. Before he was even one year old, his mother died in 1899. In the 1900 census, Bernard was just 2 years old. A woman named Mary Thomure was working has a housekeeper in the Hagan household. Bernard’s father was a farmer in the Saline Township.

When the 1910 census was taken, Bernard was 12 years old. His father had married Barbara Lindy. The Hagan’s were living in the same location.

In 1918, Bernard had his World War I draft registration completed. It gives him a Lithium address, and he was farming for Herbert Angermann.

I was unable to locate Bernard in the 1920 census. Then, on April 21, 1921, Bernard Hagan married Emma Boxdorfer. The Missouri marriage license below says this wedding took place at the Our Lady of the Rosary Church in Claryville.

I am able to also display this marriage certificate for this pair.

This article was printed in the Perry Country Republican describing this couple’s wedding. It says they were going to live in St. Louis, but if they lived there, I do not think it was for very long.

The most number of children I noticed in a census entry for this couple was 5, but I know another child had died prior to that census, so I think they had 6. None of these children have baptism records in our German Family Tree. They were likely baptized in a Catholic church. In the 1930 census, The Hagan’s had 4 children, 3 daughters followed by one son. Bernard was a farmer in the Saline Township.

I found these 2 photos of Emma Hagan on Ancestry.com.

I also found these 2 photos of Bernard. The person with Bernard in the one photo was John Black (with the suspenders), who had married Bernard’s sister.

I discovered that tragedy struck this Hagan family often. In 1939, their daughter, Hazel, died of tuberculosis at the age of 20. Her death certificate below says she died at the Mt. St. Rose Sanatorium in St. Louis.

An article was published in the Perry County Republican about Hazel’s death.

Here is a photo of the Mt. St. Rose Sanatorium in St. Louis.

As it turns out, the last census entry in which we find today’s couple is the one taken in 1940.

Emma Hagan died in 1943 at the age of 44. If you look at her death certificate below, you will see that she died at the same place as her daughter, Hazel, had died and had the same cause of death.

An obituary for Emma was published in the Perry County Republican.

Bernard Hagan died in 1947 at the age of 49. Pulmonary embolism is given as his cause of death on the form below. He died at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Bernard and Emma Hagan are buried together in the Mt. Hope Catholic Cemetery in Perryville.

Both Emma and Bernard died at relatively young ages, not making it to their 50th birthdays. They also lost a daughter who died so young as a result of a deadly disease. Not only that, in 1971, their son, Leeroy and his wife were killed in an automobile crash on Highway 61. Neither one of them made it to their 40th birthdays. Tragedy certainly became part of this Hagan family.