Yesterday, I told the story of a wedding that took place 150 years ago. On the very next day in a different Lutheran church, another couple was married, and I will tell the story of that bride and groom today. I have previously told the stories of several children of today’s highlighted couple on this blog. After all, this couple had 13 children. Today you get the story of the parents. I will begin with the groom.

Josef (or Joseph) Perr was born on December 11th, but there is a bit of debate about whether he was born in 1835 or 1837. His church death record says he was born in 1835, but his gravestone is engraved with the year, 1837. Joseph was born in Austria to his parents, Franz and Anna Maria (Schilcher) Perr. Two later census entries say that Joseph came to America in 1865, right after the Civil War. In the 1870 census, we find Joseph living in the John Yancy household and called a farm laborer. He was 32 years old and living in the Shawnee Township.

Now, we will turn our attention to the bride. Her name was Maria Franziska Kraml, who also has a debatable date of birth. Our German Family Tree says she was born on February 1, 1857. That date is based upon one of those death records that gives the exact age for the deceased in years, months, and days which requires a backtracking to determine a birthday. However, there is this baptism record for Maria Kraml with a father named Gottlieb and a mother named Franziska from a parish in Schladming, Austria. Our GFT gives those two names for Mary’s parents, even though it provides no maiden name for her mother. According to that baptism record below, Mary’s parents were Gottlieb and Franziska (Pichler) Kraml, and she was born on February 17, 1859.

Regardless of whether she was born in 1857 or 1859, Mary was about 20 years younger than Joseph. Some scholars say that the Biblical Joseph may have been about 20 years older than the mother of Jesus. Mary’s Kraml family came to this country in 1869 aboard the ship, North German Lloyd. Mary was 9 years old at the time, which would support the year of birth as 1859. There is also a sister named Theresia who is also found as Mary’s sister in our GFT, which confirms that this is the correct Kraml family.

Perhaps the Kraml family made their way to the Shawnee Township of Cape Girardeau County by 1870, but I was unable to find them in that year’s census.

Before I proceed, let me say that the name Perr is pronounced as “pair” around here. Joseph Perr married Mary Kraml on October 15, 1874, so, as I mentioned earlier, this means that today would be this couple’s 150th wedding anniversary. The church marriage record for this pair of Perr’s is displayed here. It was the only wedding that took place at that congregation in 1874.

We can also view 2 different civil marriage records for this event. Here is the first. It misspells the surnames of both the bride and groom. The groom is called Berr, and the bride is called Kramel.

Here is the second one which also has the same misspellings.

All 13 of the Perr children were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. The first one was born in 1875, a boy named Joseph Herman, and that son is found in the Missouri state census that was taken in 1876.

The 1880 census shows the Perr’s with 4 children. Joseph was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

All but one of the Perr children were born prior to the 1900 census. We see this large household of Perr’s in that years’ entry. There were 11 children listed.

It must have been about this time that this photo was taken of the Perr family that includes 10 children.

Next, we find the Perr’s in the 1910 census. Three sons and three daughters were still living with their parents. The 3 sons were helping Joseph with the farming.

Joseph Perr died in 1914. His age at the time of his death depends on the year in which he was born. Sadly, his death certificate shown below says the cause of his death was suicide. It uses the phrase that he died by “hanging himself to a dogwood sapling”. The form was signed by Dr. E.R. Schoen, who was the coroner. It also says a jury came up with the verdict on the cause of his death. Dr. Schoen has had his story told on this blog also. This document says Joseph was 77 years, 5 months, and 6 days old at the time of his death. It also states the year of his birth was 1837.

The church death record for Joseph says he was 78 years, 6 months, and 5 days old at the time of his death. There is a note written in German about the cause of his death that likely says something about his suicide, but I am unable to read it. This is also the form that states that he was born in 1835.

Mary is found in the 1920 census as a widow. She was living with 4 of her single children, and her son, Edward, was the head of the household.

The 1930 census shows Mary living with her single son, Fred.

I have included this 1930 plat map showing several Perr parcels of land in a previous post. It should give you an idea about where the Perr’s had lived over the years.

The last census in which we find Mary is the one taken in 1940. She was living with her daughter, Eleanore, who had married William Hoffmann.

Mary Perr died in 1943. Again, her age at the time of her death depends on the date of her birth. This form says she was 85 years, 8 months, and 14 days old at the time of her death. It also lists her birthday as February 17, 1858. That does not agree with the February 1, 1857 date which we find in our German Family Tree. It also does not agree with the year of her birth from her baptism record.

Mary’s death record from the books of Immanuel, New Wells gives the same numbers of years, months, and days as the death certificate. You also might note the amazing number of survivors in the last column…11 children, 55 grandchildren, and 67 great grandchildren.

Joseph and Mary Perr are both buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery, although one is found in the old cemetery and one is found in their new cemetery.

I attempted to determine the dates of births of these two but came up with other answers that did not even agree with other documents listed in this story. One thing I will say is that I tend to agree with the date of Mary’s birth on her baptism record (if it is indeed her baptism record).

Mary and Joseph are certainly a famous Bible couple. I think you could say that the Mary and Joseph couple from New Wells also became a famous couple in our neighborhood. Despite the tragic death of Joseph, we can say that this couple was the origin of a huge Perr family tree. Yes, that is pronounced as a pear tree.