About a week ago, I wrote the story of Martin Bracher, who was born on December 14th and baptized on December 26th in Altenburg. Today, you will read the story of Martin’s half-cousin, Margarethe Christina Bracher, who was born on December 21st and baptized on December 27th. Both of these births took place in 1864, and both of these babies have their baptism records included in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg.

Let me backtrack a bit. When the Stephanites arrived in America in 1839, there was a 4-member Bracher family that were found as passengers aboard the ship, Johann Georg. That family consisted of a husband and wife, along with 2 boys. The older brother (who was Martin Bracher’s father) was born to his father’s first wife. After that wife died in Germany, the father married again, and the younger son on this passenger list was the son of the husband and wife who brought their family to America as part of the Gesellschaft. That makes these two boys half-brothers, and since today’s birthday girl was born to the younger of the half-brothers, that makes Martin and Margaret half-cousins. I can relate to this situation because my grandmother was married twice, and the children born to her first husband are my half-cousins. I am a grandchild of my grandmother and her second husband. I will also add that another brother named Traugott Bracher was born to this Bracher couple in 1842 after their arrival in Perry County. Here we see the Bracher’s on the Johann Georg passenger list.

Margaret Bracher, who was born on December 21, 1864, was the first child born to Frederick and Elizabeth (Stueve) Bracher. That makes today her 180th birthday. We can view her baptism record from the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg below. Christmas Day in 1864 was on a Sunday, so Margaret would have been baptized on a Tuesday. I suspect that her baptism may have taken place in the Bracher home.

When I wrote the story of Martin Bracher about a week ago, I was not at home, so I was not able to display his baptism record. I will do so now.

I thought I might find these 2 baptism records right next to each other in the Trinity books, but that is not the case. Rev. J.F. Koestering arrived in Altenburg in the spring of 1864. I have discovered that during some early years during his time here, Rev. Koestering did not place baptism records into the books in chronological order. To a certain extent, he seemed to put the records in alphabetical order for the year, as if he may have recorded baptisms in the official book only once a year. Even then, he was not consistent in his alphabetical order, so these two Bracher baptisms are not consecutive in the books.

There were other Bracher babies born and baptized in Altenburg all the way up to 1869, but when the 1870 census was taken, we do not find them living in Altenburg anymore. All three of the Bracher brothers made a move to Bates County, Missouri near the town of Prairie City. When they arrived in that area, a very new Lutheran congregation had been established in 1868 called Zion Lutheran Church. I am sure that when more children were born after 1870, they were baptized at Zion. In the 1870 census entry for Margaret’s family, there were just 2 children in the household. Margaret was 6 years old, and her father was a farmer.

Next, we find the Bracher’s in the 1880 census. Margaret was a teenager. This entry is a bit difficult to read.

Since Margaret would get married in the next decade, we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. We will have to add a new surname to the ever-growing list of those which have shown up on this blog. Frederich William Schildknecht was born on October 18, 1852. A family history on Ancestry.com says that he was born in Blackjack, Illinois, which was a community not far from Troy, Illinois in Madison County. There is a cemetery sometimes called Blackjack Cemetery in that area, which also carries the name Old St. John Evangelical Cemetery. Fred was the son of Frederich and Mary (Press) Schildknecht. We find Fred in his first census in 1860 at the age of 8. There were 5 children in this household, along with a farm laborer and likely Fred’s grandparents. Fred’s father was a farmer in Madison County, Illinois.

In the 1870 census, we find the Schildknecht’s in the same location. Frederick, Jr. was a teenager.

I was unable to locate Fred in the 1880 census, but I figure that he somehow moved to a location near where the Bracher’s lived in Bates County. Fred Schildknecht married Margaret Bracher on November 25, 1886. I discovered this date was also Thanksgiving Day that year. If we had access to the Zion Lutheran, Prairie City books, we would likely find this couple’s church marriage record. I am able to display their Missouri marriage record. It says that both the bride and the groom were from Bates County.

I think this couple had 3 children. It turns out that the only census entry in which we find both Fred and Margaret is the one taken in 1900. This couple had managed to make their way to St. Louis, Missouri where Fred was called a packer for a dry goods business. All 3 of the Bracher children were in the household. Also in this entry was Margaret’s younger brother, John, and his family. John was also working for a dry goods business.

Fred Schildknecht died in 1902 at the age of 49. He died prior to 1910 when Missouri starting keeping death certificates, but I did locate a St. Louis death record for Fred. It is shown in the 2 images below. In the cause of death column, I can read the work, gangrene, and there is more added to that which I am unable to decipher.

Margaret is found as a widow in the 1910 census still living in St. Louis with her 3 children. All of her children were part of the work force.

When the 1920 census was taken, Margaret was living with her daughter, also called Margaret, who had married Max Busch, and by this time, they had blessed Margaret Schildknecht with 2 grandchildren.

The last census in which we find Margaret was the one taken in 1930. She was still living with the Busch family in St. Louis.

Margaret Schildknecht died in 1939 at the age of 74. A variety of types of cancer are given as the cause of death on her death certificate pictured here.

Both Fred and Margaret Schildknecht are buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in St. Louis. The only gravestone photo on Findagrave.com looks like one for a family plot for the Schildknecht/Busch families.

After writing two stories recently from the Bracher family tree, I have discovered that all of the Bracher’s left Perry County in about 1870 to resettle in Bates County, Missouri. However, not all of the Bracher’s remained in that area. The two half-cousins born in 1864 in Altenburg ended up in different places after they got married. Martin ended up in Kansas, and Margaret ended up in St. Louis.