It has been explained in several previous posts that the German word for “dance” is danz, and there are plenty of folks in our German Family Tree with the surname, Danz. You will read another post that highlights a Danz today. In fact, we begin with a birthday Danz.

Theodore Joseph Danz was born on December 22, 1868, thus making today his 156th birthday. According to our GFT, Theodore was the last of 11 children born to his parents, Christian and Justine (Haselbarth) Danz. There is evidence that Theodore’s parents came to America in 1850 and spent their first few years in Wisconsin prior to moving to Missouri. The first church record for a Danz that we find in the GFT is for a baptism that took place in 1856. Theodore’s baptism record is found in the books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. You can see that he was baptized on the last day of 1868, December 31st.

Theodore is found in the 1870 census at the age of 1. His father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. There were 9 Danz children in this entry.

It was a bit more difficult to locate Theodore in the 1880 census. That is because he is found in the long-lost pages of the 1880 Union Township pages that have not made their way onto Ancestry.com yet. The Apple Creek Township in Cape Girardeau County is just across the Apple Creek from the Union Township in Perry County. According to our GFT, Christian Tanz died in 1877. The head of the household in this entry looks like Christian, but I think it is actually Theodore’s mother. It does describe her as a female, and says she was farming. Her age, 54, also corresponds with the year of birth for Justine.

There must have been plenty of events which took place in the interim between 1880 and 1900, including Theodore’s first wedding. We will now take a look at the woman who would become his first bride.

Julia Anna Dambach was born on September 12, 1880. Julia was the daughter of Fritz and Ernestine (Mehnert) Dambach. The Dambach family was also quite large with Julia and her twin, Wilhelm, being children #6 and #7 out of 12 children all together. I almost published this story without a baptism record for the twins, but I took a trip up to the museum, thinking that I might be able to find them in our Arnsberg binder or in the church books of Trinity, Friedheim. I struck paydirt in the Friedheim books. Below is an image of the twins’ baptism record from the Friedheim books.

Julia was born too late to be included in the 1880 census, but I can tell you that her family was living in the Apple Creek Township during that year. The first of the Dambach children to be baptized at Grace Lutheran Church was born in 1885. Julia was confirmed at that church in 1895, but for some reason, her twin brother was confirmed a year later in 1896.

Theodore Danz married Julia Dambach on November 17, 1898. Somehow, both Theodore and Julia had made their way to Irondale, Missouri prior to their marriage. These two were married at St. John Lutheran Church in Bismarck, Missouri, and the church records from that congregation are now found on Ancestry.com, so I can show it to you. This document states that both the bride and groom were from Irondale. Irondale and Bismarch are located not far from Potosi.

That congregation is still listed as an active one on the LCMS website. That site says they have 17 members and about 8 attend services each week. I am also able to display this couple’s Missouri marriage license.

According to a family tree on Ancestry.com, this pair had 5 children. When the 1900 census was taken, we find them back in Perry County. Their first child was just 8 months old, and Theodore was a farmer in the Union Township. Also living with them was Julia’s father and 2 teenage sisters.

When the 1910 census was taken, we find the Danz’s still living in the Union Township. There were 3 of their own children in the family, along with an adopted son named John Jackmann. Theodore was a farmer.

The last census in which we find Julia Danz is the one taken in 1920. Theodore was still farming, and there were 5 children in their family. This time, John Jackmann was called a nephew. Also, Theodore’s brother, Julius, was included in this entry.

Julia barely made it into the above census entry which was compiled in January of that year. She died in February in 1920 at the age of 39. There are some fancy words used on her death certificate describing her cause of death, but her death record found in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville says she died of blood poisoning.

An obituary was published in the Perry County Republican for Julia. However, nowhere in this obituary is she called Julia. Like so many obituaries back in those days, she was just called Mrs. Theodore Danz.

Julia is buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

Theodore got married again in 1924. His second wife was Emma Elsie Hall, who was born on August 15, 1878 in Carlinville, Illinois. She was the daughter of Oliver and Sophia (Tosh) Hall. Emma would later get married to John Richards, but he died earlier in 1924.

Somehow, Theodore and Emma managed to get acquainted, and they got married on December 30, 1924 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Festus. We can look at their Missouri marriage license below. It says Theodore was from Crystal City, and Emma was from Carlinville, Illinois.

In the 1930 census, we find the Danz’s living in Perryville where Theodore was called the manager of the county farm. Above his entry on the census page below, you will see the people who were working on the farm. Those people were all referred to as inmates, but none of them were very young, and they were all either single or widowed. Two of Theodore’s sons from his first marriage were still living with him and Emma.

In the 1940 census, we find Theodore and Emma living by themselves on what was called a home farm in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Both Emma and Theodore died in the 1940’s. Emma died in 1941 at the age of 63. We can view her death certificate below.

An obituary for Emma appeared in the Perry County Republican.

Theodore Danz died in 1948 at the age of 79. His death certificate says he died while living at the Hillsboro Nursing Home in Hillsboro.

We are also able to view an obituary for Theodore from the Perry County Republican.

Theodore Danz and his second wife, Emma, are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

When you have a man named Danz who marries a woman with the maiden name of Hall, how can you not make mention of a Danz-Hall?