Today’s tale has what I would consider a rather unusual inspiration. If you are a regular reader, you know that I look in our German Family Tree to locate a person who might be celebrating a birthday or anniversary. I did indeed find a man who was born on December 23rd for this story, but he has no baptism record or marriage record in the GFT. The only church record for him in that document is his confirmation record. Here is the information we have for today’s birthday boy in the GFT.

The surname, Cotner, is one that does not have much of a presence in the German Family Tree, and as you can see in the above image, John Cotner’s wife had the maiden name, Shoults. That is another name that is not common in the GFT. And her information has just one church record, and that is for her death. I had to make two new surname folders for this story because both Cotner and Shoults are names that have not been highlighted in posts on this blog before. Despite such unusual inspiration and few church records, I found this story to be quite interesting, and you will discover that John Cotner had another wife that does not appear in the German Family Tree at all. It also is not every day that I tell a story that takes us from way back in 1868 all the way up to 1993. So, let’s begin with the story.

John Monroe Cotner was born on December 23, 1868, thus making today his 156th birthday. If you read yesterday’s story on this blog, you might recall that Theodore Danz was born on December 22, 1868, the day before John Cotner was born. John was the son of William and Keziah (Reid) Cotner. John was likely born in the Apple Creek Township of Cape Girardeau County. When John appears in his first census in 1870 that is where his family was living. John was listed as being 3 years old, although I think he was just 2. His father was a farmer. Included in this household was Susanna Reid, his mother’s sister, and therefore, John’s aunt.

John was the oldest child in his family. When the 1880 census was taken, we see that 3 more children were added to the Cotner family during the previous decade. This time, there was a James Reid included in the household who was John’s uncle.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become John’s first wife. Her name was Julia J. Shoults, who was born on August 17, 1868, so she was just a bit older that John. Julia was the daughter of Jacob and Mary (Weisbrod) Shoults. She was born in Appleton, Missouri. I failed to find Julia in the 1870 census, and it appears that her father died prior to the 1880 census. Julia was 11 years old at the time of the 1880 census. Since there was another Shoults child who was just 2 years old, Julia’s father must have died not long before this census was taken.

John Cotner married Julia Shoults on October 6, 1892. This couple’s Missouri marriage license below says they were married by a probate judge.

I found no evidence that this couple had any children. In the 1900 census, we find the Cotner’s living in the Shawnee Township where John was called a merchant.

John Cotner was involved in the operation of a store located in New Wells. That store is pictured below.

It is at this point that I am going to share a rather long article that was published in a local newspaper that tells the story of the above store, and John M. Cotner is a prominent person in this article. It painted John as quite the successful businessman. I have to display it in several consecutive images.

As you can see, John was in business with several different partners over the years. You can also see that it was about the time that he got married that he appeared in the New Wells neighborhood. When the 1910 census was taken, we once again find the Cotner’s in the Shawnee Township, and John was still a merchant. Included in their household was a hired man named Othor Cotner, who was doing farm labor. John Cotner not only operated the store, but also had farmland, and Othor was helping to run it. Othor was some sort of cousin to John, and sadly, he died in 1915, not long after this census was taken.

John sold his interest in the store in 1918. In the census taken in 1920, we find John and Julia, along with a niece named Ruby Milster. Ruby’s mother was Julia’s sister, Anna. This time, John was called a farmer and trader. Based on the article shown earlier, I think he was trading cattle.

In the 1930 census, we find just John and Julia in their entry. John was a farmer.

Julia Cotner died in 1932 at the age of 63. Her death record is found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Shawneetown. Shawneetown is just down the road from New Wells.

Julia’s death certificate and the above church record both mention that a toxic goiter was the cause of death.

Julia is buried in an unusual cemetery. It is a cemetery that carries the name of her family, the Shoults Family Cemetery in Appleton. If you visit that cemetery’s site on Findagrave.com, you will find quite a few grave sites with the surname, Shoults, but you also find several with the surname, Cotner.

What I find rather fascinating is that John Cotner has a confirmation record in the Trinity Lutheran, Shawneetown books. This record says that not only was John confirmed in 1933, the year after his wife died, but he was also baptized. It says John was baptized and examined by the elders on the same day as his confirmation. I have to wonder whether John and Julia were both getting catechism instruction prior to becoming members of Trinity when Julia died, and John continued those catechism classes after her death.

John Cotner married again. I do not know exactly when, but it was prior to the 1940 census. His second wife was Della Effie Crites, who, believe it or not, was born on December 25, 1895. That means she was 27 years younger than John. Della was the daughter of Columbus and Missouri (Miller) Crites. Now there are a few more fascinating names. I am not going to go into all the details of Della’s life, but I will tell you that she would first get married to a man named Irl Wilcox, and that couple had 2 children. Then, Irl died in 1924. Della is found as a widow in the 1930 census living in St. Louis with her sister and her family. There were several other roomers in this household. Della was called a closer for a shoe factory.

In the 1940 census, we find John and Della Cotner living in the Shawnee Township where John worked at a saw mill and lumber dealer. The 2 Wilcox stepchildren were in his household. John was 72 years old, and Della was 44. I can only imagine how challenging it must have been for John, who never had children of his own, who now had 2 teenagers in his home when he was in his 70’s.

John Cotner died in 1945 at the age of 76. We can view his death certificate below which says he died as a patient in the St. Francis Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

At some point in time, Della was in a photograph, and it looks like she was cropped out of that photo for the image below.

Della Cotner did not die until 1993 at the age of 97. Both John and Della Cotner are buried in the Russell Heights Cemetery in Jackson, Missouri.

As said before, there were several reasons for my choosing this story for today’s blog post. Let me just add one more thing. How could I turn down a story in which a married couple was made up of a man who was born 2 days before Christmas and a woman who was actually born on Christmas Day. I just have to send out a little early Merry Christmas to our readers.