I am at home today, but we have a houseful of family members, so I am publishing an old post written on this date in 2017. It tells the story of Wilhelm Wachter. Just a few days ago, I wrote the story of Wilhelm’s brother, Charles Wachter and his marriage to Catherine Dede, in the post, One of Many December 26th Weddings. That Wachter family settled south of the Apple Creek in northern Cape Girardeau County near New Wells. William Wachter had a farm just north of the Apple Creek in Perry County. William’s 2nd wedding in which he married Ernestine Bodenschatz, took place on December 29. 1870, so today would be his 154th wedding anniversary. That wedding took place at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg not long after their 1867 sanctuary was dedicated.
Back in 2017, I do not think I had discovered the collection of Missouri death certificates online, so I did not include them in that story. I found the 2 death certificates for William and Ernestine Wachter and will display them here. First, here is the one for Ernestine, who died in 1916 at the age of 62. I was hoping this document would help determine Ernestine’s mother’s maiden name, and there is a name shown on this form, but I am not sure what it says. It starts with an “M” and is a very short name.
The death certificate for William Wachter, who died in 1924 at the age of 80, is pictured here. We get no help for William’s parents’ names on this documents.
There are still plenty of Wachter’s in this area, and I am sure you could find plenty of Wachter descendants who are living elsewhere. I think now that I have written the stories of Charles and William Wachter, I am going to refer to Charles’s descendants as the New Wells Wachter’s, and the William Wachter descendants as the Altenburg Wachter’s. Now I am aware that both Charles and William had post-Christmas weddings in December.