I found that researching today’s individuals was more of a challenge than I anticipated. I knew from the entries for the two main characters in this story in our German Family Tree indicate that both of them were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville, and that usually means that I would find plenty of information about them on Ancestry.com as a married couple. What I discovered was that the bride has entries on Ancestry, but almost all of them do not include the name of her spouse. The same thing happens with the groom. Nor did I find evidence that this couple had any children. Our GFT also does not have any indication that this couple had any children. In the end, though, I think I pieced together the information that I needed to put together this post. Perhaps some of the folks with their family trees on Ancestry.com could use the information found in this post to update their family trees. I will begin with the bride because she is today’s birthday girl.

Mathilda Clara Mecker was born on January 9, 1898, thus making today her 127th birthday. Mathilda was the daughter of Jacob and Caroline (Weinrich) Mecker. As said before, we find her baptism record in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. That record is shown below.

Mathilda is found in the 1900 census at the age of 2. Her father was a farmer in the Central Township. This was quite a large Mecker household.

Next, we find Mathilda in the 1910 census at the age of 12.

The last census entry in which we find Mathilda as being unmarried is the one taken in 1920. Her mother had died in 1917, so her father was a widower. Mathilda was listed as being 21 years old. Her older brother, Albert, was doing the farming.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Mathilda’s husband. His name was Carl August Hooss, who was born on October 17, 1897. Carl was the son of Carl and Minnie (Markwort) Hooss. Like many who were named Carl, both this boy and his father were often called Charles. I will use Carl for today’s character because that is what we find on his gravestone. Carl’s baptism record from the books of Immanuel, Perryville is displayed here.

The way I have it figured, Carl and Mathilda may have been in the same confirmation class at Immanuel, but I do not have documentation to prove it. Carl is found in his first census in 1900 at the age of 3. His father was a hardware dealer in Perryville.

In the 1910 census, Carl was 12 years old, and his father continued to operate a hardware store in Perryville.

In a previous post about Carl’s older brother, Adolph, I used this image of an ad from the Hooss Hardware Store.

Carl had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He is given a St. Louis address and is called a welder. His employee was M.A. Wilsdorf.

In the 1920 census, we find evidence that not only did Carl move to St. Louis, but so did his parents. Carl was still living with his parents, and both he and his father were working at a tin shop. Carl, Sr. was called a tinner, and Carl, Jr. was called a welder.

In 1921, Carl went back to Perryville to get married. Carl Hooss married Mathilda Mecker on June 16, 1921. They were married at Immanuel, Perryville, and we can view their church record below. It indicates that Carl was from St. Louis.

Two civil records of this marriage can also be viewed. Here is this couple’s marriage license.

Next, here is a record that looks more like a certificate.

It appears from census records that this pair had just one child, a son named Robert, who was born in 1923. In the 1930 census, we find a quartet of people in the Hooss household. In addition to Carl, Mathilda, and their son, Robert, we find that Carl’s mother was also living with them. Carl was a welder for a sheet metal company.

When the 1940 census was taken, we find just the Hooss couple and their son. Carl had the same occupation.

The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. This time, Carl is called a utility man for Ford Motor Company. He and Mathilda had an empty nest.

Carl Hooss died in 1979 at the age of 81; Mathilda Hooss died in 1982 at the age of 84. These two are buried together in the St. Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in St. Louis.

I rely pretty heavily upon our German Family Tree and Ancestry.com to provide a lot of the information about the people that are characters on this blog. Lately, I have also gotten used to using Family Search as well. This story, despite its challenges, was one that did not require me to visit the museum to get church records. The fact that Ancestry.com now includes church records from Immanuel, Perryville helped me out. It has been difficult to travel in Altenburg the past few days. But now things are de-icing rather nicely, and we now have our car freed to go places. I would say I was back in business with getting to the museum for now, but several inches of snow are forecast for tomorrow. We shall see how that develops.