For quite a while now, I have operated my choice of subjects for this blog based upon a principle that I would focus my efforts on telling the story of people who were born in the 1800’s. Now that we have reached 2025, I struggled a bit with the fact that people born in 1900 would now be 125 years old, and I have written plenty of previous posts about people celebrating their 125th birthday. Today, I found a person that was born on this day in 1900, and I have decided to write about him.

Harry Friedrich Sandler was born on January 10, 1900, so if he was still alive, he would have to blow out 125 candles on his birthday cake today. Harry was the first child born to Gottlieb and Magdalena (Dippold) Sandler. Before I get too far into this story, let me point out that a prior post was written about Harry’s parents titled, Gottlieb and Lena – Perryville Sandler’s. A wedding photo for Harry’s parents was included in that story.

Also, a post was written about Harry’s grandparents that was titled, Sandler the Smithy. That post included these photos of Harry’s grandparents.

Harry was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. An image of his baptism record is displayed below.

Because Harry was born so early in 1900, he managed to make it into that year’s census. He was just a baby. Harry’s father was a farmer in the Bois Brule Township.

Next, we find Harry in the 1910 census at the age of 10.

I located Harry in a list of confirmands from the 1914 class at Immanuel, Perryville. You can find plenty of surnames in this list of people who have been characters on this blog. Also, Harry is not the only Sandler in this class. Elsa Sandler was Harry’s younger sister who was born in 1901.

Harry had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He was just 18 years old at the time, and he was working on his father’s farm.

Harry was still a single man when the 1920 census was taken. He was 19 years old, and like it said on his military registration, he was farming with his father.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Harry’s bride. Her name was Elsie Emma Hornberger, who was born on November 23, 1900. Elsie was the daughter of Michael and Margaret (Hacker) Hornberger. I also wrote a post about Elsie’s parents titled, The Hornberger-Hacker Household. Elsie was child #6 in a family of 9 children. Elsie was baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg so we cannot view an image of her baptism record. In the case of Elsie, she was born too late in 1900 to be included in that year’s census. The first census in which we find her is the one taken in 1910. Elsie was called 6 years old in this entry, but she was at least 9. Her father was a farmer in the Central Township.

The Hornberger farm was located east of Perryville as we see on the plat map below.

Elsie is found in the 1920 census at the age of 19. This entry says she was doing housework.

Harry Sandler married Elsie Hornberger on September 27, 1921. This couple was married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. We can view their church marriage record here.

The Missouri marriage license for this pair is pictured below.

A marriage certificate for this couple can also be viewed.

An article was printed in the Perry County Republican about this wedding.

Harry and Elsie had two children, both boys. One was born in 1923, and the other in 1936. It’s a bit unusual that just two children would be born 13 years apart from one another. When the 1930 census was taken, there were 3 members in this Sandler family, Harry, Elsie, and Robert. Harry was a mechanic at an auto garage in Perryville.

At some point, the two photographs of Harry and Elsie shown here were taken.

Merlin Melvin Sandler was born in 1936, so when the 1940 census was taken, we find a quartet of Sandler’s. Harry was a mechanic at a mill.

Harry had a World War II draft card completed in 1942. Harry’s employee was the Alvey Conveyer Manufacturing Company which was headquartered in St. Louis.

The last census the public is allowed to view is the one taken in 1950. This time, Harry is called a farmer, and his 2 sons were helping him. Elsie is called a cook at a school cafe.

Elsie Sandler died in 1956 at the age of 56. She died on her birthday in the DePaul Hospital in St. Louis. The cause of death on her death certificate below is described as respiratory failure.

An obituary for Elsie was published in the Perry County Republican.

Harry Sandler died in 1967 at the age of 67. Harry is called a general mechanic on his death certificate.

We are also able to read his obituary as it appears on his Findagrave.com site.

Harry and Elsie Sandler are each buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

As it turns out with this story, even though Harry and Elsie were born in 1900, I was still able to find documents like Harry’s World War I draft registration as well as death certificates for both the husband and wife. I think I will still run into difficulties with characters who are born more recently, but I still may come across stories like this one that provide me with enough documentation to give a decent picture of the characters’ lives.