You will be reading a story today about a girl who spends her childhood in East Perry County, but moves away, possibly as early when she was a teenager and never returns to live in this area again. In the case of today’s birthday girl, she went from Missouri to Nebraska, and finally to Colorado.

Hilda Magdalene Bruhl was born on January 23, 1900, so today would be her 125th birthday. Hilda was the daughter of Charles and Juliana (Popp) Bruhl. In a previous post about about Hilda’s parents, A-Standin’ with the Coroner in Winslow, Arizona, it was said that this Bruhl family, originally from Austria, was first located in New Wells before migrating north to Frohna. Early on, the family used the Bruhl spelling, but some folks in this family removed the “h” so it became Brul. Hilda was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can take a look at her baptism record below.

Hilda was born early enough in 1900 to be included in that year’s census. Hilda’s age is given as 4/12 (4 months), and her father was a farm laborer in the Brazeau Township.

Next, we find Hilda at the age of 10 in the 1910 census. This time, Hilda’s father and her older brother, Rudolph, were doing the farming.

The only other church record we find for Hilda was her confirmation record. She was confirmed at Concordia, Frohna in 1913, but the records from that congregation that we have in our museum do not go up that far, so I am unable to display her record. After that, we no longer find Hilda living in Missouri. When the 1920 census was taken, we find Hilda living in the Elkhorn Township in Nebraska, which is located near the towns of West Point, Beemer, and Wisner. She and her older brother, Rudolph, were living in the William Risenkamp household. Rudolph was a farm laborer, and Hilda was a housekeeper.

The map below shows locations that will be important in this story.

It was in Nebraska that Hilda found the man who would become her husband. His name was William Christian Otto Daberkow, who was born on May 15, 1899. William was the son of Friedrich “Fritz” and Helene (Peters) Daberkow. William was born in Cuming County, Nebraska and was likely baptized at one of the Lutheran churches found in that vicinity. He is found in the 1900 census at the age of 2, although I think he was only 1. His father was a farmer in the Elkhorn Township. Included in their household was Emil Peters, who was Helene’s brother.

When the 1910 census was taken, William was 10 years old, and he had plenty of younger siblings.

William had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He is given a West Point, Nebraska address.

In 1919, William’s older sister got married, and William was pictured in her wedding photo. William (Bill) is standing behind the bride and groom. It is the only photo I located for him.

The last census in which we find William prior to his marriage is the one taken in 1920. He was helping on his father’s farm.

William Daberkow married Hilda Brul on February 22, 1922. A family tree says that this pair was married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Beemer, Nebraska. A photo of that church is shown here.

Not only am I unable to display a church record, but I also was unable to locate a civil marriage record for this couple. All I could find was this information that was found in a newspaper, article but I also cannot show you an image of the actual article. It gives a different date for the wedding, but perhaps the March 1 date is when this article appeared in the newspaper.

I think the Daberkow’s had 7 children. We find this family in the 1930 census with 3 children. William, like his father, was a farmer in the Elkhorn Township.

Next, we find the Daberkow household in the 1940 census. This time, there were 6 children in the family.

William had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. He was said to be living and farming in Elkhorn.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. This time, William was living in Wisner, Nebraska and working as a clerk in a store.

At some point in time, William and Hilda moved to Colorado. In a 1967 city directory for Pueblo, Colorado, we find several entries for people named Daberkow, including William and Hilda. Quite a few of these were sons of William and Hilda.

A later city directory from 1972 has even more Daberkow’s listed.

I think it is possible that the reason for the Daberkow’s moving to this part of Colorado is that Hilda’s parents are buried in that area. There may have been others in the Brul family found in and around Pueblo.

William Daberkow died in Pueblo in 1975 at the age of 75; Hilda Daberkow died in 1990 at the age of 90. These two are buried together in the Mountain View Cemetery in Pueblo.

My mind works in mysterious ways these days. I forget so many things as I grow older. However, when I saw the name, Daberkow, today, it sparked some kind of memory in my brain. I figured that I must have run across someone by this name during my lifetime. I got out my Concordia Teachers College yearbook from Seward for my graduating year, 1972. In my graduating class, I found a classmate of mine who was named Evelyn Daberkow. I honestly do not remember her, but the yearbook says she was from Pueblo, Colorado. She is pictured below. I figure there is a mighty good chance that she could call William and Hilda her grandparents.

If Evelyn manages to find this blog post, I’d love to hear from her and find out what she did during her life after college.