Yesterday, millions of people watched Super Bowl LIX….or Super Bowl #59.

In the midst of researching for this story of a man named Louis Lix, I had one of those “smack my head” moments. I realized the Super Bowl included the name Lix. That got my crazy brain moving in another direction.

First, I wondered how many French kings were named Louis. After a search, I found out there were 20 King Louis’s. So, as I expected, it did not get all way up to 59 of them. However, I also noticed that there was a King Louis IX who took the moniker, Saint Louis, after being canonized by the Catholic church. The big city to our north was named after this Saint Louis. Today’s Louis would have a town named after him too.

Then, because I knew that Louis had married a girl named Rosetta, I wondered when the Rose Bowl LIX took place. The 59th Rose Bowl was played on January 1, 1973, and it featured the USC Trojans and the Ohio State Buckeyes. USC beat OSU 42-17, so that game had a pretty similar outcome to yesterday’s Super Bowl.

Enough of that. Now on to today’s story. You already know that Louis married Rosetta. I will begin with Louis.

Louis William Lix was born on November 8, 1868, the son of Henry and Mary (Eichmeier) Lix. Louis was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. This is yet another story that I may not have found had it not been for our updated German Family Tree which now includes records from Trinity, Friedheim. The baptism record for Louis is pictured here. It is not very easy to read.

Louis was the last of 10 children born into this Lix family. In the 1870 census, Louis is listed as being 1 year old. His father was a farmer in the Union Township in Bollinger County. There were 8 Lix children in the household at that time. I wonder if it is a mistake to say that Louis’s 6 year-old brother, Henry, was working on the farm.

In the 1880 census, we find Louis at the age of 11. This time, the Lix family was living in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger County. Louis, even at such a young age, was working on his father’s farm.

Next, we need to look at the woman who would become Louis’s bride. Her name was Rosetta Barks, who was born on December 28, 1873. Rosetta was the daughter of David and Sarah (Bollinger) Parks. If you go back into the Bollinger family tree of Rosetta’s mother, you will find George Friedrich Bollinger, and the county in which they lived was named after him. Rosetta is found in the 1880 census at the age of 5, although I think she was at least 6. Her father was a farmer in the Whitewater Township.

That would be the only census in which we find Rosetta prior to her marriage because we cannot view the 1890 census. Before we look at the Lix/Parks marriage, I want to display this photograph of the Barks family that was taken at some later time. Rosetta is standing in the back row, second from the right.

Louis LIx married Rosetta Barks on February 10, 1895. That is how I discovered this story. They were married on today’s date 130 years ago. They were married by a justice of the peace at Rosetta’s parents’ home. Below is this couple’s Missouri marriage license.

We can also view this couple’s marriage certificate shown here.

The Lix/Barks wedding took place at the time when two other events were taking place. First, a new post office was established in the vicinity of where several Lix families lived in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger county. A little town there had yet to be named, and it took on the name, Lixville, when that post office opened. You can see several men named Lix would be postmasters there over the years, including Louis. The Lix men are highlighted.

Another new organization would locate in Lixville. A new Lutheran congregation which became known as Lixville Lutheran was begun in 1894, and some Lix families became members. When Louis and Rosetta began having children, their babies were baptized at Lixville Lutheran. The Lixville Lutheran church books are ones that we have in our research library, but unlike those of Trinity, Friedheim, we do not have them indexed in our German Family Tree yet. I found several Lix children’s baptism records in that set of books. The first is for a child named August born in late 1895.

Of this couple’s 8 children, only 2 of them were boys, and they were the first two. Their next child, Robert, was baptized in 1897.

The Lix’s son, Robert, died in early 1900, and then a baby girl named Bertha was born shortly thereafter. I think Bertha’s baptism record is also found in the Lixville Lutheran records, but I guess I forgot to look for it when I was at the museum. When the 1900 census was taken, we find 2 children in the Lix household. Also living with Louis and Rosetta were a farm laborer named Henry Cook and Louis’s father, Henry Lix.

A daughter name Esther was born and baptized in 1903.

I think this photo of the Lix family was taken at about this time.

Effie Lix was born and baptized in 1905.

Another daughter, Marie Lix, was born and baptized in 1909.

In the 1910 census, we find 5 children in the Lix household. Louis was still farming in the Whitewater Township.

I do not know when this photo was taken of Louis and Rosetta, but it is certainly and interesting one.

Marie’s baptism record would be the last Lix baptism to be found in that congregation’s books because that is about the time when that congregation folded. The last 2 Lix baptism records can be found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, where Louis was baptized. A girl named Clara was born and baptized in 1914.

The last child born to this couple, Pearl Lix, was born in 1917. Even though this girl was born in 1917, she was not baptized until 1919 at Trinity, Friedheim.

The 1920 census shows 5 daughters living with Louis and Rosetta.

In 1930, a set of plat maps for Bollinger County was produced. We find the L.W. Lix farm located near Lixville. You can also see a few Parks farms near the Lix farm.

In the census entry for that same year, we find just 3 remaining daughters living with their parents.

The 1940 census indicates that Louis was still farming at the age of 71. Their daughter, Clara, was working at the shoe factory in Perryville.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Their daughter, Pearl, had married Perry Statler. Perry was the head of the household and doing the farming. Louis and Rosetta had no occupations.

Later in 1950, Rosetta Lix died at the age of 76. Tuberculosis is given as her cause of death on her death certificate.

I located this obituary from the Perry County Republican, but it is quite difficult to read.

Louis Lix died in 1960 at the age of 91. We can also view his death certificate.

An obituary for Louis pictured here says that he served as a judge for several years during his life.

Louis and Rosetta Lix are buried in the Lixville Lutheran Cemetery in Lixville.

It is too bad that the town of Lixville does not have a huge stadium and lots of accommodations to host a Super Bowl. Wouldn’t it have been great if Super Bowl LIX would have been held in the only town in America that is named after a LIX?

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A reader has told me that Louis Lix experienced much damage to his property during the Tri-State Tornado in 1925. I found this Perry County Article that documents this fact. This March, it will be the 100th anniversary of that tragic event.