It is a wedding anniversary that directed me to today’s story. I am going to begin this post by taking a look at a groom who would end up having two brides.

Theodore Henry Weinrich was born on November 5, 1869, the son of Henry and Margaret (Bergmann) Weinrich. If you want more information about Theodore’s parents, you can read this post, A Weinrich-Bergmann Pair. Theodore would have his baptism record in the books of Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, but those records burned in a fire, so we cannot view them. Theodore appears in his first census in 1870 at the age of 7/12 years (7 months). His father was a farmer in the Cinque Hommes Township. Theodore was the youngest of 5 children in his family.

Our German Family Tree lists 10 children born to Theodore’s parents. Some more were born in the 1870’s. In the 1880 census, there were 8 children in the Weinrich household. Theodore was 9 years old.

When Theodore was fairly young, he had this photograph taken.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Theodore’s first wife. Her name was Elizabeth Catherine Bohnert, who was born on January 25, 1878. That means she was about 9 years younger than Theodore. Elizabeth was the daughter of Ferdinand and Barbara (Hahn) Bohnert. A previous post has also been written about Elizabeth’s parents, Buried ‘Cross Crosstown. That story focused on the fact that Elizabeth’s father was a Catholic that married her Lutheran mother. If these Bohnert children were baptized as Lutherans, their records would have been in the books of Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, so once again we cannot show the records. There is also the possibility that the Bohnert children were baptized at the Catholic parish in Crosstown. Elizabeth is found in the only census we can view prior to her marriage in 1880. She was 2 years old, and her father was a farmer in the Central Township. Elizabeth was the youngest of the Bohnert children in the household. The German Family Tree says that there were 5 children born to Elizabeth’s parents.

Theodore Weinrich married Elizabeth Bohnert on February 11, 1900, so today would be their special 125th anniversary. These two were married at Zion Lutheran Church in Longtown. That congregation had been established in 1897, and this was just the 6th marriage that is found in this congregation’s books.

This couple’s Missouri marriage license is pictured here.

This couple had a child that was born and died on the same day in December of that year. Then, one more child, a boy named Edwin was born in 1902. In 1906, Elizabeth Weinrich died at the age of 28. She died prior to the time when Missouri kept death certificates, so we cannot see a reason for death on such a document. The church death record found in the Zion, Longtown books says she died of convulsions. A type of obituary was published in the Perry County Republican by a member of the family. It gives no other details about the cause of death. However, it says that she and Theodore had 3 children. Our GFT only gives evidence of 2.

Theodore would get married again, and when he did, he married Elizabeth’s younger sister, Mary Katherine Bohnert. Perhaps Mary helped Theodore care for his young child after Elizabeth’s death. Mary was born on January 19, 1885, so she was about 16 years younger than Theodore. Mary was born after the 1880 census, so we did not see her in that year’s census with Elizabeth. The only census entry we could view which included both Elizabeth and Mary, would have been the 1890 census, but we cannot look at that year’s entry because of fire. However, during the year when her sister got married, we find Mary in the 1900 census living with her parents. She was 15 years old, and her family was still living in the Central Township.

Theodore Weinrich married Mary Bohnert on September 19, 1908. For some unknown reason, Theodore’s 2nd wedding was conducted by a justice of the peace. We can view this couple’s Missouri marriage license below.

I was not able to find a wedding photo for Theodore’s first marriage, but one is available for you to view of his second wedding.

Our German Family Tree lists 9 children born to Theodore and Mary. When the 1910 census was taken, we find one son from each of Theodore’s two wives. He was still farming in the Cinque Hommes Township.

In the 1915 plat maps, we see that the T.H. Weinrich farm is found not far from Longtown.

Next, we find the Weinrich’s in the 1920 census. There were 6 children in their household.

It turns out that the last census in which we find Theodore was the one taken in 1930. This was quite a large household. Ten children are listed. Several of the older sons were helping Theodore on his farm.

Theodore Weinrich died in 1934 at the age of 65. His death certificate cites stomach cancer as his cause of death.

An obituary for Theodore was printed in the Perry County Republican.

Mary is found as a widow in the 1940 census. It looks as if her son, Willard, was doing the farming.

I think the photo below was taken in about 1945. Willard served in the military at the end of that war. The caption identifies the people in the photo. Arnold managed to get a family dog in front of his face.

The final census entry we can view for Mary was the one taken in 1950. Two single Weinrich children were in her household. In addition, her daughter, Marcella, had married Calvin Ochs. That couple, along with 2 of Mary’s grandchildren, were also living with Mary.

Mary Weinrich died in 1951 at the age of 66. She died on Christmas Day. We can view her death certificate here.

We can also view Mary’s obituary.

Theodore and both of his wives are buried in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Longtown.

When I write a Bohnert story, I automatically go to our library and check out a very detailed hardbound Bohnert book. It is almost always worth the look. It contains photographs that I cannot find elsewhere. However, in today’s post, I did find the wedding photo and family photo of the Weinrich’s, but the early photo of Theodore by himself is one that I found on his Findagrave.com site. I always enjoy it when I am able to display photos in my blog posts. I think it adds so much to a story if you can see what the people looked like.