When I saw the names in today’s post title, I figured that I had already written their story. After searching, I discovered that several posts have been written about children of today’s couple, but I have not written about the parents. The photograph below has shown up on several occasions, but it has always been stated that they were the parents of a character in the post.

I will begin with discussing the groom. Claus Henry Stueve was born on April 17, 1844 in Lamstedt, Germany. One should keep in mind that there are quite a few men named Claus Stueve in our German Family Tree. Since today’s character also had a son named Claus Henry Stueve, he is often referred to as Claus Stueve, Sr. He was the son of Carsten and Adelheid (Mangels) Stueve. We can view some baptism records from the Lamstedt parish in Germany, and I am able to display the one for Claus.

Claus came to the United States in 1865 aboard the ship, Constantia, in 1865. He made the voyage with 3 other men, all in their 20’s, who settled in Perry County. And believe it or not, 3 of the 4 were named Claus.

Now, let’s turn our attention to the bride. Her name was Margaretha von Glahn, who was born on March 14, 1843. Like her future husband, she was born in Lamstedt, Germany. Margaretha was the daughter of Claus and Christine (Weinberg) von Glahn. We are also able to look at her German baptism record.

Margaretha came to America aboard the ship, Carl, in 1866. Other than the ships that were part of the Gesellschaft in 1839, the ship, Carl, that arrived in 1866 is likely the next-ranked ship carrying passengers who settled in Perry County. Margaretha is found on this passenger list along with her older sister, Rebekka.

Both Rebekka and Margaretha would marry brothers named Stueve. Another sister, Martha, arrived in this country a year later and married Gerhardt Mangels, who is the non-Claus passenger on the Constantia image shown earlier. If you do a search on this blog, you will find previous posts about these folks.

I ran into a bit of a problem when looking for information about this pair in the year, 1870. First of all, I was unable to find either of them in the 1870 census. The other puzzle is the date of their marriage. Our German Family Tree says that Claus Stueve married Margaretha von Glahn on February 23, 1870, and if that is the correct date, then today would be this couple’s 155th wedding anniversary. However, the GFT does not list any kind of document to verify this date. All of this couple’s other church records are found in the books of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar, but that congregation’s books does not include this marriage record. I searched for some kind of civil marriage record, but failed. Even our expert on the Stueve family, Diane Anderson, in her massive Stueve family binder that we have, just says this couple was married in February of 1870. I do know that the first church record we have is for a baptism of their first child who was born on December 31, 1870 and baptized at Salem, Farrar.

In the 1880 census, the Stueve’s were living in the Salem Township with 5 children. Claus was a farmer.

Two more children were born in the 1880’s, making a total of 7 children in this family. Since we cannot view the 1890 census, the next entry we can see for the Stueve’s is the one taken in 1900. That was the year when the Salem Township pages of the census were so difficult to read. There were 3 children left in the Stueve household.

The 1910 census shows that Claus, Sr. and Margaretha were living with just the 2 children who never married, Adelheid and Claus, Jr. The 2 Claus’s were doing the farming.

The 1915 plat maps for Perry Count;y includes several farms that are identified as Stueve’s that may or may not be associated with today’s Claus Stueve. First, here is a map that has quite a few different Stueve land parcels that are highlighted. However, I lean toward saying that none of these Stueve properties are ones associated with today’s Claus Stueve, mostly because none of these would be found in the Salem Township.

There are a few other Stueve properties that are found north of Farrar and near Crosstown that would be found in the Salem Township, and I think are more likely connected to today’s Stueve family. One of their sons was Henry Stueve and another was Claus Stueve, Jr.

The 1920 census is the last one in which we find Claus. This time, Claus, Jr. was called the head of the household, and we see the same four persons in the entry as we did in the 1910 census. Claus, Sr. had no occupation.

Claus Stueve died in 1924 at the age of 80. His death certificate is displayed below.

Margaretha is found as a widow in the 1930 census. In addition to the Stueve’s, we find a lady named Katherine Luehrs who was a saleslady at a general store.

Margaretha Stueve died in 1931 at the age of 88. Her death certificate lists infirmities of age as her cause of death.

Claus and Margaretha Stueve are each buried in the Salem Lutheran Cemetery in Farrar.

Our German Family Tree has several pages of descendants of this Claus and Margaretha Stueve couple. Also, in addition, one can find quite a few men over the years who carried the name of Claus Stueve.