I located another person who would be celebrating a 150th birthday today. His name was Herman August Lorenz, who was born on April 28, 1875. Herman was the son of Traugott and Anna (Kropf) Lorenz. That also means Herman was the grandson of Johann and Johanna (Mueller) Lorenz, who each came to America as part of the Gesellschaft. Johann came aboard the Copernicus, and Johanna came aboard the Republik. Shortly after arriving in this country, those two were married and began having children. Their son, Traugott, ended up living in the Shawnee Township near New Wells. There are two major clans of Lorenz’s in Perry County. Herman was part of what we call the “Altenburg Lorenz’s”. Another clan is called the “Farrar Lorenz’s”.

Herman Lorenz was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. His baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed here. It appears that he was named after his 2 male sponsors, August Ude and Herman Landgraf.

Herman is found in the 1880 census at the age of 5. His father was a wagon maker in the Shawnee Township.

That census entry would be the only one in which Herman was living in this area. We cannot view the 1890 census, and I was unable to find him in the 1900 census. I figure that Herman was in St. Louis in 1900 studying at Concordia Seminary to become a Lutheran pastor. However, I failed to find him in a census from there.

This photo must have been taken fairly early in Herman’s life, perhaps even before he was married.

The woman who would become Herman’s bride was Johanna Jansen, who was born on October 6, 1883. She was the daughter of Charles and Pauline (Faltinowski) Jansen. Johanna was born in or near Glidden, Wisconsin, which is located in the northern part of that state. She is found in the 1900 census at the age of 16. Her father had died in 1896, so Johanna’s mother was the head of this household, and she worked as a laundress. Johanna was the oldest child in the family, and was called a servant.

It is a mystery to me how Herman and Johanna managed to become acquainted. These two were married in Ashland, Wisconsin on May 12, 1902. I am able to show this transcription of a Wisconsin marriage record for this pair.

Wisconsin compiled a state census in 1905, and we find Herman and Johanna living in a small populated place called Almon in Shawano County. Herman was called a preacher.

Family Search lists 4 children born to this Lorenz couple. All of them were boys. When the 1910 census was taken, there were 2 sons in the household, along with Herman’s widowed father, Traugott, and his brother, Theodore. Herman is called an Evangelical Lutheran pastor.

I located this photo of Herman, Johanna, and two boys. I think this photo must have been taken in about 1910.

Herman had his World War I draft registration completed when America became involved in that war. It gave Herman a rural Mattoon, Wisconsin address. His occupation is given as a minister of St. Peter’s Evangelical Lutheran Church, and that church was also given a rural Mattoon address.

I was unable to find out any information about a St. Peter’s Lutheran Church in Almon or Mattoon. There is a congregation in Mattoon that was established in 1885, but it was called St. John’s Lutheran Church. Perhaps the church that Rev. Lorenz served is no longer active.

The Lorenz household is found in the 1920 census with all 4 of their sons. Herman was still a clergyman in Almon.

Herman’s father is found living once again in the Shawnee Township in 1920, and his brother, Theodore, was living in Collinsville when that year’s census was taken.

During the next decade, Rev. Lorenz became the pastor at a different congregation. He became the pastor at a congregation that now calls itself Trinity Lutheran Church – Town Wilson. That church is located in the southern part of the Sheboygan, Wisconsin metropolitan area. That church was established in 1853. The Lorenz’s are found in the 1930 census living in Wilson. Three sons still lived with their parents.

Rev. Herman Lorenz died not long after this census was taken. He died in September of 1930 at the age of 55. So, when the 1940 census was taken, Johanna was a widow. She was living with 2 sons in Sheboygan. One son was a milkman, and the other was a truck driver for a grocery.

The last census in which we find Johanna is the one taken in 1950. Her two single sons were still living with her in Sheboygan.

Johanna Lorenz died in 1956 at the age of 74. Rev. Herman and Johanna Lorenz are each buried in the Lutheran Cemetery in Sheboygan.

The story of Rev. Herman Lorenz is yet another one which illustrates how a person who is documented in our German Family Tree becomes a full-time church worker in the Lutheran church. So many families over the years like the Lorenz family, which had several sons among their numerous children, found a way to send one or more of their sons off to be trained as a Lutheran minister and then go off to serve their church for their entire career.