Today’s tale will take us all around the Perry County and northern Cape Girardeau County area. The post will mention Friedenberg, Uniontown, Friedheim, Longtown, Cape Girardeau, Point Rest, and Crosstown. Some stories, like the one I wrote yesterday, take place almost entirely at one Lutheran congregation. That will certainly not be the case in today’s post. We begin with a birthday girl.

Charlotte Hoehn was born on April 30, 1880, so today would be her 145th birthday. Charlotte was the daughter of Ferdinand and Dorothea (Rauh) Hoehn. She was baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, so we are not able to view an image of her baptism record. Charlotte shows up already in the 1880 census as a baby. Her father was a farmer in the Cinque Hommes Township.

We cannot view the 1890 census because those records were destroyed in a fire, so the next census entry in which we find Charlotte is the one taken in 1900. She was 20 years old at the time.

Now, we will take a look at the man who would become Charlotte’s husband. His name was Martin John Ernst Mehner, who was born on December 15, 1878. Martin was the son of Friedrich and Elisabeth (Hillemann) Mehner. His parents were married at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, and that couple’s first child was baptized at that church. Then, several Mehner children were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. The Mehner child born prior to Martin’s birth was baptized in Friedheim, and another child born afterwards was baptized there as well. However, our German Family Tree does not list a baptism record for Martin. So, since the Friedheim records were recently introduced into our GFT, I decided to see if Martin’s record had somehow been missed. Indeed it was. I found the baptism record for him shown below.

In the 1880 census, Martin was 1 year old, and his family was living in the Apple Creek Township. His father is called a farmer and a merchant.

A while ago, I wrote a post about Martin’s brother, Henry. That post was titled, Mehner Merchants. Not only were Henry and his father merchants, but we will find out today that Martin was going to be another Mehner who became a merchant.

Martin was no longer living with his parents when the 1900 census was taken. We find him living in the Harvey (or Harry) Little household in Longtown. He and Harvey were both called merchants of dry goods.

Martin Mehner married Charlotte Hoehn on September 8, 1901 at Zion Lutheran Church in Longtown. The church marriage record for this couple is pictured here. This document says that both Martin and Charlotte were from Longtown.

We can also view this pair’s Missouri marriage license.

Our German Family Tree lists 11 children born to Martin and Charlotte. The first 5 children were baptized at Zion, Longtown. With just one exception, later children were baptized at either Trinity Lutheran Church in Point Rest or Zion Lutheran Church in Crosstown. When the 1910 census was taken, there were 5 children in the Mehner household. They were living in Cape Girardeau where Martin is called a merchant at a grocery store.

There is another Mehner child in our German Family Tree that does not have a baptism record. I thought that child, who was born in 1910, could be found in the binder we have for Trinity Lutheran Church in Cape Girardeau. That congregation’s books have not been indexed and included in our GFT yet. I did find the baptism record for that Mehner child in that binder. An image of her baptism record is displayed here.

I do not think the Mehner’s remained in Cape Girardeau very long because their next child born in 1912 was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Point Rest. That son is the only Mehner child who died as an infant. Martin had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. It gives him a Menfro address.

In the 1920 census, the Mehner’s were living in the Bois Brule Township. This is the only census entry in which Martin was called a farmer. There were 9 children in the household.

The Mehner’s are found in the 1930 census living in the Salem Township. Martin is called a retail merchant at a general store. I think Martin became involved in operating a store in Crosstown at about this time. I think it may have even been called the Mehner Store since not long ago, Ken Hadler told me he remembered a Mehner Store in Crosstown that was run by Paul Mehner, who was one of Martin’s sons.

A photograph of the Martin Mehner family was taken at about this time. It shows 10 children.

When the 1940 census was taken, there were just 2 children still living with their parents. The Mehner’s were living in Crosstown, and Martin was the proprietor of a general store. One of his sons was working in his store.

In 1943, Martin was named the postmaster for Crosstown according to the document shown below.

Charlotte Mehner died in 1948 at the age of 67. Her death certificate lists a strangulated hernia as a cause of death.

An obituary for Charlotte was published in the Perry County Republican.

Later in 1948, on November 25th, Martin Mehner married again. His second wife was Dora Eichhorn.

In the 1950 census, we find just Martin and Dora living in Crosstown where Martin was called the postmaster.

Martin Mehner died in 1956 at the age of 77. His death certificate is shown here. It says he was a retired merchant.

Martin’s obituary can be read below.

Martin and Charlotte Mehner are buried together in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Crosstown.

Now we can add yet another Mehner to the list of people that we can call Mehner Merchants.