I will be telling another story about a person with a Friedheim beginning that will take place mostly in St. Louis. In the case of today’s birthday boy, I find his name to be fascinating. Franklin Benjamin Harrison Siewing was born on May 22, 1892, thus making today his 133rd birthday. I will use the name, Frank, because that is what he is called much of the time. He was the son of Henry and Mary (Emde) Siewing. The middle names for Frank are what I find interesting. In 1892, the President of the United States was Benjamin Harrison. President Harrison was a Republican. I try to keep politics out of this blog for the most part, but I figure that Frank’s parents must have been Republicans to inspire them to give their son the middle names of the current President. I cannot imagine parents naming their child after a person in the opposing political party.

There is another mystery about Frank’s surname. The Friedheim books have plenty of people named Sewing in them. I did not find any evidence that Frank’s family ever used that spelling of their surname. It seemed to always be Siewing. I think this mystery was solved when I took a look in the family book that we have in our research library called The Sewing Circle. That large book, which documents the family spelled as Sewing, includes no evidence of anyone in Frank’s family, so I have come to the conclusion that there is an entirely different family that carried the Siewing name.

Frank was the 6th of 9 children born to his parents. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. An image of his baptism record is found in that congregation’s books and is displayed here. I have included a few records above Frank’s. The one at the top is for a baby whose surname was Sewing. You can see that Frank’s name was definitely spelled as Siewing, not Sewing.

Frank was the last of the Siewing children to be baptized in Friedheim. All the remaining children, beginning with the next one born in 1895, do not have baptism records in the Friedheim books, so this family must have moved elsewhere not long after Frank was born. I located the confirmation record for that next child, Joseph Sewing, in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Louis. That record states that Joseph was born in Pierce City, Nevada.

Then, by the time the 1900 census was taken, the Siewing family is found living in St. Louis. Frank was 8 years old at the time, and his father is called a day laborer. Three of Frank’s older brothers were called tinners.

Frank’s confirmation record is also found in the books of Immanuel, St. Louis. He was confirmed in 1904.

Frank is found in the 1910 census at the age of 17. He was called a press feeder for the Compton and Sons Company, which was a lithography business.

Now, we need to look at the woman who would become Frank’s first wife. Her name was Clara Anna Plassmann, who was born on February 23, 1892. Clara was the daughter of William and Theresa (Mueller) Plassmann. She was born in St. Louis. Clara is found in the 1900 census at the age of 8. Her father was a blacksmith in St. Louis.

Next, we find Clara in the 1910 census as a teenager. A few of her older sisters were part of the work force.

Frank Siewing married Clara Plassmann on June 10, 1914 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in St. Louis. The church marriage record for this event is pictured here.

We can also view this couple’s St. Louis marriage record.

Frank had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. He was called a printer for the Woodard Tierman Printing Company in St. Louis.

I found this ad for the Woodard & Tierman Printing Company.

Frank and Clara had 2 daughters. The first of these daughters was born prior to the 1920 census. In that year’s entry, Frank is called a printer.

Another daughter was born in 1921, but then Clara died in 1925 at the age of 32. Her death certificate below says she died of pneumonia.

Frank married a woman named Blanche Wanner in 1926 according to the St. Louis marriage document shown here.

That marriage likely did not last long because Frank is found as a widower in the 1930 census. He was living with his widowed mother and his 2 daughters. He is called a pressman.

Frank would get married again in 1934. His 3rd wife was named Marguerite Hoepf, who had been married previously. Her maiden name was Scheider. A St. Louis marriage license says these two were married by a justice of the peace.

At this point in his life, I failed to find much about what happened to Frank. I failed to find him in the 1940 census. Then, in 1942, he had his World War II draft card completed. It identifies his wife as Mrs. M. Seiving.

I also was unable to locate the Siewing’s in the 1950 census, although I know Frank and Marguerite were still living. Marguerite Siewing died in 1953 at the age of 50.

Frank Siewing died in 1961 at the age of 69. His death certificate says he died of sepsis. It also says he was widowed.

An obituary for Frank was published in at St. Louis newspaper. It does not give any information about his wives.

Frank and his first and third wives are buried in the Laurel Hills Cemetery in Normandy, but their entries on Findagrave.com do not have gravestone photos. I know that is where my grandparents are buried also, and they do not have photos either. There is a Blanche Wanner buried in St. Louis who died in 1957, and I think it is possible that may be the grave of Frank’s second wife, but I cannot say for sure.

Franklin Benjamin Harrison Siewing’s story is one that has some holes in it. As I continue to research people for stories on this blog, I occasionally run across one like this one in which my efforts fail to find all the documents that should be there. I often tell people that what I do is “drive-by genealogy”. In order to write stories on a more-or-less daily basis, I do not have the time to delve as deeply into someone’s story as someone who might have a family connection to a person that has a lot of time to focus on just the characters in their own family tree. So, I do what I can, and move on. So, I will move on to my next story.