Back in 2019, a post was published about a Poppitz bride and a Lueders groom. That couple was married in 1917 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, the church of the bride. A photo of the wedding party of Arthur Lueders and Hulda Poppitz is shown here.

A year after the above wedding took place, a Poppitz groom married a Lueders bride. You will be reading the story of that couple today. I will begin with the Lueders bride because she is today’s birthday girl.

Anna Mathilda Rosa Lueders was born on June 4, 1895, so today would be her 130th birthday. Anna was the daughter of Henry and Louise (Elbrecht) Lueders. That means she was also a granddaughter of August and Anna (Roth) Lueders. Perhaps Anna was named after her grandmother. She was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. Her baptism record is pictured here.

Anna is found in the 1900 census at the age of 4. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township. His farm was located near Frohna. Please note that Anna had a set of younger twin sisters, Nora and Rosa, in her family.

Next, we find Anna in the 1910 census as a teenager. She had been confirmed at Concordia, Frohna in 1909.

Perhaps the photo below was taken at about this time in Anna’s life. This Lueders family was involved in making wine back in those days, and this photo shows the family gathered with some of their grape harvest. Someone has identified Anna as being the 3rd girl from the left. The first two on the left are Anna’s twin sisters, Nora and Rosa. I happen to be of the opinion that they were not identical twins.

Now, we will turn our attention to the man who would become Anna’s husband. His name was Theodor Martin Poppitz, who was born on January 7, 1891. Theodor was the son of Ferdinand and Ernestine (Oehlert) Poppitz. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can view his baptism record below.

Theodor was also born at a time when Perry County kept birth records. We can view his birth record below.

Theodor is found in the 1900 census at the age of 9. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township. The Poppitz’s lived in the Seelitz community.

In the 1910 census, Theodor was 19 years old and working on his father’s farm.

In this Poppitz family photo, Theodor is standing in the back row, second from the right.

Theodor had his World War I draft registration completed when America joined that war effort. He was no longer living in Perry County. He is given an address of Dalton, Nebraska, which is located in that state’s Cheyenne County. It has often been mentioned that many Perry County natives relocated to the area around Potter, Nebraska, which is also found in that county. This form says that Theodor was farming by himself.

The above form does not say if it was completed in 1917 or 1918. The wedding party shown at the beginning of this post includes Theodor as one of the groomsmen. That wedding took place in February of 1917. I wonder whether Theodor was already living in Nebraska and traveled back to Altenburg for that event.

Theodor Poppitz married Anna Lueders on November 10. 1918 at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can view the church marriage record for this pair. It says that Theodor was living in Dalton, Nebraska at the time of his wedding. If you look at the list of attendants for this event, you will find Anna’s twin sisters, Nora and Rosa.

The Missouri marriage license for this couple can also be viewed here. This form also indicates Theodor’s residence in Dalton, but it mistakenly says that Cheyenne County is in Missouri.

I think that Theodor and Anna had 4 children that lived to adulthood. I was not able to find the Poppitz’s in the 1920 census, but I have every reason to believe that they were living in the Cheyenne County in Nebraska. If I was able to find that year’s census entry, there would likely have been one daughter in their household. The next census entry I can show is the one taken in 1930. Theodor was a farmer in the Davison Township of Cheyenne County which is located not far from the town of Dalton. There were 3 children in their household.

Next, we find the Poppitz’s in the 1940 census with 3 children. Their oldest daughter, Edna, was no longer living with them, and another son, Arnold, had been born during the previous decade.

Theodor had his World War II draft card completed in 1942. It still gave him a Dalton, Nebraska address and said he was farming.

Prior to the compilation of the 1950 census, Theodor and Anna moved to Oregon. We find them living in Salem, Oregon when that year’s census was taken. Theodor was a janitor and Anna was grading cherries, both at a food processing plant. Two sons were still living with them.

Theodor Poppitz died in 1979 at the age of 88; Anna Poppitz died in 1981 at the age of 86. These two are buried in the Belcrest Memorial Park in Salem, Oregon.

I am going to close this article by presenting a question. A family tree on Ancestry.com claims that Anna Lueders, today’s birthday girl, is the second woman from the left in the wedding party photo shown earlier. However, that photo also identifies that woman as being Rosa Lueders. First of all, Anna did have a middle name of Rosa, so that may support the premise that it is Anna in that photo. However, by now, you know that Anna had twin sisters named Rosa and Nora. Nora is the 3rd woman from the left in that wedding party photo. What do you think? Is the second woman from the left in that picture Anna Rosa Lueders or is it the twin, Rosa Lueders? I lean toward thinking that she is the twin. However, I would like to think that Theodor and Anna were both part of that wedding party, and that event may have contributed to their becoming romantically involved as a result. Needless to say, both Theodor and Anna would have at least both attended that wedding even if Anna was not an attendant.