Today’s birthday boy only makes it onto this blog because he married a Perry County girl. Then after spending most of his life in St. Louis, he and his wife made their way back to Perry County to be buried. His surname, Laupp, is a new one to show up on this blog, and it only shows up in our German Family Tree because he married an Ochs.

Michael Martin Laupp was born on July 19, 1895, so today would be his 130th birthday. Michael was born in Franklin County, Missouri, which is where the city of Washington, Missouri is located. Michael was the son of William and Martha (Burkowsky) Laupp. I do not know where Michael was baptized, but when I did a search for “Franklin County, Missouri” on the website of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod, I got plenty of results, as shown on the map below. I am sure that not all of these had been established yet when Michael was born, but I am also sure that some of them were, so it is possible that Michael’s baptism record may be found in one of these congregation’s books.

Michael is found in the 1900 census at the age of 4. His father was a farmer in the Boles Township of Franklin County. Right below the William Laupp household is that of another Michael Laupp, who was today’s birthday boy’s grandfather. Likely, he was named after his grandfather.

When the 1910 census was taken, Michael was still living in Franklin County, but this time in the Boeuf Township. Michael was 14 year old, so this census entry was compiled at about the time he would have been confirmed.

In 1917, Michael had his World War I draft registration completed. This form says that Michael was living in St. Louis where he was employed as a motor maker for the Wagner Electric Company. There is a complication with this document because it says he had a wife. The problem with that is the fact that this document is dated as being completed on June 5, 1917, and I will soon display his marriage record which says he was married on June 6, 1917.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Michael’s bride. Her name was Sophia Anna Magdalena Ochs, who was born on August 28, 1891, so she was about 4 years older than Michael. Sophia was the daughter of John and Anna (Stuebinger) Ochs. A previous blog post was written about Sophia’s parents titled, The Ochs/Stuebinger Couplings. In that post, it was pointed out that the Ochs/Stuebinger wedding had taken place in 1890 at Cross Congregation near Longtown, Missouri. Sophia was the first child of that marriage, and she was also baptized at that congregation, and I am able to display her baptism record here.

Cross Congregation closed prior to the turn of the century. In the 1900 census, we find the Ochs family living in the Bois Brule Township where Sophia’s father was a farmer. Sophia was 8 years old at the time.

A new congregation called Trinity Lutheran Church located in Point Rest, Missouri began in the early part of the 20th century, and that is where Sophia was confirmed in 1905. Here is her confirmation record from that congregation’s books.

The last census entry in which we find Sophia as a single woman was the one taken in 1910. She was 18 years old at the time.

I do not think that Sophia met Michael in Perry County. It is more likely that she moved to St. Louis to find work after 1910 and found Michael while living there. As said before, Michael Laupp married Sophia Ochs on June 6, 1917. According to the St. Louis marriage record shown below, this couple was married by Rev. Kretzschmar, who was the pastor at Emmaus Lutheran Church in St. Louis at that time. This form says both Michael and Sophia were from St. Louis.

Here is the wedding photo of Michael and Sophia.

I have to admit that I have never seen what I will call “belt bouquets” like the ones shown above. I guess they enabled the women to have both arms free. I would love to know if this was some sort of short-lived fashion trend around 1917.

According to Family Search, the Laupp couple had 5 children, including a set of twins, a boy and a girl, Hubert and Hester, born in 1923. I located the baptism records for those twins in the church books of Emmaus, St. Louis.

In the 1920 census, we find the Laupp’s with 2 children. They were living with Michael’s parents. Michael was called a motor tester for an electric company.

In the 1930 census, there were 4 children in the Laupp household, including the 7 year-old twins. Michael was called a machinist for the railroad.

I found a 1932 St. Louis city directory that said Michael was working for the Pullman Car Company. The Pullman Company was in the business of manufacturing Pullman Sleeping Cars for the railroad as well as street cars. A family tree on Ancestry.com has added a couple of photos of Michael working at the Pullman Company.

The 1940 census gives evidence that several members of the Laupp household were members of the work force. Michael was a machinist for the Pullman Company, Sophia was a presser for a curtain laundry, their daughter, Alverta, operated a beauty shop, and their son, Michael, was an apprentice machinist. The twins had yet to have occupations. I discovered that the twins attended Blewett High School, which is where my mother went to high school. The twins and my mother are found in the same 1940 yearbook for that high school just one page apart.

Michael had his World War II draft card completed when the United States entered that conflict. Michael was still employed by the Pullman Car Company.

Prior to the 1950 census, the Laupp’s moved to Perry County. In that year’s census entry, we find them living in Longtown. They must have been living near the parsonage of Zion Lutheran Church because they are listed right next to the pastor’s entry in this census. Michael and Sophia had an empty nest, and neither of them had an occupation.

Michael Laupp died in 1965 at the age of 69. Pneumonia is given as one of his causes of death on the death certificate below. He died at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau.

Michael’s death record is found in the books of Zion Lutheran Church in Longtown.

A transcription of Michael’s obituary can be found on Findagrave.com. It mentions that Michael also had served as a correspondent for the Perry County Republican.

Sopia Laupp died in 1968 at the age of 76. Her death certificate says she died at the Jefferson County Hospital in Crystal City. I suspect that after her husband’s death, she went to live with her son, Michael, Jr. who was living in Hillsboro.

Sophia’s death record is also found in the books of Zion, Longtown.

We can also read Sophia’s obituary.

Michael and Sophia Laupp are buried together in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Longtown.

I did a search on Findagrave.com and discovered that Michael and Sophia are the only people with the surname, Laupp, buried in Perry County, Missouri.