In June of 2023, I wrote a post about Clara Dickmann who married Alwin Leine titled, Daisy Blacksmith. In that story, we discovered a very unusual page in Missouri’s collection of marriage licenses. On that page shown below, the two weddings recorded on it have brides who were named Clara Dickmann. Both weddings took place at Trinity Lutheran Church, and both of them occurred on October 27th. How amazing is that?

The previous post highlighted the marriage of Clara Dickmann to Alwin Leine, which is the bottom license on the image above. Today, I will tell the story of the other wedding listed at the top of the page.

Clara Elizabeth Dickmann was born on July 20, 1885, so today would be her 140th birthday. Clara was the daughter of Carl and Mary (Dambach) Dickmann. Clara was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We can view an image of her baptism record from that church’s books here.

Clara is found in the 1900 census at the age of 14. She is called Clara L. Dickmann in this entry. That is because it stood for Lizzie, an alternate for Elizabeth. The other Clara Dickmann had a middle name of Louise, so she would be more qualified to be called Clara L. Dickmann.

The above census entry would be the only one for Clara in which we find her single, so we will now turn our attention to the man who would become her husband. His name was Norbert Friedrich Sewing (pronounced “saving”), who was born on October 24, 1882. Norbert was the son of Friedrich and Mathilde (Zoellner) Sewing. He was also baptized at Trinity, Friedheim, and his baptism record is displayed below.

Norbert is found in the 1900 census at the age of 17. His father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. There were 9 children in this Sewing household, and all but one of them were sons.

As mentioned earlier, Norbert Sewing married Clara Dickmann on October 27, 1907 at Trinity, Friedheim. The church marriage record for this couple is shown below.

Here is an image of just the Sewing/Dickmann Missouri marriage license.

Our German Family Tree lists 2 children born to this pair. When the 1910 census was taken, just their son, Elmer, was included in the household. Norbert was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. Norbert’s brother, Robert, was living with them and helping with the farming.

Norbert had his World War I draft registration completed in 1919. This form gives him a rural Oak Ridge address, which likely means that was where his mail originated.

A daughter named Ruby was born in 1911, so when the 1920 census was taken, we find both of their children in the entry.

The 1930 census shows that just their daughter, Ruby, was living with Norbert and Clara.

In a plat map produced for Cape Girardeau County in 1930, we find the Norbert Sewing farm located not far from Old Appleton. A few other Sewing farms were found nearby.

In an article published in the Perry County Republican in 1931, it says that Norbert was elected judge. That election took place in November of 1930. This article was part of a column called “Old Appleton News”.

I was able to locate this photo of Norbert Sewing.

Norbert Sewing died in 1937 at the age of 55. His death certificate shown below says he died in the St. Luke’s Hospital in St. Louis.

An obituary for Norbert was printed in the Perry County Republican. I will show that obituary in two images here that may be clicked to read the entire thing.

Norbert is buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Friedheim.

Clara is found as a widow in the 1940 census. She was living by herself, but as you can see by the entry I have displayed below, she had plenty of Sewing relatives living nearby. Robert and Ferdinand Sewing were brothers of Clara’s husband.

The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. A granddaughter named June Mirly was living with her. June was the 16 year-old daughter of Clara’s daughter, Ruby, and was doing farm chores. You can probably say that there was a “Sewing Neighborhood” in the Apple Creek Township.

Clara Sewing died in 1967 at the age of 82. She was living with her son, Elmer, in St. Louis at the time of her death. Her death certificate below gives Elmer as the informant.

Clara Sewing is buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in St. Louis.

I find Norbert Sewing to be a rather interesting character. I highlighted the fact that he was elected to a county judge position in the 1930’s. I also found several articles in the Perry County Republican about him selling pigs to others in the area. I admit that I normally would not think that a county judge would also be a pig farmer…or any kind of farmer, for that matter.