The birthday girl for today’s post is Emilie Amalie Rosalia Frentzel. She would go by the name Emily, so I will use that name. She was born on July 26, 1895, so today would be her 130th birthday. Emily was the daughter of Alvin and Elizabeth (Ruhkopf) Frentzel. Emily was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. An image of her baptism record from Grace’s books is shown below.

Emily is found in the 1900 census at the age of 4. She was part of a very large Frentzel family. The German Family Tree says she was child #8 of a total of 11 children in this family. Emily’s father was a merchant in the Union Township.

Next, we find Emily in the 1910 census as a teenager. She had been confirmed at Grace, Uniontown in 1909. This time, her father was called a farmer.

Emily was not living with her parents when the 1920 census was taken, and I was unsuccessful at finding her in that year’s census. I suspect that she had gone to St. Louis to find work, but I failed to find her there. She would get married in St. Louis in 1921, so we will now look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Clyde W. McClure, who was born on June 23, 1878, so he was about 17 years older than Emily. Clyde was the oldest child of Warren and Leanna (Wolfe) McClure. Clyde was born in Seaton, Illinois. When the 1880 census was taken, we find the McClure family living in Abingdon, Illinois. Clyde was 2 years old, and his father was a farmer.

Clyde was in his 20’s when the 1900 census was taken. His mother was the head of the household, and she was said to be married, but I found a later census entry for Clyde’s father that said he was divorced. Clyde was a school teacher in Abingdon.

In 1908, Clyde enlisted in the United States Army. The military enlistment form shown below says he began his service at Ft. Bliss in Texas. The form says that he was a telegraph operator prior to joining up. I have to display this document in two images.

The above form says he was discharged in 1911, but I found another enlistment form for him for that same year. Clyde would be a career military man. I have discovered that finding military men in census entries can be rather difficult. I was unable to locate Clyde in either the 1910 or 1920 censuses. What I do know is that Clyde did serve overseas during World War I..

It think this photo including members of the McClure family may have been take before Clyde got married. The photo is captioned. This is the only photo I found of either of today’s main characters.

Clyde McClure married Emily Frentzel on June 13, 1921 in St. Louis. According to this St. Louis marriage record, this couple was married at Mt. Calvary Lutheran Church located at Union and Wells. This form says that Clyde was living in Jefferson Barracks at the time of his wedding.

My go-to source for finding Lutheran congregations in Missouri is the book, Heart of Missouri, a book detailing the history of the Missouri District of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod. When I looked in that book, Mt. Calvary was not to be found. I did manage to find Mt. Calvary Lutheran in a list of historical St. Louis churches on the St. Louis Genealogical Society website. In the image below, you will see that other churches are described as being members of the LCMS.

Mt. Calvary does not have that designation, so I think it was not a member of that synod. The church building still exists in St. Louis, but it is no longer a Lutheran church.

This couple had just one child, a daughter named Mary Belle, who was born in 1922. A birth record for their daughter indicates that she was born in Texas at the U.S. Army Station Hospital at Ft. Sam Houston.

Shortly after their daughter was born, Clyde must have been reassigned to a military base in Honolulu, Hawaii. I am thinking that he was stationed at the Schofield Barracks which had a mission to protect Pearl Harbor. This passenger list for the ship, City of Los Angeles, includes the names of Emily and Mary Belle McClure who departed from Los Angeles to Honolulu in 1923.

When I located the McClure’s in the 1930 census, they were living in Little Silver, New Jersey. Clyde was called an officer in the U.S. Army. Little Silver was the home for Ft. Monmouth, once a U.S. Army base.

The last census in which we find Clyde, the one taken in 1940, the McClure’s are found living at the Ft. Sill Army Base in Oklahoma. Clyde is called a soldier.

Clyde McClure died a year later in 1941. His Missouri death certificate indicates that he died at the Station Hospital at Jefferson Barracks in St. Louis. He was 63 years old at the time of his death. This document says he was a master sergeant in the U.S. Army and retired.

Emily McClure is found as a widow in the 1950 census. She was living with her daughter in St. Louis. Mary Belle was an office worker for the Veterans Administration.

Emily McClure did not die until 1980 at the age of 85. Both Clyde and Emily are buried in the Jefferson Barracks National Cemetery in St. Louis. Emily’s gravestone says she was born and died on July 23rd, but that must be wrong. She was born on July 26th.

Today’s birthday girl from Uniontown, Missouri became a military bride. She ended up traveling quite a bit around the country during her lifetime. Not many Perry County girls can claim that distinction.