Maria Wilhelmine Groh is today’s birthday girl. She was born on August 21, 1875, so today she would be a century and a half old. Most of her life, she was called Mary. She was the last child of Charles and Sophie (Bodenschatz) Groh. That couple has 10 children listed in our German Family Tree, and Mary was #10. All of the Groh children were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church, but only the last 3 were baptized in the new church sanctuary that the father, Charles, had helped build. That church was dedicated in 1867. Mary’s baptism record is pictured below.

Mary is found in the 1880 census at the age of 4. Her father was called a painter in this entry. There were 4 children still living with their parents.

Mary was confirmed at Trinity Lutheran church in 1889. Her confirmation record is shown below. I find it interesting that her confirmation verse includes the words, “Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken from her.”

Since we cannot view the 1890 census, the next census in which we find Mary was the one taken in 1900. Her mother had died in 1896, so her father was a widower in this entry. Her father is called a cabinet maker this time, and Mary’s older brother was a carpenter and painter. Being the only female in the household, Mary was undoubtedly doing the housework, which also would have included providing meals for the two men who were out making a living for the family.

During the next decade, Mary moved to St. Louis to find work. Her move may have been precipitated by the fact that her older brother, Friedrich, had gotten married and started a family during that decade. Her father and his son’s family are shown in the 1910 census as living together.

That Groh household would have been living in the house shown below in a photo that was reportedly taken in about 1910. The people in the photo correspond with the people found in the census entry above. This Groh house still stands on Main Street today.

Mary is found living with the Edward Bokern family in St. Louis and called a servant. Edward Bokern was a real estate agent. There were 2 teenage Bokern children in this entry.

Mary’s father died in 1912, and his will stated that Mary would received $400 and the assurance that her brother, Friedrich, would take her into his household if Mary chose to live with him. I found no evidence that she actually did so.

Next, we find Mary still living in St. Louis when the 1920 census was taken. She was living in a household that included 3 other females. There was Bertha Hartmann, the mother, Elsie Logeman, her daughter, who was also a widow, and her young daughter. Elsie was called the president of a coffin company. Mary was a maid.

Mary was still living in St. Louis when the 1930 census was taken. She was part of a rather large household headed up by Marvin(?) Singleton. There were four people included in this entry who were called servants, three women and a man. The women servants, including Mary, were also called nurses. The male servant was a gardener. Mary, at the age of 54, was the oldest of the female servants. I have to conclude that she likely was the “boss” of the lady servants, sharing her experience with the younger ones.

At some point in the 1930’s, Mary made a move to Jacob, Illinois to live with her brother, Ernest Groh, and his wife. By 1930, her brother and his wife, Elizabeth, had an empty nest. In 1935, Mary died in Jacob at the age of 59. Her Illinois death certificate shown below says she died of pulmonary tuberculosis. This form says she was a housekeeper for her brother.

An obituary for Mary was published in Missouri in the Perry County Republican. This obituary, as well as the death certificate above, indicates that Mary’s body was brought to Altenburg to be buried.

Mary Groh is buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

Mary was one of those women who was a lifelong single that spent some of her years caring for an aging father. Mary was one of those women who moved to St. Louis to find work as a maid for a private family. Mary was not one of those women who found a spouse in St. Louis. She was also not one who returned to Perry County after a short amount of years in the big city. Mary was a single woman who spent several decades serving as a maid in St. Louis, probably for more families than just the ones she was living with when the censuses were taken. Then, she once again joined part of her family in Jacob, Illinois toward the end of her life. At no time in her life did I find evidence that she ever lived alone. After being born and raised in Altenburg and then spending most of her years elsewhere, when she died she returned to be buried in Altenburg.