Freida Emma Klaus was born on September 4, 1895, so that makes today her 130th birthday. Frieda was the daughter of Louis and Fredericke (Oehl) Klaus. I do not know when or where Frieda was baptized. I do know that she had a younger brother who was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim in 1901, so it looks as if this Klaus family became members of that congregation at about the beginning of the 20th century. When the 1900 census was taken, a rather large Klaus family is found living in the Apple Creek Township. Frieda was 5 years old, and her father was a farmer.

In 1910, Frieda was confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We can view her name in a list showing the members of her 1910 confirmation class.

We can also view the census entry for Frieda during that same year. She was 14 years old, and the Klaus family had gotten even larger. This entry lists 11 children.

Frieda would get married during the next decade, so we will now turn our attention to the man who would become her husband. His name was Johann Georg Oscar Huettig, who was born on September 30, 1889. Oscar was the son of Herman and Wilhelmina (Lowes) Huettig. I do not know when or where Oscar was baptized, but, just like Frieda, he had a younger brother who was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim in 1901. It looks like the Huettig family also became members of that congregation at about the same time the Klaus family did. Oscar is found in the 1900 census at the age of 10. His father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

In the 1910 census, Oscar was 20 years old and was one of two sons in his family who were helping their father on his farm.

Oscar Huettig married Frieda Klaus on November 14, 1915 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. The church marriage record for that event is displayed below.

We can also view 2 different civil marriage records for the Huettig/Klaus wedding. Here is the Missouri marriage license for this pair.

Next, we can view a record that looks more like a marriage certificate.

In 1917, Oscar had his World War I draft registration completed. He is given a rural Cape Girardeau address and was said to have a wife and a child.

It appears that this Huettig couple found a farm in the Randol Township of Cape Girardeau County after they got married. That is where we find them living when the 1920 census was taken. Included in his household were his parents and two young children. Oscar was a farmer.

Next, we find the Huettig’s in the 1930 census. Their third and last child had been born during the previous decade, so we see a family of 5 in this entry.

In the 1940 census, there were just 2 children still living with Oscar and Frieda. Their son, Wilbert, was helping Oscar on his farm.

Oscar had his World War II draft card completed when the United States entered that war.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. None of the Huettig children were still living with their parents, but included in the household was Oscar’s younger single brother, Ottomar. Oscar and Ottomar were doing the farming.

Oscar Huettig died in 1977 at the age of 87; Frieda Huettig died in 1990 at the age of 97. These two are buried together in the Hanover Lutheran Cemetery in Cape Girardeau.

The early years of the bride and groom in this story were spent in the Friedheim neighborhood, but after their wedding, the rest of their lives were spent in a township just north of the city of Cape Girardeau. Both Oscar and Frieda came from rather large families, but these two ended up with just 3 children.

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Every once in a while, I have someone point out that I do not follow grammatical rules when writing the plurals for names. For example, when I make my surname plural, I write Schmidt’s. I know the rules of English grammar say it should be spelled Schmidts. I have a reason for doing this. I will use one of today’s surnames to illustrate my reason. I know that I have seen the surnames, Klaus and Klause. If I use the rules, the plural for each of these surnames would be Klauses. By spelling it that way, if someone just sees the plural form, they cannot tell if it is more than one Klaus or more than one Klause. So, for many years now, I have made the choice to spell the plurals of surnames using an apostrophe. I know that it makes the spelling look like a possessive form, but at least people know what the singular spelling of the surname is. If someone has a suggestion for avoiding any confusion with surname plurals that abides by the rules, I would certainly like to know what it is. I know that back in my teaching days, I would have had to get out my green marking pen and mark a lot of mistakes on my posts for an improper use of an apostrophe. I guess you can sic the grammar police on me. And I thank you for reading our blog.

This might be a good time to remind anyone who is reading our blog that our museum’s Facebook page had to be changed after we had gotten over 2400 followers on our first Facebook page. We are up to over 500 followers on our new Facebook page, but I know every once in a while, I run across someone who is wondering why they aren’t getting Facebook notifications about our blog posts anymore. It is because they still use the old Facebook page that we at the museum cannot remove. Please note that our new Facebook page can be found at the following link.

https://www.facebook.com/LutheranMuseumAltenburg

The new profile page looks like this. If you find us again, please follow us again.