You will be reading the story of a pair of Perry County characters who were married on today’s date. Most of the lives of the husband and wife in this tale take place in the city of Perryville. I will begin with the groom.

Carl Heinrich Sommer was born on April 25, 1865, the son of Ferdinand and Anna (Bienlein) Sommer. Henry is found in the 1870 census at the age of 4. He is called Charles in this entry. His father was a laborer in Perryville.

Before I move on, let me say that there are a few debatable aspects about Henry’s life. First, most of Henry’s census entries say that he was born in Illinois, but a few indicate that he was born in Missouri, including the one shown above. His death certificate says he was born in Perry County, Missouri. So, there is some question about where Henry was born. I am not able to display a baptism record for Henry. He did have an older brother who was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church, but the remainder of the Sommer children have no baptism records in our German Family Tree. Then, beginning in 1875, we start seeing Sommer children being confirmed at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. Of all the Sommer children, Henry is the only one who is ever said to be born in Illinois. Perhaps the Sommer family did spend some time in Illinois, but apparently not for a long time. The other debatable aspect in this story is the matter of how to spell Henry’s surname. All of the Henry’s siblings used the spelling, Sommer, throughout their lives. However, when he Henry died and was buried, his gravestone was inscribed with the spelling, Sommers. I am going to use the Sommer spelling in this post because most records, including both of the death certificates for the two main characters in this story, use the Sommer spelling.

Henry Sommer was confirmed at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown in 1880. We can view his confirmation record from that congregation’s books here.

During that same year of Henry’s confirmation, we find him in the 1880 census at the age of 15. This entry says he was born in Illinois. His father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

Now, we will take a look at the bride. Her name was Katharine Charlotte Klinger, who was born on October 8, 1868. Katharine, who was mostly called Katie, was the daughter of Gottlieb and Charlotte (Klemp) Klinger. I do not know where Katie was baptized, nor do I find any baptism records for her siblings in our German Family Tree. Katie is found in the 1870 census at the age of 1. Her father was a farmer in the St. Mary’s Township.

The Klinger household is found in the 1880 census living in the Cinque Hommes Township. Katie was 11 years old, and her father was a farmer.

Henry Sommer married Katie Klinger on September 16, 1890 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. That makes today this couple’s 135th wedding anniversary. We can view the church marriage record for this pair below.

The Missouri marriage license for Henry and Katie is pictured here.

We can also view this marriage certificate for this event.

This Sommer couple has 4 children listed in our German Family Tree, all of which were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. Three of those children were born prior to the 1900 census. In the entry shown here, the Sommer’s were living in Perryville where Henry is called a teamster. In those days prior to the advent of motor vehicles, a teamster would be driving a wagon likely to be pulled by a team of horses to deliver goods from one place to another.

I am going to veer off to another topic for a bit. As near as I can tell, the Perry County Republican had a column in their newspaper called “Did You Know”. That column appears as early as 1898 and continued until about 1905. I am going to speculate that this column enabled the editor to share some stories with the public that might be described as “local color”. One might even describe it as local gossip. I mention this column because I found 3 different articles that appeared in this column that mentioned Henry Sommer. I find these mentions rather humorous. First, here is a short article describing a frog story told by Henry. I included some other short sentences that are intended to give you a feeling for other types of items that were told in this column. Henry’s name is spelled Sommers in these images.

Henry is mentioned in another “Did You Know” column stating that other men were attempting to equal Henry’s frog story.

Finally, here is a third mention of Henry in this column. I think it is indicative of the fact that Henry got the reputation for telling frog stories, likely when he was delivering goods around town as a teamster. He must have told so many frog stories that he got attention for NOT telling one during the week.

One more Sommer child was born in the next decade, but that child died prior to the 1910 census, so we once again see their family with 3 children. This time, it says Henry was doing odd jobs. Katie’s widowed father was living with them at that time.

Next, we find the Sommer household in the 1920 census. In the occupation column, it just uses the term, labor, for Henry. This entry helps us understand why both of the Sommer daughters never married. One was described as being an invalid, and the other was described as being a cripple.

The 1930 census shows the same 4 people as we saw in the previous census entry. Henry was called a laborer at a rock quarry.

Henry Sommer died in 1939 at the age of 74. His death certificate below says that his usual occupation was “public labor”.

Katie was a widow when the 1940 census was taken. Her 2 unmarried daughters continued to live with her. In the occupation columns, we see that it says “small help” and “farm relief”. It looks as if she was getting some sort of government help with supporting her family which had physical disabilities.

We find the same trio of Sommer’s women in the 1950 census. The daughter, Esther, was a cleaning lady.

Katie Sommer died in 1961 at the age of 93. We can view her death certificate below.

An obituary for Katie was published in a local newspaper, including a photo of her.

Henry and Katie Sommer are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville. You can see that these two were buried using the spelling Sommers on their gravestone.

I was curious what happened to the 2 daughters. Their daughter, Esther, died a year later in 1962. Her death certificate says she died after she was a patient at the State Hospital in Farmington for just a matter of months before dying of pneumonia. Their daughter, Bertha, died in 1963, in Perryville. Each of them are also buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville. The only son in the family got married and raised a family in Perryville. He and his wife are also buried in the same cemetery. All of the children of Henry and Katie have the surname spelled as Sommer on their gravestones.