Today’s post will take us on a trip out west. The bride and groom were both born and raised locally, and moved away from here. They each migrated to about the same place in another state and managed to find each other and get married. I have my suspicion’s how this pair got together. Let’s get this story started by looking at today’s birthday girl.

Martha Marie Blanken was born on October 9, 1885, so today would be her 140th birthday. Martha was the daughter of Dietrich and Maria (Eisenberg) Blanken. Because I think it helps explain Martha’s future wedding, I will mention that Martha’s parents were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim in 1880. Martha was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can view her baptism record below.

The only census entry in which we find Martha living in Perry County is the one taken in 1900. Martha had been confirmed at Concordia, Frohna in 1899, and in this entry, it says she was 14 years old. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Martha would get married during the next decade, so we will now look at the groom in this story. His name was Christian Henry Reinemer, who was born on February 20, 1878. Christian was the son of George and Mary (Zimmermann) Reinemer. Below is a photo of Christian’s parents.

I was not able to locate an image of Christian’s baptism record, but I have a reasonable level of confidence that he was baptized at the Arnsberg Lutheran Church that once existed in the Apple Creek Township of Cape Girardeau County. Some early children in this Reinemer family were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, but I found evidence that the Reinemer family would later become members of the church in Arnsberg. Just a few records from that congregation can be found in the Missouri Synod collection on Ancestry, and I found the baptism record for Christian’s older brother Gustav Reinemer who was born in 1873.

In a binder we have for the Arnsberg congregation, there is a page for the Reinemer family, although it does not contain much information. You can find Christian’s name as a child of George and Mary Reinemer on that page. It also refers to another child, Anna, who died in 1877. That child was buried in the Arnsberg Cemetery.

Christian is found in the 1880 census at the age of 2. He was the youngest of the Reinemer children. Christian’s father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. This would be the only census entry in which we find Christian living in Missouri.

I cannot tell you where the Reinemer’s were living when the 1890 census was taken because those records were destroyed in a fire. We discover that the Reinemer family had migrated to Kit Carson County, Colorado prior to the 1900 census. Christian is found living in Arriba, Colorado in this 1900 census entry. He was living by himself at the age of 22 and was called a livestock grower. Two of Christian’s brothers, Gustav and William, are found on this same census page and were both raising cattle. Also, Christian’s parents can be found living nearby in that same county.

I will also add the fact that Christian’s older sister Maria had married Henry Blanken, who was Martha Blanken’s uncle. That family would also be located in Kit Carson County after they were married. I think there is plenty of evidence that the Blanken and Reinemer families were familiar with each other in Missouri prior to moving to Colorado.

Martha’s Blanken family must have moved to Colorado not long after the 1900 census was taken. Christian Reinemer married Martha Blanken on October 18, 1903. I am able to display 2 different Colorado marriage documents for this couple. The first one is the one shown below. It indicates that these two were married in Flagler, Colorado.

Amazingly, it says that the pastor who performed this wedding was Henry Schmidt. I wrote the story of another Henry Schmidt yesterday who lived in Frohna most of his life, but I found no connection between the two Henry Schmidt’s. A map below shows that Arriba and Flagler are just down the road from each other.

The second marriage document I can show is the one below. This document says both Christian and Martha were from Flagler.

It appears that this couple had 4 children. When the 1910 census was taken, the Reinemer’s were living in Arriba with 2 children in their household. This time, Christian was called a farmer.

I do not know when the photo below was taken, but it is a picture that includes the siblings in the Blanken family who were in Flagler. The caption will tell you which one is Martha.

Another child was born in 1916, and that child was born in Colorado. However, when Christian had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918, he was living in New Plymouth, Idaho. Christian was called a farmer on this form.

When the 1920 census was taken, the Reinemer’s were living in New Plymouth with 3 children, all of which were born in Colorado. Christian was a farmer.

Next, we find the Reinemer family living in the Lone Star Township of Canyon County in Idaho. That is where we find the city of Nampa. Christian was still farming. Three children, one which was born in Idaho, were still living with their parents.

Apparently, in 1930, Christian and Martha made a trip back to Flagler, Colorado and had this photo taken.

The 1940 census shows the Reinemer’s with just their 2 sons living with them in the same location. Christian, at the age of 61, no longer had an occupation, but the 2 sons were farm laborers.

Martha Reinemer died in 1948 at the age of 62. Her death certificate below indicates that she died in a Nampa hospital.

Christian was still living when the 1950 census was taken, but I failed to find him in that year’s enumeration. Christian Reinemer died in 1962 at the age of 84. We can also view his Idaho death certificate. It lists a variety of causes of death, including the fact that he fell out of bed and broke his hip.

We can read an obituary for Christian below. It mentions that he was born in Armsberg (sp.?), Missouri. There is also evidence in this obituary that the Reinemer’s continued to be members of a Lutheran church in Idaho. Zion Lutheran Church in Nampa had been established in 1917.

Christian and Martha Reinemer are buried together in the Kohlerlawn Cemetery in Nampa.

I have written a few other posts about the Blanken’s who moved to Colorado in the early 1900’s. As a result of researching this story, I now think that it was the Reinemer family, who moved to Colorado to be found in the 1900 census, were the first local family to move to the Flagler, Colorado area. Because of the family connections that were already made, I think the Blanken’s may have moved to Colorado at the suggestion of the Reinemer’s. Then, it only made sense that a Reinemer son would get married to a Blanken daughter.

One last thing. I did a search on our website for “Nampa” and discovered that I have written one more post about a local person who spent some time in Nampa. That was a Schirmer family who also spent time in Colorado on their way to Idaho. They moved to Sterling, Colorado, later spent some time in the state of Washington, and ended their lives in Boise, Idaho.