Today’s post is one that I would put in the category of irresistible. Not only is today this highlighted man’s 200th birthday, but he was the first graduate of the Log Cabin College. I have already written a post about him, but it was back in the first year of this blog, and I was still learning the tricks of the trade. That post had very few of the standard images, like census records, which are found in so many of the posts on this blog. I am going to add some of those documents today and attach the original post.
Johann Andreas Friedrich Wilhelm Mueller was born on October 29, 1825. His initials, J.A.F.W., are often used in describing him, along with the nickname people often use, Alphabet. I will alternate between those two names. This time, when I researched his story, I discovered that he may have had a mother with a different name than we find in our German Family Tree. The GFT says his mother was named Maria Christiane Martens. However, I think the German baptism record shown below from Ammendorf is the one for J.A.F.W., and it says his mother’s maiden name was Wolschendorf, not Martens. Most resources say Alphabet was from Planena, but Planena is actually a neighborhood within Ammendorf. And the important fact is that he was born on October 29, 1825.
Alphabet came to America in 1839 aboard the ship, Republik, and settled in Perry County. He became one of the original 11 students to attend the Log Cabin College when it opened on December 9, 1939. He also became the first graduate of that institution, which had gotten the name, Concordia Seminary in Altenburg. He graduated and was ordained as a Lutheran pastor in 1847. His first position as a minister was for 3 preaching stations in the western part of St. Louis which eventually became the congregations, St. Paul, Des Peres, Immanuel, Olivette, and St. John’s, Ellisville.
Alphabet married Johanna Hoehne on May 2, 1849. Then, we find the Mueller’s in the 1850 census with one young child.
Prior to the 1860 census, Rev. Mueller took a call to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Chicago. The 1860 census lists 5 children in their household.
In 1863, Pastor Mueller moved to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. In the 1870 census shown below, we find 6 children in their household.
In 1875, the Mueller’s moved to Chester, Illinois where Alphabet was the pastor of St. John’s Lutheran Church. That is where his first wife, Johanna, died in 1877. Then on April 4, 1880, Alphabet married the widow, Christiane (Seidler) Froebel from Frohna. We can view this marriage record from Perry County here.
The 1880 census entry for the Mueller’s included Christiane and 4 remaining children.
The last census in which we find Alphabet was the one taken in 1900. J.A.F.W. and his second wife had an empty nest.
J.A.F.W. Mueller died on the day after Christmas in 1900 at the age of 75. He is buried in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Chester.
The legacy of Alphabet Mueller is an impressive one. Several people in his family tree went on to be full-time Lutheran church workers. Alphabet and quite a few of his descendants made important contributions to the early history of the Lutheran Church-Missouri Synod.
Happy Bicentennial Birthday, Alphabet.