Two sons of Carl Groh, Ernest and Martin, were born and raised in Altenburg but made their way to Jacob, Illinois where each of them and their wives had children while they were members of Christ Lutheran Church. We will be looking at one of those children in this post.

Carl Hieronymus Groh was born on November 6, 1895, thus making today his 130th birthday. His parents, Martin and Amalie (Grosse) Groh, had gotten married on New Year’s Day in 1895, and Carl Hieronymus was their first child, born later that year. The story of these parents was told in the post, New Year’s Nuptials. For some reason, I found no evidence that Carl Hieronymous was ever called by either of those names during his life. Every document I found for him calls him Jerome. The baptism record from the books of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob is displayed below in 2 images.

This Groh family did not remain in Jacob for very long. Prior to the 1900 census, they made a move to East St. Louis, Illinois. Jerome was 4 years old at the time, and his father was a painter. There were plenty of builders and painters in the Groh family.

The Groh’s did not remain in East St. Louis for very long either. By the time of the 1910 census, they had moved across the river to St. Louis, Missouri. Jerome was 14 years old, and his father was a grocer. There were two lodgers in their household, and both were working at a brewery.

Jerome would get married during the next decade, so we will now look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Helen Mary Hormberg, who was born on August 17, 1896. Helen was the daughter of Frederich and Catherine (Krumm) Hormberg. She was born in St. Louis, but I have no baptism information to share. Helen is found in the 1900 census at the age of 3. Her father was a teamster in St. Louis.

Next, we find the Hormberg’s in the 1910 census. Helen’s father had died in 1909, so her widowed mother was the head of the household. Helen was 13 years old, and several of her older siblings were part of the work force.

Jerome Groh married Helen Hormberg on August 10, 1916. According to the Missouri marriage license shown here, this couple was married by a probate judge in St. Charles County. Both of them were said to be from St. Louis.

Here is a photo of the wedding party for this wedding.

Not long after they were married, Jerome had his World War I draft registration completed. It says that Jerome was a chauffeur and had a wife and child.

It appears that Jerome and Helen had two children, both girls. In the 1920 census, we find the Groh’s with just one daughter. Jerome was called a chauffeur for a taxi cab business.

Their other daughter was born in 1922, so we find the Groh’s with both of their daughters in the 1930 census. This time, Jerome was called a chauffeur for the city police.

In a 1932 St. Louis city directory, it says that Jerome was a driver for the City Hospital.

In the 1940 census, we see that Jerome is called a chauffeur for a brewery. In a gallery that I will display later, you will see a photo of Jerome driving a Falstaff beer truck. Both of the Groh daughters were part of the work force.

Jerome completed his World War II draft card in 1942. It says Jerome’s employer was the Hyde Park Brewery.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Jerome and Helen had an empty nest. Jerome was still driving a beer truck.

Jerome Groh died in 1956 at the age of 60. He died a tragic death. He was struck by a car at the intersection of Grand and Forest Park Boulevard which resulted in a fractured skull.

Helen Groh died in 1980 at the age of 83, too recently to view her death certificate. Jerome and Helen are buried together in the Resurrection Cemetery in South St. Louis.

There are several family trees on Ancestry.com that contain a wealth of photographs of both Jerome and Helen Groh. I am going to display a gallery of several of them here. They all contain either Jerome or Helen or both of them. One of the photos includes Helen with several of her siblings.

Back in the early days of automobiles and trucks, the people employed to be drivers of those vehicles were often called chauffeurs. Nowadays, we usually think of a chauffeur as a personal driver for a rich person. That was not always the case. One of the amazing things I noticed about Jerome was that he was a chauffeur for so many types of businesses during his career.

I am going to republish another photograph that shows several women in the Groh family. Not long ago, it was displayed in a photo about Phillipine Groh.

A caption for the above photo identifies the women as follows: Left to Right; seated Amelia (Molly) Grosse, Floretta Groh, Agnes Groh, Susan Groh, Phillipine Groh, seated Helen (Hormberg) Groh. I think Helen Groh would be the one sitting on the far right. This photo has been described as a Groh sister’s gathering, but I think it would be more accurately described as a gathering of Groh women. Helen was only a Groh because she married a Groh, and the other younger Groh’s are not even her husband’s sisters. However, the woman on the left was Jerome’s mother. I figure none of the other women in the photo were her children. Just Helen was her daughter-in-law. Please feel free to correct me if I am wrong. It wouldn’t be the first time.