From 1935 until 1956, the pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar was Rev. William Dommer. I will be telling his story today. I will begin with him, but it’s his wife that is today’s birthday girl, and we will get to her later.

William Friedrich Dommer was born on June 17, 1888, the son of August and Emma (Schmolinski) Dommer. He was born and raised in the tiny town of Denham, Indiana. I was not even able to find a current population for this location. William is found in the 1900 census at the age of 11. His family is found living in the Rich Grove Township of Pulaski County, Indiana, which is where Denham is found. William’s father was a farmer.

I was unable to find William in the 1910 census, but his later obituary says that he graduated from Concordia College in Ft. Wayne, Indiana in that year. He became a pastor in 1910, and his first call was to South Dakota. I think his congregation was Christ Lutheran Church in Lebanon, South Dakota, which was a church established in 1906.

During his time there, he got married, so we will now look at today’s birthday girl. Her name was Wilhelmine Marxen, who was born on November 22, 1895, which means today would be her 130th birthday. Wilhelmine was the daughter of Asmus and Anna (Ebert) Marxen. Wilhelmine was born and raised near Leavenworth, Kansas. She is found in the 1900 census at the age of 4. Wilhelmine’s father was a farmer in the Prairie Township of Wyandotte County.

Wilhelmine is once again found in the 1910 census living with her parents. She was 14 years old at the time.

The big mystery for me in this story is how a farm girl from Kansas managed to become acquainted with a pastor in South Dakota. The distance between Wilhelmine’s home and William’s congregation is about 600 miles, and even with today’s roads and vehicles, it would take about 8 hours to make that trip. However, we know that on August 18, 1914, William Dommer married Wilhelmine Marxen in Leavenworth, Kansas. We can view their Kansas marriage record below.

I think that William and Wilhelmine had 4 children. In 1917, William had his World War I draft registration completed. It says William was a minister of a Lutheran church in Lebanon, South Dakota. I also find it interesting that when William was asked to give any military service in his past, he said he was the captain of a cadet corps for 4 years at Concordia College. I have seen evidence that Concordia College in Ft. Wayne had also become a military academy for a while beginning in 1906. This form also says that William had a wife and a child.

In the 1920 census, we find the Dommer’s living in Lebanon where William was called a Lutheran minister. There were 2 children in their household.

When we look at the 1930 census, we discover that the Dommer’s are still living in South Dakota, but this time they were found in the town of Andover. William was the pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Andover. The last United States census says that Andover has a population of 66. There were 4 children in the Dommer household.

As said earlier, Rev. Dommer took a call to Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar in 1935. The 1940 census shows the Dommer’s living in the Salem Township with 3 children. William was called a clergyman, and one of his sons, Marxen, was a public school teacher. Marxen Dommer would later become a Lutheran pastor.

William had his World War II draft card completed when America got involved in that war. It gives him a Farrar address.

In the 1950 census, William and Wilhelmine had an empty nest. It said William had pastoral duties.

Rev. William Dommer died in 1958 at the age of 69. It looks like, after his retirement in 1956, the Dommer couple moved to Perryville according to his death certificate below. I think it was appropriate that he lived in a home located on Church Street.

An obituary for Pastor Dommer was published in the Perry County Republican. I have to display it in 2 images.

Here is a slightly better version of the newspaper photo of Pastor Dommer.

Wilhelmine Dommer died in 1972 at the age of 76. Even though her death certificate says her residence was Perryville, she died at the St. John’s Mercy Hospital in St. Louis. Her daughter, Esther Kaempfe, is the informant on this form, and she lived in Ballwin.

William and Wilhelmine Dommer are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

There is a connection between Rev. Dommer and another Perry County pastor. Rev. Gustav Hafner, who was the pastor of Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna, had a wife who was the sister of Wilhelmine Marxen. The Hafner/Marxen wedding took place the year before the Dommer/Marxen wedding. Rev. Hafner was in Frohna from 1924-1957. This may explain why Pastor Dommer got a call to a Perry County church in 1935, but it does not explain how Rev. Dommer became acquainted with one of the Marxen sisters. Pastor Hafner was born in the same year as Pastor Dommer. Perhaps these two became friends while attending school together at a synodical institution. If they remained in touch with one another as time went by, maybe that is how William was introduced to Wilhelmine.

Just a quick closing note. The present-day pastor of Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar (and Zion Lutheran Church in Crosstown), Rev. John Hellwege, and his wife, Denise, our museum’s director, are having to deal with family issues these days. Rev. Hellwege lost his father recently, and now the Hellwege’s are expecting a new grandchild with potential medical problems. Please keep the Hellwege’s in your prayers.