I am going to start today’s post by displaying a 1910 census entry from near Wittenberg, Missouri. It shows a Heins couple, John and Hulda (Richter) Heins, along with two teenagers, Irene and Edwin, who are called adopted children. You can also see that they were the same age, indicating that they were twins.

In a previous post, The Richter Adoption Agency, it was told that the Heins couple, who had married in 1899, had no children of their own by the time of the 1910 census. That story said Hulda’s father, Ehregott Richter, somehow became involved in directing orphans to be placed in homes in and around Perry County. It certainly looks as if Ehregott had placed a set of twins with the childless Heins couple, thus making them his grandchildren. Today, I will be telling the story of one of those twins, the girl named Irene. When I researched for that previous post, I discovered who these twins were, and I will be including that information in more detail in this post.

There is some debate about the birthday of these twins, but I have concluded that they were born on January 22, 1896 in St. Louis. They were actually named Irene and Edwin McCourt, the children of Hugh and Mary (Foley) McCourt. Here are photos of the McCourt parents.

We find the McCourt family living in St. Louis when the 1900 census was taken. The twins were 4 years old, and their father was a bricklayer. It appears that the McCourt’s had been travelers. Hugh was born in Kentucky. His wife, Mary, was born in Ohio. An older son was born in Michigan. All before the last 3 McCourt’s were born in Missouri. They must have moved to St. Louis in the 1890’s.

Hugh McCourt died in 1903, and the mother made the choice to put up the twins for adoption. There is even a family story that says the twins spent some time at the Lutheran Orphanage located in Des Peres, a municipality in St. Louis. Shortly after the Civil War, Rev. J.F. Buenger, helped establish an orphan’s home in Des Peres because there were so many children who became orphans as a result of that war. This drawing of the Lutheran Orphanage has been displayed on this blog before. A Waisenhaus is the German word for orphanage.

We have a binder in our research library containing all kinds of information about the history of that orphanager. This is the cover for that binder.

In that binder, I found this program for an autumn festival that was held at the orphanage in 1904. That was about the time when the McCourt twins may have been at that home.

In 1905, Irene and Edwin were baptized at St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Wittenberg. They are given the surname, Heins, but it also says John and Hulda were adoptive parents. I think they have the wrong birthday in this image. It says they were born on January 10th, not January 22nd.

In 1909, the Heins twins were confirmed at St. Paul’s, Wittenberg. I am showing just Irene’s confirmation record here.

That leads us up to the 1910 census entry shown earlier. Irene would get married during the next decade, so we will now look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Heinrich Karl Rudolf Engert, who was born on December 15, 1895. That means he is today’s birthday boy, and if he was still alive, he would have to blow out 130 candles. Rudolf was the son of Adolph and Martha (Mueller) Engert. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at 2 images of his baptism record below.

Rudolf is found in the 1900 census at the age of 5. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township. He was the firstborn child in this Engert family.

In 1909, Adolf was confirmed. He was confirmed on April 4th, which was the same day that Irene was confirmed, but they were confirmed at different East Perry County churches. This is an example of a local church tradition common in this area of having confirmations take place on Palm Sunday, which occurred on April 4th in 1909.

In the 1910 census, Rudolf is found at the age of 14. This time, his father was called the proprietor of a saloon. At some point, the spelling of Rudolf was changed to Rudolph, as we see in this entry.

Rudolph Engert married Irene Heins (McCourt) on the day after Christmas, December 26, 1915 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The church marriage record for this couple is shown here. It indicates that Rudolph was a storekeeper in Wittenberg.

I will also display 2 different civil marriage documents for this wedding. Each of these forms says that both Rudolph and Irene were from Wittenberg.

A few years after they were married, Rudolph had his World War I draft registration completed when America entered that war. Apparently, not long after they were married, Rudolph and Irene, moved across the Mississippi River to Venedy, Illinois. Rudolph was called a merchant, and he had a wife and child.

Rudolph and Irene had 2 children. When the 1920 census was taken, the Engert’s were living in Venedy. Rudolph is not given an occupation, and he had his brother, Fred Engert, living with him. There was also a servant named Johanna Bell in their household.

The Engert’s migrated to St. Louis during the next decade. Rudolph was a salesman for a butter business in St. Louis when the 1930 census was taken.

The 1940 census lists just 3 household members in the Engert family. Just their daughter, Georgene, was still living with them. Rudolph was a salesman at a dairy.

Rudolph had his World War II draft card completed in the early 1940’s. This form indicates that his employer was the American Utilities.

The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. Rudolph was a salesman at a retail grocery. This time, Irene also had an occupation. She was operating a wrapping machine at a wholesale bakery manufacturing company. I do not think that their daughter, Georgene, ever married.

Rudolph Engert died in 1966 at the age of 70. His death certificate below describes his rather tragic death. He was struck by a car on Virginia Avenue in South St. Louis. It says he had been working at Clint’s Market. I think Rudolph had been working at his son, Clinton Engert’s, grocery store. The 1950 census says Clinton was a grocer.

Irene Engert died a year later in 1967 at the age of 71. Clint Engert is listed as the informant on her death certificate pictured here. You can also see that this form says Hugh McCourt was Irene’s father. This is also a piece of evidence that supports her January 22nd birthday.

Rudolph and Irene Engert are buried together in the Sunset Memorial Park in St. Louis. Their daughter, Georgene, is also buried with them. The gravestone also says Irene was born on January 22nd.

I will also give one more document to prove that Irene was born on January 22nd. Her twin brother, who reverted back to being called Edwin McCourt, has his birthday listed as January 22, 1896 on his World War I draft registration form below. His later World War II draft card would also give that as his date of birth. I may have to write Edwin’s story someday.

Before I finish, I want to give one more personal connection to this story. A few years back, Gerard Fiehler and I were invited to give a presentation about the Saxon immigration story to a Heins Family Reunion that was taking place in Jacob, Illinois. The Heins couple that was hosting that event just so happens to have a set of twin daughters. So, there is a set of Heins twins presently living just across the river and are members of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob.

I also want to comment that I kept getting a festive feeling that I was writing about a Rudolph today during the Christmas season. I seem to keep hearing a song being sung about Rudolph these days.