I found the story of a man who would be celebrating his bicentennial birthday today, and I love to tell such stories. Christian Gustavus Guenther was born on January 5, 1826, so today would be his 200th birthday. A later marriage record will state that Gustave was from Hohenkirchen, Germany, and if I have identified the correct Hohenkirchen, that city is located in the far northern part of Germany that is sometimes referred to as Pomerania. I know that, upon seeing the name, Guenther, I wondered if Gustave was connected to the Guenther’s that were part of the Gesellschaft that arrived in America in 1839. That Guenther family was from Dresden. Dresden and Hohenkirchen are quite distant from one another, and Guenther is a fairly common German surname, so I do not think that Gustave was related to the other ones who came to America in 1839. However, we do know that both of these Guenther’s settled in St. Louis and for a time, were each members of the same Lutheran church, Old Trinity, in that city. As far as documentation for Gustave’s date of birth goes, the only place I was able to find this date is on his Findagrave.com site, and even that site has some conflicting evidence concerning his year of birth.

I was unable to determine when Gustave Guenther came to this country, so about all we can safely say is that he arrived here prior to his marriage in 1848. So, now we will take a look at the woman who would become Gustave’s wife. Her name was Johanna Christiane Carolina Schlimpert, who was born on April 17, 1826. Caroline was the daughter of Gottfried and Christiane (Poppitz) Schlimpert. When the Stephanites traveled to this country in 1839, there were two Schlimpert families, both aboard the ship, Copernicus. One was this Gottfried Schlimpert family, and the other was the Gottlob Schlimpert family. These two families were listed right next to each other on that ship’s passenger list shown below. Caroline was 12 years old when she came to America.

After arriving in America, both of these Schlimpert families settled in the Seelitz community of East Perry County. In a previous post, Confirmation Classes of 1840, there was a brief mention of Caroline Schlimpert being a member of that year’s class and what happened to them. We know Caroline was living in Perry County for a few more years after 1840 because she was a baptismal sponsor in 1842 and 1843 for children whose baptism records are in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. However, it also appears that Caroline made her way to St. Louis prior to her marriage there to Gustave.

Gustave Guenther married Caroline Schlimpert on December 23, 1848 at Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis. By that time, that congregation had built its first church sanctuary, so this wedding likely took place there. The church record for this event is pictured here. I am only able to display an entry for it in an Excel spreadsheet.

We can also view a St. Louis marriage record for this occasion. In this record, we can see that this couple was married by Rev. C.F.W. Walther.

Our German Family Tree lists 6 children born to this pair who were baptized at Trinity, St. Louis. However, this couple had more children after 1858, the last one whose baptism record is found at Trinity. I do not know where the other children were baptized. In the 1850 census, the young Guenther couple had no children in their household despite the fact that their first child was born in 1849. Perhaps that child died during the Cholera Epidemic in the summer of 1849, but there is no death record for her. Gustave was a cooper in St. Louis.

Next, we find the Guenther’s in the 1860 census. This time, there were 4 children in their household. You can see that Gustave was born in Prussia, and Caroline was born in Saxony.

Gustave served briefly in the military during the Civil War. His military record below says he was ordered into service on September 8, 1863 and relieved from duty on September 18, 1863, a total of about 10 days.

When the 1870 census was taken, the Guenther’s had 4 children, one who had been born during the previous decade. Both Gustave and Caroline were in their 40’s.

In 1880, the Guenther’s show up in two different entries. The second one stated at the top of the page that the first enumeration had been rejected for some reason. Here is the first entry, the one that was rejected.

Here is the second entry, apparently the corrected one. Both entries indicate that Gustave was still a cooper. There are a few differences in some ages of a few Guenther children between the 2 entries. This second one also includes a child named Adolph that was not included in the above entry. Adolph actually died in 1879. All of the children were part of the work force, although their daughter, who is called a servant girl, was perhaps working as a servant for her parents. The above entry says she was “at home”.

Gustave did not live long enough to make it into the 1900 census. He died in 1895 at the age of 69. We can view a St. Louis death record for him that mentions malaria as a cause of death.

Caroline Guenther is found in the 1900 census living with her single daughter, Emma. Neither one had an occupation.

Caroline died in 1901 at the age of 75. We can also view her St. Louis death record.

Gustave, Caroline, and their never-married daughter, Emma, are buried together in the St. Matthew Cemetery in St. Louis. However, on Gustave’s Findagrave.com site, it says that Gustave was first buried in the Concordia Cemetery but later moved to the St. Matthew Cemetery.

The gravestone shown above has a number of errors on it. In fact, the only years that are correct on it are the ones for Emma. Gustave was born in 1826 (I think) and died in 1895 (according to the St. Louis death record). Caroline was born in 1826 and died in 1901 (according to her St. Louis death record). Now, you know the story of Caroline Schlimpert and her husband, Gustave Guenther, today’s bicentennial birthday boy…I think.