I found another one. Here we are, just 8 days into the New Year, and today’s post will be the third one already that tells the story of someone celebrating their bicentennial birthday. Not only that, I have already written a post about someone who was celebrating a 220th birthday this year. It is starting to look like there were plenty of folks born in Europe in January of 1826 who ended up having records in our German Family Tree.

Joseph Pilz was born on January 8, 1826 in Bad Goisern, Austria. Joseph was the son of Gottlieb and Maria (Gims) Pilz. I am able to display Joseph’s baptism record from the church in Bad Goisern.

When Joseph was about 21 years old, he got married. The woman who became his bride was named Theresia Gamsjaeger, who was born on March 15 1828. Theresia was the daughter of Johann Josef and Maria (Winterauer) Gamsjaeger. We can also view her baptism record from the church in Bad Goisern.

Joseph Pilz married Theresia Gamsjaeger on Valentine’s Day, February 14, 1847. This marriage also took place in Bad Goisern, and we can take a look at this couple’s church marriage record here.

This couple had two children, both of whom were baptized at the Bad Goisern church. I am just going to display this one for their second child, Anna Maria, who was born in 1851.

This Pilz family came to America aboard the ship, D.H. Watjen, in 1865. We find them on that ship’s passenger list shown here.

The Pilz’s settled near Pocahontas, Missouri. It was at that time not long after they arrived that a new church, St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas, was established in 1867. Joseph Pilz is listed as one of that congregation’s founding members. There is also a Gamsjaeger on this list, but I do not know how he might be related to Joseph’s mother.

When the 1870 census was taken, we find them living in the Shawnee Township. Joseph, along with his son, Joseph, Jr., were farmers.

Next, we find the Pilz’s in the 1880 census. Their daughter, Mary, had married Joseph Lichtenegger in 1871, so she is no longer in this household. In addition to Joseph, Jr., who never married, there was a young girl, Isabella Welty, living with the Pilz’s. She was said to be “as one of family” in this entry. An Ancestry.com family tree says that both of Isabella’s parents died in 1874, but there is no documentation for it. Joseph, Sr. was still farming.

Isabella would later marry Wellington Brainard and spend most of her life in Kansas City. This photo of Isabella can be found on Ancestry.com.

Her later death certificate says that she was the daughter of Peter Welty and Jane Dunn.

Theresia Pilz would have been found in the 1890 census if we were able to view it, but she did not live long enough to be found in the 1900 census. Theresia Pilz died in 1892 at the age of 64, leaving Joseph as a widower. Joseph is found in the 1900 census living with his son, Joseph, Jr. They were still farming together in the Shawnee Township.

Joseph Pilz, Jr. actually preceded his father in death. He died in 1901 at the age of 52. Then, in 1907, Joseph Pilz, Sr. died at the age of 81. An short article appeared in the Weekly Tribune in Jackson that mentions Joseph’s death. It states that Joseph died at the home of his son-in-law, Joseph Lichtenegger.

Joseph, Sr. and Theresia Pilz are buried in the Old St. John’s Cemetery in Pocahontas, and Joseph Pilz, Jr. is buried that that congregation’s new cemetery. The only one who has a gravestone photo on Findagrave.com is Theresia.

There were not any descendants from today’s highlighted couple who carried the surname, Pilz, and are found in our German Family Tree. However, the descendants from their daughter, the one who married Joseph Lichtenegger, are very numerous and continue to be found living around here.