Christian Heinrich Pohlmann was born on January 12, 1896, so he qualifies to be today’s birthday boy. Henry would be 130 years old today. Henry was the son of William and Anna (Bangert) Pohlmann. He was baptized at the Lixville Lutheran Church. An image of his baptism record is displayed below.

Henry is found in the 1900 census at the age of 5, although I think he was only 4. His father was a farmer in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger County.

When the 1910 census was taken, Henry was a teenager. This census was taken during the same year that Henry was confirmed at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. The church in Lixville no longer had a called pastor and was being served by other neighboring pastors. Henry is called Christian in this entry.

Below is a list of the confirmands from Trinity, Friedheim that includes Henry, who is #6 on the list.

Later in 1910, Henry’s father died. Henry had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. He is given a Hilderbrand address. It also states that Henry was caring for his mother and sister. This form was filled out in the Lixville precinct. Hilderbrand is located between Lixville and Friedheim.

The 1920 census is the last one in which we find Henry prior to his marriage. His mother is called a farmer, and Henry was listed as a laborer on that farm. Included in the household was a man, Will Clemens, who is called a son-in-law. The 20 year-old daughter called Lydia in this entry was actually Will Clemens’s wife.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Henry’s wife. Her name was Amelia Caroline Dambach, who was born on November 7, 1900. Amelia was the daughter of Friedrich and Rosa (Best) Dambach. She was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. If you look closely at this image of her baptism record, you will see that she was baptized on Christmas day in 1900. Her name is given as Emilie on this document, but I am going to be using the spelling of her name as it is found on her gravestone.

Amelia was born too late in 1900 to make her way into the census taken that year, so the first one in which we find her is the one taken in 1910. She was 9 years old, and her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

Amelia was confirmed in 1914 at Grace, Uniontown. Her confirmation record is shown here.

Next, we find Amelia in the 1920 census at the age of 19. Her mother had died in 1914, so her father was a widower. Amelia was the oldest child in her family.

Henry Pohlmann married Amelia Dambach on September 24, 1922. They were married at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We can view their church marriage record below.

We can also view 2 civil marriage records for this event.

According to our German Family Tree, this couple had 5 children, all of them boys. One of them was born and died during the same year. The first 4 of them have baptism records documented in our GFT as taking place at Trinity, Friedheim. The last child may have been baptized at that church, too, but was baptized too recently to be included in the GFT. In the 1930 census, we find the Pohlmann’s with 2 sons. Henry was a farmer in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger County. Included in their household was Henry’s mother.

In 1930, plat maps for Bollinger County were produced. We find the Pohlmann farm located not far from the village of Lixville.

In the 1940 census, the Pohlmann’s still had 2 sons living with them, but one of them was born in the previous decade, and this is the first census in which that child is found.

Henry had his World War II draft card completed when the United States entered that war. There are several errors on this form. Some are spelling errors, and another is the year of birth for Henry. Both of the locations, Lixville and Hilderbrand, are mentioned on this document.

At this point, let me say that it looks like Henry’s Pohlmann family decided to spell their name with just one “n” at the end. Even Henry’s gravestone uses the spelling, Pohlman. In 1944, Henry died at the age of 48. His death certificate below says tuberculosis was his cause of death.

An obituary for Henry was printed in the Perry County Republican.

Amelia got married again in 1945. Her second husband was Florence Statler. I am not going to go into much detail about his life, but I will say that Florence had previously been married to Iva Linebarger, who had died in 1941. Florence Statler married Amelia Pohlman on August 7, 1945. We can look at 2 civil records for this marriage. They both indicate that this wedding took place at Trinity, Friedheim, but the church marriage record was too recent to be included in the records we have at our museum.

The Statler’s are found in the 1950 census which indicates that they were also living in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger County. There were 4 children in their household, two Statler’s and two Pohlman’s. Florence was a farmer.

Amelia Statler died in 1973 at the age of 72. We can view her death certificate below.

Henry Pohlman and Amelia Statler are buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Friedheim.

The characters in this post all lived in a location that is near 3 different counties, Bollinger County, Cape Girardeau County, and Perry County. So, we see different documents from all 3 of those counties listed in this story.