I located today’s story because our German Family Tree says that a man named Gottfried Pfau was born on February 8, 1826, and if that was the case, then today would be his 200th birthday. However, I will provide evidence showing that was not his birthday, but it was close.

I believe that Gottfried Pfau was born on January 23, 1826, and if that is his correct date of birth, then he would have celebrated his bicentennial birthday last month (when I was writing several other posts about such births and an anniversary). I found this baptism record for a parish in the town of Großstechau, Germany. Some Ancestry.com family trees include a baptism record for Gottfried Pfau from another German parish, but that Gottfried was born in 1823, not in 1826. I became convinced that the baptism record shown below is the correct one because Gottfried would later have his marriage record at this same parish. This document gives his parents’ names as Gottfried and Johanna (Zerrgiebel) Pfau.

Later, Gottfried would get married in Germany prior to coming to America. His wife would be Amalia Trommer (although her name is spelled differently in several American documents). Amalia was born on February 7, 1829 in another town not far from where Gottfried was born named Großstöbnitz. Her baptism record is displayed below. It says her parents were Heinrich and Elisabeth (Kohler) Trommer.

The map below shows both the towns of Großstöbnitz and Großstechau.

Gottfried Pfau married Amalia Trommer on May 18, 1851. Believe it or not, I located a marriage record for this couple in both the church books of the parish in Großstöbnitz as well as in the church books of the parish in Großstechau. Here is the one from Großstöbnitz.

And here is the one from Großstechau.

I think the wedding likely took place at Großstöbnitz because the image directly above mentions that town a few times in that record. However, when this couple began having children in Germany, their baptism records are found in the Großstechau church books.

In 1859, the Pfau’s traveled to the United States aboard the ship, Magdalene. We find them on the passenger list for that ship shown here.

These Pfau’s settled in Perry County after arriving in this country. They were not the first Pfau’s located here. There was a Gustav Pfau who was part of the Gesellschaft that arrived in 1839, but I do not think he was related to Gottfried. The Pfau’s are found in the 1860 census living in the Brazeau Township. Gottfried (called Frederick in this entry) was called a laborer.

In the 1870 census, we find that another child, a girl named Clara, had been added to their family. Clara was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. This time, Gottfried is called a farmer.

The 1880 census entry for the Pfau’s shows them living in the Union Township. That township had recently been established, so this does not necessarily mean that the Pfau’s had moved. Two more sons had been added to the family.

Gottfried Pfau died in 1885 at the age of 59. His church record says he died of “hardening of the stomach”, but the Perry County death record below says he died of cancer of the stomach.

Gottfried Pfau was buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna, but he likely had no gravestone at first. A grave marker is found in that cemetery for Gottfried that was probably placed there later by that congregation.

Amalia Pfau is found in the 1900 census living with her son, Emil, and his family. There are 3 Mollie’s in this census entry because Emil had married Amalie Popp, and they had a daughter named Amalie. Emil was a farmer near Longtown.

Emil Pfau moved his family to an area near Wentzville, Missouri in St. Charles County during the next decade, and Amalia went with them. In the 1910 census, Amalia was 81 years old and living with Emil’s family in the Cuivre Township. Emil was still farming.

I do not know exactly when Amalia died, but it was probably during the next decade because she was not found in the Emil Pfau household in 1920. I also was unable to determine where Amalia was buried.

I guess today I should be wishing Gottfried Pfau a belated bicentennial birthday a few weeks late.

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I published this post earlier today, but I also wanted to check out one more thing at our museum after I attended church this morning. Now, I am able to point out another fascinating fact concerning this story. According to the passenger list of the Magdalene, this ship arrived in New Orleans on November 5, 1859. Now I have found this baptism record for a child born to the Pfau’s named Magdalene Pfau. According to this document, Magdalene was born on November 6, 1859, which would have been one day after getting off the ship, Magdalene, in New Orleans. She was then baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg on December 4, 1859.

The way I have it figured, Amalia Pfau must have been quite pregnant on her voyage across the Atlantic Ocean. And I also figure that Magdalene was born in New Orleans. I have to ask the question. Did the Pfau’s name this child after the name of the ship? Also, there is a cross symbol next to this record. That was often used to indicate a death of the child not long after the baptism. We know this child was not listed in the 1860 census shown above. Magdalene likely died as an infant, but there is no church record, other than the cross symbol, to document that death. Anyway, I find this part of the Pfau story to be fascinating.