A year ago, on February 10th, I wrote the story, Judge Louis LIX, because Louis Lix was celebrating a wedding anniversary. In my own goofy way, I related the name Lix with the fact that it was about the time of Super Bowl LIX. Now, lo and behold, on February 10th this year, I have discovered another Lix story, and you are going to read it today. And now that we have just experienced Super Bowl LX, I will state that LX looks a lot like Lix also. Today’s tale will be about Louis Lix’s parents, who I could describe as the Pioneer Lix’s.

The tale begins by looking at Mrs. Lix who is today’s birthday girl. Her maiden name was Anna Maria Eichmeier, who was born on February 10,1826. Yes, that means today would be her bicentennial birthday. Mary, as she was called, was born in Germany. I am not able to identify the names of her parents. There are two Eichmeier’s listed in our German Family Tree, and both of them were women. The other Eichmeier named Catherine was born in Germany in 1818. Family Search ties these two women together and calls them sisters. Catherine had two husbands, the first one a Grossheider, and the second one a Bangert. Those are two common names found in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. I was also unable to determine when these Eichmeier women arrived in this country. As far as Mary Eichmeier is concerned, the first document I was able to locate for her was a census entry taken after she was already married. That means we will now look at the man who would become her husband.

Johann Heinrich Lix was born on October 28, 1821 in Germany. Like many of the German settlers in the area around Friedheim, Henry was from the Waldeck region of that country. Henry was the son of Johann Heinrich and Louise (Jaeger) Lix, who both died in Germany. Henry came to the United States in 1845 aboard the ship, Lyons. We see him as the last person on that ship’s passenger list, right above where we find the information that there were 175 persons on that ship, and 2 had been born on the passage.

Henry Lix would get married to Mary Eichmeier in America. However, neither I nor anyone on Ancestry.com or Family Search has been able to pinpoint the date of that wedding or show any documentation for it. What I do know is that a baby boy was born in 1848 and baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. Here is an image of that baptism record. It is one of the first baptisms that is found in that church’s books.

That baby died on the Fourth of July in 1849. Then a baby girl was born sometime in 1849 that has no baptism information in our German Family Tree. That girl is found in the 1850 census shown below. Henry was a carpenter in Cape Girardeau County.

In the 1860 census, we find this Lix couple with 5 children. This time, Henry was called a farmer in the Union Township in Bollinger County. One has to be careful when writing about a Union Township. Over the years, there have been Union Townships in three nearby counties…Perry County, Cape Girardeau County, and Bollinger County.

Next, we find the Lix household in the 1870 census. Four more children had been born to Henry and Mary during the 1860’s. Most of the Lix children have baptism records in the Trinity, Friedheim books. The youngest child, Louis, is the “Judge Louis” written about a year ago.

The 1880 census shows the Lix family living in the Whitewater Townshp in Bollinger County. Township boundaries had been redrawn, so the Lix family was probably still living on the same farm land as before. Five Lix children were still living with their parents.

A later plat map shows the farm land owned by Louis (L.W.) Lix. This was likely the land on which Henry and Mary Lix raised their family. You can see a town named Lixville not far from their farm.

Keep in mind that Louis Lix was married on February 10, 1895. It was about that time that the village of Lixville had been established. A Wikipedia article gives a brief history of the town of Lixville which mentions both Henry and Louis Lix.

In a list of postmasters for this village named after the Lix family, you will see several different times over the years that indicate that a Lix was appointed as the postmaster for Lixville. The list even includes Henry.

A Lutheran church was also established in Lixville. Is was simply called Lixville Lutheran Church. A list of that congregation’s pastors displays that this congregation existed from about 1897 until the early years of the 1900’s.

Robert Lix, a son of Louis Lix, was born in 1897 and baptized at Lixville Lutheran Church. His baptism record was shown in last year’s post.

The year, 1900, was a significant one for this Lix story. First of all, Mary Lix died in January of that year at the age of 73. Her death record found in the Lixville Lutheran Church books is at the top of the image displayed below.

In February of that year, Henry and Mary’s grandson, Robert Lix, who was not even 3 years old, died. His death record is the one in the middle of the above image.

When the 1900 census was taken, we find that neither Mary nor Robert are found in this Louis Lix household. However, we do see Henry Lix who was said to be 83 years old. I do not think that was his correct age.

In June of that same year, Henry Lix died at the age of 79. So, in a matter of months, three members of this Lix family tree died. All 3 of these Lix graves are found in the Lixville Lutheran Cemetery in Sedgewickville. I will only display the gravestone for Henry and Mary. They are actually buried together, but their gravestone has Henry’s information engraved on one side and Mary’s information engraved on the back side. Mary’s age at death is given as 75 on her gravestone, but that does not compute using the birth and death information you find there.

I confess that I looked in the GFT to see if anyone else with the surname, Lix, had a life event that occurred on February 10th. After all, next year we will have Super Bowl LXI, which also looks like Lix. I did find two such results. There is a Lix who died on February 10 and a man who married a Lix who had a February 10th birthday. Perhaps I could write a story about both of those Lix’s next year. Of course, that would mean that I would have to remember to do that.