Today’s birthday boy would be celebrating his 150th birthday. The story of him and his wife has some missing pieces, so I will just do my best.

Charles Friedrich Ruesler was born on March 4, 1876, the son of Wilhelm and Louise (Dickmann) Ruesler. Charles was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We can take a look at his baptism record from that congregation’s books below.

The Ruesler family spent some time as members of the Arnsberg Lutheran Church located near Friedheim. In a binder we have for that church, we find some information about this Ruesler family. First, here is a photo of Wilhelm Ruesler, Charles’s father.

Another page in that binder lists the children of Wilhelm and Louise Ruesler.

Charles is found in the 1880 census at the age of 4. He was part of a rather large Ruesler family living in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger County. His father was a farmer.

Charles also has a confirmation record found in the books of Trinity, Friedheim. He was confirmed in 1889. Below, you can view his confirmation record.

Because we cannot view the 1890 census, the next one in which we find Charles is the one taken in 1900. His mother had died in 1882, so his father would have been a widower in 1900. The information in the Arnsberg binder says that Charles spent some time living with George and Mina Wilke while growing up.

However, in the 1900 census, Charles was no longer living with his father or his uncle. He is found in the Henry Wilkening household working as a farm laborer. Charles was 23 years old at the time.

Charles would get married during the next decade, so we will now take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Emma Johannette Grebe, who was born on October 8, 1874. Emma was the daughter of Theodore and Maria (Oehl) Grebe. There were some Oehl’s who were members of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, but I was not able to connect them with Emma’s mother. Emma’s parents arrived in America in 1859. Emma was the last child born into a rather large Grebe family. I am not aware of where she was baptized. Emma is found in the 1880 census at the age of 5. Her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

I failed to locate Emma in the 1900 census when she would have been about 25 years old. Then, on March 2, 1905, Charles Ruesler married Emma Grebe. According to some Cape Girardeau County marriage records, this couple was married at a church by Rev. Immanuel Essmann located in Appleton.

Charles and Emma had 4 children. The only church record I located for any of their children in our German Family Tree was a confirmation record found in the books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. However, that confirmation record did not occur until 1941 after that son was married. In the 1910 census, the Ruesler’s had 3 children. Charles was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

At this point, let me show you a few plat maps. First, even though it is a much later map made in 1930, I think the Wilhelm Ruesler land was located where we see a parcel identified as belonging to Wm. Ruessler. Wilhelm had a son named William. That farm was located near Lixville in the Whitewater Township of Bollinger County.

In another plat map that was said to be produced in 1901, there are several plots of land attributed to Theo. Grebe, Emma’s father. This map was produced right before Charles married Emma. The black arrow points at the location of the Arnsberg Lutheran Church.

Another later map for the Apple Creek Township was made in 1930. On it, you can see some land in the name of Emma Ruesler, along with some other parcels of land with the name, Grebe. Here is what I think happened. After Charles married Emma, I think he took over farming one of the Grebe pieces of land in the Apple Creek Township, only it remained in Emma’s name.

Charles had his World War I draft registration completed in 1918. He is given a rural Oak Ridge address and was said to be a farmer. You can see that the person filling out this form spelled his name with two “s’s”, but Charles signed his name with just one “s”. I have chosen to use the spelling with one “s”, even though other documents use two.

When the 1920 census was taken, all 4 of the Ruesler children were included in their household.

The 1930 census shows the same characters as in the previous entry. Charles and Emma were in their 50’s.

The last census entry in which we find Charles and Emma living in the Apple Creek Township is the one taken in 1940. Charles, at the age of 64, was still farming, with the help of his son, Willie.

The last census we can view is the one taken in 1950. Charles and Emma were living in Cape Girardeau with their son, Harry, who had married Olga Best. Harry was a bookkeeper, and Charles no longer had an occupation.

Charles Ruesler died in 1959 at the age of 83. His death certificate below indicates that he died at the Southeast Missouri Hospital in Cape Girardeau. It also gives him a Jackson address.

An obituary for Charles appeared in the Cash Book Journal.

Emma Ruesler died in 1965 at the age of 90.

Both Charles and Emma Ruesler are buried in the Cape County Memorial Park in Cape Girardeau.

The Ruesler/Grebe couple described in this post spent most of their lives in the Apple Creek Township and living on a farm. Later in life, they spent some time living in Cape Girardeau and Jackson, probably living with some of their children. That kind of story is quite common because only one child in a family continues farming into the next generation and other children take on other occupations in some of the larger local cities.