In 2022, a post was written about a Schaefer couple that began in Old Appleton but made their way out west titled, From Old Appleton to San Francisco – With Stops in Kansas and Idaho. I will revisit that family today to tell the tale of a pair of daughters of that couple. One of those daughters is today’s birthday girl.

Florentine Wilhelmina Schaefer was born on March 7, 1896, thus making today her 130th birthday. Flora, as she was called, was the daughter of John and Wilhelmina (Bingenheimer) Schaefer. Flora was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. An image of her baptism record is shown here.

Two years later, another daughter, Emma Juliane Schaefer was born on May 24, 1898. She was also baptized at Grace, Uniontown. Her baptism record is pictured below.

Both Flora and Emma are found in the 1900 census, Flora at the age of 4, and Emma at the age of 2. Their father was a merchant in Old Appleton.

John Schaefer sold his store in Old Appleton in 1908 or 1909, and it became the Schnurbusch & Buchheit Store shown in the photo below.

The Schaefer family moved to Riley, Kansas prior to the 1910 census. We find Flora and Emma in that year’s census entry at the ages of 13 and 11. Their father was still a merchant, but his store was then located in Riley. One of John’s sons and a sister of his were clerks in his store.

The Schaefer’s did not remain in Kansas. During the next decade, they made another move to a place near Twin Falls, Idaho. In the 1920 census, we find the Schaefer’s living in the Clover Township in Twin Falls County. Flora and Emma were in their 20’s, and their father was once again operating a general store. Just one more son, Oscar, was included in the household with his 2 single sisters.

Although Flora and Emma’s parents were still living in Idaho when the 1930 census was taken, they had an empty nest. That is partly because the two sisters, Flora and Emma had moved to San Francisco, California. In the 1930 census, the sisters were living together in that city. Flora was a bookkeeper for an optical company, and Emma was a clerk at a notions business. They were each in their 30’s and still unmarried.

Their brother, Oscar, is also found living in San Francisco in 1930. He is found in the entry shown here. He was working for a telephone company. Based on other later census entries for him, he was involved in working with telephones and televisions while living in California. He would eventually get married.

Flora and Emma’s father died in 1937. He died in San Francisco, so he and his wife must have followed their children to that city at some point in the 1930’s. When the 1940 census was taken, we find Wilhelmine, the mother, living with the two single sisters in San Francisco. Flora had no occupation, and Emma, who for some unknown reason, was called Anna, was a stenographer for a pen company.

Flora and Emma’s mother died in San Francisco in 1946, so in the last census we can view in 1950, the single sisters were once again the only two members of their household. They were each in their 50’s. Emma, even though she was younger, is called the head of their household, probably because she was the only one with an occupation and must have been the source of income for the sisters. Emma was a sales clerk for a fountain pen manufacturer.

Emma Schaefer died in 1965 at the age of 67. She is found in a California Death Index which is pictured below.

Flora Schaefer died in 1978 at the age of 82. We can also view her form from the same death index.

I was unsuccessful at finding any burial information for any of the Schaefer’s who died in California except for Oscar. He is buried in the Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Citrus Heights, California, which is located near Sacramento.

It looks as if Flora and Emma lived together all of their lives. There were 2 years when Flora was an infant when Emma was not born yet, and after Emma died, there were some more years when Flora lived without her sister, but the rest of the time, these two were together.