Today’s birthday boy was named Emil John Klobe, who was born on March 17, 1891. That makes today his 135th birthday. Emil was the last of 14 children born to his parents, Adam and Margaretha (Bienlein) Klobe. According to the Friedenberg Remembrances book, Emil was baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg. That also means that I cannot display an image of Emil’s baptism record. I will also state that Emil’s mother was likely from a Catholic family based on other evidence from her family history. Emil is found in the 1900 census at the age of 8. His father was a farmer in the Central Township. You can see that the surname in this entry is spelled Globe. That is actually how a lot of Perry County residents still pronounce this name.

When Emil was quite young, this photo was taken of some people in the Klobe family. Several people have been identified in this photo on Ancestry.com, but not the woman who is reading the book. Emil is the youngest child, the boy sitting in the chair. His father is standing behind the fence, and his mother is seated right in front of his father.

Next, we find Emil in the 1910 census when he was a teenager. It says he was a farm laborer, but it also says he was “working out”. Perhaps he was doing farm labor for a neighbor and not his father.

Emil would get married during the next decade so we will now take a look at the woman who would become Emil’s bride. Her name was Louise Matilda Schroeder, who was born on September 28, 1894. Louise was the daughter of John and Philomina (Petot) Schroeder. A previous post was written about Louise’s parents titled, The Bugler’s Daughter. In that post, it was pointed out that Louise’s parents was a Lutheran/Catholic couple, therefore similar to Emil’s parents who were likely a Lutheran/Catholic couple. In the case of the children in Louise’s Schroeder family, thery were all baptized at a Lutheran church. Louise and her siblings were baptized at the Cross Congregation that was once located near Longtown. Since those baptism records are now found in Ancestry’s Missouri Synod collection of church books, we can view Louise’s baptism record below.

Louise is found in the 1900 census at the age of 5. Her father was a farmer in the Salem Township. We know that the Schroeder farm was located near Crosstown, and also not far from the Klobe farm, even though they are located in different townships.

In the 1910 census, Louise was 15 years old, and her father was still farming the same land.

Emil Klobe married Louise Schroeder on March 22, 1913. According to the 2 civil marriage records from Perry County shown below, these two were married by a probate judge, and not married in a church. Perhaps this was because of the difficulties of getting the blessing for a marriage between Lutherans and Catholics from the pastors and priests in those days.

Perhaps these two photos of Emil and Louise may have been taken around the time of their wedding.

Our German Family Tree has absolutely no evidence of Emil and Louise getting married, and because of that, we certainly do not see how many children they had in that document. Family Search says this pair had 6 children. I have to conclude that Emil and Louise became members of a local Catholic church, especially since the Friedenberg Remembrances book mentions that Emil was a Catholic.

Emil had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. It gives Emil a rural Perryville address and says he was employed as a farmer for William Hoehn. It also says that he had a wife ad 2 children.

The Klobe family is found in the 1920 census with 2 children. Emil was a farmer in the Bois Brule Township.

When the 1930 census was taken, we find the Klobe household living in the Saline Township, where Emil was still farming, so they apparently had made a move. There were 5 children in their family. Their oldest daughter was working at the shoe factory in Perryville.

The 1940 census lists 5 children still living with their parents. One additional daughter had been born in the previous decade. Three of the children were part of the work force.

Emil had a World War II draft card completed. It gives him a rural St. Marys address.

The last census we can view, the one taken in 1950, shows Emil and Louise with an empty nest. Emil is called a farmer, and Louise was said to be doing farm chores.

A few photos of Emil and Louise were taken at a later time in their lives.

Emil Klobe died in 1964 at the age of 73. We can view his death certificate below.

Louise Klobe died in 1986 at the age of 91, too recently to be able to view a death certificate. Emil and Louise Klobe are buried together in the Home Cemetery in Perryville.

Based on the evidence I see, which does not include any family stories of this Klobe couple, I can only speculate that if they were members of any church during their lives, it was likely a Catholic church. I do know that both Emil and Louise had parents who were made up of both Lutherans and Catholics. So, I placed a question mark in the title of this post.