A main character in this post was baptized, confirmed, and married by Rev. J.F. Koestering. I think he was also encouraged by Rev. Koestering to become a Lutheran pastor. And Rev. Koestering also became his father-in-law. That is because this character married his pastor’s daughter, who also happens to be today’s birthday girl.

Clara Christiane Magdalena Koestering was born on March 19, 1866, thus making today her 160th birthday. Magdalena was the daughter of Rev. J. Frederick and Louise (Boese) Koestering. She was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg, where her father was the pastor from 1864-1887. We can take a look at her baptism record pictured here. She would have been baptized at the 1845 church building, but a year later, Trinity would dedicate its new church sanctuary. The cornerstone for that new church was laid just 3 months after Magdalena was baptized in the old church. I find it interesting that two of her sponsors were Louise Bergt, who was living at the farm where the Saxon Lutheran Memorial is now located in Frohna, and Teacher Winter, the first teacher at Trinity, Altenburg.

Magdalena is found in the 1870 census at the age of 4. Her father is called a Lutheran minister. She is called Lena in this entry.

Next, we find Magdalena in the 1880 census. She was one of 8 children in the Koestering household. The parsonage must have been quite full in those days. I figure that this must have been about the time that Magdalena was confirmed, although her father did not record her confirmation in the church books. I also figure that one of her teachers was George Beyer, and her classroom would have been the building in which she had been baptized when it was still a church.

Magdalena would get married during the next decade, so we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Traugott Ernst Heinrich Schuessler, who was born on May 28, 1864. Ernst was the son of Gottlob and Dorothea (Harnagel) Schuessler. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. That was the first year that Rev. J.F. Koestering was the pastor in Altenburg. Ernst’s baptism record can be seen below. This record begins at the bottom of one page and is continued on the next, so I have to display it in 2 images.

Let me say one more thing that was a habit of Rev. J.F. Koestering in his early years as pastor at Trinity. In those years, he would wait until the end of a calendar year and then alphabetize the baptism records for the year and then place the records into the official books of that congregation. I figure he must have kept some kind of listings of the baptisms for that year somewhere else. I also think he either disliked taking care of his responsibility to write down those records as they occurred, or he was too busy to take care of it regularly. After all, in those early years, he was serving both Trinity, Altenburg and Concordia, Frohna. We know there is also a “Koestering Hole” in the records where we do not find either marriage or death records for a number of his early years in Altenburg.

Ernst is found in the 1870 census at the age of 5. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

I was unable to locate Ernst in the 1880 census. Let me explain some of the things that had been happening during the 1870’s in the Schuessler family. First of all, Ernst’s mother died in 1871. Then his father married Christiane (Burkhardt) Leonhardt, whose husband had died in 1867. Then, Ernst’s father died in 1879. When the 1880 census was taken, we find Ernst’s stepmother living in the Brazeau Township with some of her children and stepchildren, but Ernst was not included in that entry. I think it is possible that the teenager, Ernst, had already begun attending school in St. Louis to study for the ministry, but I was also unable to find Ernst in a St. Louis census entry.

Ernst Schuessler married Magdalena Koestering on July 14, 1887 at Trinity Lutheran Church. There were actually two weddings at Trinity on that day. The other wedding united Frederick Koestering, Magdalena’s brother, and Susanna Fischer. I have already written a post about that other couple titled, Koesterings and Their Fischers, but when I wrote that story, I did not notice that there actually was a double Koestering wedding in 1887. Let me add that 1887 was the last year that Rev. J.F. Koestering served Trinity, Altenburg. Below is an image that includes both of the Koestering weddings. The bottom one is for Ernst and Magdalena.

We can also view 2 different civil marriage records from Perry County.

Perhaps this was also the time that Ernst graduated from Concordia Seminary and was ordained as a pastor. I think his first call was to Zion Lutheran Church in Hull, Iowa, which is located in the northwest corner of that state. I found a baptism record for their first child in the books of that congregation that can be found on Ancestry.com.

Ernst was not in Iowa for very long. In 1891, he became pastor at Concordia Lutheran Church in Maplewood, a municipality of St. Louis. In fact, according to this list of early pastors at that congregation, it looks like he may have been the first called pastor at that church. He served that congregation from 1891-1895.

From 1895 until 1910, Pastor Schuessler was serving Christ Lutheran Church in St. Louis. Here is a list of that congregation’s early pastors.

When the 1900 census was taken, the Schuessler’s were living in St. Louis with 4 children. Ernst was called a minister. I am also going to say that Rev. J.F. Koestering took a call to St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in St. Louis after leaving Altenburg, and he was still preaching there in 1900, even though he had lost his wife. So, it is likely that Ernst and Magdalena had opportunities to visit Pastor Koestering, and their children must have visited their grandpa while there.

The Schuessler’s were still in St. Louis when the 1910 census was taken. One more child had been born in the previous decade. Ernst is called a clergyman.

Since Ernst left Christ Lutheran in 1910, and his next census says he was living in Ruma, Illinois, I think he took a call to St. John’s Lutheran Church in Ruma. Here is the Schuessler entry in the 1920 census. Both Ernst and Magdalena were in their 50’s. Just one child was still living with them. Also in the household was a young man who must have been the teacher at St. John’s at the time.

Ernst Schuessler died in 1923 in St. Louis at the age of 58. His death certificate below gives him a St. Louis address.

Magdalena is found in the 1930 census as a widow. She was living with her 2 sons. As near as I can tell, neither one of these sons got married.

The last census in which we find Magdalena was the one taken in 1940. She was still living with her 2 single sons.

Magdalena Schuessler died in 1947 at the age of 81. Her death certificate says she died of a stroke.

Ernst and Magdalena Schuessler are buried together in the New Bethlehem Cemetery in St. Louis.

Ernst Schuessler was born during the first year that his father-in-law became the pastor at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg and was married during the last year he was the pastor there. When he was an older student at Trinity’s school, he must have had George Beyer as his teacher. However, I have to think the Rev. Koestering was Ernst’s confirmation instructor. I also think it is likely that Pastor Koestering saw potential in his student and suggested that he become a Lutheran pastor. He did so, and even ended up marrying his pastor’s daughter. And that is the rest of the story.