When I started looking at the main characters in today’s post, I soon found two rather surprising matters pertaining to this pair. The first is that today’s couple was composed of a Vogel and a Weber, yet despite the fact that I have written quite a few stories about Weber’s and a similar amount of stories about Vogel’s, I have yet to write a story about a Vogel marrying a Weber. And even more surprising is the fact that the Vogel-Weber pair that you will read about today were married by a Catholic priest. The second surprising fact is that when I placed the information about both the bride and groom onto the Ancestry.com website, not one family tree came up for me to look at. I eventually found a few by looking at the parents of these two, but there certainly is not much to be found about them on Ancestry.com. I had to find most of my documentation for today’s story by going to Family Search.

In our German Family Tree, I located a main character in this story by finding his baptism record in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. That character was William August Vogel, who was born on September 12, 1879. William was the son of Louis and Dorothea (Puntmann) Vogel. I have already written a post about William’s parents titled, Louis and Dorothy – Biehle Vogel’s. We can view the baptism record for William from the books of Trinity, Friedheim below.

William is found in the 1880 census at the age of 9/12 (9 months). His father was a farmer in the Cinque Hommes Township. In the previous post about the Vogel’s, it was said that the Louis Vogel farm was near Biehle.

That census entry would be the only one in which we can view William prior to his marriage, so we will now take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Mary Josephine Weber, who was born on March 31, 1876, so she would be today’s birthday girl. Mary would be celebrating her special 150th birthday today. Mary was the daughter of Louis and Frances (Renaud) Weber. Since both of Mary’s parents are buried in the Mt. Hope Catholic Cemetery in Perryville, I think it is likely that Mary’s baptism record is found in a local Catholic church’s books. Mary is found in the 1880 census at the age of 4. Her father was farming in the Cinque Hommes Township.

William Vogel married Mary Weber on May 19, 1896. The Missouri marriage license shown below indicates that this pair was married at the St. Mary’s Seminary in Perryville by a Catholic priest.

This wedding was one in which a 16 year-old groom married a 20 year-old bride. It is not often when you see a marriage record in which the father of the groom had to give permission for his young son to marry an older bride.

This couple’s entry on Family Search indicates that they had 4 children. When the 1900 census was taken, we find this Vogel family living in St. Louis with 2 young children. William was called a day laborer.

Next, we find the Vogel’s in the 1910 census with 3 sons. William was called a retail merchant of coffee. Right above the William Vogel entry, you see that of August Vogel, William’s younger brother. August was a solicitor for a life insurance company.

William had a World War I draft registration completed in 1918, even though he was already 39 years old. It says he as an assistant superintendent for John Hancock, an insurance company. Perhaps his brother, August, got him that job.

In the 1920 census, the Vogel’s had 2 sons and a daughter in their household. William had the same occupation as was indicated on his World War I draft registration. The 2 sons were part of the work force.

When the 1930 census was taken, the Vogel’s were living in Fenton, Missouri, which is another town found in St. Louis County. William and Mary had an empty nest. This time, William was called a retail merchant at a confectionery.

William and Mary are found still living in Fenton when the 1940 census was taken. William was called a salesman for a retail grocery store.

The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. At the age of 70, William was the proprietor of a variety store in Fenton.

Mary Vogel died in 1959 at the age of 83. Her death certificate below says she died at the St. Anthony’s Hospital in Fenton.

William Vogel died in 1973 at the age of 94. His death certificate says he died at the St. Joseph Hospitial in Kirkwood. This document says that his usual occupation was merchant.

William and Mary Vogel are buried together in the Resurrection Cemetery in Affton. Their gravestone, which says, “Say a Hail Mary for Us”, is evidence that this couple remained Catholics throughout most of their lives.

I am thinking that if any descendants of this Vogel couple read this story and have an interest in placing information on Ancestry.com, they should be able to add the documentation for their lives that are found in this post. I also find it interesting that during this Holy Week leading up to Easter Sunday, that I find a couple that was buried in the Resurrection Cemetery.