We begin today’s post with the birth of a baby boy in Wittenberg, but this story does not end there. This boy ended up living in two other states during his life. That baby boy was named Curt Treumund Harnagel, who was born on April 5, 1896. That means today would be Curt’s 130th birthday. I just had to find out how close Curt was born to Easter, and I discovered that just like today, in 1896, Easter Sunday was on April 5th, so Curt was an Easter baby. He was the son of Gotthold and Rosalie (Palisch) Harnagel. Curt was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can view his baptism record below in 2 images.

I have actually written a post that included Curt, but it was a post about several boys in the Harnagel family. It was titled, The Harnagel Doughboys. I will go into much more detail about Curt’s life today. The Harnagel farm was located just south of Wittenberg and right on the banks of the Mississippi River, as seen on this plat map.

Here is a photo of the Harnagel farm.

Curt is found in the 1900 census at the age of 4. His father was called a cooper. Perhaps he worked at the flour mill in Wittenberg.

Curt was confirmed at Immanuel, Altenburg in 1909. We can view his confirmation record here. He was confirmed the day before his 13th birthday.

Curt was a teenager when the 1910 census was taken. This time his father was called a farmer, and Curt was called a farm laborer. Please note that Curt’s older brother, Martin, was called a steam shovel operator.

Curt had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. He is given a Wittenberg address, but it also says that this form was completed in Toledo, Ohio. Curt is called a steam shovel fireman. As was pointed out in the previous post, there were 4 Harnagel brothers who all were said to be living in Toledo when their draft registrations were completed.

Three of the Harnagel brothers were called into service during that war. This wonderful photo of the 3 Harnagel “doughboys” was displayed in the previous post.

Curt would get married not long after being discharged from the military, so we will now take a look at the woman who would become his first wife. Her name was Nina Eraldine Simon, who was born on December 26, 1899. Eraldine was the daughter of Franklin and Carrie (Waters) Simon. It appears that Eraldine was born in Akron, Ohio because that is where we find the Simon family in the 1900 census. Nina, as she was called in this entry, was still a baby when they took this census, and her father was a janitor in Akron.

When the 1910 census was taken, the Simon family is found living in Toledo. Eraldine was 10 years old, and this time, her father was called a salesman for a newspaper.

Curt Harnagel married Eraldine Simon on December 26, 1919 in Toledo. Below is a marriage license application for this couple. It looks like a pastor was going to marry them, so maybe this pair had to wait until after Christmas to get married. Or, perhaps Eraldine wanted to get married on her 20th birthday.

According to their Family Search entry, this couple had 3 children. In the 1920 census, we see that this couple had yet to have children. They were living with Eraldine’s father. Her mother had died in 1918. Curt was called a pipe fitter for a power company.

Next, we find the Harnagel’s in the 1930 census with 2 children. Curt was called a stationary engineer for Toledo Edison, a power company.

Another daughter had been born in the 1930’s, so when the 1940 census was taken, we see all 3 of the Harnagel children. Curt was still doing the same job.

Curt had his World War II draft card completed when America joined that war.

We find evidence that Curt and Eraldine got a divorce after the above document was completed. I found Eraldine in the 1950 census as a 50 year-old cook in a school cafeteria. This entry says she was divorced.

I did not find Curt in the 1950 census, but I did find a marriage record for him for that year. When I saw the name of his second wife, I did not see a connection to his past life in Perry County, but I eventually discovered the fact the Curt and his second wife likely knew each other during their childhood days in Wittenberg. Let’s take a look at her.

Emily Johanna Susanna Hodges was born on November 30, 1897 in Murphysboro, Illinois. Emma, as she was called, was the daughter of Jesse and Martha (Gruenwald) Hodges. Emma’s mother was born and raised in Altenburg. In the 1900 census, the Hodges family was living in Murphysboro, and Emma was 2 years old. Her father was a brewer in Murphysboro.

The Hodges family moved to Wittenberg prior to the 1910 census. Emma was 12 years old, and her father was a house carpenter. Let me add that when I was writing my Wittenberg ’04 book, I was looking for someone living in Wittenberg who was a carpenter around 1904, and when I found this entry about her father being a carpenter, I chose to use him as a character in that book.

By the time of the 1920 census, the Hodges family had moved to St. Louis. Emma was called a nurse at a hospital, and her father was a wagonmaker at a brewery.

I am not going to describe Emma’s next years, but apparently she had married a man by the name of Meyers, and evidence indicates that he must have died prior to 1950. In 1950, Emma traveled to Toledo to get married to Curt Harnagel. An Ohio marriage record for this wedding can be viewed below. It says that Emma was from St. Louis. It also indicates that she had not divorced her previous husband, but instead was called a widow. Curt and Emma were to be married by a pastor.

I am not sure where Curt and Emma lived during the next years of their lives. However, when we get to the late 1960’s, it looks as if they were living in or near Fort Worth, Texas. Emma Harnagel died in 1969 at the age of 72. Her death certificate says that she had been living in Texas for 6 years.

Curt Harnagel died in 1976 at the age of 80. His death certificate below gives congenital heart failure as his cause of death. You can see that the informant on this form is someone named Meyers. Perhaps the Harnagel’s were living in Texas because they moved to be near one of Emma’s children from her first marriage.

Both Curt and Emma Harnagel had their bodies brought back to Missouri to be buried. They are buried together in the Our Redeemer Cemetery in Affton. There is a blank space on their gravestone which makes it appear that someone else is or was going to be buried there.

Today, we not only wish Curt Harnagel a Happy 130th Birthday, but we also celebrate by saying “Happy Easter”.