Today’s tale will be about a couple who would be celebrating their wedding anniversary. It is another story in which there are missing pieces. I will share the aspects of this pair’s story that I was able to find. I will begin with the bride, who was born in Perry County.

Elizabeth Hecht was born on April 8, 1863, so yesterday would have been her 163rd birthday. Elizabeth was the daughter of Carl and Marie (Gentsch) Hecht. Here is where we discover a missing piece. Elizabeth does not have a baptism record in any of our local Lutheran churches. When her younger brother was born in 1868, his baptism record is in the books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown, but Elizabeth does not have a record there. There is actually an Elizabeth Hecht in those books that was born in 1862, but that child was the daughter of Wilhelm and Wilhemine (Weber) Hecht. If today’s Elizabeth would have had her baptism record in those books, it would have been found on the same page as the other Elizabeth Hecht.

Elizabeth is found in the 1870 census at the age of 7. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

A Missouri state census was taken in 1876, and we find Elizabeth and her Hecht family in it. It says Elizabeth was 13 years old.

There is an 1877 record for an Elizabeth Hecht being confirmed at Grace, Uniontown, but I am not able to determine whether this was the Elizabeth that was born in 1862 or 1863. I know I did not find 2 different confirmation records in that congregation’s books.

The next missing piece is Elizabeth’s 1880 census entry. She would have been about 17 years old, but she was not living with her mother. Her father had died in 1879, so her mother was a widow in 1880. Here is her mother’s census entry from the 1880 census. She was living in the new Union Township with her son, Gotthilf. There was a 17 year-old Elizabeth in this household, but she had a different surname and was called a servant. That Elizabeth was born in Tennessee.

Since the rest of her life was spent living across the Mississippi River in Illinois, my best guess is that she may have been living there in 1880, but I did not find her in that year’s census. So, now we will take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Charles Herman Fricke, who was born on October 28, 1867. Charles was the son of Frederick and Dorothea (Gerlach) Fricke. Information found on Ancestry.com and Family Search says that Charles was born in Welge, Illinois, which is located near Bremen, Perhaps his baptism record is found in one of the old Lutheran churches near there. Charles is found in the 1870 census at the age of 3. His father was a farmer near Bremen, Illinois.

In the 1880 census, Charles, at the age of 12, was one of 5 sons who were helping their father on his farm.

Charles Fricke married Elizabeth Hecht on April 9, 1891. That means this couple would be celebrating their 135th wedding anniversary today. In the images containing their Illinois marriage record, the Fricke/Hecht record is above another record I found interesting enough to include here. Charles was said to be from Welge, Illinois, and Elizabeth was said to be from Wiebush, Illinois in Jackson County. I failed to find a location with that name. It also says that Elizabeth had been born in Longtown, Missouri. Their marriage had been officiated by Rev. F.W. Steffens. I am not certain, but since Elizabeth would later be buried in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Bremen, I think that is the most likely church in which this wedding took place.

If you look at the bottom record in these images, you will see the marriage record for Jacob Schlimpert and Caroline Boeger. Those were the parents of my Uncle Oscar Schlimpert who resided in the Seelitz community near Altenburg. I have written a blog post about that couple, but did not locate a marriage record when I wrote it. I also find it interesting that the pastor who performed this wedding in Chester, Illinois was Rev. J.A.F.W. Mueller, the first graduate of Concordia Seminary in Altenburg.

Family Search indicates that this Fricke couple had 10 children. When the 1900 census was taken, we find this family living in Rockwood, Illinois, which is located south of Chester. They had 3 children, and Charles was farming.

Next, we find the Fricke’s in the 1910 census. There were 5 children in their household at that time.

When the 1920 census was taken, we find Elizabeth Fricke living with her daughter, Hulda, who had married George Harrison. In the marital status column, it says that she was divorced. That household was also located in Rockwood, Illinois.

I honestly do not know what happened to Charles Fricke after this. There are some trees on Ancestry.com that say Charles died in Peoria, Illinois in 1939, but I am not convinced that was the correct Charles Fricke.

There is a bit of a puzzle when we look at Elizabeth in the 1930 census. If you look at the 1930 census entry for the George Harrison household from Rockwood, you will see Elizabeth with a different surname. She is called Elizabeth Gladwell. It also once again says that she was divorced. Did Elizabeth get married again to a man named Gladwell? And did she also get divorced from him prior to 1930?

Elizabeth died in 1939 at the age of 76. Her Illinois death certificate is pictured here. Once again, there are some puzzling items on this form. First, she was given the name Elizabeth Fricke on this document. The fact that she is called a widow of Charles Fricke indicates that Charles had died prior to Elizabeth’s death. We also see the surname, Gladwell, on this form, only it says that her father was named Valentine Gladwell, which is not the name of Elizabeth’s father. It does say that she was born in Perry County, but it says it was Perry County, Illinois.

Elizabeth Fricke is buried in the St. John’s Lutheran Cemetery in Bremen, Illinois.

My wife received several jigsaw puzzles for Christmas and has been doing one after another recently. Every once in a while, when she gets finished with a puzzle, there is a piece missing, and she looks around feverishly for the missing piece which she figures must have fallen on the floor or gotten misplaced somewhere else. This story has several missing pieces, but I have gotten somewhat accustomed to this problem and, although I go down several rabbit holes in search of missing pieces of information, I eventually give up and do not get too bothered about it.