I thought I found another woman with a special birthday for today’s tale, but I now think that is not the case. Now, I do not think she was born on this date at all. However, I invested too much time gathering all the documents that I decided to write the story anyway.

In one place in our German Family Tree, it says that Catharina Maria Lix was born on April 15, 1851, which would have meant that she would be celebrating her 175th birthday. Not only that, it would mean that she would have been born the day after yesterday’s birthday girl, Anna Haeckel. I later discovered another record in the German Family Tree that gives Catharine’s birthday as March 6, 1852. That date of birth comes from Catharine’s baptism record, so I think it is pretty reliable. Catharine was the daughter of Henry and Mary (Eichmeier) Lix. She was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, the same church’s books in which we found yesterday’s birthday girl. For a while, I thought I might find Catharine’s baptism record right below that of Anna Haeckel. Catharine’s baptism record is shown here.

Catharine is found in the 1860 census at the age of 8. Her father was a farmer in the Union Township in Bollinger County.

Next, we find Catharine in the 1870 census as a teenager.

Catharine would get married in the 1870’s, so we will now take a look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Johann Gustav Bahner, who was born on January 26, 1840 in Germany. I failed to find the names of Gustav’s parents. Nor was I able to locate any immigration information for him. I do not think he is found in any American censuses prior to his marriage.

Gustav Bahner married Catharine Lix on December 4, 1873 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. The church marriage record for this wedding is pictured here.

I will also display 2 different civil marriage records from Cape Girardeau County. Gustav’s name is spelled Boehner on these marriage records. That is also the spelling that is found in our GFT. I chose to use the spelling, Bahner, because that is how it is spelled on his death certificate, and I found a son’s name spelled Bahner on his gravestone.

Our German Family Tree and Family Search say that this Bahner couple had 7 children. A few of the earlier children have their baptism records in the books of Trinity, Friedheim. I suspect that some other baptism records may be found in the books of the Arnsberg Lutheran Church. When the 1880 census was taken, we find the Bahner’s living in the Apple Creek Township with 4 children. The youngest was a daughter simply identified in this entry as “infant girl”. Gustav was farming.

Catharine Bahner died in 1886 at the age of 34. I was not able to find any cause for her early death. Gustav is found as a widower in the 1900 census with 6 children. He and 3 of his sons were farming together.

On a plat map produced in 1901, we find the Gustav Bahner parcels of land located near Arnsberg.

The last census in which we find Gustav was the one taken in 1910. At the age of 70, it says that he was retired. His son, Fritz, was called the head of the household which also included a brother and 2 sisters.

Gustav Bahner died in 1916 at the age of 76. His death certificate below says that he died of pneumonia.

We can read Gustav’s obituary below.

Gustav and Catharine Bahner are buried in the Arnsberg Lutheran Cemetery. They both have entries on Findagrave.com, but neither of them have gravestone photos.

I discovered that a few of the Bahner children ended up in the state of Idaho in or near the city of Twin Falls. The list of people that I have found from this area who moved to Twin Falls is growing.

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Before I close, I would like to say that today marks a special historic anniversary. On April 15, 1841, the first day of the Altenburg Debate took place. That means today is the 185th anniversary of that event. I do not want to say much today because our museum’s director plans to write her post this Friday about the Altenburg Debate. That event took place on my land, behind our barn. I took these photos this morning of the monument that was placed in our pasture in 1939 to commemorate its building during 1839. Two years later, the Altenburg Debate took place at the Log Cabin College.