The story you will read today has several people who died rather early in life. It is actually today’s birthday girl who outlives them all. However, the story does not begin with her.

William Struewe was born on December 10, 1839, the day after the Log Cabin College opened for its first day of classes in Altenburg. William was likely born near Friedheim where there was no established Lutheran church at that time, so I am unsure of where he was baptized. William was the son of Heinrich and Charlotte (Deikmann) Struewe. Prior to 1849, William’s father died, and his mother then married Jacob Viemann (or Freeman). In the 1850 census, we find William Struewe living in the Viemann household at the age of 11. His surname is not spelled anywhere close to Struewe. William’s stepfather was farming in the Apple Creek Township.

Let me say a bit about German pronunciation. In the German language, the letter “w” is often pronounced like a “v”. Also, even though Americans consider an “e” at the end of a name to be silent, Germans do not. They would end such a name with the long “e” sound. In documents you will see in this post, there will be several different spellings for the surname Struewe. Likely, the Struewe’s would pronounce their own name as “Struvey”. Upon hearing that pronunciation, a document writer might come up with their own spelling based on what they hear. I will add that a German would also pronounce a “v” as Americans pronounce an “f”.

In the 1860 census, William is found at the age of 19 (although I think he was 21). He is not even given his real surname of Struewe, but is called Wm. Freeman. He and his stepfather were farming together.

I think the Civil War military record for a man named William Strueve shown below is actually William Struewe. It even looks as if Struewe may have been crossed out on it.

William would get married toward the end of the Civil War, so we will now look at the woman who became his first wife. Her name was Gertrude Catherina Dambach, who was born on March 18, 1841. Catherine was the daughter of Jacob and Magdalena (Bob) Dambach. Her baptism record is found in the books of Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown. In those early years, Rev. Gruber would often travel to places where Germans would get together for services, and one of those places was Friedheim. Perhaps Catherine was baptized by Rev. Gruber there. Catherine’s baptism record is displayed below. Another note on German pronunciation. “D’s” and “T’s” were almost interchangeable. The name, Dambach is spelled Tambach in this document.

I failed to find the Dambach’s in the 1850 census, so the first entry in which I found Catherine was in the 1860 census. She was 19 years old, and her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. The 21 year-old Frederick Dambach was written about in the recent post, Miss Haeckel and her Weith and Dambach Spouses.

William Struewe married Catherine Dambach on March 8, 1864. According to the 2 civil marriage records shown below, this couple was married by a justice of the peace in Cape Girardeau County.

We find the Struewe’s in the 1870 census with 2 children. William was a farmer.

One more child was born to this couple later in 1870. Then, in 1872, Catherine Stuewe died at the age of about 31. Since there is no death record for her in the Trinity, Friedheim records, I suspect that this family became members of the Arnsberg Lutheran Church, which was located just down the road from Trinity. In February of 1873, a daughter of William and Catherine died at the age of 8. Below is a death record for that daughter, Isabella Struewe, which is found in the books of Arnsberg Lutheran.

William Struewe would get married again, so we will now look at the woman who would become his second wife. Her name was Louise Wilhelmine Amalie Maintz, who was born on April 19, 1851. She is today’s birthday girl, and she would be celebrating a special 175th birthday today. Louise was the daughter of Wilhelm and Wilhelmina (Haupt) Maintz. She was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We can view her baptism record below.

Louise is found in the 1860 census which says she was 10 years old, but I think she was only 9. Her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. Louise was the oldest child in the Maintz household.

Next, we find Louise in the 1870 census at the age of 19.

The widower, William Struewe, married Louise Maintz on November 6, 1873 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. The church record for that occasion is displayed here.

I will also show 2 other civil marriage records for this wedding.

This couple had 3 more children. One son named Jacob Wilhelm, was born in 1874 and died in 1875. The last child was born in July of 1878. A month after that baby girl was born, William Struewe died in August of 1878 at the age of 38. William, his first wife, Catherine, and the children, J. Wilhelm and Isabella, are each buried in the Arnsberg Lutheran Cemetery.

Louise Strueve is found as a widow in the 1880 census. She had 2 children in this entry from William’s first marriage and 2 children who were born to her.

Because we cannot view the 1890 census, it is 20 years later before we see Louise in another census entry. In the 1900 census, Louise was living with her daughter, Mary, who had married Fred Wilke. Fred was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

In the 1910 census, Louise was still living in the Fred Wilke household. This time, they were living in the Central Township. They may have been living in Perryville, but the census just mentions the township, not the city. Fred was the proprietor of a farm machinery business.

Louise was still found in the same household when the 1920 census was taken. This time, the census page says they were living in Perryville.

The last census in which we find Louise was the one taken in 1930. Fred Wilke was still the head of this household, but this time, he was a salesman at a grocery store.

Louise Struewe died in 1937 at the age of 86. Her death certificate below says she died of infirmities of age.

A death record for Louise is also found in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville.

We can also read Louise’s obituary.

Louise Struewe is buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

Louise Struewe spent most of her life as a widow. Even though her obituary says her husband died 20 years before she did, my calculation is that William Struewe died 59 years before Louise died. She spent several decades living in the household of her daughter.