Today’s tale begins with a birthday boy who leads us to a previous post about another character. It is one in which a widow and a widower marry later in life. Today, I will display more documentation for this tale.

Theobald Carl George Kaufmann was born on June 8, 1891, so today would be his 135th birthday. Theobald was the son of Ferdinand and Hulda (Boehme) Kaufmann. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at his baptism record here.

Theobald is found in the 1900 census at the age of 8. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township. What is interesting in this entry is that his future wife, Sarah Kuenhert, is found in the entry just above his Kaufmann family.

Theobald Kaufmann was a teenager when the 1910 census was taken. This time, it says he was working on his father’s farm.

Theobald had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. He is given an Altenburg address and called a farm hand, working for his father.

Theobald did get called into military service as is displayed in his World War I military record below. It does not give any indication that he was sent overseas for active combat.

Theobald would get married in 1920, but not until after the census was compiled for that year. He was 28 years old, and he, his father, and a few brothers were farming.

Now, we will look at the person who was mentioned earlier as the woman who would become Theobald’s bride. Her name was Sarah Elizabeth Kuehnert, who was born on June 9, 1884, so her birthday was just a day after Theobald’s, except she was about 7 years older. Sarah was the daughter of Gotthold and Pauline (Schilling) Kuehnert. She was also baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Her baptism record can be seen here.

I have already shown Sarah in the 1900 census, but I was unsuccessful at finding her in the 1910 census. As said before, Sarah would get married in 1920, but not until after that year’s census was taken. Her father had died in 1914, so she was living with her widowed mother in the 1920 census.

Theobald Kaufmann married Sarah Kuehnert on April 25, 1920 at Trinity, Altenburg. We can view this couple’s church marriage record below.

I am also able to display two other civil marriage records for this occasion.

Theobald and Sarah had no children, and then Theobald died in 1926 at the age of 34. His death certificate gives obstruction of bowels with a contributing factor being a perforation as his cause of death.

Theobald Kaufmann is buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

Sarah was a widow when the 1930 census was taken. She was living by herself in the Brazeau Township and called a farmer.

Sarah was still unmarried when the 1940 census was taken. Once again, she was alone in her household, but right below her entry, you find that of her brother-in-law, Alfred Kaufmann’s entry is found.

Sarah got married again, so we will now take another look at her second husband, Joseph Hoehne, who had his story told in the post, Getting ‘Em Where They Need to Go. When I wrote his story, I did not include much documentation and did not describe his marriages. Joseph was born on February 25, 1882. He was the son of Ernst and Emilie (Hecht) Hoehne. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can view his baptism record below in two images.

Joseph is found in the 1900 census at the age of 18. He was working on his father’s farm in the Brazeau Township.

Joseph got married before the next census, so we will now look at the woman who would become his first wife. Her name was Johanne Christina Ahner, who was born on September 22, 1882. Johanne was the daughter of August and Anna (Lungwitz) Ahner. She was baptized at Trinity, Altenburg. Her baptism record is found here.

Johanne is found in the 1900 census at the age of 18. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Joseph Hoehne married Johanne Ahner on April 19, 1903 at Trinity, Altenburg. The church marriage record for that couple is pictured here.

According to our German Family Tree, this pair had 6 children, one being a stillborn. I am going to skip over a bunch of years because Joseph’s story is found in the previous post. Then, Johanne Hoehne died in 1945 at the age of 62. Her death certificate says she died in St. Louis, and her cause of death was liver cancer.

Joseph Hoehne married Sarah Kaufmann on February 2, 1948. According to the marriage license shown below, this wedding took place at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville where Rev. Lohmann was the pastor.

In the 1950 census, Joseph and Sarah were still living in the Brazeau Township, and Joseph was doing farm work.

Sarah Hoehne died in 1963 at the age of 79. A cerebral hemorrhage is listed as the cause of death on her death certificate.

Joseph Hoehne died in 1976. Soon, we may be able to view his death certificate. He died at the age of 94. Joseph and his two wives are buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg. I have to giggle a little bit over the fact that Johanne’s gravestone calls her Jane. According to East Perry pronunciations, that means she was Jane Hoehne, which means her first name rhymed with her married surname.

When I talk to old-timers around East Perry County about Joe Hoehne, they almost always start telling stories about their bus driver. Now, you know that he and his two wives are part of a much larger story that not only involves his Ahner wife, but also gets connected to the Kaufmann and Kuehnert surnames.