The name, Arnold Meyr, has already appeared on this blog. His claim to fame, if you want to call it that, was that he was aboard the train involved in the train robbery that took place in November of 1922 in Wittenberg. That earlier post was An Infamous Day in Wittenberg. Arnold was one of 2 local residents who were reportedly on that train when it was robbed. The other was Arthur Mueller. Because Arnold Meyr married today’s birthday girl, I will be giving a more detailed story of that couple’s life in this post.

Arnold Theodore Meyr was born on July 12, 1889, the son of Gottlieb and Sarah (Hacker) Meyr. Arnold was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. An image of his baptism record is shown below.

Arnold is found in the 1900 census at the age of 10. His father was a carpenter in the Brazeau Township.

In the 1910 census, Arnold was 21 years old and called a farm laborer. I think his father, in addition to being a carpenter, owned some farm land and Arnold was helping with the farming.

When the plat maps for Perry County were produced, we find Arnold’s father’s land located just east of the town of Altenburg. That means that he would be a neighbor of mine if he was still alive today.

In June of 1917, Arnold had his World War I draft registration completed. He is given an Altenburg address and was said to be farming by himself.

Since Arnold would get married just a matter of months after the above form was filled out, we will now take a look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Alida Ernestine Fischer, who was born on June 24, 1896. That means today would be her 130th birthday. Alida was the daughter of Emmanuel and Agnes (Boehme) Fischer. I have to think that Alida was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church because all of her siblings were baptized there, but for some unknown reason, there is no baptism record for her in those church books.

Alida is found in the 1900 census at the age of 3. Her father was a teamster in Altenburg.

Next, we find Alida in the 1910 census as a teenager. Her mother had died in 1904, so her father was a widower in this entry.

On August 19, 1917, Arnold Meyr married Alida Fischer at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at this couple’s church marriage record below.

I am also able to display 2 other civil marriage records for this event.

We can also take a look at the wedding photograph of this pair.

Our German Family Tree lists 5 children born to Arnold and Alida. All of their children were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. When the 1920 census was taken, we find the Meyr’s with just their first child. Arnold was a farmer. Since we find Arnold’s census entry right next to his father’s on that census page, I figure that Arnold was farming on his father’s land.

It was a few years after the above census that Arnold was on the train that was robbed in Wittenberg. I am told that Arnold had a gun stuck in his belly by one of the robbers. According to the article shown below from the Perry County Republican which was published at the end of November in 1922, Arnold had gone to St. Louis to bring his father back home from his stay in the Lutheran Hospital in St. Louis. That means there were likely not just 2 locals on that train, but there were 3.

By the time of the 1930 census, there were 4 children in the Meyr household. Arnold’s mother had died in 1922, so his widowed father is found living with them.

One more child was born into this family in 1932, so when the 1940 census was compiled, we find that child included in the Meyr family. Four children were then living with Arnold and Alida. Their oldest daughter, Edna, had found work as a servant in St. Louis at that time.

This photo is on display in our museum, and I have been informed that it was the Meyr home.

The last census the public can view is the one taken in 1950. Two children were still living with their parents. Arnold and his son, Norbert, were doing farm work.

Alida Meyr died in 1986 at the age of 89. Arnold Meyr died a year later in 1987 at the age of 97. Both Arnold and Alida are buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

If Alida was baptized at Trinity, Altenburg, then this Meyr couple would be one of those pairs who were born, baptized, confirmed, married, raised their family, died, and were buried while being members of the same congregation from cradle to grave.

Our museum’s friend, Pat Borgmann, who has attended and made presentations at our immigration conferences, is a granddaughter of today’s highlighted Meyr couple. So, I hope I got it all right.