Today’s birthday girl was originally a member of St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas, which is located in north Cape Girardeau County, but she managed to find a husband in Perry County. I have to admit. When I found a marriage record for a couple made up of a Petzoldt and a Leimer, I figured that I had already told their story on this blog, and I almost skipped over it. But, for some reason, I took a quick look and discovered that it is a yet-untold story. So, you get to read their story today. I will begin with the birthday girl.

Theresia Rosa Leimer was born on July 7th, so today is her birthday. However, I am not sure what age she would be today. Her gravestone says she was born in 1855. A church death record says she was born in 1856. And her record in the church’s books where she spent some of her early years says she was born in 1857. The best I can do is say is that Theresia would be about 170 years old today. Theresia was the daughter of Johann and Anna Maria (Pilz) Leimer. She was born in Austria, but her family came to America prior to her getting married. However, I am not able to pin down when the Leimer family arrived in this country. What we do know is that we find Theresia in the 1870 census at the age of 15. This would support a birth year of 1855. Her father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

Next, we find Theresia in the 1880 census at the age of 23. This would support a birth year of 1857. She was still living with her parents.

Theresia would get married during the next decade, so we will now look at the man who would become her husband. His name was August Carl Petzoldt, who was born on January 10, 1855. He was called Charles for most of his life, so I will use that name. He was the son of August and Augusta (Roth) Petzoldt. Because his father’s brother was Friedrich Florian Petzoldt, that make Charles the nephew of “The Face”. Charles was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can view his baptism record here.

When Charles was 2 years old, Rev. Schieferdecker, the pastor who baptized him, was kicked out of Trinity, and he established Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. As near as I can tell, there were 2 Petzoldt families at Trinity…Charles’s family and that of Friedrich Florian “The Face” Petzoldt. Each of those Petzoldt’s went with Rev. Schieferdecker to Immanuel. Charles would later get confirmed at that church. Charles is found in the 1860 census at the age of 5. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Charles was a teenager when the 1870 census was taken.

Charles was still single when the 1880 census was compiled. His father had died in 1878, so Charles was doing the farming. He was the only male in the Petzoldt household.

Charles Petzoldt married Theresia Leimer on July 8, 1883 at St. John’s Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. That means Theresia got married on the day after her birthday. The information from the St. John’s binder that we have in our research library gives us this marriage date, along with other information about Theresia and Charles. This info says that Theresia was born in 1857 in Sladming, Austria.

We can also take a look at 2 civil marriage records for this wedding.

Our German Family Tree lists 8 children born to this couple. One was stillborn. The Petzoldt’s must have become members of Concordia Lutheran Church around the time of their marriage because all of their children’s baptism records are found in that congregation’s books. If we could view the 1890 census, we would find both Charles and Theresia together as a couple, but as it is, we cannot view a census entry with both of them in it. Theresia Petzoldt died in 1896 at the age of 41. Her death record in the Concordia, Frohna books says she died on nerve fever. Theresia had also given birth to her last child several months before she died. Her death record below (and its translation) is shown here. It gives Theresia an 1856 year of birth.

In the 1900 census, Charles was a widower with 5 children. He was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

Charles and his remaining family are found in the 1910 census. There were 3 remaining children in the Petzoldt household. Charles’s son, Anton, was helping with the farming.

In the 1915 atlas of plat maps for Perry County, we find the Charles Petzoldt farm located not far from Altenburg. It was also not far from Frohna.

The 1920 census was the last one in which we find Charles. Three single children were included in his household.

The above census was submitted in January of 1920. Then, in February of that year, Charles Petzoldt died at the age of 65. We can take a look at his death certificate below.

Charles and Theresia Petzoldt are each buried in the Concordia Lutheran Cemetery in Frohna. You might note that Theresia’s year of birth on her gravestone is 1855.

I do know that today is Theresia’s birthday. What I do not know is what year it was that she was born. If we could view her Austrian baptism record, we could answer that question. Maybe someone out there can find it. I am not going to look for it. I have some grass to mow.