Today’s birthday girl is Riga Carolina Stella Bergmann, who was born on July 21, 1887. That means today would be Stella’s 139th birthday. Stella was the daughter of John and Mary (Muench) Bergmann. She was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. Her baptism record from that congregation’s books is pictured here. It looks as if Stella got her names, Riga and Carolina, from her two female baptism sponsors.

Stella is found in the 1900 census at the age of 12. Her father was a farmer in the Central Township. Stella was one of 7 children in the Bergmann household.

In 1902, Stella was confirmed at Immanuel, Perryville. Below, you can see this list of Stella and the other confirmands from her class. The list includes 3 different young ladies with the name, Bergmann.

At some point prior to the 1910 census, the Bergmann family made their way to St. Louis. In that year’s entry, Stella was 22 years old, and her father was a watchman for a mercantile house in St. Louis.

Stella was still single when the 1920 census was taken. Her father had died in 1917, so her widowed mother was the head of the Bergmann household. Stella is called 26 years old in this entry, but I figure this was incorrect. Stella had no occupation given in this entry.

Stella would get married in the next decade, so we will now look at the man who would become her husband. His name was Emil Theodore Steinke, who was born on June 27, 1886 in St. Louis. Emil was the son of Gustav and Wilhelmine (Herold) Steinke. He was baptized at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Louis. We can view his baptism record here.

Emil is found in the 1900 census at the age of 13. His father was an iron finisher in St. Louis. Even at such a young age, Emil was called a day laborer.

That year was also when Emil was confirmed. He was not confirmed at Zion where he was baptized. His confirmation record is found in the books of St. Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis, which is shown below.

Emil is found in the 1910 census at the age of 23. He was called a general laborer and was still living with his parents.

Emil had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. It says Emil was living in Chicago and was an unemployed electrician.

I found an Emil Steinke in a 1920 census, but I am not 100% sure it is the correct one. The entry below says Emil was 33 years old and living in Chicago, which is the correct age, and it says he was an electrician, but it also says he was born in Wisconsin. This Emil Steinke was also living in the household of August Bergmann, which seems to fit with a man who would soon marry a Bergmann girl, but I was unable to find an August Bergmann who had roots in Perry County nor related to his future wife.

Emil Steinke married Stella Bergmann on August 4, 1926. The St. Louis marriage record shown here says this couple was married by Rev. Maack. Rev. Maack was the pastor of Markus Lutheran Church in St. Louis. It also says both Emil and Stella were from St. Louis, so Emil must have moved back to his hometown.

I figured that this wedding took place at Markus Lutheran until I also located this church marriage record for this couple. These two were married at Zion Lutheran Church in St. Louis, and the record below says the wedding was performed by Rev. Maack.

Zion, St. Louis was not between pastors in 1926, so I figured that maybe there was some connection between Emil or Stella and Pastor Maack. I did find a Maack in a family tree which included Emil and Stella on Ancestry.com, but I was not able to find a family connection between them. Below are old photos of both Markus and Zion Lutheran churches in St. Louis. They certainly were magnificent structures.

There is no evidence that Stella and Emil had any children. After all, they were almost 40 when they married. In the 1930 census, we find these two living in St. Louis where Emil was an electrician at a hospital.

Next, we find the Steinke couple in the 1940 census still living in St. Louis. Emil was called a stationary engineer at a club.

Stella Steinke died in 1946 at the age of 58. Her death certificate below says she died of myocarditis.

After his wife died, Emil got married again prior to the 1950 census. Her name was Olivia. Family Search says her maiden name was Olivia Joho. I did not make an effort to discover her life’s story. Emil and Olivia are found in the 1950 census in which Emil was called an engineer for the water department.

Emil Steinke died later in 1950 at the age of 64. We can also view his death certificate here. It says he died of injuries he sustained as a passenger on a street car in St. Louis.

Stella Steinke is buried in the New Bethlehem Cemetery in St. Louis, but Findagrave.com does not include a gravestone photo. Emil Steinke is buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery in Jennings, but he also has no gravestone photo. The only gravestone associated with this story is one for Olivia Skull who is also buried in the Memorial Park Cemetery.

On Olivia’s Findagrave site, we find the following information about Emil’s grave site.

The story of today’s birthday girl is yet another one about a Perry County native who spends most of her life in St. Louis. Quite often, these stories are ones in which a young woman moves to St. Louis to find work and ends up finding a spouse there. Stella’s story is a bit different. Her entire family moved to the big city, and then she eventually found a spouse there. In her case, it took a while before she got married. But we have to say that she did find a Missouri Synod mate when she did get married.