I will be telling yet another story about a Perry County native who became a full-time Lutheran church worker in this post. The main character is also is today’s birthday boy.

Immanuel Johann Martin Lorenz was born on August 4, 1891, thus making today his 135th birthday. Martin was the son of Immanuel and Martha (Soehl) Lorenz. He was baptized at Salem Lutheran Church in Farrar. His baptism record is displayed below.

Martin is found in the 1900 census at the age of 9. His father was a farmer in the Salem Township.

We find an interesting situation in the 1910 census. I located two separate census entries for Martin. In one entry, Martin is found still living with his parents in the Salem Township. At the age of 18, Martin is called a public school teacher. I also included in this image of the 1910 census entry the couple that is found right below the Lorenz family. It was the household of R.P. Farrar and his wife, Regina. R.P. was also called a public school teacher. His wife, Regina, had the maiden name, Lorenz, and I believe she was Martin’s aunt. In a previous post about Robert Farrar, it was said that he was a teacher at the Swan School near Farrar.

Martin is also found in a 1910 census entry in which he was living in the Union Township. He was living in the household of Joseph Hecht and called a 19 year-old public school teacher. What is interesting is that Joseph Hecht’s mother was a Lorenz and part of Martin’s family tree. In a previous post, Another Hecht/Hemmann Duo, Martin was mentioned, and I speculated that he may have been teaching at a one-room school that became known as the Fiehler School located not far from Uniontown. Since Teacher Farrar was teaching in the public school in Farrar in 1910, it seems to support the fact that Teacher Lorenz was teaching elsewhere, likely in the Fiehler School in the Union Township.

Another document that may explain this situation comes from this photograph showing a baseball team called the Farrar Reds which was supposedly taken in 1910. Martin was a member of that team. He is the player called the center fielder (C.F.) in this photo. Perhaps Martin went home to stay with his family on weekends when he had a ball game, so his parents said he was part of their household when the census taker asked which children lived with them.

This is not the first story that I have written that is about a person who, as a teenager, became a public school teacher. I did a search online to find out what the requirements were back in those days to become a school teacher. I ran across this sentence. It looks as if a local school board would just find someone to teach that they thought was qualified to do so.

In 1900 Missouri, teacher qualifications were determined at the local level rather than by a centralized state board.

Following Martin’s teacher career became quite a challenge. I will display a combination of census entries and newspaper articles in an attempt to see where Martin taught throughout his career. An article found in the Perry County Sun in February of 1912 says that Martin was planning to attend school at Concordia Teachers College in Seward, Nebraska that fall.

Another article found in the Perry County Sun later in 1912 says that Martin was teaching at the Frohna Public School, which makes it look like his plans to go to Seward may not have panned out. The fact that he taught at the school in Frohna helps to explain how he found his future wife.

Not long before Martin would get married, this article appeared in the Perry County Sun in July of 1915. It says he had just finished his studies at Concordia College in Ft. Wayne to become a Lutheran teacher and was about to head off to Alva, Oklahoma to teach there. I must add that several Perry County natives, many of which were from Farrar, had moved to Alva, and they may have influenced the process of getting Martin to teach in their school. I will also add that Rudi Palisch was the brother of Martin’s future wife.

Now, we will take some time to look at the woman who would become Martin’s bride. Her name was Meta Elizabeth Palisch, who was born on October 30, 1893. Meta was the daughter of Henry and Juliana (Fischer) Palisch. She was baptized at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can take a look at her baptism record here.

Meta is found in the 1900 census at the age of 6. Her father was a merchant in Frohna. He was the proprietor of the Palisch Store that was once found at the intersection of Main Street and Highway C in that town.

The map below produced in 1915 shows the locations of the public school and the Palisch Store in Frohna.

I am thinking that the photo below was taken of Meta when she was confirmed in 1907.

Next, we find Meta in the 1910 census at the age of 16. She was still living in Frohna with her parents.

Martin Lorenz married Meta Palisch on January 1, 1916, but just prior to that wedding, the article below was published in the Perry County Republican on December 30, 1915. I admit that it made me giggle.

Martin and Meta were married at Concordia Lutheran Church in Frohna. We can view this couple’s church marriage record below. It calls Martin, Lehrer Martin Lorenz, which means Teacher Lorenz. It also mentions that he was a teacher in Alva, Oklahoma.

We can also take a look at this couple’s Missouri marriage license.

Martin had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. Martin was no longer living in Oklahoma. He is given a Lincoln, Nebraska address and is called a teacher in a parochial school. It says he had a wife and child.

The Lorenz’s had two children. When the 1920 census was taken, they were living in Belleville, Illinois where Martin is called a parochial school teacher. It says their 3 year-old daughter was born in Oklahoma.

A second child was born into this family later that year. Then, in the 1930 census, we find the Lorenz family living in St. Louis. Martin is called a public school teacher, but I have doubts about that.

In 1936, Martin and his family traveled to Farrar to attend his parents’ 50th wedding anniversary. A photo was taken of the Lorenz clan when that event took place. Martin is the third person from the left in the second row.

On the same day, this photo of just the Lorenz parents and their children was taken. Martin is the second man from the left in the back row.

In the 1940 census, the Lorenz family is found living at the same address on Alaska Avenue as in the prior census entry. This time Martin is called a parochial school principal. I included some other households in this image. In a series of houses on Alaska Avenue, we find the pastor of St. Luke’s Lutheran Church which is located on Taft Avenue where it intersects with Alaska Avenue. We also find another parochial teacher and his family, as well as a custodian for a parochial school. They must have all been working at St. Luke’s. Since the previous census entry had the Lorenz’s living at the same address, I figure that Martin was not teaching at a public school in 1930, but at St. Luke’s Lutheran School.

Martin had his World War II draft card completed when America entered that war. It says he was employed at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church.

Martin and Meta can be found with an empty nest when the 1950 census was taken. Martin had become a teacher in Chicago during the previous decade.

Martin Lorenz died in 1966 at the age of 74; Meta Lorenz died in 1980 at the age of 86. These two are buried together in the Concordia Cemetery in Forest Park, Illinois, a municipality in the Chicago area.

When I do stories about people that become full-time church workers like Martin, I often find that it takes me to locations all over the country. This is yet another one of those.