The story you will read today is one of those in which you will find an event that occurred on today’s date, August 6th, toward the end of the post, not at the beginning. Today’s main character will be a man named Wilhelm Deimund…or was he? There is a story floating around in the Deimund family tree that William was a child of his mother, Margaretha Lohmann and a man who was not named Deimund, but I did not find any documentation to back up that story.

Wilhelm Deimund was born on September 1, 1828 in Germany. If I could find his German baptism record, I could confirm who his parents were, but no such baptism record is included in Ancestry.com or Family Search entries. At some point in Wilhelm’s life, he made his way to America. The first record I was able to find for Wilhelm after getting to this country was a record for his marriage which took place in St. Louis in 1852. His first wife was Mary Catherine Glim. I know nothing about Mary Catherine except for the fact that she married Wilhelm. The St. Louis marriage record for this couple can be seen below. This pair was married on November 27, 1852 by a justice of the peace.

William and Mary had 2 children, both of which were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. However, apparently not long after the second child was born in 1855, Mary Catherine Deimund died. That is because Wilhelm would get married again in 1858. Let’s take a look at the woman who would become his second wife. Her name was Sophia Schweer, who was born in Germany in about 1838. Sophia was the daughter of Diedrick and Dorothea (Schwiering) Schweer. After coming to this country, we find Sophia’s family living in Cape Girardeau County when the 1850 census was taken. Sophia was called 12 years old in that census entry.

On April 4, 1858, William Deimund married Sophia Schweer. It is possible that they were married at the Arnsberg Lutheran Church, which was located not far from Friedheim. We can view a Cape Girardeau County civil marriage record for this couple below.

Our German Family Tree lists 4 children born to this pair, but Family Search lists 5. The extra child in Family Search’s list is the first child they include who is named Friedrich. I think it is possible that this first child born in 1860, may have been baptized at Arnsberg Lutheran Church, and that is why our German Family Tree did not pick up on that child. Friedrich can be seen in some census entries that I will display. Two of the children born to Sophia Deimund have baptism records in the books of Trinity, Friedheim. When the 1860 census was compiled, the Deimund household included William’s brother, Peter, who was a cooper, along with 3 of William’s children. Two children were from his marriage to Mary Catherine, and the third one was from his relatively new wife, Sophia. William was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

When the 1870 census was taken, there were 6 children in the Deimund family.

The only photo I am able to show of any characters in this story is this one of William, Sophia, and 2 daughters.

Sophia Deimund died, probably sometime around 1875 or 1876. After her death, William married again in 1876. We will now take a look at the woman who would become his 3rd wife. Her name was Matilda Wills, and I was also not able to determine her date of birth. Her gravestone says she was born in 1839. Matilda was the daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Masters) Wills. At some point, her father died, and her mother married George Fellows. In the 1850 census, Matilda looks as if she was Matilda Fellows. She was 9? years old, and her stepfather was a farmer in Cape Girardeau County.

When the 1860 census was taken, Matilda was 17 years old and called a domestic. She was living in the Apple Creek Township, which got its name during the 1850’s.

Matilda married Jacob Sievers during the 1860’s, early enough to have 4 children prior to the 1870 census. Jacob was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

Jacob Sievers must have died in the 1870’s. Then, on August 6, 1876, the widower, William Deimund married the widow, Matilda Sievers. That means today would be this couple’s 150th wedding anniversary. The civil marriage record shown here says this couple was married by a justice of the peace.

William and Matilda had 3 more children, so altogether, William was the father of 10 children. In the 1880 census, there were 6 Deimund children and 2 Sievers children in the household.. William was still farming.

William Deimund died in 1898 at the age of 70. William’s death record is found in the books of Lixville Lutheran Church in Lixville.

Matilda is found as a widow in the 1900 census. She was living with her son, Theodore, who had married Martha Koch, in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Next, we find Matilda living by herself in the 1910 census with no occupation.

Finally, Matilda is found in the 1920 census, once again living by herself. She is called a farmer, but it also says that she “rents farm out”.

Matilda Deimund died in 1928. Her death certificate below says she was 89 years old when she died.

I was unable to find the places where William’s first two wives are buried, but William and Matilda Deimund are each buried in the Lixville Lutheran Cemetery in Lixville. Matilda was buried there when that congregation was no longer active.

This is one of those stories from back in the days when there were plenty of deaths followed by plenty of remarriages. A fact that is a bit different in this tale is that there were so many deaths and births for which I could not find records to document them, and I was not even able to see where these people were buried.