Today’s birthday girl is a bicentennial birthday girl. Since the German Lutherans who are part of this area’s history did not start showing up until the 1830’s, that means that a bicentennial birthday that has been highlighted on this blog has always been about a person who was born in Germany. That is the case for today’s story too.

Anna Bösch was born on August 25, 1826, so today would be her 200th birthday. Anna was the daughter of Peter and Anna (Meyer) Bösch. She was born in Ostervesede in the Hanover region of Germany and her baptism record is found in a collection of records from Scheeßel. The map below shows the proximity of these two cities.

We can view Anna’s baptism record from the church records in Scheeßel below.

Anna’s first husband was Johann Brunkhorst, who was born on August 30, 1822. Johann was the son of Johann Friedrich and Maria (Rathjen) Brunkhorst. His baptism record is found the Scheeßel books. That baptism record is displayed here in 2 images.

Johann Brunkhorst married Anna Bösch in 1847. The date for this wedding is often given as November 26th of that year. I can even show this German record for that event which is also in the Scheeßel church books.

Here is the problem I have with identifying the exact date for this wedding. Look at the entire page on which this marriage record is found.

Record #41 is the one for Johann and Anna. However, you can see that all the records from #39-42 give the date of November 26th. Also, the records at the top of the page, #36-38, have the date of November 19th (seven days before November 26th). I can also tell you that the next page in these books has a few marriages dated December 3rd followed by several records for December 10th. All of these dates are 7 days apart from one another. I have to think that these marriage records may have been recorded on these dates once a week. If so, I think the exact date of the wedding may have been on a different day prior to when they were recorded. I may have to ask our friend, Timm Yamnitz, about these records. He’s much more of an expert on German church records than I am.

According to Family Search, Johannn and Anna Brunkhorst had 4 children between 1848 and 1858. Some of those baptism records can be found in the Scheeßel books, and I think the others may be found there also, but the books that we are able to view only go up to a certain date. Then, on April 17, 1858, Johann Brunkhorst died at the age of 35. I was unable to find any documentation for his death.

Anna would get married again. Let’s take a look at the man who would become her second husband. His name was Friedrich Rathjen, who was born on January 12, 1831. Friedrich was the son of Claus and Catharina (Luedemann) Rathjen. Like the others in this story already, Friedrich’s baptism record is found in the same set of church books and is pictured here.

According to Family Search (again without documentation), Friedrich Rathjen married Anna Brunkhorst on October 15, 1858. This couple had 4 children in Germany between 1860 and 1870.

Then, in 1874, the Rathjen’s came to America aboard the ship, Berlin. We find this family on the passenger list for that ship which entered this country in Baltimore. All four of the Rathjen children made the voyage.

The Rathjen’s settled in Jackson County, Illinois near the town of Jacob. They arrived in that area just before the establishment of Christ Lutheran Church in 1876. That congregation recently celebrated their 150th anniversary as an official Lutheran church. Although the Rathjen’s were living in that area by that time, they are not listed as one of the families that was involved in the organization of Christ Lutheran.

The Rathjen’s are found in the 1880 census with their 4 children. Friedrich was farming in the Fountain Bluff Township. This entry mentions that Friedrich had a crippled hip.

That would be the only American census entry in which we find Friedrich and Anna because they both died in the 1880’s. Anna Rathjen died in 1886 at the age of 59. Her death record is found in the books of Christ Lutheran Church in Jacob. This will be challenging for you to read for 2 reasons. One is that it is written in German. The other is that the church books at that time stretched over two pages with the writing beginning on one page and continuing on the facing page. I have to display these kind of records in 2 images.

Friedrich Rathjen died a year later in 1887 at the age of 57. We can also view his death record from the Christ, Jacob books.

Friedrich and Anna Rathjen are each buried in the Christ Lutheran Cemetery in Jacob.

Christ Lutheran built their first church on the same property where this cemetery is located. Later, this congregation built a new church on another piece of property a bit down the road from the cemetery. That is where this church worships to this day. For their 150th anniversary, part of their festivities took place at this cemetery before other services were held at their present church building. Here are a few photos I stole from their Facebook page.

I am glad that Anna’s bicentennial birthday led me to be able to share the fact that the church that was established when she and her family arrived in Jacob, and that church got to share another anniversary recently. Anna must have been about 50 years old when Christ had its first worship services.