The birthday boy for today is George Friedrich Doering, who was born on September 3, 1889. That makes today his 137th birthday. George was the son of Henry and Emilie (Petzoldt) Doering. Before I move on, as far as I can tell, George’s mother was not related to the Petzoldt’s that are normally highlighted on this blog. George was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. His baptism record is shown below. There was a pastoral vacancy at Trinity at this time, so George was baptized by Rev. Zschoche, who was serving Concordia, Frohna at that time.

George is found in the 1900 census at the age of 10. His father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

George was not living with his parents in East Perry County when the 1910 census was taken. We find him living in St. Louis in the Charles Becker household. Charles Becker was a retail grocer, and there were 3 young men living with him who were called grocery salesmen, including George, who was 20 years old at the time.

Now, it is time to turn our attention to the woman who would become George’s bride. Her name was Olga Regina Lehr, who was born on April 25, 1890. Olga was the daughter of Rev. Johann William (J.W.) and Louisa (Kesel) Lehr. When she was born, her father was the pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Lockwood, Missouri, which is about 50 miles west of Springfield.

Before I continue, let me says that back in 2021, our former museum intern, Faron Bartons, who also recently contributed another post to our blog, wrote 2 blog posts about Olga’s father and his career as a Lutheran pastor. Those posts were Lehr on the Move, and Lehr on the Move, pt. 2. Faron had a real challenge keeping up with the career of Rev. Lehr, who served at numerous churches, almost all of them in Missouri, during his ministry.

Pastor Lehr took a call to Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells in 1894 when Olga was about 4 years old. A younger sister of Olga was born and baptized in New Wells while her family lived there. Then, in 1899, Pastor Lehr took a call to Immanuel Lutheran Church in Honey Creek, Missouri, which is located near Jefferson City. That is where we find the Lehr family when the 1900 census was compiled. Olga was 10 years old, and her father was a minister.

That means that by the time of Olga’s confirmation, she had been a member of 3 different LCMS congregations, all named Immanuel. Olga was confirmed at Immanuel, Honey Creek in 1903, and we can view here confirmation record here. Her birthplace, Lockwood, is crossed off in this image and changed to Osage Bluff. I think that is a mistake.

Around 1906-1907, this photo of the Lehr family was taken. Olga is standing in the back, second from the left.

The Lehr’s family is still found living in Honey Creek when the 1910 census was taken. Olga was 20 years old at the time.

The big mystery in this story is how a pastor’s daughter from Honey Creek managed to become acquainted with a farmer’s son from Altenburg. I do not think they would have had any significant opportunities to see each other during Olga’s time in New Wells when she lived there from when she was 4 years old till when she was about 9. Here is my best guess at how and where these two became familiar with one another. Perhaps Olga went to St. Louis to find work not long after the above census was taken and met George while he was working as a grocery salesman there.

George Doering married Olga Lehr on October 17, 1916. Olga’s father had left Honey Creek and took a call to Macon, Missouri. He was not there long. In 1916, Pastor Lehr began serving St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in Stover, Missouri. It is at St. Paul’s, Stover that George and Olga’s wedding took place. We can view this couple’s Missouri marriage license here. This form says George was from Wittenberg and Olga from Stover.

After this wedding, George took his new bride back to his hometown. We find evidence of that on George’s World War I draft registration which gives him a rural Wittenberg address. This form also says that George lists his dependents as his wife and his mother and father.

In this 1915 plat map of H.G. Doering’s farm land, we see that it was located on the Ridge near Wittenberg.

In the 1920 census, it was just George and Olga who are found in their entry. George was farming in the Brazeau Township. George’s entry is at the top of a census page. If you go back to the previous page, you find his parents’ entry at the bottom of the page. His brother living with his parents and George both have the word, “share” after where it says farm work. They were likely farming with their father on his land shown on the map above.

George and Olga had just one child, a daughter named Vera, who was born in 1925. Vera was baptized at Trinity, Altenburg. For some unknown reason, I was unable to locate George and Olga in the 1930 census, so it is the 1940 census where we next find the Doering’s. George was a farm laborer in Altenburg. Their daughter was a teenager.

George had his World War II draft card completed when America entered that war. His place of residence was Altenburg.

The last census we can view, the one taken in 1950, shows George and Olga with an empty nest. They were living just outside Perryville where George was a butcher.

George Doering died in 1973 at the age of 83. His death certificate below says he died at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville. It says he was a retired meat cutter.

Olga Doering died in 1978 at the age of 88. George and Olga are buried together in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in Perryville.

Faron tells the story in his previous post about how amazed he was to be attending Immanuel, New Wells with his future wife where one of her ancestors had previously been the pastor. Now, I want to say that I am amazed that I now have one more connection to a church mentioned in this blog…Immanuel Lutheran Church in Honey Creek. My first principal, Orlyn Schlie, used to tell stories about the first school in which he taught. It was in Honey Creek. This story tells about Pastor Lehr serving that congregation. Faron tells me that Rev. Louis Theiss, another Perry County native, once was a minister at that church. I noticed that Immanuel, Honey Creek once had a teacher named Freudenberg. About a week ago, a classmate of mine from Seward, Ben Freudenberg, visited our museum. Since Ben was also a Lutheran educator, I have to wonder if one of his ancestors taught in Honey Creek. And if that is not enough, Immanuel, Honey Creek just installed their new pastor, Rev. Christopher Morris, whose wife, Sherri, is a former student of mine when I was a teacher in Memphis. By the way, I have a Doering in my family tree. My grandfather’s sister married a Doering. It certainly is a small Missouri Synod world, and it is amazing how many times people from that Missouri Synod world walk through the doors of our museum, only to find someone they know here who is connected to their own story. I love working at our museum. I never know what kind of exciting story will walk through those doors. Perhaps you should consider walking through our doors sometime soon.