The birthday boy in today’s post is Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Wilke, who was born on September 15, 1856. That means today would be his 170th birthday. Henry was the son of Friedrich and Caroline (Oehl) Wilke. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We can view his baptism record from that congregation’s books here.

Henry is found in the 1860 census at the age of 4. His father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

Next, we find Henry in the 1870 census as a teenager. The Wilke family had grown to have 9 children in their household. A few of Henry’s older brothers were helping their father on his farm.

Henry was still single when he is found in the 1880 census. He was no longer living with his parents. He was living in the Theresa Vogt household. Theresa was called a housekeeper and farmer. She had an 11 year-old son, Charles, who was helping on the farm. Henry is called a servant who was doing farm labor. He was 24 years old at the time.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Henry’s bride. Her name was Katherine Maria Ruesler, who was born on September 21, 1863. She was one of a pair of boy/girl twins. Her brother was named Friedrich William. The twins were the children of Wilhelm and Louise (Dickmann) Ruesler. There were others in this Ruesler family who were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim, but there is no record in that congregation’s books for the Ruesler twins. There was a change in pastors at that congregation during 1863, so I suppose the twins got baptized at that church, but it was never recorded in their books. Katherine, whose name was mostly spelled Catherine during her life, is found in the 1870 census at the age of 4. Her father was a farmer in the Union Township in Bollinger County.

In the 1880 census, Katherine and her twin brother were 17 years old. They were living in the Whitewater Township, but that is probably a result in a name change, not a relocation of their family.

Henry Wilke married Katherine Ruesler on March 29, 1883. We have another mystery with regard to church records with this wedding. If you look at the two civil marriage records shown below, they indicate that the person who officiated at this wedding was Rev. Otto Vogt, who was the pastor at Trinity, Friedheim.

However, there is not a marriage record to be found in the books of Trinity for this event. It was during that year that Rev. Vogt took a call elsewhere, so a change in pastors at that congregation may have contributed to the fact that the Wilke/Ruesler marriage record is missing.

Family Search lists 7 children born to this Wilke couple. The first 4 children were baptized at Trinity, Friedheim, but the last 3 have baptism records in the books of the Lixville Lutheran Church. The first child baptized at Lixville was born in 1898. That baptism record is pictured here.

The next census we can view is the one taken in 1900. When that census was taken, we find the Wilke’s living in the Cinque Hommes Township in Perry County. There were 5 children in their household. Henry was a farmer.

Two more children were born in the early 1900’s and each was baptized at Lixville Lutheran. Then, Henry Wilke died in 1904. His gravestone says he died in 1905, but there is a death record in the Lixville Lutheran records saying that he died in 1904. He was 47 years old at the time of his death.

Henry Wilke is buried in the Lixville Lutheran Cemetery. I cannot explain the difference in the year of death between the death record and the gravestone.

Katherine is found as a widow in the 1910 census. Her son, Charles, is called the head of the Wilke household, but this entry basically consists of the members of the Wilke family. The people in the list are called brothers and sisters except for Katherine, who is called the mother. A few of her sons were doing the farming.

Katherine is found in 3 more censuses. In the one taken in 1920, Katherine was living with 3 sons, who were farming in the Cinque Hommes Township.

Katherine was back to living in Whitewater Township in Bollinger County when the 1930 census was taken. There were two Wilke households listed next to each other. Katherine was living with her son, Henry, Jr.

The last census in which we find Katherine is the one taken in 1940. She was 76 years old and still living in her son, Henry, Jr.’s, household.

Katherine Wilke died in 1947 at the age of 84. We can view her death certificate below.

Katherine was not buried in the same cemetery as her husband. She is buried in the cemetery of the church where she likely was baptized and married…Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Friedheim.

Today’s post is one in which we find issues with regards to church records. There seems to be missing records for both Katherine’s baptism and the missing marriage record for this Wilke couple. In addition, we have a discrepancy between Henry’s death record and the year of death on his gravestone. Sometimes, someone doing family research has to deal with unexpected things when looking into the life histories of their ancestors.