You will be reading the story of David Emanuel Fischer today. I guess you could say that part of his life was quite tragic, and another part of his life was very fulfilling. He would end up with 3 wives, and some of his children would die as infants. However, two of his children who lived to adulthood have had their stories told on this blog before. One of them is the Teacher Fischer who was a teacher and principal in Jefferson City for a long time. Another was the great grandmother of a friend of our museum, Pat Borgmann, who has also been a guest blogger for us. That means I had better get everything right in this post.

David Emanuel Fischer was born on March 3, 1859, the son of Albert and Emma Maria (Palisch) Fischer. Emanuel was the 3rd of 9 children born into this Fischer family. He was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The first 2 Fischer children were baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Then when Immanuel was established in 1857, Emanuel’s father was one of its charter members. However, when the next children in this Fischer family were baptized, their baptism records are once again found in the books of Trinity, Altenburg. So, Emanuel was the only Fischer child who was baptized at Immanuel, Altenburg. We can view Emanuel’s baptism record below. It spills over 2 pages, so I have to display it in 2 images.

Emanuel is found in the 1860 census at the age of 1. His father was a wagon maker in Altenburg and looks like he had a few young apprentice wagon makers in his household.

When the 1870 census was taken, Emanuel was 11 years old. This time, his father was called a retail dry goods merchant.

Emanuel was still single when the 1880 census was taken, but he was no longer living with his parents. He was a 21 year-old apprentice carpenter in the Charles Boehme household. We will discover later in this story that this image also includes one of his 3 wives.

Emanuel would get married during the 1880’s, so we will now look at the woman who became his first wife. Her name was Magdalena Elizabeth Birner, who was born on March 25, 1865. Magdalena was the last of 7 children born to Johann and Ernestine (Goethe) Birner. She was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Her baptism record is pictured here.

Magdalena is found in the 1870 census at the age of 5. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

In the 1880 census, Magdalena was a teenager.

Emanuel Fischer married Magdalena Birner on October 30, 1887 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at this couple’s church marriage record below.

I am also able to display 2 other civil marriage records for this pair. This must have been one of the last weddings officiated by Rev. J.F. Koestering, because he left to take a call to another church that year.

Our German Family Tree lists just one child born to this couple, a son named Theobald, born in 1888. That child was baptized at Trinity, Altenburg, but died before he was even one year old. Family Search says this couple had 2 children. It says a daughter named Magdalene Elizabeth was born on July 18, 1889, but I am almost certain that was wrong. The German Family Tree indicates that the son born in 1888 died on June 17, 1889. Magdalena, the mother, died on July 18, 1889, just about one month after her child had died. Someone who put information on Family Search must have thought it was a child with the same name as her mother who died in 1889. Actually, it was the mother, Magdalene Elizabeth who died in July of 1889 at the age of 24. As it is, Emanuel Fischer lost both his child and his wife within one month of each other. The death records for Theobald and Magdalena shown below are right next to each other in the Trinity death records.

Now, we will take a look at the woman who would become Emanuel’s 2nd wife. Her name was Agnes Ernestine Boehme, who was born on October 16, 1869. That means she is today’s birthday girl. She would be celebrating her 157th birthday today. Agnes was the daughter of Charles and Ernestine (Schlimpert) Boehme. We have these 2 portraits of Agnes’s parents hanging in our research library.

Agnes was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. Her baptism record is shown here.

Agnes is found in the 1870 census at the age of 8 months. Her father was a carpenter in Altenburg.

We have already seen Agnes in the 1880 census. If you look above at Emaneul Fischer’s 1880 census entry, you will see Emanuel at the age of 21 and Agnes at the age of 10. Emanuel Fischer married Agnes Boehme on July 26, 1891 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. The church marriage record for this event is shown below.

Two civil marriage records for this couple are displayed here.

We are able to view this wedding photograph of Emanuel and Agnes.

Our German Family Tree lists 4 children born to this pair. Their first child died after just a few days. In the 1900 census, there were 2 children in the Fischer household. Emanuel is called a teamster.

The photo of the Fischer family shown here must have been taken prior to 1903 because Emanuel’s mother died in that year. Agnes and Emanuel are standing in the back row on the far right.

Agnes Fischer died in 1904 at the age of 34. Her Trinity death record says she died of typhus. That means Emanuel became a widower again with 3 children to raise. We find the Fischer’s in the 1910 census. This time, Emanuel was called a retail merchant at a general merchandise store in Altenburg.

In the 1915 plat maps for Perry County, we find property owned by Emanuel located on the east end of Altenburg. I can display that land on a map of the town of Altenburg and also the land surrounding Altenburg.

Emanuel got married again in the next decade, so we will now take a look at his 3rd wife. Her name was Maria Hulda Meister, who was born on May 21, 1864. Hulda was the daughter of Valentin and Christine (Pfau) Meister. She was baptized at Grace Lutheran Church in Uniontown.

Hulda is found in the 1870 census at the age of 5. Her father was a farmer in the Brazeau Township, although not long after this census was taken, a new township called the Union Township would be established, and that is where the Meister farm was located.

In the 1880 census, Hulda was a teenager.

Hulda was still single when the 1900 census was taken. There were 3 Meister’s in that year’s entry. Hulda’s brother, Arno, was the head of the household in which we also find Hulda and their mother. Their mother was a widow by this time.

We find a slightly different Meister household when the 1910 census was taken. Hulda was called the head of the household, which included her mother and an older brother, Martin Meister.

Emanuel Fischer married Hulda Meister on November 17, 1918 at Trinity, Altenburg. Their church marriage record is shown below. Emanuel’s daughter, Alida, had married Arnold Meyr the year before, and those two were the witnesses at this wedding. By the way, Alida and Arnold were Pat Borgmann’s grandparents.

Two other civil marriage records for this couple can be seen below.

There were no more children to this marriage. After all, both Emanuel and Hulda were in their 50’s. The Fischer’s are found in the 1920 census with 2 sons, Leonard and Frank. Emanuel was farming, but it also says he was farming “for stores”. I think he may have been growing some produce that was sold in his brother, Edward’s, Fischer Store in Altenburg.

The Fischer’s are found in the 1930 census with an empty nest. Emanuel was called a stock tender.

Emanuel Fischer died in 1935 at the age of 76. His death certificate says he died of pneumonia. His nephew, Dr. Theodore Fischer, signed this death certificate.

An obituary for Emanuel was published in the Perry County Republican.

Hulda Fischer is found as a widow in the 1940 census. She was living with her sister, Emma, who was the widow of John Blanken.

Hulda Fischer died in 1944 at the age of 79. We can view her death certificate here.

We can also read her obituary from the Perry County Republican.

All of the death records for Emanuel and his wives are found in the books of Trinity, Altenburg, so we assume they are all buried in that church’s cemetery. However, the gravestone for Emanuel’s first wife, Magdalena, does not have a gravestone photo on Findagrave.com. The gravestones for Emanuel and his other 2 wives, Agnes and Hulda, are pictured below.

I find one thing about Emanuel’s life to be rather unique. In other stories I have written about men who had multiple wives, their later wives are often widows from previous marriages. Emanuel managed to get married 3 different times to women who had never been married before, and those weddings spanned more that 3 decades. I would think this list of such wives would be rather rare.