Today’s birthday boy is Heinrich Wilhelm Grossheider. He was born on October 28, 1886, thus making today his 140th birthday. William was the son of Henry and Fredericke (Isenberg) Grossheider. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. We can take a look at an image of his baptism record below.

William is found in the 1900 census at the age of 13. That was also the year that he was confirmed at Trinity, Friedheim. His father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township. William was called a farm laborer. Almost all of his younger siblings were girls.

That census would be the only one in which we find William single. So, we will now switch our attention to the woman who would become William’s bride. Her name was Clara Lisetta Zoellner, who was born on March 26, 1884. That means she was about 2 years older than William. Clara was the daughter of Gustav and Anna (Sewing) Zoellner. She was also baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Friedheim. Clara’s baptism record is pictured here.

Clara was confirmed at Trinity, Friedheim in 1896. She is then found in the 1900 census at the age of 16. Her father was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

William Grossheider married Clara Zoellner on December 19, 1909 at Trinity, Friedheim. The church record for this wedding can be viewed below.

We can also take a look at 2 different civil marriage records for this event.

I found this wedding photograph of the bride and groom in the Grossheider Family Binder that we have in our research library. It is a photograph of a copy, so the quality is not so great.

The Grossheider’s had 4 children, but not until after 1910. In that year’s census entry, we find only William and Clara, along with a hired man named Theodore Kirn. William was a farmer in the Apple Creek Township.

William had his World War I draft registration completed in 1917. He is given a Freidheim address and is called a farmer. It also says he was married with 2 children.

When the 1920 census was taken, there were 3 children in the Grossheider family.

One more child, their only son, was born to the Grossheider’s in the 1920’s. In the 1930 census, we find all 4 of their children in the entry.

Next, we find William and Clara in the 1940 census with just 3 children. Their oldest daughter was a housekeeper for an elderly man in Perryville when this census was taken.

By the time of the 1950 census, we find their son, Wilbert, as the head of the household. Wilbert had married Ursula Fleischhauer in 1947. That couple had a son named Nelson. William and Clara were living with them, along with their single daughter, Delma. Delma would get married later that year. Both William and Clara were called farm helpers.

William Grossheider died in 1960 at the age of 73. His death certificate says he died of a pulmonary embolism.

Clara Grossheider died in 1964 at the age of 79. Her death certificate says that she died at the Perry County Memorial Hospital in Perryville.

An obituary for Clara can be read here.

William and Clara Grossheider are each buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Friedheim.

Even back in the old days, it was not that common for couples to be classified as “cradle to grave” members of the same congregation, but it is very rare nowadays. William and Clara were members of Trinity, Friedheim all of their lives. They were baptized, confirmed, married, had their children baptized, and were buried while being members of that congregation.