I will do my best to tell today’s story, but it is one with plenty of unanswered questions. I found this story because one of the marriages in this tale took place on November 3rd. I will begin with the woman who would get married twice during her life.

Elizabeth Steiner was born on November 14, 1862, the daughter of Mathias and Rosalie (Schupfer) Steiner. Elizabeth was born in Schladming, Austria, and I am able to display her Austrian baptism record.

The Steiner family came to America aboard the ship, Zuiderburgh, in 1868. The passenger list shown below says that Elizabeth was 4 1/2 years old when she made the voyage, but if the birth date on her later gravestone is correct, she would have been a bit older.

The first American census in which we find the Steiner’s is the one taken in 1870. Elizabeth was said to be 6 years old, which would agree with her age on the passenger list. Her father was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

Elizabeth was confirmed in 1876 at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Then, we next find her in the 1880 census at the age of 15.

Elizabeth would get married in the 1880’s, so we will now take a look at the man who would become her first husband. His name was Franz Otto Dost. I was unable to determine much about his early life. In fact, I pretty much know nothing. I do not know his birthday, either the day or the year. I do not know the name of his parents. I do not know the place of his birth or where he was living in the 1880 census. In fact, I failed to find Otto in any census entries throughout his life. The only one in which we may have found him is in the 1890 census had it not been burned in a fire.

What we do know is that Otto Dost was living in Cape Girardeau County when he married Elizabeth Steiner on November 3, 1886. That means today would be this couple’s 140th wedding anniversary. They were married at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. We can view this pair’s church marriage record below, but it does not give much information other than the names of the bride and groom and the date of the wedding.

I am also able to display 2 different civil marriage records for this couple. Both indicate that the marriage was officiated by Pastor Pennekamp.

In 1887, 1889, and 1890, some boys were born to Otto and Elizabeth. Those 3 boys were baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. Then, in 1891, Otto Dost died. Since we do not know his date and year of birth, we cannot determine how old he was when he died. His church death record says that he died of typhoid fever. Otto has an entry on Findagrave.com for the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells, but there is no gravestone photo for him.

Our German Family Tree lists 2 more children born to Elizabeth Dost after her husband’s death. Both of them say there was an unknown father. The one born in 1893, another boy, died one day after he was born. Another boy was born in 1895, and that son lived to adulthood. The baptism record for the child born in 1895 was baptized at Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. The baptism record shown below has a “?” where the father’s name would normally be written.

Things get a bit more confusing in the years to come. On April 28, 1899, another son was born and baptized at Zion, Pocahontas. This record says the father was Christian Putz, but it has a “?” behind his name.

Let me say just a bit about Christian Putz. He was born on April 9, 1869 in Austria. I was only able to identify his mother as being named Elizabeth. When the 1880 census was taken, Elizabeth was married to Balthasar Erlbacher, and Christian is called an 11 year-old stepson. Balthasar was a farmer in the Shawnee Township.

Later in 1899, the same year that Karl Theodore was born, Elizabeth Dost married Christian Putz on August 11th. That wedding took place at Zion Lutheran Church in Pocahontas. We can view this pair’s church marriage record below.

I am also able to show 2 different civil marriage records for this occasion.

Now, here is what is very confusing. When the 1900 census was taken a year after Christian and Elisabeth got married, we find the entry shown below. Elisabeth is called Elisabeth Dost, and she listed as a widow. Christian Putz is called a boarder. Elisabeth is called the farmer, and Christian is called a farm laborer. Not only that, but Christian is also listed as a widower on this form. The youngest child, Charlie, was the one who was born and baptized in the spring of 1899 and said to have Charles as a father. I found no evidence that Christian Putz had been married to another wife prior to marrying Elisabeth.

A daughter was born in 1901 to Christian and Elisabeth, but that child died before she was 1 year old.

Elizabeth Putz died in 1902 at the age of 40. She is buried in the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Pocahontas.

Christian Putz if found as a widower in the 1910 census. He was not living in Missouri. I was surprised to find him living in the Portland metropolitan area in Oregon. He was working at a saw mill. He was 41 years old at the time.

Christian Putz must have returned to Missouri not long after that census was taken because he died in Missouri in 1918 at the age of 49. His death certificate below says he died in the Shawnee Township.

The above death certificate says Christian was buried in the Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery in New Wells, but Findagrave.com has no gravestone photo for him.

There sure were a lot of events that took place in the relatively short lives of Elisabeth Steiner and her two husbands, Otto Dost and Christian Putz. Because all of the Dost children that lived to adulthood were boys, and some of them got married and had children, there were several descenants from today’s couple that carried the Dost name to the next generation. And the only Putz child who was a boy got married and may have had children who would have carried the Putz name to the next generation. In the end, though, I have so many questions for which I have no definitive answers.