Our museum has what might be a rather unexpected set of church records from Zion Lutheran Church in Alva, Oklahoma. We have them partly because they contain so many entries of people who had their start in Perry County before migrating to Alva. A few of us at the museum refer to churches such as Alva, Oklahoma as “Perry County suburbs” because so many Perry County natives migrated there and helped establish that congregation. I will tell another Alva, Oklahoma story today. We begin with the groom.

Emanuel Michael Rauh was born on February 28, 1875 in Perry County. Emanuel was the son of John and Mary (Lang) Rauh. He was baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, and since that congregation’s records were destroyed in a fire, we cannot view them. We find Emanuel in his first census when the 1880 census was taken. He was just 5 years old at the time. His father was a farmer in the Central Township.

Because we cannot view the 1890 census, that would be the only census I can display for Emanuel prior to his marriage. So, we will now look at the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Paulina Herold, who was born on April 20, 1877, the daughter of Henry and Katherine (Popp) Herold. Paulina was also baptized at Peace Lutheran Church in Friedenberg, so we cannot view her baptism record. Paulina is found in the 1880 census at the age of 3. She was living in the Central Township where her father was farming.

Emanuel Rauh married Paulina Herold on November 8, 1896. That means this couple would be celebrating their 130th wedding anniversary today. They were married at Peace, Friedenberg, so I cannot display their church marriage record, but I can show this Perry County marriage license for this couple. You can see that they were married by Rev. Guemmer, who was the pastor at Peace, Friedenberg at that time.

I am able to display this wedding photo of Emanuel and Paulina.

The Rauh’s would be a childless couple throughout their lives. In the 1900 census, we find this couple living in the Union Township, where Emanuel was a farmer.

In a series of articles in local newspapers, we see that Emanuel made plans to move to Oklahoma to become a farmer there during the early years of the next decade. Here is an article that was printed in the Perry County Sun in 1901. He was planning to sell his farm land.

Then, in 1902, this article was found in the Perry County Sun. I included the paragraph above the one where Emanuel is mentioned because it details that Perry County was experiencing drought at that time, and that would have contributed to Emanuel’s decision to move to Oklahoma.

Then, this article appeared in April of 1903 in the Perry County Republican.

Our German Family Tree states that Emanuel and Pauline became a members of Zion Lutheran Church in Alva on July 12, 1903. When the 1910 census was taken, we find the Rauh’s living in the Valley Township in Woods County, Oklahoma, which is near the city of Alva. Emanuel was a farmer.

Emanuel had a World War I draft registration completed in 1918. Emanuel had a rural Alva address and was said to be farming. He was 43 years old at the time.

At some point in time, Emanuel had this photo taken.

In the 1920 census, we find several Rauh households near each other on the same census page. Emmanuel’s entry is at the top of this image. You will also see another Perry County name, Groh, in this image. The men were all farming near Alva.

Next, we find today’s Rauh couple in the 1930 census. Emanuel was still farming near Alva.

At a later time in his life, we find Emanuel (called Manuel) in a photo of the John Rauh family. The photo is captioned for you to discover which one is Emanuel.

When we look at the Rauh’s in the 1940 census, we do not find them living near Alva. The were a little over 200 miles away in Pauls Valley, OK. Emanuel was called the owner of a wheat farm. Both Emanuel and Paulina were in their 60’s.

Emanuel Rauh died in 1949 at the age of 74. His death record from the Zion, Alva church books is shown below. It says his cause of death was heart failure. Apparently, the Rauh’s had moved back to Alva.

Paulina is found in the 1950 census as a 73 year-old widow. She was living by herself in Alva.

Paulina Rauh died in 1958 at the age of 80. We can also view a church death record for her from the Zion, Alva books. It mentions that Paulina died from heart trouble and high blood pressure.

Emanuel and Paulina Rauh have entries on Findagrave.com for the Zion Lutheran Cemetery in Alva, but neither one of them have gravestone photos.

A few other Rauh stories have been told on this blog about Rauh’s that migrated to Alva, Oklahoma and were involved in the establishment of Zion Lutheran Church in that city. Below is a photo of that church.