I really could have done the research and written a new story for today, but I could not resist sharing this old one. One of the reasons for doing so is the fact that just yesterday, I wrote a post which included the marriage record of Clementine Buenger which took place in St. Louis and was officiated by her brother-in-law, Rev. C.F.W. Walther. The post I am republishing today is one that tells of Clementine’s sister, Agnes Buenger, getting married to C.F.W.’s brother Rev. Otto Herman Walther. As I sit here in my house on a Sunday morning prior to heading off to church, I can see out my window where that wedding took place behind my barn.
As is told in the attached post, the amazing thing about that wedding is that it took place at the Log Cabin College on November 15, 1839. That would have been 23 days before the Log Cabin College opened for its first day of classes on December 9, 1839. I have to wonder what the cabin looked like at that point in time if it was not quite ready for their first day of school yet.
In the previous post, I displayed a small portion of the church marriage record for that wedding, but today I am going to display all of it in several images. First, here is the information about the bride and groom and the wedding date. This was just the 6th wedding recorded in the books of Trinity Lutheran Church in St. Louis.
Next, we see the column for the parents of the groom. It lists Otto Herman’s father, who was the pastor of the church in Langenschursdorf in the Kingdom of Saxony. That means that this was also the father of C.F.W. Walther.
The next column over, you find the parents of the bride. Agnes Buenger’s father was also a pastor in Germany, but he had died not long before the Gesellschaft left Germany to come to America. Her mother is not mentioned, but she was Christiane Buenger, who I affectionately call, Mama Buenger. She brought 8 children to America as a widow.
The next column is the one that gives some notes about the wedding. It states that what were called banns, which were basically announcements concerning an upcoming wedding, were posted in both St. Louis and in the Dresden community in Perry County.
Next, it says that the wedding took place in public at Luther College in Perry County. It also says that the pastor officiating at the wedding was Rev. C.F.W. Walther, who was the pastor in the Dresden community at that time.
The last note says that Otto Herman was the pastor at the Lutheran church in St. Louis, and the bride was living at Luther College in Perry County.
I got up early this morning and embarked on the task of finding the Perry County record for this event. I had to scroll through lots of pages of documents because Family Search does not show an actual image of that marriage record. I almost gave up, but I eventually succeeded. It was difficult to find because in those days, pastors from East Perry County would have to visit the clerk in Perryville to document their weddings, and they would wait for a good day to make that trip. In this case, Pastor Walther did not get this marriage documented until August 17, 1840, almost a year after the event actually took place. I am patting myself on the back because I think I may be the first person to find this document.
A short chapter is found in my book, Mama Buenger: Mother of a Synod, which is my way of telling this story. I know that I had C.F.W. Walther tell his brother that he would consider it to be a great honor to be a part of the Buenger family. In September of 1841, C.F.W. would marry Emilie Buenger, Agnes’s sister. That wedding would also take place in the Dresden community, possibly also at the Log Cabin College.
I also said Otto Herman winked at his friend, Ottomar Fuerbringer right before the wedding began. After Otto Herman died in early 1841, Ottomar Fuerbringer would become Agnes’s second husband.
There is a great story (possibly just a legend) that both Otto Herman and Ottomar had told Agnes Buenger that they were interested in getting married to her while they still resided in Germany. Agnes reportedly told them both that she would decide which one she would marry once they got to America. In the long run, Agnes would marry both of them.
The previous post also included this drawing made by Gustav Pfau, who was an early neighbor to the Buenger’s when they lived in Perry County. I like to think that one of the buildings in the drawing is the Log Cabin College. I think it may be the one on the far right because it had no chimney. However, by the time of the drawing, the cabin may have already been moved into Altenburg. I know that the monument behind my barn is found on a hillside like the one shown in the drawing.
I took a walk out to the monument at sunrise on this crisp, frosty morning to take a few photos. It made me think that the people attending the Walther/Buenger wedding might have had to bundle up while they witnessed that marriage. Here are some of the photos that I took.
One more thing. I mentioned yesterday that I had the opportunity to attend a dinner in Koberg Hall on the campus of Concordia Seminary. Another wedding took place at the chapel at Concordia Seminary recently, and the reception was held at Koberg Hall. The bride in that wedding was once a student of mine at United in Christ Lutheran School in Frohna. The school needed an algebra teacher that year, and I stepped in to teach 5 students. One of them was Megan Benkendorf. She and her groom can be seen in the photos I stole from her Facebook page. And by the way, Megan’s father, Rev. Rod Benkendorf, serves on the Board of Governors for Concordia Historical Institute and also attended the same dinner with me this past Thursday. That is another reason that I could not resist sharing this story again today.
