roger.pape Site Admin
Joined: 17 Mar 2009 Posts: 414 Location: Liverpool, NY
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Posted: Tue Jul 21, 2009 12:32 pm Post subject: Adolph Stuenkel (1863-1944) |
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Does anyone know more about the Adolph Stuenkel who was born in Concordia, MO in 1863 and died in Concordia in 1944?
His death certificate indicates that he was born on Feb. 16, 1863 and died on Nov. 11, 1944. His parents are listed as Henry Stuenkel and Louise Scharnhorst Stuenkel (Henry’s first wife). He remained single all of his life and his occupation was listed as farmer.
According to the St. Paul’s Lutheran Church baptismal records, he was christened as Adolph Louis Wilhelm Stuenkel on March 29, 1863. He shows up in the St. Paul’s confirmation class of 1877 and in the 1944 funeral records. His burial plot is listed as 2HA3 in the St. Paul’s cemetery records.
The first census in which his name should appear is 1870 when he was seven plus years old. By that time his mother Louise had died and Henry remarried Dorothea “Marie” Scheele. However his name is not listed in the merged family of Henry F. and Marie Stuenkel for that year. But in the 1880 Davis Township census, Adolph does show up as part of the Henry F. and Marie Stuenkel family where he is listed as an 18 year old son.
Although he was born and died in Concordia, he moved to various other locations between then based on the census records for intervening years.
He appears in the 1885 Nebraska state census along with his older brother Martin and younger sister Amelia (Emilie Dorothea Louise). Apparently, three of the four children that were still living with Henry and Marie in 1880 picked up and moved to Nebraska by 1885. (Henry had died in June 1880, four days after the census was taken.) Note. Their older brother August was living in Johnson County, Nebraska at that time which probably influenced this move.
The 1890 census records were destroyed in a fire; however, both he and Martin are listed in the 1890-1 Nebraska State Gazeteer under the Johnson County Farmers Listing in Sterling, Nebraska.
In the 1910 census, Adolph still appears in the Johnson County, Nebraska records (still single). On the other hand, brother Martin is now living in Kiowa, Oklahoma that year. Based on the birthplace and ages of Martin’s children, Martin and his family had moved to Kansas sometime between 1890 and 1894 and then on to Oklahoma sometime between 1898 and 1902. By 1920, the Martin Stuenkel family had returned to Sterling, Nebraska.
Adolph’s trail is lost by this time. However, in the 1930 census he shows up in a large rooming house on Third St. in San Francisco, CA. He was in his late 60’s by then. His death certificate states that he lived in Concordia for two years before his death, so he must have returned to Concordia during 1942 when he was almost 80 years old.
The remaining question is why Adolph does not appear with the Henry Stuenkel family in the 1870 census when he was a young child. While names are occasionally missing in the census records, it is unusual that a child is missing from the family list. Was Adolph the biological son of Henry or was he possibly adopted? The fact that Henry and Louise were listed as parents on his death certificate would suggest that he was indeed their son. The informant for the certificate was Herman (“Snieder”) Stelljes. It turns out that Herman was Adolph’s nephew since Herman’s father Henry Stelljes married Louise Stuenkel, the oldest daughter of Henry and Louise Stuenkel. (Incidently, Herman Stelljes was our next door neighbor on Bismark St. when I was growing up in Concordia.) One would assume that he had reasonably accurate information. |
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