You will read the story of a man and a woman who were each born and raised in Perry County, but would spend much of their lives in St. Louis. However, later in their lives, they chose to return to their ancestral home. They would die and be buried in Perry County.
There is some potential dispute about the date of birth for one of today’s main characters. One document says he was born on January 4th. Another says he was born on January 24th. But several other sources, including his gravestone, say that he was born on January 26th. I lean toward the last one, and that one would qualify him to be today’s birthday boy.
Heinrich Johann Funke was likely born on January 26, 1886, and if that is the case, then today would be his 139th birthday. Henry was the last of several children of Herman and Anna (Ochs) Funke. I have written a post, Some Funke Longtown Beginnings, that gives some details about the lives of Henry’s parents. Later in Henry’s life, his parents would be part of a group of German Lutherans who would establish Zion Lutheran Church in Longtown. However, when Henry was born, that church did not exist. Henry was baptized at Immanuel Lutheran Church in Perryville. His baptism record from that congregation’s books is displayed here. You can see a birth date of January 26th on this document.
Henry was born during the time when Perry County kept birth records, and we can view the one for him. This form does not even give this baby a first name. It just calls him a male child, and it also gives his date of birth as January 24th…