Both the bride and the groom in today’s story spent brief times in the places of their birth, but spent almost all of their lives in St. Louis. The groom is tied into our German Family Tree. The bride is not, at least not until she gets married. I am going to begin with the groom, but it is the bride who has a birthday today.
Leopold Henry Lueders was born on August 5, 1872, the son of John and Anna (Homann) Lueders. Leo’s later death certificate says he was born in South Bluff, Michigan. However, he has a baptism record in the books of Immanuel Lutheran Church in New Wells. He was not baptized until December 26th of that year, so I suppose the Lueders family may have moved with a young baby to New Wells shortly after Leo was born. We can view that baptism record below.
Leo’s father, John, was the brother of several other characters who are found living in Perry County and northern Cape Girardeau County, including August Lueders ,who operated the Lueders Store in Frohna ,and William Lueders, who operated the Lueders Store in Wittenberg. Then, prior to the 1880 census, Leo’s Lueders family made a move to St. Louis. We find them in that year’s census entry below when Leo was 8 years old. His father was the driver of a baggage wagon. You can see that it says Leo was born in Michigan…