August Preusser – Trinity’s Church Sexton

In a past post, Who Buried the Undertaker?, which mentions today’s main character, August Preusser, it was said that church sextons were men who maintained church property, including cemeteries, and dug graves. It was also stated in that post that Gustav Grosse was often listed as the undertaker on death certificates for members of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Altenburg, and August Preusser’s name was found as the undertaker on quite a few death certificates for members of Trinity Lutheran Church in that same town. Below is a portion of a death certificate that includes the name of August Preusser as the undertaker.

Today happens to be a special birthday for August Preusser, so you will be reading his story. Friedrich August Preusser was born on August 23, 1851, so today marks his 175th birthday. August was the firstborn child of Friedrich and Sophia (Schlanstaedt) Preusser. He was baptized at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can take a look at his baptism record below.

August Preusser baptism record – Trinity, Altenburg, MO August is found in the 1860 census at the age of 9. His father was a carpenter in the Brazeau Township. One has to be careful when finding August in his family’s census entries. He had a younger brother named Friedrich Gustav Preusser. August is called Frederick in this entry, but one might easily think that the 6 year-old Gustav was August.

Next, we find August in the 1870 census as a teenager. This time, his father was called a farmer. I think his father may have been doing both farming and carpentry work during his career. August is not given an occupation in this entry, but I think he and his brother, Gustav, were likely helping with the farming and also learning some carpentry skills.

August would get married during the next decade, so we will now turn our attention to the woman who would become his bride. Her name was Pauline Friedericke Winter, who was born on May 27, 1855. There is a bit of a mystery with Friedericke. Almost every family tree on Ancestry.com and her entry on Family Search says that she was the daughter of Frederick and Christine (Jahn) Winter. However, Frederick and Christine got married in Altenburg in 1858, 3 years after Friedericke was born. Also, most of Friedericke’s census entries say that she was born in Germany. How can this be? I suppose it is possible that Friedericke was an adopted daughter, but I found no evidence of this. Friedericke is found in the 1860 census at the age of 5. There is another girl named Amalia Preusser, age 16, in this household. She is likely a younger sister of Friedericke’s father. Her maternal grandfather, who was widowed by this time, and two of her Jahn cousins, were also living in the Winter household. Like was the case with her future husband’s father, Friedericke’s father was a carpenter in the Brazeau Township.

1860 census – Brazeau Township, MO Friedericke is next found in the 1870 census at the age of 15. This time, her father was called a laborer. Friedericke’s grandfather, Gottfried Jahn, was still living with the Winter family.

1870 census – Brazeau Township, MO The new church sanctuary for Trinity, Altenburg was completed in 1867, and the name of Charles Groh is often given credit as being the carpenter for the interior of that building. However, I cannot help but think that both August’s father and Friedericke’s father may have also done some carpentry work on that building.

August Preusser married Friedericke Winter on May 9, 1878 at Trinity Lutheran Church in Altenburg. We can view this couple’s church marriage record here.

I am also able to display 2 different civil marriage records for this wedding. Both indicate that they were married by Rev. J.F. Koestering.

Preusser/Winter marriage record – Perry County, MO Preusser/Winter marriage record – Perry County, MO Our German Family Tree and Family Search list 9 children born to this couple. In the 1880 census, just their first son, Martin, is found in their entry, along with August’s younger brother, Gustav. August is called a farmer in the Brazeau Township.

The rest of the Preusser children were born during the interim between 1880 and 1900. Because we cannot view the 1890 census, the 1900 census is the next one we can look at. In the Preusser entry in that year’s census, we find their family living in the town of Altenburg, and August is called a day laborer. There were 7 children in their family, the last one a boy called Rudolph, who was born in 1899.

The 1910 census is the first one in which August is called the church sexton. Just 2 children were still living with their parents.

When the 1915 plat maps were produced for Perry County, a map was made of where people were living in the town of Altenburg. The map shown below indicates that the August Preusser land was located not far from Trinity’s cemetery. His land was adjacent to the land owned by my great grandfather, Gottwerth Schmidt. It was also located across Main Street from the Altenburg Lumber Company.

Aug. Preusser land map – 1915 The Preusser’s are found in the 1920 census with just their youngest son, Rudolph, living with them. August still had the job as sexton.

When August and Fredericke were older in years, they had these two photos taken.

Friedericke Preusser died in 1928 at the age of 72. Even her death certificate below says her father was Fred Winter and her mother was a Jahn. By this time, the transition had been made between burials being handled by an undertaker to being taken care of by a funeral home. This form says the burial was handled by Young & Zoellner Funeral Home in Perryville.

Friedericke Preusser death certificate We can read Friedericke’s obituary that was printed in the Perry County Republican . It was included in a column called, Altenburg News . This article says Friedericke was born in Germany and came to America when she was 2 years old with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Fritz Winter. Could her father have had a different wife when he came to this country?

Friedericke Preusser – PCR obituary August was still living in 1930, but I failed to find him in that years’ census. Then August Preusser died in 1937 at the age of 85. By the time of August’s death, the funeral home in Perryville had become known as Young and Sons.

August Preusser death certificate We can also read an obituary for August that was published in the Perry County Sun .

August Preusser – PCS obituary August and Friedericke Preusser are each buried in the Trinity Lutheran Cemetery in Altenburg.

Even though August was called a day laborer in the 1900 census, I think he may have already become the sexton for Trinity Lutheran Church prior to the turn of the century. I know that it was during the 1890’s that a new portion of Trinity’s cemetery began to be used, and I would describe that section as being much more organized. I like to think that August was instrumental in organizing our cemetery when he became its sexton. I also like to think that August was a coffin-maker, using the carpentry skills his father taught him and getting his boards from the Altenburg Lumber Company across Main Street. Perhaps he got other supplies needed for his job at my great-grandfather’s Schmidt Store, which was located between his house and the cemetery. Back in those days, funerals often began at the family’s home before proceeding to either the church or the cemetery. If August was constructing a coffin for such a funeral, he had to make sure his coffin would fit through the door that would be used. The sexton likely was also required to assist the family in finding a horse and wagon to be used to transport the body. I have even read that a sexton was sometimes expected to ring the church bell for their worship services. You can also tell from the map shown earlier that he was within walking distance from his church. Not only was August likely involved in all of these tasks, but another job would probably be digging the graves. If August did perform all of these tasks, his life became very busy when a member of Trinity Lutheran Church died.

Now we have the answer to the question asked in the previous post. It was Young and Sons Funeral Home that was responsible for the burial of possibly the last undertaker from Trinity, Altenburg.

August Preusser – Trinity’s Church Sexton

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