Last month we visited the exhibition mentioned in the previous post. It was all about the History of the Lutheran Church. Among the exhibits, there were quite a lot of various old certificates.
This birth and baptism certificate (Geburts und Tauf Schein) caught my attention not only because it is so pretty, but also because of the birth date on it: 11 December. I know somebody else who was born on that day, more than a hundred years later.
The quote at the top comes from Matthew 28:19 (Luther Bibel 1545):
"Darum gehet hin und lehret alle Völker und taufet sie im Namen des Vaters und des Sohnes und des heiligen Geis(tes)"/
"Therefore
go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the
Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit".
The certificate states that the spouses Elias Rode and his wife nee Wendel were parents of the girl born on 11 December 1882 in Cherry Springs, Gillespie County, TX. The baby girl was baptized by Pastor D. Rode. She was named Rebekka Elisebetha Leonora Alvina. The godparents were Lorenz Wendel, Adolph Willmen, Elisebetha Wendel, and Maria Wendel.
D. (Dietrich) Rode was Elias' father. 20-year-old then Dietrich left Bremen with his family on 20 December 1844, they traveled on the ship Apollo (1) and came to Texas. At first, young Dietrich and his folks were members of Zion Lutheran Church in Fredericksburg. The man became a prominent rancher in the Cherry Spring area. During the Civil War times, Dietrich and a few other previous parishioners of Zion started religious meetings at Dietrich's house. He was granted a preacher's license by the war military government and served as a minister in the Cherry Spring neighborhood. The services were held in the hall of Mr. Rode's house (2).
Elias married Mathilde Wendel when he was 27. It was on ♡ 30 June 1881, about a year before Rebekka was born (3).
The girl lived with her parents and siblings (Sarah, Sem, Seth, Enos, Regu, Thirza, Elam, Aaron, Obediah, Elie, and Artie) in Justice precinct #4, Gillespie County, TX.
Rebekka was married to William Friedrich Lehmann on ♡ 8 May 1918 (4). She was 19, her spouse was about 21 years older.
William was a widowed stock rancher. His first wife ♦ Sophie Light passed at the age of 28 (5). The man was also the brother of two ladies mentioned on this blog before: Wilhelmina (who married John H Keyser) and Phillipena (wife of Henry Montgomery Dye).
Anyway, on the day of her marriage, Rebekka became a mother of 4 (21-year-old Maurice John, 20-year-old Alma, 17-year-old Augusta, and 13-year-old Gus).
In the same year, on 5 June, Maurice Lehmann had been drafted and enlisted (on 3 September) into the army. At that time, the young man lived in San Antonio, at 409 Presa St., and worked at Brooks Field (6,7). Luckily, the war ended and Maurice never had to be deployed overseas. He was honorably discharged at demobilization on 9 June 1919 (8). Rebekka's stepson came back home.
♡ Alma was married to Mr. John Ziriax (9), the son on William Ziriax and Katherine Wartenbach.
On ♦ 30 October, Rebekka and William's first daughter Gerda was born (10).
In 1920, the census recorded the family in Loyal Valley, Mason County, TX. William Lehman was 58, Rebekka 37, Maurice 22, Augusta 22, Gustave 13, and Gerda was a few months old (11).
Soon, ♡ Augusta became a wife and left the family home as well. Her husband was Mr. Herbert H Hoffmann (12), the son of Karl Louis Hofmann and Ellen Keller. ♡ Maurice married Nancy Saunders. His in-laws were Mr. Joseph and Ms. Annie Schuetz Saunders.
The second daughter of Rebekka, ♦ Esther, was born on 5 October 1923 (13).
Two years passed and mourning came - ♦ Mathilda Rode, Rebekka's mother passed on 19 June 1925 (14).
By 1930 Rebekka and William Lehmann had lived with their two daughters Gerda and Esther. At that time William's 70-year-old brother Herman was recorded at their household as well (15).
Decades ago, in 1870, both Herman and Willie were captured by Apaches. The latter managed to escape, the older brother lived for about 9 years with the Indians.
Gus had moved to Merzton town in Irion County. He rented a room at the John F Vardy family /census 1930 (16).
Brother Herman died of heart failure on ♦ 2 February 1932 (17). He was 71 years old.
Clipping: The Lampasas Daily Leader (Lampasas, Tex.), Vol. 28, No. 285, Ed. 1 Friday, February 5, 1932, newspaper, February 5, 1932; Lampasas, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth894667/: accessed June 7, 2022), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lampasas Public Library.
More about Herman and his life was written in the article here.
At the end of April 1940, Rebekka, William, and their two daughters were recorded during the census at their home in Llano Valley. William was 78, Rebekka 57, Gerda 20, and Esther 16 (18).
William Lehmann was the youngest child of his parents (Johann Moritz Lehmann and Agusta Johanna Adams). While children were being born to Rebekka's stepchildren, all of Willie's siblings preceded him in death.
Sister Caroline Phillipena passed on ♦ 24 January 1937.
A few weeks later, death knocked on the family's door again when Rebekka's father, Elias Rode, died on ♦ 3 February 1937 (19).
A happier event came when ♡ Gerda married Mr. Kothamn Lansing in 1940 (20), the son of Heinrich Daniel Kothmann and Lina Rosa Loeffler. Sadly, in the same year, the family attended another funeral - brother ♦ Gustav Adolph Lehmann passed over on 29 March 1940.
Clipping source: The Llano News. (Llano, Tex.), Vol. 52, No. 20, Ed. 1 Thursday, April 4, 1940, newspaper, April 4, 1940; Llano, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth816082/: accessed June 6, 2022), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Llano County Public Library.
The first child of Rebekka and William's daughter Gerda's was born on ♦ 13 December 1942 (21), two days after Rebekka's 60th birthday. It was a baby girl, she was named Carol Ann.
The second child was born to Gerda and Lansing Kothmann eight years later, on 28 January 1950. The boy's name was ♦ Lester Lansing.
William Friedrich Lehmann's last day of life came a few weeks before his 89th birthday. The man died of heart failure/senility on ♦ 11 September 1851. It happened in Fredericksburg. The man had been treated in Fredericksburg hospital for 20 days (22).
Clipping source: The Boerne Star (Boerne, Tex.), Vol. 46, No. 40, Ed. 1 Thursday, September 13, 1951, newspaper, September 13, 1951; Boerne, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth852198/: accessed June 7, 2022), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Patrick Heath Public Library.
In July 1951, Carol Ann, Rebekka's granddaughter, got sick. She was taken to the Breckenridge hospital in Austin. On 18the day of the month, the girl was diagnosed with meningoencephalitis. Tragically, ♦ Carol passed after two days. She was 14 years, 7 months, and 14 days (23). Carol's body was buried in the Gooch Cemetery in Mason (24).
Rebekka possibly lived with her daughter Esther. The mother died on ♦ 11 September 1961, exactly ten years after her husband's passing (25). In two months Rebekka Lehmann would have been 78. She was survived by her children and many grandchildren.
PS
When in Poland, I had a student whose name was Rode and a co-worker by the name of Lehmann. According to the site polskienazwiska.pl which counts the surnames existing presently in Poland, nowadays about 588 persons of the surname Rode live in the country and 2574 Lehmann people as well.
Sources:
