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Sophia (Doepke) Deininger, 1850–1923

Sophia Wilhelmina Albertina (Doepke) Deininger was born on 27 December 1850 in Robe, Pommern, Prussia, to Albert Wilhelm Doepke and Maria Ernestina Krueger. Her sister, Bertha Maria Friederike Doepke, was born in Robe in 1853. The family emigrated from Bremen in 1855 arriving in Baltimore aboard the ship Goethe. The ship’s manifest listed Albert Doepke’s occupation as farmer. The family settled in Wisconsin, living in Kenosha and Milwaukee.

When Sophia and Michael married in St. Louis on 5 November 1868, the marriage record indicates that both were residents of St. Louis. Their children, born in St. Louis unless otherwise indicated, were:

    • Maria Julia, born on 1 September 1869
    • Bertha Karolina “Lena,” born on 11 July 1871
    • Bertha Elisabeth “Lizzie,” born on 1 April 1873
    • Sophia and Michael, born and died in 1875
    • Emelia Josephine “Millie,” born on 2 May 1876
    • Emma, born in Stony Hill, Missouri, on 10 August 1878
    • George, born on 12 March 1881 in Missouri
    • Arthur Frank, born on 7 June 1883, in New Haven, Missouri
    • Dorothea Barbara, born on 17 April 1885, died on 2 December 1888 in New Haven

The 1870 census shows Sophia, Michael, and Julia living in St. Louis, Ward 4, Subdivision 8. By 1878, they had moved from St. Louis to Stony Hill. They appear to have returned in 1890, when Michael’s name appears in a city directory as a carpenter. The 1900 census shows them living at 2628 Arsenal Street with six of their children, a boarder, and two granddaughters.

Sophia Deininger
Sophia Deininger, about 1904
Pictured with her are John Michael Hannegan, second from left, Eunecia Von Ahnen Hughes, unknown child, Ethel Siebrass, and Allen Rugraff.

Photo in the collection of Mary McMillan
Used with permission

Sophia became a widow in 1901, living the rest of her life in St. Louis. In 1910, she was living with her daughter Julia, her son Arthur, and her granddaughter Eunecia, on Pine Street, in Ward 17, District 0265. In 1920, she was living with her daughter Julia at 3659 Laclede Avenue in Ward 17, District 0333, along with her daughter Emma, and Julia’s and Emma’s children.

Sophia died on 2 April 1923 in St. Louis with burial at New St. Marcus Cemetery.

Submitted by Mary McMillan
March 2018

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Last Modified: 26-Oct-2018 19:37