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Lena Stoll (1867-1941)

Chart | Baptism | Marriage | Death| Census

Daughter of Andreas Stoll and Marie Baumler √
Wife of Henry A. Beck √

Facts (with source information): Narrative Report

What's not so great about these records?
Lena Beck’s death certificate demonstrates that while they are primary records, death certificates can be seriously flawed. In this case the name of her husband is wrong and the names and birth places of her parents are missing.

Chart

1867 Baptism

St. John the Baptist, Burlington, Iowa
Number 45
Her name is Karolina.
(film 007903128, image 191)

1888 Marriage Return Document

Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa
They were married by Pastor T. F. Bode of First Evangelical Church of Burlington. (His title, M.G., stands for “Minister of the Gospel,” and is often seen in marriage records.) They had not left the Catholic Church for good: they later had all three of their daughters baptized at St. John the Evangelist.

1888 Marriage Civil Record

Des Moines County, Iowa
Number 223, bottom of the page

1941 Death

St. Louis County, Missouri
The informant is her daughter, and the name of Lena’s husband is incorrect. I knew her daughter Ruth, who was a very intelligent woman. I cannot believe she got her father’s name wrong. That is some kind of clerical error. As my favorite genealogist says, “the only information on a death certificate that is reliable is the date of death.”

Census Records:

The 1890 census was lost in a fire.

1870 Census

Her name is Caroline.
top of the page

1880 Census

Her name is Caroline.
line 10

1900 Census

lines 39-42 show her family, including two daughters. Lena says she has had two children and both are living.

1910 Census

lines 10-14 show her family, including three daughters. Lena says she has had three children and all are living.

1920 Census

Her daughter Dorothy is still at home. Her brother, Joseph Stoll, lives next door.
lines 54-56

1925 Iowa State Census

lines 126-128, near the top (this is the left side)

lines 126-128, near the top (this is the right side)

1930 Census

She lives with her daughter’s family in St. Louis
lines 53-58, Lena Beck is on line 58

1940 Census

She is lodging a few blocks away from the home of Frank and Helen Weiss. The Weiss family now includes four children and the house was quite small. They probably found a room nearby for Helen’s mother.
line 11