#4 - Sophia Marries

 On the June 25, 1927, at the Trinity Lutheran Parsonage in Marshfield, Marathon County, Wisconsin, Sophia weds Gustave Theodore Riedell. The witnesses are her sister Sylvia Ploeger and Erwin Heil, her soon to be brother-in-law. The Reverend Paul Feustal, an Evangelical Lutheran pastor preformed the ceremony.

The newspaper article, most likely from a Marshfield, Wisconsin newspaper (as determined by the article) states that both Gustav and Sophia had been employed in Marshfield.  The official marriage certificate gives her occuptaion as a "home girl" and we believe that this in the home of the Hamilton and Catherine Roddis Family at 1108 East 4th Street,  Marshfield, Wisconsin, as that is where her older sister, Sylvia had been employed. The Roddis home is at present on the State Historic preservation list. I do not find either of the Ploeger girls as servants in this household on the 1920 census and they are married by the 1930. So sometime between those years they must have worked there. Wouldn't those be interesting stories for Grandma to tell.

 Gustav was trained as a cheese maker.More information on his work history is in progress and will be found on my RiedellRoots blog.

The couple had 3 daughters born in St.Paul, Ramsey County, Minnesota. My mother was the eldest followed by two younger sisters. Since my aunts survive, I will not provide information on my aunts to protect their privacy. And since information on my mother may lead too easily to information on other living family members and descendants, I will not at this time share any information on her either, until someone can give me some guidance on how and what I can share publicly.

What I can share for now is 2 photos. One is of the home in St. Paul where Sophia raised her children and she lived until her death on 29 Dec 1977. It was on Pedersen Street in St. Paul and I remember it well. Regular trips to this house for visits through my whole childhood for all kinds of family events.

And although I will not share the specifics on my mother and her sisters, I can share this photo of the family out in their front yard. The date had to be around WW II. Not sure who took this photo.

The Depression and World War Two came and I never got much of Mom or Grandma's memories of this time. But, I have my mothers written memories (an assignment I gave her when they spent a winter down south) and also one from my aunt. Will have to look at them to see if anything is in them that gives me a view into that past era.