Martha Margaretha Cordes was the fourth child and second daughter of Heinrich and Margaretha (Meier) Cordes. When Martha  was born on March 20, 1879, near Farrar, Missouri, her father, Heinrich, was 29, and her mother, Margaretha, was 31.

• WHAT: Portrait of Martha Margaretha Cordes
• WHO: Martha Margaretha Cordes, daughter of Heinrich and Margaretha (Meier) Cordes
• WHEN: Circa 1899 – assuming that Martha was about 20 years old
• WHERE: Farrar, Missouri
• SOURCE: Shared by Ella (Kirmse) Krueger December 30, 2003

Martha’s Parents: Heinrich and Margaretha (Meier) Cordes

• WHAT: A composite photograph of Margaretha (Meier) and Heinrich Cordes.
• LEFT TO RIGHT: Margaretha “Marie” (Meier) Cordes;  Heinrich “Henry” Cordes
• WHEN: Before 1899 – Heinrich Cordes died 28 Mar 1899.
• WHERE: Farrar, Missouri
• SOURCE: Shared by Ella (Kirmse) Krueger December 30, 2003

Heinrich Cordes was born on May 1, 1849, in Scheeßel, Kingdom of Hanover and immigrated to Perry County, Missouri in 1867. Margaretha Meÿer was born September 21, 1847 in the village Winkeloh of the Scheeßel Parish, Kingdom of Hanover and immigrated to Perry County, Missouri with her parents in 1889.

Heinrich and Margaretha married on February 16, 1871, in the Salem Lutheran Church at Farrar, Missouri and had five children during their marriage: John Peter August Cordes (1873–1874), Anna Marie Cordes (1876–1907), Heinrich Cordes (1878–1878), Martha Margaretha Cordes (1879–1967), and Marie Christina Cordes (1881–1915).

Heinrich died on March 28, 1899, near Farrar, Missouri, at the age of 49, and was buried in the Salem Lutheran Church Cemetery at Farrar, Missouri. Margaretha died on August 30, 1929, near Alva, Oklahoma, at the age of 81, and was buried in the Lutheran Cemetery at Alva, Oklahoma.

The Henry Cordes Farm

After Martha’s parents were married they made their home on a farm near Farrar, Missouri.

• WHAT: Former Henry Cordes Farm
• WHEN: 1948
• WHERE: Near Farrar, Missouri
• SOURCE: The photograph was taken when Julius Henry Kirmse and his parents, Martha and William Kirmse, visited relatives and did a memory tour of familiar sites in Perry County.
• NOTES:
  • On the  farm was a hill that was given the name “Swienbach” (hog back).
  • Fred Eggers had a vague recollection of the Fritsche’s having a barn fire and he remembered that the barn to the left of the house was the “new” barn when he was young. Fred looked at aerial photos and found that the valleys in front and in back of the house are consistent with the hogback shown in the photo. Fred then checked with Charlie Fritsche who confirmed that this was Charlie’s parent’s place.

• WHAT:  Henry Cordes farm on plat map of Perry County, Missouri
• WHEN: 1898
• WHERE: Near Farrar, Missouri
• SOURCE: Shared by Fred Eggers August 3, 2018
• NOTES: By the 1915 Plat Map, the farm was owned by the Fritsche family. Charlie Fritsche now owns that property.

Martha’s Father Became Paralyzed

When Martha was about ten years old, her father, Henry Cordes, became very ill and his illness left him paralyzed to the extent he could no longer work.  He was bedfast and/or confined to a wheelchair. The three girls and their mother worked hard to keep up the farm and make a living. Henry Cordes died 28 Mar 1899 and was buried in the Salem Lutheran Church Cemetery at Farrar, Missouri.

The older two girls, when old enough to leave home, went to St. Louis and elsewhere to help out with the cares of homes.  Martha Cordes was a housekeeper for her aunt, Anna (Meier) Schroeder, in St. Louis until she returned to Perry County to work for the Kirmse family.

According to Helen (Kirmse) Hacker, the people in the community along with the Kirmse boys helped the Cordes family after the father, Henry Cordes, became sick. – The presence of three beautiful sisters did not distract.

• • WHAT: Daughters of Heinrich and Margaretha (Meier) Cordes;
  • LEFT TO RIGHT: Anna Marie Cordes; Martha Margaretha Cordes; Marie Christina Cordes, daughters of Heinrich and Margaretha (Meier) Cordes.
  • WHEN: Circa 1895 – assuming that Martha was about 15 years old.
  • WHERE: Farrar, Missouri.
  • SOURCE: Ella (Kirmse) Krueger shared this portrait from Grandmother Kirmse’s photo album December 30, 2003.

How Martha Caught William

William Kirmse, on his return in 1903 from the Oklahoma Territory as a sick man, put such an extra burden on the Julius Kirmse family that they brought in a local young woman to help. This young woman was Martha Margaretha Cordes, who had been working as a housekeeper during the past year in the home of her aunt in St. Louis.

It was at this point, when Grandmother Kirmse told this story, that Grandmother gave me a big wink and said “And, that is when I caught him. He was too weak to run.”