Notes:

W. J. "Skeetz" Potter, 76, of Boonville, Mo. died November 24, 2001 in Boonville, Mo. A memorial mass will be held 10 a.m. Tuesday, November 27, at St Peter and Paul Catholic Church in Boonville, Mo. Father Patrick Dolan will officiate the service. Friends may call after 3 p.m. Monday, November 26 at Thacher Funeral Home. Family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m. Monday at the funeral home. A wake service will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday evening at the funeral home.

Mr. Potter was born October 26, 1925, the son of Walter A. and Anna Josephine Schuster Potter. They preceded him in death. Mr. Potter married Martha Johnson August 30, 1948, at St Peter and Paul Catholic Church. She survives. He was a Navy veteran of World War II. He was a past member of the Jaycees, Lions Club, and the Knights of Columbus. He was a previous owner of the Boonville School Buses, a flower shop, and the City Transfer and Moving Company. He retired from Toastmaster in 1995. Mr. Potter lived in the Boonville area his entire life. He is survived by his wife, Martha Potter, of Boonville; three sons, Stephen J. Potter of Kansas City, Mo., Michael E. Potter and C. Cole Potter, both of Boonville; two daughters, Theresa Lee Persinger of Jefferson City, Mo., and Ann D. Johnson of San Antonio, Tex.; and 11 grandchildren. Memorial contributions are suggested to the St Peter and Paul education fund.

Walter married Johnson, Martha on 30 Aug 1948 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Nickname: Curly
• Occupation: House Carpenter

Walter married Schuster, Anna Josephine on 17 Nov 1917 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. Anna (daughter of Schuster, Frank Joseph and Stretz, Sophia) was born on 12 Jan 1888 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; died on 5 Jun 1958 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; was buried on 7 Jun 1958 in Walnut Grove Cemetery, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Housewife
• Alternate Birth: 12 Jan 1888, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Coal and Oil Co. Owner
• Alternate Birth: 5 Apr 1949, Cooper, Missouri, USA

Notes:

Philip Gottfried Back delivered "Perfection Oil" and "Crown Gasoline" over town. This he sold to his brother-in-law, John Potter in August of 1893 and he decided to claim land in the Cherokee Strip Land Run. The Fuel Company remained in the Potter family for many years.

Boonville Daily News, 3 May 1949

John H. Potter, Native of County, Dies at Age of 91

John H. Potter, 91, one of Cooper County's oldest native-born citizens, died at the home of a son, W. A. Potter. 407 Walnut St, at 12:15 p. m. Saturday. He had been in failing health for some time and seriously ill for several days. Funeral services will be conducted at the Evangelical Church at 2:30 p. m. tomorrow. The Rev. E. P. Abele, pastor of the church, will conduct the rites. Burial will be in Walnut Grove Cemetery. The body will remain at the Stegner Funeral Home until time for the rites. Mr. Potter is survived by three daughters, Mrs. Jesse Burt, Pratt, Kans., and Mrs. Louise McCartney and Mrs. Bessie Bennett, Springfield; by five sons, Joseph W. Stillwell, Marshall, Herman E. Potter and W. A. Potter, Boonville, George Potter, Paradise, Ariz., and Edward Potter, St Louis; by 20 grand children, 31 great-grandchildren, and five great-great-grandchildren. A retired oil dealer, he was born in the Hail Ridge community April 16, 1858, the son of Joseph and Nancy Potter. His grandfather operated the first ferry across the Missouri River here. During his early life Mr. Potter engaged in work on the Missouri River and later became an oil dealer. His "coal oil wagon" was long a familiar on Boonville streets. Mr. Potter was married to Louise Barbara Back Sept. 6, 1882. She died several years ago. He was also preceded in death by two sons. He was a charter member of the local organizations of the Fraternal Order of Eagles, Woodman of the World and the Woodman Circle.

Died:
407 Walnut Street

John married Back, Louise Barbara Antonia on 6 Sep 1882 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. Louise (daughter of Back, Johann Anton Peter and Geuer, Catherine Wilhelmina Sophie) was born on 1 Mar 1859 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; died on 20 Jan 1939 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; was buried in Jan 1939 in Walnut Grove Cemetery, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Housewife
• Baptism: 27 Mar 1859, Boonville German Evangelical Church, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA

Notes:

Mr. and Mrs. John H. Potter and Mr. and Mrs. Dom Barnert Wed 50 years

Sisters Were Married Sept. 6, 1882, and Will Observe Anniversary Sunday, With Most of Children and Grandchildren Planning To Attend

Mr. and Mrs. John Potter and Mr. and Mrs. Dom Barnert will observe their golden wedding anniversary in a joint celebration Sunday, September 4, at the home of Mr. and Mrs. Barnert, 1122 Third Street. The actual date is Tuesday, September 6, but Sunday provides an opportunity for more of the relatives to come together and make the occasion one long to be remembered. Mrs. Barnert and Mrs. Potter are sisters. More than 125 children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren, together with close friends of the families, are expected to come together.
Mr. and Mrs. Barnert were married at 9 o'clock in the morning at the SS. Peters and Pauls Catholic church by Father Hoffman on September 6, 1882. Both of Mrs. Barnert's bridesmaids are dead but the best man, Joseph Back, now of Billings, Oklahoma, will be present at the celebration Sunday. All of their children with the exception of one, Jerome Barnert, of the state of Washington will be present.
The children attending are: Mrs. J. Brustman of Chicago, Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Barnert and family of Boonville, Mrs. Jerome Barnert of Washington, Mr. and Mrs. C. A. Barnert of St Louis, Mr. and Mrs. M. J. Barnert of Indian Springs, Indiana; and Mr. and Mrs. Howard McGuire. Mr. and Mrs. Barnert have four children.
Mr. and Mrs. Potter were married at 8 o'clock in the evening on September 6, 1882, at the Southern Hotel, which is the place where the Armour Poultry house is now, by Rev. Shouse. Mrs. Frank Stetz of Lake City was bridesmaid and Frank Stetz was best man. Among those who will attend the celebration that were at the wedding are Mr. and Mrs. George Gentry, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Back of Billings, Oklahoma. September 6 is also the twenty-second wedding anniversary of Mr. and Mrs. Potter's daughter, Mrs. C. E. McCartney and Mr. McCartney of Springfield. Mr. and Mrs. Potter have nine living children, twenty-four grandchildren, and twelve great-grandchildren. All of the children will be present. They are: Mr. and Mrs.
J. W. Stillwell of Higginsville, Mr. and Mrs. Jesse Burt of Pratt, Kansas, William Potter of Boonville, Herman Potter of Pacific, Mr. and Mrs. C. E. McCartney of Springfield, Mr. and Mrs. W. A. Potter of Boonville, Mr. and Mrs. George Potter of Franklin, Arizona, Mr. and Mrs. Ed Potter of St James and Mrs. Bessie Kyle of Springfield.
On their wedding day fifty years ago the bridal couple also entertained with a wedding dinner, a wedding supper, and a reception and dance that lasted all night. There were over twenty cakes and four kegs of beer besides large platters of sandwiches of all kinds.
Both brides were dressed in white, Mrs. Barnert wearing a white dotted Swiss, with a bustle, orange blossoms and veil and carried a prayer book and rosary; Mrs. Potter's dress was white flaxon organdy with a bustle, orange blossoms, a veil and bridal bouquet. Both bridegrooms were dressed in black broadcloth frock-tail coats, white vests and dark trousers.
Mrs. Potter recalls that on the wedding night it was warm and she was standing on the back porch getting a breath of fresh air and looking down into the cow-lot she heard her pet cow start to bawl and realizing in the excitement she had forgotten to milk her. The bride quickly changed her wedding dress for a house frock and proceeded to milk "Betsy" before returning to the wedding festivities.

Boonville Daily News, January 21, 1939

Mrs. Louise B. Potter, 79, Dies at Home Here

Funeral Services Will Be Held at Evangelical Church Monday Afternoon at 2:30 - Lived in Boonville Her Entire Life

Mrs. Louise Barbara Potter. 79, died last night shortly before midnight at her home at 220 First Street. She had been in failing health for the past year. Born in Boonville on March 1, 1859, she spent her entire life in this community. She was a lifelong member of the Evangelical church and served as clerk of the Woodmen's Circle here for the past 38 years: she was also a charter member of the Rebekahs and Maccabee lodges here. Funeral services will be held at the Evangelical church Monday afternoon at 2:30, conducted by the Rev. E. F. Abele, pastor of the church, under direction of Stegner-Koenig. Burial will be in the Walnut Grove cemetery. The body will lie in state at the home after 1 o'clock today until time for the services Monday afternoon. Mrs. Potter was the daughter of Anton and Wilhelmina Guyer Back. On February 13, 1876, she was married to George B. Stillwell to which union four children were born: Mrs. Savannah Burt, Pratt, Kas., and Joseph Stillwell, Higginsville, Mo., and George and Mary, who died in infancy. On September 6, 1882, she was married to John H. Potter, Boonville. To this union, the following children were born: William J. Potter and Walter A. Potter. both of Boonville; Herman E. Potter, St Louis; Mrs. Louise McCartney and Mrs. Bessie Kyle, both of Springfield, Mo.; George O. Potter, Lordsburg, N. M.; and Edward Potter, St James, Mo. Another son, John H. Potter, preceded his mother in death in 1918.
Mrs. Potter is also survived by a sister, Mrs. Mary Barnett, Boonville; 23 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Catholic

Frank married Stretz, Sophia on 19 Oct 1875 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. Sophia (daughter of Stretz, Frank Joseph and Reiter, Magdalena) was born on 17 Apr 1855 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; died on 5 Aug 1946 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; was buried on 7 Aug 1946 in Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Religion: Catholic

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Cabinet Maker

Notes:

He was a fine cabinet maker. Had a strong, beautiful voice and sang in the Germany Evangelical Lutheran Church Choir.

Came to United States in 1855 through port of New Orleans to St Louis to Boonville.

Applied for American citizenship 17 July 1855.

Served as Union soldier (Captain Eppstein's Company A, Boonville R. Corp. Reg't, Mo. H.Q. Military, Union Home Guard Unit) in American Civil War. Wounded at Battle of Boonville, Mo. Mustered out of service December 8, 1862.

Church Records: Boonville Evangelical Church: Death, Date of birth as 24 Apr 1824.

Johann married Geuer, Catherine Wilhelmina Sophie on 24 Dec 1857 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. Catherine (daughter of Geuer, Johann and Mueller, Caroline Luise) was born on 13 Feb 1828 in Höchst, Frankfurt am Main, Hessen, Germany; died on 2 Mar 1903 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; was buried in Mar 1893 in Walnut Grove Cemetery, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Housewife/Saloon Keeper

Notes:

On the passenger list of the S. S. Johannesburg there is an entry: "Wilhelmine Back arrived in New Orleans on Feb 13,1857 on the ship S. S. Johannesburg". Anton Back's name is not listed. So they may have been married in the spring of 1856, and remarried in Boonville so their children would be American Citizens.
Catherine Wilhelmina Sophia Geuer, was born in Hoechst, Nassau, Germany on 13-Feb-1828. Her father was Johnann Geuer, a bookbinder. He was a Catholic, born in Cologne, Germany. Her mother was Caroline Luise Muller, born in Berline and a Protestant. The Godparent was Wilhelmina Klan of Rettert. After the death of Anton she returned to the Catholic Church and was a faithful and devoted member of the Church and the Sacred Heart Society. Her obituary says she was survived by a sister in Germany. She is buried in Walnut Grove Cemetery at Boonville, Missouri.

From Boonville Newspaper
Deaths
Mrs. Anton Back
Mrs. Anton Back died at her home on West Morgan Street Monday night, March 2, 1903 at 8 o'clock, aged 75 years and 19 days. Wilhelmina Geuer was born in Germany on February 13, 1828; was married to Anton Back early in 1857, and in the fall of that year the young husband and wife became citizens of Boonville. Twenty seven years ago death entered the happy home and carried away the husband of 19 years, leaving to the care of the widowed mother the care of several small children. Guided and directed by a mother's loving heart, inspired by the thought of their future usefulness and actuated by true Christian motives as a mother, she reared these children to splendid manhood and womanhood. The children now living are: Philip and Joseph of Oklahoma Territory, Mrs. Louisa Potter, Mrs. Mary Barnett, Anton and William of Boonville. There are also 34 grandchildren and one sister, who is yet in her native country, living, to all of whom the public extends its heartfelt sympathy in their bereavement.
Mrs. Back had lived in Boonville since the year 1857. Her life of almost half century among the people of this city was marked by that devotion to parental, church, and other duties as only a Christian mother and citizen can offer. Deceased was recognized as a Christian because she practiced by example as well as by precept those qualities that must be uppermost in the Christian mind and heart. She was a devout member of the Roman Catholic Church and her everyday life was convincing proof of her devotion to the doctrine of her church. The funeral service was held at the Catholic Church on Wednesday morning at 9:30 o'clock thence to Walnut Grove cemetery where the remains were interred under the direction of J. Ed Taliaferro.

Notes:

Frank Schuster was a weaver by trade in his native Germany and early became imbued with a desire, like thousand of his fellow countrymen, to come to America to find a home amid the free conditions of the unsettled West. Weaving by night and farming by day, he saved enough money to bring himself and wife and their small children here.

Upon his arrival in this country, he settled in St Louis and after a couple of years there joined the German colony of Cooper County and bought a farm of timbered land in Lamine township, and there built a home. The children born to him and his wife . . .

The mother of these children died at her home in Lamine township about 1861, and five or six years later, Frank Schuster returned to Germany and there married a second time, returning to his home in cooper County with his second wife. Some years later he made a second trip to Germany on a visit to kinsfolk. Not long after his return home, a wagon in which he was riding was caught at a railway crossing by a train and he recieved injuries from which he died not long afterward.

Frank married Cleten, Theresa in UNKNOWN in Germany. Theresa was born in 1824 in Baden-Württemberg, Germany; died in 1861 in Lamine Township, Cooper, Missouri, USA; was buried in 1861 in Cooper, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Other Events and Attributes:

• Occupation: Potter and Gardener
• Naturalization: 1855, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; Circuit Court

Notes:

Immigrated from Germany to America in 1845 and settled at Boonville, where he was first employed as potter by Mr. Vollrath, the pioneer potter of this city. In his latter years, Mr. Stretz was engaged in gardening. He died in 1878, from the effects of sunstroke. Mrs. Stretz died at the age of 82 years. Both father and mother are interred in the Catholic Church Cemetery at Boonville.

Lived on Jefferson City Road a couple of house from Lorenz Thoma, who was also a potter working for Vollrath. Lorenz also later became a gardener. Lorenz and Frank's children worked together in later trades.

Mr. Frank Stratz (sic), aged 56 years, was found in an insensible condition on Saturday last about 7 o'clock in the evening. He had been at a neighbor's about 4 in the afternoon, and was heard to complain of pain in his limbs and feeling badly generally. It is not known how long he had been there but as soon as he was found, Dr. W. E. Evans, of this place was sent for and applied all the known remedies for sun-stroke, but to no avail, as he died Sunday morning at 9 o'clock. Mr. Stratz (sic) was a highly respected citizen and will be much missed. The family have the sincere sympathy of the Advertiser.

Frank married Reiter, Magdalena on 24 Nov 1845 in Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Magdalena (daughter of Reiter, Lorenz and Brenneisen, Therese) was born on 20 Oct 1823 in Karlsruhe, Karlsruhe, Baden-Württemberg, Germany; died on 22 Dec 1905 in Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA; was buried on 24 Dec 1905 in Sts Peter and Paul Catholic Cemetery, Boonville, Cooper, Missouri, USA. [Group Sheet] [Family Chart]

Notes:

In the death of Mrs. Margaret (Magdalena) Stretz Boonville loses (sic) another of her old citizens. The deceased was born in Germany on October 20, 1823, and removed to the United States in 1840, settling in Boonville soon after coming to America.
She was ill but a short while, dying at the residence of her son-in-law, Joseph Schuster, Friday morning, December 22.
The deceased was a very devoted member of the Catholic church, and her funeral was largely attended Sunday afternoon by the many friends who gathered to pay the last sad tribute.
She leaves a circle of relatives. She was the mother of eight children, 51 grandchildren and 15 great grandchildren and will be missed by a large circle of friends who loved her for her noble character and many acts of charity. The remains were buried in the Catholic cemetery.

(Magdalena the d/o Lorenz Reiter & Therese Brenneisen, w/o Frank Stretz. This obit states she was born on 20 Oct 1823, but Reiter information I got from Udo Strickfaden has her born 20 Sep 1823.)

Census Records: US, MO, Cooper, 1850, 1860, 1870, 1880, 1900, Living with Sophia in 1900.