Louise was born September 20, 1897 at the family home 1311 Boyd
Street in the north end of
St. Joseph, Buchanan County, Missouri and
was the second child and eldest daughter born to Henry Frederick
Seifert and Anna Sarah Knoth Seifert.
She is shown in this picture with her mother Anna, who was 22 at the
time, but looks so much younger.
As seen in the color baptismal record
recorded in English, she was baptized December 25, 1897
also at the home with her parents. In the German church
document,
Infant Luise's maternal Grandma, Luise Knoth,
listed as sponsor with Pastor G. Meyer from Zion
Evangelical Lutheran and Reformed Church in St. Joseph officiating the
christening.
Louise and brother Fred were only nine months apart in age and
always very close
until his early death while serving in France in the "War to End All
Wars".
It was ten years before another sibling arrived; Marie. Shown here with sister Louise
1908
.jpg)
The writing on the back of the picture postcard must be their
mother, Anna's.
To get a glimpse into her daily life in the family click on here.
Fred and Louise attended Grant Elementary which, (according to
Library volunteer, Vivian, at the
NW MO
Genealogy Society in St. Joseph) was located at 1323 N. 11th St.
between Highly and Woodson St..
It was not in the 1910 St. Joseph City Directory, was in the
1911-1913 edition but not in the 1914-1917 edition. I found
the reason for this at
where I found this picture "Grant School - 1894 to 1907 - Pendelton
& North 11th St. - School would open for a few years and close for a
few years, depending on the size of Washington School. It had
only one room and one teacher. Currently used by the school
district for storage.
To my memory or notes, I can't find that she mentioned Washington School, 5th and Poulin Streets. Looking at the Google Earth satellite pictures, I can see that if she did attend Washington School, she would have had to take a city bus. She and Fred could walk to Grant just three blocks away from their home. I won't know without finding school records. I believe that was the only formal education she received.
She said that her mother was very strict about her going to church.
So at Zion, she would have learned the
Heidelberg or
Luther's Small
Catechism for three years before taking her first Communion. She would have begun
about the time of the picture (above) she is standing with sister
Marie and finished about the time of this picture
when she looks to be around the age of 13. You would think
there would be picture since that would be a special day, but I couldn't find it
unless it is this picture.
She had Scarlet Fever and lost all of her hair in 1916.
She was extremely fortunate to have lived since there were not the antibiotics
to fight the disease at that time. 
It
must have been early Spring. If you study this picture
you see that the dogwood in the yard is just blooming which would
make it May. Her hair is just growing back in. Anna is
standing behind her at the tree.
I'm not sure if this was friends or family on each side of her in
this picture. Girls didn't wear overalls so I don't know what
they were doing but she may have her head covered to hide her short
hair.
Then she grew it out again.
She was 20 years older than Irene who Louise is seen with in this
picture.
Her nickname was Citty. I never asked
her where it came from but I assume it was probably that Fred was
trying to say "sissy" and it stuck, at least growing up. In this
picture, she is standing with her father,
%20&%20Dad%20(Henry).jpg)
Hank Seifert. Below
are more pictures that of her young years living with her parents on
Boyd St. in St. Joseph.
After she left school, she went to work at a millinery; a shop where she made hats for $3.00 a week. I haven't found exactly what the name or location of her employers may have been. Her brother Fred went to work as a furniture salesman. She told me that her mother made her turn over her paycheck to her brother so that he would look nice for his job. She said that after his death, she was glad her whole life that she had been able to do that for him.
She is the tall girl on the left. These must be pictures of her with
fellow workers - look at the hats and clothing.
In this picture she is standing to the left.
The pictures below are of trips to Louise and Marie to cousins who lived in King City, MO. Grandma told me that her mother wanted her to marry this boy (she never told me his name). Grandma said he was sickly and she didn't want to marry him so she was sent to Anna's Loest cousins. She said she was always glad she had not married him because he died young.
Alice
Freeman & Louise
Louise
& Byron Freeman. King City cousins
Sister Marie and Louise
One day she and a friend from the millinery stopped by a drugstore so she could use the public telephone and call her mother. She wanted to get permission to go to a movie, which were silent at that time. She told me, "In walked this good-looking guy." He and her friend were acquainted and introduced them by saying, "Ace, this is the girl I was telling you about." He took both she and her friend to the movie.
That young man was Asa Lee Marker from Easton, MO
