Known as Mary, she was the first born of Hermann Heinrich and Katherina Floke Spoering. Born in Lehrden, Germany, on August 26, 1876, she was about six years old when she boarded the ship to travel to America with her parents.
When Mary was 23, she married David Koppenhofer, who was about ten years older than Mary. They wed in Henry County on March 8, 1900, and their first child, Alvina (Elvina) was born on June 13, 1901. Emil was the only son, born May 26, 1903, followed by Regina Marie on July 25, 1904.
Regina died on her birthday exactly one year later on 25 July 1905.
Just after his daughter's death, on July 31, 1905, David wrote his will, with John and George Baden as witnesses. Perhaps David was ill and knew he was dying. Just a few days later, on August 3, 1905, he passed away. Now, Mary, 29, was a widow and a grieving mother with two young children, 4 and 2 to raise. David left all of his estate to "his beloved wife, Maria."
Nearby, the young widower, Joseph Adolph Baden lived. He had lost his wife, Sophia Miller (Muller) in 1902, and they had four children that he raised with only the help of a 14 year old servant girl named Mary Bostleman. Erna, born in 1893; Emma, born in April 1891; Carl, born in 1897 and Albert, born in March 1900, kept him busy. He also lived in Monroe Township, but nearer Malinta.
About a year and a half after losing her first husband, Mary married Adolph Baden on November 1, 1906, in Henry County, and the families were blended. They would go on to have four more children together:
Otto Henry, born Feb 25, 1908; Ernest, born March 2, 1911; August H., born April 9, 1913 and Anna Martha, born July 30, 1917. When Mary was in her early pregnancy with Anna Martha, her oldest daughter, Alvine Koppenhofer, died on Feb 4, 1917 of pulmonary tuberculosis at age 15.
By 1920, some of the older children had left home and Adolph, 56, and Mary 43, had her son, Emil, 16, at home along with Adolph's sons, Carl, 22, and Albert, 19, and their younger children, Otto, 12; Ernest, 8; August, 6 and Martha, 2. The family lived on a farm in Monroe Township.
Adolph became ill in 1945 and was admitted to Heller Memorial Hospital where he died on 10 February. Mary lived on until Jan 22, 1955. Both are buried together in Immanuel Lutheran Church cemetery in Henry County.
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