Picture of St. Paul house completes collection

As a result of revisiting the history of St. Paul’s two village merchants, John Boye and my great-grandfather, Jacob Yund, in my April 30 column, I received a packet in the mail from Roger O’Dell of St. Peter.

Included with newspaper clippings he had saved over the years, mementos from St. Paul Church and assorted information, Mr. O’Dell included a photograph of the Boye house in St. Paul. This was a photo I had never seen before, although I remember the bright red brick structure from my visits to this Wilberton Township village.

My father, Edmund Torbeck, was born and reared one mile south of St. Paul, and spent many afternoons with his grandmother, Wilhelmina (Minnie) Yund, whose smaller red brick house is still standing after 96 years.

Both houses were built using the characteristic bright red Frogtown clay bricks. The late Mary Peyton Meyer told me that her father worked at the brickworks, located north of Wilberton Cemetery. The old Frogtown School was also built using these signature bricks.

Over the years, I had come to associate the house with St. Paul’s early doctor, Dr. Edward Rheiner, whose daughter, Johanna, married John Boye, the merchant.

Seemed like a mystery to me, so I immediately made a copy of the photo and mailed it to my friend, Roger Boye, of Evanston. Surely he could straighten out the situation and clear my mind.

Well, no. He, too, had thought of the house as the Rheiner home, and said that he would look into it further with relatives. Roger added that when he received The Leader-Union in the mail, it was like getting a letter from me each week. So, Roger, consider this your July 2 letter.

All but two of the people pictured in the family photograph were identified. They include, August "Gus" and Louisa "Lizzie" (Bahde) Borchelt and unknown man (standing on the porch), Anna Maria (Schmalgengerd) Borchelt, Miss Borchelt, Emalie Boye, Anna Borchelt Boye, George Ludwig Boye and George Boye Jr. Perched on rooftop widow’s walk and identified as "hired hands" are “a boy who went to confirmation” and August Storck.

In attempting to date the photo, I turned to genealogy records of the Boye family. Taking into account that George Ludwig Boye died of Bright’s Disease on Nov. 8, 1893, and his son, George Jr., was born in 1885, helped to place the photo around 1890.

That year, George L. Boye was a candidate for Fayette County treasurer. The son of Johann G. and Anna Maria Wandler Boye, he was a partner with his older brother, John H. Boye, in the St. Paul Mercantile Co., which was originally started by their father in 1872.

The 1890 Fayette County Tax Assessment for Wilberton Township indicates that George L. Boye was taxed for 35 acres in Section 23, where the brick house, pictured above, was located. It is possible that he built the home, although it had the appearance of a much-older structure.

In revisiting the history of St. Paul, I came away with something new. Between my own collection and photographs shared by Roger, I had pictures of almost every building in the village of St. Paul, with the exception of the "old" school and this house.

I like to think that I share information through this column, but many times when a column moves someone to contact me, I am the one who learns.