The membership and dues records of the Boonville Sänger Chor (also known as the Boonville Männerchor) below show 'David Rauh' (or Dav. Rauf) as having been an 1852 founding member, and still a paid-up member in 1857-58 (after which he is no longer listed in the membership records). These records were originally transcribed by the late Robert M. Doerr from Volume 2, Collection C-0880 of the Western Historical Manuscript Collection at the University of Missouri, Columbia.

The 1852-1858 records below are extracted from Part One of a two-part article in issues 3-4 of Volume 25 (2005) of the Journal of the Missouri State Genealogical Association titled Boonville Turn Und Gesang Verein 1852-1868 (Boonville Gymnastics and Singing Society) (1/2). [Part Two was titled Boonville Turn und Gesang Verein 1869-1895 (2/2), and included membership for the years 1869, 1875, 1882, 1889 and 1895.]

No explanation was given for the years recorded in the '1852-53' list; I am assuming an original 1852-53 membership list was recorded at the time the Chor was officially registered in 1853, that this list was expanded through 1859 with the addition of subsequent new members, and that the years are the dates when each individual had joined. Doerr notes that the 1857-1858 list was a compilation of two dues payment records, not a 'membership list' as such. This might explain why 1857, 1858 and even 1859 dates were added to the first list even if the names also appear in the separate 1857-58 roster.

Sänger Chor Membership Roster, 1852-1853

Aehle, Walter — 1853 Back, Anton — 1858 Blankenmeister, J.P. — 1853 Baumann — 1852 Beahler, Jacob — 1858 Beha, Erhardt — 1852 Beha, Benjamin — 1852 Bernard, John — 1858 Boller — 1858 Boller, Chs. — 1857 Bottinger, George Brehm, Peter — 1852 Dürr, Johann — 1852 Dieboldt, Matthias — 1856 Eckhardt, Friedrich — 1856 Eppstein, Frank Eppstein, Joseph A. — 1852 Eppstein, Veit — 1852 Fetzing, Corriel — 1856 Fischer, Chas. — 1856 Fuchs, Chas Ganter, Andr. — 1856 Gast, Wilh. — 1852 Gross, Christ. — 1856 Haas, Andr. — 1852 Haas, Wm. — 1852 Haas, George — 1852 Hain, Aug. Hansen, J. — 1852 Hesserich, R. Hess — 1852 Hirth, Abrah. — 1858 Holmann, Jos. — 1853 Hoppe, Ed. — 1858 Hoppe, Walter — 1852 Houch, George — 1852 Hummel, M. — 1853 Kayser — 1858 Keil, Christ — 1852 Koch — 1857 Krein — 1856 Landmann, Jno. Ludwig, Christ. — 1856 Ludwig, Charles — 1856

Ludwig, F.W. — 1859 Müller, Detmar — 1856 Müller, Georg Martin, John — 1856 Meerstetter, Sylvester — 1852 Merchant, Michael — 1852 Metz, Friedrich — 1852 Mittelbach, Friedr. — 1852 Mohrenstecher, George Nauch, Conrad — 1856 Neef, Peter — 1853 Peter, Valentin — 1852 Rauh, David — 1852 Reicharts, Jos. — 1857 Rodert, Theodore Röschel, Ernst — 1852 Ruff — 1852 Sahm, Georg — 1852 Sandfelder, S. — 1858 Schreck, Henry Schafer, Aug. — 1852 Schmidt, Andr. — 1852 Schnitzler — 1852 Sombart, Julius — 1852 Stegner, Georg — 1852 Stein. E. — 1852 Streif, Jacob — 1856 Thomas, Matthias — 1857 Thomas, Dan — 1858 Thomas, Henry — 1852 Träger, Conrad Vogel, Christ — 1858 Vollrath, Nicol. — 1858 Vorhof, Adam — 1856 Walter, Georg — 1853 Weber, Stephen — 1858 Weber, John — 1852 Weber, Ehrhardt — 1856 Weihrich, Charles — 1853 Wettendorf, Julius — 1853 Wettendorf, Albert — 1853 Zeitinger, Anthony — 1852 Zickgraf, Georg — 1856

Sänger Chor Dues-Payment Roster, 1857-1858

Aehle, Walter Back, Anton Baumann Bechtner Beha, Benjamin Below, G. Blankenmeister, J.P. Boller, C. Brehm, P. Dürr, John Dieboldt, H. Eckhardt, Friedr. Eppstein, Frank Eppstein, Joseph A. Eppstein, Veit Fetzing, G. (or C.) Fuchs, Chas Haas, Andr. Haas, H. Haas, Georg Hain, Aug. Hauck, G.

Heersketter Hesserich, R. Hirth, Abr. Holzmann, Jos. Hoppe, Walter Hoppe, Ed. Hummel, H. Keil, Christ Landmann, Jno. Ludwig, Charles Ludwig, Christ Müller, Georg Martin, F. Merchant, H. (or M.) Mittelbach, Friedr. Neef, Peter Pottinger, G. Röschel, Ernst Rauf, Dav. Rodert, Theodore Ruff Sahm, Georg

Schreck, W. Schnitzler Sombart, Jul. Stein, E. (Dr.) Stegner, Georg Tetzing, Cornd. Thomas, Dan Thomas, Ch. Thomas, Matthias Träger, Conrad Vollrath, Nicol. Vorhof, Adam Walter, Georg Weber, Ehrhardt Weber, Stephen Weihrich, Charles Wettendorf, Julius Wettendorf, Albert Willkomm, E. Zickgraf, Georg

Background Notes on the Data

These names are only from the 1852-1853 and 1857-1858 records; Doerr's transcription did not include any records from 1854-1856 (although the reason may be as described at the top of this page). Doerr noted that the 1852-53 records also included later dates, and that the 1857-1858 records were combined from two sets of dues/payment entries for that period.

The records above are as transcribed by Doerr and published in Issue 3, Volume 25, of the MoSGA Journal with four exceptions:

1. For easier comparability, names in both tables have been alphabetized by family name;
2. One apparent name duplication (for 'B. Beha', stonemason/stonecutter) was deleted from the 1857-58 records, and numerous typos in both sets of records were corrected;
3. First names were expanded if they had been missing or abbreviated in one record, but given in fuller form in subsequent records and it was apparent that it was the same person; the spellings of several last names were clarified if had varied one record to the others (and it was apparent that it was the same person);
4. In Doerr's transcription some entries had occupational notations (cf. #2 above for 'B. Beha'). Doerr reported these had been entered on 30 November 1939 by E.J. Huber, who had been 'personally acquainted with all so notated'. These were removed since they were not relative to this file and were incomplete (having been added over 80 years after the initial recording of the membership data [1852-1939]).

According to Robert Doerr, the Boonville Sänger Chor, founded in 1853, and the Boonville Turn Verein, founded in 1858, merged in 1868 to form the Boonville Turn und Gesang Verein.