Why would Fritz Stock become guardian of his own son?

Question

While doing research at the Warrenton History Society in Warrenton, Missouri I found a "Guardian Bond" in which my 3-great grandfather Frederick "Fritz" Stock is awarded guardianship of his son August Stock, my 2-great grandfather, in June 1855. Being awarded guardianship of his own son seems rather strange.

As I noted in Fritz's profile, he married Louise about 1849. She gave birth to August in 1851 and died in childbirth. We haven't found a record of the marriage, birth, or death. Fritz remarried, to Louise Fasse, in 1854.

My cousin has a theory of the guardianship document. When Fritz's first wife died he was left with an infant to take care of. Since infant formula wasn't readily available in rural Missouri in 1851 Fritz likely gave the boy to an orphanage or into foster care. Once remarried he petitioned to have the child returned. Is this a reasonable interpretation? Would there be records of Fritz giving up the child? Where might I look?

My cousin and I lament that the records for Harmonie Church near Warrenton jump from 1847 to 1853. This isn't the case of missing pages -- the jump happens in the middle of a page.

Comments

perhaps Fritz and the child's mother were never legally married.

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Could the child have been the inheritor of some substantial property?  (Perhaps a grandsire's Will?)

Guardian Bonds were usually put in place when a person wasn't capable of managing their own financial affairs, so a Guardian was put in place to manage them for the person.  They weren't necessarily guardians over the person (although that, too, is possible depending on the circumstances).

I would have thought, too, that a wet nurse would be more likely than an orphanage .. although fostering could be possible.  (I know of wet nurses in the early 1900s to about the 1930s, so it wasn't always "back in the day".)

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We've considered the possibility that Fritz and August's mother were not married. The only evidence we have against that is the 1850 census of Warren County which lists "Fredrick Stuch" and "Louisa Stuch" as one family.

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All we know of August's mother is her first name and that she was born in Germany.

The Warren County Register of Deeds does show there was some property bought by Frederick Stock and his wife Louisa, which would imply that August inherited his mother's share and Fritz would need to be named guardian of that share.