USA > Minnesota > Stearns County > History of Stearns County, Minnesota, Volume II > Part 43
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96 | Part 97 | Part 98 | Part 99 | Part 100 | Part 101 | Part 102 | Part 103 | Part 104 | Part 105 | Part 106 | Part 107 | Part 108 | Part 109 | Part 110 | Part 111 | Part 112 | Part 113 | Part 114 | Part 115 | Part 116 | Part 117 | Part 118 | Part 119 | Part 120 | Part 121 | Part 122 | Part 123 | Part 124 | Part 125 | Part 126 | Part 127 | Part 128
1013
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
father on June 13, 1838, and the mother ten years later. In the old Father- land, Herman Ricker followed the vocation of farming, and during the winter season he supervised a small sawmill in his home locality. In 1881, the family, then consisting of the parents and another son besides Herman J., Henry. now of St. Anthony, Stearns county, emigrated to America, and located at Loretto, Lawrence county, Tennessee, where they engaged again in farming. After having lived there ten years they removed to Minnesota living on a rented farm for some time, thereafter buying a farm in section 30, township of Krain, Stearns county. Two years ago the aged parents bought a house and lots in the village of Freeport, where they now reside, leaving the farm in charge of their second son, Henry. Besides the two boys mentioned the following children were born to the Ricker family: Joseph, now residing near Freeport; Anna and Lissie, deceased; Caspar of Ward Springs, Minn .; and Mary, now Mrs. Eutener of Krain township. Herman J. Ricker, the sub- ject of this sketch, was at the time of their emigration to this country two years of age. When becoming of school age he attended a common school in Tennessee which school was however of a very primitive nature and consisted of only two or three months' sessions during the year. Coming to Minne- sota he received a fair common school education, some of his teachers having been the well-known Joseph B. Himsl and Judge A. H. Klasen of St. Cloud. After having helped clearing the farm he attended the St. Cloud Normal School during 1898 and 1899, and after that attended one year at St. Johns College and one year at the St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, Wis. He began his career as teacher in District No. 40, town of Rockville, this county, in 1902. He engaged the school where he is now employed the next year, and has faithfully filled that position up to the present time, with prospects of many more years service there, if he chooses. He married Elizabeth Eiynck in 1903, and their union is blessed with one child, a son. Mr. Ricker has served the town of Millwood for the last nine years as assessor and holds that office at the present time.
Kingslake Fruit Farm and Wilwerding's Nursery, located in Millwood township, two miles north of Freeport, were established in 1902, by Anton J. Wilwerding, who has resided here since 1886. Hardy fruit trees, grape vines and evergreens, most hardy shrubs and perennials, ornamental and small fruit plants are grown; and new seedlings, especially prunes and pears, are originated. From a three-acre orchard, eighty to a hundred varieties of fruits exhibited at state and county fairs received high awards; and thou- sands of satisfied customers have had good success with stock planted accord- ing to advice given them by Mr. Wilwerding in his nursery or in their homes.
Anton J. Wilwerding, proprietor of the Kingslake Fruit Farm & Wil- werding's Nursery, was born at Kanach, Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, Eu- rope, September 2, 1849, oldest son of Mathias Wilwerding and Anna Sieg- fried, his second wife, the former of whom died in 1866 and the latter of whom is still living and will be ninety years of age, January 18, 1915. Mathias Wil- werding was the father of nine children. By his first wife he had two sons, Nicholas, who gave up his life on a Southern battlefield as a soldier on the Northern side in the Civil war, and Michael, who now lives in St. Charles,
1014
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
Minn. By his second marriage, Mathias Wilwerding had six children. Anton J. is the oldest. Mrs. Nicholas Goedert lives in St. Joseph, Minn. Nicholas lives in Finlayson, Minn. Nick. II lives in Esch, Sur d'Alzette, Luxemburg. John B. lives in Portland, Oregon. John lives in Minneapolis. Anne Mary is dead, dying the same day as her father during the cholera epidemic. Mrs. Victoria Volkmann lives in Buffalo, N. Y. Anton J. Wilwerding received his education in the school at Kanach, winning prizes every term of his school career, and finally completing the courses at the head of his class. He also took Sunday and evening music lessons, but he received his best teaching between his father's knees. His first horticultural training was received from his venerated grandfather, Anton Wilwerding, who was not only a famous blacksmith, but who also did grafting for his numerous customers, keeping on raising young trees until his death in 1863 at the age of eight-four years. At the age of sixteen, Anton J. Wilwerding worked as a teamster for Mr. Maas, saloon-keeper, grocer, vineyardist, and contractor, and there his home- acquired knowledge of distilling whiskey won much approval. Being well prepared to attain a governmental office, he next enlisted as a volunteer in the Luxemburger Jaeger (Hunter) Battalion, and in the winter school for volunteers again distinguished himself for his scholarship, receiving first prize in the third class, and third prize in the second class. Next he so- journed two years in France, where for a winter occupation he learned the trade of making wooden shoes. In his leisure hours he studied English, his knowledge of Latin and French giving him a good foundation for this study. After this experience he again returned to his native town. When he was but twenty-one years of age he became a choir leader. At one time his work in this capacity was rewarded with a "gratificat" of forty francs (eight dollars), and with the reward came the position of organist, the promotion to take affect as soon as an organ was purchased. The instrument, however, was never procured. This love of music has followed Mr. Wilwerding all his life. While at Lewiston, Winona county, this state, he was leader of the St. Charles and Lewiston choirs, and here at Freeport he has been elected presi- dent of the St. Caecilia Society, an organization for the promotion of sacred music. While Mr. Wilwerding was still in Germany, he became a candidate for the vacant position of guardian of forests for his home township and two adjacent villages. Lacking certain influences, however, he failed to secure the appointment from the minister. In 1883 he came to the United States with his mother and two sisters. Upon reaching Minnesota, he rented the farm of P. Peters, near Lewiston, in Winona county. There, in April, 1885, he was married to Amalia Johanna Roden, who was born in Delphus, Ohio, February 8, 1859, daughter of Nicholas and Elizabeth (Steffen) Roden, then living in Elba, Minnesota. In the fall of 1886, the Wilwerd- ing family came to Stearns county, and settled on eighty acres in section 17, Millwood township, where they still reside. They moved into a log cabin, and started to develop a farm. The land was covered with heavy timber, and to convert it into tillable soil was no easy task. It required incessant hard labor, but with the help of his faithful wife and children he has succeeded in making a most valuable farm of it. While it was not until 1902 that Mr.
1015
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
Wilwerding established his nursery he has been interested in fruit culture since he first settled here. For his first orchard planting he found on the place eighteen varieties of wild plums. With this beginning, Mr. Wilwerding has been a successful man, and the nursery which he has gradually developed is the only one of its kind in the county. Fruit growing is his hobby as well as his occupation, and he has done everything possible to interest others. He has promoted fruit culture through large displays of native fruits, and he has given his customers personal instruction in the art of grafting, caring for trees and grapevines, and taught them in general the best way to achieve good results. One of his pleasantest thoughts and memories is of the friendly welcome and many favors that he has enjoyed while canvassing throughout this and neighboring counties. He has served also as a newspaper correspond- ent, and his articles on fruit culture are of much value. In 1898 he joined the State Horticultural Society, and for a period served that organization as vice-president from the Sixth Congressional district. In public life he has been clerk of the town for six years, and has served on the grand and petit juries. He is also the United States crop reporter for this region.
Mr. Wilwerding's career has been one of worthy effort successfully ac- complished. His life has by no means been an easy one, and aside from the great inspiration that his family, his grandparents, his parents, his wife and his children have been to him, he has received little encouragement and often- times he has received actual discouragements and rebuffs. Originally he left home as a boy to go out in the unfriendly world to make room for his brother Mike. He was compelled to leave his promising career as a soldier in order to help his mother. A few years later he was compelled to go to France with no equipment in the way of a trade except his knowledge of farm work. In France he learned a trade which lost much of its value as a money-earner on account of the high price of wood in his home neighborhood. A musician of more than usual ability, a composer who might have made his mark in the world, he was finally forbidden by a jealous school teacher from practicing any more in school. Year after year he wrote chants and other musical pieces, and did his practicing without the aid of an organ. Here in Minnesota he has worked hard, early and late. During the time when he lived in Winona county when he had but recently arrived in America, he drove every four- teen days from Lewiston to St. Charles, no easy task in those days of bad roads and poor transportation. Now in the afternoon of life he is gradually turning his attention more and more to fruit raising and bee keeping, and in the years to come may not promote the nursery feature as much as formerly. But his fruit, his trees and his shrubs will always be in demand, the thou- sands who trade with him will long remember his encouragement and ad- vice, and his children will never forget the old home orchard, where they have spent so many joyful days.
The family life of Mr. and Mrs. Wilwerding has been a most happy one, and they have been blessed with eleven children, the oldest of whom have already taken up the duties of life away from the old home: Elizabeth lives in Minneapolis. Anna is the wife of Albert Smith, also of that city. Nicholas is at home. Timothy is a carpenter in Barnesville. Mary is a clerk in Minne-
1016
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
apolis. Margaret is the wife of M. R. Dickinson, of Herman, Minn. Catherine is a teacher in this county. Anthony is dead. Celia, Rose and John are still at home. Besides this large family mentioned, Mr. Wilwerding makes a home for his honored mother, who in her old age of ninety years, finds with the family a home of happiness and contentment, a home where she is held in high esteem and respect, and where the good qualities of this venerable matron are duly appreciated.
Henry Benoelken, a retired farmer and merchant, now residing in section 16, Oak township, was born in McHenry county, Ill., September 11, 1851, son of John and Margaret (Diedrich) Benoelken, natives of Germany. By a former marriage there had been four children and by this marriage there were seven children of which two died in their infancy. John Benoelken came to America in 1840 and located in McHenry county, Illinois, where he farmed until his death in April, 1860. Henry Benoelken was educated in Illi- nois, and farmed on his father's place until eighteen years of age. He then married, January 18, 1870, Fannie Revoir, a native of Syracuse, New York. They moved to Niles, Michigan, where he worked several years on the railroad. The wife died January 27, 1873, at the age of twenty, leaving one child, Julia. In 1878, Henry Benoelken first came to Minnesota. Afterward he returned to Illinois, but in 1880 he decided to make his home permanently in Stearns county. He taught school for two winters at Freeport. The schoolhouse was a little log cabin, 16 by 24, plastered with clay, and whitewashed by Mr. Be- noelken himself, a wisp of hay being used for a brush. In this schoolhouse, Mr. Benoelken was married, June 21, 1881, to Teresa Hoppe, a daughter of Joseph Hoppe. This was the first marriage in the village of Freeport, and the Rev. Simplicius Wimmer, O. S. B., performed the ceremony. After his marriage, Mr. Benoelken entered the general mercantile trade in Freeport. For a time he worked for John Hoeschen, later he became his partner. In 1894 he sold out to Mr. Hoeschen and again worked for him until April, 1897. He then purchased 226 acres in section 19, Krain township, where he farmed some eleven years. He was a good farmer, and took especial pride in his fine herd of Durham cattle. In 1906 he purchased twelve acres in section 16, the former home of his deceased brother, Frank, where he now lives in retirement. He has a substantial modern home, and is an influential man. He has the distinction of having been the first president of the village of Freeport when it was incorporated in 1893. For many years, at different times he was treas- urer and assessor of the township of Oak. From 1894 to 1897 he was post- master at Freeport. In 1910 he took the government census in this locality. By his first wife, there was a daughter, Julia, as already mentioned. To the second marriage there were born nine children, six of whom died in infancy. Those living are Frances E., Mary D. and Helen P. There are also three adopted children, Henry Kometich, M. J. Ringsmuth and Barbara Hoppe. Julia married Fred Wahnscoffe, who died in February, 1903, leaving six chil- dren. Her present husband is Gustave Sontag, and they live at Devil's Lake, North Dakota. Frances married C. H. Rademacher. They reside in section 19, Krain township, having purchased the 226 acre Benoelken farm. Of their nine children, eight are alive and one dead. Mary D. is a nurse. Helen is
GOTTHARD HARREN
1017
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
at home. Henry Kometich lives in Valley county, Montana. He is the son of John and Catherine (Gross) Kometich, the former a native of Austria and the latter of Germany. Mathias J. Ringsmuth is a graduate of the engi- neering department of the Southern Minnesota University. He is now in Minneapolis. Barbara Hoppe is the daughter of John and Cecelia (Barrut) Hoppe, the former a native of Stearns county and the latter of New York state. Barbara was born March 3, 1905.
Gotthard Harren, for nearly twenty-five years principal of the public school at Freeport, Stearns county, was born in Luxemburg, Stearns county, on July 27, 1860, the oldest of a family of twelve children. His father, Joseph Harren, emigrated from Hanover, Germany, in the year 1853, landing at New Orleans from where he came by steamboat up the Mississippi river to St. Louis, at which place he stayed for about a year. In those early days travel- ing, where possible, was on river boats, and for a time Joseph Harren took employment on a steamboat plying on the Ohio river between St. Louis and Cincinnati. A year later he came on one of these boats to Dubuque, Iowa. Coming from a family that had been reared on the farm in the old "Father- land" he looked for a location along that line, and the country west of Du- buque offering a good opportunity for agricultural purposes, he purchased fifty-five acres on the site where the flourishing town of New Vienna, twenty- two miles west of Dubuque, now stands. In 1857, he disposed of this tract of land at a neat profit and came to Stearns county where he took a claim in section 25, township of Rockville, and obtained some adjoining land in section 30 in the town of St. Augusta. He, having some capital, had a fairly good log house and other buildings erected on the claim. After two years he married Magdalen Bauer, daughter of a neighboring family that had emi- grated a short time before from Rhenisch Prussia, Europe. Of the fourteen children that were the issue of that marriage, one son, Joseph Anton, still occupies the old homestead. The community being made up chiefly of Ger- man Catholics, a thrifty Catholic congregation soon sprung up, that of St. Wendel, in the founding and maintaining of which Joseph Harren took a promi- nent part, having for years been one of the officers of the congregation as well as one of the school district, which was organized as District No. 36 of Stearns county in 1861. Miss Bauer, who, as stated above, married Joseph Harren, was the third daughter in the family and one of fourteen children, of which, especially the girls (there being six of them), were noted for their robust and strong constitutions and Magdalen was well suited to bear the hard- ships and trials of those earlier days. Indeed, much of his later success in life, the professor declared, was due to the lessons his good mother taught him by word and deed and more so by example, in fortitude, diligence and strict adherence to daily duties, she being ever busy and anxious for the wel- fare of her household, always giving exemplary lessons in diligence, honesty, frugality and self-denial. An especially exciting time was experienced in 1862, the time of the Sioux Indian outbreak, when that tribe devastated a part of Minnesota. Although the savages did not extend their atrocities as far as Stearns county excitement ran high, and rumors of approaching hordes caused the settlers to abandon their homes for a short time and take refuge
1018
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
in a fortification that had been erected at St. Cloud. Among the refugees that gathered in that fortification for a few days were also the members of the Harren Family, then consisting of the parents and the two oldest children, Gotthard and John Peter. Gotthard, the subject of this mention, was the old- est of twelve children. His early schooling was of a very primitive nature. Five months during the winter generally made up the annual term, and with the long intermission between school days one can imagine that the progress was a slow one. But Gotthard appeared to be destined to become an educator for after having attended the local school up to his fourteenth year of age, and thereafter diligently pursuing his studies privately, he, without, having attended any other institution of learning was licensed October 12, 1879, by the late Professor P. E. Kaiser, then superintendent of schools of Stearns county, to teach the school in District No. 91, town of Rockville. This school he taught during three terms of six months each, the present county attorney, Paul Ahles, a cousin of his, being one of his pupils. After these three years he became a student at the St. Cloud Normal School, thereby preparing him- self fully for his life vocation. After leaving the normal he taught one term in Benton county and the next year in District No. 40. In the spring of 1883 he was engaged as teacher of the St. Nicholas School, District No. 17, which position he filled for six years. Here he entered in the employment of organ- ist of the church, shortly after having become the teacher and this position he almost constantly filled for the thirty years preceding his death. The vo- cation as an organist he filled without any special preparation. But he had in his early days a tutor of great ability along the musical line, in the person of his father. The Harren family had been in the old country noticeable for their musical talent, and an uncle of Gotthard, Bernard Harren, was known far and wide as one of the most distinguished organists in the country. It has often been mentioned how he, being a somewhat eccentric bachelor, had a large pipe organ built to suit his taste, and that after the same arrived, an opening had to be cut in the ceiling of the house where he abode in order to make room for this instrument. Joseph Harren was an expert on the violin, one of the old school, and the lessons that he gave his first born were of a most thorough nature, laying thereby a good foundation for his later career. While engaged as teacher and organist in St. Nicholas he, in July, 1885, mar- ried Barbara Rausch, daughter of a prominent farmer of that place. The Rausch family had emigrated during the latter part of the fifties from Lux- emburg, Europe, and first located on a farm near Pearl Lake, where Barbara was born. They later removed to a farm in the town of Wakefield near the former St. Nicholas Church. In the spring of 1887 Nicholas Rausch died and Prof. Harren took charge of the last named farm and, in connection with his duties as teacher and organist, supervised and managed that farm for the minors, brothers and sisters of Mrs. Harren. Mrs. Harren's mother had died in 1881 and Mr. Rausch married a second time, but there were no chil- dren of this union and one year later the second Mrs. Rausch received from the other heirs of the Rausch estate her dower and removed to South Dakota. In 1890, the position as principal of the Freeport school being offered him, Prof. Harren accepted the same, and at the time of his death had been engaged
1019
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
to teach the higher grades of that school for the twenty-fifth year. This posi- tion which also included the office of organist having been filled by him for a quarter of a century in connection with ten years' former service, gave him the distinction of being one of the oldest educators in the county as to years of service, and he will be remembered for many years to come as a leader in musical circles. When the village of Freeport was incorporated in 1893, Prof. Harren was elected its first recorder, and he held this office for a term of eighteen years, when, owing to the volume of work connected with that office increasing to such an extent that it became too great to handle with his other position, he resigned. The family life of Gotthard Harren must be termed a most happy one. There are nine children living, one son, Conrad, having died in the spring of 1909. Of these, the two eldest boys are bank cashiers, the oldest daughter is becoming a trained nurse, the second daughter has for five years been a most successful teacher in the country schools, and another daughter has entered a convent as a religious. The four youngest children are still enjoying the days of their youth in their parental home. Prof. Harren died in the fall of 1914 and his death was sincerely mourned throughout the county.
Andrew H. Kessler, educator, was born near Richmond, in this county, April 29, 1870, son of Francis Xavier and Cecelia (Riehle) Kessler, and grand- son of Othmar Kessler. Francis Xavier Kessler was a farmer by trade. Left an orphan at a tender age, he early learned to shift for himself, and became a man of self reliance at a time when most boys are still sheltered by the love and care of home and school. In 1836 he came to America, and located at Chillicothe, Ohio, where he remained many years. There he married Cecelia Riehle, who was born in Germany, and when less than two years of age was brought to Ohio by her parents, Bartholomew and Ursula Riehle, who after- ward came to Stearns county. In 1860 Francis X. came to St. Paul. In 1864 he came to Stearns county and located one mile and a half east of Richmond, where he secured a quarter section of land. Thirty or forty acres had been broken, and a log cabin had been erected. With but poor equipment he started farming, using an ox team to help him to break the land. He was a quiet unassuming man who did his duty day by day, and with honesty and uprightness filled his little corner in life's affairs. He died at Uniontown, Wash., in 1894, at the age of seventy-five. His wife died in 1890 at the age of sixty-three. Andrew H. Kessler received his early education in the schools of his neighborhood, and subsequently took courses in St. Francis Teachers' Seminary, at St. Francis, Wisconsin, in the years 1889 to 1892. In 1892 he began teaching at Alton, Ill., remaining there four years. In 1896 he became a teacher at Albany, in this county, staying there eight years. In 1904 he took a position as teacher in Watkins, Minn., where he remained one year, and in 1907 went to St. Paul, where he taught five years. In 1912 he came to Meire Grove, where he has since been engaged in teaching in the public school.
Mr. Kessler was married in 1899 to Susan Kascht, daughter of Mathias and Catherine (Mehr) Kascht, of Munson township. They have six children : Othman, Beata, Rose, Lydia, Urban (deceased) and Marie (deceased).
1020
HISTORY OF STEARNS COUNTY
Michael Theisen, useful citizen and business man of Meire Grove, for- merly a prominent educator, was born at Cold Spring, February 26, 1880, son of Anton Theisen, an early settler of Cold Spring, this county. Michael Theisen attended the district schools of his neighborhood, and subsequently took courses in several of the higher institutions. He was a student at the Pontifical Collegium Yosephinum, in Columbus, Ohio, for three years, and at St. John's University, Collegeville, this county, one year. Thus equipped he started teaching. He taught a year at Pearl Lake, Stearns county; a year in Freeport, Oak township, this county; and nine years in Meire Grove. In July, 1913, he engaged in the general mercantile business. He has already built up a good trade, and is far along on the road to prosperity and affluence. Mr. Theisen married Katie Heidgerken, of Stearns county, daughter of George Heidgerken, and they have four children: George, Hubert, Alice Matilda and Alvin G.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.