| WilliamOetgen |
WILLIAM OETGEN, one of the old settlers andsuccessful farmers living in Cass county, was born in Hanover,
Germany, May 31, 1817. He came of pure Germanancestry. His father, G. Henry, was a native of the same place in Germany,born in 1787 and died December 26, 1820. He was a blacksmith, as were allhis brothers, and his father before. They were all members of the LutheranChurch. The name of his mother was Helen L. Veslage, a native of Hanover,who survived her first husband, and in 1823 married Dr. J. C. A. Seeger,who came to the United States in 1831, and in 1832 was joined by his wifeand our subject. The family settled in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September,1832, where Mr. Oetgen learned the shoemaker’s trade. Mr. Oetgen made aquick passage of twenty-eight days and landed in New York City. In 1834his parents came to Beardstown, and were joined a year later by our subject.They both died here, but left no children: hence Mr. Oetgen is the onlyone of his family now living that came from Germany. Mr. Oetgen landedin this county July 25, 1835. He began here a poor boy and worked for yearsfor $8 a month; later he received as much as $12.50 a month, and in 1843farmed one year as a renter, and in 1844 purchased his first land not farfrom Beardstown city. This consisted of 290 acres, which he improved, andin 1859 he purchased 126 acres of section 20, township 18, range 11, wherehe now lives. He later added 120 acres, and then seventy acres more, andagain eighty acres, all of which is valuable and some of which is worthmore than $100 an acre. He has been one of the leading men of the county,and has had all the experiences of a pioneer. Being a smart and intelligentman he has a fine memory, and can tell in a very interesting manner ofthe condition of things in the past history of the county. He has beena good citizen.He was married, in Cass county, to CatherineMiddlebusher, born in Hanover, near Osnabruck, December 23, 1826, and cameto the United States in 1835, and to Cass county with her parents, Adamand Petro N. (Ketwick) Middlebusher, who died here of cholera two weeksafter landing in Beardstown. They were members of the Lutheran Church,and while only in this country a short time they came in a day when theirnames should be associated with the other pioneers. Mrs. Oetgen was yetvery young when her parents died, and was partly reared by the mother andstep-father of Mr. Oetgen. She is yet living. She was married, April 7,1843, to Mr. Oetgen, and has proved herself a good, true wife. They arethe parents of eight children, of whom Mary and Hannah died young. John recently died in Beardstown, leaving a wife and two bright children.He had been educated at Poughkeepsie, New York, and was book-keeper forHenry Keil. At the time of his death he was a promising young man and aworthy member of the family. The living are: Helen Fricke, of Lafayettecounty, Missouri; Henry William, who married Augusta Hansmier, a farmerin Schuyler county; and George C., who married Henrietta Reichert, andalso on the old homestead; Martha, wife of Louis Leonhard, working Mr.Oetgen’s farm in this township; and Edward L., on the home farm. The latterwas appointed in 1890 as a census enumerator in this county. The childrenare all smart and self-sustaining, and are all active Republicans.
Biographical Review of Cass, Schuylerand Brown Counties, Illinois, Biographical Review Publishing Co., Chicago,1892, pages 142-143.
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