William Ferdinand Boettcher (1875 - 1961)

Born 11 Jan 1875 in Isanti County, Minnesota

Ancestors

Husband of Louise Amelia (Kreger) Boettcher — married 11 May 1899 in Elk River, Minnesota

Died 8 Jan 1961 at age 85 in Benton County, Washington [uncertain]

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ted Bergstrom [send private message]

Biography

He is the son of Christian Boettcher and Anna Ziebell. He later moved to Washington State. ^[1] He is listed in the 1905 Minnesota Census as a farmer in Bradford township, Isanti County. He and his wife had 5 children living with them in 1910. He appears in the 1920 US Census in Benton County Washington, where his occupation is listed as cement worker. In the 1930 census he and his wife have two sons, Bernard and Marcus living with them in Lower Yakima, Benton County. His occupation is listed as laborer, doing odd jobs. They are renting their residence with a monthly rent of $10.

Here is a copy of a typed manuscript found in Lillian Bergstrom's files.

This appeared in a book called ^[2]

WILLIAM F. BOETTCHER

William F. Boettcher, the proprietor and manager of the leading hotel in the village of Isanti, Isanti county, and who has had an adventurous and varied career, was born in Bradford township on a farm in 1875, being the oldest of a family of eight children, born to his father, Christian Boettcher. A sketch of this gentleman appears on another page and affords interesting reading.

William F. Boettcher was born in a frontier log cabin, and attended school of his neighborhood. This was located on his father’s farm, and was noted as the only frame school house in that part of the county at the time. The school was of a poor grade, the teachers were inefficient and the pupils wild and boisterous. Much hard farm work, however, afforded an outlet for surplus enthusiasm, and Mr. Boettcher began for himself when only seventeen years old. For some three months he was in North Dakota at Buttsville, and for three seasons was engaged in threshing in that state. He was all over the western part of Minnesota, his summers and falls being mostly employed there in harvesting and threshing, his winters being spent in the lumber woods, mainly at home. The winters of 1894, 1895, and 1896 were spent by him in Minneapolis, as a man of all work ready for anything he might find to do.

Mr. Boettcher was married in the spring of 1899 to Miss Louise Kruger, a native of Winsted, Minnesota, and a daughter of German parents long settled in this state. Mrs. Boettcher was a dressmaker before her marriage and worked in St. Paul most of the time. She was reared and educated in Sherburne county on a farm and is now the mother of two children; Leona, who was born February 26, 1900, and Walter, who was born March 27, 1901. Previous to his marriage Mr. Boettcher bought a piece of land from his father, ninety-seven acres in all, and for some time was engaged in clearing it, and bringing it under cultivation. He has a house, sheds and fourteen acres under cultivation. Immediately following his marriage Mr. Boettcher secured a position as clerk with Gouldberg & Anderson, at Cambridge, with whom he remained two years. In the spring of 1901 he bought the Central Hotel at Isanti, which he opened for business May 7 of that year. The building is new, having been completed in the fall of the previous year, and has already gained a good name with the traveling public as the leading hotel of the place.

Mr. Boettcher takes an independent stand in politics, but favors the Republican party. He was among the first white children born in Bradford township, and in his youth was a great hunter, having a game range now almost impossible to find within the limits of the United States. Along with the very serious hardships of frontier life, for a robust and healthy lad there was much to compensate and make life worth living, skating, hunting, fishing, sleighing, parties, and much to make the passing days bright and joyous.

Sources

• Ted Bergstrom, firsthand knowledge. See the Changes page for the details of edits by Ted and others.

1. ↑ Family record supplied by Marilyn Nystrom.
2. ↑ Compendium of History and Biography of Northern Minnesota, Containing a History of the State of Minnesota: Also Biographical Sketches of Hundreds of Prominent Old Settlers and Representative Citizens of Northern Minnesota, published in 1902. A link can be found at https://play.google.com/books/reader?id=B2NAAQAAMAAJ&pg=GBS.PA14&hl=en

Date of death found at http://trees.ancestry.com/tree/24712974/person/1552697966