Christian Boettcher (1844 - 1919)

Born 2 Apr 1844 in Plönzig (Kr. Pyritz) Pommern, Prussia

Ancestors

Husband of Anna Eva (Ziebell) Boettcher — married 2 Jun 1873 in Maple Grove, Minnesota [uncertain]

Descendants

Died 4 Apr 1919 at age 75 in Bradford Township, Isanti County, Minnesota

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Biography

The 1910 US census reports that Christian and his wife Anna had 8 children, including a pair of twins, Henry and Martha. All 8 children survived to adulthood. Five of them lived into their 90's and three of them died in their 80's.

The 1910 census reports that Christian speaks on speaks only German, his wife Anna is reported as speaking English.

Paternal Grandparents (by Lillian Boettcher Bergstrom in the 1970s or early 1980s)

My grandfather was Christian Boettcher, born April 2, 1844 in the province [|Pomerania], at that time German, but which has now become a part of Poland.(Note added by Ted Bergstrom--In 1844, all of Pomerania was controlled by Prussia, which joined the German Federation in 1871. After World War II, Pomerania was divided between Poland and East Germany.) He was the third son in a family of seven children. He was educated in Germany and began working away from home on other farms at fourteen years of age. This he did for six years. At the age of twenty he entered service in the Prussian army where he served for three years in [|war against Austria.] Had he remained in Germany he and his brothers would have been required to give more years of army service.

In the spring of 1868 he with his father, mother, two brothers and two sisters emigrated to the United States. They arrived in a sailing vessel after having spent seven weeks at sea. One sister, Hannah, was already living in Maple Grove, Minnesota. It was here that the Boettcher family remained for two years. Christian worked on farms in the summer and in logging camps in the winter. He also worked on the St. Paul to Duluth railroad. One summer he worked in a brickyard in Minneapolis. On his arrival in Minnesota, Christian had bought land in Bradford, Minnesota, under the Homestead Act. In 1870, he and his parents took up residence there. Their first home was a log house 16 X 18 feet in which the family lived for eighteen years. Christian married Anna Ziebell, of Maple Grove, in 1873. The eight children of this union were all born in the log house. The early farming operation was carried on with the help of a team of oxen. One cow supplied milk for the family. The whole neighborhood boasted only one wagon. The pioneers walked to Anoka, their nearest market. ^[1]

The following biography was found in a book BOOK - COMPENDIUM OF HISTORY & BIOGRAPHY OF NORTHERN MINNESOTA, PUBLISHED 1902. Boettcher, Christian.^[2] Christian Boettcher, an old and respected farmer of the town of Bradford, Isnti county, was born in Prussia, April 2, 1844, and was the third son of a family of seven children born to his father, a laborer in the village. He was reared and educated in his German home and at the age of fourteen years started for himself, mostly employed at farm work for the ensuing six years. For three years he was a soldier in the Prussian army and served in the war with Austria, being in three different battles in that short but decisive struggle. In the spring of 1868 he came to the United States, being a little over five weeks on the way in a sailing ship. He brought with him his father and mother, two brothers and two sisters, all of whom are now dead. One sister, who came over in 1864, is living in Hennepin county. Mr Boettcher came to Hennepin county from New York and secured employment at farm work during the season and, in the winter, was in the woods. In 1869 he worked on the St. Paul & Duluth Railway, a line of work he followed for two years, keeping with the construction of the road until it entered Duluth, at that time that place having only three buildings. He was employed one summer in a brick yard in Minneapolis and, in 1870, settled on his farm in Isanti county on section 34, which he had secured on his first arrival in the state. Mr. Boettcher was married in 1872 to Miss Anna Ziebell, born in Germany, and a daughter of Charles Ziebell, who lived and died in that country. To this union were born: William, Frederick, Mary, Charles, Ida, Elizabeth and Henry and Martha, who are twins. All were born on the farm. Mr. Boettcher began farming with a yoke of oxen and a cow and had Anoka for his nearest market. There was only one wagon in the neighborhood. He had a log house, 16 x 18 feet, in which he lived eighteen years, and in which all his children were born. In 1888 he built a new home and used the old log house for a barn. In his earlier farming he raised considerable stock, and often his cattle would go astray and the family would spent two or three days in hunting them. There were hard and difficult years through which the Boettcher family had to pass. One year hail destroyed the entire crop; then wind storms did damage to the buildings. In 1879 he was able to find bread with the greatest difficulty for the family. But he passed through all the trouble and trial, and now owns a fine farm of two hundred acres with about eighty acres under cultivation. This is aside from the eighty he passed to his oldest son. The house is 18 x 26 feet with an addition 14 x 20 feet. The barn is 50 x 28 feet; there is a large granary, a commodious and well appointed chicken coop, farm machinery as the place needs, abundant water for the stock, and a fine run of pasture and hay land. All this has come by hard work and good management. He borrowed money to pay his fare to Minneapolis, and he worked the first season to pay his debts. With his family he belongs to the Lutheran church and was instrumental in the erection of the pleasant and attractive house of worship which that church possesses.

From his obituary: "Christian Frederick Boettcher passed away very suddenly Saturday morning, April 5, 1919. Heart failure was the cause of his death. He was born April 2, 1844 in Province Pommern, Gemany. He was the third son of a family of seven childrenof which he was the last one who survived. For three years he was a soldier in the Prussian army and served in the war with Austria. In the spring of 1868 he came to the United States, being seven weeks on the water in a sailing ship. He came to Minnesota and located in Maple Grove, Hennepin County. Two years later, he came to Bradford, Isanti County, and homesteaded the farm that he resided on until the time of his death. "

Sources

Christian is buried in Bradford Cemetery. Birth and Death dates recorded on his gravestone are consistent with other birth and death records

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

Obituary found in family records.

Christian's birth record was found in church record books, microfilm stored at Zentralstelle für Genealogie, Leipzig available from LDS FamilySearch. It appears on page 585 of the microfilm.

``Evangelische Kirche Plönzig (Kr. Pyritz). Kirchenbuchduplikat, 1821-1873. Greifswald : Staatsarchiv, 1982. 1 reel of microfilm. Parish register transcripts of baptisms, marriages and deaths for Plönzig, Pommern, Germany, now Płońsko (Pyrzyce), Szczecin, Poland. Also includes Gartz and Rosenfelde.

1. ↑ Copy of notes supplied by June Kushida, Jul 22, 2011
2. ↑ accessed online at http://www.dalbydata.com/user.php?action=resultobits&sort=firstname&lastname=boe&firstname=&newspaper=&date=&notes=&SearchObits=Search