BIOGRAPHY - GOTTLIEB HAHN
Gottlieb
Hahn, a retired agriculturist now making his home in Roberts, this county,
was born in Germany on the 27th of September, 1827. His parents were also
natives of the fatherland and there passed away when our subject was very
young, the latter being now the only survivor of his father's family of five
children.
Gottlieb Hahn acquired his education in the schools of his native land and lived with his sisters until he had attained the age of twenty years, when in 1847 he crossed the Atlantic to the United States that he might enjoy the broader business opportunities which he had heard were offered in the new world. He located first at Hennepin, Putnam county, Illinois, where he was employed as a laborer for a year, after which he removed to La Salle county and worked for one man for two years. He was then married and brought his bride to a log house which he erected near Hennepin, its dimensions being fourteen by sixteen feet. In this primitive structure, with its clapboard roof, he continued to live for several years, subsequently carrying on agricultural pursuits as a renter for nine years. On the expiration of that period he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Livingston county, for which he paid seven dollars per acre and on which he lived for thirteen years. As the years passed by he converted the wild land into rich and fertile fields that annually responded in golden harvests to the care and labor which he bestowed upon them. Moreover, his well directed energy and capable business management brought him a large degree of success and when he had accumulated a competence he retired form active work and has since lived in the enjoyment of well earned ease at his pleasant home in Roberts, Ford county. He is also recognized as one of the pioneer agriculturists of the state, for he did his full share in the work of earl}development and progress here and has watched with interest the transformation of a wild and windswept prairie into a rich farming district, inhabited by a prosperous and contented people.
In 1850 Mr. Hahn was united in marriage to Mrs. Elizabeth Warner, the widow of George Warner and a native of Germany, where her birth occurred in 1820. She accompanied her parents on their removal to Putnam county in 1837 and is the only one now living in their family of four children. By her first marriage Mrs. Hahn had five children, two of whom still survive: Mary, the wife of David Wilsoncroft, residing in Roberts; and Elizabeth, who became the wife of James Moore and makes her home in South Dakota. Unto our subject and his wife have also been born five children, namely: Conrad, of Momence, Illinois; William, who resides in Roberts; Amelia, the wife of David Barnett, also living in Roberts; and two who have passed away. Mrs. Hahn is remarkably well preserved, still doing her own housework with the energy and capability of a much younger woman.
Mr. Hahn has voted with the republican party since becoming a naturalized American citizen and has been prominent in local work of the organization, having held several township offices both in Livingston and Ford counties. Both Mr. and Mrs. Hahn are members of the Congregational church and they receive the respect and veneration which should ever be accorded those who have traveled far on life's journey and whose course has ever been upright and honorable. The hope that led him to leave his native land and seek a home in America has been more than realized. He found the opportunities he sought, which, by the way, are always open to the ambitious, energetic man, — and making the best of these he has steadily worked his way upward.
Extracted 16 Oct 2016 by Norma Hass from History of Ford County, Illinois, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, author E. A. Gardner, Volume 2, pages 506-510.
