BIOGRAPHY - August Buchholz
AUGUST BUCHHOLZ, one of the extensive land-owners and a prominent and
influential citizen of Ford County, residing on section 1, Peach Orchard
Township, claims Prussia as the land of his nativity, and the date of his
birth was August 14, 1824. His parents were Christopher and Elizabeth
Buchholz, and their family numbered four sons and two daughters: Henry,
Elizabeth, William, Rica, August and Charles, but our subject is now the
only surviving one. His father was a shoemaker and followed that trade in
pursuit of fortune. Both he and his wife have also passed away.
August Buchholz attended the common schools until fourteen years of age and
then learned the shoemaker's trade, at which he worked with his father until
twenty years of age, when he enlisted in the army in his native land,
serving a term of three years. He continued to reside in Prussia until 1852,
when he bade good-bye to home and friends and embarked for America upon a
sailing-vessel which reached New York about a month later. He then continued
his journey across the country to Chicago, then just beginning to be a town
of some importance, and there commenced to work at his trade for $4 per
month. After a short time, however, he began work on the Illinois Central
Railroad, which was then in process of building, and was thus employed for
about a year, after which he went to Magnolia, Putnam County, and
established a shoe shop, carrying on business in that line until 1865. In
that year, he removed to Marshall County, where he engaged in farming for
two years, after which he came to Ford County and purchased three hundred
and twenty acres of land, located on section 1, Peach Orchard Township. Here
he has made his home continuously since, carrying on general farming and
stock-raising, and in all his business undertakings he has met with that
success which comes as the result of industry, enterprise and perseverance,
supplemented by good management and close attention to all the details of
business. As his financial resources have increased, he has added to his
possessions, until his lands now aggregate about fifteen hundred acres.
Besides his home farm, he now owns eighty acres on section 35, and one
hundred and sixty acres on section 10, Peach Orchard Township; one hundred
and sixty-eight acres in Lyman Township; three hundred and twenty acres in
Oceola County, Iowa; and six hundred acres of improved land m Jackson
County, Minn.
On the 14th of October, 1855, Mr. Buchholz was united in marriage with Miss
Caroline Funte. Their union has been blessed with eight children, and the
family circle is still unbroken at this writing, the spring of 1892. The
three eldest, Charles, Albert and William, are all business men of Melvin;
Amanda and Emma are at home; Frank and Laura are attending the Normal
College of Bloomington, Ill., and May completes the number. The Buchholz
household is the abode of hospitality and its members rank high in social
circles.
In his political affiliations, Mr. Buchholz is a Republican but has never
sought or desired public office, preferring to devote his entire attention
to his business, which he has followed with signal success. He may truly be
called a self-made man and his life should serve to encourage others, who,
like himself, have to start out to fight life's battle empty-handed. He is
now one of the wealthy citizens of the county as well as one of the leading
men, and it is with pleasure that we present this sketch to our readers.
Extracted 31 Jul 2020 by Norma Hass from Portrait and Biographical Record of Ford County, Illinois, published in 1892, pages 291-292.
