Grundy County IL Archives Biographies.....Seck, Frederick 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com March 25, 2006, 8:53 pm

Author: Bio/Gen Record LaSalle/Grundy 1900

FREDERICK SECK.

The tales of battle have been a theme of song and story since the earliest 
ages, and the public ever yields its tribute of respect and admiration to the 
man who risks his life in defense of country or of principle. Mr. Seck is one 
of the honored veterans of the civil war who "wore the blue" and aided in the 
defense of the Union until the national government at Washington established 
its authority and the Confederates were overthrown. He was born in Baden, 
Germany, November 7, 1843, and is a son of Michael and Catherine (Boner) Seck. 
His father was also a native of Baden, where he owned and operated a sawmill. 
He had two brothers who served in the German army. In 1853 he started with his 
family for America, sailing from Havre, France, to New Orleans on the vessel 
Mercy, which reached the Crescent City after a voyage of forty-eight days. Two 
days later Mr. Seck died of cholera, and eight days after their arrival Mr. 
Boner, the maternal grandfather of our subject, also died of the same disease. 
Mrs. Seck, with her three children,—Lena, Frederick and Michael,—came to 
Ottawa, Illinois, and a few years later she married Lawrence Duttenhoffer, a 
farmer, whose birth occurred in Germany. After his arrival in Illinois he took 
up his abode in what is now Rutland township, LaSalle county, upon a farm of 
one hundred acres. There he and his wife spent their remaining days, the 
mother of our subject dying in 1892, at a very advanced age.

Frederick Seck was a lad of ten summers when he came with his parents to 
America. He had attended school in the Fatherland, where he had learned to 
read and write. As soon as his mother married he began work on his 
stepfather's farm and assisted in the cultivation and improvement of the place 
until after the inauguration of the civil war, when, prompted by a spirit of 
patriotism, he enlisted, in July, 1862, as a private in Company C, Eighty-
eighth Illinois Infantry, or the Second Chicago Board of Trade Regiment, 
continuing at the front until honorably discharged at Nashville, Tennessee, in 
May, 1865. He participated in a number of important battles, including the 
engagements at Perryville, Kentucky, Stone River, Tennessee, Chickamauga, 
Missionary Ridge and the engagements of the famous Atlanta campaign. At the 
battle of Resaca he was shot in the forehead, his skull being fractured by the 
ball, and for some weeks thereafter he was forced to remain in the hospital. 
He rejoined his regiment at the battle of Kenesaw mountain, and was also in 
the engagements at Peach Tree creek and Jonesboro, after which his regiment 
joined General Thomas' command and participated in the hard-fought battles of 
Franklin and Nashville. He was never taken prisoner and was always engaged in 
active service, with the exception of the few weeks spent in the hospital on 
account of his wounds. Loyally and cheerfully he performed his service for his 
country, following the old flag until it was planted in triumph in the capital 
of the southern Confederacy.

When the country no longer needed his service Mr. Seck returned to Illinois, 
where he resumed farming. He was married in Grundy county, October 10, 1866, 
to Miss Louisa Colwell, who was born November 22, 1847, in Chillicothe, 
Illinois, her parents being Elias and Annie (Starkey) Colwell. Her father was 
born in Kentucky and was a representative of one of the colonial families, his 
grandfather having been a soldier in the Revolutionary war. A native of 
England, he had come to America when this country was still numbered among the 
colonial possessions of Great Britain. Robert Colwell, the father of Elias, 
was a soldier in the war of 1812, and was a pioneer of Kentucky. He married 
Esther Dornan, and their children were: Robert, Henry, John, Willie and 
Lucretia.

Leaving Kentucky, Robert Colwell became one of the early settlers of Peoria 
county, Illinois, where he owned a good farm which he obtained from the 
government. His son, Elias Colwell, was born in Kentucky, and throughout his 
life engaged in farming. In Hocking county, Ohio, he married Hannah Starkey, 
and their children were Melissa, Esther, Louisa, and several who died in 
childhood. Elias Colwell also came to Illinois and secured a wild tract of 
land in Peoria county, transforming it into a richly developed farm. 
Subsequently he removed to Grundy county, where he made his home for a few 
years, and for a short time he was a resident of Livingston county. He then 
returned to Peoria county and died at the home of our subject, on the 26th of 
October, 1891. He was twice married, his second union being with Mary 
Defrenbaugh, by whom he had one son, Samuel.

After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Seck took up their abode on a farm in 
LaSalle county, where they remained two years, and in 1868 they removed to 
Grundy county, settling in what is now Maine township. Their present farm was 
purchased in 1869, a tract of eighty acres, on which Mr. Seek has made good 
improvements, adding thereto all the accessories and conveniences of a model 
farm. His home has been blessed with six children: Lellie May, who was born in 
Grundy county, June 12, 1868; Frederick, who was born in Grundy county, 
September 7, 1869, and died October 27, 1889, at the age of twenty years; 
William H., who was born July 19, 1871; Minnie, born November 7, 1874; Louisa, 
born September 18, 1877; and Nathan, born June 29, 1879.

Mr. Seck is an honored and valued member of Sedgwick Post, No. 305, G. A. R., 
and is the present commander, having filled the office for two terms. He has 
also occupied other official positions therein. In politics he is a stalwart 
Republican, and has served on the school board nine years, during which time 
his labors and efforts have been very effective in promoting the cause of 
education. His thrift and energy are numbered among his most marked 
characteristics and have been the means of bringing to him a comfortable 
competence, so that he is now enabled to enjoy the comforts and many of the 
luxuries of life. As a citizen he is public-spirited and progressive, 
withholding his support from no measure which he believes will advance the 
general good.

Additional Comments:
Source:  Biographical and Genealogical Record of La Salle and Grundy County, 
Illinois, Volume 11, Chicago, 1900, p718-720

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