Logan County Illinois Biography of Adam Frederick Bock and Miriam Therese Otte Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm Submitted by: William L. Stephenson, Jr., Biography of Adam Frederick Bock and Miriam Therese Otte History of Logan County Illinois 1982 - Adam and Miriam Bock Transcription by William L. Stephenson, Jr., - Historian, Bock Family Association Note that this material is written by the principals and is autobiographical. On June 10, 1945, Adam Bock and Miriam Otte were married in Lincoln, Illinois, and settled on a 220 acre farm, two miles west of Lawndale, that has been in the Bock family since 1929. They have been livestock and grain farmers, raising purebred Hampshire hogs during the 40s' and 50's, feeder cattle in the 50's and 60's, and recently, just corn, soybeans and some wheat. Adam and his brother, Walter, have worked as a partnership, know as Bock Brothers, in much of their business. Adam Frederick Bock, fifth son of John Henry and Wilhelmina Awe Bock, was born September 8, 1916, in Oran Township, Logan County. He and his brothers, Henry, Walter, William, and Carl, with their sister Hilda, grew up on the family farm four miles north of Beason, Logan County, Illinois. He was confirmed in the St. John's Evangelical and Reformed Church in 1931, at Lincoln, Illinois, attended the Mt. Zion country school and graduated from the Beason High School in 1933, as the class salutatorian. During W.W.II, he served with the 11th Army Depot Group with the 8th and 15th Army Air Corps as a Master Sergeant in England, Africa, Sicily and Italy, from January 2, 1942 to September 30, 1945. Miriam Therese Otte Bock was born in East Lincoln Township, Logan County, Illinois, on December 18, 1920, the second youngest daughter of William C. and Emma Von Drehle Otte, in a family of two boys and five girls: Bertha (Mrs. Paul) Dahmm, Henry (1911-1981), Armin, Emma (Mrs. William) Bock, Tryphena (Mrs. Julius) Aper (1916-1964), and Esther Otte. She was confirmed in the Immanuel Lutheran Church at Lincoln in 1934, attended the Duff country school and graduated from the Lincoln Community High School in 1939. She received her RN Degree after graduating from the Deaconess Hospital Nurses Training School in 1943 and did Industrial Nursing at the Sangamon Ordinance Plant in Illiopolis, Illinois. Known as "Billie", she enjoys homemaking, gardening and flowers, crafts, sewing and is a cat fancier. She is a Charter Member of the Homemakers Extension Association, serving on the Finance Committee and the County Board for some years. Adam Bock has always been interested in promoting and bettering agriculture, served on the County farm Bureau Board (treasurer four years), the County Extension Council (president two years), and helped promote the Soil Bank Plan for Agriculture. He was instrumental in organizing the County Swine Herd Improvement Association, the forerunner of the Pork Producers Organization, the local Hereford Cattle Association, and in promoting 4-H and County Fair activities. He served as a director of the State Hampshire Association. His concern in trying to help farm people to better express themselves inspired his helping to organize the Logan Agriculture Toastmasters Club in 1953. He has served in its various offices and in 1968 served as Governor of District 8 and on the National board of Toastmasters International, 1971-1973. He served on the local Hospital Board for a number of years during the building of the Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Lincoln. He is a member of the Atlanta Post of the American legion, having served as Commander and presently, as Chaplain. He served for a number of years on the Lawndale Elementary School board, the Citizens Advisory Council (president) or the Lincoln Community High School, on the State Survey Committee for the establishment of Junior Colleges in Illinois, and helped establish the Agriculture curriculum at the Lincoln College. In 1974, Adam was appointed to the County Building Commission which guided the project of building the new $1,250,000 Logan County Safety Complex in Lincoln, serving as its chairman. When the Bocks started farming, they built a small frame home, since building materials were very hard to acquire during the War years, and in 1962-63, they built a permanent home on the farm, designing their own plans and also doing much of the finish work.