Will County IL Archives Biographies.....BELTZNER, AUGUST 
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Paula Winke-Martisek wranglerjack@comcast.net September 19, 2007, 12:37 am

Author: GENEALOGICAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD

AUGUST BELTZNER,  superintendent of the Meeker avenue (or, as it is more 
commonly  known, the Spring street) mill of the American Steel and Wire 
Company of Joliet, was born in Baden, Germany, August 1, 1844.  His father, 
William, a blacksmith by trade, participated in the revolution of 1848, for 
which reason he left Germany and came to America.  He opened a shop in Mauch 
Chunk, Pa., and secured all of the trade of the Lehigh Navigation Company, in 
addition to his custom work.  He continued there until his retirement from 
business.  After his wife died he made his home with his son, August, in 
Johnstown, Pa., where he died September 9, 1893, aged sixty-seven years and 
three months.  His body was taken to Mauch Chunk and buried by the side of his 
wife.  When he first came to America he allied himself with the Democrats, but 
at the time of the Civil war and during Lincoln's candidacy for president he 
allied himself with the Republican party and afterward adhered to its 
principles.  In religion he was of the Lutheran faith.  By his marriage to 
Elizabeth Kuntzman he had eight children, all still living; one son, Charles, 
carries on business at the old shop in Mauch Chunk.  At the time the family 
came to the United States our subject was little more than six years of age. 
He was reared in Mauch Chunk and learned the blacksmith's trade with his 
father.  At the same time he learned wire drawing. When the war opened his 
sympathies were entirely with the Union.  In 1862 he enlisted in the One 
Hundred and Thirty-second Pennsylvania Regiment, and served in that regiment 
for nine months.  On the expiration of his time he enlisted in the One Hundred 
and Eighty-sixth Infantry for three years, or until the close of the war.  
Among his most important engagements were those at Antietam, Fredericksburg 
and Chancellorsville, in the last of which he was wounded.  At the close of 
the rebellion he returned home, where he served four years at the trade of 
boiler-making.  This occupation he afterward followed in Mauch Chunk and at 
Summit Hill for the Lehigh Navigation Company, having charge of the boiler 
shop about two years.  On his return to Mauch Chunk he worked in a wire mill 
for one and one-half years. For thirteen years he was with the Cambria Iron 
Company of Johnstown, and during the last eleven of these years he was foreman 
of the company's wire mill.  When the great flood came he had charge of the 
men who were engaged in rebuilding the mill, but as the catastrophe changed 
the company's plans and the mill was not completed, he left the town.  Coming 
to Joliet in 1892, Mr. Beltzner took charge of the Ashley wire mill.  He has 
since had charge of the mill, which is now the property of the American Steel 
and Wire Company.  Under his supervision are sixty-five men, whose work he 
oversees, showing good judgment and great energy in the exercise of his 
duties.  In national affairs he votes with the Republicans, but in local 
matters he votes for the man rather than party.  For years he was active in 
local affairs, serving as delegate to conventions, member of committees, etc.  
While in Johnstown he joined the Masonic order, and is also a member of the 
Knights of the Golden Eagle.  Until coming to Illinois he was identified with 
the Lutheran Church, but since then he has had his membership in the 
Presbyterian Church.  At Mauch Chunk, January 9, 1868, Mr. Beltzner married 
Miss Christiana Theaubaugh, of that city.  Ten children were born of their 
union, viz.: Elizabeth C, wife of Harry Clark, of Homestead, Pa.; Mary W., 
wife of Burgoyne McDowell, also of Homestead; William George, deceased; Robert 
John, a machinist; Margaret A., wife of Frank Walker, of Joliet; Annie E., 
Ella N., August, Jr., Roy I. and Viola F. 

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