Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Bredemeyer, William 1824 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 5, 2007, 2:12 pm

Author: Portraits & Bio Sketches, 1890

WILLIAM BREDEMEYER. 

It would need but a casual glance over his estate, even from one unacquainted 
with the relative value of soils and unaccustomed to farm life, to recognize 
the fact that the above-named gentleman is a thorough agriculturist. The one 
hundred and sixty acres in the southwest quarter of section 13, Washington 
Township, are so well improved and kept in such excellent order as to attract 
the attention of all passers-by and lead all to agree in their verdict 
regarding the owner. Mr. Bredemeyer was one of the early settlers in this 
vicinity, but having come to stay he put forward his best efforts to make of 
his home one of the best farms in Northern Illinois. Before outlining the life-
history of our subject it will not be amiss to devote a brief space to that of 
his ancestors. His grandfather, Christopher Bredemeyer, and his father, 
William, Sr., were of old German stock and born in Algesdorf, Germany. There 
father and son were engaged in farming, and both were noted for their great 
strength and massive frames. William Bredemeyer was over seven feet in height 
and of proportionate weight. He lived to be more than four-score years old, 
while his father reached the advanced age of ninety-three years. Both were 
life-long members of the Lutheran Church. William Bredemeyer, Sr., married a 
lady who became the mother of two children, our subject and his sister Mary, 
who lived and died in Germany. The mother was possessed of remarkable physical 
strength and a disposition and character worthy of remembrance by her 
posterity. When in the prime of life she was stricken by a fever and after a 
short illness breathed her last, leaving our subject motherless before he was 
eight years old. The subject of this biograpical notice was born June 9, 1824, 
in Algersdorf, Germany, and passed his boyhood and youth in his native land. 
In 1845, while he yet lacked some months of having reached his majority, he 
left Bremerhaven on a sailing vessel bound for New York. After a voyage of six 
weeks a landing was made and the young man continued his journey to Chicago, 
Ill. He spent ten years in Cook County, always engaged in farm labor, and at 
the expiration of that period obtained from the Government the land which he 
now owns and occupies. A decided change has taken place in its aspect and 
surroundings since he took possession of it in 1854, and the change is highly 
creditable to him who has made the desert blossom as the rose. In Cook County 
Mr. Bredemeyer made the acquaintance of Miss Sophia Reesen, an industrious and 
worthy young woman who was gaining a livelihood as a domestic. Her good 
qualities won his regard, which was reciprocated and they became man and wife. 
Mrs. Bredemeyer was born in Repen, Germany, February 17, 1827, and began to 
earn her own living when quite young, having lost her parents. In 1846, she 
crossed the briny deep alone to make a home for herself in a foreign land. She 
is the mother of fifteen children, three of whom, died in infancy and the son, 
Henry, at the age of twenty-six years. The living members of the family are 
William, Jr., a farmer at Barnsville, Clay County, Minn.; John, who married a 
lady of Minnesota and is living in Clay County; Sophia, wife of William Hecht, 
a farmer of the same county; Christoph, who is farming in the same county and 
in that State married a native of Saxony; Fred, who is still at home and helps 
to manage the farm; Mary, wife of John Meyer, of Crown Point, Ind., and 
traveling salesman; Christ, who is unmarried and working in Chicago; Louisa 
and Herman, at home; Amelia, who is living in Chicago; and Emma, at home. All 
the children are self-supporting and inherit the industrious habits and 
thrifty ways of their parents. Mr. Bredemeyer is a believer in and a supporter 
of the principles of the Democratic party. He and his wife belong to the 
Lutheran Church.

Additional Comments:
Portrait and Biographical Album of Will County, Illinois, Containing Full Page 
Portraits and Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative Citizens 
of the County; Chicago: Chapman Bros., 1890 
 


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