Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Brumund, Diedrich 1848 - ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 9, 2007, 12:04 am Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890 DIEDRICH BRUMUND. A high rank among the farmers of Green Garden Township is accorded to the gentleman above named, and he well deserves the good report of his fellow-men by reason of his energy and activity in his own worldly affairs and in public enterprises, as well as for his pleasing traits of character. He owns one hundred and twenty acres on section 29, eighty acres on section 28, and forty acres on section 32, this fine body of land lying about eight miles from Frankfort. His residence is a very pleasant one, as may well be imagined by the reader, who will notice a view of it in this volume. Diedrich Brumund, Sr., the father of our subject, was an early settler in this township to which he came in 1849. He was born in Oldenburg, Germany, and there received an excellent education to which was subsequently added the knowledge of the Dutch language, which he acquired while clerking in Holland. He became a merchant and was succeeding in his career when he determined to try his fortunes in the New World. Crossing the Atlantic he selected Will County, Ill., as the scene of his future labors and the second year after his arrival bought land near Mokena and settled upon it. He began store-keeping on his farm, but when the railroad was built through the neighboring village he abandoned his former occupation and gave his entire attention to farming. His early experiences were not always pleasing, including as they did the hauling of goods from Chicago with oxen, which on one occasion ran away into the canal. Mr. Brumund became the possessor of three hundred and seventeen acres in the home farm, and some seven hundred acres in Green Garden Township, together with Iowa land and two sections in Stoddard County, Mo. As he was able to get land cheap from the Government when he first came and soon became successful in his farm work, it is easy to see one reason for his great prosperity. He bought soldiers' land warrants, in this way also adding to his real estate and likewise adding to the funds at the command of the lads who were not able to cultivate the ground. He was a fine mathematician and scholar possessed a large amount of the spirit which desires the development of the country, and became well known, not simply as a man whose labors are crowned with worldly success, but as a worthy citizen and upright man. He belonged to the Evangelical Lutheran Church and helped in building the edifice in which the congregation worshipped. He breathed his last February 17, 1885, in his sixty-seventh year. The wife of Diedrich Brumund, Sr., bore the maiden name of Nicholine Folkers. Like her husband, she was a native of Oldenburg, in which city their marriage was celebrated. She is now living in Englewood, Cook County. When she and her husband came to America they were accompanied by four children. Others were added to their family, seven being the number who grew to maturity. Of these the oldest, G. H., enlisted in 1861 in the Twentieth Illinois Infantry and after serving three months came home seemingly at the point of death. He recovered his health however, and again enlisted, becoming a member of the Sixty-fifth regiment, with which he served until again taken very ill. He was removed to the Quincy Hospital and finally taken to his home. He lived until 1883 when he breathed his last in Florida. Next on the family roll were Peter and Helen, twins, the former of whom became a physician and died in Colorado in the fall of 1889; his twin sister married L. Jorndt, and is living in Stoddard County, Mo. The next of the family circle is the subject of this notice, and following him are Julia, wife of Prof. J. Lender, of Elmhurst College, and Lina and Lizzie who live in Englewood. This gentleman whose cognomen forms the heading of this sketch, was born November 16, 1848, in Oldenburg, Germany. He was still an infant when his parents left Bremerhaven on the sailing vessel "Ornholt Boming" and seven weeks later landed in New York. His boyhood was spent upon the farm in this State and he attended the district schools. He was early taught to work and no man in the county has labored harder than he. He plowed when he was so small that the handles were scarcely within his reach. When twenty years old he and his brother, G. H., went to the Indian Territory to cut hay, the latter having a cattle ranche. They traveled by rail to Leavenworth, Kan., and there bought a team with which they continued their journey to Baxter Springs on the Spring River, which they made their headquarters. They remained there six months, putting up some six hundred tons of hay, paying the Indians twenty-five cents per acre for the privilege of cutting. Young Brumund liked the country and had no objection to his employment, but he could not stand the chills and in November returned by stage to Ft. Scott, and thence by cars to his home. After spending two weeks with his friends he went to Bloomfield, Stoddard County, Mo., and taking possession of one hundred and sixty acres of his father's land near there, he improved and operated it until the following July. He then returned to the Prairie State and led the lady of his choice to the hymeneal altar, the interesting ceremony which united their lives and fortunes taking place in Joliet, August 29, 1870. The young couple began house-keeping on the Missouri farm, remaining there until November, 1872, when they again became residents of Illinois. Mr. Brumund operated his father's place near Mokena six years and in March 1879, traded, his own Missouri property for one hundred and twenty acres of the farm upon which he now lives. With the exception of a small house no improvements had been made, and the new owner at once began the course which has resulted in making of the property one of the most pleasant homes in this section. He broke the land, put in tiling, built an excellent house, barn and other edifices, set out an orchard and grove, and enclosed and divided the land by good fences. The barn is eighteen feet high and has a ground dimension of 30x68 feet; the corn crib is 40x26 feet, and the other structures are of corresponding size. Additional land has been purchased by Mr. Brumund and he is carrying on a successful business in the cultivation of grain, principally corn and oats, and in the raising of hogs, cattle and other stock, he now has about twenty head of Holsteins of good grade. The lady to whose housewifely skill and amiable disposition Mr. Brumund owes the comfort of his home life, bore the maiden name of Dorothea Battenhausen. She was born in Kur-Hessian, Germany, March 19, 1850, being the oldest child of Adam and Catherine (Walper) Battenhausen, who were born in the same village as herself. The other members of the household in which she spent her maidenhood are Henry, now living in Martin County, Minn.; Mrs. Jenny Baumgartner of Peotone; and Mrs. Katie Saunter of Frankfort Township. In 1853, Mr. Battenhausen emigrated to America, settling in Cook County, Ill., where he continued his former occupation of a farmer. In that county he died in 1864, at the age of forty-seven years. He had been a soldier in the German army and for some years had official rank. He belonged to the Evanglical Church. Mrs. Battenhausen survived until February, 1888, being an inmate of our subject's home during the latter years of her life. She was sixty-seven years old when called from time to eternity. Mr. and Mrs. Brumund are the parents of five children, named respectively, Lydia K., Diedrich A., Frank G., Alvin L. and Lina A. The older daughter was graduated at Valparaiso, Ind., taking the business coarse in the college there and nearly completing the two years teacher's course. She is now engaged in teaching in the neighborhood of her home and is successfully pursuing her chosen vocation. The oldest son is now pursuing his studies in the Wentworth School, Chicago. For seven years Mr. Brumund has been a member of the School Board of which at this writing he is Clerk. He held the office of Assessor for one year. In politics he is a sturdy Republican and his services have been called into requisition as a member of the Central Committe, and delegate to county conventions. He is enrolled among the members of the Evangelical Church at Peotone, and was formerly Trustee. 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 File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/brumund1482nbs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/ File size: 9.1 Kb