Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Hentze, Lafayette M 1833 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com May 10, 2007, 3:11 am

Author: Portrait & Bio Album, 1890

LAFAYETTE M. HENTZE. This gentleman is "mine host" of the Hotel Monroe, in 
Joliet, which he conducts in an admirable manner, every department of the 
excellent hostelry being carefully overseen. The hotel contains seventy-two 
rooms, is well furnished throughout, and its table supplied with a bill of 
fare which includes all the substantial of the cuisine and the appetizing 
luxuries which add a relish to the more needful foods and appeal to the palate 
of the more dainty. The acute perception which at once detects the needs of 
guests, and the cordial manner which makes them at home, are manifested by our 
subject in a commendable degree and add to the popularity of the house over 
which he has control. The forefathers of our subject lived in Holland, whence 
at the time of the Revolution, his direct progenitor came to America as a 
Hessian soldier. Settlement was then made in the States of which the family 
have been citizens since that time. Henry Hentze, who was born in Vermont, 
married Miss Charity Gould, of New York, and reared several children, of whom 
the subject of this sketch is the youngest. The father was for many years a 
hop raiser and teamster in New York, whence he came to Illinois in 1850, 
accompanied by his son L. M. The same year other members came, the group in 
this State then comprising the parents, two sons and three daughters, and two 
married daughters remaining in the East. Of the entire family those now living 
are Sarah, wife of George Monroe, of Joliet; Mrs. Polly Ford, of Aurora; Mrs. 
Louisa Northam, of the same place; Mrs. Cornelia Parker, of Watertown, N. Y.; 
George W., a dealer in cigars and tobacco in Joliet; and the subject of this 
sketch. The birth of L. M. Hentze occurred in Jefferson County, N. Y. December 
6, 1833, and in his native State he passed his boyhood and early youth, 
acquiring his early education in the common schools. He was not yet seventeen 
years of age when he became a resident of Illinois, where he continued to make 
his home under the parental roof until after the breaking out of the Civil 
War. On July 9, 1862, he was enrolled as a member of Company I, One Hundredth 
Illinois Infantry, and from that time until the close of the war accompanied 
his regiment in their various campaigns, with the exception of four months 
spent in the hospital at Nashville, Tenn. After having taken part in various 
battles, skirmishes andweary marches, enduring the hardships of a soldier's 
life and manifesting his loyalty and gallantry throughout his career as a 
soldier, he returned to the pursuits of agriculture in the southern part of 
this county. In 1870, Mr. Hentze went to Dakota, where he continued his 
agricultural labors seven years. Having been seriously tormented by 
grasshoppers, he determined to leave the field to the insect hordes and 
returned to the Prairie State. He secured employment with Monroe & Sons in 
Joliet, retaining his position ten years, after which he spent two years in 
the employ of Monroe & Seaver. His next enterprise was to assume the 
management of the hotel over which he still has charge. He is a Republican and 
a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. An important event in the life of 
our subject was his marriage, April 9, 1856, to Miss Ann K. Pelton, who has 
proved her worth as a wife and mother and is respected by her acquaintances. 
They are the parents of three children—Henry A., a painter in Joliet; William 
J., manager of the hotel: and Anna S., who assists in the oversight of the 
affairs of the hotel.

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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