Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Lotz, Hon Jacob F 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com September 8, 2007, 12:02 am

Author: Genealogical & Biographical Record

HON. JACOB F. LOTZ. It is always a proof of ability and faithfulness when a 
man remains with the same firm for a long period of years, discharging 
responsible duties in an intelligent and praiseworthy manner.  Such is the 
record of the subject of this sketch, who came to Lockport July 20, 1858, as 
head miller for Norton & Co., and continued in that capacity and as 
superintendent until January, 1899, a period of more than forty years.  
Finally failing health rendered it advisable for him to sever his connection 
with the company and he retired to private life.  He has been active in local 
matters, and was elected the first mayor of Lockport, holding the office for 
two terms.  At another time he served as president of the board of trustees of 
Lockport.  For fifteen years he was a member of the school board and during 
much of that time served as its president; during his connection with the 
board the high school and other buildings were erected.  In politics he has 
always been a Democrat.  Fraternally he is identified with Lockport Lodge No. 
538, A. F. & A. M., of which he is chaplain; and is also a member of Joliet 
Commandery No. 4, K. T. With his family he attends the Methodist Episcopal 
Church, and at the time of the erection of the house of worship he served on 
the building committee.

Near Altoona, Blair County, Pa., our subject was born May 18, 1824, a son of 
Jacob and Catherine (Troxell) Lotz, natives respectively of Germany and 
Cambria County, Pa.  His father, after having learned the miller's trade and 
served in the German army, came to the United States and settled in what is 
now Huntingdon County, Pa.  

When his son was eighteen months old he was accidentally killed by a tree 
falling upon him in a storm. His wife, who died in Blair County, was the 
daughter of a Revolutionary soldier, a member of Washington's body guard. By 
her first husband, Mr. Robinson, she had two children, both now deceased. Of 
her second marriage six children were born, two of whom are living, John Lotz, 
of Huntingdon County, Pa., and our subject.

When Mr. Lotz was nine years of age he was orphaned by his mother's death. He 
was then taken into a farmer's home, with the understanding that he would be 
permitted to attend school winters, but instead, he was obliged to work both 
summer and winter.  At eighteen years of age, having determined to obtain an 
education, he made arrangements for working for his board, with the privilege 
of studying.  This he did, and in a measure made up for his lack of earlier 
opportunities.  Afterward he worked in a mill at $6 per month, remaining there 
for several years. After his marriage, in 1848, he rented a mill, which he 
operated for three years.  In 1854 he came west to Illinois; finding business 
dull in Lockport, he went to Dixon, where he worked for three years or more, 
but was unfortunate in losing $1,000 that he had saved.  From Dixon he 
returned to Lockport, and has since made his home here.  During the Civil war 
he was drafted in the army, but was rejected on a physician's examination, 
owing to physical disability.

The first wife of Mr. Lotz was Elizabeth Ramsey, who died in Lockport, January 
25, 1867, leaving three daughters: Keturah, Mary and Ida. His second marriage 
was to Miss Lucy Ramsey, of Lockport, by whom he has four sons and one 
daughter, namely: Henry, a graduate of the Philadelphia Dental College, and 
now engaged in practice in Lockport; George, who is with the Adams Express 
Company, in Chicago; Louis, who is bookkeeper for a Lockport firm; John, a 
student in the Illinois University; and Ella, at home.


Additional Comments:
Genealogical and Biographical Record of Will County Illinois Containing 
Biographies of Well Known Citizens of the Past and Present, Biographical 
Publishing Company, Chicago, 1900

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