Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Schmuhl, Henry 
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Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 14, 2008, 12:21 am

Author: Past & Present Will County IL 1907

HENRY SCHMUHL. Will county is indebted to Germany for many of her best 
citizens, and among this number Henry Schmuhl finds place. Coming to this 
country ignorant of the language and the customs of American people, he soon 
adapted himself to the changed conditions which confronted him, gradually 
working his way upward from a humble beginning until he is today the owner of 
four hundred acres of land, situated on section 23, New Lenox township, 
constituting him one of the wealthy and honorable residents of this locality. 
Mr. Schmuhl was born in the fatherland in 1826 and lost his mother when but 
six months old. His father, Christ Schmuhl, was a miller by trade and always 
made his home in the old country, passing away there at the age of sixty-eight 
years. Mr. Schmuhl has one brother, Charles, who still resides in Germany. Mr. 
Schmuhl was married in his native country, to Miss Mary Kitzerow, who was 
there born in 1826, their wedding being celebrated in 1851. The year following 
their marriage they set sail for American shores, taking passage on the 
steamer Gutenberg, which, after a voyage of eight weeks, reached the harbor of 
New York. They then made their way by water to Buffalo and Detroit, spending a 
short time in each city, and from the latter place continued their journey to 
Chicago. From the western metropolis Mr. Schmuhl then made his way to Mokena, 
where he worked on the railroad for three and a half years. Believing that he 
would find agricultural pursuits more congenial and being ambitious to make 
for himself and family a comfortable home, he then came to New Lenox township, 
where he purchased a farm of forty acres, paying for this forty dollars per 
acre. This was in the year 1856, and he immediately removed to his new home. 
As the years have come and gone and he has prospered in his undertakings he 
has added to his original holdings until today his farm embraces a tract of 
four hundred acres, constituting one of the valuable and well improved farms 
of Will county. He has erected many substantial buildings upon his place, 
these including a commodious country residence, and he has likewise made many 
other improvements. His labors have ever been characterized by a persistency 
of purpose and a spirit of industry that always result in most gratifying 
success. He keeps everything about his place in excellent condition, so that 
the farm with all of its equipments forms an attractive feature of the 
landscape. Unto our subject and his wife have been born six children: Andrew, 
who died in infancy; Ida, now the wife of Christ Beckstein, residing in 
Mokena, Illinois; Henry, a resident farmer of New Lenox township; Emma, the 
wife of Fred Guither; and Charles and William, who follow farming in New Lenox 
township. Mr. Schmuhl may truly be called a self-made man, for all that he 
today possesses and enjoys has been acquired through his own labor. For about 
forty years he and his wife have been members of the German Lutheran church 
and they contributed liberally toward the erection of the church at Mokena, 
where they hold membership.

Additional Comments:
PAST AND PRESENT OF WILL COUNTY, ILLINOIS By W. W. Stevens President of the 
Will County Pioneers Association; Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing 
Company, 1907

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