Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Schoenstedt, Christoph 
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Author: Past and Present of Will County, IL; 1907

Christoph Schoenstedt, who has manifested excellent ability and executive 
force in the control of important and varied business interests, is now well 
known as a real estate dealer and money loaner of Monee. He was born in 
Urbaeh, Fuerteutlmin, Sandershausen, Thueringen, Germany, January 30, 1837. 
His parents were Frederick and Frederica (Wilke) Schoenstedt, who were also 
natives of the place in which their son's birth occurred. The father was a 
farmer by occupation and died at the age of seventy-four years, while his wife 
passed away at the age of seventy-five, only six weeks intervening between the 
time of their deaths. Christoph Schoenstedt, one of a family of five children, 
obtained a good education in Germany and when eighteen years of age he came to 
America, spending seven weeks on the water. He landed at New York city and 
there met a friend of his father, who entertained him from the 28th of June 
until after the 4th of July. He then came on westward to Chicago and when he 
saw bodies being carried out of a hotel—victims of cholera—he decided that 
that city was no place to stay. He therefore made his way into the country and 
found employment at farm labor at ten dollars per month. He afterward hired 
out for there years to learn the wagonmakers trade. While thus employed he 
often played the clarionet and cornet with an orchestra, for he was a good 
musician, and in this way he frequently made as high as fifteen dollars per 
week. In 1859 he came to Monee and began business in the line of his trade 
with Fred Schroeder, a blacksmith. This partnership continued for five years. 
In 1875 Mr. Schoenstedt gave up the manufacture of wagons to engage in the 
implement business, and the last year of his connection with the wagon-making 
trade his output was one hundred and five handmade wagons and some of them 
remained in use for a quarter of a century. On coming to Monee Mr. Schoenstedt 
purchased a tract of land of about an acre and half and built the house which 
he occupies. Apple trees which he planted in 1862 are still bearing fruit. He 
has many fine shade trees and also arbors of wild grapes, which make his place 
a most attractive one in the summer. From the grapes he makes an excellent 
quality of wine and has some which is nine years old. For several years Mr. 
Schoenstedt has engaged in the real estate business and in loaning money. He 
handles money for friends in and around Monee, loaning it in Joliet and 
Chicago, and in this business his sons are in partnership with him. He has 
never lost one cent of interest or principal for his patrons. He has been 
financially successful and has made judicious investment in property, today 
owning two hundred and fifteen acres of good farming land adjoining the 
village of Monee, together with some town property and one hundred and sixty 
acres in Minnesota. On the 5th of March, 1859, Mr. Schoenstedt was united in 
marriage to Miss Louisa Gantz, who was born in Germany, May 17, 1839. She has 
been a great help to her husband all these years and many wise and profitable 
business ventures that he has made he attributes to her good judgment and 
sound advice. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Schoenstedt have been born seven children: 
Fred, who was born June 30, 1860, and is a music teacher in Chicago; Anna 
Sophia, who was born February 2, 1862, and is the wife of Diedrich Schenke, a 
merchant of Chicago; Fred, who was born February 13, 1863, and died May 11, 
1864; Lorenz L., who was born October 14, 1865, and is a merchant in Joliet; 
Fred A., who was born February 8, 1867, and is a real estate dealer of Joliet; 
Louise, who was born February 25, 1871, and died February 5, 1883; and August 
Otto, who was born May 1, 1875, and is engaged in the real estate business in 
Chicago. Mr. Schoenstedt provided his children with excellent educational 
advantages. After they had completed the course of study in the Monee schools 
he accorded them the privilege of a two years' course at Elmhurst and in the 
Metropolitan Business College, so that they became well equipped for the 
practical and responsible duties of a business career. Mr. Schoenstedt is an 
active worker in the German Evangelical church and is a man of kindly spirit 
and broad humanitarian principles. He was one of the organizers of the 
Orphans' and Old People's Home, at Bensonville, Illinois, and has been its 
treasurer for eleven years. He is very systematic in keeping the accounts of 
this institution and writes a thousand letters in a year in connection with 
the financial interests of the institution. He is a man of sound judgment and 
strong Christian character and a living example of a "good man." He is also 
one of Monee's most public-spirited citizens and is ever ready to help any 
cause for the advancement of the village or its people. He voted for Abraham 
Lincoln and has been a staunch republican continuously since, thoroughly in 
sympathy with the principles and policy of the party. For ten years he served 
as trustee in the village but whether in office or out of it he is always 
loyal to the best interests of the community and helpful in promoting public 
progress. He is opposed to hypocrisy in the church or everyday life, believing 
one should be judged by his character and his work. His life and influence 
have ever been on the side of right, progress and improvement and he stands as 
the highest type of our German-American citizenship. 

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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