Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Schroeder, Frederick J 
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Deb Haines ddhaines@gmail.com December 3, 2007, 6:56 am

Author: Past & Present, 1907

Frederick J. Schroeder, who throughout his business career has been connected 
with the mercantile interests of Peotone, is now at the head of one of the 
leading commercial establishments as a member of the firm of Schroeder 
Brothers. He was born is Monee, Will county, in 1863, and comes of German 
lineage. His father, Frederick Schroeder, was a native of Germany, and in 1857 
came to the United States, locating at Cottage Hill, now Elmhurst, Illinois, 
where he remained for six months. He then removed to Monee, where he conducted 
a blacksmith shop until 1865, and in the following year he bought a farm in 
Green Garden township, residing thereon for six months, but a hailstorm ruined 
his crop and he removed to Peotone, where he again engaged in blacksmithing 
for a time. He afterward opened a mercantile establishment in which he 
continued for thirty years, being one of the leading merchants of the town, 
his interests proving an important element in the commercial development of 
the village. He also built two elevators and dealt largely in grain. He was a 
man of good business judgment, readily recognizing and improving opportunities 
and so utilizing the advantages that came to him that he worked his way upward 
from a humble financial position to one of affluence and prosperity. He also 
traded quite extensively in real estate and his property negotiations 
materially increased his income. Hs was also a most liberal and open-hearted 
man and rendered most valuable assistance to his fellow countrymen who came to 
the new world. Many of the German-American citizens of this locality who are 
now prosperous owe their start in life to him. He was a member of the German 
Lutheran church for many years and in later life joined the Evangelical 
Association. He contributed most generously to the support of the church, 
served as class leader for fifteen years, and filled most of the other offices 
of the church. His fraternal relation was with the Masons, and in his 
political affiliation he was a republican. He served as supervisor of Peotone 
township, being elected by both democrats and republicans, and he was also a 
member of the village board and was appointed postmaster in 1867, under 
President Andrew Johnson, yet he was never an aspirant for political honors 
and emoluments. He died September 21, 1899, when he had reached the age of 
sixty-four years and in his demise Peotone lost one of its most valuable, 
honorable and honored citizens. In early manhood he had wedded Elizabeth 
Conrad, who was also a native of Germany, and who came to the United States in 
1858 with her mother, locating in Elmhurst. She is now living in Peotone, at 
the age of sixty-seven years, and is a member of the United Evangelical 
church, to which Mr. Schroeder also belonged at the time of his death. Their 
family numbered eleven children, eight of whom reached adult life, the eldest 
being Frederick J. The second son, Henry H., in partnership with his brother 
Frederick, has charge of their branch store at Kankakee, where they are 
dealing in music and musical instruments, this being one of the largest 
concerns in Illinois outside of Chicago. The brothers, Frederick and Henry, 
are also half owners of the Bank of Peotone and are heavy stockholders in the 
Poultry Publishing Company, of Peotone. William, the third son of the family, 
is traveling for a wholesale grocery house of Chicago. August M. is in the 
store at Peotone, being a partner in the concern. Caroline is the wife of John 
H. Stassen, a merchant of Peotone. Ida is the widow of Dr. John Bell Howe, who 
was engaged in practicing medicine and surgery in Peotone. Elizabeth is the 
wife of Frank Cross, manager of the Poultry Publishing Company. Josephine is 
the wife of Merle Taylor, a merchant at Mount Valley, Kansas. Frederick J. 
Schroeder pursued his early education in the Peotone schools and his business 
course in Naperville Academy. When twelve years of age he entered his father's 
store and has since been connected with the business, acting as a clerk until 
twenty-four years of age, when he was admitted to a partnership and has since 
been a member of the firm. For some time the business was conducted under the 
style of Schroeder Brothers & Yung but is now Schroeder Brothers. They occupy 
a two-story brick building, which was erected by their father and themselves 
and which is one hundred and ten feet in length on second street with a 
frontage of fifty feet on Main street, and a floor space of sixty-two hundred 
and fifty square feet. They occupy the entire building, one room being 
utilized by the Bank of Peotone, in which they have a half interest. In the 
store they use the first floor for dry goods and groceries and on the second 
floor carry clothing, men's furnishing goods, crockery and other merchandise. 
In 1887 Mr. Schroeder was married to Miss Emma Bollman, who was born in 
Kankakee in 1867 and is a daughter of Charles and Mary Bollman, natives of 
Germany. On coming to America they settled in Illinois, the father becoming a 
pioneer merchant of Kankakee county. Mr. and Mrs. Schroeder have a comfortable 
home, characterized by its warm-hearted and liberal hospitality. They are 
members of the United Evangelical church and for twelve years Mr. Schroeder 
served as superintendent of the Sunday-school. He is connected with the Modern 
Woodmen camp, and in politics is a republican. When twenty-one years of age he 
served as village trustee but has never been active in political circles, 
preferring to concentrate his time and energies upon his business affairs, in 
which he has met with excellent success. Tireless energy, keen perception and 
a genius for devising and executing the right thing at the right time—these 
are numbered among the salient characteristics of Schroeder Brothers.

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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