Will County IL Archives Biographies.....Welsch, Robert T 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/il/ilfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Deb Haines http://www.rootsweb.com/~archreg/vols/00003.html#0000719 February 2, 2008, 5:09 am

Author: Past & Present Will County, 1907

Robert T. Welsch is a general contractor with shop at No. 410 Linden avenue, 
in Joliet. He has been closely connected with building interests in this city 
and has been the architect of his own fortunes as well. He came to Will county 
with a capital of only twenty-seven dollars and is today one of the 
substantial residents. He was born in Saxony, Germany, in 1860, and is a son 
of Karl and Paulena (Henehel) Welsch, who were likewise German people. The 
father is a cabinet maker by trade. In early life Robert T. Welsch served an 
apprenticeship with a carpenter and learned the trade. The business 
opportunities in the new world attracted him and in 1882 he came to America, 
making his way at once to Joliet. He built a whole row of houses on 
Mississippi avenue, extending from Second to Third street, and in one summer 
erected fourteen residences and took the contract for the erection of the 
Sehring brick block and also built the lower story and otherwise improved the 
First Lutheran church. He erected the residence of James Cushing on Rainer 
avenue, drawing plans for the structure. In the winter time he engages in 
making frames and throughout the year he employs three men, while in the 
summer season, while building operations are in progress, he has a much larger 
force of workmen. He has also bought and sold property on his own account, 
building seven houses on Richard street and twelve houses on Gonesy avenue, 
and built up Sherman court, ninety by two hundred and sixty-four feet, and as 
the years have gone by, has made for himself a place among the successful 
contractors of the city. He also erected the residences of John Brooks and 
John Kline, and thus many of the substantial structures of Joliet stand as 
monuments to his skill and enterprise. Mr. Welsch was married in Joliet to 
Miss Hulda Gierich, who was born in Saxony, Germany, and came to America in 
childhood. Mr. and Mrs. Welsch have four children: Arno, Selma, Roland and 
Walter, all attending school. The daughter has finished the high-school course 
and has also attended business college. Mr. Welsch spent two years in school 
after coming to Joliet and thus mastered the English language. In politics he 
is a republican but has never sought or desired office. He is, however, 
interested in the success of his party and belongs to the German Republican 
Club and also holds membership with the Modern Woodmen and with the White 
Cross and for twenty-four years has been a principal officer in the German 
Lutheran church. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek 
a home in the United States. He is a self-made man, owing his prosperity 
entirely to his earnest labor, his perseverance and his diligence. These are 
qualities which any one may cultivate and which always lead to success.

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

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/il/will/bios/welsch2480nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/ilfiles/

File size: 3.6 Kb