Bartholomew-Jackson County IN Archives Biographies.....Michael, Herman H. 1827 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/copyright.htm
http://www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/in/infiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com January 24, 2007, 11:16 am

Author: B. F. Bowen (1904)

HERMAN H. MICHAEL.

   Among the old residents and well-known citizens of Columbus township is
Herman H. Michael, who has passed the Psalmist's span of three score years and
ten, in fact, has reached the seventy-seventh milestone on life's journey. He is
not only one of the revered patriarchs of the community, but is also one of the
pioneer settlers, having arrived in Bartholomew county in the year 1878, so that
for more than a quarter of a century he has been a witness of the charges which
time and man have wrought in this locality.

   Mr. Michael was born in Germany on the 23d of June, 1827, and is a son of
George and Elizabeth Michael. He obtained his education in accordance with the
laws of his native country and spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the
fatherland. He was twenty-two years of age when, in 1849, he resolved to come to
the new world. He had some uncles living in America and from them he heard
favorable reports of the business opportunities and the advantages here afforded
to young men of determination and enterprise, where labor is not hampered by
caste or class. Accordingly he bade adieu to friends and family and sailed for
the United States. Arriving safely upon the Atlantic coast, he made his way into
the interior of the country, locating first in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he
followed the cooper's trade, which he had previously learned in Germany. There
he resided for about seven years, at the end of which time he came to Indiana,
establishing his home in Jackson county, this state, in 1856. Later he worked on
a farm and during the winter months he followed the cooper's trade, his
excellent workmanship in that direction causing his services to be in demand.
Wages, however, were small, but he managed to save the most of his money and
when he had acquired a sufficient sum he purchased a farm belonging to his
father-in-law. Since 1877 he has lived in Bartholomew county, located on his
present farm, and through the intervening years he has carried on the work of
cultivating the soil with excellent success. He at first had two hundred and
thirty-eight acres of land, to which he afterward added a tract, increasing his
farm to two hundred and eighty acres. This he has improved, making a good
property, and upon it are modern equipments, while the fields return golden
harvests as a reward for the care and labor bestowed upon the farm.

   In Jackson county, Indiana, Mr. Michael was united in marriage to Miss
Adalhit Bishoff, a native of Germany. She died about 1878.  They became the
parents of nine children, six sons and three daughters, but three of the number
are deceased. Those still living are Mary, Melia, Elizabeth, George, Edward and
Henry.

   Mr. Michael is a member of the German Lutheran church, with which he has long
been identified, and his entire life has been in harmony with his religious
professions. He has endeavored to live at peace with his fellow men and at all
times has commanded the respect and confidence of those with whom he has been
associated. He is a man widely known in this county, and his upright character
has gained for him the unqualified confidence of those whom he knows. His
political support is given to the Democracy, and he has never taken an active
part in its work as a seeker for public office, preferring to give his time and
energies to his business affairs, which have been so capably conducted that he
has won very gratifying success. His property interests are now valuable, and
because of his prosperity he has never had occasion to regret his determination
to seek a home in the new world and enjoy the broader opportunities of the "land
of the free."


Additional Comments:
Extracted from

BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF BARTHOLOMEW COUNTY
INDIANA

INCLUDING BIOGRAPHIES OF THE GOVERNORS AND OTHER REPRESENTATIVE CITIZENS OF INDIANA

ILLUSTRATED

1904

B. F. Bowen PUBLISHER


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/in/bartholomew/bios/michael734gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/infiles/

File size: 4.5 Kb