Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Ellenbecker, John G. 1867 - living in 1917 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ks/ksfiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 12:31 pm Author: B. F. Bowen JOHN G. ELLENBECKER. Many of the best citizens of Kansas claim her as their adopted state, and vie with her native citizens in their faith in, and fidelity to, the one and only one beloved Kansas. John G. Ellenbecker is one of these many adopted citizens of whom the Sunflower state may well be proud. John G. Ellenbecker was born at Hancock, Michigan, January 29, 1867, and is the son of Joseph and Mary Ann (Schumacher) Ellenbecker, two of Marshall county's pioneers. Joseph Ellenbecker was born in the village of Colbach in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg, June 26, 1836. He resided there during part of his youth and attended the public schools, which were conducted in French. When he was about twelve (in 1848), he with his parents and their other nine children—six boys and four girls—emigrated to America and settled on a farm in Ozaukee county, near Belgium, Wisconsin. The names of his parents were John and Margaret (Welter) Ellenbecker. They resided on their Wisconsin farm until their death and are buried in Lake church cemetery near Belgium. At the time of their advent to Wisconsin the part where they settled, near Lake Michigan, was covered by a dense hardwood forest, and a space had to be cleared to build a log house and barn, to say nothing about a field for cultivating a little rye, corn and vegetables. That opportunity knocks even at the door of poor people, is seen in this incident: When Grandpa Ellenbecker with his family passed through Chicago, then a village, he was offered for five hundred dollars the forty acres upon which the Union depot is now situated, but he had heard the call of the wilds through a friend up North, where he could get one hundred and sixty acres of fine timber land for a song, and thither he journeyed. In those days there were no railroads west of the Mississippi river, and the journey from New York to Wisconsin had to be made mostly by canal boats and river boats and required many months. The trip across the ocean consumed over seventy days. The Wisconsin forests abounded in wild deer and turkey, and those supplied the early settlers with fresh meat, although the other food was generally very plain and sometimes painfully scarce. The plow, cradle, axe and scythe embraced the agricultural implements, and the first sowings of rye and wheat were worked into the ground between the stumps by hand harrows made out of deer horns. For many years there were no threshing machines; the grain was tramped out of the straw by oxen or horses and winnowed in the wind. Some of the wood was broken up into handmade shingles and slabs for building, but most of it, though valuable, was burnt on the ground to clear the land. At the age of eighteen Joseph. Ellenbecker went to Fulton, Illinois, in search of employment, and there worked on a farm for two years at ten dollars a month. Subsequently, he worked on a Mississippi river steamboat during the summer, and in the winter he cut cord wood near St. Louis at fifty cents a cord. Returning to Wisconsin in 1860, he was united in marriage on January 22, 1862, to Mary Ann Schumacher. After residing on a small farm near Belgium for one year, they moved to Hancock, Michigan, where Mr. Ellenbecker found employment for five years in the Heckly copper mines. In 1868, with their three children, of whom John was then eighteen months old, they came to Kansas, and settled one and one-half miles northwest of Marysville in section 30, on a slightly improved farm of one hundred and forty acres, which they had purchased for twelve hundred dollars, paying cash. The old California and Oregon Trail crossed this farm in its course from St. Joseph to the West; and over this road it was a common sight to see in those days trains of twenty-five or thirty covered wagons, three ox-teams to each, slowly winding toward the setting sun. Mary Ann Schumacher, the youngest of nine children (five boys and four girls), was born in the village of Erhelding in the same country in which her husband was born. The names of her parents were Mathias and Catherine (Herbert) Schumacher; both were born and reared in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. When Alary Ann Schumacher was in her thirteenth year, in 1855, she came with her parents to America. They also settled on a farm in the forests of Ozaukee county, near Belgium, Wisconsin. Here with her parents she resided until she grew to womanhood, and shared with them the life of toil and poverty. Her parents continued to reside on this farm until their deaths, and are buried in the Lake church cemetery nearby. They, like the Ellenbecker family, who came over a few years earlier, experienced the inconvenience of slow travel, being sixty-six days on the ocean and several months on their inland journey. Grandpas John Ellenbecker and Mathias Schumacher were both soldiers under Napoleon Bonaparte, the former serving in the bodyguard of the great dictator. To Joseph and Mary Ellenbecker were born nine children, as follow: Maggie (Mrs. Frank Meier); Anna (Mrs. John Bernadt); John G.; Katie; Mary (Mrs. Michael Jacobs); Mathias (died at the age of five) ; Frank A.; Louis A. and Joseph S. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ellenbecker, coming to Kansas in the frontier days, suffered all the privations of the early settlers—droughts, sickness, poverty, hard times, and grasshoppers. They lived for thirteen years in a one-story cottonwood board shanty, fourteen by fourteen feet, when in 1881 they built a commodious new house. They farmed for years with such backward equipment as oxen, double-shovel plows, and old-fashioned grain cradles. Money being too scarce to hire help, Mrs. Ellenbecker assisted her husband with their harvest besides doing the housework for many years. All the grain had to be bound with straw bands by hand, and no other vehicle was seen upon the farms or roads than the heavy farm wagon. There were no barns; the sheds for horses and cattle were made out of poles, brush and straw. The rail-fence was the only kind seen, and was as common as rail corn-cribs and log granaries. The washboard, dash-churn and spinning-wheel indicated the housewife's lot in those days. Mr. and Mrs. Ellenbecker put up with those things and conditions for many years without wavering or complaining, but they were made of that material that never gave up; and aside from the splendid family they reared, they acquired fully a section of fine farm land, well improved in every particular, and lived to experience the well-merited reward—ease, comfort, and an abundance of this world's happiness and goods. When Joseph Ellenbecker and his wife came to Kansas they could come by railroad only to Frankfort, a railroad not being built to Marysville until four years later. All that they raised, therefore, was cheap, and what they bought was high. They paid as high as one dollar and thirty cents per bushel for corn for feed and seed, and in 1869 sold wheat as low as thirty-five cents per bushel, and then hauled it to Waterville, fourteen miles distant. All the firewood had to be hauled from a little timber lot they owned on Horseshoe creek, eight miles distant. Every cent they made was made by hard work and honest dealing. In business matters Joseph Ellenbecker was guided greatly by a keen judgment; he knew when to buy land, how to handle cattle, and when to market grain. His ventures sometimes seemed daring, but the outcome proved how carefully they had been planned. Joseph Ellenbecker never sought any public office, although holding several, and was for fifteen years treasurer of the Marshall County Farmers Mutual Insurance Company. They continued to reside upon their farm near Marysville until their deaths. They were both faithful members of the Catholic church, were good parents, kind neighbors, and excellent citizens. They possessed practically every trait of good character: honesty, industry, virtue, frugality, wisdom, and kindness. They were splendid models for the sons and daughters whom they so carefully reared, and in this regard the parental teachings and wishes were amply rewarded. Perhaps few parents were held in as high esteem by their children as they were. Mr. Joseph Ellenbecker died on August 27, 1901, at the age of sixty-five years, and was buried in the Catholic cemetery near Marysville, Kansas. Mrs. Joseph Ellenbecker died on June 13, 1910, at the age of sixty-eight years, and was laid to rest by the side of her husband. On account of a liberal endowment to the University of Luxemburg by an uncle of Joseph Ellenbecker, of the same name, three perpetual scholarships were created in that school and to which anyone bearing that family name is eligible. Joseph Ellenbecker had two brothers, Nicholas and Frank, who served in Wisconsin regiments in the Civil War. Frank, at the time a captain, was killed at the battle of Lookout Mountain, and lies buried in that battlefield in Virginia. John G. Ellenbecker, coming to Kansas with his parents when a mere child, has spent practically all of his life in this state. His youth was spent working on the parental farm and attending the Pleasant Ridge rural school. From a mere lad he was bent on securing an education, and it was a continual contest between farm and school as to which would get the most of his time. Although the farm won at first by big odds, the school at last came in for its share of his time, even though much delayed. He was graduated from the Marysville high school, June 15, 1888, at the age of twenty-one. He then taught in district schools for two years—one term in the Deer creek district, both in Marshall county, driving five miles each day to school and working on the home farm during vacation. In this way he saved enough money to further pursue his education. While he was in the high school, on account of good work, he won a four-year scholarship in Adrian College, Michigan, but he did not avail himself of this educational opportunity for lack of funds. In the autumn of 1890 he became a student in the Kansas Normal College at Ft. Scott, Kansas, which was then one of the best colleges in the state. This school was then in charge of Prof. D. E. Sanders, whom John Ellenbecker and hundreds of other people kindly remember for valuable educational advantages received. Here he completed three courses: commercial, scientific and classical, and obtained his diplomas and degrees, Bachelor of Science and Bachelor of Arts. In the autumn of 1892 Mr. Ellenbecker opened a private school at Marysville, Kansas, known as the Modern Normal College, which, with an able corps of teachers, he conducted for eleven years. The financial support of this school came from a small tuition charged the students attending, but no worthy boy or girl was refused enrollment because he or she did not have the money. The school was moderately successful, and no less than twelve hundred young people received part or all of their education in its classrooms. On account of close application to these school duties, Mr. Ellenbecker's health became so impaired that a change of work was advisable, so he reluctantly decided to give up the school which had been entered as his life's work. He then purchased a stock farm of two hundred acres, one mile west of Marysville, to which he and his family moved in the spring of 1904, and upon which they still reside. John G. Ellenbecker was united in marriage to Lillie Katherine Koppes, July 6, 1898, at Marysville, Kansas. Lillie K. Koppes was born September 30, 1871, on the homestead six miles northwest of Marysville and has ever since resided in her native state. She grew to womanhood in the parental home, attended the Deer creek district school, and later the Modern Normal College for several years, in which she later became an instructor. She was affectionately attached to her father and mother and served them most faithfully. The names of her parents were Peter and Susan (Schmidler) Koppes, also two of Marshall county's hardy pioneers. Peter Koppes, the youngest of eight children (four boys and four girls), was born October 14, 1836, in the village of Erisingen, in the Grand Duchy of Luxemburg. He was educated and grew to manhood in the country of his birth, and at the age of twenty, in 1856, came to America, and for a time lived near Dacada, Wisconsin. In 1859 he came to Marysville, Kansas, where he found employment for one year at the sawmill of R. Y. Shibley. He then moved onto a homestead in the northwest corner of Marysville township, which he had selected in the year of his coming West, and which land became the pleasant abode and seat of his family home for forty-seven years. As soon as times and agricultural tools permitted, Mr. Koppes engaged in general farming and stock-raising, and was highly successful. "He always cared for his stock, being among the first to erect a large barn, and always tilled his acres after the exact and thorough methods employed in the land of his birth. His large vineyard and fine orchard showed his great skill and interest in horticulture. Even though the first two years Peter Koppes lived in Kansas comprised the memorable drought (from June, 1859, to November, 1860), he did not lose faith in the territory. During 1860 no crops were raised, live stock starved, and over half the people had to live on what was brought in from the East. He maintained this vigor and interest in farm activities until he was seventy, when advancing age made it advisable for him to move from the scenes that might tempt him to toil. In 1906 Mr. Koppes purchased a house in Marysville, to which he and his faithful wife retired to spend at ease their declining years. The names of Peter Koppes' parents were Michael Koppes and Mary (Ries) Koppes. Both were born and reared and died in the native land of their son. Susan (Schmidler) Koppes was born on July 31, 1841, in the village of Kayl, in the native land of her husband. In 1848, at the age of seven, she with her parents, Jacob and Susanna (Bessinger) Schmidler, emigrated to the New World and took up their home on a farm near Dacada, Wisconsin. She had three brothers and four sisters, all coming to America. At this place her parents resided until their deaths, and are buried in the cemetery at Dacada. They also lived the trying lives of the Wisconsin pioneers. Susan Schmidler grew to womanhood in the parental home, and on January 19, 1864, was united in marriage to Peter Koppes at Dacada, and at once came with him to Marysville, Kansas, where he had already established an abiding place on his homestead. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Koppes came to Kansas in the early days, and experienced all the ups and downs of pioneer times. Prairie fires destroyed their crops, and when the grasshoppers did not eat up their corn, oft the ague left them too weak to cultivate the fields. Their agricultural tools were the hoe, cradle, harrow, and walking plow drawn by oxen. Ofttimes Mrs. Koppes stayed for many days in the little log house on the homestead, while her husband went to Atchison with an ox-team, taking a load of cured meats or corn to exchange for provisions and farming tools. These incidents relate the dangers of those days: On one of these trips, while Mr. Koppes was driving to the river markets, and was near where the city of Hiawatha now is, a prairie fire driven by a high southwest wind overtook him, and while he was lashing his oxen to outrun the fire, he fainted, only to wake up in the care of some kind settler many miles away, to which place the faithful brutes had carried their unconscious driver to safety. In 1854 the Cheyenne Indians coming in from the west, massacred five settlers on the Little Blue in Nebraska, and scaring the other settlers to come as far east as Marysville and other towns, where this motley collection of frightened people stayed for days, built defenses and did picket duty against approaching Indians. Mr. Koppes, like many of the settlers west and north of Marysville, brought his family to the little town for safety every evening for many days, helped stand guard overnight, and then returned to the homestead in the morning with his ox-team and family to spend the day in work about the farm. The little log-cabin down by a creek or a dugout in the tall prairie grass made life weird enough, to say nothing about the sight of cruel Indians and horrifying Indian scares. Every bark of a dog at night or the rattle of a batten made the heart cease beating and the blood run cold at the thought of approaching savages. But come what might they gave not up. They stayed as if appointed by fate to help tame the wilderness, so that coming generations more delicate and less persevering might find a land in which they could abide in safety. They stayed through it all, and won the well-merited crown of happiness and prosperity. Their real estate holdings increased to a well-improved farm of over three hundred acres, and a spacious dwelling-house, built in 1880, unlimited in cheerfulness and comforts. To Mr. and Mrs. Peter Koppes were born nine children: Louise (Mrs. Henry Amelunxen); Andrew P.; Lillie K. (Mrs. John G. Ellenbecker); Hubert; Verona (Mrs. Paul N. Schmitt); Otilla M. (Mrs. M. J. Schmitt); John V.; Anna (Sister Athanasia, O. S. B.); and a boy who died in extreme infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Koppes were always active members of the Catholic faith, in which they reared all their children, and the splendid family that they reared is ample proof how well they did their duty as parents and citizens. They were ever ready to help all who were in need, and cheerful to all whom they met, and by these and their many other admirable traits of character won a priceless heritage from all who learned to know them, and especially from their children. Mr. Peter Koppes died July 29, 1913, at the family home in Marysville, at the age of seventy-six years, and was followed by his faithful wife four years later, who died at their home in Marysville, January 8, 1917, at the age of seventy-five years. They were both buried in the Catholic cemetery near Marysville, Kansas. To Mr. and Mrs. John G. Ellenbecker were born two children, Raymond Louis, born on November 1, 1900, and now a member of the second-year class high school, and Irene Veronica, born on May 26, 1904, and now a pupil in the seventh grade. Both children, aside from their academic studies, are interested in music, Raymond in violin and Irene in piano. John G. Ellenbecker is a firm believer in intensive farming, and he with his estimable helpmate have shown in their present beautiful rural home, "Sylvan Heights Farm," what can be made out of a once much-neglected, wornout piece of land. His motto in farming is, "Treat every acre so that it can do its best," and that his acres are doing thus is seen in a commodious nine-room dwelling house, three big barns and other good out-buildings, vast alfalfa and wild grass meadows, fertile fields, fine orchard, large pasture, and among other live stock a large herd of high-grade Shorthorn cattle. John G. Ellenbecker is a friend of trees and forests. During the twelve years he has resided on "Sylvan Heights Farm" he has planted and growing no less than five thousand trees, three hundred of which are pines and cedars. He has the dream that Kansas should become a timber state, and has often said: "If every Kansas boy would plant only ten walnuts each year, in twenty-five years Kansas would be one vast forest of black walnut timber." Mr. Ellenbecker is an ardent advocate of co-operative societies. He was one of the founders of the Marshall County Farmers Co-operative Business Association, served two years as its president, and is still one of its directors. Recently he has helped to organize the Marshall County Co-operative Oil and Gas Association, is one of its directors and believes that oil and gas will be found under Marshall and adjoining counties. He does not encourage co-operative business for selfish motives, nor to injure legitimate private business, but solely as self-defense of the producers and consumers, who are now too often left to the mercy of heartless and unprincipled middlemen. Mr. Ellenbecker has rarely sought public office, but was for one term superintendent of public instruction of his county, being appointed by the board of county commissioners to fill an interim. This service, besides the work in his private normal school, comprise his educational labors, and there is much evidence to show that his good-will and efforts for the betterment of schools have borne good fruits. He has always been independent in his voting, although classed as a Democrat. He has always been a stanch friend of good, clean government, and knowingly no candidate ever received his support who has spent carelessly the public funds. He still believes that the burden of taxation could be much reduced without impairing the service, if public officials and men doing public work were more conscientious. Mr. Ellenbecker is an able public speaker and debater, and is frequently called upon to employ this gift on public occasion. His education enables him to clearly grasp the most intricate public questions, and his fellow-citizens have ever recognized in him a fearless champion of right and justice. Mr. Ellenbecker and his family are members of the Catholic church at Marysville. They are likewise friends and liberal supporters of the other churches. They find vast enjoyment in the many periodicals that they receive as well as in the large library in their farm home. Mr. Ellenbecker has but little time to devote to literary work, but he has during odd hours written a volume of essays and poems, and just recently has completed what appears to be a very extensive and comprehensive work on English grammar, all of which books he intends some time to have published. In all his public and private career he has been ably assisted by his faithful wife, and Mr. and Mrs. Ellenbecker are splendid examples to show to what social, educational and civic heights any boy or girl from the farm, with few advantages and humble surroundings, may attain. Here we see again the truth of that old adage: "The pathway of toil leads to character and strength," and may every boy and girl who reads this, place in their lives a high aim and with renewed zeal strive to attain it. Additional Comments: Extracted from: History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions by Emma E. Forter Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917) File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ks/marshall/bios/ellenbec27bs.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.poppet.org/ksfiles/ File size: 23.0 Kb