Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Joseph, Fred R. 1867 - living in 1917
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 23, 2005, 3:28 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen

FRED R. JOSEPH.

    Among the prosperous and successful farmers and stockmen of Marshall county
is Fred R. Joseph, who is the owner of ninety-six acres of the best of land,
much of which, with the house and barn, is in the city limits of Summerfield.

    Mr. Joseph was born in Benton county, Iowa, on August 21, 1867, the son of
Mathias and Elizabeth (Swer) Joseph. Mathias and Elizabeth Joseph were natives
of Frankfort, Germany, the former having been born in 1832 and the latter
in-1830. When one year of age, Mrs. Joseph came with her parents to the United
States and located at Philadelphia, where the family lived for many years. In
1850 Mathias Joseph, who received his education in Germany, came to this country
when he was eighteen years of age. He also settled in Philadelphia and there he
and Elizabeth Swer were married. They continued to reside in that city until
1854, when they came to Iowa, where they established their home on a farm on
which they remained until 1856, when they moved to Iowa county, Iowa, where they
lived for one year, then coming to Marshall county. They purchased three hundred
and twenty acres of land, on part of which is now located the city of
Summerfield. Mr. Joseph engaged in general farming and stock raising for a
number of years and in 1881 sold one hundred and sixty acres of the tract. He
and his sons then purchased four hundred and eighty acres at Barnes when the
Indian Reservation was sold. On this farm he made his home until the time of his
death in 1896; his widow survived him until 1914.

    Mathias and Elizabeth Joseph were the parents of the following children :
Mary, Charles C, W. H., John, Fred R., Mrs. L. Wilson, Martha and M. G. Mary
Hart is a resident of Benton county, Iowa; Charles C. is a resident of Marshall
county, and is a successful farmer north of Oketo; W. H. lives at Lincoln,
Illinois; John died in 1888; Mrs. L. Wilson is a resident of Cottage Hill
township; Martha Roach died in Marysville in 1904, and M. G. is a farmer in
Minnesota, where he is the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land.

    Fred R. Joseph received his education in the old Mission Creek school house,
and was reared on the home farm. At the age of twenty-two years he was engaged
as a traveling expert machinist and remained in that work for four years. He
then purchased a part of the old home farm at Summerfield, consisting of
ninety-six acres. Here he has erected a beautiful eight-room house: a large
barn, twenty-eight by thirty-six feet, a cattle barn, sixteen by twenty-four
feet, and a hog barn, ten by twenty-four feet. The house is modern in every way,
being supplied with water and bath and is one of the substantial places of
Summerfield.

    In December, 1896, Fred R. Joseph was married to Mary Wooster, of Beattie,
Marshall county, the daughter of John Wooster and wife, well-known people of
that section of the county. To this union two children have been born, Paul and
Marie. Paul was born on January 13, 1899, and is now a junior in the Summerfield
high school; Marie was born on October 20, 1915. Mr. and Mrs. Joseph are members
of the Catholic church and have long been prominent in the social life of the
township. Mr. Joseph has always taken a keen interest in local affairs,
particularly those of Summerfield, in which his father took so much interest
when it was founded. At that time a part of the original farm was platted, when
he gave to the town a strip of land so as to leave the streets open.

    Mr. Joseph is identified with the Democratic party and is a great admirer of
President Wilson. Although he is not an office seeker, he uses his best efforts
in the selection of good men to administer the affairs of the township and the
county. He is progressive and is an advocate of substantial public improvements.
Good roads and good schools are to him two essential factors in the growth and
development of any section. He is an active member of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons.


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/joseph77bs.txt

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