Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Lofinck, William 1843 - living in 1917
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher sdgenweb@gmail.com July 21, 2005, 3:53 pm

Author: B. F. Bowen

CAPT. WILLIAM LOFINCK.

    Capt. William Lofinck, a well-known and substantial retired merchant of
Marysville, an honored veteran of the Civil War, former treasurer of Marshall
county and former member of the city council of Marysville, is a native of the
state of Illinois, but has been a resident of Marysville ever since 1871, with
the exception of a. few years spent in business in Colorado. He was born in the
town of Waterloo, county seat of Monroe county, Illinois, December 29, 1843, son
of John and Katherine (Lotz) Lofinck, natives of Germany, whose last days were
spent in Illinois.

    John Lofinck was born in the city of Worms, on the Rhine, in Hesse, Germany,
March 6, 1808, and was trained to the trade of a carpenter. There he married and
in 1842 he and his wife came to the United States, the sailing vessel on which
they took passage being six weeks in making the voyage. They settled at
Waterloo, Illinois, where John Lofinck worked at his trade for a number of years
and then engaged in the hotel business there and was thus engaged until his
retirement a few years before his death, his death occurring in 1867. His widow,
who was born on November 30, 1809, survived until 1873. They were members of the
German Lutheran church and their children were reared in that faith. There were
five of these children, of whom the subject of this sketch was the third in
order of birth, the others being as follow: Henry, deceased; Bernhard, deceased;
Katherine, who lives at St. Louis, the widow of C. Ruppert, a veteran of the
Civil War, and Mary, who is still living at Waterloo, Illinois, the widow of W.
Bode.

    William Lofinck received his early schooling at Waterloo, Illinois, and at
the age of fourteen went to Belleville, that state, and was there engaged as a
clerk in a grocery store for eighteen months, at the end of which time he
returned to Waterloo, remaining there, a valued assistant to his father in the
operation of the hotel, until 1860, when he went to St. Louis and took a
position as a clerk in a store and remained there until September 1, 1861, on
which day he returned home and enlisted in Company A. Forty-ninth Regiment,
Illinois Volunteer Infantry, for service during the Civil War. He was detailed
as one of the company fifers and presently was made chief fifer of his regiment.
With this command he saw service at the battle of Shiloh. Later securing a
discharge from this command he helped to organize a company of colored troops
and on April 13, 1865, was made first lieutenant of Company D, Sixty-first
Regiment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and presently was made captain of Company
F of that regiment. Captain Lofinck saw much active service in the South and
upon the cessation of hostilities was stationed for guard duty at Baton Rouge,
Louisiana, where he was mustered out on December 30, 1865.

    Upon the completion of his military service, Captain Lofinck returned to his
home at Waterloo, Illinois, and resumed the hotel business in which he had
received careful training from his father in the days of his youth. He married
in 1867 and in 1871 came to Kansas, locating at Marysville, where he engaged in
the mercantile business and was thus engaged until his election to the office of
county treasurer. He entered upon the duties of that office in October, 1882;
having been elected in the election of November, 1881, and in the fall election
of 1883 was re-elected, thus serving two terms as treasurer of the county. In
1886, upon the completion of his term of public service, Captain Lofinck went to
Trinidad, Colorado, where he established a grocery store and was thus engaged in
business at that place until 1890, when he returned to Marysville, where he has
since continued to make his home and where he has been occupied in looking after
his numerous investments. Captain Lofinck has a good deal of property in
Marshall county, has an interest in a gold mine in Santa Fe county, New Mexico,
and is accounted among the substantial and well-to-do citizens of Marysville. He
is a life-long Republican and has ever given his earnest attention to local
civic affairs. Besides his long service as county treasurer, he also has
rendered valuable public service as a member of the Marysville city council and
has ever been on the side of progress and public improvement.

    On January 29, 1867, at Waterloo, Illinois, Capt. William Lofinck was united
in marriage to Agnes E. H. Goelitz, who was born in the village of Osterode, in
the Hartz mountains of Germany, September 26, 1846, and who was but six weeks
old when her parents, George and Christina (Tahlbusth) Goelitz, came to this
country and settled at St. Louis, Missouri. Later, George Goelitz and his family
moved to Monroe county, Illinois, where he bought a farm, which he later sold
and then moved to Waterloo, where his wife and daughter Agnes engaged in the
millinery business and the latter was thus engaged at the time of her marriage
to Captain Lofinck. George Goelitz was a veteran of the Civil War. When Captain
Lofinck came to Kansas he and his wife accompanied the Captain and his wife and
the two men became engaged in business together at Marysville,. where Mr. and
Mrs. Goelitz spent their last days. To Captain and Mrs. Lofinck have been born
four children, namely: Amanda, who married George P. Schmidt, the well-known
hanker at Marysville: George, deceased: Emma, deceased, and Olga, who married
James T. Spellman and lives at St. Joseph, Missouri.

    Captain Lofinck for many years has been one of the most active members of
the local post of the Grand Army of the Republic at Marysville and is now the
senior vice-commander of the post. He also is a Mason and in the affairs of the
local lodge of that ancient order takes a warm interest.


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/lofinck31bs.txt

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