Newaygo County MI Archives Biographies.....Kaufman, Christopher July 13, 1823 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Jan Cortez http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00020.html#0004939 March 23, 2009, 6:26 pm

Author: Chapman Brothers

CHRISTOPHER KAUFMAN, farmer, section 10, Croton Township, was born July 13, 
1823, in Schwegenheim, 

Bavaria, Germany, which was also the native place of his mother, Catherine 
(Heyser) Kaufman, who was born 

in 1794, and died in Pike County, Ohio, in 1868.  His father was born in 1792, 
in Grunenshein, Germany, 

and died in his native land in 1834.

Mr. Kaufman was eleven years old when his father died.  After fulfilling the 
requirements of the law in 

relation to his education, he was, according to the custom of the country, 
apprenticed to learn a trade.  

That of stone-mason seemed most feasible, and after fulfilling his contract 
with his master he worked as 

opportunity offered and supported his mother.  When the conscription for the 
German army was made his 

number entitled him to a release, and he availed himself of his liberty by 
emigrating to the United 

States, his mother accompanying him.  She went to another son, who was 
residing in Pike Co., Ohio, and Mr. 

Kaufman of this sketch proceeded to New Orleans, reaching there in December, 
1845.  In June 1846, he came 

to Chicago and thence to Muskegon Forks, in Newaygo County.  He came with J.F. 
Gauweiler, whose sketch, on 

another page of this volume, contains the experiences common to both in those 
earliest days of the pioneer 

history of Croton.  But, severe as was his experience, he was fitted to endure 
by the toils and privations 

he had encountered in his native land, and with true continental perserverance 
he refused to be daunted by 

the obstacles he encountered in the New World.  After his experience in the 
lath-mill terminated he 

settled on 80 acres of land in Croton, designated as "canal land," and paid 
for the same; but, by some 

chicanery, never clearly comprehended by anybody, a collector appeared who 
took a second payment for it, 

but failed to account for it to the authorities, and Mr. Kaufman paid for his 
property a third time.  Yet 

he kept up his courage and hard work, and now owns 240 acres of land, with 100 
acres under cultivation and 

with first-class improvements.

Mr. Kaufman is a Republican and is highly respected in his generation for his 
genuine, meritorious traits 

of character.  He has been for 37 years a resident of what is now Croton 
Township.

Christina Marsh, who became the first wife of Mr. Kaufman in 1851, at 
Muskegon, died in 1867, leaving no 

children.  The second wife of Mr. Kaufman was the widow of David Jones.  Her 
maiden name was Elizabeth 

Mahle, and her only child by her first marriage, Eliza Jones, is the wife of 
Milton Cole, of Croton 

Township.  The marriage of Mr. Kaufman and Mrs. Jones took place Sept. 13, 
1868, and they have three 

living children, - Christina B., William H. and Bertha A.

Additional Comments:
1884 Portrait & Bio Album of Newaygo Co.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mi/newaygo/bios/kaufman371nbs.txt

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