Tuscola-Allegan-Bay County MI Archives Biographies.....Haas, John 1881 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com February 14, 2007, 3:47 am

Author: Chapman Bros. (1892)

JOHN HAAS, who resides on section 26, Fremont Township, Tuscola County, was born
in 1881, [sic] in the lower country of Switzerland. He is a son of Jacob and
Catherine Haas, and his father, who was born in Switzerland in the year 1794,
was the son of an officer of that country who was a German by birth. Jacob Haas
was one of nine children, six of whom served in the army under Napoleon I, and
three of them fell in those wars. He himself entered the army at the age of
fifteen years as a private, and when he received his discharge after a service
of eleven years he had the rank of Brigadier-General, having been raised to this
high official position as a reward for notable instances of bravery.

  After retiring from the army Gen. Haas was married in 1818 to Catherine,
daughter of Henry Meyer, of Switzerland, and to them were born five
children—Barbara (wife of John Foster), Jacob; Nicholas, deceased; Susan and
John. After establishing a family the General took a position in a hardware
store, which he was soon compelled to leave by some act of the new Government.
He then applied to the old Government and was placed upon the police force, and
when he came to die, which was in November, 1866, he was buried by the corps of
police with high honors, being the oldest and first of the police force.

  Our subject began life for himself at the age of fourteen years, taking up an
apprenticeship at mechanics, and remained in that position ten years, after
which he entered the St. Chrishona school and studied for the ministry and was
sent by that Evangelical mission society, in 1856, as a missionary to the west
coast of Africa, where he remained until 1861. According to«the custom of the
church of his native country they sent him a wife to join him in Africa and in
1859 she arrived, being Miss Eliza Stall. Mr. Haas has an excellent memory of
his experience on the dark continent, and much of it is as interesting as it is
startling.

  On his return to Switzerland in 1861 our subject began preparations to sail
for America and landed in New York the following year, coming directly to
Michigan, locating in Allegan County. He afterward removed to Bay City, and
later to Adrian, Owosso County, remaining for a few years in each and finally,
in 1877, came to Tuscola County, establishing himself at his present home. On
first coming to America he began the work of the ministry in the Lutheran
Church, continuing to preach until 1882, at which time he was compelled to give
up his work as the great fire of 1881 had affected his eyes seriously. From that
time to the present date (1891) he has given his whole attention to farming.

  To the Rev. Mr. Haas and his first wife were granted seven children, only two
of whom have passed over the dark river to the better land. His eldest, Dora, is
now the wife of Warren Von Walthausen. The other surviving children are: George,
Fred, Catherine and Pauline. After the death of the first wife in 1874, our
subject was again married to Mary Krauss, daughter of John and Barbara Krauss,
and their children number eight, as follows: Emma, Ernest, Clara, Mary, Minnie,
Lillie, Paul and John. Our subject has held many of the local offices of the
township, has been School Ditor [sic] since 1878, and is at present Justice of
the Peace. Although not a naturalized citizen of the United States he took an
active part in raising volunteers for the army during the Civil War. His
influence throughout his life here as well as abroad has been ever for good and
has been a strong argument for the truths which he believes and professes.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

Portrait and Biographical Record of Genesee, Lapeer and Tuscola Counties,
Michigan, Containing Biographical Sketches of Prominent and Representative
Citizens, Together with Biographies of all the Governors of the State, and of
the Presidents of the United States

Chicago:
Chapman Bros.
1892


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