Brown County MN Archives Biographies.....Bertrand, John P. 1845 - 
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Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 26, 2014, 11:02 pm

Source: See Below
Author: L. A. Fritsche

JOHN P. BERTRAND.

    John P. Bertrand, a well-known and progressive harness manufacturer and
dealer in harness and horse goods generally at Sleepy Eye, this county, and one
of the best-known men in Brown county, he having been a resident here since
pioneer days, is a native of Germany, having been born in the village of
Oberanven, Luxemberg, August 13, 1845, son of Jacob and Mary (Fideler) Bertrand,
both natives of that same village and small farming people there, who later came
to this country and became prominent in the pioneer life of Brown county.

    Jacob Bertrand was the eldest of the three sons of his parents, the others
having been Peter and John P., and he grew to manhood on the paternal farm in
Luxemberg and became a farmer. He married Mary Fideler, who was the second in
order of birth of the three children horn to her parents, she having had a
brother, John, and a sister, Anna. Grandfather Fideler, who was a miller, died
before reaching middle age and his widow married again, having two children by
her second marriage, John and Nicholas. In 1857 Jacob Bertrand and his family
came to the United States, proceeding directly to Minnesota upon their arrival
on this side the water, locating in Scott county, where they engaged in farming
and where they remained until 1867, in which year they came to Brown county,
locating in Home township. Jacob Bertrand bought a farm of about one hundred and
sixty acres in Home township and there he established his home, he and his wife
spending the remainder of their lives there, his death occurring in 1881, he
then being seventy-nine years of age, his widow surviving until 1896, she being
eighty-one years old at the time of her death. Both were Catholics and their
children were reared in that faith. There were ten of these children, namely:
Edward P., of Sleepy Eye, this county; Dominick, deceased; John J., of Sleepy
Eye; John P., the subject of this sketch; Mary, wife of Nicholas Schmitz, of
Home township, this county; Mary Ann, wife of Matthias Hoffman, of Sleepy Eye;
Barbara, deceased, who was the wife of Nicholas Welter; Emma., wife of Charles
Neid, of Kissimi, Florida, and two who died in early youth.

    John P. Bertrand was twelve years old when he came to America with his
family and he grew up as a farmer boy. He had received an excellent elementary
education in his native land and upon coming to Minnesota continued his studies
in the little old log school house on his father's farm in Scott county. When
the family moved from Scott to this county he was twenty-one years of age and
instead of accompanying his parents here went to Henderson, in the neighboring
county of Sibley, where he learned the harness-making trade, which he has
followed ever since, a period of a half century. In 1871 he came to Brown county
and located at New Ulm, where, in partnership with Christian Schrader, he
engaged in the harness business. This partnership continued for two years and
six months, at the end of which time Mr. Bertrand bought his partner's interest
and continued the business alone. In 1877 he married and in 1878 he moved to
Sleepy Eye, establishing himself in the general harness trade there, both as a
manufacturer and as a merchant, and has been engaged in business in that city,
having built up a large business in that line, long having been regarded as one
of the leading merchants in that town, enjoying the confidence and regard of his
business associates generally. In addition to looking after this extensive
business affairs, Mr. Bertrand has found time to give a good citizen's attention
to local civrc affairs and has served two or three terms as a member of the city
council, having been president of the council during one of these terms.

     On September 4, 1877, John P. Bertrand was united in marriage at New Ulm to
Elizabeth Kioes, who was born in Weimas Kierschen, Luxemberg, March 29, 1857,
daughter of Philip and Elizabeth (Schmitz) Kioes, natives of that same province
of Germany, who came to the United States with their family in 1869 and settled
in New Ulm, where both died in the eighties. Mrs. Kioes was one of the eight
children born to her parents, Joseph Schmitz and wife, natives of Germany and
early settlers in Brown county, she having had four brothers, Peter, Nicholas,
John and John P., the latter of whom was killed by the Indians during the
uprising in 1862, and three sisters, Anna, Mary and Catherine. Philip Kioes and
wife were the parents of six children, Pierre, Michael, Marie Frances,
Catherine, Anna and Elizabeth.

     To John P. and Elizabeth (Kioes) Bertrand eight children were born, as
follow: Marie, born on August 1, 1878, who is organist in the Catholic church at
Sleepy Eye; Aloysius Jacobus, June 20, 1880, partner with his father in the
latter's business at Sleepy Eye, married Magdalena Steffen and has four
children, Leonard John, Cornelius, Marcella and Margaret; Mary Elizabeth,
November 23, 1882, now deceased; Mary Frances, May 12, 1884, died on July 3,
1891; Clara Catherine, August 8, 1886, who married E. P. Lilla, of Confrey, this
county, and has two children, Elizabeth and Arthur; Anna, October 23, 1888, who
is a clerk in a store at St. Peter, in the neighboring county of Nicollet;
Matthias Philip, February 18, 1891, who is a jeweler in the state of
Mississippi, and Joseph, April 7, 1893, who died in December of, that same year.
The mother of these children died on March 10, 1894, and on August 5, 1895, John
P. Bertrand married, secondly, at Henderson, this state, Mrs. Catherine Grode, a
widow, daughter of Matthias and Margaret (Rock) Bertrand, which union has been
without issue. Mr. and Mrs. Bertrand are members of the Catholic church, in the
various local beneficences of which they take a warm interest, and are held in
high esteem by their man) friends throughout the county.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:
HISTORY OF BROWN COUNTY MINNESOTA
ITS PEOPLE, INDUSTRIES AND INSTITUTIONS

L. A. FRITSCHE. M. D.
Editor

With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records
of Many of the Old Families

VOLUME II
B. F. BOWEN & COMPANY, Inc. Indianapolis, Indiana


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