Brown County MN Archives Biographies.....Koester, J. W. 1856 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 December 1, 2014, 12:37 am

Source: See Below
Author: L. A. Fritsche

J. W. KOESTER.

    J. W. Koester, proprietor of "Grand View Stock Farm" in Linden township,
this county, and head of the firm of J. W. Koester & Sons, well-known breeders
of registered Shorthorn cattle and Poland China swine, whose place four miles
east of Hanska and five miles north of Madelia is the scene of frequent stock
sales, attracting buyers from all parts of southern Minnesota, is a native of
Illinois, though he has been a resident of Brown county since pioneer days
hereabout, having been brought here when two or three years old by his parents,
who were among the early settlers of this county. He was born on a farm in Cook
county, Illinois, not far from the then unpretentious city of Chicago, November
17, 1856, son of Henry and Sophia Koester, natives of Germany, the former of
whom was born on November 2, 1825, and the latter, December 11, 1824, who later
became prominent pioneers of this section of Minnesota.

    Henry Koester was a brick-mason in his native land. He married when
twenty-seven years of age and two or three years later, in 1855, he and his wife
came to the United States, locating on a farm in Cook county, Illinois, in the
neighborhood of Chicago, where he followed both farming and brick-masonry. In
1858 he and his family drove through by ox-team and joined the considerable
German colony that was then gathering about the New Ulm settlement, and
homesteaded eighty acres of land in section 1, Linden township, this county.
Erecting a log cabin, he and his family established their home there and lived
there until the time of the Indian uprising, when they were compelled to flee to
Mankato for protection. On November 18, 1862, Henry Koester enlisted in Company
L, First Regiment, Minnesota Mounted Rangers, and served until the close of the
campaign against the Sioux Indians, being mustered out on December 2, 1863. He
then sold his land in Brown county and moved to Nicollet county, where he farmed
and made his home until 1878, in which year he and his wife returned to Brown
county and spent the rest of their days with their son, the subject of this
sketch. Henry Koester died on June 6, 1896, and his widow died on December 5,
1897. They were the parents of eight children, of whom the subject of this
sketch is the fourth in order of birth.

     J. W. Koester was little more than an infant when his parents came to Brown
county, hence his active years have been spent in this section of the state. He
received his education in the public schools of Nicollet county and in 1875 went
to Rochester, this state, in the neighborhood of which he worked on farms for
three years, at the end of which time he returned to Brown county and rented a
farm, which he operated for five years. He then bought from John C. Rudolph a
quarter of a section of land in section 27, Linden township, paying for the same
twenty-one dollars an acre, which at that time was regarded as a top price. As
he prospered in his operations he added to the place by the purchase of an
adjoining quarter section and now has a very well-kept and profitably operated
farm of three hundred and twenty acres, improved with excellent modern buildings
and registered as "Grand View Stock Farm." Mr. Koester early went in for fine
stock, with particular reference to fine hogs, and in 1895 began the breeding of
full-blood Poland China swine, being the first breeder in that line in Brown
county. In 1905 he became a member of the Poland China Record Association and
holds sales of his high-class stock at frequent intervals, these sales being
largely attended by farmers and stockmen from all parts of southern Minnesota.

     On May 13,1887, J. W. Koester was united in marriage to Agnes Wilbrecht,
who was born near Hutchinson, this state, January 21,1869, daughter of Fred and
Louise (Perdun) Wilbrecht, natives of Germany, who came to the United States
about 1865, first locating in Pennsylvania, where Fred Wilbrecht worked for
awhile in the mines, later coming to Minnesota. To this union five children have
been born, namely: Henry, born on January 11, 1889; John, October 27, 1890;
Martha, September 21, 1892; Bertha, March 11, 1897, and Albert, March 9, 1900.
The Koesters have a very pleasant home at "Grand View Stock Farm" and are quite
comfortably situated.


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

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/mn/brown/bios/koester511gbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/mnfiles/

File size: 5.2 Kb