Bio of POSSEHL, Henry (b.1871 d.1946) and BRUNCE, Carrie, Clay Co., MN 2nd wife BUTENHOFF, Rosa (b.1880 d.1974) ========================================================================= USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, material may be freely used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material, AND permission is obtained from the contributor of the file. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by other organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for non-commercial purposes, MUST obtain the written consent of the contributor, OR the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. If you have found this file through a source other than the MNArchives Table Of Contents you can find other Minnesota related Archives at: http://www.usgwarchives.net/mn/mnfiles.htm Please note the county and type of file at the top of this page to find the submitter information or other files for this county. FileFormat by Terri--MNArchives Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Don Hansen Submitted: June 2006 ========================================================================= Clay County Family Album A History of Rural Clay County, MN, 1976 HENRY POSSEHL FAMILY Henry Possehl was born in Mannheim, Illinois, May 24, 1871. In 1892 he moved with his family to Hampton, Iowa. He married Carrie Brunce from Latimer, Iowa. They had one son, Ed, who grew up to be a farmer in Alliance Township. Carrie died and Henry married Mathilda Butenhoff. In 1902 he came to Baker, Minn. Purchasing the L. H. Baker farm, where he made his home until his death in 1947. The same year he also purchased the hardware store and farm implement business and the land adjoining, and expanded the business into a General Store. In 1903 it was he and his wife, Mathilda, who platted the town. The platted town consisted of 13 acres and the streets were named Broadway, Center Avenue, Northern Avenue and Baker Avenue. In this same year the Railway Company changed the name of the town from Navan to Baker, in honor of L. H. Baker, the first postmaster in the town. Besides his large farming interests and General Store, Henry served as Postmaster from 1903 until 1915. He was the man largely responsible for bringing the rural route to the Baker Community. He was also one of the early car salesmen for the town. He sold Overlands and also operated a garage. He built one of the first potato warehouses in the village and was a potato broker for many years. He held many offices in his church, school and township. During a Diptheria epidemic, a young son Theodore died and also his wife Mathilda. They had two other sons, Art, who now lives in California and Rudy of Comstock, Minn. On Feb. 15, 1911 he married Rosa Butenhoff, Mathilda's sister. Rosa was the oldest daughter of August and Wilhelmina Butenhoff. She was born near Hampton, Iowa, September 18, 1880 and came to Baker when she married Mr. Possehl. They were the parents of four children. Florence (died 1972) of Moorhead; Clara (Mrs. Carl Jensen) of Vancouver, Washington; Adeline (Mrs. Erhardt Johnk) of Holy Cross Township and Chester of Baker, Minn. Mr. Possehl died December 8, 1946 and Mrs. Possehl August 22, 1974. ========================================================================= Copyright Don Hansen 2006. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm =========================================================================