Biographical Sketch of Frederick William Koch, Franklin County, MO >From "History of Franklin, Jefferson, Washington, Crawford and Gasconade Counties", Biographical Appendix, Goodspeed Publishing Company, 1888. ********************************************************************** Frederick William Koch is a son of Frederick W. and Anna M. Koch, both natives of Borgholzhausen, Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia. The father was a farmer, and died when our subject was but seven years of age. The mother then married Frank Gerdes, with whom she came to this coun- try in 1850. To her first marriage was born a son, and to the second marriage two daughters. The mother lived to be fifty-five years of age. Frederick W. was born in Bokhorst, Westphalia, Prussia, in 1825 and received a common education while growing up. He farmed until twenty-one, when he was taken in the regular army, sent against Denmark in 1849, where he served three and a half years. His term of enlist- ment having expired in 1851, he sailed across the North Sea to England, across that country to Liverpool, and from there to America, landing at New Orleans. He then came to Missouri and settled in Franklin County. In 1854 he married Miss Charlotta Strothmann, who was born in Versmold, Westphalia, Kingdom of Prussia, in 1830 and to them were born ten chil- dren, seven of whom are now living: Lena, Henry, William, Frederick, Ida, Louis and Anna. All are members of the Lutheran Church. For fourteen years Mr. Koch has held the office of president of the Cedar Fork Fire Mutual Association. He is a Republican in politics, and during the war served in the militia. By his own efforts he obtained 540 acres, of which he still owns 365. From 1868 to 1873 he kept store on his farm. He has been a resident of this county for thirty- six years, and is well respected. ==================================================================== USGENWEB NOTICE: In keeping with our policy of providing free information on the Internet, data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Joe Miller Penny Harrell ====================================================================