WITZEL BIOGRAPHIES, Henry County, Missouri
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WITZEL, John
source: 1919 History of Henry Co MO, Uel W. Lamkin, Historical Publishing Co - 
page: 442
residence: Deepwater Twp

John Witzel. The two greatest fishermen in the southern part of Henry County are 
John Witzel and his long time friend, Joseph H. Wilson. These two old settlers 
have spent many happy days in fishing for the finny denizens which are plentiful 
in the Deepwater River and even now, when age has come upon them, they love to 
take hook and line and spend a long summer day in angling for the watery 
denizens. In the early days Mr. Witzel also liked to hunt and remembers shooting a 
deer while working in a field. Despite the fact that the deer got away he is 
practically certain that he shot the animal, which was afterwards chased by dogs 
and fell dead in a neighbor's yard. John Witzel of Germantown was born in 
Prussia, Germany, in 1835, and is the son of Martin and Mary Elizabeth Witzel, 
both of whom died in Germany. John Witzel emigrated from his native country to 
America in June, 1866, and arrived at St. Louis when the cholera epidemic was 
raging in that city. He labored in that city for day wages until 1869 and then 
came to Henry County, where he rented a farm situated three miles southwest of 
Germantown. He purchased his home farm in 1881 and the place has been 
beautified until it is one of the pretty farmsteads in the county. For some years 
he and his son-in-law, Mr. Cook, farmed the place together and during that time 
many improvements were made of a substantial nature. Mr. Witzel is owner of 
seventy-seven acres of land. On June 2, 1868, John Witzel and Elizabeth Kloer 
were united in marriage. Mrs. Elizabeth Witzel was born March 7, 1848, in 
Germany, the daughter of Theodore Kloer, who immigrated to America in 1852. 
Both of Mrs. Witzel's parents died when she was but a child at their home near 
Cape Girardeau, Missouri. To John and Elizabeth Witzel were born children as 
follow: Frances, wife of J. H. Puthoff, Deepwater township; Mary, wife of August 
Schepers, a farmer near Montrose, who has three children: Joseph, Lizzie and 
Anton; Josephine, wife of Henry Cook, who died at the Witzel home February 14, 
1915. Mrs. Frances Puthoff has five children: Norbit, Clements, Lizzie, Agnes and 
Josephine. On June 2, 1918, Mr. and Mrs. Cook celebrated their golden wedding 
anniversary at their home near Germantown. Over forty people were in 
attendance. Mr. Witzel is an independent Democrat and he and his wife are 
members of the Germantown Catholic Church. He is one of the best respected and 
highly esteemed old settlers of this section of Henry County.

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