BIOGRAPHIES: Herman BOORTZ, Rice Lake, Barron County, WI ==================================================================== 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, or the legal representative of the contributor, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file was contributed for use in the USGenWeb Archives by: Vic Gulickson 11 February 2002 ==================================================================== Herman Boortz, an estimable citizen of solid and substantial worth, formerly a farmer of section 29, Sumner Township, and now living at 35 Hatten Avenue, Rice Lake, was born in Germany Oct. 20, 1854, the youngest of the twelve children of John and Fredericka (Schultz) Boortz, who spent the span of their years in the old country. He was reared and educated in Germany, and was there married and had three children. In 1882 he brought his family to America and found his way to this county, where he secured 80 acres of wild land in section 29, Sumner Township. Here he erected a log house, and started to develop a farm from the wilderness. Fortunately he had two cows, so the children had a supply of milk, and the wife made butter for family use. But they had no oxen or other draft animals, their farming equipment was meagre and progress was made but slowly. For some years not enough could be raised amid the stumps to support the family so Mr. Boortz had to secure what outside work he could to earn a little money while his wife stayed at home, reared the children, did the housework, and looked after the farm and stock as best she could. Privations were many, there were no luxuries, and even the necessities were sometimes lacking. But by hard work and frugal management, they prospered, and built up a good place, rearing a good family of children to respectable manhood and womanhood. In 1910 they moved to another farm of 128 acres, where they farmed until 1920, when he returned to Rice Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Boortz have many interesting stories to tell of their experiences in the early days. When they first came here Mr. Boortz started out on foot and walked all the way from Eau Claire to Sumner before he found a location that suited him. After fixing on a place he went back to Eau Claire and brought his family to the claim with a horse team. Mrs. Boortz brought here the spinning wheel which she had owned in Germany, and on this she knit many useful garments to keep the youngsters warm, and her husband and her self comfortable. Often after the babies were safely asleep, and she waited for her husband to return from some far-away work, she sat by the feeble light late at night, knitting, and half dreaming of the time when the babies should be grown and have babies of their own, and when the county would develop from a wilderness to a rich farming country. As the years passed they replaced their log cabin with a fine set of farm buildings, and their two cows gave way to a fine herd of pure blooded Jerseys. Mrs. Boortz, whose maiden name was Otellia Kruger, was born in Germany Dec. 5, 1851, and they were married May 25, 1877. Three of the children, Minnie, Gustave and Herman, were born in Germany. Eleven children, Emma, Lena, Otto, Paul, Elsie, Erma, Laura, Walter, Bernard, Agatha and Arndt, were born on the farm in this county. The family faith is that of the German Lutheran church in Stanley Township, in which Mr. Boortz has been a prominent worker and officer for many years. --Taken from: History of Barron Co., Wisconsin, H. C. Cooper, Jr., & Co., 1922, pg. 201.