WILLIAM FOCHT

FOCHT

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/21/2020 at 18:09:32

WILLIAM FOCHT, has been identified with the best interests of Montgomery county, Iowa, since 1857, when he took up his abode on his present farm, 520 acres in section 27, Douglas township. He is one of the enterprising, successful and popular pioneers of the county. For the important part he took in developing its interests and for the prominent position he now occupies among its worthy citizens, he is most justly entitled to honorable mention in this volume. A resume of his life is as follows:

William Focht was born in Schuylkill county, Pennsylvania, January 5, 1827. His father, Adam Focht, a native of the same place, was a son of George Focht, who was born in Hamburg, Germany. In his young manhood the latter came to America and settled in Pennsylvania. He served in the Revolutionary War, a portion of the time in the militia and later as a teamster. He assisted in drawing the cannon from Philadelphia to Valley Forge, and for services rendered received a special pension of $50. The mother of William Focht was nee Susanna Furry, a native of Pennsylvania and a daughter of George Furry, a Scotchman by birth. Adam Focht and family moved from Pennsylvania to Allen county, Ohio, 1837, and there the parents passed the residue of their days, each dying at the age of about sixty-six years. The father was all his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. In politics he was a Democrat. He was a steward in the Lutheran Church, of which both he and his wife were members, and in that faith reared their children. Their family consisted of seven sons and three daughters. One of the sons, Jacob Focht, is a resident of Pilot Grove, Iowa.

William was a lad of eleven years when the family settled in Ohio, and in Allen county he grew to manhood, working on the farm and attending the common schools. At nineteen he enlisted for the Mexican war, in Company K, First Regiment of Artillery, under command of "Stonewall" Jackson. He helped to guard the wagon train from Vera Cruz to the City of Mexico. After the war he returned to Ohio, and a short time later went to Pennsylvania, where he made his home for three years[.] Again returning to Ohio, he remained in Allen county till 1857, the year he came west and located in Montgomery county. Here he purchased 160 acres of wild land, built a cabin and made a home. Prosperity attended his earnest efforts on the frontier, and as the years passed by his property assumed a different appearance. The primitive cabin has long since given place to a modern cottage, which is situated some rods back from the highway and is approached by an avenue. Substantial improvements in the way of barn, outbuildings, fences, etc., combine to make this place a valuable one. Mr. Focht has purchased other lands and is now the owner of 520 acres.

At the age of twenty-eight he was married, in Auglaize county, Ohio, to Miss Rebecca Williams, a native of Champaign county, Ohio, and a daughter of Jacob Williams, who was born in the eastern part of the United States, of Scotch ancestry. Mr. and Mrs. Focht have seven children, viz.: P. S. is married and has four children; John A. is married, has two children and lives in Douglas township, this county; Melvin, also a resident of this township, is married and has four children; James of the same township, has a wife and one child; Samuel, Washington is married and has two children; Homer is married and lives on the old homestead; and Oscar, at home and unmarried. They lost six children, three sons and three daughters, when quite young.

Mr. Focht is a Democrat and is active in the councils of his party. He has served in various townships offices, always with credit to himself and his constituents, and is at present township trustee. He has recently been chosen by his party as a candidate for county Supervisor, in which selection the best of judgment has been evinced. Mr. Focht is a member of the Centennial Lodge of Grant, No. 373. He has been a Mason forty years. He assisted in organizing the Red Oak Lodge when there were only seven Masons in the county. During the late war he was a member of the State militia and took an active part in the march to St. Joseph, Missouri, to guard the State border.

Mrs. Focht is a worthy member of the Baptist Church.