Philip Bickelhaupt

BICKELHAUPT, KEREMAN, TYSON

Posted By: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs (email)
Date: 3/22/2009 at 15:19:46

PHILIP BICKELHAUPT, an active farmer of Viola Township, was born in Germany, near Berlin, June 15, 1844. He is the fifth of a family of six children, five of whom lived to be grown. His parents were Jacob and Martha (Kereman) Bickelhaupt, who were born in Germany, and lived and died in their native country. Philip attended school until he was fourteen years old, and at that early age he was desirous of trying his fortunes in the new west. He embarked on a sailing vessel for the United States, and made the voyage in fifty four days, the first part of the journey being attended with very severe storms. He landed in New Orleans, and from that city went to St. Louis by water; from St. Louis he went to Chicago, Illinois, and remained there one week; his finances were by this time quite reduced, so that he pawned his clothes for $5 in order to get money to go to Fulton, Illinois. There he secured work in a cigar factory, and afterward went to work on a farm where he stayed two years. He then went to Morrison, Illinois, and worked on a farm until the breaking out of the late civil war. He enlisted in the Eighth Illinois Cavalry, Company C, and was assigned to the Army of the Potomac, skirmishing and scouting the greater part of Virginia. He participated in the battle of Fredericksburg, and also of Gettysburg, after which he was taken prisoner, held three days, and then paroled. He was wounded in the left knee, and so was disabled for four months, after which he joined his regiment in Maryland, and was afterward sent to St.Louis, Missouri, thence to Chicago, where he was finally discharged. He then returned to Morrison, Illinois, and iii 1865 he was married to Mary Tyson, a daughter of John Tyson, Esq., of Morrison, Illinois. The two years following he was engaged in farming in Whiteside County, Illinois, and in the fall of 1868 he removed to Jasper County, Iowa, locating in the town of Monroe, where he opened a meat market; he remained there one year, and then moved hack to Whiteside County, Illinois, and remained there three years. In 1872, Mr. Bickelhaupt removed to Audubon County and purchased eighty acres of new land in section 6; this he broke out and improved, and two years later he bought eighty acres more, and he now has a half section of land in a high state of cultivation. He also has town property in Coon Rapids, Iowa. He is extensively engaged in the feeding, buying and shipping of livestock. All of his own produce is consumed on his farm, and he buys largely of his neighbors. Mr. and Mrs. Bickelhaupt have had nine children born to them Margaret, Elizabeth, Peter, Mamie, Alice, George, Albert, Odessa and Rena. Eight of the children are living. The confidence reposed in Mr. Bickelhaupt by the people of the community is shown by the fact that he has served as township trustee for thirteen years, and has been president of the school board for fourteen years. He was elected township treasurer in 1888, and is the present incumbent of the office. He is a member of Charity Lodge, No. 197, A. F. & A. M., at Coon Rapids, Iowa. He strongly adheres to the principles of the Democratic party. He is a member of the G. A. R. post at Dedham.

1889 BIOGRAPHICAL HISTORY OF
SHELBY AND AUDUBON COUNTIES, IOWA
W. S. DUNBAR & CO., PUBLISHERS
113 ADAMS STREET, CHICAGO

pages 776-777