John Fortsch (b. 1821)

FORTSCH, MORNINGS

Posted By: Dorothy Gosse (email)
Date: 7/4/2002 at 13:57:45

Fortsch, John, farmer, Section 30 (Fremont township); PO Mill; born in Hamburg, Germany, November 26, 1821; a carpenter by trade; the war of 1848, between Germany and Austria having caused an almost entire suspension of mechanical industries in his native county, he was compelled to emigrate; procuring a passage on board a vessel at Bremen, October 17, 1848, he arrived in New York Dec 1, same year. Married Mary Mornings July 3, 1849; she was born in Prussia, Germany, April 10, 1823. Mr. Fortsch and wife were in New York State at the time the Erie Railroad was being constructed, along the line of which they kept boarding house at different points as the road progressed. They moved to Illinois in 1852, settling in Winnebago Co., where they kept a tavern for fifteen months, when they came to this county. As Mr. Fortsch and family were among the the first to locate here, they experienced more than the usual hardships incident to frontier life; their nearest neighbor, at that time, was seven miles distant; wolves, deer and wild game of all kinds abounded; the nearest place that grain could be ground was at Independence, and there the facilities were so meager that in one instance Mr. Fortsch made three trips before he could a certain quanity of grain milled. Mr. F. has a farm of 505 acres well improved; two seasons ago, he raised over 1,900 bushels of wheat. Eleven children have been born unto them; John the oldest, much to the bereavement of his parents, was shot by a neighbor's son; Mary died in Illinois; Helena, Frank, Herman, Mary, William, Samuel E., Elizabeth, Henry and Frederick. Mr. F. and wife belong to the M. E. Church. He is very emphatic in his belief that the State or county deals very unjustly with the farmers when they are obliged to pay taxation on property for road purposes that has been previously appropriated.

Pages 743 & 744, "1878 History of Fayette County, Iowa"