Houck, Jacob 1824 - 1909

HOUCK, SILL, DUPREZ

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 3/1/2023 at 16:38:12

Source: Decorah Republican Nov, 25, 1909 P2 C4

JACOB HOUCK DEAD.
Was Pioneer Resident of Bluffton Township and Merchant at Burr Oak.
Jacob Houck, who for more than half a century has been a resident of Winneshiek county, passed away at the home of his son, W. H. Houck, in Burr Oak township, on Monday of this week, at the age of almost 87 years. Born in the state of Pennsylvania January 1, 1823{?}, he came west when a young man stopping for a time in the state of Illinois. In the early fifties he came with his wife and one child to Winneshiek county and established his home upon government land in Bluffton township. From that time to the time of his death he has been a continuous resident of this county. During the earlier years of his residence in the county he was engaged in farming, and later in conducting a mercantile business in the village of Burr Oak until the infirmities of approaching years compelled him some ten or fifteen years ago to relinquish all business enterprises on his own responsibility.
Early in life he associated himself with the Baptist church, later owing to the dissolution of the Baptist Society in Burr Oak, transferring his church membership to the Adventist church to which he belonged at the time of his demise.
Deceased was married to Malinda A. Sill in Olean, New York, January 1, 1850. To this union three sons were born, F. W. Houck, of Sheldon, Iowa, W. H. Houck, of burr Oak, and C. N. Houck of Decorah, who, together with deceased’s wife and an adopted daughter, Mrs. Emma Duprez, of Burr Oak, survive him. This aged couple lacked only about six weeks of having competed sixty years of wedded life.
Decreased was of a retiring disposition preferring to go unnoted along life’s more sequestered paths. He was a man of unquestioned unrightness{sic}, sterling integrity, absolute honesty and consistent Christian character. Of jovial and happy temperament, he never wavered in his belief that good would ultimately come from all the things we misunderstand here. He was one of the pioneers who by dint of hardship and toil have made this western wild to blossom like the rose. If faith and good works entitles a man to a crown after “life’s fitful fever” has burned out, then the saint’s reward is certainly his.
The funeral was held Wednesday morning at eleven o’clock at the home of W. H. Houck, Rev. Mellott officiating, and interment was made in the Burr Oak cemetery.

Transcriber's Note: His gravestone in the Burr Oak Cemetery shows the year of his birth as 1824.

Burr Oak Cemetery
 

Winneshiek Obituaries maintained by Jeff Getchell.
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