JOHN BARTSCHE
John Bartsch, a native of Saxony, was born October 8, 1838. He came to the United States in 1657, landed at New York and went to Buffalo where he worked a few weeks. From there he went to Prairie du Sac, Sauk county, Wisconsin. There he afterwards bought sixty acres of land He enlisted in company K, of the Twenty-third Wisconsin regiment, and took part in the battle preceding the capture of Arkansas Post, also the battles of Port Gibson, Champion Hill, Black River Bridge and siege of Vicksburg, where he was in A. J. Smith's corps. He participated in the Red river campaign and was in the battle at Fort Blakely and Spanish Fort. He was honorably discharged at Mobile, Alabama. He was married September 6, 1865, at Prairie du Sac, to Theresa Allbright, who was born in Prussia in 1842. Her father, Christian Allbright, was a man of ability and education and was at one time mayor of his city. He afterwards moved to Sauk county where he died in 1864. His widow did not long survive him. Mr. and Mrs. Bartsch came to Cass county in 1873, driving a team from Sauk county. His farm on section 17 contains eighty acres, all improved. They have three children--Minnie, born in November, 1869; Mattie, born in May, 1872, and Lena, born in January, 1874.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 715-716.
