This biography is for a brother
of John Beilharz who served with the 27th.
Commemorative Biographical
Record of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa, and Lafayette Counties,
Wisconsin J. H. Beers, 1901 Pg. 726-727
FREDERICK BEILHARZ, who, as a
blacksmith and wagonmaker, was for many years prominently identified
with the industrial and business interests of Cassville, Grant
county, has made his home in that place since 1855, locating there
when it was a village of about a dozen houses. As a public-spirited
citizen he was actively connected with its early development and
progress, and after a useful and well-spent life he is now living
retired, enjoying a well-earned rest.
Mr. Beilharz was born in
Wurternburg, Germany, Oct. 17 1831, a son of Christian and Barbara (Kubbler)
Beilharz, who spent their entire lives in that country. In their
family were eight children, namely: Mrs.
Christiana Christ, a resident of Buffalo, N. Y.; Frederick; Mrs.
Barbara Hunter, of Germany; Mrs. Christ, who died in Clayton county,
Iowa; Fredericka, a resident of Germany; Dora, who resides at the
old home in the Fatherland; Mrs. Caroline Hoover, of Cassville,
Wis.; and
John, who came to
Cassville in 1859, and three years later enlisted in the 27th Iowa
V. I., with which he served three years, and is now living at the
Soldiers Home in Iowa.
Frederick Beilharz was the first
of the family to come to America. He sailed from Rotterdam in April,
1852, and after a long and tedious voyage of fifty-eight days landed
in New York, June 17, whence he proceeded at once to Buffalo, N. Y.
In that city he worked at his trade for two years before coming to
Wisconsin. In 1854, at the land office in Mineral Point, Wis., he
entered a tract of land in Cassville township, Grant county, and
immediately located thereon, devoting his time and energies to its
improvement and cultivation until his removal to Cassville in 1855.
Since then he has made his home on the block where he now resides.
Erecting a shop, he successfully engaged in blacksmithing and
wagon-making for many years, but has now laid aside the cares and
responsibilities of business life, and is living retired, enjoying
the fruits of former toil. Besides the property he owns in
Cassville, he still has a good farm in Cassville township, which he
rents.
In 1855, at Cassville, Mr.
Beilharz was united in marriage with Miss Mary Munch, a native of
Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Rietz)
Munch, who, on coming to this country, first located in Hoboken, N.
J., and in 1855 became residents of Cassville, Wis. Later Mr.
Munch, who was a farmer by occupation, moved to Emmetsburg, Iowa,
where both he and his wife died at an advanced age, she being nearly
ninety-two at the time of her death. Their children were Mrs. Mary
Beilharz; Mrs. Elizabeth Engler and Mrs. Catharine Adrain, both
residents of Emmetsburg, Iowa; Lizzie, who died in that State; and
Henry, who died in Whittemore, Iowa.
Mr. and Mrs. Beilharz have four
children: (1) Mrs. Lusetta Eisenaggerich, of Dubuque, Iowa, has
three children, Freddie, Lucy and Arthur. (2) Fritz, a blacksmith
of Cassville, married Lucy Bishop, and they have two children, Fred
and Emma. (3) Mrs. Mary Shatkin, whose husband is a merchant of
Minneapolis, Minn., has four children, Henry, Arnold, Edwin and
Fred. (4) Henry, also a blacksmith of Cassville, married Lizzie
Gallebrant, and they have three children, Ray, Mabel and Blanche.In
his political affiliations Mr. Beilharz is a Republican, having
always voted with that party since its organization, and lie is now
efficiently serving as a member of the city council. He is one of
the prominent pioneers of Cassville, and is still one of its leading
and influential citizens. Socially he is connected with the Ancient
Order of United Workmen, and religiously is a member of the Lutheran
Church.