SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Cornelius Back, Page 269

CORNELIUS BACK, who resides on section 27, in the town of Greenbush, and has been a resident of Sheboygan County since 1853, was born in Holland, Europe, December 3, 1838.  His father, Peter Back, was also born in Holland, September 17, 1809.  On attaining to manhood, he married Adriana Roelse, and in 1853, with his family, emigrated to the United states, coming directly to Sheboygan County, and settling in the town of Lima.  There the family lived for many years, and then removed to the town of Holland, where the father died December 5, 1883.  The wife and mother died in July, 1853, of cholera.  which was then prevailing, her death occurring soon after her arrival in Wisconsin.  Later the father re-married.  The second wife, who still survives, was the widow of Lindert Faas, her maiden name being Susanna De Die.  Of the first marriage there were twelve children, five of whom, three sons and two daughters, are living; of the latter marriage there was one child, Susanna, now the wife of Henry Soens, of the town of Holland.

    Cornelius Back was about fifteen years old when he came to America.  He had good advantages for an education in his native country, and there learned the trade of shoemaker, which he followed for about sixteen years.  But the making of boots and shoes by machinery superseded the making of them by hand, and our subject, like nearly all boot and shoe makers, found his occupation practically gone, and so found it necessary to return to farming.

    April 25, 1862, Mr. Back was united in marriage with Miss Pieternella Ann Faas, daughter of Lindert and Susanna Faas.  Mr. Faas died of cholera, the same season that the mother of Mr. Back died, his death occurring in the village of Amsterdam, in the town of Holland.

    Unto Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Back was born a family of eleven children.  The eldest died in infancy unnamed; Peter, who married Miss Kate Nieuwenhuyse, is a farmer of the town of Greenbush; the younger members are:  Lindert, Adrian, Susanna, Janie, Mary, William, Pieternella, Benjamin and Johannis.

    Mr. Back has a good farm of eighty acres, which is under a high state of cultivation.  Himself and his family are members of the Reformed Church, in which he is an active and prominent worker, and while he is not an ordained minister, he conducts the service of his church in the absence of the regular pastor.

    In his political views, Mr. Back is a Republican, and cast his first Presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln.  He is a worthy and well-known citizen, and during the many years that he has lived in Sheboygan County has had the confidence of those with whom he has been brought in contact.