SHEBOYGAN HISTORY

Louis Henry Boeger, Page 366

LOUIS HENRY BOEGER, having spent his entire life on the farm where he now lives, is so well known to the old settlers and representative men of Sheboygan County, that he needs no introduction to our readers.  He is a practical farmer and follows agricultural pursuits on section 7, Sheboygan Falls Township.  His birth occurred November 11, 1859, his parents being Antoine and Amelia (Wepprecht) Boeger.  He is one of seven children, five of whom are living.  Augusta is the wife of Charles Haeker, a farmer of Clark County; Louis is the next in order of birth; Ernst Frederick is engaged in farming in Kansas; Philipina Amelia is the wife of Fred Distelhorst, who is a merchant of Clark County; Frederick is a farmer of Plymouth Township.  A half-brother, Richard Budtke, is a child of our subject's mother's second marriage.  He is a cheese-maker of Plymouth Township.  The father of our subject was born in Germany, and there followed the life of an agriculturist.  On coming to America he settled on the farm where our subject now resides, which was then wild land.  He died September 1, 1870.

    Mr. Boeger whose name heads this sketch started out to fight life's battles on his own account in 1872, when he was a youth of fourteen years.  He obtained work by the month at $8, and continued thus employed for some four years.  Going then to Sheboygan, he worked in Crocker's Chair Factory and in a tannery for three years.  Subsequently he returned to the homestead and has here since continued to reside.

    On the 3d of December, 1878, Mr. Boeger wedded Theresa Hecker, daughter of John and Fredericka Hecker, of Sheboygan Falls Township.  Eight children have been born of their union:  William Charles Richard, Antoine Henry, Arthur Frederick, Henry, Ella Fredericka Matilda, Rosa Helena Regine, Louis August and Paula Emma, aged, respectfully, fourteen, twelve, ten, eight, six, five, three and one years.  The children are all at home and tenderly cared for by their parents.  The older ones attend the district school in Johnsonville.

    It is within the recollection of Mr. Boeger when the surrounding country was a wilderness, and when the numerous Indians engaged in trapping and hunting near his home often came down the river in their canoes.  He is justly numbered among the worthy old settlers, and has seen his own farm developed from its primitive state to its present well-cultivated condition.  The place comprises eighty acres, located six miles from Plymouth, and eleven miles from Sheboygan.  In politics, he is a Democrat, and first voted for Grover Cleveland.  He is a member of the German Reformed Church, of which John Vriesn is pastor.