From A
Biographical History of Central Kansas, Vol. II, p. 882
published by The Lewis Publishing Co, Chicago & New York, 1902
HERMAN HOLSCHER
Herman Holscher, a leading and influential agriculturist of Farmer township, residing on section 36, owns and operates two hundred and forty acres of valuable land, all of which is under a high state of cultivation and well improved. He is a native son of the fatherland, his birth having occurred in Prussia, Germany, on the 5th of April, 1839. His parents, Herman and Mary (Monica) Holscher, were also natives of that country, and the father died in his native land at the age of fifty-nine years, but the mother, long surviving him, passed away in Indiana, at the age of seventy-five years. This worthy couple were the parents of seven children, five of whom still survive, - Herman, Elizabeth, Christina, Reka, and Wilhelm, who resides in Germany.
Herman Holscher, the immediate subject of this sketch, was reared to manhood in the land of his nativity, there receiving a good education in the German tongue. At the age of fourteen years he put aside his text-books and entered upon his business career, choosing the life of a farmer. In 1860 he sailed from Bremen for the United States, landing at Baltimore, Maryland, after a voyage of seven weeks. He then made his way to Evansville, Indiana, where he found employment in a foundry. In 1863 he responded to the call of his adopted country, loyally offering his services to the Union cause as a member of Company I, Thirty-second Indiana Volunteer Infantry, in which he remained a loyal soldier until the close of hostilities. He participated in the battles of Missionary Ridge and Resaca, was in a number of skirmishes in Tennessee, and with his regiment was within twenty-four miles of the battle of Atlanta when they were ordered back, as many of the men’s time had expired. Mr Holscher next went to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where the regiment was equipped with new guns. At Nashville, Tennessee, on account of sickness, he was confined to hospital “H,” for several months, when he was transferred to a hospital in Washington, DC, and was in that city at the time Lincoln was assassinated. After the long and terrible struggle was over Mr Holscher was honorably discharged and returned to his home with a creditable military record.
In Evansville, Indiana, in 1867, he was united in marriage to Wilhelmina Springer, who was born in Prussia, Germany, and she was only four years old when brought by her parents to the new world, the family locating in Indiana. She is a sister of Robert Springer, a resident of Farmer township, Rice county. Unto this union have been born seven living children, - Henry; Anna, wife of Thomas Boss; Lena; Huldah, wife of George Parker, of California; Robert; Emma; and Freda. They also lost one child by death. Mr Holscher remained a resident of Indiana until 1877, when he came to the Sunflower state, locating on a tract of unimproved land in Farmer township. His first place of abode was a sod house, fourteen by sixteen feet, but as time passed this was replaced by a tasteful and comfortable residence, which was erected at a cost of two thousand dollars. He has also erected good barns and outbuildings, and a beautiful grove and orchard add much to the beauty of the place. His fine farm of two hundred and forty acres is one of the desirable places of the locality, and the well tilled fields annually yield to the owner a handsome financial return.
Mr Holscher exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the Republican party, but has never sought or desired office, preferring to give his undivided time and attention to his extensive farming interests, in which he has met with such a high and well merited degree of success. He maintains pleasant relations with his old army comrades of the blue by his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic. Both he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. From the little German home across the sea he made his way to the new world and entered upon a career which seems most marvelous, yet it is not the outcome of propitious circumstances, but the honest reward of labor, good management, ambition and energy, without which no man can win prosperity.