Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 672 - 673 

JOHN NICHOLAS WETTERHOLD, an educated farmer, and master of the French, German and English languages, is prominent among the prosperous agriculturists of Park Township, where he settled in March, 1879, having purchased 160 acres on section 11. He is a self-made man in all that the term implies, and one who, deprived of the advantages of education in his youth, has made the most of his time and opportunities, and devoted each leisure hour to the acquisition of useful knowledge.

            Our subject was born March 20, 1822, in what was then the French Province of Alsace, but which during the Franco-Prussian War became a dependency of the German Empire. His parents, Christian and Sophia (Grennear) Wetterhold, natives of the same Province, when their son John N. was about twenty-four years of age, bade adieu to their native land, and emigrated to America, settling in Erie County, N. Y. There the father engaged in farming, but only lived four years, until 1850. The mother followed her husband in 1856; they were about seventy-three years of age at the time of their decease.

            The parental household of our subject included five children, four of whom came to this country at the same time. Christian resides at Suspension Bridge, N. Y.; Henry died on Grand Island, in the Niagara River, leaving a family; Sophia became the wife of Charles Gardner, and died in Erie County, N. Y.; Catherine, the wife of Philip Beaver, still resides there; John N., of our sketch, was the youngest son.

            Mr. Wetterhold was thrown upon his own resources early in life, with a limited education, having been obliged to work from his boyhood. When seventeen years old he made his way to the city of Paris, where he contemplated engaging as a laborer. The French capital, however, was wholly unsuited to his tastes, and repairing to his native Province, he engaged as a shepherd, which occupation he followed for the next five years. At the expiration of this time he entered the French army to serve with the cavalry, and was released by the Government after five and one-half years' service. He received his discharge in January, 1850, and in February following set sail for New York, landing there in the early part of April. He soon afterward joined his father's family in Erie County, and shortly after left there and engaged as a farm laborer in Niagara County, for eighteen months, at $6 per month.

            In the locality above mentioned our subject made the acquaintance of Miss Elizabeth Neubeaur, who became his wife in the fall of 1852. Mrs. Wetterhold, like her husband, was born in the Province of Alsace, Oct. 10, 1828, and came with her brother Philipp to the United States when a young lady. He is now a resident of Linn County, Iowa. Their parents, Philipp and Catherine Neubeaur, remained in their native land, and are now deceased.

            Our subject and his wife, after their marriage, settled on a rented farm in Erie County, whence they not long afterward removed to Niagara County, and continued in the Empire State until 1865. In the summer of that year, Mr. W. resolved to seek a future home in the West, and made his way to Linn County, Iowa, but the climate there being too severe, he determined to go further south, to Schuyler County, Mo., where he followed teaming two years. His next removal was to a tract of land in Grundy County, where he followed farming for a time, and then took up his residence in LaFayette County, where he remained until 1879.

            Mr. Wetterhold came to this county in the spring of the year above mentioned, and operated on rented land until the spring of 1884. Then, having purchased his present farm, he settled upon it, and the improvements which the traveler now beholds with an admiring eye are the result of his industry and good management. He cultivates a quarter-section of land, and has erected a fine residence, with the other necessary buildings for the convenient prosecution of his calling, and now, besides general agriculture. is carrying on stock-raising quite extensively, dealing mostly in cattle and swine.

             To our subject and his wife there have been born seven children, namely: Julia, the wife of Thomas Brown, of Kechi Township; Nicholas, a resident of Cass County, Mo.; Caroline, at home; William, farming for himself in Eagle Township; George, Frank and Charles, at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. W. were reared in the faith of the Lutheran Church, to which they still adhere, and our subject, politically, is an uncompromising Democrat.

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