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Below is a family biography included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Phillips County, Arkansas published by Goodspeed Publishing Company in 1890.  These biographies are valuable for genealogy research in discovering missing ancestors or filling in the details of a family tree. Family biographies often include far more information than can be found in a census record or obituary.  Details will vary with each biography but will often include the date and place of birth, parent names including mothers' maiden name, name of wife including maiden name, her parents' names, name of children (including spouses if married), former places of residence, occupation details, military service, church and social organization affiliations, and more.  There are often ancestry details included that cannot be found in any other type of genealogical record.

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Rev. J. M. Boetzkes, rector of St. Mary’s Church, at Helena, Ark., was born in Prussia, Germany, and received his education at Muenster University, Westphalia, from which institution he was graduated in 1855, and was ordained sub-deacon September 8 of the same year. The following year he embarked to America, taking passage at Havre, France, and landed at New York City after a two weeks’ ocean voyage, and came directly to St. Louis, where he was ordained deacon a few months after his arrival. On September 8, 1856, he was ordained a priest of the Catholic Church, and during the late Civil War was in the service for some time in Scott County, Mo., acting as chaplain. Here he built a stone church, which was demolished during the latter part of the war. He was in the hospital service in St. Louis for about a year, and in 1865 returned to Europe, but a few months later came back to the United States and settled in the city of Philadelphia, where he occupied a position in the diocese until 1875, at which time he came to Helena, Ark. Here he was the means of erecting a fine brick church at a cost of $12,000, and on July 21, 1889, it was dedicated, the corner-stone being laid July 22, 1888. The convent at Helena has been built several years, but since Father Boetzkes’ arrival he has improved it wonderfully. It is a day and boarding-school and is controlled and managed by nine Sisters of Charity who have made it one of the best institutions of the kind in the West. The training includes a comprehensive collegiate course and thoroughly fits a young lady for any position or vocation in life, the branches taught being music, the languages, all branches of mathematics, chemistry, botany, calisthenics, etc. The building is beautifully situated and commands a view of the Mississippi River, as well as the surrounding country and the grounds are tastefully laid out with magnolia and other shade trees.

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This family biography is one of 103 biographies included in Biographical and Historical Memoirs of Phillips County, Arkansas published in 1890.  For the complete description, click here: Phillips County, Arkansas History, Genealogy, and Maps

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