My Genealogy Hound

FRED HARTWIG. Almost forty-three years have come and gone since Fred Hartwig arrived in Woodson County. Casting in his lot with the pioneer settlers, he took up the work of making a home for himself and at the same time bore his full share in the labor of progress and development in this section of the state. He aided in reclaiming the wild land for purposes of civilization and in promoting the work of advancement along substantial and beneficial lines. Throughout the decades he has been accounted one of the valued and reliable citizens of the community.

Mr. Hartwig was born in Prummern, Prussia, on the 8th. of August, 1850, and is a son of Gottlieb and Minnie (Pribbernow) Hartwig, the latter a sister of Christian Pribbernow, formerly a resident of Owl Creek township, Woodson County. About the year 1856 the parents with their children bade adieu to the fatherland and crossed the briny, deep to the New World, taking up their abode in Kane County, Illinois, where they made their home for a year and then came to Kansas, settling in Woodson County. The father was for many years a resident of Humboldt. However, the family first located near Leroy, Coffey County, and in 1863 removed to the German settlement on Owl creek. The father resides in Humboldt, Kansas, and the mother passed away in 1878. Their children were: William; Charles, who was a member of the Ninth Kansas Regiment in the Civil war and died at Fort Scott; Amelia, who died in 1863; Fred; Bertha, who was the wife of Martin Henrichs and died in 1890, and Henry, who died in 1885.

The subject of this review is therefore the only surviving member of the family. He acquired his education in the district schools, and remained under the parental roof throughout the period of his minority. In October, 1873, in Woodson County, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary Smith, a daughter of Charles Smith, who came to Kansas from Ohio, where he was born. Nine children have been born unto our subject and his wife: Louise, now the wife of James Leonard, of Woodson County; William, who married Grace Waymer and is living in Woodson County, Bertha, wife of Marion Beckett, of Woodson County; Augusta, the wife of Harry Peters, of Rose, Kansas; John, Pearl, Clara, Florence and Hazel, all at home.

Mr. Hartwig gives his political support to the Democracy, voting for its men and measures, but has never been an aspirant for office, preferring to give his time and attention to his farming operation, which he carries on with success. His practical experience well fitted him for the conduct of business on his own account, and throughout his active career he has been identified with agricultural interests, deriving his income from the products of the fields.