My Genealogy Hound

GODFREID MACK was one of the worthy German-American citizens of Johnson County. His death occurred on his old farm on section 24, township 46, range 25, where his widow and youngest son are still living. For nearly a quarter of a century his interests were identified with the development and progress of this county, and he put up one of the first houses erected in Warrensburg. He was well known and popular all through this section of the county, and until he became an invalid was a very active and energetic man.

A native of Wurtemberg, Germany, Mr. Mack was born October 27, 1813. He was a son of John and Rosina Mack, natives of the same province, and life-long agriculturists. The father for a number of years was extensively engaged in hauling freight over the Alps, and in transporting merchandise to various points. He died in 1841, and his wife’s demise occurred twenty-one years later. They were the parents of eighteen children, eight of whom grew to maturity, namely: John, Mary, Fredericka, Frederick, Margaret, Johanna, Caroline and Godfreid.

In 1842, while engaged in running a farm in his native land, our subject was married to Barbara Deere, who was born January 9, 1821. Her parents were Godfrey and Elizabeth C. (Luke) Deere, both natives of Germany, and the former a farmer and wagon-maker. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Mack continued to live on the farm owned by our subject’s father until 1856, when they set sail for America. On the journey West they stopped at Dayton, Ohio, where Mr. Mack obtained a position in the asylum as a stationary engineer. This position he held for five or six years, when he moved to Columbia City, Whitley County, Ind., buying a farm in that vicinity. At the end of four years he sold out and moved to Warrensburg, in this county.

In 1870 our subject rented land near the city just mentioned, and for a period of seven years raised vegetables for the local trade. For the following four years he lived on another rented farm, and then, moving to a tract of land near Montserrat, cultivated the place for six years. In 1887 the family moved to the farm of two hundred acres which is now carried on by Jacob J., a son of our subject, who is an enterprising young agriculturist. The homestead is well improved with good buildings and comprises two hundred acres within its boundaries. For fifteen years prior to his demise, Godfreid Mack was in very poor health, and death came to him as a release. In politics he was a Democrat, and in everything which concerned the public welfare he was always ready to do his share.

John, the eldest son of Godfreid Mack and wife, married a Miss Harmon and is now living in Kansas; Frederick, the second son, is now in St. Louis, and the lady who bears his name was formerly Anna Beanerman. George, of Portland, Oregon, and a Police Commissioner of that city, married Mollie Abraham. Jacob J., born in 1852, married Ollie Williams, by whom he has two children: Sammy, born October 7, 1888, and Lena, born November 7, 1891. The mother of these children died March 7, 1895. Catherine died at the age of eight years, Johanna R. and Christina Fredericka died in infancy. Mrs. Mack holds membership with the Presbyterian Church, with which denomination her husband was also associated.