My Genealogy Hound

Lieut. William H. Kirschbaum, farmer and stock raiser, was born in Prussia in 1834. He is the eldest of seven children, and his parents were Henry and Gertrude (Springmann) Kirschbaum, also natives of Prussia, where they were married, about 1832. The father was a dissenter, and fearing persecution came to the United States in 1849, and landed in New Orleans, but soon went to St. Louis, where he remained until 1857. He then resumed mining, but removed to this county, near Tolona, also as a farmer. He died July 3, 1886, at the age of about seventy-six years. The mother had died April 17, 1883. Both were German Methodists. Our subject received some education in his native country, but his father’s zealous assistance, in aiding others to come to this country, left the family without means on their arrival, so that our subject received no further education. He came to this county with his parents, and assisted on the farm until 1862. On January 5 of that year he married Catherine J., a daughter of Col. Charles and Nancy H. Dance, formerly of Kentucky. Two of their children are deceased, and those living are Nancy E. the wife of Prof. D. W. Prichard; Martha; Rebecca, the wife of M. B. White; Charles H.; John W. and Harmon E. He soon entered Company D, Sixty-ninth Missouri Mounted Infantry, as Second Lieutenant, and served until the fall of 1865 in scouting and guarding on the Indian frontier. Since then he has been on his present estate, which is well cultivated, and embraces 280 acres of fine land. He is probably one of the most progressive farmers in the county, and has been very successful. He was reared as a Democrat, but since the war has been a Republican. He is a member of the A. O. U. W., and he and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal Church.