My Genealogy Hound

HENRY MASSOTH. In a pleasant home in Piqua, Kansas, Henry Massoth is now living retired from the more arduous cares of business life, having through former years of activity and industry gained a substantial competence which now provides him with all of the necessities and many of the luxuries of life.

Mr. Massoth was born in Prussia, Germany, on the 2d of June, 1842, and is a son of John and Christiana (Ovoch) Massoth, who were also natives of the same country, whence they crossed the briny deep to the United States in 1854. The father died of cholera in less than a month after landing on the shores of America. The family took up their abode in Lake County, Indiana, and the mother survived her husband until 1874, when she too passed away at the age of sixty-eight years. They were the parents of six children, four of whom are now living, namely: Henry; Frank, a resident of Indiana; Peter B., of Nebraska, and Katie.

Mr. Massoth of this review is the eldest of the surviving members of the family. He resided upon the home farm with his mother until after the inauguration of the Civil war when feeling that his chief duty was toward his country, he enlisted on the 1st of July, 1862, as a member of company A, Seventy-third Indiana Volunteer infantry, remaining at the front until after the close of the war, when in July, 1865, he received an honorable discharge. He was in the battle of Perryville and several lesser engagements and was captured at Day Camp, Alabama, but after being held for two weeks by the Rebels he was exchanged. He was never wounded although twice hit by spent balls that did not pierce the skin. He was a loyal soldier, who gallantly defended the old flag until hostilities ceased.

After the war Mr. Massoth resumed his old occupation of farming. He was married on the 19th of September, 1865, to Miss Mary Kline, also a native of Prussia, and they began their domestic life upon a rented farm. It was in this way that he continued to carry on agricultural pursuits while in Indiana. Thinking that he might acquire a farm where land was cheaper, in 1870 he came to Woodson County and pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres on Plum creek, eight miles east of Yates Center. He now has a valuable farm of five hundred and twenty acres of well improved land, together with town property in Piqua. When he arrived in Kansas he had only three hundred dollars in money, a wagon and a team, but with this as a start he allied himself with the agricultural interests of the county and found that the rich soil would yield to him an excellent return for his care and labor. As the years passed and he placed his fields under cultivation his income was annually increased and his stock-raising interests also brought to him handsome financial returns. He has made nearly all that he possesses since coming to Kansas, and now he is enjoying a well-earned rest.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Massoth have been born ten children: Kate, wife of Peter Hellinghouse, of Muskogee Indian Territory; Lena, wife of J. Klein; George and Henry, who are upon the home farm; Mary, who is with her sister in the territory; Anna, who is on the farm with her brothers; Hannah, who is with her parents in Piqua; Frank, John and Willie, also at home.

The political principles of the Democracy are supported by Mr. Massoth at the ballot box and he is an ardent advocate of the party. He has served as treasurer of his township and has been one of the school directors of his district for a number of years. He is an excellent example of the self-made American citizen and a grand exemplification of the progress that an ambitious foreigner can make in this country of unbounded opportunities.