My Genealogy Hound

Christian D. Oncken, farmer and stock-raiser of Richland Township, was born in Oldenburg, Germany, March 20, 1828, and is the son of Christian D. and Eliza (Knodt) Oncken, who spent their lives in Germany. The father died in 1840, aged fifty-three years, and the mother died about 1877, at the age of eighty-three years. The father was a magistrate, and served in the French War of 1813 and 1815. He was one of the veterans at Waterloo, and a commissioned officer. Christian D. received a fair education, and, after reaching manhood, followed the occupation of a farmer for about three years. In 1847 he came to Hermann, and worked in the tanyard and mill of his cousin, Hans Widersprecher, until 1849, when the cousin died. Mr. Oncken then engaged in merchandising for a short time, and in 1850 was married to Miss Elizabeth, a native of Germany, born in 1854, and the daughter of Jacob Jaeger. She came with her parents from Germany at the age of two. Ten children were the result of Mr. Oncken’s marriage, seven of whom are living: Frank, Henry, Julius, George, Adelia (wife of Ernst Lange), Bertha (wife of Charley Strieker), and Ella. Mr. Oncken, immediately after marriage, settled on his present farm, then almost a wilderness, twelve miles west of Hermann, on the Gasconade River, and which consists of 490 acres. He served in Company A, Enrolled Missouri Militia, during the war, and was justice of the peace four years prior to that struggle. He is a Republican in politics and a good citizen. When Stolpe Post-office was established, about 1853, Mr. Oncken carried mail from there to Hermann once a week, for two years, at $26 per year, the post-office then being Gasconade Ferry Post-office, which he was instrumental in establishing.