My Genealogy Hound

J. H. Ortbals, wagon-maker at Charleston, became a resident of St. Elizabeth in the spring of 1882. He was born in Osage County, Mo., March 28, 1859, and was the fourth in a family of ten children born to Caspar and Elizabeth A. (Descher) Ortbals, who were born in Germany. They came to America in 1851, and settled in Osage County, Mo., in 1854, where they engaged in farming and are at present living. J. H. Ortbals, whose name heads this sketch, was apprenticed to the wagon-maker’s trade at the age of fifteen years, and finished his trade in St. Louis. April 29, 1884, he was married in Cole County, Mo., to Miss Anna Margaret Heisler, her parents being John and Elizabeth (Ketzner) Heisler, natives of Wurtemberg, Germany. They came to America at a very early day and settled near St. Thomas, Mo., where they engaged in tilling the soil, and where the mother died February 14, 1876. The father is still living. After his marriage Mr. Ortbals settled on a farm, and subsequently lived in Charleston, where he followed the wagon-maker’s trade. He has always taken considerable interest in politics, and votes the Democratic ticket, and was at one time a candidate on that ticket for county assessor. He is now a member of the school board, having been elected to the position in 1882, and is district clerk. Mr. and Mrs. Ortbals are members of the Catholic Church, and are the parents of two children—Elizabeth A. and Louis C.