My Genealogy Hound

JOHN P. ARENDT is the son of Michael and Mary (Ketch) Arendt; the former was a native of France, and there remained till death, which occurred in 1887. He was engaged in farming, taking special interest in raising thoroughbred horses. Mr. Arendt, at the time of his death, was in very good circumstances. He was united in marriage to Miss Mary Ketch, and he and wife were members of the Catholic church. Charity was one of his characteristic graces, of which the following is sufficient proof: A traveler was thrown from his conveyance and had his leg broken; Mr. Arendt took him to his home and cared for him as he would for his own son, and when he was sufficiently recovered, he went on his way, Mr. Arendt asking no compensation. Their family consisted of two girls and five boys — Michael, living in France; John, in France; Cristine, in France; Michael died in Wisconsin; Mary, living in Minnesota; Hanos, lives in France, and John P., the subject of this memoir, who was born in France in 1832. When fourteen years of age, he came to America, stopping in Milwaukee, Wis.; thence he moved to Kewaunee county, Wis., and there engaged in farming and lumbering. At the breaking out of the war, he was sheriff of Kewaunee county, but, true to the impulses of a patriotic nature, he resigned and enlisted in the Twenty-seventh Wisconsin infantry volunteers, Company A, under Capt. Cunningham. On a march from Little Rock, Ark., to Mobile, Ala., he was sunstruck, from which he has suffered ever since. He was mustered out at Brownsville, Tex., the 29th of August, 1865. He then returned to Kewaunee county. Wis., and there remained until coming to Nebraska in 1872, first locating on section 28, township 9, range 18 west, Elm Creek township, thence moving to Elm Creek village, where he engaged in the mercantile and lumber business, continuing in this business till 1876, at which time he retired. Mr. Arendt laid out the present site of Elm Creek, platting eighty acres. He was its first postmaster and also one of the first commissioners of Buffalo county. He was married, in 1859, to Miss Catherine Tyler, a native of Buffalo, N. Y. To them were born seven children, viz. — Mary (Mrs. Carey), in Overton, Nebr.; Annie (Mrs. Bond), in Elm Creek, Nebr.; Minnie (Mrs. Council), in Boulder, Colo.; George, now in the employ of the U. P. R. R. Co., as agent at Elm Creek, which position he has filled creditably three years; Maggie, Eva and Rose.

In politics, Mr. Arendt is a democrat, and he and family are identified with the Catholic church.