Biography - Fred A. Pauchert
FRED A. PAUCHERT, a retired merchant of Shelbyville, Shelby County, is
connected with the agricultural interests of this county as the proprietor
of two fine farms. He has held prominent public positions, and whether as a
civic officer, a business man, or as a private citizen, he has always
manifested a deep interest in all that concerns the welfare of the city and
county, and has materially aided in their advancement. He was born near
Daaden, in the Rhenish Province of Friedenwald, Prussia. His father and
paternal grandfather, both of whom bore the given name of Engelbert, were
also natives of the same town as himself, the latter spending his entire
life there, he having been a farmer and the keeper of a public house.
The father of our subject learned the trade of a baker when he was young,
and carried on that business and conducted a grocery store in connection
with it in his native town for many years. He now lives retired at the
venerable age of eighty-six years. His wife, who bore the maiden name of
Catherine Held, and who was born at Daaden, died in January, 1887, at an
advanced age. They reared a family of seven children, of whom the following
are the names: Fred A., Caroline, Henry, Gustaf, Louis, Robert and Julia.
Fred A., Gustaf, Louis and Robert are the only members of the family that
ever came to this country. Gustaf reared a family and spent his last years
in Shelbyville. Louis, who never married, died at St Louis. Robert, a
resident of Shelbyville, has a family.
Our subject had the advantages of a good education in the excellent schools
of his native land, which he attended steadily until he was fourteen years
old. At that age he began to work at the trade of a baker with his father,
and also assisted in the labors of his father's farm. He was of an
ambitious, stirring temperament, and desirous to make the best of life he
decided to emigrate to this country, the goal of so many of his compatriots,
where he hoped to better his fortunes. In the spring of 1852 he started out
on his ever memorable journey, setting sail from Antwerp, and after
fifty-two days on the ocean, landing in New York. He proceeded directly to
Schenectady County, in the same State, and was there employed by an
American-born citizen to work on a farm. He found himself a stranger among a
people with whose habits and customs he was unacquainted, and he could not
understand their speech, as he knew not a word of the English Language. He
was an apt scholar, however, and during the two months that he worked there,
he learned rapidly, and soon caught the meaning of what was said to him, and
in time mastered English.
From that part of the country Mr. Pauchert made his way to St. Louis, going
by rail to Buffalo, thence by lake to Detroit, from there by rail to
Chicago, where he embarked on the Illinois and Michigan Canal for LaSalle,
from which town he went by the Illinois and Mississippi Rivers to St. Louis,
which was then but a small city. There he found employment at various kinds
of work the ensuing two years, and then was engaged in the Office of the
Terre Haute Railway Company three years. After that he established himself
in the grocery business, which he carried on there until 1861. In that year
he took up his residence in Shelbyville, and for two years was variously
employed. At the expiration of that time he accepted a position as clerk in
a store, at which he was engaged three years. His next move was to open a
store at Moulton which is now included within the city limits, and he
carried on business there upwards of twenty years. He then traded for a farm
which is still in his possession, and since has lived retired from active
business. Besides that farm, which is situated in Rose Township, he has
another in Dry Point Township, and has fine property adjoining the city of
Shelbyville, upon which he makes his home, the grounds about his residence
comprising ten acres of land, well laid out, and adding to the
attractiveness of the locality.
Mr. Pauchert was first married in March, 1857, to Miss Elizabeth Schneider,
a native of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, who came to this country with a brother
at the age of eighteen years. She died in January, 1874, leaving five
children: Robert, Fred, Gust, Julia and Annie. Mr. Pauchert's marriage with
his present wife, formerly Miss Rosena Maurer, took place in November, 1874.
Mrs. Pauchert was born in Tuscarawas County, Ohio, September 12, 1848, and
is a daughter of Jacob and Barbara (Mayers) Maurer, natives of Wurtemberg.
Her marriage with our subject has brought them seven children, whom they
have named Kate, Rosa, John, Amelia, Carrie, Albert and Harry.
A man of Mr. Pauchert's mental calibre, sound common-sense, and clear
judgment in regard to business is necessarily influential in the regulation
of public affairs, and we find that he has held various important offices,
he has served six years as a member of the City Council, two terms as
Justice of the Peace, and has twice represented Rose Township on the County
Board of Supervisors. In politics he steadily upholds the Republican party.
Religiously he is one of the leading members of the Lutheran Church, to
which his wife and children also belong.
Extracted 17 Jun 2019 by Norma Hass from 1891 Portrait and Biographical Record of Shelby and Moultrie Counties Illinois, pages 636-638.
