Goettsch

William Goettsch was born in Davenport Iowa. William did not have the opportunity to attend school because when he was 10 years old he began working in the fields. In the fall he would never have the chance to start school until the end of the corn picking season. In the spring he would discontinue his studies as soon as it was possible for him to help with the field work.

The first money he earned was picking corn at three cents per bushel. He would furnished his own team of horses and board. In those days, a man picking 50 bushels per day was considered a good picker. Mr Goettsch picked about that much each day.He then would drive five miles home at night after he had unloaded his load with a scoop shovel. When he was 20 years old he worked away from home earning $18.00 per month. The most he every earned then was $22.00 a month.

When the boom was on in Denver Mr. Goettsch and several of his friends decided to go west to see what opportunities were available there. They applied for employment at a smelting works. They turned him down. Then he head about a farmer who wantedto hire a man, so he went to the place arriving there about 2:00 PM. The man asked him if he had eaten his noon meal and he said he had not eaten. He was given a crust of bread and a jug of water. He worked for the man that afternoon and he proved to be satisfactory, so he hired him for the week.

On Monday the following week he accepted a job at the smelting works but stayed there on a short time because he could not stand the dust and dirt. The farmer who he had worked for before rehired him and he stayed there working for $1.50 a day until fall. He then returned to Davenport arriving there in time to pick corn.

William married Amelia Langmann in Davenport, Iowa and he began farming for himself in Scott County. After a year there he went to Cedar County, Iowa where he farmed 11 years before moving to Rock County Minnesota in 1901. Land prices were high in Iowa at that time and he wanted to buy a farm of his own. He learned about the good land in Rock County, and with his savings he bought the Northwest quarter and the west half of the Southwest quarter of Section 35 in Springwater Township. He lived there until he retired and moved to Luverne, Minnesota September 23, 1919.

Note provided by Mavis and Jim Jarchow.