J. Louis Engel, born August 24, 1829, in Germany, was a leading agriculturist in Bedford precinct, Nemaha County, Nebraska. He settled there over thirty years ago, transforming a raw, treeless tract into a productive farmstead. Engel emigrated to the U.S. in 1859, initially residing in Illinois before moving to Nebraska in 1872. He married Catherine Seachrist in Germany in 1856. Despite early financial losses, Engel prospered through hard work and dedication. A Republican, he served as constable for ten years and was a valued Lutheran community member. Engel’s efforts significantly contributed to the development of southeastern Nebraska.
J. Louis Engel, one of the leading agriculturists of Bedford precinct, Howe post office, Nemaha County, settled here over thirty years ago. He has developed a raw and treeless tract of land into a beautiful farmstead, with a grove of fruit and shade trees, a comfortable residence, and all necessary outbuildings, and has been actively engaged in the cultivation of his productive land until the last few years, since which time he has in a measure ceased from hard industry, and is spending the years beyond the seventieth milestone in comfort. When he first located in this country, he had lost all the capital with which he came, and has thus worked his way up from the bottom, for which reason he is all the more deserving of honor for what he has accomplished in life.
His father, Louis Engel Sr., was born in Germany, January 7, 1800, and died there in 1874, aged seventy-four years and eighteen days. He was a freehold farmer on three parcels of land, containing forty-five acres. His wife was Catherine Fisher, who died at the age of sixty-five, in 1851 or 1852. They had one son and a daughter, Dora, who was the mother of six children and died in Germany in 1899.
J. Louis Engel, the only son, was born in Germany, August 24, 1829. He was reared on the farm and had a liberal schooling of eight years, with one year in a normal school. At the age of twenty, he entered the German army and spent six weeks in military service. He remained in his native land until 1859 and then took passage from Havre for New York, being forty-two days en route. Two weeks later he arrived in Sangamon County, Illinois, which he reached in the first week of June. He took three hundred dollars from the bank in New York but had only twenty-five cents when he reached Springfield, having been swindled out of the rest in some unaccountable manner. He came from Springfield, Illinois, to Nebraska in 1872, arriving in Brownville on the 6th of October. He bought forty acres of naked prairie for ten dollars an acre, and he and his noble wife have planted every tree which now adorns his farm boundaries. A year later they built their present residence. He afterward added eighty acres more to his place, and he has been prosperous in his work during the subsequent years.
February 2, 1856, Mr. Engel was married in Germany to Catherine (Handle) Seachrist, a widow with the following children: Catherine, the wife of William Mayer, who came to Nebraska at the same time with Mr. Engel and his wife, and they have three children; Christ Seachrist lives in Humboldt, Nebraska, and has five children; Annie Fredericka is the wife of Louis Mayer, in Richardson County, Nebraska, with two sons and three daughters; and Fred Seachrist is the owner of stock in a mine in South Dakota, and has four daughters and one son. Mrs. Engel has twenty-three great-grandchildren. Mrs. Engel was born in Marbach, Germany, December 2, 1822, and throughout her long life has been active and strong mentally and physically until the last year or so, when she has been in feeble health and for the past few months still more so. Mr. Engel is a Republican in politics and served as constable for ten years during the first years of his residence here. He and his wife are Lutherans, and are valued and esteemed citizens of the county in which they have resided so long and been such important factors in the growth and development of this portion of southeastern Nebraska.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company, A Biographical and Genealogical History of Southeastern Nebraska, 2 volumes, Lewis Publishing Company, 1904.