Biography of
August Reichert
p. 1628
AUGUST REICHERT.
Among the numerous Pulaski county farming men who have achieved a high degree of
success, in their chosen industry and who have contributed no little share to
the progress of the county in a substantial way,
August Reichert
takes foremost rank. His operations in an agricultural way have been as
important to the community as to himself, and his constant application of the
zeal and industry which is the birthright of the true German have been valuable
factors in the sum of his accomplishments.
August Reichert is a native of
Illinois. He is the son of German parents who settled in St. Clair county when
they immigrated from the Fatherland. The father, Jacob Reichert, was born near
Heidelberg in the German state of Baden in 1828, and when he grew to young
manhood and immigrated to America he was followed hither by his aged parents, in
the hope of bettering their condition in another land. Jacob Reichert, Sr., the
grandfather of August Reichert, died in St. Clair county in 1863 at the age of
eighty years. Jacob, Jr., was one of six children, the others being Joseph,
John, Catherine, who married J. F. Weist, Agnes, who became Mrs. Philip Koestore and is now deceased, and Therese, who married John Ditzel. The wife of Jacob
Reichert, Jr., and the mother of August was
Frieda Hammann, and he was one of
eight children born to them. They were: Theresa, who married Charles Arnold and
passed away as a resident of St. Clair county; John Frederick, who is another of
the more successful farmers of the Grand Chain district; August, previously
mentioned; Jacob, a resident of
P. 1629
Freeberg, Illinois; John, of
Seattle, Washington; Rosa, of St. Clair county; Mary, who died as the wife of Edward Cole, of St. Louis; and Frieda, who married Fred Henslet, of San Diego,
California.
The mother of this sturdy family lived to see fifty years of wedded
joys and sorrows, and she passed quietly away at the home of the family in St.
Clair county in February, 1902, on her golden wedding anniversary. The father, Jacob Reichert, Jr.,
saw his first glimpse of the United States at New Orleans in 1848, and he worked
his passage up the Mississippi river to St. Louis as a fireman. He located near
Freeburg, Illinois. and passed many years as a farmer, moving by stages from the
small tiller of the soil to the position of a more prosperous agriculturist, and
becoming known as one of the solid men of his community. In later years he
entered into the brewing business and conducted a brewery at Freeport with much
success for a number of years. He passed away in 1901, at the age of
seventy-three years, his well beloved wife following him in the next year.
When
August Reichert
began to cast about for a means of livelihood for the future he was fairly well
equipped in an educational way. He had attended the common schools and the
Catholic school at Freeburg as a boy and youth, and the business of farming
which he decided to make his interests might well be conducted with such
knowledge as he possessed. His later life, however, bears evidence that he has
permitted no opportunity to escape which might add to his knowledge of business,
and he has been a close student of the science of modern agriculture, so that
the passing of years has produced a man of excellent ability, who has
accomplished a success worthy of any man’s effort.
When
Mr. Reichert
came down to Pulaski county as a young man he brought all his worldly
possessions of stock and farming implements in one car, and he had in addition
fifteen dollars in coin of the realm. In St. Louis he sold one of his mules for
one hundred and sixty dollars and with this he made the first payment on his
farm of one hundred and sixty acres, which tract formed the nucleus of his now
extensive estate. The land was partly timbered, and there were stumps in plenty
and some little frontier improvements. That portion of Pulaski county, while
in an old and settled section of
Illinois, was yet in a most primitive state. Few settlers had pitched their
tents there permanently until after the close of the rebellion, and the farming
done by them even then was carried on in a most shiftless and half-hearted
manner.
It required the vim and vigor of such men as August Reichert
and his
brother, John Frederick,
to bring that neglected section up to the high standard
made possible by its natural excellence and the splendid facilities for
agricultural prosperity which the whole district affords. These truly admirable
traits of vim and vigor, industry and courage, were thoroughly implanted in the
character of August Reichert,
and he applied them in lavish measure to the work of reducing his new farm to
that state at which it might justly be regarded as a home. He multiplied his
little handful of stock until his herds assumed a nice proportion; he fed his
corn to his hogs and raised more hogs; he grazed his cattle and winter and
summer disposed of his marketable stuff. He was able to meet his payments on his
land promptly, and bought more land adjacent to his original quarter section,
tenant labor making them productive for him. He built barns and sheds for the
comfort of his stock and completed a long line of valuable improvements in his
property when he built his present handsome residence, which is a model of
excellence and is typical of the best in country homes. His farm has increased
to an average of seven hundred and sixty acres and it provides a home for a
goodly number of tenant families and
gives labor
P. 1630
to many people.
In brief, the
horoscope of August Reichert read from the stars at the time he began his career
in Pulaski county could hardly have been so glittering an account as his actual
achievements show it. Grand Chain has always been his principal trading point,
owing to its nearness and its numerous other conveniences. He encouraged the
establishment of a bank at the little town by taking generously of its stocky
and he is also a member of the Grand Chain Mercantile Company, one of the
leading concerns of the place, and has in many ways exerted a beneficial
influence upon the town and surrounding country. Mr. Reichert has always been an
adherent of the Democratic party and has given his hearty support to the cause.
He will always be found to have an opinion and voice in matters concerning the
welfare of his community, and his influence may be depended upon to further the
cause of justice and honor at all times.
Mr. Reichert was married on
September 6, 1880, to Miss Louisa Rauth, the daughter of Fred Rauth, a German
immigrant and a farmer. A fine family of eleven sturdy sons and daughters have
been reared in the Reichert home. They are: Lena, the wife of Ed. Merchant, of
Kansas City, Missouri; John A., who married Clara Roach and is one of the
successful Grand Chain farmers; Frederick married
Lucy Stevers, and they are
located in the near vicinity of the old home; Adam, August Robert, Ida, Katie,
Clara, Parmelia and Alene are yet in the shelter of the parental home.
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