Henry Esserman, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Henry Esserman
HENRY ESSERMAN. Many people gain wealth in this world, many gain distinction in the learned professions, and many are honored with public offices of trust and responsibility, -- but to few is it given to attain so high a place in the esteem and affection of their fellow citizens as that enjoyed by Mr. and Mrs. Henry Esserman, who are well known throughout Porter county, Indiana. Their spacious and comfortable residence in Liberty township is widely renowned for its generous hospitality and the same is the scene of many attractive social gatherings. Mr. Henry Esserman is decidedly a prominent and popular citizen in Liberty township, where he is engaged in farming and stock-raising on his fine estate of one hundred and eighty-six acres.
Henry Esserman was born in Hanover, Germany, March 10, 1847, and both of his parents passed their entire lives in Germany. Henry Esserman was reared to maturity in his native land and he immigrated to the United States in 1869, locating first in the city of Chicago, where he worked for a number of years and where he was married in 1875. In 1897 he purchased a farm of one hundred and eighty-six acres in Liberty township, Porter county, Indiana, and there he has been engaged in diversified agriculture and the raising of high-grade stock during the intervening years to the present time, in 1912. In politics he accords in unswerving support to the principles promulgated by the Republican party, and while he has never been anxious for the honors or emoluments of public office of any description he is ever on the alert and enthusiastically in sympathy with all measures and enterprises advanced for the good of the general welfare.
In Chicago, Illinois, June 20, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Esserman to Miss Johanna Michaels, who was born in Prussia, July 8, 1855, and who is a daughter of Christopher and Helena (Reading) Michaels, who came to the United States with their family in 1872. Christopher Michaels is a wagon-maker by trade and he was engaged in that line of work in Chicago for a number of years after coming to this country. He is now living in retirement in Chicago. He was born in 1826 and his cherished and devoted wife, who died in 1903, was born in 1830. They had eight children, whose names are here entered in respective order of birth, -- Rigger (deceased) ; Johanna, wife of the subject of this review; Rudolph, a farmer in Illinois; Emma, wife of John Brown, of Porter county; Henry, a business man in Chicago; Gustia, wife of John Cuneo, of Chicago; Louise, wife of Lawrence Crane, of Chicago; and an infant. Mr. and Mrs. Esserman have six children, as follows: Emma is the wife of Lewis Silk, and they reside at Chicago, Illinois; Edward married Ollie Bull, and they reside in Liberty township; Henry married Mary Halvorsen, and they make their home with her parents; Clara is the wife of Clinton Griswell, of Chicago; Frances was graduated in the common schools and in the Business College at Valparaiso, and is now a stenographer at South Side, Chicago; Arthur is single and resides at home with his parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Esserman are decidedly popular and have an extensive acquaintance in Porter county. Mrs. Esserman is a member of the Christian church at Chesterton. She is ever ready to lend a helping hand to the needy poor and she holds a reputation of never having turned a hungry beggar from her door. Mr. and Mrs. Esserman have reared a family of fine, upright children and the circle of their friends may be said to be coincident with the circle of their acquaintances.
Source: Lewis Publishing Company. 1912. History of Porter County, Indiana: A Narrative Account of its Historical Progress, its People and its Principal Interests. Chicago, Illinois: Lewis Publishing Company. 881 p.
Page(s) in Source: 846-847
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook