Historical Images of Porter County

John H. Busse's Residence
Porter, Indiana

Date: Circa 1910
Source Type: Photograph
Publisher, Printer, Photographer: M. L. Photo, C. R. Childs (#20)
Postmark: March 2, 1910, Canton, Mississippi
Collection: Steven R. Shook
Remark: The John H. Busse home still stands and is located on the west side of Wagner Road between Rankin Street and Franklin Street.

Below is a biography of John H. Busse published in 1894 in Goodspped Brothers' Pictorial and Biographical Record of La Porte, Porter, Lake and Stark Counties, Indiana:

JOHN H. BUSSE.
The gentleman whose name heads this sketch, is a product of the great city of Chicago, his birth having occurred there on the 14th of November, 1863. His father, John Busse, was born in Germany in 1827, but in order to better his financial condition, and being of an enterprising and independent disposition, he came to the United States when a young man, and has never had occasion to regret becoming a subject of "Uncle Sam." He worked at farming in the vicinity of Chicago for a number of years, but about 1869, opened a grocery store in that city, in the pursuit of which calling he acquired considerable property. On the 13th of January, 1872, he died of that dread disease - small pox - his death being deeply regretted not only by his immediate family, but by many warm friends he had gathered about him in business and social life. He was noted for his benevolence, and the poor rarely applied to him for aid in vain, his reasons for refusal always being of the best. He was married to Mrs. Johanna (Dieckman) Ritter, a native of Holstein, Prussia, who came to the United States with her mother and settled in Chicago, in which city she is still making her home. By her first husband she became the mother of one child, Robert C., who is a successful practicing attorney of the World's Fair City. By Mr. Busse she became the mother of ten children, five of whom reached maturity: Albert F., of Chicago; John H.; Emil F., of Porter County, Indiana; Lewis F., an oil merchant of Chicago, and Francis Ellen. John H. Busse received his early training in the parochial schools of Chicago, and acquired a thoroughly practical education. Her father, upon his death, left a debt of $1,600, and John H. felt it his duty to pay this off so far as he could, and although only nine years of age, he secured a position in a bakery, where he remained employed for two years. He then remained six months in the tobacco establishment of Gradle & Strotz, after which he went with members of his family to Amana, Iowa, where he remained one and a half years. From that place he went to Rock Island, Illinois, where he worked in the cotton mills for some three years and in 1877 he returned with the family to Chicago. Here he was engaged in the sale of milk for over a year, for D. J. Gardner, and was then with Mainard Hamilton in the same capacity for some time. In the spring of 1881, he came to Porter County, Indiana, a poor young man. He worked himself up, until to-day he is worth nearly $40,000, and has the highest confidence of the town, and for some time worked in the brick yards of Owens & Molding, and was afterwards with Purington & Kimball. In 1885 he went to Menominee, Wisconsin, and superintended a yard there owned by the St. Paul & Minneapolis Pressed Brick Company, but at the end of one year returned to Porter County, where he was connected with the manufacture of brick until July, 1891. In September, of the same year, he bought a half interest with Peter Wistrand, in a mercantile establishment, and in August, 1892, he became the sole proprietor of stock and building, and conducted it alone until November of the same year. He then formed a partnership with C. E. Jacobson, the firm name being Busse & Jacobson, and they have the largest and most complete stock of goods, as well as the largest patronage of any house in the village. He is a Republican, and served as Postmaster of the village in which he lives until after the election of President Cleveland. He is now a Notary Public. He was married March 4, 1884, to Miss Hannah F. Hageman, a daughter of Henry and Hannah J. (Gossett) Hageman, and to their union two children have been given: Florence E., and Mainard H. Mr. Busse and his wife are members of the Congregational Church.

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Image and related text prepared by Steven R. Shook