Historical Reflections of John Henry Boeckenhauer (1891-1983)
Johan Bokenhauer was born in Mecklenberg, Germany in 1823. He died in 1911 and was buried in St. John Cemetery, Elk Grove, Illinois. He married Sophia Fust in 1854. They had three children; Carl (Charles), Johan and Sophia. He lived in Germany making his living as a horse and carriage driver (Cuther) for the wealthy. In the year 1863 he came to the United States and lived on Potter Road southeast of DesPlaines. In 1865 they bought the South 40 Bokenhauer farm on Algonquin Road by Wolf Road. This was prairie land layed out in half and quarter sections. The town of Algonquin was an Indian Reservation some 20 miles west of the DesPlaines River. Algonquin Road was an old Indian Trail between the Fox and DesPlaines Rivers. They built a small house for their family and made a living farming. The barn was built in 1873. The children went to school in Rand (now DesPlaines). Immanuel Lutheran Congregation was started at that time and services were all in German. Carl and Johan were confirmed in Elk Grove Church and Sophia in DesPlaines at Immanuel Lutheran Church. The Bokenhauers had some friends who came to DesPlaines before they did John Hintze, Henry Beto, Carl Lagerhausen, Fred Zoellich and Henry Seegers. They all lived around (Rand) Des Plaines. John Hintze lived on Rand and Seegers Road and donated the Lutheran Cemetery on Rand Road. Immanuel Lutheran Church, the first church with a steeple, was built at that time.
The family grew up and Carl the oldest was 16 when he went to Iowa to work as a farm-hand. Carl had four wives. Their maiden names were Behrens, Leifheit, Speck and Moeller. Two years later Johan Jr. followed his brother to Iowa to a town named State Center. Johan Jr. worked around the area for about five years when he met Mary Eckhardt. George J. Wengert also worked in this area of Iowa. Johan Jr. married
Mary Eckhardt in 1878. They had three children; Minnie born in 1879, William born in 1885, and John J. born in 1891 (confirmed in 1903). Minnie was 18 years old and married Louis Linnemann in 1897. William was 27 years old when he married Rose Henk in 1911. John H. was 20 years old when he married Esther Wengert in 1912. Johan Jr. and his wife Mary came back to the home place in Illinois and started farming his father's homestead farm. They built a new and bigger house in 1878 at a cost of $1,100.00. The barn was built five years before at a cost of $400.00. They lived together on this 40 acre farm for some time. Carpenter wages at that time were $1.00 per day and board. They would go home on weekends. Henry Menching was the head man. He lived on Golf Road between Elmhurst Road and Mt. Prospect Road, known as the Mollenkamp home. In the year of 1880 Johan Jr. built the hog house, corn crib, chicken barn and granary. He was handy with tools and made a baby bed and ax handles carved out of oak wood. Some items were given to the DesPlaines Historical Society, such as a one-man cross cut saw over 100 years old, a corn sheller turned by hand, a grind stone and a hand clipper for horses and cows, with one man turning the machine and the other man clipping.
Johan Jr. and Mary Bokenhauer bought the north 40 acres in the year 1890, making it an 80 acre farm. This provided more income and more production, but they had to barrow the money for purchasing the additional land. They took over the 40 acres of Johan Bokenhauer who was then age 68 and retired. They still lived together in the same house. The Bokenhauers' lived together until 1900 when the grandparents went to live with their daughter Sophia (Mrs. Fred Willie) in Elk Grove Township. They went to the Elk Grove Church on Linnemann Road. Johan Bokenhauer, Jr., was living with his wife Mary and two sons, William (called Willie age 15), and John H. (called Johnnie, age 9). John H. in his late teens was called Jack by his young friends.
In the year 1890 the Pastor at Immanuel Lutheran Church left the congregation and we had a new Pastor by the name of William Lewerenze in 1891. He was from Germany and claimed the Bokenhauer name was not spelled correctly and that it should be Böeckenhauer. Somehow it has been that way since 1891.
The Boeckenhauers farmed the 80 acres until 1910 when the Northwestern Belt Line RR took nine acres on the west side of the farm for right-of-way. John H. was 17 years old and William 23 by this time. The younger Boeckenhauer brothers started a milk delivery in Des Plaines with a horse and wagon and a three gallon can with a long spout and a quart measurer. At 56 cents a quart the ladies would come to the door with a pitcher and buy as many quarts as they would like. The big eight gallon cans were in the wagon. One year or so later we delivered the milk in quart and pint bottles. This operation was called the DesPlaines Dairy. DesPlaines at this time was about 1500 people in population. The milk business was continued until 1913 when William moved to ElkGrove on the Linnemann farm.
John H. Boeckenhauer was married to Esther Wengert January 25, 1912, in State Center, Iowa. Their honeymoon was spent in Waterman and Hinkley, Illinois, visiting other Boeckenhauer relatives. They came to DesPlaines then to live on the same farm. They had four sons; George J. born January 17, 1913, Paul W. born January 23, 1915, Lyle R. born February 4,1925 and Melvin E. born February 25, 1928. In 1924 the farm was taken over by John and Esther from Johan and Mary, who were then 67 years of age. They lived together in the same house for ten years when Johan and Mary moved to Lee St., DesPlaines, Illinois.
On January 2, 1928, 65 acres of the farm was deeded to Ning Eley and Tom Louton for $27,000.00 with a $58,000.00 mortgage, at 5% interest. Interest was paid for two years by Eley and Louton. With the stock market crash in 1929 the land was sold to Leroy F. Washburn, a bachelor, and Erick Rohrer and his wife. No price was mentioned, but it was about $110,000.00. Eley and Louton took a second mortgage of $25,000.00 for three years. The depression occured in the 1930's, so Washburn paid the last three years interest of the first mortgage, but no taxes. Taxes were unpaid since 1929. There was a first mortgage of $38,000.00 (5 years) and a second mortgage of $25,000.00 (3 years). Washburn bought the second mortgage from Eley and Louton at 50 cents on the dollar, but John H. Boeckenhauer would not sell. Boeckenhauer started to foreclose on the first mortgage and took back possession of the land. Eley, as city attorney opened Thacker St. on the north end of the farm. In 1929 the land was annexed to the City of DesPlaines. The city imposed a special assessment of $1,700.00 for a watermain and $1,350.00 for a sewer main. All of this was on unincorporated land. In 1932 Washburn gave 50 ft. of right-of-way on the east side of Wolf Road to the State of Illinois for $2,000.00. This was reversed to John and Esther Boeckenhauer. The city of Des Plaines had to pay $900.00 for 7 ft. of Thacker St. to make it 40x40 or 80 ft. of roadway in 1939. The depression years began to let up in 1939, prior to World War II, and after the war ended in 1945 Alphanso Alfini began building houses on vacant lots north of Thacker St. and Wolf Rd. He also bought ten lots from John Boeckenhauer on the northeast corner of the farm fronting Thacker St. in 1946. This was the first ground breaking in many years by a local contractor.
John Boeckenhauer moved, to the north end of the farm, a home and a farm house from what is now O'Hare Field in 1943. The farm house included a barn and two other buildings (garage and chicken house), which served as a residence for son George. The other two story home served as a residence for son Paul. John Boeckenhauer's farm was remodeled with a second floor apartment in 1948. The apartment served as son Lyle's home for a few years. A tract of approximately 30 acres fronting Wolf Road was sold to the developer Alfini in 1951 for single family home development. Another developer, Julius Cohen, bought 37.5 acres from John Boeckenhauer in 1963. John retained the farm house, barn and other buildings on 2.2 acres.
In 1972, Johan Bokenhauer's grandson, John H. Boeckenhauer, received an Illinois Centennial Farm Certificate and sign from Gov. Richard B. Ogilvie. The certificate indicated that the Boeckenhauer Farm was one of 48 farms in Illinois that was operated by one family for 100 years.
The 2.2 acres was sold to Hercules Malapanes, a local contractor, in 1983. Since Julius Cohen never developed the 37.5 acres, the vacant land was rented and farmed each year by Ervin Geils. The Park District of DesPlaines purchased the acerage in 1988 for 2.5 million dollars.
Esther Boeckenhauer died January 5, 1978. John H. Boeckenhauer died November 25, 1983. George George married Catherine Kossow March 30, 1940. She died February 10, 1966. died April 12, 1986, eight years after retiring from farming and as an employee of a farm supply store. Paul married Agnes Sullivan August 11, 1940. Paul died November 18, 1984, seven years after retiring from the Maintenance Dept.of Des Plaines School Dist.#62. Lyle married Edna Burmeister February 20, 1949. They have three children, Sandra, Gerald and Cheryl. Lyle is retiring in 1989 at the age of 64 after employment with the Wilbur Vault Co. Melvin married Eunice Thon October 1, 1954. Melvin is serving as part-time music teacher with Skokie School Dist. #68., from which he took early retirement in 1985.
Author uncertain, possibly Melvin Boeckenhauer
