The Bisdorf Family of Butler County, Ohio

George Bisdorf, one of the best known citizens of Butler county, was born in Germany, July 24, 1835, his birthplace being in Jesberg, Kreis Fritzlar Heseen. He came to America alone in 1848, landing at Baltimore, Maryland. For five or six years following his arrival in this country he was employed at various lines of work in Baltimore, Philadelphia and Wilmington, Delaware. In the latter place he learned the miller's trade, and in later years followed the milling business in Cincinnati and Hamilton. In Philadelphia Mr. Bisdorf formed the acquaintance of John Reust, a German boy like himself, and they became firm friends and traveling companions. Together they started on an overland route to Pike’s Peak, and visited various points of interest in the far West and South. During their rambles they fell in with a party of mule drovers at St. Joseph, Missouri, and hired out to the company to drive a herd of mules through to California. Seventy-five men were employed on this mission, and they represented nearly every nation on the globe. They were for the most part adventurers, who had but little regard for the laws of God or man. The foreman, or superintendent of the enterprise, was hasty-tempered, quarrelsome and abusive. He was soon at enmity with the ringleaders among the employes, and cursed and abused them on the slightest provocation, real or imaginary; on the third day out some of the party rebelled against the treatment ac-, corded them and a fight ensued, the foreman being killed. The two German boys decided that they were not in congenial company, and hastily returned to St. Joseph, where they surrendered the horses they were riding and started for Chicago. In that city they hired out to work as sailors and laborers aboard a freight vessel on Lake Michigan. While conveying a cargo of twenty-five thousand bushels of grain from Chicago to the eastern shore of the lake, the vessel was wrecked and John Reust was drowned.

Mr. Bisdorf was finally rescued after great peril, having been in the water for six hours clinging to some floating debris from the VTeck. These two thrilling incidents in his early life in America made a lasting impression upon young Bisdorf. He came to Butler county in 1854 and worked on a farm for two years. He then secured a position in the old Anderson Mills, and was employed there for about three years. His next venture in business was in the purchase of a dray line, which he operated until 1863 In that year Mr. Bisdorf was appointed street supervisor for the second ward, a position he held four years. He was elected constable of Fairfield township, which then included the city of Hamilton. This was quite a political achievement, in that there were seventeen candidates for the office. He was street commissioner of the city from 1872 to 1874, after which he was engaged as a street contractor until 1887. During his career as commissioner and contractor Mr. Bisdorf made all of the paved streets in Hamilton up to that time. He also dealt very largely in paving stones, which were gathered from the surrounding farms by the hundreds of tons, and this surplus was shipped to Cincinnati, it proving to be a very profitable business. In 1887 Mr. Bisdorf was appointed janitor of the Butler county court house and has held that position continuously since. It is doubtful if there is a voter in Butler county who is not personally acquainted with genial George Bisdorf. His career has always been characterized by honest and upright dealings with his fellow man, whether in the heat of a political campaign or in the affairs of private life. He has thus acquired an influence in political matters which is the envy of all professional office seekers. He exercised this power at all times for the good of local Democracy, and could not be induced to support an unworthy aspirant. For many years Mr. Bisdorf was a member of the central committee of the city and county and wielded a strong influence in the counsels of local Democracy. But with the encroachments of years, he has relaxed somewhat of his political activity. He has ben a member of the Masonic fraternity since 1865, and served many years in official stations in his lodge. The work was performed in the German language, and this was a fruitful source of familiarity with his native tongue. He took a trip to his native country during the summer of 1903, after an absence of fifty-six years. His friends and relations were both surprised and gratified to find him so prompt and accurate in the use of the German language, and Mr. Bisdorf attributes this largely to reading, writing and speaking it in Masonic work. He is exceptionally well posted in the mysteries of Freemasonry, and found this knowledge a fruitful source of pleasure and assistance when abroad. He is a genial and companionable old gentleman, whose kindly heart and generous nature are the subject of remark by his friends.

Mr. Bisdorf was married, in 1860, to Miss Catherine Straher, a native of Germany. who came to America in babyhood. They had a family of ten children, eight of whom are living. The names are: Henry, Katie, Peter, George, Fred, Lizzie, Clara and Emma. Mary was a twin with Margaret. and they were the eldest of the family, the last named dying at the age of eleven months. Mary married John Albrecht, and died at the age of thirty-six, leaving a family of five children. Eddie, Annie, Martin, George and Leroy Albrecht, and since their mother’s death they have been members of the family of the subject. Fred Bisdorf is a widower with one son, Hilbert, and they are both members of the Bisdorf family. These six grandchildren are as welcome in the Bisdorf family, and as much pride is taken in their proper education, as though they were the children of their loving, philanthropic grandparents.

George Bisdorf is a son of John and Mary (Rissel) Bisdorf. The father died in his native land, and the mother spent the last seven years of her life in the family of her son, the subject of this sketch, dying in Hamilton, at the age of seventy-four years. There were twelve children in the parental family. The three who came to America are Henry and George, of Hamilton, and Mrs. Margaret Schmidt, of Middletown. The survivors of the family in Germany are all in comfortable, and some in affluent, circumstances. Mr. Bisdorf has been a member of St. John’s German Evangelical church since his marriage in 1860. He has been an officer in the church for many years and is at present the president of the congregation.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

Peter Bisdorf, ex-sheriff of Butler county, has in his career set at naught the application of the statement that a prophet is not without honor save in his own country. for he is a native of thi county, has here passed his entire life and has gained the unqualified confidence and esteem of its people. He was born in the city of Hamilton, on the 20th of April, 1866, and is a schon of sturdy German stock, a line notable for industry, honesty and good citizenship. His father, George Bisdorf, was born in Hessen Darmstadt, Germany, on the 24th of July, 1835. 1848, when but thirteen years of age, he took passage on a sailing vessel at Bremen, and after a tempestuous voyage of six weeks’ duration landed in the city of Baltimore, Maryland. After a temporary sojourn in the east, within which time he visited Philadelphia, Wilmington and other cities, he decided to work his way westward, and he finally arrived in the city of Cincinnati, where he was employed in a flouring mill for several months. His desire for travel in the new world, however, was not yet satiated, and the alluring tales concerning the discovery of gold in California led the adventurous youth to join the argonauts of ’49, and he made the long and perilous journey across the plains to the new eldorado. He passed three years in the far West, and within this time visited Pike's Peak, of which little was known in those days, and also made a trip into Texas and other sections of the West. He finally returned to the East and made Chicago his destination. From that point he sailed on the great lakes for several months. In 1852 he came to Hamilton, having now satisfied his ambition for uncertain adventure, and of this city he has ever since been a resident, commanding unqualified confidence in the community and being one of the sterling old citizens of the county. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs and has held many positions of local trust and responsibility, performing his duties with ability and with inflexible regard to principle. His political life has been associated with the Democracy, and he has wielded no little influence in the councils of his party in this county. He is an active and valued member of St. John’s German Evangelical church, in which he is a ruling elder. In 1882 his venerable mother joined him in America and remained a cherished member of his family circle until her death, in 1891. Mr. Bisdorf has been an active member of the Masonic fraternity about thirty-five years. In the city of Hamilton, in 1860, was solemnized the marriage of George Bisdorf to Miss Katherine Streher, who has been a devoted wife and helpmeet, and they became the parents of ten children, of whom eight are living.

Peter Bisdorf, whose name initiated this article, secured his early education in the public schools of Hamilton and thus qualified himself for the active duties of life, while in the home circle he became familiar with the German language, which he speaks with as great fluence as does he the vernacular of his native land, this knowledge being of great value to him in his present position. After leaving the public schools he completed a thorough course in a business college, and thus on attaining to man’s estate he was well equipped for the battle of life. After his school days he was engaged in various lines of business occupation until the political campaign of 1899, when he consented to permit his name to be used in the Democratic county convention in connection with the nomination for sheriff. His personal popularity became distinctively manifest in the nominating convention, where he received the highest number of votes ever given to any candidate for county office, and this signal victory was followed by an equally significant triumph at the polls, for the ensuing election rolled up to his credit the highest number of votes accorded to any candidate on the ticket. He assumed the active duties of the shrievalty on the first Monday of January, 1900, and so acceptable and able was his administration that he was chosen as his own successor in the election of 1901. Upon being inducted into this important office Sheriff Bisdorf surrounded himself with competent and. thoroughly trustworthy deputies and office assistants, and his regime stands creditable alike to himself, his corps of assistants and to the people of the county. He has now passed the statutory close of his official career, and he can feel a full measure of personal satisfaction in the thought that he did his best as a public servant and that his efforts were fully appreciated in the county, his administration having been careful and conservative. He made no effort to expand his official functions by irregular means for the purpose of increasing his emolument, but his aim was solely to discharge his duties promptly and efficiently for the conservation of law and order and good government. He dealt with a number of desperate criminals and was never found lacking in courage, though he showed a deep humanitarian spirit and did not lack in sympathy for those whose lives have been cast in shadow through their own malefactions.

He has been a zealous worker in the cause of the Democratic party and a prominent figure in its local contingent. Fraternally the subject is identified with Hamilton Lodge, No.

93, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, and also with the local organization of the Royal Arcanum, the Columbia Mutual Aid Society and the Monkey Mutual Aid Society. It is probable that the term “money” is used for euphony; certainly not in any sense of reproach, for the society mentioned numbers among its members a large following of the representative young men of Hamilton. The writer is inspired to add this word of explanation in order to forefend the popular inference that “any money” can join the order. This is an assemblage of “select monkeys,” who have to pass a crucial test and bear the ignominy of serving a period of probation before attaining the highest rank in exalted monkeyship.

In the city of Hamilton, on the 21st of April, 1886, Mr. Bisdorf was united in marriage to Miss Clara Heckroth, who was born and reared in this city, where she is a favorite in social circles and who presides with gracious dignity in the home circle. Of this union were torn seven children, of whom five are living, Bertha, Stella, Elsie, Peter, Jr., and Warren G.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

FRED E. BISDORF.

The subject of this sketch has been deputy sheriff of Butler county since January, 1900, and has recently been reappointed under a new principal. His brother, Peter Bisdorf, held the office of sheriff for four years, and retired on the first Monday in January, 1904. The subject is a native of Hamilton and was educated in the city schools, and while quite young apprenticed

6o8 himself to the jeweler's trade. Five years were spent in that line of work, but the close confinement was neither congenial nor conducive to health, and he left that business and learned the trade of a house carpenter. He had been thus employed for ten years when called to the position which he now holds.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.