George Bisdorf

As printed in 1905

GEORGE BISDORF.

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 Centennial History of Butler County, Ohio (1905). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.