Philip H. Butzbach

As printed in 1906

PHILIP H. BUTZBACH, residing in Bainbridge township, is one of the venerable German citizens of Berrien county, his birth having occurred at Nassau, now a part of Prussia, October 22, 1828. On the 21st of June, 1849, when in his twenty-first year, he landed at New York, having sailed from Havre to the new world. He would have been liable to military service had he remained in his native country and so decided to come to America. Even as it was his father had to pay four hundred gilders on account of his evading military duty. Reaching the shores of the new world he made his way direct to Bainbridge, where his aunt, Mrs. Philip Seel, was living, having for five years resided in this county.

Mr. Butzbach at once began clearing land, working by the day and month, receiving seventy-five cents per day, or ten dollars per month and his board as compensation for his services. He was married October 28, 185 1, to Amanda Herman, a daughter of Jacob and Genevieve Herman, of Bainbridge township, who had come from Wittenberg, Germany, when Mrs. Butzbach was but fifteen years of age, and five years later she was married.

Mr. Butzbach had previously purchased fifty-four acres of land at three dollars per acres on five years tim,e. He had begun a clearing and had five acres sowed to wheat. There was no house upon it, but he built a log cabin after living for a time with his parents. He made his living off the land, selling saw logs, wood, etc., and as soon as possible he placed his fields under cultivation. In the early days crops brought very low prices, the times were hard but during the Crimean war wheat sold at a dollar and a half per bushel, although it had to be hauled to Dowagiac, twenty miles distant with ox teams, for that place was the nearest market. Prior to this time Mr. Butzbach had received only five shillings for his wheat and it was the only crop which would sell for cash. His first team was a yoke of steers which he bought for eighteen dollars. Prices of everything raised on the farm were low and it was fifteen years before Mr. Butzbach could afford to purchase and use horses in his farm work. Even threshing was done with oxen. He lived in the little log cabin until 1 861, when he erected his present residence. He purchased fifty-four acres of land for seven hundred dollars and as the years have gone by has carried on general agricultural pursuits, his success increasing until he has long been numbered among the substantial agriculturists of the community.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Butzbach were born thirteen children, one of whom died in early youth, while twelve of the number reached adult age, and with the exception of the eldest all are still living. Augusta married Charles Schaus, and died about ten years ago, when forty-three years of age. Those who still survive are: Jacob, of Bainbridge township; Henry, a blacksmith, of Shasta county, California; Elizabeth, the widow of Jacob Friday, of Watervliet township; Louisa, the wife of Charles Christianson, of Benton Harbor; George, a commission merchant of South Bend, Indiana; Lydia, the wife of Peter Christianson, who was killed by the street car in front of his home; Philip, of Bainbridge township; Anna, the wife of E. L. Miller, of Benton Harbor; Mary, the wife of George Morelock, of Watervliet township; Benjamin, proprietor of the Battlement drug store at Benton Harbor; Albert, a zealous missionary of the Evangelical association; and Elenora, who died at the age of three years. Mr. Butzbach now has thirty-three grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

He and his wife are loyal members of the Evangelical association, which they joined four years after their marriage, and with Jacob Enders are the only surviving representatives of the first class of the church. In politics he has been a Republican but not an active worker in the party. His attention has been given to the raising of grain and fruit and at an early day he engaged in the cultivation of peaches until the yellow destroyed his orchard. Although now well advanced in years, having passed the seventy-eighth mile stone on life's journey, he is still a hale and hearty man and gives personal supervision to his business affairs.

As printed in A twentieth century history of Berrien County, Michigan (1906). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.