Biehn, William F. C.

The following data is extracted from Racine, Belle City of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement.

William F. C. Biehn ranks among the most successful of the younger farmers of the County and derives a good income from his well directed labors. He was born in Kenosha County, on the 3d of October, 1886, and is a son of Fred W. and Bertha (Steffen) Biehn, natives of Germany, the former born in 1825 and the latter in 1841. The paternal grandfather, Jacob Biehn, passed his entire life in Germany but the maternal grandfather immigrated to this country and located in Milwaukee, where he had a milk route. Fred W. Biehn, who was the oldest of a family of three brothers, received an excellent education in his native country and throughout his life kept well informed on the events and movements of general interest. When twenty years old he came to the United States and 'settled in Kenosha County where he purchased a farm on which he spent the remainder of his life. At the time of his death he owned three hundred acres of good land and was independent financially. He was held in high esteem and warm regard in his community and his death, which occurred in 1890, was deeply regretted. He was a republican in politics and his religious faith was that of the Lutheran church. He was married in Milwaukee, to Miss Bertha Steffen, who survived him for almost a quarter of a century, being called to her final rest in December, 1914. They became the parents of seven children, of whom six survive: W. F. C. John, a resident of Burlington, Wisconsin: Maggie, the wife of Henry W. Steffen, a ward foreman in Milwaukee: Fred, who is operating the old homestead in Kenosha County; Katie, the wife of Jacob Kreuscher, a farmer of Kenosha County: and Bertha A., who makes her home with her brother William F. C.

The boyhood and youth of William F. C. Biehn were passed upon the home farm in Kenosha County and he acquired his education in the common schools of that County and of Racine County and in the high school at Union Grove, which he attended for a year. He has concentrated his energies upon farming since putting aside his textbooks and now owns seventy acres of land in Yorkville Township, which were formerly owned by his father, and ten acres in Dover Township: He does general farming, raising grain and stock, and also engages in dairying to some extent, keeping about seven milch cows. He also raises a largo number of pure blooded Silverlace Wyandotte chickens, and as he co-ordinates the various branches of his business he receives a good financial return from his labor.

Mr. Biehn supports the Republican Party at the polls, but although he is not remiss in any of the duties of citizenship, has never taken active part in politics. He has preferred to confine his time and attention to his farming interests and has won a degree of prosperity that many an older man might well envy. His entire life has been passed in this section and the fact that those who have known him since boyhood hold him in the highest esteem is incontestable proof of his genuine worth.

Source: Racine, Belle City of the lakes, and Racine County, Wisconsin : a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement

  Go Back