History of Lee County, Illinois - Bushnell Historical Society

HISTORY OF LEE COUNTY 191
Modern Woodmen of America. As a lawyer and educator he has
left the impress of liis individuality upon the history of the bar
of northern Illinois and, moreover, his personal worth of character
commands for him the respect and contidence of all.
M. J. BIESCHKE.
M. J. Bieschke, proprietor of a general store at West Brook-
lyn, conducted under his own name, is a wide-awake, alert and en-
ergetic young business man of the town in which he was born,
March 17, 1884, his parents being Albert and Mary (Meyer)
Bieschke, who are now living I'etired in West Brooklyn. They
reared a family of ten children, of whom three have passed away
—Kate, John and William. The others are: Frances, now the
wife of George Kauth, a resident of Elburn, Illinois; Nicholas, a
painter; Adam, a farmer of Iowa; Joseph, who follows farming
in Viola township; Albert, a painter of West Brooklyn; M. J.
and Frank, who is engaged in clerking for his brother M. J.
Bieschke.
The family name indicates the German oiigin and in his life
M. J. Bieschke displays a number of the sterling characteristics
of the German race. His education was acquired in the schools
of his native town which he attended to the age of seventeen years.
He afterward took up carpentering, following the trade for three
years, after which he spent a similar period as lineman and gen-
eral utility man for the l^ocum Telephone Company. He afterward
worked for F. W. Meyer, a general merchant, with whom
he remained for two and a half years, before embarking in busi-
ness on his own account in 1909. He has since won success in his
undertaking. He now has a well appointed general store, carry-
ing a good line of goods and tasteful arrangement and reasonable
prices are features in his increasing prosperity.
On the 5th of June, 3906, Mr. Bieschke was married in West
Brooklyn, to Miss Margaret Gehant, a daughter of Claude and
Mary Gehant, both of whom have passed away and are laid to
rest in the West Brooklyn cemetery. Mr. and ^Irs. Bieschke
have two children. Fay. and Wencel. The parents are members
of the Catholic church and Mr. Bieschke holds membership with
the Knights of Columbus and the Catholip Order of Foresters.
His political indorsement is given to the democratic party. His