Jacob Betz, Jr. is a prominent farmer and stock-raiser in Brooklyn Township, Lee County, known for his character and enterprise. Born in New York in 1841, he was raised by his father, a pioneer from Germany, after losing his mother at a young age. Betz started farming early and established a successful career, owning 470 acres of land. He has been actively involved in politics and the community, serving multiple terms on the County Board of Supervisors. Betz is married twice, with two sons, and is a dedicated member of the Evangelical Association.
Jacob Betz, Jr., one of the best known citizens of Brooklyn Township, where he resides on his well-appointed farm on section 25, is a man whose native force of character, far-seeing enterprise and practical ability have placed him among the foremost farmers and stock-raisers of Lee County, where he has acquired extensive farming interests, and become prominent in its public and political life. He was born in Wayne County, N. Y., July 11, 1841. His father, Jacob Betz, an honored pioneer of Northern Illinois, has been associated for nearly half a century with the rise and growth of Bureau County, of which he is still a resident.
The father of our subject is a native of the town of Mentz, Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and a son of Adam Betz, who was also of German birth and antecedents. The latter served in the army eight years, and was with Napoleon in his raid on Moscow, suffering all the terrible hardships and privations of the retreat through the winter snows from that Russian city. He came to America in 1843, and spent his last days in Bureau County. These six of his children also came to this country: Jacob, John, Mary, George, Josephine and Catherine.
Our subject’s father grew to man’s estate in the land of his nativity, and was there united in marriage with Gedrich Faubel, who was also a German. Ambitious to make the most of his life, and thinking that the New World offered better opportunities of success than the old, he resolved to emigrate to these shores, and in 1840 came hither with his wife. He resided in New York until 1843, and after coming here he had the misfortune to be bereft of his companion and helpmate, who had cheerfully left the Fatherland to cross the waters with him and assist in founding a new home in a strange country. In 1843 Mr. Betz came to Illinois, travelling by the way of the Lakes to Chicago. From that city he went with a team to Bureau County, where he found a sparsely inhabited region, with but few settlements, as at that time the northern part of the state was almost in its original wildness, and the greater part of the land was in the hands of the Government. He entered a tract and also bought another partly improved in Clarion Township. For some years there were no railroads in the vicinity, and he had to draw all his grain to Chicago, more than a hundred miles distant. In the course of years he improved a fine farm, and has thus contributed materially to the development of his adopted county, of which he has been a witness almost from the beginning.
The subject of this biography was only two years old when his mother died, and after the death of the mother the father married a sister of his first wife, Elizabeth Faubel. He was two years old when his father brought him to this State, and here he was reared and educated. He attended the pioneer schools of Bureau County, which were taught in log houses, and had seats made of slabs without desks or backs. Holes were bored in the logs, in which were inserted wooden pins and the board laid on them served as a writing desk for the older scholars. As soon as Jacob was large enough he had to do chores and make himself generally useful on the farm, and when he began his independent career as a farmer and a stock-raiser he had had a good experience in farming to serve as the foundation of his future success. He remained with his father until 1865, affording him valuable aid in the management of his farm, and then settled in Wyoming Township on a farm which he still owns. In 1875 he removed to the farm on which he now resides, which is finely located on section 25, Brooklyn Township. He now has four hundred seventy acres of well-improved land, amply supplied with well-ordered and conveniently arranged buildings for every purpose, and well-stocked with horses, cattle and hogs of the best breeds. A view of the homestead is shown below.
Mr. Betz has been twice married. In 1865 he wedded Margaret Kessler, a native of Germany, and a daughter of Andrew Kessler. Less than two years of wedded happiness was vouchsafed to them ere her death February 28, 1867. She left one son, Ezra. The second marriage of our subject was to Miss Margaret Pope, a native of Germany, and a daughter of Jacob Pope. Their union has been blessed by the birth of a son, J. Fred.
A stalwart Republican in politics, Mr. Betz uses his influence to promote party interests. He is a member of the Evangelical Association, and earnestly supports all things that tend to the moral and religious elevation of the community. His eminent fitness for public office has been recognized by his fellow-citizens, and when elected to a position of trust he has given his best efforts to discharge the duties thus imposed upon him. He has served five terms as a member of the County Board of Supervisors, and his township never had a better representative, or one who more zealously guarded its interests, while at the same time seeking to promote the general welfare of the county.