Kansasville, Wisconsin

J. C« BECHfiR, farmer; P. O. Dover; was born in the village of SchnickartshauMn, Grand Duchy of Hesse Darmstadt, Dec. 22, 1810, where his father was head forester; attended the village school from his 6th to 14th year; then a gymnasium until his 19th year, when he enlisted as a volunteer in the Hessian army. In 1832, at his father's request, was appointed his assistant. In 1833 his father was placed on a retiring pension, and he succeeded in the offict*, which he held until 1843. Then the present Czar, Alexander of Russia (then Crown Prince), married Princess Maria, of Hesse Darmstadt. The Crown Prince had in his suite several Russian princes, and others of noble extraction, one of whom, Baron Theodore Ungcrnstemberg, needing a skilled forester, made Mr. Becher a good offer of a position, which he accepted, after obtaining permission from the Hessian Goverpment. Remained in that position until the Baron was killed in a duel, and, being unmarried, his whole possessions on the Island of Dago, in the Baltic Sea, went to his mother and younger brothers, and Mr. Becher was thrown out of his office. He returned to Germany, with difficulty obtaining a passport, as he was suspected by the Government of having assisted the })er8on who had killed his employer to escape. On the contrary, Mr. B. had attempted, unsuccessfully, to secure his arrest. Finally De Caster de Tersac, a French professor in the University of Reval, secured for him a passport from the Governor of Riga. Reaching Germany, he could not obtain his former position, and had such indefinite promises of another, that he sold his property there and embarked for Russia, via River Rhine and Rotterdam, to London. There friends persuaded him to come to the United States instead, and after a voyage of twenty-eight days, landed in New York. Went thence to Milwaukee, where, through distrust of all who advised him, he lost opportunities of buying cheap property. Concluded to buy land in the town of Brighton, of Mr. John Ide. Six acres of it were broken, and on it was an old log cabin, in which he and his family lived through the severe winter of 1 848-49. Money gave out, and he sold mathematical instruments, six gold watches, and six guns, for half their value, to buy farming stock and implements. Remained there until 1855, then tried hotel-keeping in Racine, which was no business for him, and he returned the next year to the farm. In May, 1856, bought a house and lot in what is now Kansasville. Kept country store with Mr. John Walter, who h»d just arrived from Germany ; failed and lost everything. The same year was a pioneer of Dover ; bought land for SI, 400, but it had been mortgaged and he lost it all. Mr. B. has been fourteen years Postmaster, ten years express agent, and twenty years station agent, at Dover. He married, on Saturday, June 30, 1832, Rebecca Lenz, daughter of Adam Lenz, in the village Ekhardsborn, by Rev. Dr. Krom in the church at Schweskartshausen ; they had six children, two sons and four daughters - Philip, born March 3, 1833; Ottilie, Jan. 1, 1836; Lisette, Aug. 10, 1838 ; Amelia, Sept. 20, 1840; Mary, Sept. 30, 1842; Gustav, Nov. 15, 1845.

Passage source: The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin .., published 1879.

RIEiVZIE J. HULCiT, merchant, Kansasville; born in Kenosha, Kenosha Co., June 18, 1850; hved in Paris and Brighton, and moved to Yorkville, in 1865, with his parents; his father, Gardner Hulet, owned 134 acres in Sec. 31, Yorkville, and was an auctioneer. He died very suddenly, Dec. 9, 1875, within one mile of Union Grove, while doing business. His mother is still living on the same farm. Rienzi Hulet owns 111 acres land in Sec. 36, Dover, but lives in the village of Kansasville, where he does a general mercantile business in farmers* supplies. He married, in Dover, Oct. 20, 1875, Jane Burns, of Dover, and has one son - Elmer G.

Passage source: The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin .., published 1879.

JAnCiS ncOUIRCi, farmer, Sec. 9 ; P. O. Kansasville ; son of John McGuire, who was bom in Tipperary, Ireland, in 1802, and came to Boston, Mass., with his family, in 1849. He married, in Tipperary, Margaret McCormick, Feb. 8, 1836, and bad five children - Cornelius, John, Elizabeth, James, Mary. He came to Racine, with his family, in 1852 ; lived there five years ; came to Dover in 1857, where he died, Jan. 10, 1862. James owns 160 acres in Sec. 9, with residence and bam; his mother lives with him.

Passage source: The History of Racine and Kenosha Counties, Wisconsin .., published 1879.

Machine-read from a century-old scan, so expect the errors a machine makes: misspelled names, dropped words, stray characters.

Read the whole chapter on Dover Town - it names this place 11 more 11 times.