Name/Title
Beitz family: Henry Beitz, 1920 to 1940 resident of Herbert Township, Traill County, North DakotaEntry/Object ID
2025.239.1Description
This family history folder describes the life of Henry Beitz, who farmed from 1920 to 1940 in Herberg Township in Traill County, North Dakota.
Henry Beitz was born on 8 November 1864 in Chicago, IL, the first of ten children born to Adam and Julia (Burg) Beitz (see TCHS Catalogit family history entry 2022.268.1, and Beitz_Genealogy.pdf*, pages 2 & 4, below). Henry was raised in the Chicago area until the age of 15 when in 1880 his parent's bought farmland near Bridgewater in Jackson Township in Adair County, Iowa. Evidently, Henry was known for telling a tale about how the Jesse James family were neighbors for a time before they held the first train robbery in Adair County ["Did you know that" page, below].
Henry Beitz, along with brothers Peter and Jake, helped his father Adam Beitz farm work. When Adam died in 1907, Henry, brothers Peter and John, and sister Julia inherited the farmland and continue farming operations [1910 US Census data]. They were still operating their farm in Jackson Township in early 1920 [1920 US Census, taken 15 Jan.], but later in 1920, they sold the home farm and bought land five miles east of Hillsboro in Traill County, ND.
Henry and brother Peter bought 160 acres of farmland in the NW Qtr. of Sect. 6 in Herberg Township [1927 map, below]. Their farm was located next to the Joe Beitz farm, their brother (see TCHS Catalogit family history entry 2025.238.1; 1925 ND Traill County Census data). In 1929, Henry's brother Peter Beitz passed away. Henry, at age 83, continued with farming operations with help from his younger sister, Julia Beitz.
In early 1940, Henry Beitz became ill and passed away, age 93, at the home of his sister, Margaret (Beitz) Kneip (see obituary, Hillsboro Banner, 19April 1940, left). After funeral services held at St. Rose of Lima Catholic Church in Hillsbor0, Henry was interred at the Catholic Calvary Cemetery by Hillsboro [photos of grave site, below].
_________________________
*a Beitz_Genealogy.pdf document was compiled and written by Karen (Fleischer) Ackerman and kindly proved to the TCHS by Karen's granddaughter Jackie (Ausk) Baumgartner. This document is available for viewing as a printed document and on a PC from a USB flash-drive kept in the Adam Beitz family history folder, which is located on a shelf in the Resource Room at the TCHS Plummer House Museum in Hillsboro, ND (also see Catalogit family history entry 2022.268.1).Acquisition
Accession
2025.239Source or Donor
Karen (Fleischer) Ackerman, Jackie (Ausk) BaumgartnerLocation
* Untyped Location
Resource RoomBuilding
Plummer House
