Peter Grafelmann

Historical Encyclopedia of Illinois and History of Peoria County, 1902
Transcribed by John Melton

GRAFELMANN, PETER; Farmer; born in Germany, February 2, 1830; son of Peter and Maggie (Feinbach) Grafelmann, natives of Germany. Mr. Grafelmann came to the United States in 1844, reaching Peoria via New Orleans and the Mississippi and Illinois Rivers, after a voyage of nine weeks. He spent his first year in America working on a farm for sixteen dollars a month in the summer and for less in the winter. His first purchase of land was forty acres on Section 12, to which he afterward added till he now has five hundred and thirty-seven acres He married Gasia Grafelmann in Limestone Township in October, 1849. She was born in Germany in March 1828, daughter of Henry and Maggie Grafelmann. She came to America in company with her brother the same time as her husband came. The children of this marriage are: Peter, Henry, Margaret, Mary and Eliza. The family are members of the Lutheran Church, of which Mr. Grafelmann is a director and leading member. Politically he is a Democrat.

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