Source: History of Bureau County, Illinois
H. C. Bradsby, Editor
Chicago: World Publishing company - 1885

Transcribed by: Denise McLoughlin
Tampico Area Historical Society
www.tampicohistoricalsociety.citymax.com

Page 543

JOHN HECHTNER, Bureau, was born in Prussia, February 26, 1836. He is a shoe-maker by trade, and worked at that for four years in the old country. In 1854 he came to America, and settled in Princeton, where he worked at his trade for two years. He then went on to the prairie in Bureau Township, which was then unimproved. He first purchased a quarter of Section 36, paying $11.50 per acre. His home farm now consists of 400 acres in Sections 36 and 25, but in the township he owns 850 acres. Until he was twenty years old he knew nothing of farming, and began by splitting rails and cutting cord-wood, but he has been one of the most successful farmers in the township. He is the son of Godfrey and Mary (Kittendorf) Hechtner. His father was a shoe-maker, and came to Princeton in 1854. He died in 1872. They were the parents of four girls and two boys. John Hechtner was married in this county December 21m 1861, to Elizabeth Mehlin. She was born in Switzerland, August 4, 1843, daughter of John Mehlin, who came to this county in 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Hechtner are the prents of twelve children, six of whom are living, viz: Mary, born March 27, 1864, wife of Andrew Rudiger, of Bureau Township; Emma, January 10, 1866; John, December 13, 1868; Charles, February 11, 1871; Elizabeth, April 6, 1874; Caroline, December 29, 1875. After being on the farm two years, Mr. Hechtner lost everything by fire December 21, 1859. They saved nothing, only escaping with their lives. In May, 1878, he lefft home on account of ill health, and spent the summer on the European Continent, visiting Switzerland, Prussia, and the Paris Exposition. In politics he has been a Democrat since his first vote, which was for James Buchanan. In 1885 he represented his township on the Board of Supervisors.