Obit: Becherer, Albert (1847 - 1939)

Contact: History Buffs

Surnames: Becherer, Alwertz, Borden, O’Rourke, Hoffmann, Lemin, Gierl, Whitney, Schultz, Sabler, Markus, Pacholke, Nelsen, Creed, Johnson, Goeltz, Smith, Kowalk, Cramer, Langjahr, Moosing, Bitters, Rein, Erickson, Hinges, Hanson, Schorer

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 06/22/1939

Becherer, Albert (22 Jan. 1847 - 19 June 1939)

Albert Becherer, age 92, and the only surviving Civil War veteran of Colby, passed away at the Marathon county hospital at Wausau on Monday, old age complications being the cause of his death. Funeral services will be held at the Lulloff Funeral Home this Thursday at 1:30 P.M. and at the First Ev. and Reformed church at 2:00 P.M. Internment will be made in the Colby cemetery.

The deceased was a sailor during the Civil War and was the only veteran-sailor in the membership of the Colby G.A.R. post. He was eighteen years of age when he joined the Union ranks. His mother was in Germany and his father at Buffalo, and he joined the navy at Chicago on March 5, 1864, of his own volition and without his parents’ knowledge. He was one of the crew of eighty-five aboard the Oriole under Captain Alwertz where Mr. Becherer was in charge of a No. 5 cannon. The ship was part of the Mississippi squadron under Admiral Borden and cruised the Mississippi from Cairo, Ill., to New Orleans. The ship did not engage in any battles although armed with six twenty-four pound, two thirty-six pound and one twelve pound guns. In 1865, he received his honorable discharge on board the Great Western, a receiving ship. This was when the entire Mississippi fleet was assembled at Mound City, Ill., on the Ohio River.

Mr. Becherer was born in Alstett, Saxon-Weimer, Germany, January 22nd, 1847. He left Germany in 1863 for Buffalo where he learned the shoe making trade from an Irishman, Pat O’Rourke. Mr. Becherer’s father was a shoe maker by trade and his brothers and six sons, including Albert, were all in that trade - a grand thirteen in all.

From 1866 to 1886, Mr. Becherer lived in Howard’s Grove, Sheboygan county. He was married on Easter Monday, April 2, 1866, at Milwaukee. In 1886, he came to Colby where he engaged in shoe making until 1898 and where he operated his own shoe shop. He then moved to Kingfisher, Okla., where he also owned his own shoe shop, and where he engaged in shoe making until he was forced to retire by advancing age. In September, 1930, he moved to Marathon county and made his home with his son, Louis, in the town of Hull, at which home his wife passed away six years ago.

He was the last member of his father’s family. His oldest brother, Edward, passed away ten years ago at the age of 95 years. He is survived by two sons, Louis and William, of the town of Hull and one daughter living at Wauwatosa.

Mr. Becherer, while a resident of Colby, served as secretary of St. John’s Evangelical church for five years and was also a trustee of that congregation. He was a delegate to a conference at Merrill from the Colby church. He attended various Grand Army functions, and, during a visit at a soldier’s home at Milwaukee thirty-three years ago, he met two of his former shipmates, one of whom had been a corporal on the Oriole during the Civil War.

----Sources: Colby Phonograph (Colby, Clark County, Wis.) 06/29/1939

Albert Becherer, whose death was reported last week, was buried last Thursday with military honors arranged by the American Legion post of Colby. Funeral services were held at the Lulloff Funeral Home and at the First Ev. and Reformed church, Rev. J. J. Hoffmann of Medford officiating, and internment was made in the Colby cemetery. Pall bearers were Henry Lemin, Ernest Gierl, Claude Whitney, E. W. Schultz, Carl Sabler and R. H. Markus. Color bearers were Wm. C. Pacholke and C. A. Nelsen and Homer Creed and J. H. Johnson acted as color guards. The firing squad consisted of Frank Goeltz, Lloyd Smith, George Kowalk, Chesley Cramer, Elmer Langjahr, Fred Kowalk, H. P. Moosing, Harvey Bitters, Dean Rein and Otto Erickson. Taps was sounded by Claude Whitney, Jr. Those in charge of the flowers were Mrs. Henry Hinges, Mrs. Ole Hanson, Mrs. Wm. Schorer and Lydia Hinges.

Out of town people here for the funeral were Ferdinand Hinges and family and Henry Hinges and family of Abbotsford and Bertha Becherer of Wausau.

We were told that in the obituary printing last week, we omitted mentioning that the deceased also spent ten years in Minnesota - New Ulm, Fairfax, and St. James - before going to Kingfisher, Okla.