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!Info. from, Art Finke thru Interview with Monroe Fischer When the Fischer Family came to Addison Township, the area was known as Washington Precinct. that was before the townships and counties were established in 1839. Christian Fischer, who was the brother of Conrad Fischer, came over here in 1834. Henry Dietrich Fischer, Conrad Fischer's oldest son, came over in 1834. I remember my brother, Art, telling me that another guy named Hans Christian and this Christian Fischer came over and more or less homesteaded or picked out the spots. Then in 1836, Conrad Fischer came with the rest of the family- Henry Dietrich, Louise, Frederich, August, Wilhelmine, and Caroline; those were Conrad's children, and he brought his wife. That was after the area had been taken from the Potawatomi and Ottawa Indians. In 1833, the Government bought this whole area from the Indians and promised them a reservation out in Kansas, somewhere. But there still were some Indians here even when Conrad came. One Indian family came back after they had left and was granted a homestead on land near Des Plaines. They lived there until they died, and I think they are buried somewhere around Des Plaines.
The Fischers came from a little town named Estorf in Germany, which is near Hannover. I really don't know why they came to America. To leave such a beautiful country - I can't believe they would leave. Evidently, the opportunities were limited, because unless you were a well known person and had property, you couldn't buy property. It was all owned by so-called noblemen and so forth. There weren't many opportunities for an average person. Then, America had just opened up, and opportunities were here so that's why they came.
Conrad Fischer was a harness maker and saddler as was his son, Henry Dietrich. In fact, Conrad Fischer had gone with Napoleon into the Russian Campaign as a saddle maker. he was very young at the time. On Napoleon's Retreat from his unsuccessful venture into Russia, he returned by the little town of Esdorf and dropped off Conrad Fischer. I don't know how in the worked Conrad Fischer got involved with Napoleon's Army. He evidently enlisted as it passed through Germany on its way to Russia.
When Henry Dietrich Fischer came over in 1834, he tried to get a job as a harness maker, but he couldn't. So, he went around and collected wood ashes which he used to make soap. he also walked to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and worked in a lumber mill for awhile. Then he came back to Addison Township and met his father, Conrad, with the family. I believe Christian Fischer had already established a site out here - so that's where they went, to Grand Avenue and Church Road. They acquired over 1,000 acres of land from Rt. 83 to County Line Road and beyond. They tell me, at that time, you could claim as your own any land you could plow a furrow around from sunrise to sunset. They evidently did plow a furrow around this property and later on, they purchased property. Some land they received as a land grant, and some they had to pay $1.25 per acre. The original land grand is over at Arvin Fischer's old house. The people that bought it have it.
When they settled here, they first built a log cabin for shelter. They had no nails, so they had to peg everything together. They had no glass for windows, so they put a hole in the cabin and covered it with boards and skins in the winter and left it open in the summer. There was plenty of food: Deer, Prairie Chicken, Pheasants - everything, so they didn't starve. They could go hunting everyday, which they did and gradually they cleared some land and started farming. As the family grew, the property was divided.
Henry Dietrich Fischer married Mary Franzen. The Franzen's came over sometime after 1836 and settled in the area. i guess the others married people in this area.
It's awfully difficult to visualize how difficult life really was. There was no shopping centers to go to and the closest trading post was Chicago. there wasn't anything else around. So they had to go to Chicago, and many times they walked or used oxen or horses. They didn't have wagons, so they had to make themselves a cart. They did this by cutting a slab off a big oak tree and making wheels out of this wood - this way they improvised wheels. There was no bridge over the Des Plaines River and sometimes they would have bags of grain or a couple of hogs to take into Chicago to sell. It would take several days to get there. if there had been a heavy rain, they might have to wait until the river went down before they could cross. I think there were various Indian paths. We know Lake Street was a path, because there was quite an Indian settlement along the river in Maywood. Maybe Grand Avenue was an Indian path that later became a street.
The original Fischer log cabin was located where West Avenue goes north of Grand, just before the heavy trees begin. later on, they built a house closer to Grand Avenue. At the time they built the log cabin, it didn't make any difference where they put it - there were no streets. They dug their own well, maybe 30-40 ft. deep, lined with rocks, and this gave them enough water. They didn't have to worry too much about pollution because there were no septic tanks - really there was no pollution, so the water was quite clear that they drank. It was surface water which filtered through the ground and purified itself.
The Fischers were religious people. I think it was as early as 1837 that a self-proclaimed preacher and school teacher came to the area. He would teach the children in their homes, and he would also have a church service in one of the houses before any church organization was established. later on, they formed a church at Zion, and had one church until about 1849, when a group of Missouri Synod Lutherans took over the church. Some of the people weren't happy with this and a group from Bensenville area left and started their own Evangelical church across the street from Zion.
The early school teachings were tied into the church- the preacher was the teacher. In one of the histories, it tells that Henry Dietrich Fischer was instrumental in getting School District #3 set up.
One of Conrad Fischer's children, Wilhelmine, fell into the Hudson River and drowned on their trip to Illinois from Germany. All his children were born in Germany. Henry Dietrich Fischer and his wife Mary Franzen, had ten children: Henry Dietrich, Conrad, Dr. Frederick T., Herman, William, August, George, Elizabeth, another William, and Henrietta. Louise Fischer married a Bielefeld, and they had children but I don't know what happened to them. Frederick married a Messinbrink, and they had children: Louisa, Caroline, and Albert. they pretty well stayed in the area. August Fischer, who was my grandfather, married Louisa Hackroth, and they had Otto, Wilhelmina, Gustav, and Charles Fischer. Charles Fischer was my father, and he married Alvina Milke. I have five living brothers and sisters. Charles had eight children: Gustav, Francis, Charles, Arthur, Julia, Esther, Otto, and Monroe. Art is dead, and Gustav and Francis died when they were very young. My mother's family came from Germany and settled in the area. My mother worked for the Fischers, and they became acquainted that way.
There was also a Caroline Fischer who married Henry Ahrbecker. After he died, she married Louis Rathje, and they had one daughter, Martha, who married Dr. E. W. Marquardt from Elmhurst.
Dr. F. J. T. Fischer was in the Army during the Civil War, as was Augustus Fischer who was killed in Georgia. when Frederick J. T. Fischer got out of the Army, he went to Germany and studied in Heidelberg and came back to practice in Ohio. When Father Struckmann died, he came back to Elmhurst and started his practice here. Herman A. Fischer and William H. Fischer became professors. They went to Wheaton Academy and college, and both married daughters of the President of the college. Herman Fischer married Julia Blanchard, and William Fischer married Geraldine Blanchard. Both men became Professors at Wheaton College and later, William became an Attorney in Wheaton. Their descendants are in the Wheaton area, and there are two daughters of William still living; Margurite, born in 1886, and Elaine, born in 1892.
The early Fischers were farmers,. and they acquired quite a lot of land. Henry Dietrich was a county supervisor in the 1850's and 1860's. George Fischer, his son, was a county supervisor and board commissioner, too.
One of my sisters taught at Churchville School and prior to that, Oscar Fischer taught there. Edwin Fischer also taught in the area, about 1891.
My sister, Esther, was teaching at Churchville in 1924 when the old Immanuel Church burned on a real cold January day. I Think it was the first Sunday after New Years. I ran over early in the morning - w thought the church and school and everything was going to burn - so I picked up her books and took them over to Henry Fischer, thinking we would save the books if nothing else. I remember the fire very well. Esther taught at Churchville a number of years, and then she taught in the new Churchville School which was built over on Church Road south of Grand Avenue. Esther finished high school and went to DeKalb Normal for one or two summers, and then she was eligible to teach. later on, she had to take a year off and take some more credits to keep up her teaching certificate, but she started teaching at a very young age.
Until 1960, the Fischer property was pretty much farming area. It was only after the Second World War that subdivisions became to develop, and industrial districts swallowed up the farm land.
I was born in Churchville. My father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather were farmers. They raised grain, corn and other farm products, plus cattle, hogs, chickens and everything else that goes with farming. As far as I know, my mother's people were farmers in Addison Township. I don't really know too much about them. My father died when I was 12 years old, so my two older brothers took over, and we farmed until I got married and left.
I went to Churchville School through the eighth grade, and then I went to Bensenville High School for a year. I didn't want to go back to school, so I worked for a few years. Then I went to Elmhurst Academy and finished and took some college courses. Then I got married. At that time, Elmhurst had both an Academy and College with live-in students, all boys. I believe most of the students had Theology in mind, but the college was beginning to branch out into science and other subjects, but was strongly church related. I lived at the farm, and we commuted back and forth to school by car. My brother and I attended Elmhurst at the same time.
My wife was a Hoppenstedt, daughter of Fred Hoppenstedt from Wood Dale. The Hoppenstedt's were well known in the area as they had the Village Store, and Fred was a carpenter who built many barns and houses. he built our house - he did a lot of building for my father. I met Edna when she was 5 or 6 years old, and then I didn't see her. Later on, we got together and were married in 1929. They had originally belonged to Zion church, and when the Lutheran church was built in Itasca, they transferred to Itasca. Edna was baptized in Zion Church but later the family went to St. Luke's. We eventually bought a house in Wood Dale and are still there after 51 years.
I worked in a clothing store and for Montgomery Ward, and then had my own gas station. They i worked for the Ovaltine Company in Villa Park until the war came along, when I got a job at Electra Motor in LaGrange. i stayed there until after the war when I worked with William Smeja for awhile, helping with the well drilling and pump business. Then I got a job with the County Health Department and worked with them until I retired in 1971.
We have six children - all married and in their own homes.
When District #3 abandoned the school building in Churchville, it reverted to the Fischer family because that was the way the agreement had worked. The school building deteriorated to where the roof was leaking and the walls were in bad condition. So, William Smeja and the Fischer boys got the idea of restoring it and making it a landmark. So, we put a new roof on it and a new ceiling and replaced a lot of rotted siding. Willard Fischer has to have a lot of credit for repairing the belfry, and we finally restored it to where it's presentable.
About 1967 or 1968, while we were restoring the schoolhouse, we formed the Historical Society. It took about two summers to finish the restoration. At this point, the Churchville Schoolhouse is private property.
At one time, there was a community club of young people that met at the schoolhouse. They had a softball team, and they used the school as a meeting place. As near as we can figure, the schoolhouse was built between 1943 and 1849. A lot of people listed on the Fischer genealogy went to this school. There was a small building nearby that we called the German School which was built when Immanuel Church was build in the 1860's. That was torn down when Immanuel Church burned in 1924. The old sheds which were used to shelter horses and wagons during church services were taken down too.
Gaby F
