Sedgwick County KSGenWeb

Portrait And Biographical Album of Sedgwick County, Kan.

Chapman Brothers 1888

Pages 636 - 637 

JOSEPHUS UTZ. It is quite interesting to observe, in noting the various members of a community, how they were gathered together from different States and localities, and how well usually they combine to form an intelligent and prosperous community. The subject of this history is a native of the far Eastern State of Maryland, where he first opened his eyes to the light in Carroll County, on the 5th of July, 1835. He is the offspring of Michael and Susan (Yineling) Utz, who were of German ancestry, and the father a farmer all his life. Michael Utz spent his days upon his native soil till 1837, then came to Indiana, and died when sixty-three years of age. The mother is still living, having arrived at the advanced age of eighty-two years on the 25th of December, 1887, and makes her home with her son, our subject.

            The parents of our subject identified themselves with the Methodist Episcopal Church early in life, of which the father was a member for a period of thirty years, and in the faith of which the mother remains firmly established, and is now connected with the society at Sedgwick City. They left the State of Maryland in 1837, and took up their abode in Clinton County, Ind., where the mother remained with her oldest son until 1883, and then came to this county. Josephus, when twenty-one years of age, started out for himself, and commenced farming on a tract of land not far from the homestead, in Clinton County. The year preceding he was united in marriage with Miss Phebe Jane Ball, the wedding taking place at the home of the bride, on the 1st of November, 1855. Mrs. Utz is the daughter of John and Jane (Frazier) Ball, natives respectively of Pennsylvania and North Carolina, and who spent their last years in Carroll County, Ind., both having died when their daughter Phebe J. was a small girl. Her father was a farmer by occupation, and both parents were members of the Methodist Episcopal Church. Mrs. Utz was born Oct. 18, 1838, in Butler County, Ohio, and is the only survivor of the eight children comprising the parental household. Of her union with our subject there have been born ten children. Their eldest daughter, Mary Belle, is the wife of F. C. Jenkins, who is on the night police force at Wichita; Edward G. married Miss Anna Fry, and is farming in Eagle Township, this county; Sarah Florence, Mrs. Joseph Fry, is living with her husband on a farm in Hodgman County, this State; William Sherman and Ida are at home with their parents. The deceased are Laurinda Jane, Emma, Ernest, Anna and Sanford.

            Mr. Utz, after the outbreak of the late Rebellion, enlisted on the 3d of March, 1865, in Company F, 154th Indiana Infantry, and remained in the service until August 10 of that year, and there being no further need of his services he was mustered out near Winchester, Va. During this brief campaign he was elected First Corporal. With the exception of a week spent in the hospital and the malarial fever later, he escaped unharmed. He is a straight Republican, politically, and a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church, in which he occupies the office of Steward.

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