Introduction to the 1923 Biographical Sketches
This biographical sketch was published along with many others in the 1923 History of Auglaize County, Volume II, edited by William J. McMurray and published by the Historical Publishing Company of Indianapolis. In most cases the subject of the biography was of the first generation born in this country to German immigrants. In some cases the subject may have been born in Germany and came to this country at a young age. In most cases the story tells of the immigrant parents of the subject and also the children and grandchildren of the subject named at the beginning of the story. In some cases comments have been added after the biography to explain the locations of the farms where the immigrants settled. New Knoxville did not have rural addresses until 1955, and therefore the settlers had rural route addresses of St. Marys, Botkins, etc.
WILLIAM H. HABERKAMP, a former trustee of Washington township, present ditch supervisor for that township and one of the best known and most substantial farmers and landowners in that township, now living retired on his well kept place on Center just northeast of New Knoxville, was born in a log cabin on the place and has long been the owner of the place, the third in line of the Haberkamps who have lived on that land, beginning with the original entry from the Government made by his grand father, William Haberkamp, back in the days of the settlement of these lands when this section, of what is now Auglaize county, included in Allen county. Mr. Haberkamp was born on Sep, 20, 1856, and is a son of Herman H. and Sophia (Peterjohann) Haberkamp, natives of Germany, who had come to this country with their respective parents in the days of their youth and had grown up in the New Knoxville neighborhood, where the Haberkamps and Peterjohanns had settled upon their arrival here back in those days. Herman H. Haberkamp, a son of William Haberkamp, the pioneer above mentioned, grew to manhood on the woodland his father had entered from the Government there in Section 20 less than a mile northeast of New Knoxville, and after his marriage established his home there and presently became the owner of the place, a fine farm of 160 acres, on which he spent his last days and he and his wife were the parents of six children, four of whom are still living, the subject of this sketch having two sisters, Mary Elizabeth and Christina, and a brother, August Haberkamp. Reared on the old home farm, where he is now living, William H. Haberkamp received his schooling in the nearby New Knoxville schools and when a young man learned the carpenter trade, a vocation which he followed for about eight years, or until his marriage, when he bought a farm of eighty acres down over the line in Shelby county and for three years made his home there. He then, in 1884, sold that place and returned to Auglaize county, buying the old home place of 160 acres, just northeast of New Knoxville, and has since lived there. Since taking possession of this place, Mr. Haberkamp has made numerous and extensive improvements on the place and now has an admirable farm plant. Some time ago, for the convenience of one of his neighbors, he sold off a small tract of this place and now has 146 acres. In addition to his general farming he has long made considerable of a specialty of breeding pure bred Duroc Jersey hogs and in his operations has done well. Mr. Haberkamp is a Republican and has long been looked upon as one of the leaders in civic affairs in his home township. He has served as a member of the board of trustees for Washington township and is now serving as supervisor of ditches in that township. He was one of the organizers of the New Knoxville Telephone Company. He and his family are members of the First Reformed church at New Knoxville and he has served the congregation of that church as a trustee and as a deacon. It was in 1882 that William H. Haberkamp was united in marriage to Magdalena Lammers, also a member of one of the old families of Washington township, and to this union nine children were born. Of these, seven are living—Herman, Alvina, Sarah, Benjamin, Henry, Ella and Julius, all of whom are married save the latter. Herman Haberkamp married Amanda Wierwille and has five children, Wilfred, Earl, Vernon, Margaret and Paul. Alvina Haberkamp married Herman Henchen and has three children, Leonard, Elmer and Reuben. Sarah Haberkamp married George Katterheinrich and has three children, Alfred, Willis and Rachel. Benjamin Haberkamp married Bertha Wierwille. The Rev. Henry Haberkamp married Elizabeth Holtkamp and has two children, Elizabeth and Lena Louise, and Ella Haberkamp married Julius Holtkamp. Mrs, Magdalena Haberkamp, who died on November 24, 1922, at the age of sixty-one years, seven months and eleven days, was born on a farm in the southwest quarter of section 28 of Washington township, on the Shelby county line, about a mile southeast of New Knoxville, and was a daughter of Henry and Elizabeth (Wierwille) Lammers, both natives of Germany, who had come to this country wtih their respective parents in the days of their youth and had grown up and were married in this county, of which the Lammers and the Wierwilles were early settlers. Henry Lammers was the owner of an excellent farm of 120 acres and he and his wife were the parents of eight children, all of whom are living, save two, Mrs, Haberkamp being survived by three sisters, Sophia, Fredericka and Anna, and three brothers, Herman, Ernest and Louis Lammers. The Haberkamp home is very pleasantly situated on rural mail route No. 4 out of St. Marys.