Jacob Kloos has been identified with the shoe business in
Carlinville, in the capacity of either shoemaker or dealer, for
forty-three years. He was born m Darmstadt, Hessen, Germany, on the 22d
of September, 1846, and is a son of George and Katharine (Schwatz)
Kloos. The father was a wagon maker and later a farmer in the old
country, where he spent his entire life, his death occurring in Rosbach,
Germany, in 1898, at about the age of eighty years. The mother had
passed away seven or eight years previously, being at the time about
seventy. Both were members of the Lutheran church. Little is known of
the grandparents on either side save that they were engaged in
agricultural pursuits and always lived in the fatherland. Six children
were born unto Mr. and Mrs. George Kloos, as follows: George; Wilhelm;
Katherina, the widow of August Kratz; Anna, the wife of George Frink;
Jacob, our subject, and Christian, who died at the age of seven years.
Jacob Kloos was reared in the parental home, acquiring his
education in the common schools of the old country. When he was fifteen
years old, it was deemed that he had sufficient knowledge to qualify him
for the heavier responsibilities of life, so laying aside his text-books
he apprenticed himself to a shoemaker. He was most anxious to become a
citizen of the United States and carefully saved his money until he had
acquired the amount necessary to pay for his passage. Upon his arrival
in this country in 1866, he first located in New Jersey, where he
resided for nearly two years, then came to Carlinville and here he has
ever since continuously lived. In July, 1880, he extended the scope of
his activities by putting in a stock of boots and shoes, but in
connection with this he continues his repairing and shoemaking
departments.
It was on the 2d of October, 1872, that Mr. Kloos
was married to Miss Anna Lavorer, a daughter of Matthias Lavorer. Mrs.
Kloos is a native of Bohemia, Austria, her birth having there occurred
on the 21st of May, 1854. She emigrated to the United States when a
child of six years with her parents, who located on a farm near
Carlinville and there they passed away, the mother at the age of
sixty-six and the father when about eighty. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lavorer
there were born three sons and four daughters: Joseph; Matthias; Anna,
now Mrs. Kloos; Katherina, the wife of Jacob Hoehn; Ella, who has never
married; Agnes, who is deceased, the wife of Henry Paul; and one son who
died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Kloos affiliate with the German
Evangelical church, and fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen
of America. Ever since granted the right of franchise by naturalization
Mr. Kloos has cast his ballot in support of the candidates of the
republican party. He has never aspired to public honors, always having
devoted his attention to his business in the development of which he has
met with a gratifying degree of success.
Extracted 15 Nov 2018 by Norma Hass from History of Macoupin County, Illinois: Biographical and Pictorial, by Charles A. Walker, published in 1911, Volume 2, pages 483-484.
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