One of the influential citizens of Carlinville, who has been a
prominent factor in the political and business circles of the county is
Fred G. Oeltjen. He is a native of Oldenburg, Germany, his birth having
there occurred on the 6th of October, 1852, being a son of R. G. and
Taletta (Rogge) Oeltjen. The parents emigrated to the United States with
their family in 1867, locating on a farm in Carlinville, Macoupin
county. The cultivation of this property engaged the energies of Mr.
Oeltjen until twelve or fourteen years prior to his demise when he
retired to Carlinville, where he was residing when he passed away in
April, 1892, at the age of seventy-one. His wife survived until the 7th
of October, 1900, her demise occurring at the age of eighty. Both were
earnest members of the Lutheran church. To Mr. and Mrs. Oeltjen there
were born seven children: Albert F., who is a resident of Chicago; Fred
G., our subject; Reinhard E., who is living in Petersburg, Illinois;
Gesine, the widow of Henry W. Frewert, of Petersburg; Emma, who married
Gustav Kasten, of Carlinville; Meta, the wife of Benjamin Bulcar, of
Monticello, Iowa; and Mary, the wife of Albert Loehr, of Carlinville.
Fred G. Oeltjen was a youth of fifteen years when he emigrated
to the United States with his parents, since which he has always made
his home in Carlinville. He acquired a very good common-school education
in his native country, this being supplemented upon his arrival here by
a course in Blackburn University, upon the completion of which he taught
for a time. Later he entered public life and served for six or seven
years as township clerk, while in 1894 he was the successful candidate
for the office of county clerk. After the expiration of his term of
office he opened a real estate and loan office, which he has ever since
maintained. Mr. Oeltjen also devotes considerable time to literary
pursuits, being a contributor to various newspapers, and a stockholder
of the Mount Olive Teutonia, a German weekly paper. In 1883 he was
awarded a prize of fifty dollars for the best humorous article in German
dialect, submitted in a contest.
On the 21 st of May, 1906, Mr.
Oeltjen was united in marriage to Mrs. Nora Gerhart, the widow of George
Gerhart and a daughter of Thomas and Christina (Cowell) Jones. Mrs.
Oeltjen was born in Carlinville, her father also being a native of
Illinois, but her mother was born in England, the maternal grandparents
being among the early settlers of Macoupin county. Mr. Jones passed away
in Kansas in 1880, at the age of thirty-seven years, but the mother
still survives and continues to make her home in Carlinville. Of the
three children born unto Mr. and Mrs. Jones, Mrs. Oeltjen is the eldest,
the other two being Maggie, the wife of Charles Hankins; and Charles. To
Mr. and Mrs. Oeltjen has been born one daughter, an interesting little
maid of three years.
They attend the Lutheran church and
politically Mr. Oeltjen is an ardent republican, being one of the
leaders of his party in this county. He always takes an active part not
only in all municipal and county affairs but in state and national
campaigns. His business enterprises have proven very successful and in
addition to several buildings and other pieces of property in the city
he owns a fine sixty acre farm four miles east of Carlinville. Endowed
with a pleasing personality and genial manner Mr. Oeltjen wins many
friends, whose loyalty he has the faculty of retaining and is one of the
most popular men not only in his immediate community but in the county,
where he is held in high esteem.
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 457-458.
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