Biographical Sketch of

Abraham Ackerman

Transcribed by Joan Benner for the Marquette Co WI Pages



Source: Portrait and Biographical Album of Green Lake, Marquette and Waushara Counties, Wisconsin, 
published 1890 by Acme Publishing Co., Chicago, Pages 367 - 368

Abraham Ackerman, of Kingston, Green Lake County, traces his ancestry back
to three brothers of that name, Ralph, James and Abraham Ackerman, who at a
very early day crossed the Atlantic and settled in New Brunswick, New
Jersey. In that city our subject was born on the 27th day of September,
1808, and he distinctly remembers the troops of the War of 1812 passing
along the streets of the city. His parents, Ralph and Mary (Boyce)
Ackerman, accompanied by their family removed to Western New York in 1820,
settling in Allegany County, when it was part of the western frontier. They
had a family of ten children, six sons and four daughters, but only three
now living--Abraham, of this sketch; Ira C. of Pike, Wyoming County, New
York; and Maria, wife of Rev. Rufus Fancher, now in Dakota City, Iowa. The
mother died in Allegany County, New York, in 1851, and four years later,
Mr. Ackerman came to Green Lake County, where his death occurred in 1865.
They were members of the Methodist Church and earnest Christian people.


Our subject is truly a self-made man. He attended school but a short time
in his native city and at the age of fourteen years began life for himself,
from which time he has been dependent upon his own resources. Going to
Bath, New York, he entered a hotel and for twenty-five years was employed
in the hotels of Western New York, having been connected with some of the
leading establishments of that kind in the country. The most important
event of his life occurred at Union Corners, Livingston County, New York,
January 31, 1850, when he was united in marriage with Miss Angeline
Voorheis, daughter of John and Katie (Schenck) Voorheis whose family
consisted of three children: Angeline, wife of our subject; Sarah, wife of
Benjamin Munger, of Allegany County, New York; and Helen, wife of DeWitt
Ackerman, of Marshall, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Voorheis were life-long
members of the Presbyterian Church and died at their home in New York. John
Voorheis, the father of Mrs. Ackerman, was a native of New Brunswick, New
Jersey, and Katie Schenck, a native of the Empire State. Her father, Ralph
Schenck, was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. Mrs. Ackerman's
grandmother on the maternal side was a relative of President Zachary Taylor.


Upon their marriage, Mr. Ackerman and his wife settled in Angelica,
Allegany County, New York, where they made their home until 1853, when they
came to Green Lake County, Wisconsin. For a short time they remained in
Kingston, where he purchased a farm and engaged in its cultivation for four
years. He then removed to Waupaca, where the two succeeding years of his
life were passed, when he purchased a farm one mile from Kingston. He has
been very successful in his business transactions and though he has had to
make his own way in the world has acquired a competency which places him
among the substantial citizens of the county. Fair and honest in all his
dealings, courteous in manner, gentlemanly in deportment and possessing
qualities of sterling worth, he has made many warm friends and gained their
confidence and well wishes. He supports the Republican party, and well
wishes. He supports the Republican party, and his wife is a member of the
Presbyterian Church. The Ackerman household is noted for its hospitality
and the members of the family hold a high position in the social world,
where intelligence and upright lives are the passwords to the best society.


Three children, daughters, grace the union of Mr. and Mrs. Ackerman, but
two have left the parental roof for homes of their own and the youngest,
Estella, was called to her final rest at the age of thirty-one years; Mary
K. is the wife of William R. Sims, a merchant of Kingston; and Belle is the
wife of Charles B. Thayer, a farmer of the town of Kingston, this county. 






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