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LOUIS SPECHT, one of the well-known citizens and leading farmers of Angelica township, Shawano county, was born June 22, 1845, in Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, and is a son of John Specht, who was a carpenter, and made his living at his trade.

The children of John Specht were as follows: John who lives in Oregon; William, who died in Sullivan county, N. Y.; Magdalene, who died in Germany; Catherine, married to Jacob Dose, and lives in New York; Elizabeth, now Mrs. John Dietz, of Sullivan county, N.Y.; Louis, subject of this sketch; Henrietta, now Mrs. Gumbert, of New York city; and Charles, who was born in the United States, and is a farmer, living in Buckwalter, Penn.   The other children were born in Germany.  It was in the fall of 1854 when John Specht, Sr., the father, and his six children, went from Germany to London, and there embarked for America on the sailing vessel "Southampton," landing in New York after a voyage of thirty-five days. John, Jr., one of the children, had been in the United States. The father located in Sullivan county, N. Y., in the town of Fremont, then a new country, and where the father bought land. They were poor, and for three weeks the family had only rice to eat. Mr. Specht lived to own his farm, and died there at the age of seventy-one. His widow survived him eight years, and died at seventy-one years of age. In religion they were Lutherans.

Louis Specht was but a boy of nine years when he came to the United States, but remembers the details of the journey. The region was new where they located, in Sullivan county; there were not many schools, and his help was needed at home; after schools had become established he had grown up, and it was work instead of school. He lived at home until twenty-two years of age, and at that time possessed three hundred dollars, which he had earned by peeling hemlock bark, and selling it to tanneries.   He started for Wisconsin, in 1867 with all his earthly possessions; came via Green Bay and the stage route to Hartland township, Shawano county, to his brother John, who was then living there. He first bought, in Section 19, eighty acres of land, all new, on which not a stick of timber had been cut; deer, bear and other game were plenty. He was in debt for his farm, and the first winter he worked in Shawano county in the lumber woods; in the summer he worked on his land. He had a hewed-log house, 18x24, which he built himself, and this was his first home in Wisconsin. In March, 1868, in Waukechon township, Shawano county, Louis Specht was united in marriage with Miss Ottelia Schmitt, who was born in Mayville, Dodge county, Wis., August 24, 1850, and the following named children were born to them: Henry, who is a carpenter, was born in Hartland township; July 27, 1869; Emma, August 31, 1871; Rudolph, born January 31, 1874, in Hartland; Charles, born March 20, 1876; Robert, born in Hartland, August 30, 1878;  William, born in Angelica township, February 2, 1881; Ella, born June 23, 1884; John, July 3, 1886; Hattie, May 23, 1889;  and Linda, December 29, 1893. The father of Mrs. Specht, Henry Schmitt, was born in Germany, where he followed weaving; coming to the United States, his occupation was that of a farmer. He first settled in Dodge county, Wis., then removed to Waukechon township in 1866. Mrs. Specht was one of two children, the other a brother, who died on the ocean when the parents were coming to the United States., Mr. Schmitt married again, and reared a family of children.

Louis Specht remained in Hartland until August, 1879, when he sold out, came to Angelica township and bought eighty acres of land in Section 19, five acres of which were cleared and the remainder heavily timbered, a log house being the only improvement on the place when he took it.  Work was begun at once; the task of clearing another new farm was his. He was an energetic worker, and each year new improvements were made. Later he added forty acres more, and he has given his time entirely to farming. In 1885 he built his comfortable home, and in 1894 a large modern barn. He has improved his farm in every way, and it is today one of the good farms of Angelica. He is a self-made man, has done considerable hard work, was strong and robust in his prime, and, by his persevering toil is owner of a good home. Mr. Specht has been a Democrat, but at present is an Independent, and has served as a member of the township board for two years. The family are members of the Lutheran Church.