betzg  
 

Transcribed from "An Illustrated History of The Big Bend Country, embracing Lincoln, Douglas, Adams and Franklin counties, State of Washington",  published by Western Historical Publishing Co., 1904.


     GEORGE H. BETZ is a farmer residing one half mile east of Mondovi.  He was born April 11, 1867, in Cass county, Illinois, the son of John H. and Sebilla Betz, a sketch of whose lives, together with those of his brothers and sisters, is incorporated with that of his brother, John W., which appears elsewhere in this history.
     Prior to coming west in 1882, the boyhood of George Betz was spent for the most part in the common schools of his native state.  He came to Cheney with his parents and attended the Cheney Academy, thus gaining a good working education.  He came to Lincoln county in the spring of 1892, and entered a timber culture; then sold it, and bought the improvements on his present farm, upon which he filed a homestead right.
    George H. Betz was married March 8, 1897, to Louisa Kik, a native of South Dakota, the daughter of David and Louisa Kik.  Both her parents were natives of Germany, and crossed the plains to California while Mrs. Betz was a child.  They came from California to Walla Walla, where the mother died, the father later coming to Rock Creek, Lincoln county, where he was an early pioneer.  Mrs. Betz has two brothers, David and Charles, and one sister, Mrs. Emma Maurer.  Besides these she has one half brother and three half sisters, William, Maimie, Lillie and Anna.
     Both Mr. and Mrs. Betz are members of the United Brethren church at Mondovi.
     Mr. Betz owns two hundred and forty acres of the best land in the Big Bend, and has it all in the highest state of cultivation, and improved in the most modern and elaborate style.  Besides having all manner of agricultural implements, his buildings and farm furnishings the marvels of neatness and convenience.  His house is a modern eight room brick structure, containing in every room hot and cold water piped from a reservoir which is kept supplied by a windmill and pump.  Besides furnishing power to pump water, the windmill is employed to run a chop and feed mill, wood saw and emery wheel, and furnishes power for a complete blacksmith and repair shop.  His barn also is supplied with water from the reservoir.  He came to the country practically without means and settled on raw land, improving it to its present state by his own unaided efforts.
 
 

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