STEARNS COUNTY MINNESOTA BIOGRAPHIES
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File contributed for use in Stearns County Biographies by
Name: Tim Winker
Email: Tim@Winker.net
Date: February 28, 2003
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From The History of the Upper Mississippi Valley
Publisher: Minneapolis : Minnesota Historical Company, 1881
Contents: The geology of the upper Mississippi and Saint Louis valleys by 
N.H. Winchell; Explorers and pioneers of Minnesota by Edward D. Neill; 
Outlines of the history of Minnesota by J. Fletcher Williams; State 
Education by Charles A. Bryant

Page 475
FERDINAND BORGMANN, one of the pioneers of the western part of Stearns 
County, was born in Westphalia, Prussia, on the 24th of May, 1825. He 
worked on a farm, when not attending school, until twenty-one years of age. 
In 1846, became a soldier in the Prussian army, serving through the war in 
Germany in 1848, by which Prussia became a constitutional state. In 1851, 
came to the United States, locating at Toledo, Ohio. After a few months, 
moved to Iowa, where he engaged in agricultural pursuits for four years. In 
1855, he visited Kansas and Nebraska with a desire to find a future home, 
but returned only to look in another direction. In 1856, he removed to 
Minnesota, locating in Lake George township, Stearns county, which was his 
home for eight years. In 1865, he came to his present farm in Sauk Centre 
township, where he now lives, having a well furnished farm and a 
comfortable home. He has another farm of three hundred and twenty acres in 
Ashley township. He has filled the office of Supervisor for seven terms. He 
was married to Miss Antoinette E. Sherman in 1854. They have eight living 
children.

Page 464
In 1870 Joseph Capser, Ferdinand Borgmann, Joseph Ebensteiner, Henry 
Kalkmann, George Gruber and Anthony Miller bought a piece of ground [in 
Sauk Centre] on which to build a church. The sum of $475 was paid, Mr. 
Capser paying $300. [The Church of St. Paul] was erected on the spot the 
next year and dedicated by Father Valentine on June 30, 1871. The first 
confirmation took place in September, 1875, by Bishop Seidenbusch.



Tim Winker
<Tim@Winker.net>
http://www.winker.net - The Winker Family site