Peter J. Beucher

Peter J. Beucher, mayor of Postville and connected with business interests as the proprietor of a profitable real-estate enterprise in Postville, is a native son of the city, born just across the line in Clayton county, May 17, 1865, his parents being Mathias and Louisa (Koevnig) Beucher, both of whom were born in Trier, Germany, the father, May 10, 1830, and the mother, December 8, 1835. They came to Allamakee county in 1856 and were among the early settlers in this section, settling near what was then the early Old Mission, or Sixteen. The father turned his attention to farming, later moving to Springfield, where in connection with the conduct of his farm he operated a small brewery. In 1866 he came to Postville and was in charge of the city schools for some years, conducting also a profitable hardware store until 1885, when he put aside the cares of active life and lived retired until his death, August 1, 1901. HIs wife survives him and makes her home in Postville, being now in the seventy-eighth year of her age.

Peter J. Beucher was reared in Postville and acquired his educaton in the local schools. At the age of twenty-one he began his independent career, establishing himself in the hotel business, in which he continued for a short time, eventually trading his hotel for land. At the same time he purchased a dray line which, after operating it for three years, he sold, turning his attention at that time to the butcher business. In this he engaged for a year or two, after which he became identified with the real-estate business, buying and selling city property and farming lands. He handles a great deal of city property and, being an excellent judge of land values as well as a resourceful and far-sighted business man, has made his enterprise profitable not only to himself but to his clients also. For fifteen years he was a wholesale dealer of Pabst beer but he has now abandoned that line of business. He is a director in the Citizens State Bank of Postville and is connected with five other financial institutions, most of which are located in Iowa. He has extensive holdings in Minnesota lands and city property in Postville and recently disposed of a large tract in Fayette county. His business interests are conducted in a capable and progressive way and his success places him in the front ranks of the substantial men of this community.

In December, 1886, Mr. Beucher married Miss Lena Olson, who was born in Norway in February, 1866. Her father died when she was still and infant and her mother married again, coming to America soon afterward. Mrs. Beucher died May 1, 1909, leaving six children. Louisa, born September 17, 1887, married Lynn S. McEwen, cashier of the Citizens State Bank of Postville. Otto J. operates a dray line in this city. Leo is paying teller in the Citizens State Bank. Charlotte lives at home. Harry and Helen are attending school.

Although Mr. Beucher has been very successful in business affairs he has not by any means confined his attention to this one line of work but has constituted himself also an active force in local politics. He gives his allegiance to the democratic party but is capable of independent action when the occasion demands it. He is now in the second term of his service as mayor of Postville and is giving to the city a straightforward, progressive and constructive administration. Fraternally he is connected with Decorah Lodge, No. 443, B.P.O.E., and with Postville Lodge, No. 204, F.&A.M., being thoroughly in sympathy with the principles of brotherly love upon which these orders are founded. He is a man of high integrity and business and political honor and he enjoys in the highest measure the respect of all who know him. That many of his stanchest friends are those who have known him from childhood is an evidence that his has been an honorable and upright life and that he is in every way worthy of the respect and esteem in which he is uniformly held.

-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913;
pg. 29 & 30
-transcribed by Sharyl Ferrall

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