George Betz Dresbach, Sr. - 1825-1887
The Dresbach Who Purchased His Own Village (Dresbach, Minnesota)
George Betz Dresbach, Sr., was the son of George Dresbach and Catherine Betz, the grandson of Jacob Dreisbach and Magdalena Buchs, and the great-grandson of Martin I, the immigrant.
The Dreisbach Book, 1998, p. 45-46, Section 9g:
George B. (Betz) Dresbach Sr., a grandson of immigrant Martin's eldest son Jacob, was born in Pickaway County, Ohio. He went west, first to Wisconsin in 1855, where he married in 1855, and then moved on to the Territory of Minnesota, arriving in 1857. Here, in what is now Dresbach Township, Winona County, he encountered a small "French Colony" along the Mississippi River, established by a group of persons who had previously (1855) filed land claims in the area.
George B. Dresbach, Sr., had some $50,000 when he located at Dresbach. He bought out the French colony, and became sole proprietor of the village of Dresbach, not only putting in all the money he could raise himself, but also persuading many others to invest in the same venture. He lost everything, and died in poverty, maintaining, however, his courage and indomitable will to the last.
(Franklin Curtiss-Wedge, The History of Winona County, vol. 1, Chicago, 1913, p. 575.)
Family tradition, however, says that George B. Dresbach Sr. died following the severe winter of 1887-88. Moreover, in 1883, four years before his death, he was a prosperous and respected citizen of his town. He then owned over 1000 acres of land, and had been twice elected to the Minnesota State Legislature (according to an earlier History of Winona County published by Hill in 1883.) It may be that his involvement in unsuccessful mining and quarrying enterprises was his financial downfall.
However that may be, his name lives on, not only in the village of Dresbach, but in the smallest township of Winona County, a nearly perfect triangle bordering the Mississippi River, Dresbach Township.
George Betz Dresbach, Jr. - 1857-1910
The Dresbach who was shot by his mother-in-law
The Dreisbach Book, 1998, p. 46, Section 9h:
George Betz Dresbach Jr., born on 18 April 1857 left Dresbach, Wisconsin after his father's death. In 1889 he took his family to the milder climate of Santa Cruz, California. Having been a businessman and newspaper publisher in Dresbach, he now had to start over as a carpenter. Later, the family tradition says, he became a respected doctor!
In 1906, a year after he was left a widower, George B. Dresbach remarried. In his second marriage he fathered four children before dying of gunshot wounds in July of 1910. He was shot off his horse, says the family lore, by his second wife's mother, who suspected him of marital infidelity.
Descendants of George Betz Dresbach, Sr.
George Betz DRESBACH, Sr.
b: Aug 27, 1825 Pickaway Co, Ohio
d: Apr 11, 1887 in Winona Co, Minnesota
. +Mary C. NICHOLS
b: 1834 Albany, NY
m: Apr 04, 1855 in prob Onalaska, La Crosse, WI
d: 1888 in prob Winona Co, MN.... 2 George Betz DRESBACH, Jr.
b: Apr 18, 1857 Onalaska, La Crosse, WI
d: Jul 1910 in Santa Cruz, CA
........ +Elizabeth Marie PORTER
b: 1857
m: Jan 1884 in MN
d: 1905 in Santa Cruz, CA
........... 3 George Edward DRESBACH
b: Dec 20, 1884 Dresbach, MN
d: Apr 14, 1959 in Saratoga, CA
............... +Elga Mae BROWN
b: Jul 17, 1885 Vermont
m: Jan 23, 1906 in Oakland, CA
d: Oct 07, 1962 in Santa Clara Co, CA Mother: ? ARCHER
........... 3 Charles DRESBACH
b: 1886 d: in Died young
........... 3 Howard P. DRESBACH
b: 1889
........... 3 Laurence Elmer DRESBACK
b: May 24, 1890 Minnesota
d: Oct 07, 1982 in Santa Barbara Co, CA
............... +Donna BEGOLE
b: Aug 12, 1886 NE
d: May 07, 1978 in Santa Barbara Co, CA
........... 3 Vera Mary DRESBACH
b: Oct 07, 1893 California
d: Apr 23, 1986 in Santa Cruz, CA
.... *2nd Wife of George Betz DRESBACH, Jr.:
........ +Winifred WOOD
b: Sep 20, 1880 California
m: 1906 in CA
d: Jul 18, 1961 in Sonoma Co, CA Residence: Santa Clara Co, CA Mother: ? SOUTHER
........... 3 Phillip DRESBACH
b: Aft. 1906
........... 3 Elsa E. DRESBACH
b: Jan 10, 1907
d: Sep 04, 1956 in Mendocino Co, CA
........... 3 David Wood DRESBACH
b: Apr 04, 1908 CA
d: Jun 15, 1988 in Willits, Mendocino Co, CA
............... +Eloise BREESE
b: Oct 08, 1909 Washington
m: Abt. 1926
d: Jul 16, 1989 in Sonoma, CA Mother: ? DIXON
........... 3 William Bigelow DRESBACH
b: Jul 27, 1910 Santa Cruz, CA
d: Nov 04, 1991 in Alameda Co, CA.... 2 Minnesota DRESBACH
b: Abt. 1858
........ +John H. MOSS
m: Abt. 1877
........... 3 Harold Ray MOSS b: 1883
........... 3 Dorothy R. MOSS b: 1896.... 2 Charles Leslie DRESBACH
b: Jan 01, 1861 Minnesota
d: May 04, 1944 in Palo Alto, Santa Clara Co, CA
........ +Marilyn ?
.... *2nd Wife of Charles Leslie DRESBACH:
........ +Margaret Cornelia CRANDALL
m: Abt. 1885
........... 3 Warren Leslie DRESBACH
b: Jul 07, 1889 Gladbrook, IA
d: Jun 14, 1972 in Medford, OR, lived and farmed near Rogue River, OR
............... +Mary Ellen KELLOGG m: 1918 in Seattle, King Co, WA.... 2 Nellie E. DRESBACH
b: 1866.... 2 Jessie B. DRESBACH
b: Feb 14, 1868 Minnesota
d: Jun 05, 1944 in Santa Clara, CA.... 2 Maud DRESBACH
b: Abt. 1869