DAIRYMAN, NATIVE OF DENMARK

Hans Peter Broker answered the summons of death Monday morning at Holy Family hospital. Death came as a messenger of relief from long suffering with rheumatism. Deceased was born in Denmark and came to this country at the age of 19. He was a resident of this city twenty years ago and later resided at Pewaukee and Chippewa Falls. Five years ago the family returned to this city. Mr. Broker is survived by his widow and eight children. The funeral was held from the home on 272th street, Wednesday afternoon, Rev. Haase officiating. Published in The Two Rivers Reporter, Friday Dec. 22, 1922, page 5, column 5-6.

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Biography by Tom Brocher; last updated on 18 September 2022.

Hans was the son of Hans Henrik BROKER (1829-1870) and Ane Kjerstine RASMUSSEN (1836-1912).

At the time of his birth, his father worked as a foreman at a railway signal block at Vindesbaek in Farup, in Viborg Kommune.

About a year after his birth at Hobjerg, his family moved from Hobjerg to Vindum, Viborg Kommune, where they were enumerated in the 1870 Denmark Census. Hans was only 2 years old when his father died there on 15 June 1870.

The death of his father left his mother a widow with perhaps six small children between the ages of a few months to 11 years. The financial strain on the family must have been enormous.

Church confirmation records and military rolls for Hans and his brothers indicate that the family remained in the Viborg area following his father's death. Hans was confirmed on 2 October 1881 at Horup, Viborg. His brother Anton had been confirmed at Hobjerg in 1875.

Perhaps as a result of the financial hardship of his family, Hans and his sister Anna emigrated from Denmark in 1887 for the U.S. His U.S. Naturalization Intention filed in 1888 indicates that he arrived at the Port of New York in May 1887 at the age of 19.

Hans, his mother Ane, and sister initially resided briefly in South Dakota before moving to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin.

Raised as a Lutheran, Hans married Eva Margaret WEBER, a Catholic, in an ecclesiastical service, at Chippewa Falls on 14 November 1895. Their wedding was witnessed by Andrew BROWN and Minnie LLOYD [Chippewa Co., Marr. Rec., vol. G, p. 314, filed 16 Nov. 1895].

Hans and Margaret soon moved to Two Rivers, Wisconsin, where he worked for the Hamilton Manufacturing Company. Since he could read and write, he became the secretary of the union, and as a result of his union activity he was blackballed by the company and could not find work in Two Rivers. So Hans moved his family to Merrill, Wisconsin, about 1900.

There, his family lived and ran a dairy farm there from 1900 until 1917. They were enumerated there in the 1905 State and the 1910 U.S. Censuses when his nephew William Bowron (Bowren), aged 9, also lived with him.

The farm was located on the Prairie River at the edge of town. He became a skilled dairyman. His entrant, a Jersey or Guernsey heifer, won first prize at the Lincoln County Fair [Blue Ribbon in my possession].

After being injured trying to free a stuck pig, Hans became seriously ill, perhaps with typhoid, and never regained his health. For that reason he and Eva sold their farm to the Heineman Lumber Co. and moved into the town of Merrill. There he worked for a company that manufactured doors and sashes. His eldest son, Roland, left school to work for a company that made broom handles. Eventually the woods surrounding Merrill became depleted of lumber and the milling companies left Merrill.

Hans and his family moved back to Two Rivers in April 1917, where he found a job through Eva's nephew, Edwin P. WEBER (1889-1964), who managed the local telephone company.

Hans also worked at the Pottawatomie beagle kennels located on the old Kaufman farm on the Sandy Bay road for two years and was able to send the children to parochial schools at Two Rivers [Manitowoc Herald Times, 22 April 1967, page 2]. He and his family were enumerated there in the 1920 U.S. Census.

According to his son, Clarence, and His Obituary, Hans's rheumatism made him an invalid and forced his children to work to support the family. The younger children sold milk on the way to school; the doctor's bills were paid in eggs. The family would take a horse and buggy ride to a farm and pick berries. His daughter Selinde left the home for Milwaukee to work as a maid; son Clarence worked on a farm; son Emanuel joined the U.S. Navy.

At Two Rivers Hans eventually took a job in another woodworking business where he was fatally injured after being struck in the abdomen by a piece of wood that kicked back at him as he was sawing it.

Hans died of acute pancreatitis at Two Rivers three days after his workplace injury; and was buried there at Pioneers Rest Cemetery on 20 December 1922 [Manitowoc County Vital Records; g.s.; His Obituary; Two Rivers Bur. Rec. 12916].

Hans was survived by his wife Eva and eight children, aged between 4 and 26 years. Two of his children died as infants.

Children (all born in Wisconsin); surname Brocher:

1. Selinde Charlotte "Delia", born on 2 June 1896 at Two Rivers. She married Edward P. COLANCHICK.
2. Roland Peter "August", born on 26 Oct. 1897 at Two Rivers. He married Adeline Helen HAAG.
3. Emanuel Maurice "Hans", born on 11 May 1899 at Two Rivers. He married Myrtle Ann LAHEY.
4. Child, born on 30 Apr. 1901 at Merrill; died young [Wisc. State Index, Births, Pre-1907].
5. Clarence George, born on 22 Sept. 1902 at Merrill. He married Margaret Josephine STARR.
6. Henrick "Henry" Joseph, born on 26 July 1904 at Merrill. He married Sylvia Lucille NAPIEZINSKI.
7. Daughter, born circa 1912 at Merrill; died young.
8. Eva C., born on 24 Feb. 1908 at Merrill. She married Raymond Mathew SCHMITT.
9. Wilfred A., born on 20 Sept. 1914 at Merrill. He married Edna C. MERTENS.
10. Vione Mary, born on 3 Apr. 1918 at Two Rivers. She married Robert H. JACQMIN.