The John William and Elsie Koch Family by Becky Koch, 1980
The following unedited notes were the results of Becky's interviews with family members in about 1980.
John William Koch 6-24-1886 to 1-28-1968
Hans Wilhelm Koch, the firstborn of five children of Frederika and Wilhelm Henry Koch was born June 24, 1886, in Hamburg, Germany. his father was a laborer, probably in the shipyards. He was killed in a street fracas at the early age of 35. John was nine and remembered working before and after school, delivering hot rolls, peddling aprons he helped his mother sew in the evenings, and running errands for anyone who would pay him. His mother took a job in a tennis shoe factory and had to leave the youngest child alone in the crib when she went to work. John had permission to come home from school at noon to feed and change his sister. While selling aprons later met a widower with seven children, named Peter Koopman. In time they were married and had three children, only two of whom grew to adulthood. They lived on a farm in Altenfelds-delch, where some grandchildren still live.
After John finished grade school, he began working in a shipyard in Hamburg. He worked in the customs office. He began to save for his dream of coming to America - the land of opportunity. Before leaving Germany he was obliged to serve in the German army for two years. Always an animal lover, he particularly detested being forced to flush game out of the woods for officers to shoot during their hunts. He sailed to N.Y. in 1909, having been sponsored by and staying with a Lutheran minister in N.Y. He learned English in their home and was pictured playing zither among friends. He was able to get a Homestead in Elkton, Minn. and left for the west by train. He had a cabin and a beloved sheepdog and farmed the land and made friends with the neighboring farmers. In 1917 he was drafted into the US Army and had to sell his farm, as there was no one to tend it. He received artillery training in Texas before being sent to Germany. An understanding Lt. realized his reluctance to bear arms against his former homeland and arranged for his transfer to the Quartermaster Corps. Here he could make use of his fluent German and French as he procured food for his unit.
Becker County from the book "In the World War, 1917 - 1919" Compiled and Published by Daniel Nelson, Detroit, Minnesota, 1920 .
http://www.angelfire.com/mn/HOLGS/WWI_J_L.html
There is the following description:
John W. Koch, Private First Class, Co. E, 344th F. A., 90th Div.; son of William and Ernestina Koch; born June 24, 1886; entered service March 18, 1918; to Waco, Texas; overseas June, 1918; mustered out at Ft. Russell, Wyo., June 20, 1919.
Elizabeth Dorothy Bertha Hirsh Koch (Elsie)
3-1-1900
Elizabeth (called Elsie) was the firstborn of Ottilie Peters Hirsh and George Hirsh. She was born March 1, 1900 in Wiedelah, Germany and later moved to Veinburg. Five years later a son named Kurt (Charles) was born. Elsie's father was an electrical engineer who worked for a company that made fertilizer. It was a typical company town and the workers had identical homes and the official had larger ones on the main street. Elsie remembers visiting her grandparents in Essen, where her grandfather was an overseer for Polish imported farm workers. She completed six years of school, considered sufficient for girls of that day. Her brother was to complete 12 yrs. of school.
Elsie was sent by train to work in a creamery and to board there. The owner's name was Frankenstein. It was here that she met John Koch and they courted while carrying dairy products from the creamery to his army unit (Addendum by their daughter, Betty Kofoed: John used to escort Elsie to the edge of town, then run around the outside of the town to meet her as she came out the other side and escort her to the next town. He did this because soldiers were not allowed to date civilians). She remembers that they also visited in one nearby home and that John shot a fox and had it made into a fur neckpiece that was fashionable in that time. They became engaged and he planned to return for her after the war ended. (See clippings)
Elsie and John were married 11-9-1919 in Altenfelds-delch. Elsie had been warned that there was to be a train strike and left her home the day before the strike. She was met by John's sister Wilhelmina, at the train station where they each carried a single rose to identify themselves. Elsie's parents were not able to come to the wedding due to the strike, but the couple later visited them before leaving for the USA. The young couple arrived in NYC and Elsie refused to travel further to a probable farm in Minn. John made contact with an icecream store owner from his village in Germany and they moved above the store and worked in the store. They later owned two ice cream stores, first at 96 Columbus Ave. (near Amsterdam) and later at 142 St. and 2nd Ave. Elsie worked along with John. Herman William Koch was born 9-28-20 and he was left with a German baby nurse while his parents worked. When he was a toddler they would awaken him after work and feed him ice cream and play with him. After six years the family moved to Jackson Heights and later to Flushing, where they bought an attached brick house and lived for 19 years. Elizabeth Meta Koch was born 10-31-27. John was a salesman for a confectioner Co. called Hartung Brothers from then until they went out of business in 1956.
John sponsored and paid passage for many relatives during that time: his brother Willie, sister Wilhelmina, brother-in-law Gustav Schutt, brother-in-law Kurt Hirsh, half-brother and sister Fred and Katie Koopman, and niece Elsie Kaven.
In 1928 Elsie took the children for a three month visit to Germany. She stayed with her parents and with John's family. Herman went to school in Germany. The Grandmother Frederika returned with them and was observed on the ship sending a dish back to the kitchen to be warmed up -- ice cream! She visited in the homes of her children before returning to Germany.
The Koch family was active in the Lutheran Church in Flushing where Karl Eberhardt was Pastor. John was financial secretary for years and Elsie sang in the choir and was always called upon to cook for the various church dinners. They visited back and forth with relatives on holidays and went upstate for vacations on a farm. Elsie and John played pinochle regularly with relatives and with Minnie & Charles Hartung. The couples went together to the annual Confectioner's Ball in NYC. For years John made and decorated chocolate Easter eggs to sell to candy stores. The family always had a carefully kept yard and a beautiful vegetable garden behind the house.
In 1948 they moved further out on LI to Mineola. There they had a two bedroom single brick house nearer to the Hartung warehouse. Here they kept a beautiful rose garden. John retired in 1956 and spent several years stripping and refinishing all the woodwork in his home. He always did carpentry, plumbing, and decorating upkeep on his homes.
Elsie began working on the assembly line in nearby Renwal toy factory. They were manufacturirg plastic toy kits. She made friends with her coworkers and always supplied cakes for their birthdays. She stayed there until 1963, when the couple sold their house and moved into a garden apartment in Smithtown, near their daughter. They remained active in church and Senior Citizens activities. John died in his sleep Jan. 28, 1968. Elsie stayed another two years in the apartment and then moved into her daughter and son-in-law's home in Hauppauge. She continues her enjoyment of baking, handiwork, and activities in the Lutheran church and the Sr. Citizens.
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