Valentine  Posz

          After a long and vigorous life in active farm work, Valentine Posz  has achieved not only success as a farmer, but holds also a high place in the esteem of his neighbors and friends.  He was born in Bavaria, Germany, January 15, 1830, and is the son of  John Adam  and  Margaret (Shoemaker) Posz, peasant farmers in that country.  John Adam Posz was born June 6, 1800, and died in Shelbyville in 1879.  He was a sturdy worker, a Democrat, and a good Christian gentleman, public-spirited and highly respected.  His companion in life was also born in Bavaria in 1802, and was married to Mr. Posz in 1828.  The following children were born to these parents:  Valentine;  Anna M., born in 1831, now deceased;  Mary Ann, born in 1833, married  Frank Flaitz, of Shelbyville;  Elizabeth, born in 1836, married  Jacob Deitzer, and is now deceased;  Daniel, deceased, born in 1839;  Margaret, deceased, born in 1843, married  Jacob Haehl;  Catherine, born in 1846, married  John Deitzer, and is now a widow.  All the children were born in Germany.
          When the matter of leaving Europe for America was taken up by the family, Elizabeth was the first one to make the venture.  She came over in 1851, followed the next year by Valentine and Anna M., and two years later by her parents and the rest of the family.  Valentine and his sister came over in a sailing vessel which made the trip from Hamburg to New York in forty-three days.  He then came on to Cincinnati, where he remained a year, after which he came to Shelby county.
          In 1854 Mr. Posz was married to  Margaret Becker, who was born in Germany March 13, 1837.  She was the daughter of  George M.  and  Katherine (Westerman) Becker.  She was born in Moerheim, Germany, and came with her parents to America when but six years old, landing at New Orleans, having been on the water sixty-three days.  Her father died two years after their arrival here, and the mother with the family continued the management of the farm until Margaret's marriage to Mr. Posz, who from that time assumed the direction of the affairs on the farm.
          Nine children were born to this union:  Mary  married  Daniel Callahan, a Shelby county farmer, and has four children,  Albert,  Catherine,  Nora  and  Anna;  Katherine  married  William Gayheimer, a farmer living in Rush county, and has two children, Louis  and  Bertha;  John Adam  married  Mary Gayheimer  and has two children,  Emma E.,  and  William Conrad;  Emma married  Edward Cotton  and they have one child, Harry Edward;   Margaret  married  John Gayheimer, and has two children,  Ellen  and  Maud;  Conrad  married  Louisa Kuhn, who has two children, Ethel Norah  and  Julia May;  John George is at home;  Barbara E. married  Frederick Kuhn, they live in this county and have four children,  Julius,  Carl,  Edna  and  May.  The ninth in order of birth of Mr. and Mrs. Posz's children died in infancy.
          Eighty acres comprise Mr. Posz's present farm.  He has lived on this farm for over fifty years; it is well improved.  Mr. Posz's education was obtained in Germany, and his wide-awake spirit and industrious temperament placed him in the front rank as a farmer.  He is an active church worker and for several years was a trustee of the German Evangelican church of Union township.
History of Shelby County, Indiana,  by Edward H. Chadwick, B.A., assisted by well known local talent, 1909, pages 581-582.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming  for Christal Callahan Culp

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         Valentine Posz, a prominent old citizen of Union Township, is a native of Rheinpfalz, Germany, born January 15, 1830, the son of John Adam and Margaret (Schuhmacher) Posz. Valentine grew to manhood in his native country, receiving a good common school education in the schools there. In 1852, he emigrated to the United States. He stopped for one year in Cincinnati, coming to Shelby County in 1853, and has always lived in the county since. March 9, 1854, his marriage with Margaret Becker was solemnized and to their union nine children have been born, these eight now living: Mary, wife of Daniel Callahan; Catharine, unmarried; Adam, Emma; Maggie, now Mrs. John Gaheimer; Conrad, George and Barbara. Mr. Posz has always made farming his occupation, and he has been very successful. He now owns 120 acres of well improved land. He and wife are members of the St. Zion's German Protestant Church. His political views are Democratic.
History of Shelby County, Indiana, Chicago: Brant & Fuller, 1887, page 775.
Contributed by Phyllis Miller Fleming

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