About 1850, Jacob BN Klinger (1819-1894) was elected surveyor of Marshall county, a post he would hold for 12 years. He engaged his much younger brother, Jeremiah M “Jerry” Klinger (1835-1911) to join him, and the two proceeded to survey most of Marshall county and its towns, starting with the Knoblock land near the Lake of the Woods. Jerry would continue his career as a surveyor into his 70s.

In place of attending a school reunion, Jerry wrote a brief life sketch when he was about 70. On his death, his daughter Alice offered it to the local newspaper, and the Plymouth Weekly Republican ran it with a lengthy obituary.

Here is his excerpted letter.

Click the image to display a larger version.

Jeremiah Klinger, surveyor of Bremen etc - 1911
23 November 1911

Jacob Knoblock (~1803-1869) was the father of Andrew J Knoblock (1838-1901), who built the Yellow River Mills, which produced flour on the (then) outskirts of Bremen before suffering complete loss in a fire.

Knoblock land 1881
160 acres in sec 5 of German twp deeded to Jacob Knoblock in 1851; map is 1881, when it was owned by Harmon Knoblock

Although the Klinger brothers did the surveying, it was George Beiler/Beyler (1812-1881) who owned the land and had the town platted into 48 lots on October 21, 1851. (Beiler went on to farm in the area and, according to the 1880 census, retire to 136 N Center St, right across the street from the Bremen History Center.)

Of course, in 1851, there were already several shops on the Plymouth-Goshen Trail (Plymouth street), just east of George Beiler’s land. These started with George Pomeroy’s inn and general store and Josiah Geiselman’s blacksmith shop.

The Board of Commissioners organized the town of Bremen in March 1871.