GOTTSCH IS DEAD AT BENNINGTON

Charles F. Gottsch, 87, a brother of Mrs. Louise Jipp of Fort Calhoun, died at the home of a son, Fred C. Gottsch, in Bennington Monday morning. He had been a resident of the Bennington vicinity for the past 75 years, having come to Nebraska in 1859. Mr. Gottsch and Mrs. Jipp drove a herd of cattle across the Missouri river on the ice as the family moved to this region.

Surviving are three sons, Fred and Otto of Bennington and Benhart of Washington; one daughter, Mrs. Amanda Winterburn, Elkhorn; a brother, Peter, Dakota, Okla., a sister, Mrs. Jipp, 29 grandchildren, and 16 great grandchildren.

Funeral services were held today, Thursday, at 1:30 p.m. at the home and St. John’s Lutheran church in Bennington at two. Burial was in the German cemetery near Bennington.

Mrs. Gottsch was born in the old country and came to America in a sailboat when he was six years old. He was a champion marksman in his younger days.

#2-Pilot Tribune 1 March 1934

Bennington Man Succumbs Monday

Charles Gottsch, 87, Well-known Pioneer Is Buried Today

Funeral services are being held this afternoon at 1:30 in St. John’s Lutheran church in Bennington for Charles Gottsch, aged 87, pioneer of Washington county who died Monday morning at the home of a son, Fred C. Gottsch, in Bennington. Burial will be in the German cemetery near Bennington.

A resident of Washington county and Bennington for 75 years, Mr. Gottsch had secured a large circle of friends here, all of whom mourn his passing. Born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, in 1846, he came to America from his native land by sail boat when only 6 years old, and lived in Scott county, Iowa, for several years. When the family moved west in 1859, Mr. Gottsch and a sister, now Mrs. Louise Jipp of Fort Calhoun, drove a herd of cattle across the Missouri river.

Until 1924 Mr. Gottsch lived on the same farm two and one-half miles northwest of Bennington, but at that time he moved into town. He and his wife celebrated their golden wedding anniversary in 1918. Mrs. Gottsch died in 1921.

A charter member of the Schleswig-Holstein Verein in Bennington, he was an expert marksman, and won 10 gold medals and a 12-gauge shotgun with an engraved gold plate in the pistol grip, in rifle marksmanship contests he entered, many of which were sponsored by the Verein.

Surviving are three sons, Fred and Otto of Bennington, and Benhart of Washington, Nebraska; one daughter, Mrs. Amanda Winterburn, of Elkhorn; a brother, Peter of Dakoma, Oklahoma; his sister, Mrs. Jipp; 29 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren.

~~~Obituaries courtesy of the Nebraska Washington County Genealogical Society. Newspaper clippings on file in the Blair, Nebraska Public Library~~~

FindaGrave # 37238827