B.H. Lueck. For about forty years the subject of this record has been a resident of Guttenberg and active in its business affairs. A public spirited man, he has done his share toward the upbuilding and prosperity of the place in which for some three decades he has successfully conducted an extensive and lucrative trade in lumber and building material, furnishing supplies in his line for most of the buildings erected in this town and the adjoining townships.

Mr. Lueck comes of hardy and thrifty German stock, to whom, perhaps more than to any others, is due the condition of prosperity in which Clayton County finds itself to-day, as they developed the land from the wild prairie, making fertile farms and founding enterprising villages here and there.

The birth of our subject occurred in Germany in 1824, and his father, B. Lueck, died in the Fatherland, of which he too was a native. The boyhood and youth of our subject were passed in Germany, where he received a good education in his mother tongue. On arriving at a suitable age, in accordance with the laws of his land, he entered the German army, where he remained for six years, and during that time participated in three battles, doing valiant service.

It was in 1853, when nearly thirty years of age, that Mr. Lueck decided that he would come to the United States, believing that the opportunities here afforded for advancement and the acquisition of a fortune were greater than in his own land. After long weeks spent upon the bosom of the deep in the slow sailing-vessel of the period, he arrived at New Orleans, from which he proceeded by way of the Mississippi and the Ohio to Cincinnati, where he remained for about two years. In 1855 he came to Guttenberg, and worked at various lines of business whereby he could obtain a livelihood for eleven years. Being very industrious and frugal in his manner of life, he regularly laid aside a portion of his wages, in time acquiring a neat little sum, which he invested in the lumber business in 1866, embarking in trade for himself. Since that time he has steadily advanced, and now numbers many regular customers who were won to him by his uniform honesty and truthfulness and by his unfailing courtesy. All kinds of lumber used in the construction of houses, barns, fences, etc. he keeps regularly in stock, and sells at the lowest market prices.

In 1858 our subject was married to Miss Anna Eilers, whose birth also occurred in the Fatherland, and who survived her marriage but two years. The present wife of our subject, also born in the Fatherland, was before her marriage Miss Mary Albers. Their union was blessed with eight children, but only three of the number yet survive. Those living are John, Henry and Joseph, and they, with their parents, are members of, and regular attendants on the services of the Catholic Church of this city.

Since becoming a naturalized citizen of the United States, Mr. Lueck has voted for the nominees of the Democratic party. Like every true patriot, he is interested in the welfare of the Government and in the cause of education, and holds that his own private and personal interests are secondary to the general and public good.

~source: Portrait and Biographical Record of Dubuque, Jones and Clayton Counties; Chicago: Chapman Pub. Co., 1894; pg 436
~transcribed by Sharyl Ferrall