JOHN I, JOHN II, CARELTON I NADELHOFFER FAMILY

John Nadelhoffer I was born in Ostheim, Alsace Lorraine. He came to the United States in 1855 seeking opportunity and settled in DuPage County. In 1856 Katherine Krautwasser came from Alsace Lorraine to marry John. They have seven children, one of whom was John II. John I farmed in Naperville on land rented from Delcar Sleight and James Wright. He grazed his livestock on what is now the main campus of North Central College and lived in a farmhouse that used to be where St. Peter and Paul Catholic Church now stands. In 1873 he bought a farm east of Route 53 on 71st Street in Lisle Township. He was one of the founders of the German Lutheran Church, which is now St. John’s Evangelical Church on Oleson Lane. The original church building is now known as the “ Meeting House” in Naper Settlement. Early Naperville town records indicate he contributed a wagon and team of horses for road repair work. John I also held a position as Constable of Lisle Township. In 1888 John I went with his neighbor, Adam Dieter, to Alsace Lorraine and brought back large gray Percheron horses for breeding stock. John I died from injuries received from one of his horses, at a horse fair at the Preemption Inn, in Naperville.

John Nadelfhoffer II was raised on the Nadelhoffer family farm in Lisle Township. The historic Indian Boundary Line formed part of the boundary of the farm. In 1890 he married Josephine Stauch, who was from a farming family in Wheaton and Glen Ellyn. They had five children: Gertrude, Marie, Carleton Frederick I, Dr. Luella Nadelhoffer, and Corrine. John II farmed in Lisle most of his life and was a life long Democrat.

Carleton Frederick Nadelhoffer I was raised on the Nadelhoffer family farm and attended Oberlin College and the University of Wisconsin at Madison. In 1926, he married Harriet Wilson, the daughter of Dr. and Mrs. Alexander Wilson, who were medical missionaries in India for 30 years. Harriet was a teacher at Avery Coonley School in Downers Grove and later taught in the Lisle Public School system. They had three children: Carleton Frederick Nadelhoffer II; Herbert Wilson and Caroline Louise. Carlie was a businessman and a dairy farmer. In 1957 he won the award for the highest milk-producing herd in Illinois. One of this herd was lone “Ellie” Cinderella, the top producing aged cow in Illinois. 

John I, John II and Carleton I and their spouses were all hard working, intelligent, thrifty people who persevered through crop failures, chinch bugs, drought, losing their herds to T.B. and other diseases, depressions, bank closings, low crop prices, accidents, injuries and severe illnesses. Over 133 years of farming in the Naperville area was finally ended by high real estate taxes in 1972.