My Genealogy Hound

Fred Becker, the owner and operator of a fine farm of 84 acres in section 7, Avon township, Oakland County, on Rural Free Delivery Route No. 2, from Rochester, was born in Oppenheim, German, December 17, 1847. His parents died in Germany, and he attended school in his native land until he was 17 years of age, when he came to America, having in the meantime learned the brewing business.

After two years in the city of New York, on June 28, 1867, he removed to Detroit, Michigan, and secured work at his trade, going in 1868 to Chicago, where he worked one year, then spent the next year in Detroit, and the following one in Chicago, finally leaving the latter city just two days before the great fire of 1871. He came then to Oakland County and settled on a farm in Troy township, where he remained until 1876, and then removed to Avon township, buying his present place. Since taking charge of this property, Mr. Becker has continually improved it, and has one of the fine farms of the township, on which he realizes most satisfactory crops. He is a careful, practical farmer, and watches every portion of his land in order to keep it up to a high standard of cultivation. His industry has been rewarded, and he is generally classed with the substantial men of the neighborhood.

In 1869 Mr. Becker married Christiana Brand, who was a daughter of Philip Brand, one of the large farmers of Troy township, Oakland County. Mrs. Becker died August 18, 1897, leaving four children: L. E., a farmer on the old homestead in Troy township, Oakland County; and Meta, Herbert and Anna, who are all at home.

In politics Mr. Becker is a Jeffersonian Democrat, and has most capably served in many of the local offices. He is of a social nature, and belongs to the K. O. T. M.