Résumé

Store clerk, Shakopee, MN, 1880. This was the job, John C. Poetz had at age 20. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Shakopee, Scott, Minnesota; Roll: 633; Page: 23b; Enumeration District: 109, accessed 02/13/2025.)

Draftsman, H.S. Treherne, Architect, Saint Paul, MN, c. 1886. (See R.L. Polk and Company's St Paul, Minnesota, City Directory, 1886, p. 790.)

Partner, Cutter and Poetz, Architects, Spokane, WA, 08/1889-1894. For most of 1889, the partnership was known as "Kirtland K. Cutter and Company" with an office in the Washington Building. By 1890 the firm was known as "Cutter and Poetz, Architects," with offices at the 1st National Bank Building, Riverside Avenue and Howard Street, NW corner. (See Henry C. Mathews, Kirtland Cutter Architect in the Land of Promise, [Seattle: University of Washington Press, 2007] p. 64.)

The firm of Cutter and Poetz was still listed in the Classified Business Directory of the R.L. Polk and Company's Spokane City Directory, 1895, (p. 546.) it had an office in the 1st National Bank Building.

Principal, J.C. Poetz, Architect, Spokane, WA, c. 1902. In 1902, Poetz had office space at 1854 Bridge Avenue in Spokane. (See R.L. Polk and Company's Spokane Directory, 1902, p. 857.)

Architect, Idaho Gold and Ruby Mine, Lenia, ID, 1920.

Relocation

Born in MN, likely in or near the town of Shakopee, Poetz resided with his family in Shakopee, MN, according to the 1870 US Census. His father, also named John Poetz, worked as a carpenter and had been born in the Rhineland region of western Prussia. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1870; Census Place: Shakopee, Scott, Minnesota; Roll: T132_10; Page: 533, accessed 02/13/2025.) Shakopee, incorporated on 05/23/1857, was located on the southern banks of the Minnesota River, about 27 miles southwest of Minneapolis-Saint Paul in Scott County. Oddly, the state legislature revoked the city's charter in 1861, requiring it to reapply for city status in 1870. Early on, the city was reached by boats on the Minnesota River and became a local barge and rail center in the 19th century. Industries, particularly those related to brick manufacture and lime production, expanded during the 1870s.

The 1880 US Census confirmed that John, Jr., continued to live in Shakopee, working as a store clerk. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1880; Census Place: Shakopee, Scott, Minnesota; Roll: 633; Page: 23b; Enumeration District: 109, accessed 02/13/2025.) A MN State Census of 1885 listed John, Jr., as remaining in Shakopee in that year along with all of his siblings. (See Ancestry.com, Source Information Ancestry.com. Minnesota, U.S., Territorial and State Censuses, 1885, [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2007, accessed 02/13/2025.)

By 1886, John, Jr., had moved to Saint Paul, MN, in order to work with architect H.S. Treherne. (See R.L. Polk and Company's St Paul, Minnesota, City Directory, 1886, p. 790.)

Poetz relocated to CA by at least 01/1888, where his son John, III, was born. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Spokane Ward 4, Spokane, Washington; Roll: 1751; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0069, accessed 02/13/2025.)

He came to Spokane Falls, WA, before 1889, when he formed an architectural partnership with Kirtland K. Cutter (1860-1939), a firm that lasted until 1894. A shortage of work following the Panic of 1893 probably hastened the end of the Cutter and Poetz partnership.

He, his wife and four children lived in a house at 1854 Bridge Avenue in 1900. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Spokane Ward 4, Spokane, Washington; Roll: 1751; Page: 11; Enumeration District: 0069, accessed 02/13/2025.)

He and his family resided in Lenia, ID, while he worked as an architect for the Idaho Gold and Ruby Company. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1920; Census Place: Lenia, Boundary, Idaho; Roll: T625_289; Page: 4B; Enumeration District: 36, accessed 11/10/2021.)

Poetz died of anemia aggravated by a gastric ulcer on 08/08/1929 in Spokane, WA at age 70, and was buried at the Greenwood Memorial Terrace in that city. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; Washington Death Index, 1940-2017, accessed 02/13/2025.)

Parents

His father, born Johann C. "John" Poetz, (born 04/17/1829 in Prussia, Germany-d. 10/30/1906 in Shakopee, MN) immigrated to the US in 1853, as noted in the 1900 US Census. He worked as a carpenter in 1870 (and likely also farmed), but had become a landlord in Shakopee, MN, by 1900. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Year: 1900; Census Place: Shakopee, Scott, Minnesota; Roll: 789; Page: 6; Enumeration District: 0178, accessed 02/13/2025.)

Catherine Poetz (born 12/06/1837 in Germany-d. 06/01/1902), also German by birth, married John, Suir., while in Germany. who raised nine children.

The architect's eight siblings included Margaret Poetz Wagner (born 10/06/1857 in MN-d. 01/06/1897), Mary B. Poetz Coller -d. 06/18/1933 in MN), Christine Poetz, Catherine Poetz, Joseph Poetz (born 1868-d. 07/30/1948), Anna G. Poetz (born 1871-d. 1954), Frank H. Poetz (born 09/10/1873-d. 04/13/1932) and Susan Poetz.

His younger brother Frank became a druggist in Saint Paul by 1913. (See R.L. Polk and Company's St Paul, Minnesota, City Directory, 1913, p. 1453.)

Spouse

He married Amanda C. Parman (born 06/29/1861 in Sweden-d. 10/11/1943 in Spokane, WA). They wed c. 1887. She emigrated to the US, c. 1870. Her mother was Mary Bergstrom.

Children

According to the US Census of 1900, he and Amanda had had six children, four of whom were alive in that year: John C., III, (born c. 01/1888 in CA-d. 06/18/1937 in Medical Lake, WA), Gladys M. (born 07/27/1891 in Spokane, WA), Joseph L. Poetz (born c. 07/14/1894 in Spokane, WA-d. 12/31/1960 in Portland, OR) and Carl F. Poetz (aka Frank August Poetz, born 11/12/1898 in Spokane, WA). Another child, born on 12/14/1892, may have been one of the two deceased children. (Records disagree as to whether it was a boy or girl.) State birth records also indicated a male child had been born on 07/15/1894. After 1900, another girl was born to the couple on 11/21/1904.

John III, often called "John, Jr.," died of epilepsy at Eastern State Hospital in Medical Lake, WA. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Washington State Archives; Olympia, Washington; Washington Death Index, 1940-2017, accessed 02/13/2025.)

Joseph Poetz worked as a bridge operator in Portland, OR. (See Ancestry.com, Source Citation Oregon State Archives; Salem, Oregon; Oregon, Death Records, 1864-1967 Source Information: Oregon, U.S., State Deaths, 1864-1971 [database on-line]. Lehi, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2021, accessed 02/13/2025.)

Biographical Notes

Poetz's family was Catholic which could be somewhat problematic in Prussia where Lutherans and other Protestants wielded more authority during the 19th century. A burst of immigration occurred generally in Europe following the popular revolutions of 1848. Catholicism became more actively suppressed in Prussia during Bismarck's "Kulturkampf" post-1871.

• Spokane, WA (Architect's Death)
  Spokane, WA

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