August Goerke

Friends and personal acquaintances of August Goerke were greatly surprised and shocked this forenoon over the announcement that he was dead. It was known by some that he was sick, but a fatal termination had not been anticipated.

This morning Mr. Goerke partook of a light breakfast and at about 9 o'clock sat down at his desk in his residence, 1001 Clark street, and engaged himself in looking over some notes and other business papers. While sitting at his desk he called Mrs. Goerke and told her when she got through with her work to come to him, as he wished to talk to her. A little later, or at about 9:30 o'clock, Mrs. Goerke noticed that a great change had come over her husband. She was alone with him and immediately started to call Max Smith, one of their neighbors. As it happened, however, Chas. Helm, who had called to deliver some flowers, was at the door, and he went in and assisted Mrs. Goerke. They found Mr. Goerke lying on the floor. By their united efforts they placed him on a lounge, where he immediately passed away. Dr. C. von Neupert, Sr., was called, but of course could do nothing.

August Goerke was born at Frankfort on the Main, Germany, Aug. 29, 1845. He came to America in the spring of 1869 and in December of the same year went to Eau Claire. He was a tailor by trade and in 1873 he came to Stevens Point and had lived here ever since. He first opened a shop in the wooden building that formerly stood on the northwest corner of Main street and the public square. He had been in the tailoring business, though in different buildings, ever since, sometimes employing as many as fifteen hands, until a few weeks ago when he sold his shop. During all of these years there was probably no man in the city who devoted more hours to his business than did Mr. Goerke. He was not a grasping or penurious man, he gave liberally when appealed to in behalf of local affairs, but he was industrious by nature and was careful and prudent in his business affairs. The result was that he accumulated a handsome property.

In the summer of 1871, in the city of Chicago, he was married to Miss Amanda Baum, who surivives him. They had no children and neither of them have any relatives in this country or anywhere else, so far as either of them knew.

The funeral will be held from the home next Monday afternoon, at 2 o'clock, Rev. Wilson Mallory officiating. Interment will follow in Forest cemetery.

—Stevens Point Daily Journal, March 11, 1911

AMANDA GOERKE COMMITS SUICIDE LEAVING FORTUNE

Despondency Caused by Poor Health Believed to Have Prompted Tragedy

Mrs. Amanda Goerke, for nearly 50 years a resident of Stevens Point and the widow of the late August Goerke, pioneer local tailor, committed suicide in her home at 1001 Clark street Sunday evening. She turned on all the gas jets in a kitchen range and then sat down upon a settee to await the end.

The lifeless body of the woman was discovered early Monday morning when neighbors entered her home by prying open a window. They had been called there by Theodore Weyher, 16 year old son of Mr. and Mrs. J. R. Weyher, after he had found all the doors locked upon going to the house to attend to the furnace.

The exact motive which prompted the tragedy will never be known. No one had been in the residence for hours before the suicide was discovered and no note or message was left by Mrs. Goerke to explain her act. Coroner H. D. Boston, who was called as soon as the discovery was made, ascertained that the case was plainly one of suicide, making the holding of an inquest unnecessary.

Mrs. Goerke leaves a fortune estimated at nearly $50,000, including local residential and business property, and as far as is known there are no surviving relatives. It is understood that she leaves substantial gifts to local charities and that the entire amount of the estate is distributed locally, according to the terms of the last will, made more than a year ago. Had no will been made, the entire fortune would have gone to the state of Wisconsin. It is probable that the will is to be admitted to probate within the next week.

Sorrow over the loss of her husband whose death occurred here on March 11, 1911, and despondency over recent poor health are believed by close friends of the late Mrs. Goerke to have been factors which preyed upon her mind, finally causing her to take her own life.

Although living alone for many years, Mrs. Goerke during the past month had been attended by several nurses on account of the condition of her health. She suffered a stroke of paralysis early in December and while her condition was serious for a few days after that, she partially regained her health and was believed out of danger from this affliction.

Mrs. Goerke, whose maiden name was Amanda Beaufort, was born in New Orleans, La., on January 1, 1852. She spent her girlhood in the south and after the death of her parents, following the Civil war, removed to Philadelphia and later to Brooklyn. She went to Chicago, where she met and was married to August Goerke about 1870. It is said that he amassed a fortune in that city in early days, but lost practically all of it through property destruction in the big Chicago fire in 1871. After the fire the couple removed to Sleepy Eye, Minn., where they resided for a time. While there they lost two sons through scarlet fever, both dying within a short time of each other. Mrs. Goerke had often spoken of these sons to her local friends and had expressed the wish that they were still alive to make their home with her in her old age.

Mrs. Goerke suffered injuries in the Chicago fire from which she never fully recovered. She was badly hurt jumping from a burning building and throughout the rest of her life was handicapped in her walking as a result. This was one reason why she always remained in her home, seldom going anywhere about the city.

While complete funeral arrangements have not been made, services are to be held on Thursday afternoon from the home of the deceased. The body will be removed there from the Boston undertaking parlors shortly before the service. The remains will be deposited in a vault in Forest cemetery beside those of her late husband.

—The Gazette, January 4, 1922