Gustav Valleskey, one of the German-American farmers of the town of Rockland is living on two hundred and thirty-seven acres of rich land on sections 28, 27 and 34 and 33. He was born in Germany, August 31, 1850, a son of Martin and Catherine Valleskey. They came to America in 1856, and bought forty acres of wild land in Rockland, which farm is included in the present holdings of their son, Gustav. Here they built the first house and commenced the other improvements. The mother died the day after they moved into their house, and the father continued to live there with his children,until his death, January 28, 1887, when he was seventy-nine years old. The mother was buried on the old farm and the father in the Lutheran cemetery at Reedsville.

Gustav was the third of the five children born to his parents, and remained with his father until the latter�s death. At that time, the son inherited the homestead as a reward of his faithful service. He has one hundred and fifty acres under the plow, and all his land is fenced with barbed wire. He carries on general farming, raising grain, clover seed and sugar beets, and keeps hogs and cattle, milking twenty-four cows of graded stock, marketing his dairy products. He raises Chester-White hogs, has twenty-four South Down sheep and forty colonies of bees. The basement barn is forty feet by sixty feet, with cement floors and patent stanchions, and was built in 1887. Another barn, forty by seventy-eight feet was built in 1888, and a third one, thirty feet by ninety feet, was built in 1890. The two-story, fifteen-room brick residence was put up in 1888. All of the improvements were put in by him and his father, and are substantial. The water supply is obtained from open wells.

In 1874, Mr. Valleskey married Fredricka Matznick, a daughter of Charles and Minnie Matznick, natives of Germany. They came to the United States,and settled in Sheboygan, on a farm, spending three years there. They then went to Calumet county, and bought forty acres of unbroken land, and lived there until 1883. In that year they came to Manitowoc county, settling on a farm of sixty acres, in the town of Rockland, and this continued their home until 1906, when Mr. Valleskey bought it, and they made their home with him. The mother passed away, October 26, 1907, and is buried in Eaton church cemetery in Rockland township. The father survives, being now eighty-six years old.

Mrs. Valleskey was the youngest of two children and was born March 19, 1855. Mr. and Mrs. Valleskey have had eleven children, as follows: Paulina, who died aged six years; Minnie, who died aged fourteen months; Ferdinand, who died aged two years; Martin, living in Collins, Wisconsin, where he is agent for the Soo line at that point, who is married and has one child; Charles, who is married and has three children, and is living on a farm in Rockland; Alvina, who married William Mahnke, is living in Newburg, Wisconsin, and has two children; Adolph, married, who is living in Calumet county on a farm, and Gustav, Selma, Elsie and Elmer living at home. Mr. Valleskey is a republican and served one year as supervisor of his town, and is now road commissioner.

He and his family are members of the Lutheran church of Eaton, and for thirteen years he has been church treasurer. A good farmer, an excellent business man and a reliable citizen, Mr Valleskey stands high in the esteem of his associates.

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