An Illustrated History of Central Oregon, Western Historical Publishing Company,
Spokane, WA. 1905, page 294.

JOHN H. STIRNWEIS is one of the substantial and thrifty farmers in the vicinity
of Boyd. He was born in Germany on October 20, 1837, the son of Frederick and
Kunigunda (Walters) Stirnweis, both natives of Germany. The father came to the
United States in 1851, settling first in Baltimore where he remained until 1855,
then he went to Westminster in that state and there he remained until the time
of his death in 1859. He practically retired from business after coming to the
United States having made a goodly competence before. The mother died in
Baltimore, in 1863. Our subject learned the shoemaker trade in Baltimore, after
having received a good education, and worked at the same for many years. On
April 20, 1863, he came via Nicaragua to San Francisco, and in various places in
California worked at his trade, finally settling in Tulare county. There he
bought land and raised sheep for twenty years. On January 1, 1886, he landed in
The Dalles and shortly after bought two hundred and forty acres of land where he
resides at present near Boyd. He is giving his attention to general farming, and
raises horses, cattle and hogs. He is thrifty, prosperous and a leading farmer.      

On January 4, 1870, at the residence of the bride's parents, in Tulare county,
California. Mr. Stirnweis married Miss Mary A. McCoy, who was born in Missouri,
on April 24, 1854, the daughter of Henson and Clarissa (Rusher) McCoy, who are
mentioned elsewhere in this work. Mr. Stirnweis has no brothers and two sisters,
Mrs. Margaret Bachman, a widow, and Mrs. Mary Gabriel. To Mr. and Mrs. Stirnweis
the following named children have been born: William, who resides on the farm
two miles distant from the home place; George, at Nansene postoffice;
Washington, at home; Omer, a school boy; Annie, the wife of Frank Hathaway, of
Portland; Maggie, the wife of James Underhill, in Tygh valley; Hattie, the wife
of Marshall Poppleton, in Portland.      

Mr. Stirnweis is a member of the A.O.U.W. and also belongs to the Lutheran
church. Politically, he is a Democrat and always takes a lively interest in the
affairs of the county and state. He has been director in district number
thirty-one since coming here and is a zealous advocate of good schools.


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Submitted to the Oregon Bios. Project in January 2005 by Jeffrey L. Elmer. 
Submitter has no additional information about the person(s) or family mentioned
above.