Jonas A. Birk

Jonas Adam Birk was born in the city of Wiesbaden, Gernmany on August 4, 1814. He was from a family of five children, he being the youngest. He quit school at the age of 14 and began work in the shoemaker’s trade.

At the age of 20 he entered the German army. He married at 23 years to Elizabeth Carilon and with a total of $400, he embarked in business as a shoemaker for two years. Meeting with poor success in business, he was determined to immigrate to America, strongly against the wishes of his mother and friends. He left Wiesbaden with $250. Meeting with difficulty in leaving and having his wife and one child with him and after paying his passage across the Atlantic, he landed in New York with two dollars in June 1838. After buying supper and breakfast, his money was gone. He soon found the job and managed to save $100.

He later moved to Fallston, Pennsylvania, a town where his sister lived for the past 14 years. His family moved to Cloverport, Kentucky in 1851 where he carried on a business for six years. Intent on moving to a farm, he bought 355 acres of land lying along the Green River, part of which was to be the site of Birk City. According to family papers, Jonas Birk was besieged by both Union and Confederate soldiers during the Civil War. He was arrested several times, accused of harboring guerillas. He was always released.