William Bahre, since 1857, has been a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Kent county, Mich., since the spring of 1870, and is one of the most enterprising agriculturists of Sparta township. He was born in the kingdom of Hanover, August 15, 1834, the fourth of the three sons and three daughters born to William and Elizabeth (Borchers) Bahre, of which children three are now deceased, the three survivors being Frederick, William and Christina. Of these, Frederick was a miller in Germany, but on coming to America became foreman of the large car shops in Buffalo, N. Y., but is now a landscape gardener in that city and is a man of wealth; William is the next eldest, and Christina is the wife of August Losien, a well-to-do farmer, of Ottawa county, Mich. William Bahre, the father, was also a native of Hanover, was born in 1798, and died in Ottawa county, Mich., in 1866. He had served his full time in the German army, and by trade was a carpenter and joiner. In September, 1857, he sailed with his family from Hamburg for New York, and after a voyage of two weeks landed in the Empire city, whence he started for Buffalo, and when eighteen miles from that city began life in America as a farmer, renting land for seven years ere he came to Michigan. In Grand Haven township, Ottawa county, Mich., William Bahre, the subject of this sketch, and his father purchased 160 acres of partially improved land, and on this land the father lived until his death in the faith of the Lutheran church, and his wife, who was born in Hanover, in 1795, having departed this life in 1857. William Bahre, the subject, was educated in the common schools of his native land and was reared to farming. He was twenty-three years of age when he came to America with his parents, but was a young man of some little means. He has always been industrious and a shrewd manager, and manual labor has never been a dread, but he has always cheerfully and willingly "placed his shoulder to the wheel" and urged forward the car of progress toward the goal of prosperity. February 12, 1863, Mr. Bahre wedded Miss Anna Hubert, and of the six sons and six daughters that have come to bless this union nine are still living, viz¨ Otto, the eldest who is married, is well educated in both German and English, and by vocation is a farmer; Anna is the wife of Henry Schafer, a thrifty young farmer of Chester township, Ottawa county; Henry, a resident of Lisbon and married, owns a farm in Kent county, and is a carpenter and joiner by trade; Louis, married and a farmer, has his residence in Ottawa county; Emma is married to Martin Krafts, a well-to-do farmer, also of Ottawa county; Matilda is the wife of Paul Schmidt, a young and thriving farmer of Ottawa county, and a son of Rev. Schmidt, pastor of the German Lutheran church at Lisbon, Chester township; Huldah has pasted through the eight grade in the public school, has also been educated in the German school and confirmed in the Lutheran church, and has her home with her parents; Reinhardt has also been educated in both German and English and is still under parental roof; Frederick is in the sixth grade at school, and is the youngest in the family. Mrs. Bahre was born in Prussia, Germany, on September 21, 1846, and was a child of four years when brought to America by her parents, who are both now living in Grand Haven, Mich. Her father was a blacksmith by trade in his earlier manhood, but later became a farmer, and his wife is one of the best and noblest of helpmates. Mr Bahre purchased his present partially improved farm of eighty acres in Sparta township in 1870 and made his home in a log cabin; the C. & W. M. . R. R. was in course of construction, the village of Sparta was known as Nashville, and Kent City was called Tyrone. All the changes which have since taken place Mr. Bahre has witnessed and taken part in, as far as the township is concerned, and has also been a factor in many others that have taken place in the county. He has made all the improvements on his own farm, and erected his present comfortable dwelling in 1882. He has aided financially in the erection of the Lutheran church near Lisbon, and his son-in-law, Paul Schmidt, was secretary of the building committee, while Mr. Bahre himself has for six years been an official of standing in the congregation, and his children have all been confirmed in the same faith. In politics Mr. Bahre votes for the man best suited in his views for office and is not held down to the lines of any party. With the public at large he and family are held in the highest possible esteem.