Source: Biographical Memoirs of Wabash County, Indiana (1901), 297-298.

MICHAEL GIEK

Michael Giek, the well-known and prosperous manufacturer of brick, is one of Pleasant township's most substantial citizens.

He was born in Erie, Pa., November 29, 1841. His parents, John G. and Mariah (Wolff) Giek, were natives of Germany, from whence they emigrated to America in about 1834. They first settled in Pennsylvania, where several of their children were born. Then they came west as far as Indiana and settled in Pleasant township, Wabash county. Mrs. Giek died in 1848, but her husband lived until 1873, dying in Paw Paw township. To this couple six children were born, of whom our subject was the third. He was five years old when his parents came to Wabash county, and has since resided here, with the exception of three years spent following the flag and five years' sojourn in Kansas.

On July 1, 1861, he enlisted in Company H, Twentieth Indiana, and served three years. During his service at the front he took part in the battles of Malvern Hill, second Bull Run, Fredericksburg, Gettysburg, the Wilderness, Spotsylvania C.H., Cold Harbor and the siege of Petersburg. He was mustered out at Petersburg, Va., and returning to his home in Pleasant township, laid aside the implements of war and took up the sickle and the hoe. For eighteen years he followed farming exclusively. In 1882 he embarked in the manufacture of brick and tile, and remained in this business until 1898, since which time he has been making brick exclusively, being the proprietor of the Giek brickyards, one and a half miles southwest of North Manchester.

On May 5, 1865, he was married to Miss Hannah Ellen Eckman, an Ohioan by birth. She died in Wabash county in December, 1888. Seven children had been born to them: Emanuel W.; Laura, wife of Alvah Blickenstaff, and Walter are living. Ithiel, Peary, Noah and Elizabeth are deceased.

On June 2, 1892, Mr. Giek was again married, and took another daughter of Ohio for his bride. The lady was Mrs. Maria Andreck, of Warsaw, Ind.

Mr. Giek is a member of North Manchester Post No. 199, G.A.R., and a very prominent Odd Fellow. Always an earnest Christian, he has belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church for nearly two score years and has ever taken great interest in the moral betterment of his community.