DUKER, HENRY W. -- An enterprising contractor who has abundantly demonstrated that he can both successfully build houses and cultivate citrus fruit, and who has thus shown his desire to build up the town and community to the highest standard possible, is Henry W. Duker, who first came to California in the latter part of 1904, and who has been more and more identifying himself with the Golden State ever since. He was born at River Park, Chicago, Ill., on October 27, 1868, the son of Henry Duker, who was for a while a contractor and then a farmer at River Park. He was a native of Hanover, Germany, and there married Miss Caroline Ude. In 1886 they removed from Chicago to Iowa; and in that more western home-land they died. They had eight children, among whom Henry was the second eldest, and is now the only one living in California.
He was reared on a farm, and at the same time attended the local public schools; and removing with his folks to Fort Dodge, Iowa, he continued to assist his father on the farm until he was twenty-three years of age. Then, on October 27, 1892, at Fort Dodge he was married to Miss Elizabeth Bartsch, a native of Chicago, and the daughter of William and Rose (Straus) Bartsch--the former, a carpenter and builder who died there, the latter a gifted domestic woman, who had come to settle in Iowa, and there was educated. For a while Mr. Duker continued farming, owning a nice farm four miles north from Fort Dodge; but in 1904 he sold out and located at Orange, Cal.
For the first three years he lived at the corner of Washington Avenue and Shaffer Street, and then he built his extensive house on East Palmyra and Shaffer streets on a lot he had bought when he first came here. Since 1904 he has been engaged in contracting and masonry, and he has done the masonry work on many notable structures including the Jorn Building, the Ehlen and Grote Building, the Barker Building, and various machine shops and garages. He was associated with R. W. Miller in the erection of the Lutheran Church here, and he has also carried through much good contracting in other parts of Orange County. In 1919, he completed his own new cement residence, on Batavia Street, a fine location with an orange grove of three and a half acres. This type of building is the latest word in home-structure and the most durable of any kind. He is interested also in horticulture, and has an orange grove of seven acres elsewhere, a miniature "show place" in itself. His interest in citrus culture has made him, naturally, a member of the Santiago Orange Growers Association.
Nine children have blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Duker. Amelia lives at Santa Ana; Emma is at home; Otto is in the San Fernando Valley; Walter assists his father; Ada is also at home; and there are Edna, Reinhold, Martin and Ernst. Mr. Duker belongs to the Lutheran Church, where he has served a a trustee.
