Michael E. Loos, rolling-mill foreman for the Illinois Zinc Company, LaSalle, Illinois, is of German birth, but has been identified with this country since his early boyhood. He was born in Luxemburg, Germany, January 30, 1843, son of Nicholas and Lena (Krier) Loos and one of a family of ten children. The Loos family left their native land in 1855 and after a successful voyage landed in this country, Illinois their objective point and their first place of settlement being in Ogle county. There the father died, in 1861, at the age of sixty-one years. The mother survived him until 1871, when she died in Freeport, at the age of seventy-two.
At the time of their emigration to this country Michael E. was a boy of twelve years. His schooling was all obtained previous to that time, for after they settled in Illinois he was occupied in assisting his father in the work of the farm. However, he has always been a close observer and great reader, and what he missed in school advantages he made up in home study, thus gaining a wide range of useful information. He continued the occupation in which he was reared, that of farming, until 1866. In the meantime the civil war came on and he rendered his adopted country valiant service in the army. He enlisted September 7, 1861, as a private in Company H, Thirty-fourth Illinois Infantry, and served as such until June 14, 1865, when he was promoted to the rank of second lieutenant. His first enlistment was for a term of three years, and at the end of that time he veteranized in the same company. He participated in the engagements at Pittsburg Landing, Corinth, the Atlanta campaign, and was with Sherman on his memorable march to the sea. At the close of his service, July 12, 1865, he was honorably discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, and returned home. He resumed farming at his old home, and farmed that season and the next, after which he moved to Freeport, Illinois, and turned his attention to railroading, first securing an engagement in the service of the Northwestern Railroad Company, later was at El Paso, on the Illinois Central Railroad, and then went to Nebraska and took a homestead claim. In 1873 he located in LaSalle. Illinois, as car inspector for the Illinois Central Railroad, and two years later, in 1875, he entered the employ of the LaSalle Zinc Company, with which he remained until that company sold out to the Matthiessen & Hegeler Zinc Company. He then entered the employ of the latter, with which he remained until 1882. That year he became connected with the Illinois Zinc Company, and was made foreman of the rolling-mill department the following year, which position he has since filled. His long identity with this concern is ample evidence of the value of his service and of his reliability.
Mr. Loos was married in 1865 to Catherine Orth, and two children, William and Catherine, are the fruits of their union.
Like most veterans of the Union army, Mr. Loos belongs to that popular organization, the Grand Army of the Republic. Also he is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America. He served one term as alderman of LaSalle, elected to the office by a Republican constituency. Religiously he and his family are Catholics.
Extracted 26 Dec 2016 by Norma Hass from Biographical and Genealogical Record of LaSalle County, Illinois published in 1900, volume 2, pages 414-415.
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