Native of Hockenheim, Germany, he was born in Baden, August 16, 1850, and his father, Leopold, who was born in the same village, was a sugar refiner. When an infant he was brought by his parents to Dubuque, and he attended the Trinity parochial school until a little over eleven years of age, when he was obliged to go to work to assist in his own maintenance. He was first employed in a chair factory, where he learned the trade and made himself very useful to the proprietors. At the age of eighteen he became foreman in the chair department, in which position he continued for the five succeeding years. In the year 1864 he attempted to join the army, but the quota at the time being full he was not received. He continued in his position as foreman therefore until August 1, 1873, when he engaged in general merchandising in a rented store at No. 1,330 Clay Street, which he operated for seven years. In 1879 Mr. Voelker built the fine brick block at the corner of Thirteenth and Clay Streets, and there for two years ran his business, later building the store adjoining, as he needed additional room. At the same time he was Vice-President and Director in the Dubuque Fire and Marine Association, which he helped to organize, and in 1890 he founded the Iowa Mutual Building & Loan Association. On April 15, 1873, in this city, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Voelker and Josephine Kalfenbach, who was born in Milwaukee and reared in this city. They are members of St. Mary's Catholic Church, in which our subject has been Treasurer for years, and he also belongs to the Roman Catholic Protective Association of Iowa, and the St. Alphonse Society. Always an active Democrat, Mr. Voelker is a member of the County Finance Committee, and in 1884 was Alternate-at-Large to the Democratic convention which nominated Grover Cleveland in Chicago. In April, 1887, Mr. Voelker was elected Mayor of Dubuque. In 1896, he was elected to represent Dubuque County in the Iowa House of Representatives, Twenty-sixth General Assembly.