Arthur Behrens



Arthur and Mary (Meier) Behrens

Arthur Behrens, one of the substantial agriculturists and representative citizens of Allamakee county, owns and operates a well improved farm of two hundred acres on section 28, Post township. His birth occurred at Cedarburg, Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, on the 20th of August, 1862, his parents being Ahrend and Caroline (Mintzlaff) Behrens, both of whom were natives of Germany, the former born in Oldenburg on the 30th of September, 1832, and the latter in Pommern on the 18th of January, 1842. Ahrend Behrens emigrated to the United States when a youth of eighteen, while the mother of our subject was brought to this country as a babe of three months, her parents settling in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, when it was a mere village. Making his way direct to Cedarburg, that state, Mr. Behrens secured employment as a farm hand but subsequently purchased land and engaged in general agricultural pursuits on his own account with gratifying results. The last eighteen years of his life were spent in honorable retirement at Cedarburg, where his demise occurred in 1908. His widow there continued to make her home until she passed away in 1912, her death occurring while she was returning from a trip to California.

Arthur Behrens, the oldest in a family of seven children, acquired his education in the schools of Cedarburg township. At the age of twenty years, having learned the carpenters’ trade, he began work at that occupation and was thus actively engaged until 1897. In that year he rented a tract of land in Garnavillo township, Clayton county, Iowa, continuing its cultivation for five years, at the end of which period he purchased the farm of two hundred acres in Allamakee county which has since remained in his possession. The property is one of the best equipped in the county and is highly improved and developed, the well tilled fields annually yielding generous harvests as a reward for the care and labor which is bestowed upon them. Mr. Behrens has long been widely recognized as one of the most progressive and successful agriculturists of the community and is likewise a stockholder in the Farmers Mercantile Association of Postville, the Postville Citizens Bank and the Luana Bank.

On the 2d of February, 1892, Mr. Behrens was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Meier, who was born in Garnavillo township, Clayton county, on the 31st of October, 1867, her father being H. W. Meier, of whom more extended mention is made on another page of this work in connection with the sketch of Charles H. Meier, a brother of Mrs. Behrens. She is now the mother of three children, as follows: Arbe, whose natal day was May 20, 1895: Lorene, whose birth occurred in 1902 and who is attending school; and William, who was born January 19, 1909.

Mr. Behrens gives his political allegiance to the republican party and is now serving for the second term as trustee of Post township, making a creditable record in this connection. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the German Lutheran church at Postville. He has been straightforward and honorable in all his dealings, has manifested public spirit in matters of citizenship and has been loyal to the ties of home and of friendship. These qualities, therefore, have made his record one of honorable manhood well worthy of emulation.

-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich

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