August Gauch

GAUCH, BLINK, DISCHNER, KUCKERT, SCHORMAN, DRAVIS

Posted By: volunteer transcriber
Date: 3/3/2004 at 01:27:34

August Gauch

One of the thrifty and highly respected Germans who cast his lot with the people of Jasper County in its period of rapid development and has since prospered by his close application and the exercise of sound business principles is August Gauch, a distinctive type of the successful self-made man. Not a pretentious or exalted life has been his, but one that has been true to itself and to which the biographer may refer with feelings of satisfaction and respect. He has shown himself to be a man of strong and alert mentality, deeply interested in everything pertaining to the advancement of the community along material lines and today is recognized as one of the representative men of the county. Mr. Gauch was born in Baden, Germany, August 18, 1859. He is the son of Christian and Mary Ann (Blink) Gauch, both natives of Baden, Germany, where they grew to maturity, and were married and there the father spent his life, dying in the fatherland at the age of fifty-five years. The mother came to America with her son August, of this review, in the spring of 1868 and she died at Montour, Iowa, when sixty-two years old, and her remains rest in the cemetery at State Center. Three sons and two daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. Christian Gauch, namely: Anton died in Marshall County, Iowa, in 1911; Mrs. Pauline Dischner died in Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Mrs. Catherine Kuckert lives in Eden Township, Marshall County; Joseph lives in Clear Creek Township, Jasper County; August, of this review, is the youngest. They were all born in Germany and there spent their early childhood, being reared principally in Eden Township, Marshall County, Iowa, the subject having been nine years old when he came here.

August Gauch received his education in the common schools and early in life he turned his attention to farming, which has been his chief life work. He was married on September 25, 1894, to Minnie Schorman, who was born in Allamakee County, Iowa, September 17, 1866, and there she grew up and was educated. She is the daughter of Fred and Henrietta (Dravis) Schorman, both born in Germany, the mother in Detmold, Lippe, and there they grew up and were married and from there emigrated to America in early life and here became well established and here spent the rest of their lives, the father dying in June 1878, and the mother on November 27, 1907. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters, named as follows: Fred, of Baxter, Jasper County; Minnie, wife of Mr. Gauch, of this review; William is a well known merchant of the-town of Baxter, Iowa; Mrs. Goodman, Henry, Herman, Sophia. They were all born in Allamakee County except the youngest, whose birth occurred in Jasper County.

To Mr. and Mrs. Gauch have been born three daughters, as follows: Anna, born March 22, 1896; Henrietta, born January 16, 1897; Irene, born in Melbourne, September 29, 1899. The two eldest were born in Baxter, and all three are now attending the public schools here. August Gauch remained at home until he was twenty-two years old, then he went to Sioux Falls, South Dakota, where he remained about ten years, then returned to Jasper County, Iowa, where he has continued to reside to the present time. He has been very successful in a business way and is the owner of considerable valuable property, including a substantial business block in Baxter, a modern and well furnished home here, eight acres within the city limits of Baxter, and three hundred and twenty acres of excellent land in Texas. He believes in securing the best of everything for his family, giving his children every advantage, and in a public way he supports all measures having as their object the general good. Politically, he is a Democrat and was reared a Catholic. Mrs. Gauch and children attend the Christian Church. He belongs to Baxter Lodge No. 188 of Melbourne, and Baxter Lodge No. 168, Knights of Pythias. This is one of the highly respected and influential families of Baxter and this part of the County, having here a host of warm personal friends.

- source: Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa; Gen. James B. Weaver, editor-in-chief, B.F. Bowden & Co., Indianapolis, Indiana, 1912; pg. 1133.
- transcribed by Ernie Braida