Kirchmann, August

HILLMAN, ZELL, KOENIG, PIPHO, BOTTLES, MEYER, WIHARM, STAHLHUT

Posted By: BCGS
Date: 12/10/2009 at 16:50:45

August Kirchmann, who recently sold his two hundred and forty acre farm in Sumner township to his sons and retired from active life, was born in Hanover, Germany, December 9, 1853. He is a son of August and Minnie (Hillman) Kirchmann, natives of the same province, where the father was a farmer and butcher. Both parents died in Hanover and of their family of five children only two, August and Mrs. William Zell, came to the United States.

August Kirchmann emigrated to America when he was sixteen years of age and, being practically without resources, worked as a monthly farm laborer in Lake county, Illinois, for a number of years. In 1879 he moved to Bremer county and has remained a resident of this locality continuously since that time. In the year of his arrival he bought eighty acres of land on section 33, Sumner township, this being at that time broken and the fields fenced. There was also a small shanty upon the premises and Mr. Kirchmann made his home therein while he carried forward the work of developing his holdings. He afterward erected a comfortable residence and new buildings and he maintained his home upon the property until 1910, when he moved into Sumner, retiring from active life. He at that time owned two hundred and forty acres of valuable land, which he has since sold to his sons.

In Lake county, Illinois, Mr. Kirchmann married Miss Augusta Koenig, a native of that locality, and they have become the parents of eight children: William, who purchased the old home farm from his father and who married Mary Pipho; Myrtie, the wife of Ernest Bottles, of Howard county; Fred, who married Minnie Meyer, a farmer of Sumner township; Minnie, the wife of Conrad Wilharm, also of Sumner township; Henry, who married Ida Stahlhut, and who engages in farming in the same locality; Eddie, a farmer of Sumner township, who married Hulda Meyer; Emma, at home; and August, holding a position as clerk in Sumner.

Mr. Kirchmann is a director and was one of the organizers of the Spring Fountain Creamery and is a man of recognized business ability and enterprise. He is a member of St. John's Lutheran church of Sumner and a democrat in his political beliefs. The cause of education has found in him a loyal supporter, for he has been for many years a member of the school board and is now secretary, although he has moved from the district. He is one of the prominent and valued citizens of Sumner and by reason of a life which has been straightforward and upright in all its relations has gained the esteem and confidence of his fellow citizens.

History of Bremer County, Iowa Vol. II 1914