Abel Peters, 1899 Biography

PETERS, ROELFS

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 5/1/2006 at 19:33:16

I translated the following biography from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. It was originally published in a special 25th Anniversary Edition of the paper on Friday, 20 September 1899. Information in brackets and notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

Abel Peters

Mr. Abel Peters was born on 8 January 1839 in Neermoor, County of Leer, Ostfriesland [East Frisia], and attended elementary school there. As a child, he experienced the untimely loss of his parents, and he stayed with relatives and friends until he was 15 years old. He then studied the blacksmith’s trade for two years. As a 17-year-old youth, he immigrated to the New World on 4 April 1856 and settled in Freeport, Illinois. After working there for 15 years, he married Miss Abba Roelfs on 6 April 1870. He then worked another four years at farming, and in 1874 he moved to Wheatland Township [Carroll County, Iowa], where he had purchased 120 acres of land. In 1881 he sold the farm and purchased another of 20 acres. In 1893, he purchased another 120-acre farm nearby, where he now lives with some of his children, and which is also well supplied with all sorts of improvements and equipment. This happy marriage produced six children, two of whom, however, died at a tender age. The children still living are: Claus, who occupies the 220-acre farm; Margaretha, now Mrs. Aug. Jennewein; Edward; and Hempe.