Bernhard Sanders, 1899 Biography

SANDERS, WERNING

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 5/1/2006 at 19:58:34

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:

Bernhard Sanders

When the conversation concerns the old pioneers, then Mr. Bernhard Sanders should not go unmentioned due to the fact that he came during the late 1860s with his parents to Carroll Township, Carroll County, Iowa, where he purchased an 80-acre parcel of land, which at that time was certainly unbroken and uncultivated. After working several years as a farmer, he married the respected Miss Elisabeth Werning. The young couple then moved to Kniest Township, where the wife owned a fine farm.

Mr. Bernhard Sanders was born on 19 May 1845 in Fürstenau, Province of Hanover, Germany. He spent his childhood in his hometown and attended elementary school there. After completing school, young Bernhard devoted himself to farming. When he was just 15 years old, his parents crossed the ocean in order to establish a new home in the free country of America. They settled first near Lyons, Clinton County, Iowa, where Mr. Sanders worked loyally and hard on various farms for eight years, and then his parents moved to Carroll Township, in this county.

As a widow, his wife brought a little son named Joseph into the marriage. The names of the children of Mr. Sanders are: Heinrich, Karolina, Maria, Anna, Elisabeth, Bernardina, Franz, Bernhard, and Clara.