Mathias Reinart, 1899 Biography

REIN, ART, REINHART, FRIEDMANN

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 12/31/2006 at 12:17:33

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. Any information in brackets or notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

Mathias Reinart

With this gentleman we are also dealing with an early pioneer of Carroll County, who came to Carroll County as early as 1873 with his plow and furrowed the prairie.

Mr. Mathias Reinart was born on 24 February 1836 in Trier, in the Rhine Province. He spent the years of his youth in his hometown, the place where he tumbled about in cheerful high spirits and attended school. When he finished school and had received First Holy Communion, he took up farming like his father, and he worked until his 19th year. His parents then immigrated to America, and arriving in this country, they settled in Cascade, Iowa. In the following year, 1856, the family moved to Houston County, Minnesota. On 5 April 1862, Mr. Mathias Reinhart [sic] married the well-brought-up Miss Susanna Friedmann. The young couple then independently operated a 140-acre farm, which they took over from their parents, and where they lived another 11 years. In 1873, after selling the home farm in Minnesota, they moved to Roselle Township, Carroll County, Iowa, where Mr. Reinart purchased a 120-acre farm. He got the farm in order, equipped it with fences, barns, and a fine residence. He later purchased two additional 80-acre parcels, of which, however, he sold 40 acres.

Mr. Reinart thus has real estate holdings of 240 acres of the finest land in Roselle Township, and he and his dear and upstanding wife and children enjoy an excellent reputation among all their acquaintances. This happy marriage has produced 12 children, three of whom, however, have died, a child of 11 years, one of 5 years, and one of 9 months. The names of the children still living are: Nickolaus, Magdalena, Josephina, Elisabeth, Joseph, Peter, Maria, Johann, and Anna. The two sons Joseph and Peter, of whom Joseph married last winter, will operate their parents’ farm in the future.

Mr. Mathias Reinart and his wife, who both find themselves at an advanced age and have behind them a life full of worries and cares, will soon enter into a well-deserved retirement. May they yet enjoy many years of good health and experience only joy from their children as payment for their hard work and troubles.