Wilhelm Langenfeld, 1899 Biography

LANGENFELD

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 12/31/2006 at 12:22:13

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:

Wilhelm Langenfeld

Wilhelm Langenfeld was born in 1855 in Rübhausen, in the Rhine Province, at the foot of the Siebengebirge [a mountainous region along the Rhine River]. He came with his parents to America in 1869. The family lived for five years on a farm near Mendota, Illinois. In 1874, the family moved to Carroll County, Iowa, where he has lived steadily since then. He worked with his father on the farm, a mile north of Halbur, until 1878, when he entered the teaching profession. He conducted school in Roselle Township and Washington Township until the fall of 1880, when he took over the school in Hillsdale. He remained there until February 1888. After that, he was absent from the state until 1891, and since his return he has been working as the station agent in Halbur. The readers will still recall that a few years ago he was a candidate for the office of clerk of court, but he was defeated by his opponent.