Joseph Klingseis, 1899 Biography

KLINGSEIS, MEIER

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 3/3/2007 at 19:09:46

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

Joseph Klingseis

Mr. Klingseis was born on 25 February 1851 in the parish of Pleinting, Lower Bavaria. He spent the years of his youth there, and after he had received First Holy Communion and been released from school, he took up farming and worked on various farms until his 27th year. He then immigrated to the United States of North America, and upon arrival here he settled in Pleasant Valley Township [Carroll County, Iowa]. He then married the virtuous Miss Maria Meier, who had come to America with Mr. Joseph Klingseis and was born on 29 December 1849 in Landau on the Isau [probably should be “Isar”] River. The young couple then worked for a time on other farms, and then they rented a farm and worked it on their own. The couple purchased the farm after two years and lived there for about another eight years. They then sold the farm and acquired a 160-acre farm in Newton Township where the family still lives today. It is a good, fertile piece of land, equipped with suitable buildings and a fine residence. Just this spring, Mr. Klingsies built a large and solid barn, so that now the farm can be counted among the finest properties. The family is respected and esteemed by all their acquaintances. This happy marriage produced seven children, two of whom died at a tender age. The names of the children still living are: Joseph, Theresia, Anna, Franziska, and Anton.