Karl Braun, 1899 Biography

BRAUN

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 9/13/2004 at 00:44:37

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. I have not changed the place or name spellings. Information in brackets and notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

Karl Braun

Mr. Karl Braun is unquestionably one of the oldest [longest?] residents of Carroll. He is, therefore, also a well-known personality and enjoys the respect of all his fellow citizens.

This gentleman was born in Glewitz, Province of Pomerania, County of Grimmen, Germany on 5 August 1846. He assisted his father until he was 18 years old, and then worked on a large farm until he was 22 years old. In October 1868, he immigrated to America on a sailing ship and the voyage, which lasted seven weeks and three days, was the most horrible that one could imagine. Barely two weeks after the ship had set sail, the dreaded cholera broke out on board. Within nine days, 93 passengers had died and found a watery grave at sea. Upon arrival, the passengers were held in quarantine on a hospital ship for another two weeks. Three days before Christmas, having survived the great danger, they finally set foot on American soil. Mr. Braun then made his way to Bloomington, Illinois where he was employed for a year on a farm and for a summer digging drainage ditches. In the fall of 1870, he made a visit to Williamsport, Pennsylvania, where one of his relatives lived. Here, he became acquainted with his wife, Miss Frederika Barr [the last name is very faded, could be Burr, etc.], whom he married on 27 September 1870. After the wedding, he moved with his wife to Bloomington, Illinois, where he stopped for two months. He then moved to Anamosa, Jones County, Iowa, where he found work in a quarry. In March 1871, he moved with his wife to Carroll, Carroll County, where he helped to erect fences on the Northwestern Railroad. Soon thereafter, he found work as a gang laborer, and the following spring he moved to farm between Mt. Carmel and Carroll, which he worked for one year. Then he moved again back to Carroll, and in August 1873 he obtained a position in the lumberyard of G. L. Green. He remained in this yard until 1879, and then he took a position in the D. Joyce lumberyard, where he was later promoted to the position of salesman, which Mr. Braun still occupies today.

This happy marriage has produced 11 children, four of whom died at a young age. The names of those still living are: Wilhelm, married to Miss Maggie McCoy; Louise, married to Mr. Heinrich Ploehn; and Fritz, Alwine, Albert, Karl, and George, who are still living with their parents.

NOTES: Grimmen is in the northeastern part of Germany, south of Stralsund. Glewitz is southwest of Grimmen.