George Balk, 1899 Biography

BALK, STEFFES, KUESSNER, WURZER

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 9/25/2004 at 11:56:20

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:

George Balk

Mr. George Balk was born in St. Lucas, Fayette County, Iowa, on 22 December 1872. In 1874, his parents moved to Pleasant Valley Township, Carroll County, Iowa, where little George attended school. After successfully completing school, he, like his father, became a farmer, and he worked with his father on his parents’ farm until he was 21 years old. On 30 October 1893 [the last number of the year is hard to read, could be 1892. etc.], he married the esteemed young woman, Miss Katharina Steffes, who was born near Koblenz on the Rhine on 5 February 1876. Mr. Balk then rented a farm in Pleasant Valley Township, which he then managed on his own. After a year, he took over a beer tavern in the little town of Willey, and managed the tavern very successfully, but after three years he had to give up the business due to illness. He sold the business to Mr. Johann Balk. Mr. George Balk is a popular German-American who is very respected by all his associates. This happy marriage has produced two children, who at baptism received the names Peter and Lorenz and where Rosina Küssner and Michael Wurzer functioned as godparents.

NOTES: The Willey cemetery records show George Balk, 22 Dec. 1872-12 Mar. 1906, and Catherine Balk, 5 Feb. 1878-6 May 1929. The article shows her birth as 1876.