Hahn, Lewis M.

HAHN, MEINTZ, THOMAS, BROUGHTON, MILLER, GRAY, MYERS

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 2/15/2003 at 08:50:15

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

LEWIS M. HAHN.

Orange township has probably no more highly esteemed citizen than the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch. He has been a resident of the county since June, 1856, and now owns and operates a good farm of one hundred and twenty acres on section 16, Orange township. A native of Germany, he was born in Holstein, on the 9th of December, 1837, and is a son of Hans and Wilhelmina (Meintz) Hahn, who made their home in that country throughout life. The father was born and reared in Hanover.

In 1855, when only seventeen years of age, Mr. Hahn, of this review, took passage at Hamburg on the St. Andrew, a sailing vessel, which after a stormy voyage of forty-five days dropped anchor in the harbor of New York. From that city he went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he clerked in the grocery store of an uncle for about a year. He then came to this county, joining some friends whom he had known in the old world, and here he worked by the month as a farm hand for several years.

Mr. Hahn was married in this county, August 22, 1861, to Miss Sarah Thomas, who was born in DeWitt township, and is a worthy representative of one of its honored pioneer families. Her father, John Thomas, was born in Virginia in 1816, and when a child went to Ohio, being reared in Harrison county. There he married Eliza Jane Turner, who was a native of Nova Scotia, but spent her girlhood in the Buckeye state. By this union were born five children, but only two are now living: Sarah, wife of our subject; and Henry L., a resident of Cass county, Nebraska. The mother of these children died in DeWitt township, this county, and the father subsequently married again and had children by his second wife. He was one of the earliest settlers of Clinton county and developed a large farm in DeWitt township. During his active business life he made his home here, but died at the home of a daughter in Woodbury county, Iowa, in 1893.

Mr. and Mrs. Hahn began their domestic life on a rented farm, but in 1866 he was able to purchase eighty acres of wild land and forty acres under cultivation, on which was a little shanty, and here they took up their abode, after making some improvements in the dwelling. They lived there two or three years while he devoted his attention to the development of the farm. Later he built a more commodious residence, and also erected a good barn and other outbuildings. He tiled the place, set out fruit and made many other improvements. At one time he owned one hundred and sixty acres, but has since disposed of forty acres. He raises a high grade of cattle, horses and hogs, and has met with well-deserved success in his farming operations.

The seven children born to Mr. and Mrs. Hahn are as follows: Leonard A., a farmer, carpenter and contractor, of Orange township, married Maud Broughton, and now owns and operates a good farm in that township; Anna is the wife of Edward Miller, a business man of DeWitt; Amy was educated in the DeWitt high school and the normal school at Cedar Falls, where she completed the prescribed course, and has successfully engaged in teaching for several years; Laura is the wife of Charles Gray, of South Dakota; Jennie is the wife of Stanley Myers, of Bloomington, Illinois; and Mina and Alta are both at home with their parents.

In his political views Mr. Hahn is a stanch Republican, having always supported that party since casting his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln in 1860. His son is also a Republican. Our subject was a member of the school board four years, but has never sought office. Both he and his wife are active and consistent members of the Christian church, and he has served as elder for some years. He is a worthy representative of that class of citizens who lead quiet, industrious, honest and useful lives, and constitute the best portion of a community.