Oehrlein, Lorenzo

OEHRLEIN, HAKER, BERTZ, SMITH

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Date: 2/17/2003 at 14:20:15

PORTRAIT & BIOGRAPHICAL ALBUM OF CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA 1886 (CHAPMAN BROS.) 
Containing full page portraits & biographical sketches of prominent and representative citizens of the county. (Also available on FHL film 1036331 Item 9)
LORENZO OEHRLEIN (deceased), one of the pioneers of Olive Township, and a progressive and practical farmer, who was an enterprising and highly esteemed citizen of this section, is the subject of this biography. He was also an extensive traveler, made trips throughout Europe, and was an observing and intelligent man. He was born in Bavaria, Germany, Jan. 1, 1816, and was the son of Joseph and Ann (Haker) Oehrlein. He attended school until fourteen years of age, and then served three years to pay his instructor $150. Starting to see employment he went to Vienna, then to Turkey, and thence to France and Italy. In Strasburg he worked at his trade, and at Metz and other places. From there he went to Holland and worked six months, and returned to Prussia by the way of Saxony. He visited friends for a time, and then went to Vienna, and spent his time in making robes and harness. This he continued a year and a half. Then he went to Bavaria, and after traveling five or six years, settled at home and engaged in business for himself. He entered the army and was made Second Lieutenant, but at the time of the Revolution he left his country and came to America, landing at New York. He bought a farm in this county twenty-eight miles from New York City, and lived there four years. He then sold out and came to Iowa, locating in Clinton County, and thus became one of the early settlers of this section. He bought 160 acres of prairie land on section 25 of Olive Township, and continuously lived on the place since that time. He erected a good set of frame buildings, commodious and convenient, and placed the land in a high state of cultivation and improvement. He then enclosed it, and paid considerable attention to the raising of grain and stock. He owned 240 acres of land, and was one of the most prosperous and progressive farmers of this section.

He was married in Bavaria, to Dorotha O. Bertz. They were the parents of one son, Charlie. He was born in Olive Township, Jan. 2, 1856. He was reared on the farm and educated in the public school. He was married March 2, 1874, to Miss Julia A. Smith. She lived in Hampton, Rock Island County, the place of her nativity, and was born Sept. 29, 1857. She is the daughter of Michael and Magdalena Smith, both natives of Germany. At the time of marriage they located upon the homestead which he has cultivated since that time.

Charles Oehrlein is a natural workman, and has a mechanical genius unusual in one so young. He owns a threshing-machine, the woodwork of which he made himself, and also has a mill of his own construction. This article will at one time turn three grades of grain, causing it to come out in three qualities of fineness. He is the inventor of a machine to operate a cross-cut saw for sawing large logs by horse-power, and also manages the farm, and has circular saws for sawing wood, threshing-machines, wood-sawers and corn-shellers, to be used at different seasons of the year. He is the father of six children, as follows: Elizabeth, Lorenzo, Pauline, August, Adam and Charlie.

In politics our subject was independent, and voted always for the best man for the people. He died August 10, 1886, aged seventy years, and was buried in the Grand Mound Cemetery, at Grand Mound, in this county. His portrait is shown on page 470.