William Herkelman

HERKELMAN, RUTENBECK, GOOS

Posted By: Barbara Gehlsen Nugent (email)
Date: 7/26/2011 at 19:51:30

Wolfe's History of Clinton County, Iowa
P. B. Wolfe. Volume 2, Biographical Sketches, Pages 1124-1126

William Herkelman

Prominent among the enterprising German-American citizens of eastern Iowa is William Herkelman, of Clinton county, Iowa, whose career is briefly outlined in this sketch. Carle and Sophia (Rutenbeck) Herkelman, the subject's parents, were born in Germany, and were married in Davenport, Iowa, having in the early fifties come to the United States, being among the pioneer settlers of Clinton county, Iowa. Here he lived until 1854 when he joined the tide of emigration to California, making the journey overland by an ox team, to his distant destination and meeting with many thrilling experiences and not a few dangers on the way. He spent nine years in the far west, during three of which he served in the United States volunteer army, and at the expiration of the time indicated returned to Clinton county and purchased eighty acres of land in Brookfield township, where he settled down to the quiet life of a tiller of the soil. From time to time he added to his holdings, until his realty now amounts to three hundred sixty acres, and since the year 1896 he and his faithful wife and helpmate have been living in honorable retirement. Of their family of four children, all but one are living, the subject of this review being the second in order of birth.

William Herkelman was born on the farm in Brookfield, which he now owns, October 13, 1872, and spent his early life among the bracing airs and wholesome influence of rural scenes. In the district schools, which he attended in his youth, he received his preliminary education, and in a business college at Davenport he acquired the training which fitted him for the practical duties of life. On finishing his course in the latter institution, he resumed his labors as an agriculturist, and in 1894 bought one hundred eighty acres of the family homestead, which he still owns. Later (1908) he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in the same township, to which he moved his family the following year, and since then he has given his attention to the improvement of the place, which is now under a high state of cultivation, with excellent buildings, all up-to-date and in good repair.

Mr. Herkelman cultivates his land according to scientific principles, and his success has been commensurate with the intelligence and good judgment with which he prosecutes his labors. For some years he has been quite a large breeder of shorthorn cattle, for which there is always a steady demand, and he has also achieved considerable reputation in the matter of fine hogs, devoting special attention to the Duroc-Jersey breed, which he raises in large numbers and sells at fancy prices. During the last three years he has exhibited his cattle at the Clinton and DeWitt county fairs, and for the past two years his animals took first prizes over all others. This has added greatly to his reputation as a successful stock man, and during the time indicated, and since, his farm has been visited at intervals by men from various parts of the state, desirous of improving their breeds of hogs and cattle.

Mr. Herkelman votes the Democratic ticket, and keeps well informed on the leading issues of the times. Though strongly grounded in the principles of his party, and fortified by a knowledge of the great questions before the public, he is not narrow in his views nor bitterly partisan, allowing those who differ from him the same right of opinion which he claims for himself.

The domestic chapter in the life of Mr. Herkelman dates from September 26, of the year 1894, when he was united in marriage with Louisa Goos, of Davenport, Iowa, who has borne him seven children, namely: Viola, Eunice, Elwin, Waldo, Velma, Arnold and Leo. The family is one of the best known in Brookfield township, and no other occupies a larger place in the esteem of the people. By reason of his lifelong residence here, Mr. Herkelman's name has become familiar throughout the county, and standing as it does for a high order of manhood and citizenship, his friends are as the number of his acquaintances.