HILFIKER, Otto

HILFIKER, SCHENK

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 1/28/2014 at 11:33:20

Biography ~ Otto Hilfiker

"Biographical and Historical Record of
Ringgold and Decatur Counties, Iowa"
(Lewis Publishing Company (1887)), p. 557:

OTTO HILFIKER, farmer and stock-raiser, section 13, Grand River Township, is a native of Switzerland, born July 31, 1850, a son of RUDOLPH and MARY HILFIKER. His early life was passed in assisting his father on a farm and in working in a woolen factory, receiving his education in the schools of his native country. In January, 1883, he came to the United States and located first in Hancock County, Illinois, where he remained until the following November, when he came to Iowa and located on the farm where he now lives in Grand River Township, Decatur County. This farm contains 335 acres of good land under a high state of cultivation, and his building improvements are comfortable and commodious. It is well watered and adapted to either farming or stock-raising, both of which industries claim attention. He is a man of good education and speaks German, French, and English. Although but a newcomer to Iowa, he is numbered among the best citizens of Decatur County. He was married in Hancock County, Illinois, to Mrs. LISETTE (SCHENK), daughter of CHRISTIAN and ANNA ELIZA SCHENK. She has two children by her first marriage - JOHN and LISETTE, and to the present union has been born one child.

Transcription by Sara LeFleur, Decatur County Historical Society Museum, January of 2014