HUISMAN, John B. 1858-1948

HUISMAN, SCHULTZ

Posted By: Tammy (email)
Date: 1/29/2015 at 08:37:20

John B. Huisman Died Monday

John B. Huisman, who resided in Wellsburg and vicinity continually during the past 84 years, died at his home in Wellsburg at eight o'clock Monday evening. His health had been failing gradually during the past year and he was confined to his home during the past three months. Death was due to advanced age.

Funeral services will be held at the home early Thursday afternoon and later at the Second Christian Reformed church. Due to the absence of the resident pastor, Rev. Vande Kieft, pastor of the First Christian Reformed church, will officiate at the service. Burial will be in the cemetery adjoining the Reformed church.

Native of Stephenson Co., Ill.
Mr. Huisman was born in Stephenson county, Ill., October 4, 1858, and he would have been 90 on his next birthday. He was a son of Mr. and Mrs. Meint Huisman. The Huisman family came from Illinois to Grundy county the last year of the Civil War in 1865. The son John was 5 years old at that time. He remembered the trip from Illinois to the prairies of Grundy county. He grew up on a farm here and was engaged in farming during all of his active life and owned a farm at the time of his death.

On March 11, 1883, he and Mathilda Schultz were married. They began housekeeping on a farm three miles north of Wellsburg. That was the home farm. They resided there until Mr. Huisman bought a farm a little farther north, where they resided until they moved to Wellsburg in 1915.

Few Others Resided Here So Long
There are a few Grundy people living who came here in 1865. None of them lived here longer. He lived through all of the stages of an open prairie country to a well settled and prosperous community and he remembered up to within the past few months all important incidents of his long life and the names of hundreds who received the final call before him. He dealt fairly with his neighbors and he held their good will and confidence. He helped to make northwest Grundy a rich and prosperous farming country.

Six in Family
There were eight members of the Meint Huisman family who came here 84 years ago. They were the father and mother, three sons and three daughters. The sons were Harm, Jerry and John. The daughters were Mrs. Anna Kruger, Lennox, S.D.; Mrs. Henry Walbaum, Oklahoma; and Mrs. John Tjaden, Wellsburg. Mrs. Tjaden is the remaining member of this family.

Had Six Children
Mr. and Mrs. J. B. Huisman were the parents of six children. All of them except one son, Meint, survive. The surviving children are Mrs. R. H. Renken, Parkersburg; Mrs. D. A. Lowe, Waterloo, Mrs. Earl Greany, Mrs. Jack Fischer and Frank Huisman, of Wellsburg. There are 19 grandchildren; 16 of them are boys. The wife, who is 4 years younger than her husband, is in fairly good health, though she is almost completely blind.

--The Grundy Register (Grundy Center, Iowa), 12 February 1948, pg 17