Frederick Mohr, b. 28 Oct 1821

BRUENING, REIMERS, GOSCH, FULLENDORF, SCHMIDT, SCHUHKNECHT, TOMS, MCCREADY, QUADE, RHODES, STAGEMAN

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/20/2004 at 11:48:04

The German-American citizen, wherever he is found, forms a section of the bone and sinew of his community. He is usually enterprising and industrious, devoted to his farm and his family, and almost uniformly prosperous. He is seldom to be found mixed up with law-suits or police courts, but usually pursues the quiet course of the honest man, and the good citizen. These remarks may be most properly applied to the subject of this sketch.

The late Mr. Mohr owned and occupied a fine farm of 270 acres on section 36, Fairfield Townwhip. His land has been brought to a thorough state of cultivation, and is embellished with substantial buildings. In the seasons of sowing and reaping, it presents a most beautiful picture in the landscape, and at the time of harvest is suggestive of comfort and plenty. The proprietor was born in the Dutchy of Holstein, Germany, Oct. 28, 1821, and lived there until a man of thirty-two years. In the meantime, however, he had not realized his hopes and his ambitions, socially or finanacially, and determined to emigrate to America. Taking passage on an ocean vessel, at Hamburg, he landed in due time in the city of New Orleans, and soon afterward came up the Mississippi to Davenport, this State, where he sojourned two months, then came to this county. Soon afterward he purchased a tract of land, a part of which was broken, and later secured land from the Government, all of which was prairie without buildings. He had now in all 180 acres. He put up a frame house and commenced breaking the sod with oxen, working several seasons in this manner, until he could afford the luxury of horses. He endured the hardships and privations common to life on the frontier, and in due time, as we have seen, his labors met with their legitimate reward.

Our subject was married in Lyons, this State, to Miss Elsabe Bruening, born in Germany; the marriage was solemnized in Kochendorf, Germany, April 8, 1844. They lived there nine years, coming in 1853, to Davenport, Iowa, where they remained two months. From there they emigrated to this county, and bought the present farm. Their union has resulted in the birth of eight children: Two born in Germany, and one on the Atlantic Ocean, as follows: Hans, Anna, Mary, Honnis, Steina, Ricka, Henry and Edward. Hans is farming in this county, and is the father of thirteen children; Anna, Mrs. Christ Reimers, is a resident of Pierce County, Neb., and the mother of five children; Mary is living with her second husband, Jerry Gosch, on a farm in Sac County, this State; she has six children. Honnis is a blacksmith by trade, is married, and the father of two children; Steina, Mrs. Fred Mohr, is the mother of eight children and lives on a farm in Sac County; Ricka is Mrs. Gustav Fullendorf, is also a resident of Sac County, and the mother of six children; Henry is married, is the father of three children, and lives on a farm in this county; Edward carries on his father's farm. He married Miss Bertha Schmidt, by whom he has one child, a daughter, Elsabe N. Edward Mohr's wife, Bertha Schmidt, was born in Lyons, Clinton Co., Iowa, Jan 12, 1868. Her parents were Carl and Fredericka (Schuhknecht) Schmidt; they were both natives of Germany, and came to America in 1856, and settled in Lyons, Clinton Co., Iowa. After a residence there of fifteen years, they removed to this county, and bought a farm in Fairfield Township. Mr. Schmidt died in 1886. Mrs. Schmidt continues to live at the old homestead. Mrs. Mohr died at the homestead in Fairfield Township, Feb. 29, 1888.

When Mr. Mohr first came to this region, the country presented a wild and desolate appearance, there being but few settlers and very little of the land under cultivation. He was one of those men most needed, and has acquitted himself in an admirable manner as a farmer, and a member of the community. He uniformly voted the Democratic ticket, and in religious matters was a member of the Lutheran Church. His death which occurred May 16, 1889, was a great loss, not only to his immediate relatives, but also to the people among whom he had lived so long, and by whom he was universally respected.

Frederick Mohr, the father of our subject, was likewise a native of Holstein, Germany, where he spent his entire life. The maiden name of the mother was Fredericka Toms. After the death of her husband, she accompanied her son, our subject, to America, and died in Davenport, this State, in 1853. The parental family included seven children, namely: Dorris, Fred, Claus, Annie, Mary, Hans, and Peter, all of whom are living. Claus married a Miss McCready, and is farming in this county; he is the father of six children - Mary, Frederick, Louisa, Fredricka, Anna and Henry. Anna, Mrs. William Quade, is a widow, and lives in Crawford County; she has five children - Catherine, Mary, Fred, John, and Fredricka. Mary is the wife of Mr. Rhodes, and lives in Northport, Wis., on a farm; she has no children. Hans is married, and the father of eight children - Fred, Anna, Lizzie, Emma, Fredricka, William, and Ella. He is farming near Lost Nation, Clinton County. Peter married Miss Stagemann, a Clinton County lady, and is living in this county.

("Portrait and Biographical Album of Jackson County, Iowa", originally published in 1889, by the Chapman Brothers, of Chicago, Illinois)