Harmon Simon Tebben, b. 18 Jul 1839

ENGLETEN, OVERBOWER, DENNIS, OBERMAN

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/20/2004 at 12:30:45

Harmon Simon Tebben, now serving as Township Trustee of Perry Township, is numbered among its prominent and successful agriculturists. He is a native of Germany, born in Hanover, July 18, 1839. His paternal grandfather Tebben, owned a small farm in Hanover, where he spent his entire life. His son Simon, father of our subject, was born and reared in Hanover, where he learned the trade of a weaver. He also spent some time in the employ of the Government, having been overseer of the lumber district. In 1850 he emigrated with his family to America, landed at New Orleans, from whence he proceeded up the river to Jackson County, and located at Tete des Morts, where he engaged in farming. He subsequently bought a tract of wild land, consisting of 200 acres, and began its cultivation. He was successful in all his undertakings, and afterward bought 100 acres of land adjoining his first purchase, thus increasing the acreage of his homestead to 300 acres, which he improved, and continued to occupy until 1881, when he gave up the active cares of farm life, and removed to Andrew, where he is now living at the advanced age of seventy-six years. In politics he is a stanch Republican, and both he and his good wife are worthy memers of the Lutheran Church. He married Miss Johanna Engleten, who was also a native of Hanover, Germany, and a daughter of a tavern keeper of that place. She was reared, educated, and married in her native country, and, accompanying her husband to America, has proved a true helpmate to him during their many years of labor, and is now at seventy-five years of age, reaping the reward of her many years of industry and frugality. To her and her husband were born seven children, namely: Harmon; Elizabeth, living in Andrew; Rebecca, deceased; Febbo, living in Perry Township; Rachel, living in Bellevue Township; John, living in Richland; Hannah, living in Perry Township.

Harmon S., the subject of our sketch, was the eldest of the children born to his parents. He attended the public schools in his native country until he was eleven years old, when, having conceived the idea of emigrating to the United States, he pursuaded his material grandmother, Rebecca Engleten, to accompany him, and they had the papers made out accordingly. After all arrangements were made, the parents of our subject, finding it too hard to be separated from their first born, determined to come with him. Therefore, in the fall of 1850, they all left Bremen Haven in the sailing-vessel "Columbia," and after a voyage of nine weeks and three days, during which they encountered severe storms, they landed at New Orleans. Thence they come to Galena, Ill., but after saying there two weeks, made their way to Jackson County. Our subject was an industrious, ambitious lad, and he secured work on a farm, and attended the district school, which was held in a primitive log cabin, furnished with slab benches. After his father became the owner of a farm, he remained at home and assisted in the labor of improving it until eighteen years old. At that age he secured employment in a warehouse in Bellevue, buying grain, etc. Mr. Tebben afterward became a clerk in a general merchandise store, remaining there until 1863. The ensuing year our subject worked on the home farm, and in 1865 purchased 100 acres of partly improved land on section 36, Richland Township. With characteristic energy he added to the improvements already made, and carried on general farming there until the spring of 1884, when he purchased and took possession of his present homestead of 160 acres in Perry Township. Mr. Tebben still carried on his old place in Richland, and has his present farm, of which only a few acres were broken at the time of purchase, well cleared, fenced, and until good cultivation. A commodious and conveniently arranged stone house was on the place, and our subject has erected a good set of farm buildings, set out an excellent orchard and fine groves of cedar trees. He carries on general farming on an extensive scale, raising considerable grain, and paying much attention to the rearing of fine grades of stock, having Poland-China hogs, and twelve valuable horses of the celebrated Norman and Clydesdale breeds.

Mr. Tebben was married Feb. 28, 1863, to Miss Catherine Overbower. Her parents, George and Eva Overbower, were natives of Germany, and emigrated to American when Mrs. Tebben the youngest of the nine children born to them, was nine months old. Mr. Overbower was a cabinet-maker by trade, and after coming to this country, located in Belleville, Ill., where he worked at his calling until his death a few years later. His wife died when Mrs. Tebben was only five years old, and she being thus early left an orphan, was taken into the family of a Mr. John H. Dennis, where she remained until seventeen years of age, when she came to Bellevue, Jackson County, and lived until her marriage with our subject. To Mr. and Mrs. Tebben have been born eight children, namely: Harmon, Lizzie, Eva, George, Hannah, Rebecca, Caroline, Louisa. Lizzie is the wife of Charles Oberman, a farmer in Bellevue Township.

Mr. Tebben is a man of much sagacity, intelligence, and sound common sense, and possesses great mechanical genius, which he utilizes by manufacturing many of his farming implements. He and his brother John made a threshing machine, our subject doing the wood work, and his brother the iron work, and they operate it in partnership, doing a good deal of business in the harvest season. As an enterprising citizen and a man of genuine worth, Mr. Tebben is held in the highest respect throughout the township, which he has served as Trustee for three years, and is also serving as President of the Board of School Directors. In politics, he is a stanch adherent of the Republican party, and religiously both he and his wife are consistent members of the Lutheran Church. They are truly a most worthy couple, and their home is the centre of genuine hospitality.

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