Henry Kukkuck, b. 18 Aug 1829

STORM, SALER, BOHNSACK, MEYER

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/21/2004 at 11:44:18

In pursuing his researches among the leading citizens of this county the biographer meets comparatively few men who did not emigrate here from some other section of the country and frequently from some other part of the world. The majority of those who to-day are tilling the soil or engaged in business or commercial enterprises, forming the bone and sinew of the community, are self made men in the broadest sense of the term, and largely representative of the thrifty and substantial German element. Almost without exception they have identified themselves with American interests and American institutions, and are among our most valued and reliable citizens.

The Kukkuck family is widely and favorably known throughout Fairfield Township, and its members are represented on other pages in this work. The subject of this sketch took up his residence here in 1861, and began the battle of life on a new soil, amidst a strange people, with the usual drawbacks that encountered the farmer of thirty years ago. He is now one of the wealthiest men within its limits, being the owner of 576 acres of land, all of which is in a highly productive condition, and yields to its proprietor thousands of dollars annually. The estate is one of the most important in the county, and with its numerous buildings and appurtenances bears close resemblance to a village - a hive of industry under the leadership and control of a man of more than ordinary abilities - one who, having accumulated a vast property, is amply capable of taking care of it.

A native of what was then the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, Henry Kukkuck was born Aug. 18, 1829, and lived there until 1842. Although then but thirteen years of age he crossed the Atlantic, landing in New York City, and from Castle Garden at once set out for Chicago. That town then, it is hardly necessary to say, was in its infancy, comprising an ill-built village, on low, flat land. Young Kukkuck secured employment as a stonemason, and sojourned there until, believing there would be a better opening farther West, he made his way to Green Bay, Wis., whence he came later to Iowa, and establishing himself at Lyons, followed his trade until 1870. In the meantime, true to the proclivities of his substantial German ancestry, he saved all that he could of his earnings, and was now in a condition to purchase land. For sometime afterward he prosecuted his trade in connection with the cultivation of his land, and it was not long before he began to realize the reward of his labors.

In 1861, leaving Clinton County, Mr. Kukkuck came to Fairfield Township, this county, and purchased eighty acres of land. He continued to labor as he had heretofore, working as a stonemason and carrying on his farm until he could with propriety abondon the former and give his whole attention to the latter. Each year added something to his bank account, and he wisely invested his capital in the purchase of additional land. Now, a hale and hearty old gentleman of three-score years, he can sit under his own vine and fig tree and contemplate his labors with pardonable satisfaction. His course in life has been that which has commended him to the esteem of his fellow-men, and in the building up of his township he has played no unimportant part. His taxable property is the means of placing a good round sum annually in the County Treasury. Upon becoming a voting citizen, he identified himself with the Democratic party, and with his family is a devout member of the Lutheran Church.

The wife of our subject was, in her girlhood, Miss Mary Storm, daughter of John and Mary (Saler) Storm. She was born in the Grand Duchy of Mecklenburg, Germany, May 23, 1841, and is still living. Of their pleasant and congenial union there were born eight children - Charles, Louis, Frederick, Emma (the wife of John Bohnsack), Bertha, May, Ida, and Henry John. Ida died when one year old. Mr. Bohnsack, the husband of Emma, and a native of Mecklenburg, is a well-to-do and highly respected farmer and stock-raiser of Fairfield Township. The other children are at home with their parents.

Carl Kukkuck, the father of our subject, died in Germany in 1865. He was a farmer by occupation - an honest, hard-working man, looking well after the needs of his family, and respected by his neighbors. The mother, Mrs. Justine (Meyer) Kukkuck, survived her husband about two years, dying in 1867. They were the parents of eleven children, five of whom are living, and of whom Henry, our subject, was the eldest born.

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