Henry L. Baehr, b. 25 Aug 1855

SCHUETTE, HILLION, THURNAN

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/21/2004 at 12:17:58

Prof. Henry L. Baehr, Superintendent of the Orphan Asylum at Andrew, is a native of Germany, and was born Aug. 25, 1855. He was reared in his native sity, and attended the common school until fourteen years of age. After confirmation he was apprenticed to a mechanical engineer, but a year and a half later decided to come to America. He embarked on the ship "Herman," sailing from Bremen, and landed in New York City, a stranger in a strange land, without relatives or acquaintances, and with only $8 in his pocket. He made his way to the vicinity of Waverly, this State, where he engaged in farming, and remained about seven years. In the winter he occupied his time in study, and in the fall of 1878 entered upon the preparatory teachers' course in the Orphan Asylum at Andrew, after which he attended Waverly College. From this latter he was graduated in the spring of 1881, and assumed charge of a school in Osauka County, Wis., where he remained until November, 1887. He was then proffered his present position.

Prof. Baehr was married, in Cedarburg, Wis., April 12, 1883, to Miss Bertha Schuette, a native of that place, and the daughter of John and Catherine (Hillion) Schuette, who were natives of Oldenburg, Germany, and upon coming to America engaged in farming near Cedarburg, Wis. Mr. Schuette is now a real-estate dealer. Of this untion there are three children - Paul, Hedwig and Gertrude. Mr. and Mrs. Baehr are active members of the Lutheran Church, and our subject, politically, is a sound Republican.

The father of our subject was Louis Baehr, a native of Hessen, Germany, and the son of Louis, Sr., a merchant, and a man possession great musical talent, being a fine performer on the violin and flute, and the leader of an orchestra. He engaged in the wars with France, and died in 1864, at the advanced age of eighty-eight years. He was possessed of a large property. The father of our subject operated twelve years as a miller, then conducted a brewery until his death, in 1878, at the age of sixty-six years. He passed away in the faith of the Lutheran Church. The mother, Mrs. Sophia Thurnan, was born in Rodenburg, German, and was the daughter of Frederick Thurnan, who was among the most prominent farmers and citizens of his Province. He died in 1859. Mrs. Baehr was well educated, and died in 1869, at the age of forty-nine years. Lizzie, the eldest of her five children, resides in Hanover. There others were - Albert, Fred, William and Henry. Fred was a soldier in the German army during the war with France, and has his arm broken in the service.

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