Henry Fleming, b. 12 Oct 1826

PETHAN, SNOLET, GIBSON, SPECHT, MILLER, SERKRA, SHRADER, WASBECK, PAULSON, CHRISTIANSON

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 3/19/2004 at 06:40:16

The thrifty German citizen found his way to Iowa soon after it was opened for settlement and assisted here as elsewhere in developing the rich resources of the country. Of that class, the subject of this sketch is a most worthy representative. He crossed the Atlantic at the age of twenty-one years, landing in the city of New Orleans, June 27, 1848; thence he proceeded up the Mississippi to Davenport, and was for some time employed as a day laborer. With genuine German thrift and prudence he managed to save enough to justify him in the establishment of a home some five years later and was married August, 1852, in Scott County, Iowa, near the Wapsipinicon River, to Miss Elizabeth Pethan, a native of Prussia, and they commenced their wedded life together on the farm in the vicinity of Davenport.

Two years later Mr. Fleming having made good headway was enabled to purchase a piece of land on Sugar Creek, on which he operated some time. Thence he removed to Van Buren Township, where he became the owner of 320 acres. He has at the present time 129-1/2 acres on section 35. He has been a witness of many and great changes since coming to this country, especially in the West, where, since his arrival there have been introduced innumerable improvements in the way of transportation and in the manner of cultivating the soil, the farm implements of the present day being a vast improvement upon those of the past. Instead of plodding laborously across the country with ox-teams with his produce, the farmer now simply loads it upon a car and it is quickly conveyed to its destination. Mr. Fleming, although a man quiet and unobtrusive in his habits has closely noted all these things and is proud to write himself as "A German-American citizen."

Our subject was born in the grand Duchy of Holstein, Oct. 12, 1826, and is the son of Henry and Maggie (Snolet) Fleming, who were of pure German stock and whose native place was near that of their son. The father was a soldier during the wars of the first Napoleon and at the Battle of Waterloo when the great chieftain was overthrown. He also participated in many other celebrated battles of that time, being in the army a period of seven years. Both he and his excellent wife died in their native Holstein, the father at the age of sixty-five years, and the mother when seventy-five. Their family included eight children, five sons and three daughters, of whom Henry was the third son and the fifth child. The father followed shoe-making, and our subject gained a very good idea of this business, although when approaching manhood he worked two years on a farm and later was engaged in building roads. He received a good education in the German tongue and was carefully trained in the doctrines of the Lutheran Church.

Mr. Fleming is the father of nine children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, Mina, is the wife of Henry Gibson, the mother of four children, and lives near Maquoketa. Mary also resides in that vicinity, she married Henry Specht and is the mother of five children. Lena, (Mrs. Willard Miller) living not far from her sisters, is the mother of six children. Henry, Jr., married Miss Emma Serkra, is the father of two children, and resides on the homestead. Harmon married Miss Mary Shrader, is the father of five children, and lives near Maquoketa. Francis married Miss Jane Wasbeck, lives in Lyons, Iowa. Christine died July 6, 1880. Emma is the wife of Nicholas Miller, of Lyons, Iowa, and the mother of one child. Clara is single and at home. The mother of these departed this life June 27, 1884.

Our subject contracted a second marriage on Feb. 27, 1886, with Mrs. Minnie Christine Paulson, a daughter of Peter and Minnie Christianson, a native of Denmark, where she was reared and first married. Of her first union there were born two children - Peter and Amos, who are now living and reside at home. Of her marriage with our subject there is one child, a son - Elmer, born Jan. 31, 1887.

Mr. Fleming cast his first Presidential vote for Martin Van Buren and afterward voted for Buchanan, Lincoln, Grant, Hayes, Garfield, and Cleveland. He is inclined mostly to the Democracy.

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