FREDERICK WILLIAM KRUMVIEDE, b 20 Jan 1844

KRUMVIEDE, MANGELER, STROGMEYER, HUCHOLTZ, FRAZIER, SCHLEMA

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 6/15/2004 at 08:13:47

There is not a finer home, all things considered, in Van Buren Township, than that which is owned and occupied by the gentleman with whose name we introduce this sketch. Everything that cultivated taste and abundant means could supply has been employed for its adornment and comfort, and in addition to the decorative art, it is brightened by a family amiable and devoted to each other. The wife of our subject is a lady of many excellent qualities, kind and hospitable - one who looks well to the ways of her household, and who welcomes friend and stranger alike, with that air of breeding which is inseperable from good birth and training. Their children are bright and handsome, and it would seem that in all respects their's is the ideal home.

The farm of our subject embraces 160 acres of finely cultivated land on section 13, and which was taken up by his father from the Government as early as 1854. Here he spent his boyhood and youth acquiring his education in the district school, and also becoming familiar with the language of his parents, who were natives of the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. He grew up stout and robust, and is now a fine, portly looking gentleman, with a powerful frame, and as sound mentally as he is physically. He was born Jan. 20, 1844, also in Hanover, and is the son of Louis and Sophia (Mangeler) Krumviede. The parents of each are also natives of Hanover, and grandfather William Mangeler in early manhood emigrated to America, bringing with him his parents, and settled near Green Island, Jackson Co., Iowa, about 1857. The father of our subject was a shoemaker by trade, which he followed in his native place until after his marriage, then emigrated to America and settled in the western part of the city of Chicago, where he sojourned about four years. In 1854 he came to Iowa and settled in Iowa Township, Jackson County, where he took up a tract of land and accumulated a good property, being the owner now of about 400 acres. He is now seventy-three years old and the mother is sixty-six. The latter is in especially good health, and is a hearty and pleasant old lady, beloved and respected by all who know her.

To the parents of our subject there were born nine children, four sons and five daughters, of whom Frederick William was the eldest but one. A sister, older, died in Van Buren Township at the age of about twenty years. Our subject was a little lad five years of age when he crossed the Atlantic with his parents, and his earliest recollections are of the pioneer home in Iowa Township. He was fond of athletic sports and hunting in his youthful days. At times he made as much as $12 per day shooting and selling quails. At the age of eleven years he was quite an expert at handling an ox team, hauling wood and doing other work. Sometimes he cultivated corn with one ox and a double-shovel plow, and has broken prairie with as many as eight yoke of oxen to the plow, cutting the soil to a width of thirty-two inces. During his boyhood he met with an accident which cost him the loss of a finger, but notwithstanding this, upon the outbreak of the civil war he managed to be admitted into the ranks of the Union soldiery.

At the age of seventeen years young Krumviede repaired to Sabula and enlisted in Company A, 24th Iowa Infantry, which spent about two months at Muscatine, drilling. They then marched to the front, and gained still further knowledge of military tactics under Confederate fire. Our subject first saw the smoke of battle at Ft. Gibson, and recalls to this day the sensations he experienced when he saw the shedding of human blood by man. At Champion Hills he had a very close call, a ball striking him on the right side of the head, passing beneath the skin and lodging on the left side, making a protuberance looking very much like an egg. It was not expected by any one that he would survive, but after the bullet has been removed he rapidly recovered.

After the battle of Champion Hills, Mr. Krumviede was taken prisoner, but was immediately paroled and sent with other wounded soldiers to the St. Louis Hospital, where he was cared for by Union attendants. He was soon afterward exchanged, and rejoined his regiment in time to participate in the Red River Expedition. Later they returned to New Orleans and were soon transferred to the Shenandoah Valley. His regiment lost very heavily at Champion Hills, and the remaining soldiers were placed in the reserve corps and stationed at different places in the South for nine months following.

The high spirits and usually good health of our subject found vent in the army as they had always done at home, and he was always jolly and popular among the boys of the regiment. After being transferred to the Shenandoah Valley he was wounded in the right knee at Cedar Creek and laid up for three months in the Philadelphia Hospital. Upon recovery he rejoined his regiment in the Shenandoah Valley, when he received the news of the surrender. He received his honorable discharge at Davenport, Iowa, after a service of more than three years. On his return home he found his two brothers in the harvest-field, and at once turned in to assist them.

The next most interesting event in the life of our subject was his marriage, on the 4th of December, 1866, with Miss Lena, daughter of Frederick and Louisa (Hucholtz) Strogmeyer. The parents of Mrs. Krumviede were born, reared and married in Hanover, Germany, whence they emigrated to America about 1846, and settled seventeen miles west of Chicago, Ill. Mrs. Krumviede is a native of Illinois, and was born Oct. 11, 1850. She was a mere child when brought to this county by her mother, her father having died in Illinois in 1850, before her birth. The mother was subsequently married to Henry Frazier, who is now also deceased. Mrs. Krumviede was reared under the roof of her step-father, and was married at the age of seventeen. Of the mother's first marriage there were born three children, and of the latter, one. Mrs. Frazier is still living and is a well-preserved lady of seventy-nine years. Both Mr. and Mrs. Krumviede speak the German tongue fluently. Soon after their marriage they settled upon the farm where they now live, and which Mr. Krumviede purchased later.

To our subject and his excellent wife there have been born the children whose record is as follows: Eva became the wife of Christ Schlema, who is engaged in the agricultural implement trade at Preston, and is one of its thriving business men; they have one child, a daughter - Effie. Louisa died at the age of seven years; Sophia is at home with her parents; Freddie died also when he was seven years old; Dora, Otto, Addie and Emma are at home with their parents, the three first named pursuing their studies in the district school. Mr. Krumviede has now for sometime been interested in the breeding of thoroughbred horses. The residence is an elegant two-story frame structure. The barn is large and commodious, and conveniently arranged for the storage of grain, while the other buildings and the machinery are in keeping with the progressive character of the proprietor. Mrs. Krumviede looks after a dairy of about eighteen cows. Our subject, politically, votes the straight Republican ticket, and is a charter member of the G.A.R. Post at Miles.

Louis Krumviede, the father of our subject, emigrated to the United States in the year of 1848, and upon coming to Iowa Township, this county, settled on wild land, on section 19. He had been married in his native Germany, in September, 1841, to Miss Sophia Mangeler, whose father was William Mangeler, also of German birth and ancestry. They became the parents of fifteen children, nine of whom are living, namely: Frederick, Mary, John, Sophia, William, Alvina, Emma, Emelia and Louis. All are married but the last named. One daughter, Louise, died when a young woman. Mr. Krumviede has thirty-eight grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He has been very successful in his farming operations, being the owner of 382 acres of land, and his farm is operated by his son Louis. The father received a stroke of paralysis Jan. 20, 1888, and has since been unable to do any labor. He was reared in the doctrines of the Evangelical Church, to which he still loyally adheres. He usually votes the Democratic ticket, but has never had any ambition for office, declining the honors which his fellow-townsmen would have bestowed upon him.

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