ANDREW WURSTER, b 12 Mar 1828

WURSTER, SPECKMAN, DORR, RIDDINGER, JOHNSON, HERRING

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 2/28/2005 at 18:26:31

The thrifty German farmer, healthful and comfortable, and having a fair supply of this world's goods, is fully represented in the subject of this notice. Mr. Wurster is the owner of 215 acres of good land, and has built his house in a little dell completely surrounded by bluffs, amid beautiful scenery, which reminds him of the Fatherland, from which he emigrated in early manhood. He makes no pretensions to elegance in his style of living, but has one of those pleasant and substantial homes with which any reasonable man should be contented. Personally, he is of large, fine stature, well-built, with stout muscles, and healthful frame - a man who seldom knows what it is to be ill, and who has maintained his health and strength unimpaired by dissipation or excesses of any kind.

A native of the Kingdom of Wurtemburg, Germany, Mr. Wurster was born March 12, 1828, and lived upon a farm from the time he was six years old until he was fourteen. He remained under the parental roof until reaching his majority, then served three years in the German army. At the expiration of this time he, in the fall of 1853, set out for American on a sailing-vessel from Bremen, and landed safely in New York City, after an ocean voyage of thirty-five days.

Soon after setting foot upon American soil Mr. Wurster made his way to Jo Daviess County, Ill., where he engaged as a farm laborer, and also worked in the lead mines. In due time he was enabled to purchase 160 acres of land, which he improved, and upon which he carried on agriculture successfully until the fall of 1865. Then selling out he came to this county, and purchased 120 acres of land in Maquoketa Township. this was partially improved, and he prosecuted farming fourteen years, then sold out once more, and purchased 175 acres on section 14 in the same township. This was a very well developed farm with fair buildings, and Mr. Wurster occupied it until 1885. Upon selling this he invested his capital in that which he now owns and occupies.

Upon this farm, at the time of Mr. Wurster's settlement here, there were no improvements to speak of, but he liked the location, and set himself industriously to work to bring it up to his ideas of what a homestead should be. He put up a house, has been erecting other buildings as he has needed, and has brought seventy acres to a good state of cultivation. He deals considerably in live-stock, feeding a car-load each of cattle and swine each year. He has graded Norman horses, and employs two teams to work the farm.

While a resident of Galena, Ill., Mr. Wurster was married in June, 1854, to Miss Margaret Speckman. This lady was born in Hanover, Germany, in 1828, and is the daughter of John Speckman, a native of the same province, and who emigrated to American in 1850. He located at Winona, Minn., and spent his last days with his son. To Mr. and Mrs. Wurster there have been born nine children, eight of whom are living, namely: Louisa, Mary, Pauline, Margaret, Gottlieb, Barbara, Christopher and John. Louisa and Mary are independent, industrious young ladies, and occupy themselves as dressmakers, the first mentioned in Maquoketa; Pauline is the wife of Mr. Dorr, and resides in Winona, Minn.; Margaret is the wife of William Riddinger, a farmer of Maquoketa Township; Gottlieb is farming in this township; Barbara is the wife of Mr. C. Johnson, of Clinton County. The others are at home with their parents.

Mr. Wurster, politically, is a stanch Democrat, and both he and his wife are charter members of the Lutheran Church. Our subject has officiated as Road Supervisor, and was at one time a member of the I.O.O.F., at Maquoketa. The residence and its adjacent buildings lie on section 13, while some of the land is on section 12.

Andrew L. Wurster, the father of our subject, also a native of Wurtemburg, was a miller by trade, and also engaged in farming. He married Miss Elizabeth B. Herring, a maiden of his own province, and they emigrated to American in 1852, locating near Hanover, Jo Daviess County, Ill. The father purchased 200 acres of land, which he improved into a good farm, and there, with his excellent wife, spent the remainder of his days. He was a member of the Lutheran Church. Their family consisted of five children, namely: Samuel, a resident of Jo Daviess County, Ill.; Andrew, our subject; Jacob, who is living in Kansas; John and Christopher, in Jo Daviess County, Ill.; the latter served as a soldier during the late Civil War. The paternal grandfather, Samuel Wurster, was a miller by trade, and spent his entire life in his native Germany.

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