Henry Hagedorn, b 25 Nov 1833

HAGEDORN, SYRUP, ECKHERT, RUST, MINGLER, KRUMWEIDE, LAMPE, SNEVERLY, MENGLER, STRUZENBERG, CALLAHAN, HOSTETTER, MOHR, MCCORMICK

Posted By: Donna Moldt Walker (email)
Date: 5/1/2004 at 07:23:35

Squire Henry Hagedorn. This name is familiar to most of the residents of Washington Township and vicinity, to which he came during its pioneer days, and performed a large share in the labor of bringing it to its present condition socially, morally and financially. He has been the postmaster at Green Island since 1876, holding the office through the changes of administration, which fact in itself indicates the estimation in which he is held by his fellow citizens. For the last thirteen years he has been engaged in general merchandising, and enjoys an extensive patronage as the result of his honest and upright dealing and courteous demeanor toward those with whom he comes in contact. He is a man of more than ordinary abilities, very intelligent, and possesses in a marked degree the substantial traits of his excellent German ancestry.

Our subject, like his forefathers for several generations, is a native of what was then the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, and was born Nov. 25, 1833, in the village of Steinhude, Schaumburg-Lippe. His parents were Henry and Mary (Syrup) Hagedorn, both also natives of Hanover. The father was born in Schneeren and the mother in Mardorf. The father was a miller by trade, and with his excellent wife spent his entire life on his native soil, dying in 1862, at the age of fifty-two years. The mother passed away prior to the decease of her husband, in 1850, at the age of forty-seven. Their household included nine children - four sons and five daughters, of whom two sons and two daughters are living, and making their homes as follows: William H. lives in Lake Mills, Wis.; Dorothea (Mrs. Fred Eckhert) resides in Crawford County, Iowa; Sophia (Mrs. Rust) resides in Indianapolis, Ind.; and our subject.

The third child of his parents, our subject, like his brothers and sisters, was placed in the public school at an early age, pursuing his studies from the time he was a lad of six years until fourteen years old, and some of the time attending a private school. He then began an apprenticeship at the miller's trade, at which he was thereafter engaged in his native land for a period of eleven years. He served in the German army five years, and at the age of twenty-five was married in February, 1857, to a maiden of his own Province - Miss Mary Mingler.

Mr. Hagedorn and his bride set out on their wedding tour across the Atlantic, on the 15th of August, 1857, taking passage on the sailing vessel "John Long," at the port of Bremen, and after a voyage of thirty-two days arrived in New York City. Thence they came directly to Van Buren Township, this county, where a brother-in-law of Mr. Hagedorn, Louis Krumweide, had previously settled; our subject arriving here without any capital, but, on the contrary, $50 in debt. A few months later he rented a farm of Dr. Hostetter, which he operated one year, and then removed to Leavenworth, Kan. That region was then the scene of a continual conflict between the two political factions, and in 1860 Mr. Hagedorn came back to Iowa, and was glad to find himself in a peaceable country.

Our subject now rented another farm, embracing the land upon which is located the present town of Green Island, and where he operated three years. Next he removed to a farm of eighty acres, belonging to Mr. Claus Mohr, upon which he also remained three years. In 1866 he was enabled to purchase 120 acres of land in Washington Township. Upon this he labored to good advantage, but in March, 1874, having a good opportunity to embark in mercantile business, he purchased the store of Mr. McCormick, who put in the first stock of groceries in Green Island.

That same year Mr. Hagedorn put up the Green Island Hotel, which he conducted until March, 1876. Then selling out, he erected his present store-building, and invested a portion of his capital in a stock of general merchandise, since which time he has been doing a lucrative trade. He was appointed Postmaster that same year. In 1878 he was elected Justice of the Peace, and has held that office since then. He votes the straight Democratic ticket, and has been of signal service to his party in this county, attending the various conventions as a delegate, and otherwise laboring as he has had opportunity to further its interests.

Both our subject and his estimable wife are members in good standing of the German-Lutheran Church. They are the parents of nine children, namely: Henry, Louisa, John and Willie (twins), who died at the age of eleven months; Mary, Emma, Minnie, Sophia, and Charles. Henry married Miss Theresa Lampe, and is farming in Ida County. He has five children - Lena, Minnie, William, Andrew and Emma. Miss Louisa Hagedorn, the eldest daughter of our subject, became the wife of Louis Sneverly, a plasterer and painter by trade, and they are living in Holstein, in Ida County; they have three children - Hortensia, Mary, and Clarence. Miss Mary Hagedorn became the wife of Charles Mengler and the mother of one child, a son - Frank; she died at her home in Elgin, Ill., March 14, 1888, at the early age of twenty-seven years; Mr. Mengler is in the boot and shoe business at Elgin, Ill. Miss Emma H. married John Struzenberg, a merchant of Elgin, ILl., and they have one child, a son - Elmer Eugene; Miss Minnie became the wife of Mat Callahan, a railroad man, and they live in Chadwick, Ill.; Miss Sophia is at home with her parents; Charles died when a babe of six months. Mr. Hagedorn is warmly interested in educational matters, believing in giving to the young all the advantages which will enable them to become good and useful citizens.

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