Hendricks, Fred

HENDRICKS, GAMER, PRICE, BRANDT, KLING

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/30/2009 at 12:54:14

Hendricks, Fred

From forty to sixty years ago it must have been the rule and not the exception to see farms in Jasper County in all directions in various stages of improvement, some in which the log cabin stood on the bare prairie or in the little clearing of half an acre, some with a tract of from five to twenty acres, newly broken and with a hewed or rough bark house, perhaps a double one; some with still more acres upturned to the genial skies and basking in the life-giving sunshine. On nearly all farms were to be seen for years after the first work had been done spots which the farmer thought it necessary to avoid on account of thick, heavy stumps, and low wet places, needing drainage ditches. Today a great difference is noted. On all these old fields something is growing, the soil having long ago been reclaimed from the wild. Fred Hendricks, one of our prosperous and most progressive farmers passed through just such hardships and trying experiences, lived through the early and later periods of development of Jasper County and he has played well his part in the work of transformation, as has many another whose name honors these pages, for no one will deny that to these hardy, self-sacrificing pioneers all honor is due.

Fred Hendricks was born in Prussia, Germany, October 1, 1843. He is the son of John and Sophia (Gamer) Hendricks, both natives of Germany, the father born in 1805 and the mother in 1800. The parents of the subject grew up and were married in the fatherland, and there engaged in farming. In 1857 these parents immigrated to the United States, locating in Jasper County, Iowa, where John Hendricks purchased forty acres of land and here they established the family home, and here the mother died in 1864 while her son Fred, of this sketch, was away in the Federal Army. Fred was the only child by the first marriage of John and Sophia Hendricks. The mother had been formerly married to a Mr. Price and they became the parents of three children, namely: Mrs. Mary (Price) Brandt, Mrs. Sophia (Price) Brandt, and Carl, who is deceased.

Fred Hendricks attended school in Germany and for a short time the Jasper County (Iowa) schools and he grew up on the farm, assisting his father with the general work about the place. He proved his loyalty to our flag and the national union by enlisting in our armies in 1862, and he served faithfully as a private in Company E, Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, for a period of three years, receiving an honorable discharge. He returned home from the army and worked on his father's place, one hundred and twenty acres of which was later deeded to him by his father, and on this the subject went to work with a will and subsequently added to his original holdings until he is now the owner of one of the choice farms of the Township, consisting of three hundred and fifty acres, which he has kept well cultivated and placed under a high state of improvements. This splendid place is known as "Elk Valley Stock Farm." Some time ago he deeded forty acres to his son George. He has made a success as a general farmer and is now well established.

Fred Hendricks was married on January 1, 1874, to Margaret Kling, who was born in Germany on September 12, 1847, and there she spent her girlhood, immigrating to America with her parents in 1871. To the subject and wife two children have been born, namely: George, born in Elk Creek Township, Jasper County, Iowa, November 25, 1874, is married and engaged in farming in this Township; John, the younger son, is living at home. Politically, Mr. Hendricks is a Democrat and he belongs to the Lutheran Church Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 697.