Hummel, John P.

HUMMEL, HOLP, WAGONER, RUSS, MAGG, LOTZ, WILHELM, MCCOMBS

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/31/2009 at 11:21:46

Hummel, John P.

At this point we enter brief record concerning another of the representative agriculturists, now living in honorable retirement in his cozy home in Monroe, Jasper County, and aside from the position he occupies as a leading and highly esteemed citizen of the locality there is added interest attached to the resume of his career from the fact that he came here early in life and lived to see and take part in the wonderful advancement of the Hawkeye State, his family have been one of the advance guard of progress and material advancement and while he has benefited himself in a very material way in this community, he has been of much value to the county owing to his public spirit and his loyalty to the support of any movements which have as their ultimate aim the bettering of the community which has long been honored by his residence.

Mr. John P. Hummel was born December 25, 1853, in Montgomery County, Ohio, and he is the son of Benedict and Nancy (Holp) Hummel. The father was born in Wittenberg, Germany, and there grew to maturity and was educated, emigrating to the United States in 1848, no other member of his family coming to our shores for many years afterwards. He settled on a farm in Montgomery County, Ohio, where he lived four years, then moved to Elkhart County, Indiana, and purchased a farm of eighty acres, and there he lived and farmed until 1863, when he brought his family to Jasper County, Iowa, and purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Fairview Township, five miles northwest of Monroe. While living in Montgomery County, Ohio, he and Nancy Holp were married. She was the daughter of a farmer and was born in Pennsylvania. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Benedict Hummel; Elizabeth, who married W. W. Wagoner, a well known farmer in Fairview Township, this County, living five miles northwest of Monroe; Mike is married and lives on the home farm; and John P., of this review, who lives in Monroe. The mother of these children died at the old home place in 1887 at the age of sixty-seven years. In 1872 the father went west and was never again heard from.

John P. Hummel, who was the second child in order of birth, was about nine years old when the family moved to Iowa; he received his education in the country schools in Fairview Township near the home farm, remaining at home, assisting with the general farm work, until his marriage, which occurred in January 1898. His wife was known in her maidenhood as Augusta Russ, daughter of Leonard and Catherine (Hummel) Russ. She was born in Germany in 1861, her parents being natives of the fatherland. They came to America in 1871 and settled at Monroe, Jasper County, Iowa. She was one of a family of five children, namely: Mary, who married George Magg, a retired farmer, now living at Prairie City; Kate, who married William Lotz, lives one mile south of Monroe in Marion County; Bergie married Lewis Wilhelm and lives on a farm northwest of Monroe; the wife of our subject was the oldest of the family; Lucy married George McCombs, of California, a ranchman. The parents of these children are both deceased.

After his marriage John P. Hummel left the farm and built a home in Monroe, and it was here that the greatest sorrow as well as the greatest joy visited him, for with the birth of the little daughter, Augusta, on April 13, 1891, the mother's life ended, leaving the husband and the home desolate and the beloved daughter to grow up without a mother's protecting care and love. Mrs. Hummel was a lady of estimable character, kind and gentle mannered, beloved by all who knew her. She was a faithful member of the Catholic Church at Des Moines. Since her death Mr. Hummel has lived alone, the child being kept by her aunt and uncle while she is small.

Mr. Hummel has been very successful in a business way. Besides his property in Monroe, which is modern and valuable, he is the owner of one of the choice farms of Fairview Township, consisting of two hundred and sixty acres, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation and on which is to be found a good set of buildings. He is now living retired from active life. He is a man of splendid character and has the friendship and respect of all who know him. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 973.