Landmesser, Nicholas

LANDMESSER, KRIEDLER, BISCH, KELLER, HIEMAN

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 9/14/2009 at 13:48:05

Landmesser, Nicholas

Fame may look to the clash of resounding arms for its heroes; history's pages may be filled with the record of the deeds of the so-called great who have deluged the world with blood, destroyed kingdoms, created dynasties and left their names as plague spots upon civilization's escutcheon; the poet may embalm in deathless song the short and simple annals of the poor; but there have been few to sound the praise of the brave and sturdy pioneer who among the truly great and noble is certainly deserving of at least a little space in the category of the immortals. To him more than to any other is civilization indebted for the brightest jewel in its diadem, for it was he who blazed the way and acted as a vanguard for the mighty army of progress that within the last seventy-five years has conquered the wilderness, upturned the wild sods of the plains, and transformed them into one of the fairest and most enlightened of the American commonwealth's fair domains. They seem to have had the sagacity to foresee the present opulent state of Iowa, having had, in some occult manner, been able to discern the future of this singularly favored section of the great Middle West.

One of these honored early settlers is Nicholas Landmesser, a venerable agriculturist of Elk Creek Township, Jasper County. He was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, December 27, 1835, and he is the son of Nicholas, Sr., and Catherine (Kriedler) Landmesser, the father born near Saarburg, on the Rhine, in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, formerly a part of France, on December 5, 1811. The mother was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1811. The father was of a Huguenot family and they were persecuted by the Catholics in their native land. The father was a teamster and worked all over western Germany. In the year 1833 he immigrated to America, the tedious voyage requiring seven weeks on an old-time sailing vessel. He was accompanied by a married sister and brother-in-law and an unmarried sister, Nicholas and Louise Bisch and Mary Landmesser. The father of the immediate subject of this sketch located in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, when that country was practically new. He found employment first in digging canals, later worked in coalmines. He remained in the old Keystone State many years, but not getting the start he had anticipated he immigrated with his family to Jasper County, Iowa, in 1854. They came to Chicago by train and made the rest of the journey in a wagon, buying a team in the city by the lake. Here the elder Landmesser purchased two hundred and twenty acres in Elk Creek Township, to which he later added seventy acres. He prospered in the new country through hard, persistent labor and good management and become one of the substantial and well known men of his community. He was school director and active in Democratic politics. He was reared in the faith of the German Lutheran church and he remained a supporter of the same to the end, his death occurring on March 4, 1879, his widow surviving only a few months, she having joined him in the Silent Land on November 1st of the same year.

There were eight children in the Landmesser family, named as follows: George, Daniel, Louis, Henry, Peter and Nicholas, of this sketch; Louise is deceased and two children died in infancy, the subject having been the oldest of the family.

Nicholas Landmesser, Jr., had to work hard when a boy, assisting his father care for the younger members of the family and clear and develop the home place, in fact, he did a man's work from the age of fifteen years, and he then began working in tunnels and mines. He had little chance to obtain an education, but in later life he made up for this as best he could by home reading and contact with his fellows. Thus he grew to manhood in Pennsylvania, being nineteen years old when he accompanied his parents to Jasper County, Iowa, in 1854, and he continued to live with them until he was twenty-six years old, then began renting land of his father. He spent the entire year of 1865 breaking wild prairie land, and that fall he ran a horsepower threshing machine. In 1865 he purchased two hundred and twenty acres and his father bequeathed forty acres to him, so that he is now the owner of a fine farm consisting of three hundred and thirty acres in Elk Creek and Buena Vista Townships, which he has kept well improved and under a high state of cultivation and has met with encouraging success as a general farmer and stock raiser all along the line. For some time he kept between thirty and forty cows, running a dairy for butter, of which he made a success, later sold the cream and shipped it to Chicago. He is one of the most widely known threshers in this section, having owned and operated a threshing machine for the past forty years. He keeps full-blooded Polled-Angus cattle, and, being a good judge of livestock, he has met with more than ordinary success in this field of endeavor.

Mr. Landmesser is a stanch Democrat and has long been active in the affairs of his community, his support always going to such measures as make for the general development of the same. He has been Township Supervisor for one term.

Mr. Landmesser was married on January 13, 1858, to Louise Keller, who was born in Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, on August 18, 1836, and the she spent her girlhood days. She proved to be a woman of praiseworthy characteristics and a fit helpmeet for an enterprising man of affairs. She was called to her rest on January 16, 1910. She was the daughter of Conrad Keller and wife, this family having immigrated to Jasper County, Iowa, 1856, thus being among the pioneers, like the Landmessers.

To Mr. and Mrs. Landmesser were born eight children, named as follow Fred, deceased; Charles Henry lives in Canada; Richard lives on his father's place and assists in operating the same; Isadore lives in Galesburg, this state; Mrs. Henrietta Hieman; Luther, Effie and Wright live at home.

Mr. Landmesser is a well-preserved man for his years, hale and active. Personally, he is a man of positive ideas and has the courage of his convictions. By a judicious daily life he has won the confidence and good will of all who know him. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 702