ZAHLTEN, AUGUST

ZAHLTEN, RIEBHOFF, SLAGLE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/3/2003 at 17:41:18

Biography reproduced from page 347 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

August Zahlten was one of the enterprising sons of Germany who came to Kossuth county during the early pioneer days, and through his thrift and unceasing diligence acquired a valuable farm of two hundred acres in Union township, which is now cultivated by his daughter, Clara, the only surviving member of the family.

Mr. Zahlten was born in Prussia on the 12th of January, 1817, and there he passed the first thirty-five years of his life. He lived with his parents until 1852, when he decided to come to America, believing from the reports he had heard that he would find better opportunities here than were afforded in his native land. He landed at New York and went from there to Pennsylvania, where he worked for sixteen months. At the expiration of that time he came to Iowa, first locating in Humboldt county, where he passed the winter of ’54 and’55. While there he filed on a homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, but as he did not have money enough to improve it he subsequently sold his claim to a Mr. McKnight. On the 20th of May, 1855, he came to Kossuth county and entered the employ of Judge A. C. Call, with whom he remained that summer. In the fall he bought a claim of one hundred and sixty acres on section 36, township 96, range 26, from a Mr. Gates. He improved and cultivated this place for a year, and then sold it to James Roan, and subsequently purchased another tract of one hundred and sixty acres from a Mr. Graw, for which he paid one hundred and twenty-five dollars. He thereafter made this place his home, increasing his acreage as he was able, until he held title to two hundred acres of fertile land. The remainder of his active life was devoted to the cultivation of his farm, which is now one of the valuable properties of the township, and here he passed away on the 9th of March, 1912.

In this county on the 7th of January, 1857, Mr. Zahlten was married to Miss Margaret Riebhoff, a native of Hanover, Germany, and to them were born the following children: Mary, who died in August, 1886; Theresa, who passed away February 12, 1897, the deceased wife of Charles Slagle, agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Ruthven, Iowa, by whom she had two children, August and Elva; Emma, who died on the 18th of October, 1893; and Clara, whose natal day was December 9, 1864, the only surviving member of the family, the mother having passed away on the 2d of May, 1903.

At the time of his death Mr. Zahlten had resided in Kossuth county for almost fifty-seven years, and the greater part of the time he had passed on his farm two miles east of Algona. During the early years of his residence here he endured all of the hardships and privations incident to pioneering, and in 1862 enlisted in a company that for four months defended the Iowa frontier against onslaughts from the Indians, who committed terrible depredations in the neighboring state of Minnesota. The political views of Mr. Zahlten accorded with the principles of the populist party, but he never actively participated in township affairs, although he was public-spirited and took an interest in forwarding the progress and development of his community. In matters of religious faith both he and his family were Congregationalists. He was a man of integrity and honor, who conducted his transactions in an honest and straightforward manner and such success as come to him was the result of unceasing labor and earnest endeavor.