PANKUK, S.

PANKUK, MEYER, RIPPENTROP, JOHNSON, GROTHOUSE, SCHRODER, ROSEN, WRIGHT, CREESE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 11/25/2003 at 13:21:28

Biography reproduced from page 653 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

S. Pankuk owns a hundred and sixty acres of land located in Lincoln township, which he is devoting to general farming and stock-raising with good success. He was born in Freeport, Illinois, on the 7th of April, 1869, and is a son of Anton and Edith Meyer. The parents, who were born, reared and married in Germany, emigrated to the United States after the birth of their third child, locating in Illinois, which remained their place of residence for eight years. At the expiration of that time they came to Iowa, going direct to Grundy county. Four years later, in 1882, they came to Kossuth county, and soon thereafter the father purchased a tract of unimproved land in German township. He cleared and cultivated his farm until 1905, when he retired from active work and removed to Titonka. There he passed away in 1911, and is buried in the cemetery of the German Reformed church. He was eighty-one years of age at the time of his death and always followed agricultural pursuits. The mother, who has now attained the venerable age of eighty-two years, is residing in Titonka. Their family numbered ten: Boyd, who buys and sells live stock at Titonka; Ben, who is engaged in the real-estate business at Titonka; Everdine, who died when the family were en route to America and was buried at sea; Everett, whose death occurred at the age of eighteen years; John, a buttermaker, residing at Buffalo Center, Iowa; S., our subject; Alice, the wife of C. C. Rippentrop, of Lincoln township; Ella, who married George Johnson, of Mildner, North Dakota; Anton, who resides in South Dakota; and Effie, the wife of Herman Grothouse, of Poplar, Montana.

At the usual age S. Pankuk entered the common schools of Grundy county, completing his course of study in this county. He remained at home until he was twenty-one years of age, his youthful activities being directed along very much the same lines as those of other lads who are reared in the country. For two years thereafter he farmed as a renter two miles east of where he is now residing, and has ever since been devoting his energies to agricultural pursuits. In 1908, he purchased his present place, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres. During the period of his ownership he has made many and extensive improvements, having erected all of the buildings, tiled the fields and planted groves and orchards. He has applied himself with energy to the development of his property, and as a result his fields are yielding crops that amply reward him for his diligence.

In 1892 Mr. Pankuk was married to Miss Minnie Schroder, the second of seven children born to her parents. The other members of the family are as follows: Malinda, the wife of Henry Rosen, of Mankato, Minnesota; Amelia, who married William Wright, of Portland, Oregon; Lena, who became the wife of John Pankuk; Boyd, who is a real-estate dealer in Mason City, Iowa; Henry, who is a resident of Webster City, Iowa; and Mary, who married James Creese, of Oklahoma. Mr. and Mrs. Pankuk have six children, Effie, Avert, August, Edith, Seever and Raleigh.

The family are members of the German Reformed church, and Mr. Pankuk votes the republican ticket. He is a man of high personal worth, who has made his way unaided since he left home at the age of twenty-one years, such success as has come to him being the result of his individual effort directed with intelligence and foresight