IMMERFALL, JOHN G.

IMMERFALL, FERSTL, JONES, NEUBERGER, HAMMER, GESCHEL

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 3/16/2004 at 08:42:34

Biography reproduced from page 303 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Among the prominent contractors and builders of St. Benedict, Kossuth county, Iowa, is John G. Immerfall, a son of Andrew and Cynthia (Ferstl) Immerfall. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Immerfall were nine children, four of whom died in infancy. The surviving brothers and sisters of John G. Immerfall are: Ed, who is engaged in the livery business in Wesley; Philip, who resides on the Joseph Rahm farm in Prairie township; Martha, who is the wife of Hugh Jones, of Chamberlain, South Dakota, and the mother of three children; and Mary, who is the wife of August Neuberger and the mother of three children.

John G. Immerfall was born November 8, 1860, in Dodge county, Wisconsin, where he was reared on the farm of his father. He was educated at the district school and the parochial school at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. He came to Kossuth county, Iowa, in March, 1884, where he began working on a farm by the month. After being so employed for a time, he took up carpenter work in and around Sexton, Iowa, a trade which he has since followed. In connection with his regular line of work, however, he has run a threshing machine every fall since 1892.

Mr. Immerfall was married January 31, 1893, to Miss Ida Hammer, the nuptials being celebrated in the Catholic church in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin. Joseph Hammer, the father of Mrs. Immerfall, was born in Germany and when a young man, emigrated to the United States, settling in the vicinity of Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and there he lived to an advanced age. Frances (Geschel) Hammer, the mother, was born in Germany, where she was married shortly before coming to the United States with her husband. They were the parents of fourteen children: Michael; Albert; Edward, who resides in Irvington township, Kossuth county; Frank, who makes his home in Minnesota; Frances; Mary; Joseph; George, who died in infancy; Ida, the wife of John G. Immerfall; Anna, Will, and Tillie, Clara and Peter, all of whom reside in and around Beaver Dam. Mr. and Mrs. Immerfall have become the parents of eight children: Agnes, born December 20, 1893, and Amanda, born July 13, 1895, both of whom attended the parochial schools and are now residing at home; Charlotte, who was born in April, 1897; Raymond, born October 6, 1900; Henry, born July 5, 1903; Albert, who was born September 21, 1895; and died December 18, 1907, his remains being interred in a cemetery at St. Benedict, Iowa; Anna, born March 25, 1909, and Ermina, born August 15, 1910.

Mr. Immerfall is an adherent of the democratic party, in which organization he has taken a lively interest, although he has never been a politician in the office-seeking sense of the word. The only position of a political character he has ever held has been that of assessor of Prairie township, where he resides. Religiously both the Immerfall and Hammer families are members of the Catholic church. Mr. Immerfall and his family are among the most respected citizens of Kossuth county and he has a wide circle of acquaintances throughout this section. He is an active, progressive business man and his career has been marked by a liberal degree of success.