APPELT, LOUIS

APPELT, FLEMMIG, BOEHLE, MESHOLSKIE, ASKELAND, NESS, IDSA, BODE

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/27/2004 at 15:35:38

Biography reproduced from page 503 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

One of the prosperous, progressive and highly respected farmers of Kossuth county is Louis Appelt, who resides on a fine farm on section 5, Harrison township. He was born in Humboldt county, Iowa, April 10, 1874, a son of William Frederick and Alvina (Flemmig) Appelt. The parents, who were natives of Wittenberg, Germany, removed to America in 1869 and settled in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. Being a farmer by training, the father secured employment on a farm in Wisconsin for the first year during which he lived in this country and then removed to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, where for two years he was employed in the copper mines. He returned to Wisconsin at the end of that period and remained until 1872 and then removed to Humboldt county, Iowa, where he resumed farming, purchasing one hundred and twenty acres of land ten miles southeast of Humboldt, the farm on which Louis Appelt was born and where he grew to young manhood. The father lived upon that farm until the time of his death, which occurred on August 26, 1900, his wife having passed away in 1880. In their family were four children: Louisa, the wife of Joseph Boehle, a farmer of Jackson, Mississippi; Louis, of this review; Bertha, a milliner of Deadwood, South Dakota; and Alvina, the wife of Fred Mesholskie, who is employed in the gypsum mills at Caldwell, Iowa.

Louis Appelt remained under the parental roof until he attained the age of twenty-five years. He attended a district school in Humboldt county and assisted his father with the farm work until the time of his marriage, when he rented the old homestead of his father for a year. When the farm was sold at the administrator’s sale Mr. Appelt became its purchaser and made that place his home until 1908, when he sold the property and removed to Harrison township, Kossuth county, where he bought the one hundred and sixty acre farm upon which he now lives. Besides general farming he raises and buys for feeding a number of hogs each year. His farm is one of the best known agricultural properties in Harrison township and is finely improved.

Mr. Appelt was married June 20, 1899, to Miss Bertha Askeland, a daughter of Lars and Martha Christina (Ness) Askeland. The father was born in Tisver, Norway, and the mother was also a native of that country. Mrs. Appelt was born in Norway in 1875 and was five years of age when her father died, her mother passing away four years later. When she attained the age of fifteen years she emigrated to the new world and settled in Chicago, where she lived for nine years and then removed to Humboldt county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Askeland were the parents of seven children: Inger Molina, who is the widow of Hadley Askeland and resides at Elmore, Minnesota; Hannah Lorencie, the wife of Thorie Idsa, a storekeeper of Stavanger, Norway; Carrie and Bertha, twins, the former the wife of Walter Bode, a farmer of Medford, Wisconsin, and the latter the wife of the subject of this review; Jens, who died at the age of seven years; Martha Christina, a trained nurse residing in Cleveland, Ohio; and Caroline Christina, who passed away when two years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Appelt five children have been born: Myrtle, who was born May 19, 1900, and is attending district school No. 3, Harrison township; Martha Christina, who was born January 4, 1902, and is a pupil in the same school as her sister Myrtle; Alvina, who was born June 26, 1905, and is attending school; Willard, born June 26, 1907, and also attending school; and Blanche, born March 30, 1908.

In his political faith Mr. Appelt is a republican and is now serving his third year as a director of school district No. 3 of Harrison township. He and all the members of his family belong to the Norwegian Lutheran church of Swea City, his wife being a member of the Ladies Aid Society of that denomination. Mr. Appelt is one of the progressive and well known farmers of his township and is a prominent and valued citizen, being greatly respected by all who know him.