Gehlen, Peter 1819-1879

GEHLEN

Posted By: Mary Holub (email)
Date: 10/31/2018 at 11:55:48

Ashes to Ashes

Gehlen.—On Saturday, March 22, 1879, Peter Gehlen, aged 60 years, 2 months and 22 days.

Mr. Gehlen was among the first settlers in Le Mars, and contributed largely to its growth. He was known, respected, loved and revered by a large circle of friends and when it was whispered that he was dead, a subdued grief touched every heart, for every one felt as if he had lost a personal friend.

Peter Gehlen was born in the City of Olm in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg January 1st, 1819. At the age of 12 he went to Reims, France, an antique city in the department of Marne, some 25 miles northwest of Chalons on the Vesle. Here he spent some fourteen years of his life and when about 26 years old returned to his native town, and married. Being imbued with great energy, and not finding scope enough for his ambition in the over crowded Fatherland, he set said with his young wife for America, and in the month of July, 1846, landed in the city of New Orleans. Not relishing the climate, he pushed north to St. Louis, where he left his wife, and set out again northward. He visited Galena and its neighborhood, then went to Dubuque, and finally purchased a farm within nine miles of that city in Jackson county. Here he settled with his wife and prospered. Two children were born to him but they both died, as did also his wife - two or three years after his settlement. In 1849 he married a second time to Miss Mary Freiman, by Bishop Loras, in the Dubuque Cathedral. Twelve children blessed this union, and nine still live. He devoted himself assiduously to business, and without disposing of his farms, he moved into Tete de Mort, where he embarked in mercantile and milling pursuits. He was among the most honored and prosperous citizens of Jackson county, and when, upon the completion of the Dubuque & Sioux City R. R., he announced his intention of “going west,” there was a considerable feeling of incredulous surprise. With him, however, to resolve was to act. On the 25th day of March, 1870, Mr. Gehlen arrived at the unnamed station of Le Mars, and boldly began the erection of a flouring mill, though there were not fifty acres of wheat within twenty miles of the vacant town site.

Through his influence, direct and indirect, hundred of hundreds of Luxembourgers have been attracted hither, and to him is our county indebted for a large number of the thrifts farmers now developing the resources of Plymouth county. He located some twenty poor families in the neighborhood of Hospers, in Sioux county, and virtually supported them until they were able to support themselves. So quiet and unostentatious was his mode of action, that but few beside the actual beneficiaries of his kindness knew of his generosity. “I look upon his Sioux county colony as the grandest act of his life,” said a dear friend of his to the writer. “He was unremitting in his attention to their wants, yet so delicate in his benevolence, that even the recipients of his charity scarcely knew the hand that protected and fed them.” He was regarded almost as a father by his fellow country men in the northwest, and was ever ready by word and deed to aid and counsel them.

But it was not only among his own people that he was esteemed. Everybody, without distinction of nationality, respected Peter Gehlen for the unswerving integrity of his character. His word was as good as his bond, and in business circles clear-cut honest characterized all his transactions. He was a kindly and gentle nature, and wherever he went a genial smile was his greeting. In politics he was nominally a democrat, yet in local, state and national affairs he exercised a discriminating and manly independence.

He was a devout catholic. He loved the church with a depth of tenderness that knew no bounds, and sought to conform his life to its highest spiritual teachings. When he came to Le Mars his first care was to erect an altar to the church of his love. He secured the occasional services of a priest. His house was the temple, his family piano served for an altar, and the sacred rites of the church were solemnized as fervently in his humble home, as in the grandest Cathedral. Through his energy a plat of several acres was secured from the Land Company in 1870, and the foundation of the present splendid church edifice was laid. He donated eight acres of land for the cemetery and other purposes, and has contributed with great liberality in the church he loved so well.

The funeral, which took place last Monday, was the largest ever seen in Le Mars. It was a beautiful day. From far and near the people poured in to show their last token of respect. It was nearly 11 o’clock when the procession formed. In the lead a robed acolyte bore the cress; next came a great concourse of children followed by women. The members of the St. Cecillian society, wearing their regalia, and numbers upwards of sixty, formed the immediate escort. Three priests, the Rev. Father Meis, of Le Mars, Lenahan, of Sioux City, and Nemmers, of Gilbertsville, near Waterloo, Iowa, the latter a nephew of the deceased, preceded the hearse, alongside of which walked the pallbearers, after which came the members of the family in carriages, followed by citizens in carriages. The procession was a full half mile in length, and there were fully one thousand persons in it. As the great concourse of people moved from the Gehlen residence to the church, the choristers chanted the De Profundis and Miserere. The bell of the Catholic church tolled from the time the funeral cortage started until it arrived at the church. So general and profound was the respect for the deceased that the bells of the Methodist and Congregationalist churches too sent forth their deep tones of sympathy. “Tis thus a noble life, and a common humanity stirs the universal soul, makes it forget the arbitrary boundary of creeds, and wakes it to the recognition of true worth wherever it is found.

The church and altar were draped in deep mourning. A solemn high mass was celebrated by the priests. Fathers Nemmers and Lenahan paid a touching tribute to the deceased; the former in German, the latter in English. After the serviced, the mortal remains were carried to the cemetery… (unreadable).