Franz, Henry

FRANZ

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 3/29/2010 at 01:33:41

Henry Franz, a retired agriculturist living in Avoca, Iowa, was formerly extensively connected with the farming interests of Pottawattamie county, being still the owner of six hundred acres in Pleasant township. He was born in Germany on February 4, 1848, a son of John and Martha E. (Baker) Franz, who were also natives of the fatherland. John Franz died in that country and the mother afterward came to America, in 1875, remaining a resident of the new world until her death in the year 1897. She had become the mother of eight children, five of whom still survive, as follows: Catharine, the wife of Chris Young, living in Hancock, Iowa; Henry, of this review; Elizabeth, residing in Oklahoma; Martha E., the wife of Charles Baker, who lives in Iroquois county, Illinois; and Helweg, of Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Henry Franz pursued his education in the schools of his native country and remained under the parental roof until he had attained the age of seventeen years, when he determined to seek his fortune in the new world. After his voyage across the briny deep he took up his abode in La Salle county, Illinois, in the fall of 1865, making his home with his mother's brother for a time. Later he worked for his brother-in-law and another man for two years and then hired out as a farm hand to C. W. Wagner, in whose employ he remained for three years, receiving fifteen dollars per month for two years and twenty-one dollars the third year but not his washing. He then began business on his own account, operating a rented farm for six years. During all these years he labored indefatigab1y and perseveringly and thus acquired the capital which in 1877 enabled him to purchase a farm of two hundred acres in Pleasant township, Pottawattamie county, Iowa. As his financial resources increased he gradually added to his holdings and is now the owner of six hundred acres on sections 14 and 23, Pleasant township, and one hundred and sixty acres near Redfield, Spink county, South Dakota. In addition to carrying on the work of the fields Mr. Franz also fed and raised stock, principally shorthorn cattle, the latter enterprise also proving a source of profit to him. He was widely recognized as one of the prominent and representative agriculturists of the county, having acquired his prosperity entirely through his own efforts and capable business management. In 1899 he left the farm and removed to Avoca, where he and his wife are now living retired in their beautiful home, which was built by him in 1898. He also purchased a fourth of a business block here and is well known as one of the town's progressive and enterprising citizens.

In 1870, in La Salle county, Illinois, Mr. Franz was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Berg, who was born in Prussia, Germany, in 1852, a daughter of John and Mary Berg, also natives of Germany. Her father came to this country in 1868, locating in La Salle county, Illinois, where he followed farming until 1873, when he removed to Cass county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Berg are both now deceased, and in their family were four children. Mr. and Mrs. Franz became the parents of nine children, five of whom are still living: Augusta, the wife of Edward Everhart, of Pleasant township, Pottawattamie county; William, who is now operating his father's farm; Mary, the wife of George Busse, living in James township, this county; Henry A. at home; and Eleanor, also under the parental roof. Of the four children, Helena, Louisa, John and William, who are deceased, three were laid to rest in Avoca cemetery and the other lies buried in the cemetery at Ransom, La Salle county, Illinois.

In his political affiliation Mr. Franz is a republican and has served as school director for several terms. He and his family are members of the Congregational church at Avoca, in the work of which they are deeply and helpfully interested. The subject of this review is a self-made man, who, without any extraordinary family or pecuniary advantages at the commencement of life, has battled earnestly and energetically, and by indomitable courage and integrity has achieved both character and fortune. In an anlyzation of the character and life work of Henry Franz we note many of the characteristics which have marked the German nation for many centuries, the perseverance, reliability, energy and unconquerable determination to pursue a course that has been marked out. It is these sterling qualities which have gained to our subject success in life and made him one of the substantial and valued citizens of the land of his adoption.