Bastian, Fred R.

BASTIAN, CRONE, STREBENG, PESSEL, WICKMAN, ROHR

Posted By: Gary Norris (email)
Date: 11/29/2012 at 07:04:44

In the enjoyment of a well earned rest at his present home in Malcom, Fred R. Bastian and his estimable wife look back upon many years of active labor and usefulness in the course of which they endeared themselves to neighbors and friends and assisted very materially in promoting the welfare of the community. They are both natives of Prussia, Germany. Mr. Bastian was born May 17, 1834, being the son of William and Mary (Crone) Bastian, both of whom were born in Pomman, Germany.

Mr. Bastian, of this review, received his education in the common schools and continued upon his father's farm until he was fourteen years of age. He then hired out at thirty dollars per year as a farm hand and worked for wages until 1862, when he was married to Miss Hannah Strebeng, a daughter of Christian and Mary (Pessel) Strebeng, both of whom were natives of Prussia and identified with farming interests. The mother died in Germany and in 1868 Mr. Strebeng came to America where he died the same year at the home of his son in Chicago, Illinois.

In 1868 Mr. Bastian crossed the ocean with his family to the new world and for two years worked by the day on a farm near Wilton Center, Illinois, then becoming a renter of land for six years in the same section. Having decided to seek his fortune further west, he came to Iowa, and for thirteen years rented a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. During these years, with the assistance of his wife and by the practice of wise economy, he acquired sufficient capital to buy eighty acres of land two miles east of Malcom, in Poweshiek county. He met with such favorable results upon his farm that two years later he purchased another tract of eight acres in Bear township. His fields responded to his care and labor and he became one of the substantial citizens of the county, continuing as an agriculturist and stock-raiser until 1909, when he retired from active work, rented his farm, and he and his wife are now living at Malcom where they expect to spend the remainder of their days. Two children were born to them, namely: Charles, now a farmer of Malcom township, who married Miss Nellie Wickman, and has one daughter, Nellie, aged fourteen years; and William, now living on a farm in Chester township, who married Miss Lena Rohr, and who have two children: Powell, eleven years of age, and Arnold, age three years.

Mr. Bastian and his wife are consistent members of the German Lutheran church of Malcom. In political faith he gives his adherence to the republican party, but has never held public office, preferring to devote his time and energies to his business and his family. Although seventy-seven years of age he is in excellent health and bodily strength and is proud of the fact that he has never experienced a single day's illness since arriving in America. Both he and his wife are widely known in the count where they have lived for so many years. They have truly preformed their part in enhancing the comfort and happiness of those with whom they have associated.

History of Poweshiek County Iowa
- A Record of Settlement, Organizations, Progress and Achievement, Vol. II
written by Prof. L. F. Parker.
Published by The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., in 1911
Pages 538-544