Theodore Baldus

BALDUS, SCHLAUGHTER, BORN, WORTH, WIRTH, RICKERL

Posted By: Mark Christian
Date: 10/27/2025 at 21:33:18

History of Boone County, Iowa Volume 2 1914 pp. 604-605
THEODORE BALDUS.

Theodore Baldus is the owner of one hundred acres of land on section 25, Harrison township, Boone countv, and also four hundred acres in Story county. Iowa, located on section 36, Lafayette township. He is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in the duchy of Nassau on the 14th of November, 1836, and his parents being Christian and Elizabeth (Schlaughter) Baldus. The mother passed away when our subject was a small boy and the father came to America in 1852, locating in Cook county, Illinois, twenty miles from Chicago. He later came to Iowa and made his home in Story county with his son Theodore. There his death occurred in 1878 when he was past eighty years of age. Six children were born to Christian and Elizabeth Baldus, but our subject is the only one now living and is the youngest of the family. Two of his brothers had preceded him and the father to America.
Theodore Baldus arrived in Story county, Iowa, in 1853, having made the trip from Illinois by wagon drawn by oxen. He had but little capital and it was necessary for him to buy his first land on time, paying forty per cent interest on the deferred payments. The purchase price was a dollar and a quarter per acre. There was little in the undeveloped prairie region of that time to indicate that in fifty years it would be the prosperous agricultural section that it is today. Mr. Baldus' first purchase consisted of eighty acres in Lafayette township, Story county, where he now owns four hundred acres, and he made his home there until 1890, when he removed to his present place in Harrison township, Boone county. The farm was but slightly improved when it came into his possession but he has since made it one of the most highly developed agricultural properties of the county. In 1901 he built his present fine residence and in 1913 he erected a large barn. He has followed general farming and stock-raising, finding the fattening of hogs for the market especially profitable. He has a fine orchard and a grove of shade trees on his place and this greatly increases its attractiveness.

Mr. Baldus has a very creditable military record and is entitled to honor as one of the defenders of the Union in the crisis of the '60s. From 1860 to 1865 he was in the Rocky mountains, where he engaged in mining for some time, and also served in the regular army. He enlisted in the Third Colorado Cavalry and served for nine months in the Civil war toward the close of the conflict. Previously he had been detailed to protect the stages and emigrant trains crossing to the far west.

Mr. Baldus was united in marriage at Ames, Iowa, in 1867, to Miss Christina Born, a native of Illinois, of German ancestry. Her parents settled in Polk county, Iowa, at an early date in the history of this state but later removed to Ames and became the owners of a farm. East Ames has grown up on the site of their homestead. Mr. Born passed away at his old home some thirty years ago and Mrs. Born died at our subject's home in 1897, at the age of seventy-six. He was a farmer and won success in his chosen vocation. Mr. and Mrs. Baldus became the parents of ten children, of whom six are living, as follows: John, of Story county, who has eight children; Walter, who has six children; Carl, also a resident of Story county, who has five children; Leo, at home; Mrs. Peter Worth, of Story county, who has eight children; and Mrs. Frank Rickerl, of South Dakota. Our subject and his wife have twenty-five grandchildren.

Mr. and Mrs. Baldus are members of St. Peter's Catholic church of Lafayette township, Story county, and politically Mr. Baldus is an adherent of the democratic party. Although not a native of this country, he has become thoroughly imbued with its spirit and is a loyal supporter of its institutions. His sterling worth of character has won for him the respect of the community.

[Poster note: In his obituary, Mrs. Peter Worth is named as Mrs. Amelia Wirth; Mrs. Frank Rickerl as Mrs. Julia Rickerl.]