John Peter Paulsen

PAULSEN MUSE

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 10/13/2010 at 18:22:21

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

John Peter Paulsen
By Mr. and Mrs. Frank Ashley

John Peter Paulsen was born in Tondern, Denmarker, in 1856. After he finished school when he was about eighteen years of age, he came to America before. He was from a large family; some of his brothers and sisters had come to America before and settled in Chicago. That is where he came and lived for several years. He had a dairy farm.

He met and later married Elizabeth Muse, who was born in Berlin, Germany, and came to America with her mother and two sisters after he father passed away. They came to America on a sailing ship. The trip took three months as they were caught in a bad storm, and they almost ran out of food.

After John and Elizabeth were married, they came to Iowa by train and settled near Correctionville, Iowa, where they had a fruit farm. They later moved to a farm near Sioux City, Iowa – apples, cherries, and strawberries. Folks would come from Sioux City to pick cherries on shares. They took apples and fruit to Sioux City to be sold.

They had a large family, eleven children: Mary married Henry Osman; John married Mamie Lussen; Anna married Carl Braun; Henry married Nane Kane; Paul married Clara Walker; Anton married Anna Schuldt; Hattie married George Schuk; Pete married Rose Myers; Elizabeth married Orval Sweeney; Charles married Mildred Woodworth; and Chris passed away in 1913.

Grandpa Paulsen passed away in 1914. Then Grandma Paulsen and Elizabeth and Charles moved to Morningside in Sioux City. Grandma passed away in 1947. Elizabeth still lives in Morningside, the only one left of the family.

Anton married Anna Schuldt, who was born in Oster Wanna in Northern Germany near the North Sea on September 2, 1885. Both her parents passed away when she was about three years old so her Grandmother Schuldt kept her and raised her until she decided to come to America.

At that time, many young folks were coming to America to find a new home and work. Many of Anna’s relatives and friends had come before. She walked with some of her friends to where the ship was to sail, Cuxhaven on the North Sea, which was near where she lived. She boarded the ship ‘The Pennsylvania’ on October 27, 1906, and sailed for America. She was all alone and crying as her relatives and friends had come before. The Peter Paulsen family saw her and befriended her. She stayed with them the long journey across the ocean; it took seventeen days. They arrived in New York on November 9, 1906, and she went to her cousin’s home on Long Island, as she and others had been here for some time. The Paulsens went back to Correctionville, Iowa, where they lived. They had been visiting relatives in Denmark and Germany. They made three trips back to their homeland through the years.

Anna Schuldt stayed in New York four years and worked as a nurse-maid, taking care of small children in their homes. Peter Paulsen kept writing to her and wanted her to come to Iowa to visit. She came to Iowa and later married one of the sons, Anton Paulsen. They lived at Anthon and later moved to the home place near Sioux City, Iowa, after the death of Peter Paulsen. They later moved to Bronson where they lived until Anton Paulsen passed away in 1959. Mrs. Paulsen passed away in 1964. They had three children: Alice, Sylvia, and Anna.