John & Josephine Uhl

UHL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 11/10/2010 at 23:49:19

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

John and Josephine Uhl
By Catherine Welte Dandurand

My grandparents, John and Josephine Uhl, came to Woodbury County around 1868, homesteading land west of Danbury. They left Germany for America because of political reasons. John love this country; he worked hard grubbing out trees and brush, buying more land until he had almost 500 acres.

They had eight children:
Zavier;
Casper, who moved to O’Neill, Nebraska;
John;
Louis;
Martha ‘Mrs Will Collins’
Frances ‘Mrs Herman Streck’;
Josephine, who died in her teens;
And Kate ‘Mrs Frank Welte.

Xavier, John and Louis lived and farmed near the home place. The girls all married farmers, and Kate and her husband, Frank Welte, spent most of their life on part of the original farm. This land is still in the family.

At first, John and Josephine lived in a sod house along the creek, but they soon built a large white frame house with a stone cellar. Here they had plenty of room for family and friends. Peddlers, who traveled afoot through the country, liked to stop for the night as John always made them welcome.

John planted a large orchard and vineyard just above the house so there was always an abundant supply of fruit.
When ready to retire, John and Josephine moved to Danbury. Their house is still standing. It has been occupied continuously and is in excellent repair. I spent a lot of time there when a child, and I still like to drive by to see what’s been done to improve the place.