Ferdinand Becker
Germany has furnished her full quota of valuable citizens to Iowa, among
the number being Ferdinand Becker of Butler
county, formerly closely identified with agricultural interests, but now
living retired in the enjoyment of a well earned rest. He was born in
Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, November 30, 1837, and is a son of Johann
and Wilhemina (Koch) Becker. The mother died when her son Ferdinand was
but a year old. The father died in Germany, where he had learned and
followed the tailor's trade, making it his life work. He was twice
married and had nine children by his first wife, but Ferdinand Becker
was the only child of the second marriage.
Public schools of his native country furnished Ferdinand Becker his
educational opportunities. He remained in the fatherland until nineteen
years of age, and then, attracted by the reports which he had heard
concerning the opportunities and advantages of the new world, he came to
America in 1857, settling first at Guttenberg, Clayton county, Iowa,
where he began working by the year as a farm hand, receiving one hundred
and thirty-three
dollars per annum during the two years spent in that way. He afterwartl
operated a threshing machine for about seven seasons and through the
remainder of the year engaged in farming. In 1862 he went to South
Dakota and secured a claim, but after working there for a short time
with oxen he returned to Iowa. In 1866 he came to Butler county,
settling five miles northeast of Clarksville in Butler township, where
he purchased eighty acres of land and added thereto from time to time
until he had one hundred and sixty acres. Year after year he carefully
tilled his fields and harvested his crops until he retired to
Clarksville about seven years ago. He still owns the farm, which is a
well improved tract of
prairie land and which returns to him a gratifying annual income.
On the 25tli of March, 1863, Mr. Becker was united in marriage to Miss
Louisa Buchholz, who was born in Hanover, Germany, August 30, 1844, a
daughter of Henry and Caroline (Kalla) Buchholz, and went to Clinton
county, Iowa, in 1854, with her mother.
Her father died in New York soon after his arrival on this side of the
water, but the mother passed away in Butler county. Mr. and Mrs. Becker
have become the parents of nine children : William, who is living on his
father's farm in Butler township; Caroline, the wife of Herman Schmadeke
; Louise, who died at the age of fifteen months ; Augusta, who is the
wife of F. W. Meyer and makes her home with her father ; Bertha, the
wife of F. Fahshold of North Dakota ; Anna, the wife of Henry Miller of
Clarksville ; Gesina, the deceased wife of Ed Klinemeyer ; Ferdinand of
North
Dakota; and Rosa, the wife of Henry Bushing of North Dakota.
The parents are both members of the Lutheran church, loyal to its
teachings, and they are today among the most respected and venerated of
the old couples of Clarksville. Mr. Becker has passed the seventy-sixth
milestone on life's journey and his record proves what may be
accomplished in this land, where opportunity is not hampered by caste or
class, but where the road to usefulness and success is open to all.
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