Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed and donated by Vance Tigges & Kathy Weaver.

Henry Hackfort, Sr., who is now living retired on his farm of two hundred acres near Willey, was successfully identified with agricultural interests throughout his active business career and still owns five hundred and sixty acres of valuable land in Pleasant Valley township, as well as a farm of three hundred and nineteen acres in Newton township. His birth occurred in Westphalia, Germany, on the 24th of February, 1853, his parents being B. H. and Adeline Hackfort, who spent their entire lives in that country. The father passed away at the age of sixty-two, while the mother was fifty-nine years old when called to her final rest.Henry Hackfort, Sr., began his education in the fatherland and subsequently continued his studies in America. He worked as a farm hand for his father until the time of his emigration to the new world in 1873 and after landing on American shores made his way to Winneshiek county, Iowa, where he was employed at farm labor for six years.

In 1879 he came to Carroll county and having carefully saved his earnings, purchased a farm of eighty acres in Pleasant Valley township. As his financial resources increased, owing to his untiring industry and capable management, he extended the boundaries of the place by additional purchase from time to time until it now embraces two hundred and forty acres. This farm is at present being operated by his son Henry. In 1902 our subject took up his abode on a tract of two hundred acres on section 21, Pleasant Valley township, where he is now living in honorable retirement. He likewise owns another farm of one hundred and twenty acres which is being operated by his son Herman. In Newton township he owns and leases a tract of land comprising three hundred and nineteen acres. During his active business career he raised white-faced cattle and at one time fed cattle for market purposes. In all of his business affairs he was alert and enterprising, meeting with the measure of success which always rewards earnest, persistent and well directed labor.

>On the 29th of May, 1877, in Winneshiek county, Mr. Hackfort wedded Miss Mary Geling, a daughter of Henry and Adeline (Kennebec) Geling, who operated a farm in that county. The father was called to his final rest in 1870, while the mother passed away in 1890. Unto our subject and his wife were born seven children, as follows: Henry, Jr., residing on the old homestead, who wedded Miss Mary Smith and has one child, Lauretta; Herman, who operates another of his father's farms; Anna, who is the wife of John Smith, an agriculturist of Pleasant Valley township, and has one child, Leona; and Benjamin, Mary, Lizzie and Joseph, all at home.

In politics Mr. Hackfort is a democrat, loyally supporting the men and measures of that party. The German Catholic church at Willey numbers him among its faithful communicants. Coming to the new world in early manhood, he wisely utilized the opportunities offered in a land unhampered by caste or class and steadily worked his way upward to a position among the respected and substantial citizens of his community.

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