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 by Sharon Elijah June 26, 2020

G. A. Dreeszen, one of the substantial citizens and a well known business man of Lidderdale, was born in Johnson county, this state, on the 13th of July, 1868, and is a son of C. R. and Margaret K. (Wersch) Dreeszen, both natives of Germany, in which country they were also married. The parents emigrated to the United States in 1868, the father being at that time forty years of age, locating in Johnson county where they remained for several months. From there they went to Muscatine county, whence they moved at the end of four years to Carroll county, settling in Sheridan township. They continued to reside in this county during the remainder of their lives, the father passing away on his homestead in 1900 and being laid to rest in the Lutheran cemetery in Sheridan township. The mother survived until 1910 and was also interred in the Lutheran cemetery. Mr. Dreeszen met with success in his agricultural pursuits, leading a very quiet, unostentatious life. His first residence was a one-room frame building, sixteen by twenty-four feet, and there was held both church and school. He was public-spirited and benevolent and contributed toward the building fund of the First Lutheran church. At the time of his death he owned one hundred and twenty acres of land, which was in a high state of cultivation. To Mr. and Mrs. Dreeszen there were born ten children, as follows: Matilda, who passed away at the age of five years; John, who is residing in the vicinity of Lincoln, Nebraska; Anna, the wife of W. D. Fisher, of Omaha, Nebraska; Fred, who is also a resident of Nebraska; Mollie, the wife of Herman Wohlenburg, of Sheridan township; Sophie, who married Jacob J. Best, of Jasper township; Henry who is living in Calhoun county, Iowa; Caroline, who became the wife of C. Juergens; G. A., the subject of this sketch; and Herman, of Omaha, Nebraska.

The boyhood and youth of G. A. Dreeszen were spent on the family homestead in Sheridan township in whose common schools he obtained his education. He began his career as a wage-earner at the age of fifteen years as a farm hand, continuing to follow this occupation until he was twenty-one years of age, then having the necessary money and feeling competent to assume the responsibility he engaged in farming as a renter in Sheridan township. This venture proved so lucrative that in 1892 he was able to buy eighty acres of land which he cultivated until he came to Lidderdale. He then withdrew from active agricultural pursuits and established a hardware and implement business, for which purpose he erected a building. Under his capable management the business developed in a most gratifying manner. He enjoyed an excellent patronage and kept a good stock, for a small town, in the selection of which he had used most commendable judgment. He sold his interest in this business in the fall of 1910, but continues to be identified with the same in the capacity of manager. Mr. Dreeszen owns eighty acres of land near Lidderdale and one-half section in Dixon county, Iowa, in addition to his residence in town.

In 1983, Mr. Dreeszen was united in marriage to Miss Anna Jergens, and to them have been born five children, as follows: Harry, Roy, Charles, Edna and Carl. The last named is deceased, having fallen from a wagon which passed over him in 1900.

The family attend the Lutheran church. Mr. Dreeszen votes with the democrats and takes an active and helpful interest in all township and municipal affairs, serving for ten years as a clerk of the school board, while at one time he was mayor of Lidderdale and is now acting in the capacity of school director. Mr. Dreeszen is entirely a self-made man, such success as has come to him having been the well merited reward of his own unaided and intelligently directed endeavors.

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