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 October 5, 2020

Another of the many pioneer settlers of Carroll county who became an extensive and successful agriculturist is Henry J. P. Muller, who retired from active farming several years ago and is now engaging in the coal business in Coon Rapids. He was born on his father’s homestead in the vicinity of Fort Wayne, Allen county, Indiana, on the 30th of August, 1841. His parents were William S. and Mary Ann (Kantzen) Muller, the father a native of Hanover, and the mother of Aschendorf, Friesland, Germany. Mr. Muller, who was a baker and brewer in the fatherland, emigrated to the United States in 1825, locating in Leo, Allen county, Indiana, where he engaged in farming. There he passed away at the age of eighty-eight years. Mrs. Muller survived for several years thereafter her demise occurred at the age of about eighty-six years. They were both communicants of the Roman Catholic church. The paternal grandparents spent their entire lives in the old country, the grandfather, Henry Muller, who was a baker by trade, dying in this early manhood, but his wife had passed the eighty-ninth milestone on life’s journey before her demise. They were the parents of six children: William S., Francis, Henry, Engelbert, Josephine and Clementine. The maternal grandfather, who always resided in Germany, passed away in middle life. To Mr. and Mrs. William S. Muller were born thirteen children, nine of whom lived to maturity: Herman; Frank; Henry, our subject; Clementina, the wife of Joseph Hutter, of Carroll; Emma, the deceased wife of John Kasmier; Victor, who is also deceased; May who is unmarried, living in Fort Wayne, Indiana; William, who is a resident of Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and Engelbert, also deceased.

The boyhood and youth of Henry J. P. Muller were spent on the farm where he was born, his early education being obtained in the district schools of that locality, which he attended until fourteen years of age, when he went to Germany and remained with his grandmother for four years, completing his education in the gymnasiums at Meppen, Germany. After his return to Fort Wayne in 1859 he engaged in teaching in the district schools at Allen county, Indiana, and continued to follow that profession exclusively until his marriage November 23, 1862. Later he taught only during the winter months, devoting his summers to agricultural pursuits. In April, 1864, he moved to Iowa, purchasing two hundred acres of land located in Newton township, Carroll county, and Viola township, Audubon county. He was able to add to his holdings at divers times until he acquired five hundred and twenty acres of most fertile land. He continued to follow farming until the 1st of March, 1900, when he removed to Coon Rapids, where he ran the city scales for three years. At the expiration of that period he engaged in the coal business with which he continues to be identified. He has sold his homestead and one hundred and twenty acres of his other holdings, but he still owns two hundred acres of farming land in addition to his fine residence in Coon Rapids.

Mr. Muller was married on the 23d of November, 1862, to Miss Martha Ballou, a daughter of James E. and Clarissa (Dunton) Ballou, the father a native of Indiana and the mother of the state of New York. Mrs. Muller was born in Huntertown, Allen county, Indiana, on the 18th of January, 1844, her parents being among the pioneer settlers in that county. There her father passed away in 1863, at the age of forty-seven years, having survived his wife four years, her demise occurring in 1859, after she had passed the thirty-seventh anniversary of her birth. They had two children who lived to attain maturity, Martha A., now Mrs. Muller; and James. The paternal grandfather, James Ballou, was a native of Massachusetts, as were also the maternal grandparents Ephriam and Abigail (Ball) Dunton.

To Mr. and Mrs. Henry J. P. Muller have been born the following children: Clemence V., who married Josephine Hunkler, of Templeton, Iowa, now residing in St. Paul, Kansas, who has eight children: Victor, Frank, Wilhelmina, Herman, Louis, Christopher, Engelbert and Mary; William, living in Carroll, who married Annie Corvis and they have four children: Albert, Henry J. P., Jr., Rosa and Herman; Wilhelmina, the wife of J. E. Devine, residing in the vicinity at Parker, South Dakota, who has seven children, Leo, Marcella, Ambrose, Joseph, Martha, Christina and Bernard; Ida, who became the wife of Charles Lily, and is living near Menlo and has four children: Eulalia, Gerald, Bernardina and Leotta; Estella, who married Dominic Lilly, also residing near Menlo and has eight children: James, Cecilia, Floretta, Berta, Martha, Edward, Agatha and Irene; Clementine who married George Waltz, of Chillicothe, Missouri, and has become the mother of six children: Raymond, Clarissa, Leo, Rosa, Lilly and Edward; and Harry, who married Monica Schnepner, and who is now living at Rosedale, Washington and has eight children: Joseph, Cecelia, Florence, Regina, Paul, Arthur, and Bertha and Bernice, twins; Charles, who was the youngest son, died at the age of twenty-two years, while a student at the State University, at Iowa City; Leona, who married Frank Krummelbein, of Guthrie county and they have one adopted child, Margaret; Bernardetta, who married Edison Raygor and is living in the vicinity of Coon Rapids; and Amanda, the youngest daughter, who is unmarried and teaching school. Mr. and Mrs. Muller have forty-six grandchildren, in addition to which they have recently adopted a child, a little girl, Annie Mary, who is now eighteen months of age. They will celebrate their golden wedding November 23, 1912, having then traveled life’s journey together for half a century.

The family are all communicants of the Roman Catholic church, Mr. Muller having been the first German and first Catholic to settle in Carroll county. In politics he is a democrat but has never taken an active part in township or municipal affairs of a governmental nature. Mr. Muller has always been regarded as one of the progressive and enterprising citizens as well as capable business men of this community whose success in his various undertakings is the well merited reward of persistent and intelligently applied effort.

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