HENRY AHRENS

The population of Iowa is largely made up of those who either had their birth in or trace their ancestry back to Germany, and among those whom the fatherland has contributed to the citizenship of this great commonwealth is numbered Henry Ahrens. He was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, on the 16th of March, 1861, and is a son of Claus Ahrens, who was also a native of that country and came to America in 1881. He located in Muscatine county, Iowa, and was there engaged in the bee industry until the time of his death, which occurred on the 1st of June, 1891. He had been a soldier in the German army and while participating in the battle of Etsted lost one of his legs. Ere leaving Germany he had been married to Miss Sophia Laschancky, who was born in that country and passed away in the Iowa home, June 5, 1894.

Spending the period of his boyhood and youth in his native country, Henry Ahrens did not wait for his parents to come to the new world, but in 1877, as a boy of sixteen years, made the long voyage across the Atlantic, determined to seek his fortune in this country, where he had heard opportunity was great and fortune favored those who were ambitious and industrious. Upon arriving in the United States he came directly to Iowa and for two years was engaged as a farm hand in Muscatine county. Later he was employed in a similar capacity for three years in Scott county, and for three years in Nebraska, and then, with the capital which he had carefully saved from his earnings in the meantime he purchased eighty acres in the latter state, which he operated for two years. Returning to Iowa he rented a farm of one hundred acres in Cedar county for a time, after which the place became his by purchase and later he added another tract of eighty acres which he bought from the Wright estate on the 5th of January, 1908. He is now the owner of one hundred and eighty acres, all lying in Inland township, and here he carries on general farming and at the same time devotes considerable attention to stock-raising. Both branches of his business are proving most profitable, for he has carried on his affairs along the most progressive and modern lines, has been systematic in his methods and careful in his management, and success has come as the logical result of close application and indefatigable industry and goes to prove how essential are those elements in the life of the successful farmer.

When seeking for a companion on life’s journey Mr. Ahrens chose Miss Amelia Ehrecke, who was born in Muscatine county, June 15, 1863, a daughter of Gottlieb J. and Johanna (Smeltzer) Ehrecke, natives of Germany, who came to America in the early ‘50s. Both are now deceased, the father passing away on the 16th of January, 1898, and the mother on the 7th of December, 1900. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Ahrens are three sons and two daughters, all yet at home, as follows: Emma, born on the 19th of August, 1889; Herman, on the 19th of September, 1890; Arnold, on the 10th of February, 1893; Rudolf, on the 16th of June, 1896; and Elsie, on the 25th of August, 1899.

Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise, Mr. Ahrens has given stalwart support to the democratic party and is now serving as school director, the cause of education finding in him a stanch advocate. He and his wife hold membership in the German Lutheran church and are well known and esteemed throughout the community in which they reside for their many excellent traits of character. In his life Mr. Ahrens has happily combined those sturdy qualities characteristic of the Teutonic race with the livelier element of progress which dominates the American people—a combination which is proving a potent force in the attainment of success in business lines.