WILLIAM BIERKAMP

Germany has furnished many worthy residents to Cedar county and among this number is William Bierkamp, who was born in Hanover on the 18th of September, 1849. His father, August Bierkamp, was also a native of that country and after arriving at years of maturity he married Hannah Diedtrich. They remained residents of Germany until 1857, when they emigrated to the United States and locating in Scott county, Iowa, spent two years upon a farm near where the village of Eldridge now stands. Then they removed to the vicinity of Stockton, Cedar county, and afterward took up their abode upon a farm west of Durant. Mr. Bierkamp was a practical, energetic agriculturist and his labors were crowned with success. He died in 1879, while his wife survived him four years, passing away in 1883.

The boyhood of William Bierkamp was spent in Germany, where his education was acquired in the common schools, he remaining in his native country with is grandparents when his father and mother came to the United States. Later they visited their old home and he then accompanied them to the new world. After reaching this country he worked for others at whatever he could find to do but later learned the wagonmaker’s trade and eventually engaged in business on his own account, conducting a shop in Durant for a few years, and then engaged in the implement business until three years ago. His unfaltering industry, determination and perseverance have constituted the salient features in his success. As he prospered he invested in land and is now the owner of considerable farm property, from which he derives a substantial income. On closing out his implement business he turned his attention to the real-estate business, in which he is now engaged. He has made substantial, rapid and honorable progress in the business world and in business matters his judgment is seldom, if ever, at fault. Aside from his other interests he is connected with banking and has served as president of banks in Bennett and Durant.

Mr. Bierkamp was married in Durant on the 2d of September, 1874, to Miss Minnie Feldhahn, who was born in Wisconsin, September 6, 1853. Their children are seven in number, namely: William H., who is a banker of Denver, Colorado; Gustave, who lives in western Iowa; Frank, a resident of Durant, who is in the employ of the International Harvester Company; Rosa, the wife of Clint Huchendorf of Durant; Albert Harry, cashier of a bank at Cuba, Illinois; Otto, a jeweler at Durant; and Walter, who is in a bank at Groton, South Dakota.

In his political views Mr. Bierkamp has ever been a republican since becoming a naturalized American citizen. He keeps well informed on the questions of the day and is thus able to support his position by intelligent argument. His fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, have called him to local offices and he has efficiently served as mayor of Durant and as justice of the peace, his decisions in the latter office being strictly fair and impartial, while his service in the former was characterized by progressive methods and a practical administration of the business of the office. For twenty-four years he has been connected with the school board and twenty years of that time was president. He has ever been a believer in a thorough education as an equipment for life’s’ practical duties and in office has done much to promote the interests of the schools. He is a member of the Turner Society and of the Modern Woodmen of America at Durant. The community has ever found in him a public-spirited citizen—one whose efforts can be counted upon to further public progress. Moreover, he deserves to be numbered among the self-made men, for his earnest and unremitting labor, intelligently directed, has constituted the basis of his success, bringing him from a humble position in business circles to a place of prominence, while his life record proves moreover that prosperity and an honored name may be won simultaneously.