HANS D. IWERS

Germany has contributed many successful and substantial representatives to the citizenship of Iowa who, coming to the new world in the hope of finding better advantages in business, have here found the opportunities which they sought and, in the recognition and utilization of those opportunities have won substantial prosperity. Especially true is this of those who, leaving their native country in the very beginning of manhood, when ambition and enthusiasm are at their highest, brought to this, the starting point of their career, a spirit of energy and determination which in later years proved a salient factor in the acquirement of success. To this class belonged Hans D. Iwers, who left the fatherland as a young man, with no capital or favoring circumstances to assist him in gaining a start in a strange land, and by untiring effort and unfaltering diligence worked his way steadily upward until, at the time of his death, he was numbered among the substantial farmers and large landowners of Inland township, Cedar county.

His birth occurred in Holstein, Germany, in 1823, and in that country he spent his boyhood and youth. As a young man he came to the United States, drawn across the water by the rumors which he heard concerning the opportunities here offered in business lines, and, making his way to Iowa, first located in Scott county, where he engaged in farming for a number of years. The year 1867 witnesses his arrival in Cedar county, and here he was identified with agricultural pursuits until the time of his death. The years which intervened since he became identified with agricultural interests in Iowa were years of continuous activity, characterized by close application, unceasing industry and wise management. Few men more rightly deserve the proud American title of a self-made man, for, starting out in life empty-handed at an early age, he was the owner of eight hundred and eighty acres of rich and productive land in Cedar county at the time of his death, the result entirely of his own well directed efforts.

Mr. Iwers was united in marriage to Miss Caroline M. Krebs, a native of Germany. He passed away on the old homestead in Inland township on the 5th of September, 1898, and is survived by his wife and their three sons, Henry, John and William. The mother, who is seventy-six years of age, keeps house for her sons, all of whom are unmarried and reside at home. They operate one hundred and sixty acres of the home farm, the remainder of which is leased, returning to the estate a most gratifying annual rental. They are progressive farmers, carrying on agricultural pursuits according to the latest and most modern methods, and their efforts also are providing resultant forces in the acquirement of success. They live the quiet life of a farmer, having no desire to figure prominently in public affairs, but they enjoy the unqualified respect and esteem of their fellow citizens who honor them for their many excellent traits of character.