HENRY KROEGER

Henry Kroeger has lived a quiet, uneventful life but his success proves his industry, careful management and perseverance. He was long connected with the farming interests of Cedar county but is now living retired in Durant. He was born in Holstein, Germany, September 15, 1831, a son of Henry and Angie Kroeger, who were likewise natives of that country. The common schools afforded him his educational privileges and when twenty-one years of age he came to the United States, courageously facing a new situation and conditions in the hope that he might find better business opportunities here.

Mr. Kroeger made his way at once to Davenport, Iowa, and for some years thereafter worked at farm labor, on the railroads and in fact at anything that he could get to do to make an honest dollar. He was industrious and diligent and for thirteen years he was employed by other people. At the end of that time he felt that he saw an opportunity for the advancement of his own interests and rented land in Scott county. Thus he began farming on his own account. In 1880 he removed to Cedar county and with the money which he had saved from his earnings he purchased an improved tract of land of eighty acres in Farmington township. There he lived until 1904, when he retired and removed to Durant, where he now occupies a comfortable home. In the meantime he had placed many improvements upon his farm and the settlement of the county had also promoted its value, so that in 1906 he was able to sell the property for one hundred and twenty-five dollars per acre.

Mr. Kroeger was married in Davenport, in1865, to Miss Meta Wulf, who was born in Germany, August 20, 1847, and was six years of age when she came to America with her parents, James and Lizzie Wulf, who spent their last days in Durant. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Kroeger have been born fourteen children but sorrow has come often to them as death has claimed their children one by one. Only four of the number is now living, namely: Annie, the wife of Hans Jensen, of Farmington township; Mary, who is the wife of Herman Peters and resides in Ida county, Iowa; Henry, at home; and Ida, who is the wife of Fred Sturm, of Chicago, Illinois.

Mr. Kroeger gives his political support to the democratic party. He has now reached the age of seventy-nine years and a review of his life shows that it has been an active and useful one, his success arising from his unfaltering diligence and unflagging determination.