ERNST SCHLUTER

For thirty-eight years Ernst Schluter has been a resident of this county, his time and energies being devoted to general agricultural pursuits. He raises both grain and stock, and his farm is a well developed property on sections 22 and 27, Massillon township. He is one of the worthy citizens that Germany has furnished to Iowa, his birth occuring in Hanover on the 26th of January, 1856. He was there reared to the age of fifteen years, during which time he pursued his education according to the methods of the public-school system of that land. He is self-educated in English, mastering the language since coming to the new world. He was in his sixteenth year when he crossed the Atlantic and made his way to Cedar county, Iowa where he joined his brother Fred, who had arrived here in the fall of the previous year. Here Ernst Schluter began work upon a farm and was employed for one year at a salary of eighty-five dollars per year. During the succeeding years better wages were received. For seven years he was in the employ of Paul H. and Alexander Downing, but was ambitious to engage in business on his own account and improved every opportunity that brought him nearer to this goal.

In 1881, Mr. Schluter was united in marriage to Miss Lena Licht, a native of Illinois. Before his marriage, he had purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land and upon this he erected a dwelling and began the further development and improvement of the place. His wife carefully managed the household affairs, while he took charge of the work of the fields, and as the years passed by, he prospered in his undertaking so that he was enabled to buy more land from time to time and is now the owner of four hundred acres all in one body, constituting one of the valuable and productive farms of the district. He built a large two-story residence, also a big barn, granary, cribs and other outbuildings necessary for the shelter of grain and stock. He has also set out a grove which adds to the beauty of the place. He has likewise bought and sold other land, and his life has been crowned with splendid success, inasmuch as he started out empty-handed. It took his first two years’ earnings in America to pay his passage to the new world. By unremitting diligence and unfaltering industry, he has secured what he now possesses and has thus worked upward to a position among the men of affluence in the community.

About a year after their marriage, Mr. Schluter lost his first wife, who died leaving a little daughter, Lena, who is now the wife of William G. Smith, a farmer of Massillon township. In 1883, Mr. Schluter was again married, his second union being with Miss Lena Reinking, a native of Chicago, Cook county, Illinois. There are three children of this marriage: Alma, Edwin C. and Otto L.

Aside from his farming interests, Mr. Schluter has figured quite prominently in public affairs, and his activity and enterprise have been important factors in the progress and welfare of the community. He cast his first ballot for Rutherford B. Hayes in 1876 and has supported each presidential nominee since that time. He has taken an active interest in local elections and has himself been called to several local offices, the duties of which he has conscientiously and faithfully discharged. He was elected supervisor and by reelection continued in office for six consecutive years as a member of the county board. He has also been a member of the school board for years, has served on the petit jury and has been a delegate to county and state conventions of his party. During the long period of residence here he has witnessed many changes in the county, as the condition of pioneer life have been replaced by those of modern development. He has never felt occasion to regret his determination to come to the new world, for here he has found the opportunities which he has sought and which are always open to ambitious young men. The secret of his success has been found in earnest, unremitting labor, and his record constitutes an example which others might well follow.