JOHN HENRY CARL VERDERBERG

Of the many worthy citizens that Germany has furnished to this state none stand in higher esteem in the community in which they reside than John Henry Carl Verderberg, who is now successfully engaged in farming on section 16, Center township, Cedar county. He was born in Holstein, Germany, October 30, 1858, and was reared and educated in his native land. His parents were John and Katharine (Eversen) Verderberg, who spent their entire lives in Germany, the father following the tailor’s trade.

Our subject was the only one of the family to come to the United States. During his youth he served an apprenticeship to the shoemaker’s trade and continued to follow that pursuit while living in the old world. It was in 1884 that he crossed the broad Atlantic and in the fall of that year became a resident of Scott county, Iowa, but in 1885 came to Cedar county, which has since been his home. After working as a farm hand for four years he then began farming on shares and so successful was he in his operations that in 1895 he was able to purchase his present place, to which he removed the following year. His farm comprises one hundred and eighteen and a half acres of very valuable and productive land on section 16, Center township, and in its cultivation Mr. Verderberg is meeting with marked success.

Before leaving Germany Mr. Verderberg was married in 1882 to Miss Johanna Wulf, who was also born in that country, February 16, 1865, being a daughter of Thomas Wulf. They have become the parents of three children, namely: Catharine, now the wife of Martin Schneider, of Tulare, South Dakota; William and Emma, at home.

In religious faith the family are Lutherans and they stand high in the community in which they reside. Mr. Verderberg is entitled to be numbered among the self-made men, for on his arrival in this country he had but fifteen cents in his pocket and had to earn the money with which to send for his wife and one child that had been born in Germany. Industrious and economical, he has met with well deserved success and is today classed among the well-to-do and highly esteemed citizens of Cedar county.