William Duwe has been a
resident of Clayton county since he was a lad of
about ten years, and he has maintained his home in
the county for more than sixty years, within which he
has won for himself distinctive independence and
prosperity, shown himself loyal and upright in all
things and thus gained inviolable place in popular
confidence and good will. He is now living virtually
retired in the village of Clayton and is well
entitled to representation in this history.
Mr. Duwe was born in
Germany, on the 28th of March, 1843, and is a son of
George and Fredericka Duwe, who immigrated to America
in 1853 and established their home in the pioneer
German colony at Guttenberg, Clayton county. The
mother lived only three weeks after the arrival of
the family in America, and of her nine children five
are now living. The father eventually became one of
the representative farmers of Clayton county, and
here his death occurred about the year 1875.
William Duwe gained his
rudimentary education in his native land and after
the coming of the family to America he attended the
pioneer schools of Clayton county for some time. He
continued to assist his father in the work of the
home farm until he had arrived at his legal majority,
and he then rented a farm for one year. He next
purchased a farm, but after residing on the same
about one year he traded the property for a house and
lot in the village of Guttenberg, where he
established his residence in 1865 and where he
continued to remain until 1873, when he sold his
property at Guttenberg and removed to the village of
Clayton, where he conducted a hotel and retail liquor
business for many years and with marked success.
He retired from active
business in 1897 and he and his wife have since lived
in peace and prosperity in their attractive village
home at Clayton. Mr. Duwe is a staunch advocate of
the principles and policies of the Democratic party,
was for a number of years a member of the school
board and has served several terms as township
trustee of Clayton township, a position of which he
is the valued incumbent at the time of this writing.
He gives liberal support to the Catholic church, of
which his wife is a devoted communicant.
In the year 1863 was
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Duwe to Miss Mary Ann
Osterdock, who was born in the state of Indiana and
who was a child at the time of the family removal to
Clayton county, where her parents passed the
remainder of their lives on a farm, she being now the
only one living of their three children. Mrs. Duwe is
a daughter of Dominic and Mary (Cabel) Osterdock, the
former a native of France and the latter of Germany.
Upon coming to America the parents established their
home in Indiana, where they remained until 1846, when
they became pioneers of Clayton county, Iowa, where
they passed the remainder of their lives, as
previously stated in this context.
In conclusion is entered
brief record concerning the children of Mr. Duwe, and
incidentally it may first be stated that they have
six grandchildren and one great-granddaughter. Of
their children the firstborn was George L., who died
at the age of thirty-three years; Amelia L. is the
wife of Christ Beckman, who is now manager of a pump
factory in the city of Des Moines; Anna M. is the
wife of Edward J. Crawford, of Dubuque; William H.
resides in the city of Spokane, Washington, and is
employed as an inspector in the service of the
Northern Pacific Railroad Company; Elizabeth E. is
the wife of Floyd Duff and they maintain their home
in the city of Portland, Oregon, Mr. Duff being in
the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II, 1916; pg. 98-99
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
