E. Charles Ehrhardt
E. Charles Ehrhardt -- Nearly
sixty years ago the parents of this well known and
representative citizen of Boardman township numbered
themselves among the pioneers of Clayton county, and the
family name has been specially prominent and influential
in connection with the development and progress of
agricultural industry in the county, the while its
representatives have invariably stood exponent of loyal
and liberal citizenship. He whose name initiates this
review is the owner of one of the fine landed estates of
the county in which he has maintained his residence from
infancy to the present time, and his well improved farm,
comprising two hundred and seventeen acres, is most
eligibly situated about two miles west of Elkader, the
judicial center of the county, and in sections 21 and 22,
Boardman township, with service on rural mail route No.2
from the county seat. Mr. Ehrhardt became the owner of
this valuable farm in 1880 and during the long
intervening years he has shown great circumspection and
enterprise in carrying forward successful operations as
one of the representative agriculturists and
stock-growers of the county and with inviolable place in
popular confidence and good will. He is serving with
characteristic efficiency and loyalty in the office of
township trustee and as a valued member of the executive
committee on community insurance, besides which he has
shown equal diligence and public spirit as incumbent of
minor township offices in past years. He is one of the
influential men of his township, is a Democrat in his
political adherency, is affiliated with the Woodmen of
the World and the Fraternal Union, and both he and his
wife are earnest communicants of the Lutheran church.
Mr. Ehrhardt was born at Elmira, Chemung county, New
York, on the 26th of February, 1857, and is a son of John
and Henrietta (Kaiser) Ehrhardt, who came to Clayton
county, Iowa, in the year following that of his birth,
and who here passed the residue of their earnest and
useful lives. John Ehrhardt was a native of Germany, as
was also his wife, and he came to the United States in
the early '50s. After his marriage, which was solemnized
in the State of New York, he there continued his
residence until 1858, when he came with his family to
Clayton county, Iowa, and became a pioneer farmer in
Boardman township, where he reclaimed and improved a good
farm and became a substantial and honored citizen who was
known for sterling integrity and for his industry and
enterprise as a farmer. He was about 84 years of age at
the time of his death and his wife passed away when 55
years of age, the names of both meriting enduring place
on the roll of the worthy pioneers of this county. Both
were zealous communicants of the Lutheran church, in the
faith of which they carefully reared their children, of
whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest; Annie, the
second child, died in childhood; Lena is the wife of L.
Maville, a prosperous farmer of Cox Creek township; John
is a resident of Elkader; Mary is the wife of J. J.
Kuehl, of Boardman township, and her twin sister died in
infancy;
and George lives at Elkader.
E. Charles Ehrhardt early began to assist in the work of
his father's farm and his educational advantages in his
youth were those afforded in the pioneer schools of
Boardman township, where he has continued his active
allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture
during the long intervening years and where he has
achieved success of unequivocal order, a preceding
paragraph having indicated the scope and importance of
his operations as a farmer and stock-raiser.
On the 5th of June, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Ehrhardt to Miss Elizabeth Brockman, who was born and
reared in this county and who is a daughter of Christ and
Maria (Meyer) Brockman, both natives of Germany. Her
father immigrated to the United States in 1852 and became
a pioneer settler in Clayton county, his old homestead,
in Farmersburg township, having continued as his place of
residence to the present time and his devoted wife having
passed to the life eternal on the 8th of March, 1908. She
lived for three years in Ohio before coming to Clayton
county. Of their children Mrs. Ehrhardt is the eldest;
Annie is the wife of Edward Reardon, of Elkader; August,
George and Bertha are deceased; and Frederick, Sarah and
Christ remain at the paternal home, in Farmersburg
township.
Mr. and Mrs. Ehrhardt became the parents of six children,
concerning whom brief record is given in conclusion of
this review: George C., a merchant at Communia, Volga
township; Carl R. is associated with his father in the
work and management of the home farm; Frederick J. is a
successful and popular teacher in public schools; Edward
H. remains at the parental home; the fifth child, a
daughter, died in infancy; and the youngest member of the
home circle is Elmer.
source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; pg.
104-105
-submitted by S. Ferrall
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