IAGenWeb Project - Clayton co.

Henry Eiffert

Henry Eiffert is the owner of a valuable landed estate of two hundred acres, eligibly situated in Giard township and near the little village of Froelich, and by his energy, stability and good judgment he has proved himself one of the essentially representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his native county. As a farmer and as a public-spirited citizen he has directed his course with that discriminating sense of stewardship that betokens sterling character and that begets unqualified popular approbation, the while definite success and prosperity have come as a natural sequel.

Mr. Eiffert is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of this county and here was born in Monona township on the 10th of April, 1859, a son of Hanscourt and Elizabeth (Hoch) Eiffert, both of whom were born in Hessen, Germany. Within a comparatively short time after his immigration to the United States Hanscourt Eiffert came to Iowa and established his residence in Cayton county. He was a young man at the time and in the initial stage of his progress toward the goal of independence he was employed on the farm of a Mr. Schneider, in Monona township. Industrious and frugral, his ambitious purpose caused him carefully to conserve his earnings until he realized the prime object of this ambition and was enabled to purchase a farm of his own, in Monona township. He developed and improved this land into one of the productive and valuable farms of that township and there continued his successful activities as an agriculturist until his death, which occurred February 12, 1887, when he was in the prime of his useful manhood. His venerable widow now resides in the village of Monona, both having early become members of the religious organization known as the Evangelical association, and he, as a loyal citizen of his adopted country, having allied himself staunchly with the Republican party. Of the two children the subject of this review is the elder, and the younger son, Emil, is deceased.

Henry Eiffert was reared to manhood on the old homestead farm which was the place of his nativity and in the meanwhile he did not neglect to avail himself fully of the advantages afforded in the local schools. He was about twenty-eight years of age at the time of his father's death and the management of the home farm then devolved upon him, though he profited much by the wise counsel and earnest co-operation of his widowed mother. When thirty-three years of age he purchased his mother's interest in the farm, to the operation of which he thereafter devoted himself for some years, at the expiration of which he sold the property and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm, to the area of which he later added by the purchase of a contiguous tract of forty acres, so that his fine domain now has a total of two hundred acres of the fertile and valuable land of his native county. He has made many admirable improvements on his farm, including the erection of good buildings, and has made it give forth the unmistakable evidences of thrift and prosperity. He is discriminating and progressive as an exponent of diversified agriculture, and has proved specially successful also in the raising of high-grade live stock, his farm having high reputation for its full-blooded black Polled Angus cattle. Mr. Eiffert has at all times done his part in the furtherance of those things which have tended to advance the social and material prosperity of the community, is aligned as a loyal supporter of the cause of the Republican party and has been signally immune from office-seeking proclivities, the only public office which he has consented to assume being that of school director, of which he was the incumbent several years. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the Evangelical church, or Association, at Froelich, and he has served as a member of its board of trustees.

The marriage of Mr. Eiffert to Miss Elizabeth Ulrich was solemnized June 3, 1892, and they have three children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here given: Blanche, June 7, 1893; Esther, March 6, 1895; and Roy, July 17, 1898. Mrs. Eiffert was born in Giard township, this county, on the 11th of February, 1862, and is a daughter of John and Catherine (Wagner) Ulrich, the former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the State of Indiana. John Ulrich was a boy at the time of accompanying his parents on their immigration to America. Upon coming to Clayton county he located in the vicinity of the village of Watson, and later he purchased a farm in Monona township. After selling this property he bought a farm in Giard township, and there he continued his residence, as one of the sterling citizens and successful farmers of the county, until his death, which occurred May 22, 1905, his widow, who was born March 17, 1835, being now one of the venerable and loved pioneer women of Clayton county. Of their children the eldest is John, who is a resident of Clarion, Wright county; George maintains his home at Garner, Hancock county; James is a resident of Cedar Falls, Blackhawk county; Mrs. Eiffert was the fourth child and she is now the only representative of the immediate family in Clayton county; and Helen died in childhood.

source: History of Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; 106-108
-submitted by S. Ferrall

 

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