Andrew P. Hollander
Andrew P. Hollander, who is now living retired in Schleswig after being engaged in farming and stock-raising for more than twenty-five years in Crawford county, is a native of Germany, his birth occurring on the 5th of May, 1855.
His parents were Rasmus and Maran (Neissen) Hollander. The father died in the land of his nativity but the mother emigrated to America where she passed away on the 22d of April, 1890. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Hollander were born the following children: Peter, deceased; Christina, who lives in Germany; Laurence, a resident of Schleswig; Thomas, living in Ida county; Ebbe, also residing in Schleswig; Andrew P., the subject of this sketch; Maria, the wife of John Moeler, of Otter Creek township; Asmus, deceased and Ingurerd, living in Otter Creek township.
The boyhood and youth of Andrew P. Hollander were spent in the fatherland but when he attained his majority decided to become a subject of the United States, so left the parental home and took passage for America, arriving here in the month of October, 1876. He remained on the Atlantic coast but a short time and then started westward, his destination being Clinton, Iowa. There he obtained employment as a farm hand, with which occupation he was identified four years, when he removed to Crawford county, where he continued in the same work for another two years.
He possessed the thrifty, energetic nature which characterizes the Teutonic nation and during this period had accumulated the capital necessary to buy land. In 1882 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres where he immediately engaged in general farming, devoting a great deal of attention, however, to the breeding and raising of Hereford cattle. During the next twenty-five years he tirelessly applied himself to acquiring a competence which would enable him to live retired in the latter years of his life, and toward this end concentrated all of his energies with most gratifying success. He sold his farm in 1907 and moved to Schleswig, where he enjoys the society of his old friends and the comforts awarded him as the result of his earlier self-denial.
Mr. Hollander's preparations for a home had their culmination in his marriage on the 3d of September, 1882, to Miss Albertina Stegemann. Eleven children were born unto her parents, Edward and Caroline (Rohdy) Stegemann, their order of birth being as follows: Augusta, the widow of John B. Dorfler, of Crawford county; William, living in Otter Creek township; Wilhelmina, who resides in Schleswig; Ernest, also living in this county; Otillie, who became the wife of John Reimers, of Otter Creek township; Albertina, the wife of Andrew P. Hollander; Otto, living in Otter Creek township; Gustav, a resident of North Platte, Nebraska; Albert, who lives in Schleswig; and the two youngest, who died in infancy.
Mr. and Mrs. Hollander became the parents of six children but only four are now living, Mary, the eldest, and the sixth, an infant, having died. The others are as follows: Otto, Laura, Caroline, and Minnie. The last named is now the wife of Henry A. Klotz.
Their faith is that of the Lutheran denomination, with which they are identified by membership. Mr. Hollander ever since acquiring the rights of franchise through naturalization has most ardently supported the candidates and principles of the democratic party. He always takes an active interest in all local political issues and has served in many of the minor township offices. He has met with more than average success in his various pursuits since becoming a citizen of the United States, and has never felt cause to regret the transference of his governmental allegiance.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.