Blume Brothers
The Blume Brothers, W. A. and F. G., have gained a wide reputation as stock-breeders and farmers and are also recognized as two of the most enterprising and progressive business men of Crawford county. As a result of their energy and good judgment they are. now the owners of one of the finest fanns in the county.
Charles T. Blume, their father, was born in the province of Saxony, Germany, and came to the United States in his young manhood. He worked in various eastern states and then removed to a farm near Streator, Illinois. In 1880 he came to Crawford county, Iowa, and settled on section 11, Hanover township, where he improved one hundred and sixty acres of land. He passed away in 1910 and was buried in Morgan cemetery, Morgan township. The mother, whose maiden name was Amelia Girard, is also a native of Gennany and is of French Huguenot ancestry. She married Mr. Blume in Illinois and now makes her home with her two sons, F. G. and W. A. There were eight children in the family, namely: Theodore, who is living on the old homestead in Hanover township; Caroline, now the wife of J. L. Adams, of Maywood, Illinois; Clara, who married Ferdinand Hartman, of Klamath Falls, Oregon; Otto H., of Albany, Oregon; F. G.; W. A.; and Edward and Rosie, who died in infancy.
F. G. Blume was born at Livingston, Illinois, December 14, 1869, and W. A. Blume was born at the same place, August 12, 1871. The brothers grew to manhood under the parental roof and received their education in the district schools. At twenty-one years of age F. G. Blume began farming for himself in Hanover township and three years later became associated with two of his brothers in operating a steam threshing machine, one of the first machines of the kind in this part of the country, and was identified with the threshing business for about seven years. In the meantime, however, he and his brothers, O. H. and W. A., engaged in farming in partnership in Otter Creek township and subsequently removed to Woodbury county, where W. A. and F. G. lived together, but each had his own farm.
They succeeded so admirably that in March, 1901, they located on section 13, Boyer township, Crawford county, where they are now conducting a thoroughly modern stock farm. The place comprises three hundred and sixty acres and they have made extensive improvements, including large barns, repair shops where they do their own horseshoeing, a complete telephone system and a thorough equipment of machinery, the very best that can be bought in the market. They were the first in their part of the county to grow winter wheat successfully and they were also the first to rotate grain with clover. They have built a private steel bridge across Boyer river, the only individual enterprise of this kind in Crawford county. The predominating feature of their business is their registered herd of Aberdeen-Angus cattle.
Eighteen years ago they began breeding this kind of stock and about 1900 they started a thoroughbred herd, which is now headed by the noted sire, Bardolino. The herd numbers thirty-five head of cattle. They also have twenty-one head of high grade Percheron horses and are feeders of stock, shipping extensively to the market each year, having recently made a shipment of three carloads of hogs . The brothers have demonstrated on an important scale the results which may be expected from cooperation when each individual in a firm thoroughly understands his business and is deeply interested in the work. Their splendid success cannot fail to inspire young men who have the ambition to accomplish a worthy object in life. Progressive in their methods and always reliable in their dealings, they have truly earned the confidence which is instinctively accorded them wherever they are known. F. G. Blume is a member of the Odd Fellows lodge at Dow City.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.