Rev. Charles Runge
The Rev. Charles Runge, who is in charge of the pastorate of St. Paul's German Lutheran church in Hanover township, Crawford county, was born in Pommern, Germany, in 1859, and is a son of Frederick and Frederica (Beitz) Runge.
The parents, who were born and married in the fatherland, emigrated to the United States with their family in 1862 and located on a farm in Shawano county, Wisconsin, where they continue to reside. They own a large tract of land, which is well improved and highly cultivated, being one of the valuable properties in that county. Mr. Runge no longer engages in active farming, although they continue to reside on the homestead, as he has now reached the venerable age of seventy-seven years, and Mrs. Runge has passed her seventy-fifth year.
They were the parents of the following children: John, who is married and operates the home farm; Franklin, living at Underhill, Oconto county, Wisconsin; Fred, who is a resident of the same place; Anna, the wife of Robert Rose, of Bonduel, Wisconsin; Ida, who died at the age of eighteen years and is buried in Sioux City, Iowa.; and our subject.
After he had completed the common-school course Charles Runge entered Concordia College at Springfield, Illinois, where he continued to study until fully qualified to enter the ministry. After his graduation he was elected to the pastorate of the German Lutheran church in Sioux City, Iowa, and after presiding over that parish for seven years accepted his present charge. In addition to his duties as pastor he has charge of the parochial school which is conducted in connection with the church.
The marriage of Rev. Charles Runge and Miss Paulina Dicke was solemnized on the 12th of October, 1883. Mrs. Runge is a daughter of the Rev. P. and Catrina (Betzler) Dicke and was born in Therese, Dodge county, Wisconsin. Her parents were natives of Germany but came to America and settled in Cecil, Wisconsin, in an early day, and there they still reside, the fathter now being eighty-nine years of age and the mother seventy-eight.
Thirteen children were born to them, as follows: Caroline, who is now deceased; Henry, who lives in Underhill, Wisconsin; Mary, the wife of John Krieger, of Waterloo, Iowa; Paulina, now Mrs. Runge; Frederick, deceased; Herman, also deceased; Hermine, the wife of the Rev. H. Daib, of Merrill, Wisconsin; William, also residing in Merrill, Wisconsin; Anna, who married Gustave Rothe, of Hanover township; Charles, living in Cecil, Wisconsin; Julia, the wife of Paul Fiene, of Charter Oak, Iowa; Johannes, who lives in Minnesota; and Clara, the wife of Emil Petermann, of Advance, Wisconsin.
Nine children have been born to Rev. and Mrs. Runge, of whom the two eldest, William and Clara, are deceased, and the others are: Johannes, who is a music teacher in Chicago; Barney, a graduate of the high school, who is employed in the First National Bank at Charter Oak, Iowa; Lydia, who is also a graduate of the high school, now in Chicago; Martin, who is a high school graduate, now in the bank at Ricketts, Iowa; Esther, Alfred and Paula, all at home, the two former attending school.
Rev. Runge has made many friends during the long period he has presided over the parish in Hanover township and is highly regarded and respected not only by the communicants of his own church but by others. He is a man of high ideals and rigid principles, yet withal is charitable in his judgments and liberal in his views, which undoubtedly has tended to strengthen his hold on the community at large.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.