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HERMAN BOESS

"The family of this name in Fayette county is part of the German immigration which began settling in Iowa at its earliest opening as a state and eventually became an important and influential part of the population. Herman Boess was born in Hillinghausen, Hanover, Germany, in 1843, but lost his parents by death when still a child. He learned the carpenter’s trade and followed it for a living as long as he remained in his native country. He came to the United States in 1881 and located at Richmond, Indiana, where he followed his trade as a carpenter. Two years later he migrated to Iowa and settled in Fayette county in the extreme southwest corner of section 30, Bethel township. One year later he moved to section 20 and the year following rented two hundred acres in and near section 32. A year afterward he rented the south half of section 19, where he lived for three years. His next purchase was the northwest quarter of section 23, the place now owned by his son. On January 25, 1895, he was kicked by a horse and died a few minutes later as the result of his injuries.

In 1869 Herman Boess married Louisa, daughter of Mathias and Elsa (Schnatmeir) Brockman, also a native of Krukom, Hanover, Germany. They had six children, Fred, Marie, Lizzie, Minnie, Adam and Annie. A full sketch of the eldest son appears elsewhere in this volume. Marie, the eldest daughter, married John Erhardt and lives in California. Lizzie married George Hucke and resides near Fredericksburg, Chickasaw county. Minnie married Fred Brenner and lives in California. Adam lives with his mother in section 15, Bethel township. Anna married Carl Sinner, of whom a fuller sketch appears below. In 1902, the home place was sold to Fred, and Mrs. Boess bought two hundred acres on the north side of section 15, Bethel township, and moved to this new home in the spring of 1902.

Carl Sinner, who married Anna, youngest daughter of Herman Boess, is a son of William Sinner. The latter is a native of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, and was born in 1851. His parents were John and Philopena Conradeine (Baker) Sinner, substantial people in the old country. In his boyhood days he learned the harnessmaker’s trade, at which he worked for four years. In 1870, when nineteen years old, he came to America and pushed immediately for the west until he reached Fayette county. For four or five years he did farm work by the month and then rented one hundred and twenty acres at Arlington owned by his uncle, which he farmed for a year. Later he farmed in Windsor township until 1887, when he removed to eighty acres he had purchased in section 13, Bethel township. Since then he has added forty acres to his holdings in section 13 and has eighty acres in section 23, making two hundred acres in his possession.

In 1875 Mr. Sinner married Anna Margaret, daughter of George Belschner, of Illinois. She died in 1888, after becoming the mother of four children, of whom one died in infancy, two days before the death of the mother. Those living are George, Edward and Carl. The latter married Anna Boess and resides on a farm one mile north and one west of his father’s place. They have one child, Florence. Edward resides in North Dakota, on a land claim bought from the government. George studied law at Fort Dodge and graduated in 1904.

Besides practicing law, he was interested for two or three years in mining at Basin, Wyoming, but his health failed him and he sought the more congenial climate of Arizona. In February, 1889, he married Amelia Schwan, a resident of Sumner, Bremer county, Iowa. He has had four children, William, Alma, Ella and Edna. Alma died when two years old, but the other three children remain at home with their parents. The Sinner family belong to the German Lutheran church at Hawkeye and no connection enjoys higher esteem in that neighborhood."

~transcribed for the Fayette Co. IAGenWeb by Georgianna Gray