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1907 Past and Present Biographies

Godber Carstensen

Godber Carstensen, deceased, who for many years was successfully connected with agricultural interests in Greene county, was a native of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where his birth occurred on the 28th of May, 1834. When eighteen years of age he accompanied his parents on their emigration to the United States. They made their home in Ohio for three years and on the expiration of that period removed to Clinton county, Iowa, where both the father and mother passed away.

Mr. Carstensen of this review chose farming as a life work and in 1875, with a team, cattle and a few household goods, he started for Woodbury county, Iowa. When he reached Greene county, however, his cattle gave out and he was obliged to remain here, squatting on eighty acres of wild prairie. He built a board shanty and in the winter banked it with sod to keep out the cold, for the country was still in its primitive condition and the pioneers had to cope with hardships that can scarcely be realized by those who have not experienced them. Mr. Carstensen was a hard worker and careful manager and brought his farm under a high state of cultivation, annually garnering rich harvests as the result of his able management and enterprise. He added to his original purchase until he owned one hundred and sixty acres on section 5, Dawson township, constituting one of the well improved and valuable farm properties of the county, and he also had eighty acres of land in Webster county, Iowa. Just about the time that he had acquired a competence sufficient to enable him to live retired he was called from this life, passing away on the 15th of December, 1891. Pneumonia was the direct cause of his death, and his loss was deeply deplored throughout the community, for he was recognized as a man of high, manly purposes and genuine personal worth, whose life in all its relations had been above reproach.

In 1862, in Clinton county, Iowa, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Carstensen and Miss Dorothea Jochimsen, also born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, her natal day being March 23, 1843. When eighteen years of age she accompanied her parents to the United States, the family home being established in Clinton county, Iowa. By her marriage to Mr. Carstensen she became the mother of eight children, namely: one who died in infancy; Sanka, who carries on the home farm; Anna E., the wife of Peter Hansen, a farmer of Dawson township; Lena B., who became the wife of Robert Holm, of Dawson township, who is mentioned on another page of this work; John, who carries on agricultural pursuits in Webster county; Dorothea, the wife of William Meyer, also of Webster county; John, who died when five months old; and another who died in infancy. The oldest living son, who was born in Clinton county, is now forty years of age, and helped to drive cattle to the county in 1876. As stated, he carries on the home place and has always made his home on this farm.

In his political views Mr. Carstensen was a democrat and took an active part in local politices. At the time of his demise he was serving as school director and had also been a township trustee. He was one of the organizers of the Lutheran church and was deeply interested in its work and upbuilding, acting as a trustee thereof until called beyond. His was the third family to settle in Dawson township and he was therefore numbered among the honored pioneers of Greene county, whose labors had been an element in the substantial development and growth of this part of the state.

After the death of her first husband Mrs. Carstensen became the wife of Henry Bush, who had been an old friend of the family, and for seven years Mr. and Mrs. Bush made their home in Jackson county, Iowa. Upon the death of her second husband she returned to the old home farm, where she has since lived, having been a resident of Dawson township longer than any person now living therein. She is a lady of culture and refinement and relates in interesting manner many reminiscences of pioneer life - the hardships endured and the difficulties overcome. She is now enabled to enjoy all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life, having been left a goodly competence by her second husband, and is esteemed throughout the community by reason of her many good qualities of heart and mind.


Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.


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