Robert Holm
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Robert
Holm, who carries on general farming on section 10, Dawson township, is
a native of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, born on the 16th of March,
1870. His parents were John C. and Bernadine (Jensen) Holm, who were
likewise natives of that country. The father, whose birth occurred in
1834, died in Clinton. Iowa, in 1901, while the mother is still living
there. In the family were five children, of whom four are yet living:
Philip, a resident of Clinton, Iowa; Robert; Morris, who resides in
Dawson, Iowa; and Julius, who is a minister of the German Lutheran
church, now located in Texas.
Robert Holm was reared on his father’s farm in Germany, and had the
advantage of good education in the public schools of his native
country. He was a youth of sixteen years when in 1886 he came to
America, his home being established in Clinton county, Iowa, where he
worked at farm labor for a few years. He then made a visit to his
parents in Germany, but was told that he could not remain for he had
left the fatherland in order to avoid serving in the army. He then
induced his parents to sell their property in Germany and come to the
new world with him. This they did and the father purchased one hundred
and sixty acres of land, upon which Robert Holm now resides. The son
remained with his father and assisted him in improving the farm until
the latter’s death, when he purchased the place. He now has a fine
property, on which he has put six miles of tile, thus producing an
excellent drainage which makes the land very fertile and productive. In
addition to cultivating the cereals best adapted to soil and climate.
He also raises shorthorn cattle, Chester White hogs and blooded stock
and makes a specialty of breeding and raising white Leghorn chickens
and white Holland turkeys. He has become well known in connection with
his stock and poultry raising interests and his business in this
connection is quite profitable.
On the 7th of March, 1893, Mr. Holm was united in marriage to Miss Lena
B. Carstensen, who was born in Jackson county, Iowa, on the 1st of
January, 1873, and is a daughter of Godber and Dorothea (Jochimsen)
Carstensen, both natives of Germany. On emigrating to the new world
they became early settlers of Greene county, Iowa, and the father died
in Dawson township in 1891, but the mother is still living. The
marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Holm has been blessed with five children:
George J.; Bertha; John H., who died at the age of four and a half
years; Bernard T.; and Theodore J.
Mr. Holm votes with the democracy, but has never had desire for the
honors and emoluments of office. He and his wife hold membership in the
German Lutheran church and are well known in the community as
representative young people, interested in all that pertains to
progress and advancement in the community. Mr. Holm has led an active
and useful life, industry being one of his salient characteristics and
the basis of the success which he has achieved.
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