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Martin Wessling
In
a history of the farming community in Paton township mention should be
made of Martin Wessling, who owns and cultivates a good tract of land
on section 24. He was born in Cook county, Illinois, on the 11th of
November, 1854, and is a son of Garrett J. and Wilhelmina (Plagge)
Wessling, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father was born in
Hanover in 1817, and died in Cook county in 1885, having for twenty
years survived his wife, who passed away in that county in 1865. He
arrived in Chicago in 1834, three years before the incorporation of the
city. He made the journey in company with his parents, walking the
entire distance from the east. At that time they could have purchased
the land where Lincoln Park is now situated for eight dollars per acre
and there were only three houses upon that entire site. The family
located north of Chicago on eighty acres of land, which they improved.
He lost his wife when their son Martin was only eleven years of age,
but he kept the family together, rearing his children as best he could.
He carried on general agricultural pursuits up to the time of his death
and lived a life of industry, perseverance and honesty. In his family
were eight children, seven of whom yet survive: Mrs. Louisa Gockley, of
Pasadena, California; Henry, living in Deerfield, Illinois; Mrs. Mary
Brant, of Highland Park, Illinois; Sarah, also a resident of Highland
Park, Illinois; Martin, of this review; William, who departed this life
at the age of seventeen years; Mrs. Carrie Smuse, residing in in Cedar
Rapids, Iowa; and August, who makes his home in Paton township.
Martin Wessling was reared in Illinois and early became familiar with
all the work of the home farm. He was given a common school education,
such as he could acquire in the winter seasons, when his labors were
not needed in the work of the fields. He started out as a farm hand
when fifteen years of age and at twenty years of age began farming on
his own account in Cook county upon a tract of rented land.
On the 20th of February, 1879, in Geneseo, Illinois, Mr. Wessling was
united in marriage to Miss Lena W. Summers, a native of Pennsylvania,
who died March 7, 1898, at the age of thirty-four years, after they had
traveled life’s journey together for about nineteen years. Unto Mr. and
Mrs. Wessling were born six children: Jessie, now the wife of George
Rynbeirger, of Fort Dodge, Iowa; Lulu B., the wife of R. J. Altman, who
is living in Pontiac, Illinois; Daisy, the wife of John Finger, whose
home is in Fort Dodge, Iowa; Claude M., Grace and Hazel, all at home.
In the year 1885 Mr. Wessling brought his family to Iowa, settling on
his present place on section 24, Paton township. He brought with him
eight hundred dollars which he had saved from his earnings in Illinois
and his first purchase comprised one hundred acres of wild land. Not a
furrow had been turned or an improvement made upon it, but he
resolutely set to work to break the sod and cultivate the fields, since
which time he has wrought a wonderful transformation in the appearance
of his farm. To it he has added forty acres, so that he now owns today
a valuable farm property of one hundred and forty acres. Here, in
connection with general farming, he is also raising stock, now having
one hundred head of hogs on his place. In this he has been very
prosperous and he likewise has a large herd of dairy cattle. He belongs
to the Methodist Episcopal church and is a supporter of the republican
party, but without desire or aspiration for office. He has been a hard
worker, early coming to a realization of the fact that perseverance and
labor can overcome all difficulties and win the success which promotes
the desire of every business man and which is the reward of persistent
labor.
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