Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 838
FRANCIS H. LUDWIG

Francis H. LUDWIG, a prominent business man at Modale, will form the subject of this sketch. When men move from one section to another, they do so for the purpose of bettering their condition, and usually the men in the prime of their young manhood who left some one of the Eastern or Middle States and cast their lot with the pioneers of the Mississippi or Missouri Valley, made a good exchange. Not that all men prosper, even in the great and growing West, but they are offered better opportunities, and men of ability to achieve something in life worthy of note, most generally succeed better in a new country. But work, hard work, must be the lot of every man, whether it be in the gaining of wealth or knowledge. It may be said that our subject came from Ohio in December in 1869, with no means save a pair of strong arms and a determination to win in the great conflict of life. The express purpose for which he came to these parts, was to engage in chopping wood on the Missouri bottoms.

Mr. Ludwig was born in Columbia County, PA, July 14, 1847. He is the son of Eli and Hannah (BOIES) LUDWIG, both natives of the Keystone State. The father was born in Columbia County, and the mother in Burks County. Our subject was born at Bloomsburgh, the county seat. Eli LUDWIG, the father, was a carpenter by trade, and when Francis H. was eight years of age, removed to a farm in Hancock County, Ohio. He received his education in Pennsylvania and Ohio. His father died in Ohio in 1863. In 1869, our subject came to Boone, Iowa, remained a short time, and came on to Modale in December, and was compelled to walk from Missouri Valley to Modale, as he had run short of funds. He followed chopping wood and working by the month on a farm until the spring of 1870, and then went to Taylor and Fremont Counties, where he worked that summer. In the spring of 1871 he rented a farm in Clay Township, of Ethan COLE, and remained there until 1872, when he bought two hundred and eighty acres of land on sections 25 and 36, in Clay Township, having previously purchased forty acres on section 26, of the township. He remained on the farm until the fall of 1873, when he engaged in the warehouse and grain business at Modale to remain premanently, having sold his land, which amounted to over seventeen hundred acres. Since living at Modale, he has been the business partner of Al PURCELL, under the firm of F.H. LUDWIG & Co., W. M. SHARPNACK, and W. A..SHARPNACK & Co. as sole proprietor of the business. At various times he has been engaged in lumber, grain, hadrware and general merchandising.

He was united in marriage in 1876, to Elizabeth ANDERSON, daughter of J. J. and Sarah (LONG) ANDERSON, who came to the county in November, 1866. Mr. And Mrs. LUDWIG are the parents of one child, T. O. M. LUDWIG, born August 26, 1877.

Our subject is a Republican in his political views, but had never aspired to any office, preferring at any time to attend to his own business pursuits. During the days of the Iowa State Grange he belonged to that organization, which is the only society to which he has ever belonged. Through business foresight and untiring energy, he has accumulated a handsome competency, at the present time owning lands in various parts of the county, as well as in other states, and unlike many a well-to-do man has never received but about $300 from any source outside of his own business exertion and labor. He stands high in the community in which he lives, for his square dealing and honor his word being as good as a bond. In addition to his merchandising house, he is proprietor of the grain elevator and roller mill at Modale, as well as being a lumber and coal dealer. He also publishes a local trade journal called the Pride. The history of Modale proper contains much concerning Mr. LUDWIG.

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