Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1891
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 659
CHARLES PLOTH

Charles PLOTH, a farmer living on section 23, Magnolia Township, first settled on section 27, in 1870, and bought eighty acres of land, fifteen acres of which had been broken, and a small log house erected thereon, in which he lived until 1875, and then sold the place and rented for a year, after which he bought his present place. At the time there were one hundred acres partly improved, and a frame house 16x24 feet, to which he added in 1881, and the same year built a barn 26x40 feet. His farm now consists of three hundred and eighty acres, divided about equally into three places.

When our subject came to Harrison County, it was yet quite new, and there had been but little settlement made along the Willow, so that during these twenty-one years of his residence in this country, he has seen many changes--the wild prairie-land having been transformed into a vast and productive garden spot.

Our subject was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, August 28, 1837, and remained in his good old German home, Strelitz, until he was seventeen years old, and then full of the energy, so well known to the German youth, he worked on the farm by the year, receiving $18 for the years work. This he continued for nine long years, until the spring of 1863, when he bid farewell to the Fatherland, and in company with his fathers family, sailed for America. They were six weeks and three days on the ocean, and after landing came direct to Cleveland, Ohio, where our subject worked two months on a farm; worked in a brick-yard three months, and then worked at whatever he could get to do, until the autumn of 1870, when he came to Harrison County, Iowa. When he arrived at Cleveland, he only had $20 but when he came to Harrison County he possessed $2,000, which he had earned working by the month and otherwise. While working in the brick-yard at Cleveland, he not unfrequently worked both day and night.

Our subject was married in Cleveland, Ohio, April 25, 1865, to Miss Caroline MICHAEL, and they are the parents of six children--Mary, Anna, Bertha, Matilda, Mollie and William. Mary, Bertha and Matilda are deceased.

Caroline (MICHAEL) PLOTH, was a native of Mecklenburg, Strelitz, Germany, born September 4, 1842, and came to America with her parents the same time that Mr. PLOTH and his parents came, and she also worked out by the month in Cleveland until she married. She had also worked out in her native land, for the magnificent sum of $12 per year, working for the same parties four years at one time. Her father died in Germany.

The father of our subject, Christian PLOTH, was born in Germany, and came to American and settled at Cleveland, where he worked by the day until he came to Harrison County, Iowa, where he died in 1883. His wife, the mother of our subject, died in the Old Country when Charles was but two years old, and he married again.

Mrs. PLOTH's father was born and died in Germany. Her mother, Dora (GIESE) MICHAEL, was born in Germany, and died in Harrison County, Iowa, in 1887. Our subject and his wife are both members of the German Lutheran Church at Magnolia, as were the parents on both sides.

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