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         PETER REISCH, a resident of Letts, this county, was born in Dauphin County, Pa., in 1826, and is the tenth of a family of fifteen children born to Peter and Nancy (Musser) Reisch, who were also natives of Pennsylvania. The father was a carpenter by trade, but also engaged in farming, and his death occurred in 1835, being frozen while on the Susquehanna River. He had served as a soldier during the War of 1812. His excellent wife survived him some years, dying in 1857.

The boyhood days of our subject were spent upon a farm, but at the age of fifteen he learned the carpenter’s trade, and was also a millwright for forty-two years. In 1849 he emigrated to Iowa, settling in Grand View, Louisa County, but remained there only for a few months, as his trade of building and fitting mills called him from one place to another. In 1853 he went to California, and the following thirty years was employed as a millwright throughout that State and Nevada, during which time he secured quite an extensive and fine mineral collection. In the year 1882, in Letts, Iowa, his marriage with Mrs. Mary Henderson was celebrated. She was the widow of Eli Henderson, a native of Ohio, and a son of Edward and Margaret Henderson, also of that State, who emigrated to Indiana in 1848, settling upon a farm, where the death of both parents occurred some years ago. In 1851 Mr. Henderson came to Louisa County, Iowa, where he engaged in farming, and three years later was united in marriage. Four children were born of the union, three of whom are living: Ella died in 1879, age the age of twenty-one years; Clara, now Mrs. Wilson, resides in Concord Township; Nora and Ollie are both at home. Mr. Henderson . . .

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. . . died May 6, 1874, aged forty-six years. Mrs. Reisch’s parents were Solomon and Susanna (Stroah) Wagner, who were natives of Pennsylvania, and became residents of Grand View township, this county, in 1849, the father purchasing Government land, which he improved, but afterward sold, removing to a farm near the village of Grand View, upon which he resided at the time of his death, in February, 1866, when fifty-eight years of age. Mrs. Wagner still survives him, and resides on the home farm.

After his marriage Mr. Reisch became a resident of Letts, where he is engaged in farming, owning fifty acres of highly improved land within the city limits. He has never been an office-seeker, much preferring the quiet of home life, and in politics affiliates with the Republican party. Socially, he is a member of the Masonic fraternity, and for the past four years has been Treasurer of the lodge. He takes an active interest in everything for the good of the community, is a friend to all educational institutions, and he and his wife are held in high esteem by all who know them. Mrs. Reisch is one of the stockholders in the co-operative store of Letts, which was organized about the year 1873.