CLAUS DALLMEYER.

View Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. Claus Dallmeyer

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         Claus Dallmeyer, whose demise occurred in Concord township on the 2d of March, 1892, was long and successfully identified with general agricultural pursuits in Louisa county, accumulating three hundred and sixty acres of rich and productive land. His birth occurred in Germany on the 8th of August, 1820, and the first thirty years of his life were spent in the fatherland. In 1850 he crossed the Atlantic to the United States, settling in Jackson county, Iowa, where he remained for six years. On the expiration of that period he came to Louisa county and purchased a tract of land comprising twenty acres, improved the property and continued its operation until called to his final rest. As his financial resources increased, owing to his untiring industry and capable management, he extended the boundaries of his farm by additional purchase until at the time of his death it embraced three hundred and sixty acres. His widow still owns and . . .

Pg 349

. . . operates a quarter section thereof but the remainder of the land was divided among the children.

         On the 13th of July, 1867, Mr. Dallmeyer was united in marriage to Miss Dora Wilkins, who was born in Germany on the 10th of March, 1845, her parents being Mathias and Catherine Wilkins, likewise natives of that country. She came to America with her sister in 1854, while her parents followed four years later. Mathias Wilkins died while en route from New York to Chicago, his widow continuing the journey to Iowa and joining her daughter here. They had six children, as follows: Mrs. Dallmeyer; Gertrude Westerman, who is a resident of Wapello, Iowa; Emily, who passed away at the age of twenty-four years; and three who died in Germany. Unto our subject and his wife were born six children, namely: Minnie, whose natal day was August 24, 1869, and who is the wife of John Richley, of Muscatine; Matilda, born November 17, 1873, who is the wife of Louis Lee, of Letts, Iowa; Charles, who passed away at the age of seventeen years; Louis M., a sketch of whom appears on another page of this volume; Ida, whose birth occurred on the 21st of June, 1884, and who is the wife of Harry Littrel, of Louisa county; and Dora, born January 29, 1887, who is the wife of Arthur Cromley, of Louisa county.

         Mr. Dallmeyer gave his political allegiance to the democracy but neither sought nor desired office as a reward for his party fealty. In religious faith he was a Congregationalist. Coming to the United States in early manhood, he wisely utilized the opportunities afforded in a land unhampered by caste or class and worked his way steadily upward to a position among the substantial and representative citizens of his community.