Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1889

Source: Portrait and Biographical Album, Muscatine County, Iowa, 1889, page 510
PAULUS HAHN, residing on section 16, Moscow Township, was born in Bavaria, Germany, June 13, 1823, and is a son of John Matthews Hahn, who was also a native of the same county, and who there resided until his death. He was the father of ten children, six sons and four daughters, all of whom grew to maturity. Our subject was the first of the family to emigrate to America. He was reared to farm life, and from the age of fifteen to twenty years assisted the Government surveyors, who were engaged for the purpose of making a plan of the country for assessing taxes upon the propery holders. On attaining his majority Mr. Hahn resolved to try his fortunes in the New World, and on the 1st day of May, 1845, bidding good-by to his home and friends, started for Bremen. From that port he sailed for New York, reaching the metropolis after a long voyage of sixty-six days. The vessels were then at the mercy of the winds, and often an adverse wind would carry a ship back over a distance which perhaps it was days in crossing; but now the whole journey from the Eastern to the Western Hemisphere, when the ship is driven by the mighty power of steam, can be accomplished in from six to nine days. Arriving in New York Mr. Hahn proceeded from there to Columbus, Ohio, where his cousin, Lawrence Klein, was living, and later became a resident of St. Louis. For almost five years he was continuously engaged in steamboating on the Mississippi, and Ohio Rivers, when in 1851 he came to Muscatine County, and purchased his present farm. An old log cabin, together with about twelve acres of plowed land, but by his untiring efforts, his industry and enterprise, it has been transformed into a fine farm.

Mr. Hahn has been twice married. In 1850 he led to the marriage altar Miss Catherine Kneple, who was born in Germany, but hardly more than a year had passed when she was called to her final rest, dying Oct. 16, 1851. He was again married on the 16th day of January, 1853, when he wedded Mrs. Anna Elizabeth Hocke, who was born in Germany, and came to America with her parents, who settled in Wilton Township, but later removed to Muscatine, where they have since departed this life. By the union of Mr. and Mrs. Hahn six children have been born, five of whom are living: Anna Elizabeth; John A.; Anna Catherine, wife of Adam Frenzel of Wilton; John Henry and Paulus; Lawrence, who died at the age of seven months.

Since coming to Muscatine County Mr. Hahn has been engaged in agricultural pursuits, and his fine farm, now comprising 312 acres of land, is under a high state of cultivation. He is numbered among the early settlers of the community, has witnessed the greater part of its growth and development, and in common with others who came to the county in early days endured the trials and hardships of pioneer life. In his political sentiments he is a supporter of the Republican party, and religiously, he is a member of the Evangelical Church, to which denomination his family also belongs.

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