For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 526
HANS ANDERSON....Among the residents of Stockton must be named Hans Anderson, who has been living in Muscatine county, Iowa, for more than a quarter of a century. He was born in Denmark of the 25th of December, 1857, and is a son of Anders and Ellen Christina ( Ulucksen ) Christensen, also natives of Denmark. They were the parents of eleven children, five of whom are still living and three came to the United States : Christ, a resident of Moline, Illinois ; Hans, our subject ; and Frederick, deceased. The parents spent their entire lives in Denmark, the father dying at the age of eighty-five years and the mother at eighty-one years of age.Hans Anderson spent the earlier years of his life in his native land, where he acquired his education, but while still little more than a youth he felt strongly compelled to come to the United States in order to satisfy himself regarding the wonderful stories he had heard about the opportunities that were here afforded to young men of limited resources. So crossing the Atlantic he arrived in the land of opportunity on the 6th of October, 1879, and went to Moline, Illinois, where he engaged in blacksmithing. He worked in a factory for a short time and then accepted a position in a shop at Durant, Iowa, but two years later he bought the blacksmith shop he now carries on in Stockton and in addition to this he also owns a general repair and wagon shop, doing a very large business as this is the only shop in the village.
On the 4th of August, 1882, Mr. Anderson was united in marriage to Miss Fredericka Bierkamp, who was born in Germany in 1863 and is a daughter of August and Johannah Bierkamp, both natives of the fatherland, in which country they lived up to the time of their death. They were the parents of nine children who were as follows : Louisa, a resident of Minnesota ; William, living in Durant, Iowa ; Charley, also residing in Durant ; Dora, the wife of Hanry Steffen, of Durant ; Fredericka, wife of Hans Anderson ; August, of Sunbury, Iowa ; John, a resident of Durant, Iowa ; Augusta, who married Henry Brant, of Reinbeck, Iowa ; Minnie, the widow of Henry Fitzer, of Hartly, Iowa.
Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have become the parents of six children : Christ, who is twenty-five years old, a graduate of the high school and a rural route mail carrier in Muscatine county ; August, twenty-three years of age, who resides in Des Moines, Iowa ; Minnie, twenty-two years of age, living at home ; Hilda and Harry, twins, nineteen years of age, the latter now deceased and the former the wife of Gus Jost ; and Walter, living at home.
The family attend the Lutheran church in which the parents hold membership. Ever since acquiring the right of suffrage Mr. Anderson has voted the democratic ticket. He takes a very active interest in local politics and is now a member of the city council of Stockton and has also served on the school board for three years. He is fraternally connected with the Modern Brotherhood of America, his local affiliation being with Lodge No. 40 of Stockton, Iowa, in which he has served as treasurer and chaplain. He is also a member of the Stockton Sick and Relief Society and of the Walcott Sick and Relief Society, being at one time banner carrier in the Sick and Relief Society of Stockton. His chief asset when he arrived in the United States was courage, which was ever sustained by his unfailing belief in his own ability to accomplish his purpose, and never at any time has he regretted becoming a citizen of the new world.
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