For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 481
JOHN PETER MAROLF....Among the worthy citizens of Swiss descent in Muscatine county may be named John Peter Marolf, a real-estate man and property owner of Wilton Junction. He has been identified with Muscatine county almost ever since his birth and his high character has won the confidence and respect of all with whom he has come in contact. His eyes first opened to the light of day on his father's farm near Wilton Junction, Iowa, May 12, 1857, his parents being Peter and Anna ( Nobs ) Marolf, who were born in Walperswyle, Canton Berne, Switzerland, the former in 1815 and the latter in 1814. They were married in their native land and came to America in 1848 stopping for a time at Burlington, Iowa, and subsequently locating on a farm in Muscatine county, which became the homestead of the family. The subject of this review is the youngest of six children, five daughters and one son, the two eldest daughters having been born in Switzerland. The father departed this life in 1881, the mother being called away nine years later at the age of seventy-six years. On the paternal side according to records upon old tombstones near the French boundary of Switzerland the family descends from the Von Marrows. The sirname of the great-grandmother was Andreas and of the grandmother was Schurer.John P. Marolf received his early education in the German Lutheran parochial schools and remembers that in his boyhood the main supply point of this region was at Muscatine, then Bloomington, which was reached by wagon. He assisted in clearing away timber on Sugar Creek and after laying his books aside he purchased the homestead, which he sold to its present owner, Frank Beard, in 1893. In February, 1894, he removed to Lockwood, Missouri, where he began farming, but returned to Wilton Junction in August of the same year on account of the death of his wife. After engaging in various business ventures he accepted a clerkship in a store at Wilton in 1897, which position he held for twelve years. Since 1909 he has engaged in his own name in the real-estate business. He is a fine salesman and, having a thorough knowledge of values, has attained a goodly measure of success in his chosen line.
In 1882 Mr. Marolf was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Hammerich, a native of Grammdorf, Germany. She came to Wilton in 1878 and died while the family were at Lockwood, Missouri, in 1894. Five children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Marolf : Louis c., Carolina C., Albert E., Walter J. and Will F., all of whom are unmarried.
Mr. Marolf votes independently and has never taken any active interest in politics, nor is he connected with any fraternal of social organizations. He holds membership, however, in Zion Lutheran church at Wilton Junction, having been confirmed in that denomination at the age of fourteen years. Owing to the simple life in which he was reared, his tastes have never led him into extravagances of any kind. He is a lover of music and has played in several Wilton bands. His reality interests are tangible proof of his thrift and good judgment, and as a patriotic and public-spirited citizen he is always a willing assistant in any cause that seeks to promote the general welfare.
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