For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 594
DANIEL SAUER....It is astonishing to witness the success of young men who have emigrated to America without capital and from a position of comparative obscurity have worked their way upward to a position of prominence. The readiness with which they adapt themselves to circumstances and take advantage of opportunities offered brings to them success and wins them a place among the leading men of the community in which they reside. To this class belongs Daniel Sauer, who is today one of the most prominent agriculturists of Muscatine county, he and his sons now operating about one thousand acres of land in this section of Iowa.Mr. Sauer is a native of Germany, born in Hesse-Darmstadt, February 15, 1840. His parents Jacob and Barbara ( Piffer ) Sauer, spent their entire lives in the fatherland, and there reared a family of eight children, several of whom emigrated to the new world but only three of the number are now living. The family record is as follows : Christina, who became the wife of William Sauer, a cousin, but both are now deceased, their deaths occurring in Scott county, Iowa ; William, who died of cholera in his native country when thrity-six years of age ; Catharine, who became the wife of Henry Link but is now deceased ; Daniel, of this review ; Elizabeth who wedded John Link ; Barbara, the widow of John Bosson and now a resident of Davenport, Iowa ; Mary, the wife of Jacob Picht, of Seattle, Washington ; and Lisset, who died in youth.
Daniel Sauer, the fourth in order of birth in his father's family, was reared to farm life, early becoming familiar with the duties and labors that fall to the lot of a farm lad. He served six years if the regular army in Germany and was honorably discharged in April, 1866, but soon thereafter the war of 1866 broke out and he also enlisted for service, serving until 1867. In the latter year in company with his brother-in-law, William Sauer, who was also his cousin, and his four sisters he set sail for America. They went direct to Buffalo, Scott county, Iowa, and there our subject began work at farm labor, being employed by the month for one year. He then operated land on share for one year and for four years cultivated rented land. In 1875 he took up his abode in Muscatine county and with the capital he had saved in the years he had been located in Scott county, he purchased fifty acress of land which constitutes a portion of his present farm. He later invested in forty-five acres more and still later purchased another tract of eighty acres, so that his possessions now embrace one hundred and seventy-five acres , located on section 14, Sweetland township. He has made many improvements on the place, devoting his land to general farming and to the raising of cattle and hogs. He and his sons are now carrying on farming and stock-raising on a large scale, although Mr. Sauer merely gives supervision to the work, the sons and their assistants doing the actual labor. The sons now own four hundred and sixty-five acres of land and they also operate a tract of four hundred acres which they rent, so that the Sauer family is numbered among the most prominent in agricultural circles in this section of Iowa. In addition to raising certain grains, they raise stock on quite an extensive scale, having at the present time three hundred head of hogs and two hundred and fifty head of cattle in their pastures, while in the work of the farm they use thirty head of work horses.
It was on the 3d of November, 1870, that the marriage of Mr. Sauer and Miss Minnie Soehren was celebrated in Buffalo, Scott county. She was born in Germany, March 1, 1850, and was but four years of age at the time of the emigration of her parents, Henry and Margaret ( Braun ) Soehren, to the United States. They were natives of Holstein and both passed away in Buffalo, this state. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Sauer have been born the following children : Anna Elizabeth, the wife of Martin Goddard, who resides on a farm two and a half miles north of Muscatine ; William Henry, at home ; Bertha May, who died when at eight months old ; John, who died when a year old ; Minnie Christine, the wife of Max Kretschmer of Sweetland township ; George Louis ; Edward D.; Frank. O.; and Albert Carl, who are at home and who are associated with their father in business ; and Mabel Margaret and Myrtle Grace, twins, both at home.
Mr. Sauer is a stanch republican in his political views and affiliations. He was reared in the faith of the Lutheran church but is now identified with the Methodist denomination. Though born across the water he is thoroughly interested in America and her institutions, enjoying to the full extent the freedom and opportunity for advancement which this country affords. He has every reason to be proud of what he has accomplished in the new world, for he started out in a strange land in the humble capacity of a farm hand and today he stands prominently among the leading agriculturists of Muscatine county.
Back to Biographical Index Page