John BLAUER, proprietor of the Evergreen Dairy Farm, and the leading dairyman of Ringgold County, is a native of Canton Berne, Switzerland, born June 21, 1840. He was well educated in his native land for the profession of a teacher, and for a time was employed in that capacity by the State. In 1861 he came to the United States, feeling that life in this great land of free men, with its broad prairies, would afford opportunities denied him in his native home. He reached New York City in March of that year, coming directly to Iowa, where he has since resided, first in Muscatine County, then in Louisa County. From Louisa County he removed to Keokuk County, and in 1881 came to Ringgold County. In 1862 his parents Frederick and Anna BLAUER, came to America and settled in Louisa County, Iowa, and are still living on a farm in that county, the father at the advanced age of eighty years, and the mother aged seventy-one years.

Mr. BLAUER was married in Louisa County, Iowa, August 18, 1864, to Miss Sabrina BROWNNAWELL, who was born in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, July 30, 1843, but since 1851 has lived in Iowa. Her father, John BROWNNAWELL, died in 1856, and her mother Elizabeth [(SPRINGER)], is still living in Muscatine, Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. BLAUER are the parents of five children - J. Frederick, born June 25, 1865; C. Edward, born February 21, 1867; S. Albert, born May 1, 1869; Annie E., born April 17, 1871, and Susan S., born October 25, 1873.

Mr. BLAUER located on his present farm in May, 1881, which was then raw prairie. His farm is now well improved, containing 320 acres, the eastern half of section 27, Rice Township, and is well adapted to stock and dairy purposes, to which Mr. BLAUER is devoting his entire attention. He has on his farm over 100 head of cattle, and twenty horses of a high grade, and turned off during the season 100 hogs. In 1883, from twelve cows, he netted on the sale of butter $450. His fine creamery butter is made at his own home under the supervision of his wife, and has a reputation above all, that enables him to obtain the highest price. His residence is one of the best in his township, and is surrounded by evergreens and shade trees planted by his own hands.

Mr. BLAUER landed in America entirely without means. His parents helped him at different times, giving him in all about $500. By his energy and good bsiness qualities he is rapidly moving to the front rank ofSouthern Iowa's dairymen and stock-raisers.

Mr. and Mrs. BLAUER, and their four eldest children, are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. BLAUER was ordained an elder in the Congregational church, in Grand View, when he was twenty-four years of age. At present he is an elder in the Presbyterian church of Mt. Ayr. Mr. BLAUER has been active in Christian work since twenty-three years of age, and is at present president of the Young People's Christian Association, an organization numbering about fifty of the young of Rice Township and its immediate vicinity.

NOTE: Frederick and Anna (RUBIE) BLAUER, natives of Switzerland, crossed the Atlantic to the United States in 1862, settling on a farm near Grand View, Iowa, and operating the same until 1874. In that year Mr. BLAUER disposed of the property and bough a tract of eighty acres west of town, residing thereon until the time of his retirement. Both he and his wife spent their remaining days in the home of their daughter Rosina and son-in-law Jacob LIEBERKNECHT, Mr. BLAUER passing away on the 4th of May, 1896, while Mrs. BLAUER was called to her final rest on Thanksgiving day, 1889. Their union was blessed with eleven children, namely: Frederick "Fred", who passed away in Ringgold County, Iowa, when sixty-three years of age; Anna, the wife of George WALTER, Sr., of Grand View, Iowa; John, who died in Ringgold County, Iowa, when seventy-one years of age; Elizabeth, who was the wife of Peter SCHMOKER and passed away in Louisa county when forty years of age; Christian "Christ", who is a resident of North Dakota; Margaret, the wife of John DANKERT, of Muscatine, Iowa; Mary, the wife of Charles PANTEL, of Louisa county; Susie, the deceased wife of Daniel ANTHONY, of Keokuk county, Iowa; Rosina, the wife of Jacob LIEBERKNECHT; Katrina, the wife of Louis WIEDERRECHT, of Louisa county; and Ulrich, who died in Germany. History of Louisa County, Iowa

John and Elizabeth (SPRINGER) BROWNNAWELL were the parents of nine children: George; John; William; Sabina who married John BLAUER; Peter; Mary M. who was the wife of Jacob DOMAN; Elizabeth who married Fred BLAUER; Katie who married John KURTZ of Keokuk County; and Agnes, the wife of Edward STANLEY. George and William BROWNNAWELL served during the Civil War with Company B of the 35th Iowa Infantry. George was killed at the Battle of Tupelo [MS], the only battle in which any members of Company B were killed.

Frederick "Fred" BLAUER, John's brother, was born in 1835, and died on January 17, 1906, with interment at Tingley Cemetery, Ringgold County, Iowa.

John BLAUER died on October 23, 1909. Sabina (BROWNNAWELL) died on July 3, 1917. John and Sabina were interred at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Ringgold County, Iowa.

S. Albert BLAUER died in 1941, with interment at Rose Hill Cemetery, Mount Ayr, Iowa.

SOURCES:
Biography & Historical Record of Ringgold County, Iowa, Pp. 330-31, 1887.

SPRINGER, Arthur. History of Louisa County, Iowa, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1912 Vol. II. Pp. 295. S. J. Clarke Pub. Chicago. 1911.

WPA Graves Survey

Transcription and note by Sharon R. Becker, March of 2009

Biographical Sketches Pages Index: A - F,   G - L,   M - R,  S - Z