The career of John Littig, a prominent retired farmer of Scott County, illustrates what a man can do if he will. He was born on March 9, 1823, at the village of Spichern, Lorraine, then a province of France. His father, Pierre Littig, was a stone and marble cutter, and fought under Napoleon at Leipzig and Waterloo. His grandfather was also a stone and marble cutter. When John was three years old his father moved to Paris, where he worked at his trade, and there, when he arrived at the proper age, John, for a while, attended the Brothers' School, and later on worked in a cotton factory, a paper mill and served as an apprentice to a cabinet maker - for a year. When he was thirteen years old his father removed with his family to America and landed at New Orleans in March, 1836, and there Mrs. Littig died, the year following, of yellow fever. Here young Littig saw a good deal of life as a newsboy and managed to save some money.
In 1837 the family moved to St. Louis, where they remained about three months and then continued up to Rock Island, then known as Stephenson, where Pierre Littig settled and remained till 1858, in the meantime building several breweries, which he conducted for a while and then sold at a profit. John Littig crossed the Mississippi to the Village of Davenport, which then contained four stores and consisted of about fifty or sixty houses, and went into the employ of Harvey Leonard, who was a contractor and built many of the buildings erected at that time. After working for Leonard a year or so he was employed by Antoine Le Claire, to whom his knowledge of the French and German languages made him useful as an interpreter, for Le Claire frequently had to deal with German customers, whose language he could not speak. He remained with Le Claire seven or eight years, doing whatever was necessary to be done, and for his work he received one hundred and eighty dollars a year. He also spent three months on an upper Missis sippi river steamboat. In 1842 he accompanied the Davenports and Le Claire to Des Moines and was present at the treaty made by the Indians ceding their lands to the whites. During these years Mr. Littig had been a hard-working, economical man and had saved enough to buy a farm, and he bought one hundred and ten acres of land at Gilberttown, for which he paid cash. He prospered as a farmer, and in winter he worked for Burroughs & Prettyman, often making nine days' time per week in a packing-house. Five or six years later he bought eighty acres of land near by and also thirteen hundred acres of wild land in Fayette County. After selling his first farm he bought one hundred and sixty acres on the Dubuque road and moved on to it, purchasing one hundred and fifty acres on the Harrison road also, both of which farms he greatly improved. After selling the farm on the Dubuque road he built a fine stone house, barn and other buildings on the other farm, his improvements comparing favorably with any buildings of the kind in the County. By good management he kept on saving money and in a few years added three more quarter sections to his tract of farm-land, one of them being the Mount Joy fair-grounds farm. He also bought six sections of land in Thayer County, Nebraska, upon a part of which the town of Davenport, named by him, now stands. After selling all of his land outside of Scott County, and also two quarters within the County, one of which is the old homestead, which is now occupied by his son Joseph, Mr. Littig still has over four hundred acres of fine farmland, but resides in Davenport. In 1878, after an absence of forty-two years, he visited his native land and saw the great International Exposition at Paris. In 1892 he again traveled through France, Germany, Belgium, Switzerland and Austria, visiting most of these countries in company with his son Lawrence, who was then studying in Europe.
Mr. Littig has been twice married. His first wife was Margaret (Staver) Littig, to whom he was married in 1846. She died, leaving two children. He subsequently married Miss Louise Rogge, a native of Kreis Muhlhausen, near Berlin, September 14, 1857. Mr. Littig has a family of thirteen children. Peter and Adam are farmers in Davenport Township; Lawrence is professor of theory and practice in the medical department of the Iowa University, at Iowa City; Joseph is a prosperous farmer now living on the old homestead; M. Josephine is a teacher; Henry, a dental graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, is practicing in Davenport; Hortense is a Sister of Mercy in Joplin, Missouri; Eugenie is a Sister of Charity at Holden, Missouri; Marquis Lafayette, also a dental graduate of the University of Pennsylvania and Harvard Dental College, is practicing in Boston; Victor, a graduate of the State University in Iowa City, is a law student at Harvard; John V. is a student at Iowa City; Edward and W. Thomas are school-boys at home.
It is a remark often repeated that there is no country like America for acquiring riches. Merchants, manufacturers, professional men and farmers, all, by proper management, may acquire fortunes that are the pride of their possessors and the envy of their less fortunate neighbors. Along the fertile banks of the Mississippi, where the soil brings forth abundant crops with almost unvarying regularity, it seems that a region has been created purposely to afford an opportunity to the farmer to become rich. The three things necessary economy, good management and plenty of hard work. With these three qualifications many a Scott County farmer finds himself, in the decline of life, the possessor of far more than a competency and with plenty of leisure to enjoy it. Mr. Littig's life is an illustration of what an industrious and economical man may do. He came to America a poor boy, unable to speak a word of English, and by hard labor and good management has become the possessor of valuable farm and other property. His life has been principally spent in looking after his own business. He has held but one public office and that was the position of school director, which he held for twenty years. He served one term as president of the Scott County Pioneer Settlers' Association. His strong physical organization has made it possible for him to perform a great deal of work, and the proceeds of his labor have been invested so as to bring the best returns. His life shows what can be accomplished by one who applies himself industriously and intelligently to the dignified and noble calling of the farmer.
Peter Littig was born in the Province of Lorraine, France, on the twentieth day of August, 1794. His childhood was passed in obscurity, but at a tender age he became an enthusiastic admirer of Napoleon's daring genius, and early resolved to follow in the footsteps of the greatest general France ever produced. When Peter was nineteen years old he entered the French Army, fought under Bonaparte at the battle of Waterloo, took part in the engagement at Leipsic, plunging boldly into the River Elster after the great stone bridge was blown up by the Corporal, and was at the side of the noble and heroic Marshal Poniatowski when he (the marshal), wounded, bleeding and exhausted, 'fell from his horse while attempting to scale the banks of the Elster and sank beneath its waters.
Both engagements proved most disastrous to the interests of Napoleon and Mr. Littig never could talk of the result of these encounters without emotion, and they were subjects of deep interest to his children and grandchildren. He was also fond of telling how he and other young soldiers of Napoleon skulked about the country for weeks after the battle of Waterloo, hoping that the emperor would lead them again. His parents and sisters, in the meantime, had mourned him among the slain. Mr. Littig remained faithful to Bonaparte during his exile at Elba, and when the conqueror returned to France he was one of the escort who went with him into Paris. In 1826, five years after the death of Napoleon Bonaparte, Mr. Littig went to Paris to reside and engaged in business as a marble-cutter. There he continued to ply his trade for eleven years, bringing it out in all its perfection. But one little souvenir now remains of his genius; a small watch-stand carved out of solid marble by hand, in the city of Paris, passes down as an heirloom in the family. He emigrated with his family to the United States, landing at New Orleans because French friends lived there. He resided in that city two years, then came to Stephenson, now Rock Island. In New Orleans he had worked at cabinet-making, but now he set out as a stone-mason and contractor, following that trade and business until 1851, when he engaged in the brewery business.
Mr. Littig built the first stone house erected in Rock Island, and also built Huber's and Wagner's Breweries in that city, and operated them both. In 1866 he erected the Eagle Brewery, corper Fifth and De Soto Streets, Davenport. His whole manhood, up to his seventy- second year, was a life of industry and usefulness; but, the infirmities of old age coming on, he retired from active business life, taking up his home at the corner of Eighth and Marquette Streets, where he spent the remaining fifteen years of his earthly career, when death released his spirit. Mr. Littig was a fervent adherent of the Roman Catholic faith from his youth up, and expired after receiving the last rites of the church, in the eighty-seventh year of his age, August 9, 1881.
Mr. Littig was married four times. His last consort, to whom he was united in 1853, survives him. He was the father of nine children: Augustine N., of Davenport; Peter, of Atlantic; John, of Davenport; Mrs. Mary Robida, of Chatfield, Minnesota; Mrs. Margaret Bub, of Winona, Minnesota; Mrs. Rosalie Smith, of Camanche, Iowa; Mrs. Alexandria Enderly, of Moline, Illinois; Mrs. Sophia Leeds, of Peoria, and Mrs. Augusta Smith, of Wilton. His grandchildren and great grandchildren are numerous. After having been very liberal with his children, Mr. Littig died possessed of an estate valued at sixty thousand dollars. He was interred in St. Margaret's Cemetery at Davenport, and his son John erected to his memory a beautiful monument, on which is engraved “A Hero of Napoleon 1st.”
BIOGRAPHIES