G. Henry Benjegerdes
G. Henry Benjegerdes, a prominent farmer and progressive citizen of Danville township, Worth county, making his home on section 14, where he has two hundred and forty acres of valuable land that annually returns to him a very substantial income as the reward of his care and cultivation, was born in Clayton county, Iowa, July 18, 1870, a son of John Diedrich and Kate (Walker) Benjegerdes. The father was born in the grand duchy of Oldenburg, Germany, on the 30th of August, 1840, but was only three years of age when brought by his parents to the new world, the family home being established in Washington county, Illinois, where they resided until 1853. They then removed to Garnavillo, Clayton county, Iowa, where J. Diedrich Benjegerdes grew to manhood and was married on the 9th of April, 1869, to Miss Kate Walker. They became the parents of two children, Lena and G. Henry. . The wife and mother passed away on the 15th of March, 1870, and on the 14th of April, 1872, Mr. Benjegerdes was again married, his second union being with Miss Christina Hinch and they became the parents of seven children, six of whom are still living. In 1879 the father removed with the family to Worth county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 32, Lincoln township, where he resided to the time of his death on the 9th of January, 1917. He prospered as the years passed by, becoming one of the prominent and successful farmers of the district, and, adding to his holdings from time to time, was the owner of six hundred and forty acres of valuable land in Worth county.
G. Henry Benjegerdes was educated in the common schools with a business course at the Cedar Valley Seminary at Osage, being there graduated as a member of the class of 1892. During vacation periods he had been thoroughly trained in the work of the home farm and he continued to assist in its further cultivation and development until the spring of 1891, when he rented a portion of his father's land in Danville township and cultivated the tract as a renter. He leased two hundred and forty acres of this land for twenty-one years and in the spring of 1916 he removed to his present home farm, comprising eighty acres of land on section 14, Danville township, which he had purchased in 1901. To his holdings, however, he has added as the years have gone by until within the boundaries of his farm are comprised two hundred and forty acres of excellent land. In the year in which he removed to his farm he erected thereon a modern residence and large and substantial barns and has converted his place into one of the best improved farm properties in Danville township. He is also a stockholder in the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Manly and is the president of the Farmers Cooperative Creamery Company of Manly.
On the 6th of March, 1895, Mr. Benjegerdes was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Siefjediers, of Lincoln township, a daughter of Henry Siefjediers, who came to Worth county in 1880 and located in Lincoln township, where he still resides. To Mr. and Mrs. Benjegerdes have been born three children: Elsie, at home; Leona, who is a graduate of the Northwood high school of the class of 1918; and Theodore, who is a student in the Northwood high school.
In politics Mr. Benjegerdes maintains an independent course. He has served as township assessor and as school director for a number of years. He and his family are members of the Evangelical Lutheran church. He has been a lifelong resident of Iowa and is well known in the section of the state in which he lives.
SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; PAGES 624 & 625
Transcription by Gordon Felland, 8/18/2006