ALVIN T. KUEHN

Alvin Theodore Kuehn, who is successfully following farming on section 14, Union township, Worth county, comes to Iowa from Wisconsin, his birth having occurred in Watertown of the latter state on the 4th of December, 1868. His parents, Julius F. and Louisa D. (Ottow) Kuehn, were natives of Brandenburg, Germany, where they were reared and married. The father followed farming on a government estate until the spring of 1868, when, thinking that he would have better business opportunities on the other side of the Atlantic, he made his way to the United States, taking passage on the ship Bavaria. After reaching the American coast he started across the country to Watertown, Wisconsin, and took up his abode on a farm near there. He was employed at farm labor for a period and later rented land, which he continued to cultivate until the spring in 1876, when he removed to Carpenter, Iowa, and rented a farm in Barton township, Worth county, of one hundred and twenty acres. This he continued to further develop and improve for three years, and during that period most carefully saved his earnings until his industry and economy had brought him sufficient capital to enable him, in 1878, to purchase one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 10, Union township. With characteristic energy he began the development of the place, which he operated for three years, while later he cultivated various farms until 1887. He then purchased what is now the homestead of his son, Alvin Theodore, becoming owner of eighty acres, to which he added a tract of eighty acres to the north in 1888. Throughout his remaining days he continued upon that place and there passed away in 1917, at the advanced age of eighty-three. He had long survived his wife, who died in 1899. They were both consistent members of the German Lutheran church and Mr. Kuehn gave his political allegiance to the democratic party. Aside from his farming interests he was identified with the Grafton creamery. He was ever interested in community welfare and progress and at one time he served as highway foreman.

Alvin Theodore Kuehn spent his boyhood days in Union township, after leaving Wisconsin with his parents when but seven years of age. His education was acquired in the schools of Union township and through the summer months he assisted his father in the work of the old home farm, and when his textbooks were put aside he concentrated his entire time and effort upon the work of the fields. He was thus engaged up to the time of his marriage. In 1891 he wedded Miss Martha Hackbart, a daughter of Ferdinand and Bertha (Ruechel) Hackbart. Mrs. Kuehn was born in Wisconsin, where her parents settled at an early day. Later they removed to Iowa, making the trip westward with team and wagons, and ultimately they settled in Barton township, Worth county, where Mr. Hackbart purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land which he developed and improved. Later he rented another farm in the same township, which he also operated, and in 1886 he removed to Union township, where he purchased farm land south of Grafton. Upon that place he still makes his home, being numbered among the representative and progressive agriculturists of his community. His wife passed away in 1913.

Following his marriage Mr. Kuehn still remained upon the old homestead farm in order to care for his parents, with whom he continued until they were called to the home beyond. He is now the owner of the farm, which he has greatly improved. He here has two hunched and forty acres of excellent land, upon which he has erected new buildings, and now has a splendidly improved property, equipped with all the accessories and conveniences of the model farm of the twentieth century. In the last year he has laid about sixteen hundred rods of tile on his place. Mr. Kuehn possesses excellent mechanical skill and ingenuity and has displayed marked ability in doing carpentering and mason work. This has enabled him to keep everything about his place in excellent condition and his farm is today one of the most attractive properties of his section of the county. He is also a member of the Farmers Incorporated Elevator Company, and he is president of the Farmers Telephone Company and treasurer of the Cemetery Association of Grafton.

To Mr. and Mrs. Kuehn have been born five children: Martha M. H., Alvin E. E., Walter, Arthur and Elsie. In his political views Mr. Kuehn has always been independent and has served as township trustee. He belongs to the Evangelical Lutheran church at Grafton and is its treasurer. He has been a worker for the Red Cross drive and for the Liberty bond campaign and he stands for progressiveness in citizenship and for loyal support of his native country. He has led a busy and useful life and is meeting with well deserved success in dairying and general farming, having brought his land under a high state of cultivation, so that he annually gathers good crops, while the careful management of his dairy interests also contributes in substantial measure to his annual income.

SOURCE: HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, VOL. II; Pages 572 & 573

Transcribed by Gordon Felland, October 15, 2006