HERMAN HAMMANN.
One of the older citizens of Audubon township, Audubon county, and one of the longest residents of this community is Herman Hammann, a well-known farmer of this township. Mr. Hammann was born on February 16, 1847, in Luxemburg, Germany, and is the son of a Joachim and Marguerite (Henney) Hammann, natives of Lauenberg and Hanover, respectively. The mother's parents moved to Lauenberg, however, when she was a small child and the father, who was a watchman and shepherd, in his native land and the son of Henry Hammann, a native of Mecklenburg, became a farmer after immigrating to the United States. Joachim and Marguerite Hammann were the parents of five children: Henry, John, Mary, Kate and Herman.
On arrival at the United States in 1868, the Hammann family came direct from New York city to Iowa county, Iowa, and fifteen years later, in 1883, moved to Audubon county, where the parents lived until their death.
After living at home until twenty-three years old, and having in the meantime obtained a good common school education, Herman Hammann worked in a brick yard for a time and then took up farm work. He worked nine years for his father after coming to Audubon county, and, at the end of this period, purchased eighty acres of land in section 12, of Audubon township, where he now lives. This farm has been entirely transformed under his ownership and management. It was originally railroad land, for which George Fago [sic Faga] paid eight dollars an acre, but Mr. Hammann paid him twenty-two dollars and one-half per acre for it, when there was only a small twelve-by-sixteen-foot house and a small stable. The present house is an eight-room structure and the present barn, which displaced one twenty-four by sixteen feet, is forty-four by fifty-four feet. In addition to these buildings, Mr. Hammann has also erected substantial hog houses, chicken houses and other out-buildings.
When nearly forty years of age, Mr. Hammann was married on June 1, 1886, to Mary Echternacht, who was born on March 17, 1868, in Cedar county, Iowa, and who is the daughter of Jacob and Elvina (Shoemacher) Echternacht, both natives of Pennsylvania. The Shoemacher family is a very old one in the United States and are located in Cedar county, Iowa, since 1865. Coming to Audubon county about 1867, the family settled in Audubon township and were very early settlers here. The father died in Audubon county; the mother is still living in Pennsylvania, in Schuylkill county, where she was reared.
Mr. and Mrs. Hammann have been the parents of five children, of whom three are living: Emma, who was born on March 31, 1888, married Louis Bauer and has three children, Bertha, George and Walter; Bertha, January 7, 1892, married Edward Wahlert, and William, May 19, 1894, lives at home.
While Mr. Hammann is at present identified with the Republican party, he voted the Democratic ticket for many years. He has never held office. The Hammann family are members of the St. John's Lutheran church and Mr. Hammann's father, Joachim Hammann, was one of the organizers of this church and an active supporter of it all of his life.
Herman Hammann is a worthy citizen of this great county and a man, who by diligent industry and good management, has been unusually successful in agriculture. He is devoted to his chosen vacation and is a popular resident of Audubon township.
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Transcribed from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 753-754.
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