CHRIS ROED.
The compulsory military service of many European countries has driven young men, who dislike to perform that service, to America. Many young men, during the period of their service, have become so thoroughly discouraged with the European militarism that they have come to America immediately after serving their enlistment. Chris Roed, a prominent farmer of Exira township, and the owner of two hundred and forty acres of land in that township, came to this country in 1884, immediately after having served one year in the Danish army.
Chris Roed was born on March 16, 1859, in Denmark. His parents were Chris and Carrie (Christensen) Roed, both natives of Denmark. The former was a farmer and farmed there all of his life. He served in the Danish-Prussian War of 1848. Mrs. Roed, the mother of Chris, Jr., died in 1910. She and her husband had eight children, seven of whom are now living: Anna, Lars, Jens, Peter, Jens, Stena, Elizabeth and Chris. All of them are now living in Denmark except Chris, the subject of this sketch.
Chris Roed was educated in Denmark and after leaving school, worked for his father on the farm. Coming to America in 1884, he located at Audubon county, where he worked as a farm hand for two years. Mr. Roed then traveled through Nebraska and Minnesota, doing farm work. In 1890 he returned to Iowa and after his marriage, located in Atlantic, where he worked for three years. He again went to Nebraska and there rented a farm and farmed for two years. At the end of this period, he returned to Audubon county, and, in 1894, rented a farm for three years. After this he bought a farm of one hundred and five acres in Hamlin township and farmed that for five years. He then bought the farm where he now lives, in Exira township, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, later he added eighty acres, making two hundred and forty acres; a farm upon which Mr. Roed has placed improvements amounting to more than five thousand dollars. Mr. Roed raises eighty acres of com every year and seventy acres of small grain. He feeds between seventy-five and one hundred head of hogs each year.
Chris Roed was married on April 26, 1890, to Mary Hansen, the daughter of Anders and Christina (Hansen) Hansen. To this union four children have been born: Anna, Elmer, Martin and Henry, all of whom are unmarried and live at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Roed attend the Danish Lutheran church. Mr. Roed has served as school director, a non-partisan position in this section. Mr. Roed is an independent voter.
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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. 684-685.
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