JOHN E. SIEMSEN.
No farmer of Cameron township, Audubon county, Iowa, is more highly respected than John E. Siemsen, who is the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of land in Cameron township, and who is a native of Davenport, Iowa, having been born there on September 15, 1874. Mr. Siemsen is a son of Peter and Caroline (Jorgen) Siemsen, both natives of Hamburg, Germany. The former was a carpenter and followed this trade in his native land. On coming to America in 1867 he located in Davenport, Iowa, where he worked at his trade and lived in that city until 1882, when he removed to Audubon county, and located in Douglas township. Here he purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land, operating this farm until 1905, when he retired from active farm life and removed to Audubon, where his death occurred in 1911. His wife is still living. Peter Siemsen paid ten and twelve dollars an acre for his first land purchased in Audubon county in 1882. He was the first to break the prairie sod, improved the place in various ways and developed a good farm. He served in the Danish War of 1848. Peter and Caroline Siemsen were the parents of six children, three of whom, are living in this county, Mrs. Mary Nelson, Fred and John E., the others being, Charles, Mrs. Minnie Flagg and Mrs. Mollie Hood.
John E. Siemsen, after having completed his education in the public schools of Douglas township, Audubon county, attended business college at Glidden, Iowa, and upon completing a course in this institution, returned home and took up farming with his father, which vocation he followed until 1905, when he took over the complete management of the farm. At that time his father retired and moved to Audubon, where he spent the remainder of his life. About thirty-five hundred dollars have been invested in improving this place, and it is now one of the many good farms of this township. Mr. Siemsen raises thirty acres of small grain, forty acres of corn and sells about one-half of his grain, feeding the remainder to stock on his own place. His corn yields an average of fifty bushels to the acre. Besides raising about forty head of hogs each year on his place, he also raises thoroughbred Shorthorn cattle, and has at the present time a herd of twenty head of these fine animals.
John E. Siemsen was married in 1905 to Ethel Farnham, the daughter of Charles Farnham, and of the six children born to this marriage, three are deceased, Glynn, James and John. The living children are Bessie, Nellie and Beatrice, all of whom are at home with their parents.
Fraternally, Mr. Siemsen is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and is a member of the council in this order. He has been for
several years identified with the Democratic party.
John E. Siemsen, although a comparatively young man, has made satisfactory progress thus far in life, and what is best of all, he has won the good will of the people of Cameron township, where he lives. He is a young man of progressive spirit and good moral habits, and is an honor to the township and county where he makes his home.
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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. 525-526.
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