CHARLES H. HEBING
In the spring of 1859, Charles Hebing located and built a log house on section 9, and in 1864, settled upon section 16, where he is still resident. He had come to this county in 1856, locating at Lewis, but came to Bear Grove as stated above.
Charles H. Hebing, a pioneer of Cass county, was born in Prussia, October 16, 1838. He received a fair education in his native country, in the German, Latin and French languages. In 1852 he came to the United States, landing at New York in November of that year. He went immediately to Buffalo, New York, where he attended school during the following winter, for the purpose of acquiring the English language. In May, 1853, he left school, having expended all his money except one dollar, which he invested in an Intelligence office trying to obtain employment. He succeeded in getting work as a teamster on the Michigan Southern railroad, which he continued until about the last of October, 1853, and cleared, during that time, three hundred dollars. He then went to Sandusky City, Ohio, and attended school the winter following. In the spring of 1854, he came to the Hawkeye State, stopping first at Grinnell, Poweshiek county, where he worked for a farmer, B. Howard, about four months. Then, in company with his brother, G. A. Hebing, went by stage to Council Bluffs. They went across the river into Nebraska, but shortly after turned back and came to Lewis, and have since been identified with the interests of this county. In 1859 he crossed the plains to Colorado on a Mustang pony, and engaged in mining one year, then in transporting supplies from the Missouri river to the mines. He continued the latter occupation three years, which covered the greater part of the period of our late war. He then returned home to Lewis. In company with his brother he bought three hundred and sixty acres of land, paying therefor from $4.50 to $25 per acre, in Bear Grove township, and later a large tract in Union township. After dividing their interests, the land in Bear Grove was owned by Charles H. and that in Union by G. A. Hebing. Charles H. has two hundred and forty acres in section 16, where he resides. He was married February 6, 1867, to Anna E. Chapman, daughter of Milton and Elizabeth Chapman, and grand-daughter of David Chapman, the first surveyor of Cass county. Mr. and Mrs. Hebing have had three children--Guy G. (deceased), Clara, and May. Mr. Hebing was the first one in the county to declare his intention to become a citizen of the United States, and has held the office of township clerk two terms, has also served as school director. He is the son of a master mechanic, but he follows farming and stock raising for a living. He kept cattle on the prairie in this county when the wolves were so numerous and vicious they would attack the young stock in the daytime, while he was herding them. Deer and elk were plenty then. He went out once in company with two others from Lewis, in the vicinity of where Marne now is, and killed thirty-two elk, by running them into ravines and gulches, filled level with snow, and killing them with knives, hatchets and clubs. Mr. Hebing, in attempting to cut the throat of one, got astride its neck, when the animal ploughed his way out of the deep snow, and gave Mr. H. a free ride at the rate a mile a minute; he remained upon the neck of the animal as far as Indian Grove, when he got off and walked back to Eight-Mile Grove. Mr. Hebing is a lover of pets and wild animals, and while he has been farming has had pet elk, deer, bear and wolves which he tamed so that they would follow him, if he wished them to do so, wherever he went. He, also, while freighting from the Missouri river to Denver, owned a yoke of buffaloes, which he drove across the plains with other cattle. Two years ago, while back to the mountains of Colorado, for recreation, he captured a young bear, which he brought with him to Bear Grove and kept for more than a year, but finally had to kill him on account of his being so strong and large, it was difficult to manage him. Mr. Hebing had taught him many tricks. The bear would shoulder arms, waltz, etc. When dressed the bear weighed over two hundred pounds. Mr. Hebing says bear meat is superior to pork or beef.
Contributed by Lisa Varnes-Rex from "History of Cass County, Iowa. Together With Sketches of its Towns, Villages and Townships, Educational, Civil, Military and Political History: Portraits of Prominent Persons, and Biographies of Old Settlers and Representative Citizens." Springfield, Ill.: Continental Historical Company, 1884, pg. 711-712.
