HENRY M. KRIGER, GRISWOLD.
A retired farmer, residing comfortably at Griswold, this county, Mr.Kriger is among the early pioneers of Pleasant township, and his honorable career through the years of his residence here has won him universal respect. He is a native of York county, Pa., where he was born September 30, 1839, and is the son of George and Susan (Miller) Kriger, his parents being both of the same county.
George Kriger was a farmer by vocation and a blacksmith by trade, and especially when he moved to the West found it very convenient to be the master of more than one means of livelihood. In 1855 he became a resident of Bureau county, Ill., and in 1871, of Cass county, this State, making his home at Lewis. He at length purchased a farm in the vicinity, broke it out and improved it, and resided in that town until 1890. In that year he removed to Griswold, where he died two years later, his wife following him in 1893. Two sons and four daughters were born to Mr. and Mrs. George Kriger, of whom the former and two of the daughters are still alive; our subject is the only member of the family residing in Iowa.
Henry M. Kriger is a product both of the East and the West. He obtained his schooling and his early training in the ways of farming while he was a resident of Pennsylvania. When he was sixteen years of age he accompanied the family to Bureau county, Ill., and assisted his father in the making of their first family homestead in the West. Mr. Kriger remained on the home farm until he was twenty-five years of age, after which he worked independently until 1873, as a farmer of Illinois. He was also employed for five years as an engineer in a factory. He then came to Lewis and purchased a farm in Pleasant township, the land being then quite wild; but from this raw material of the soil he has molded one of the model homesteads of the county.
In 1875 Mr. Kriger was united in marriage to Emeretta La Porte, a native of DeKalb county, Ill., and a daughter of Marcus and Minerva (Gardner) La Porte. Her parents were both natives of Jefferson county, N. Y., and died in Illinois. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Henry M. Kriger: Bruce, now a resident of Denver, Colo.; Charles, who lives on the family homestead; Mazie, who also resides in Denver, and two who are deceased.
Our subject has never sought office, although, on account of his practical abilities, his honesty and wide acquaintance, he might have filled many positions of responsibility. He is a Mason in his fraternal connections and stands high in the community, both in the successful conduct of practical affairs and as a man of intelligence and morality.
From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 387-388.
