GERHARD GOEKEN I was born on September 2, 1838, near the city of Assen in the Province of Friesland, The Netherlands. He was married to Mary Jensen on April 17, 1861, and the couple sailed to America the same year. They settled at first in Lee County, Illinois, and lived there until 1867, when the family removed to Cass County, Iowa. Gerhard Goeken I purchased the west 240 acres of the south half of Section 23 and the east 80 acres of the north half of Section 27 in Brighton Township. They lived in a sod house until the frame house was built, but it was destroyed by firein 1888. The present houseon the land was built in 1889. Six children resulted from this marriage - Chris, Charles, Gerhard II, Mary, Kate and Amelia. In 1903, Gerhard I and Mary Goeken moved to Atlantic, where she died in 1908 and he passed away in 1911.

Transcribed from "The First Century, A History of Marne, Iowa 1875 - 1975", published in 1975, Marne, Iowa: The Marne Centennial Historical Committee, pg. 27. Transcribed (2015) by Cheryl Siebrass and contributed September, 2019.

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