Henry Erbe was born April 4, 1864, at Mt. Horeb, Dane Co., Wisconsin, the fifth child of Christian and Anna Maria Katharina ("Mary"), nee' Heuser, Erbe.
When Henry was but four years old, his mother died within a week of giving birth to an infant daughter. Baby Kathryn lived for 3 months before dying April 8, 1869, four days after Henry's 5th birthday.
Shortly after Mary died, Christian remarried to Mary's sister, Elizabeth Heuser. Christian and Elizabeth had two children, William who died at the age of one month, April 1870, and Elizabeth (Lizzy) born April 1871.
Unfortunately, Elizabeth died shortly after giving birth to Lizzy, once again leaving Christian a widower and Henry and his siblings motherless.
Almost two years passed before Christian remarried to Ann Braconier, and to this union were born 4 more children.
In 1888, when Henry was 23 years old, he walked with his brothers
Jake and August Erbe, from Dane County, Wisconsin to Mitchell County, Iowa. Here they settled on land in East Cedar Township and began their lives as farmers.
Sadly the long walk from Wisconsin to Iowa was very hard on brother August who was said to be asthmatic, and he died at the age of 30, shortly after arriving in Mitchell County. August Erbe, 1858-1888, is buried at Tucker Cemetery, East Cedar Township, Mitchell County, Iowa.
Henry and Jacob (Jake) Erbe both remained in East Cedar Twp., section 9, and were farmers.
In 1891, at the age of 27, Henry married Mary Ellen Gast, daughter of John and Catherine (Heimbach) Gast. Henry and Mary were the proud parents of 9 children, Iva (Mrs. Hovel Flatla), Cora (Mrs. Tillman
Williams), John, Ira, Annie (Gladys) (Mrs. Earl Tubbs), Welcome, Harvey, Carl, and Mary (Mrs. Ole J. Peterson). [The photo above is of Henry and Mary when they were fairly young. The photo below-left is of them in about 1942. Click here to see larger versions of these photos. Larger versions.]
Henry and Mary remained on "Prairie Home Farm" for many years, but when old age and illness began to take their toll, they went to live in Osage with their daughter and son in law, Gladys and Earl Tubbs. After a brief illness, Henry passed away at the Tubbs home March 22, 1947 at the age of 82 years, 11 months, and 18 days.
Written by Kathy (McAlister) Pike, great-granddaughter of Henry Erbe
July 5, 2004Webization by K. L. Kittleson