HENRY EHLERS, after whom the R.
R. and
P. O. "Ehlers" are named, is one of the most successful foreign-born farmers of Delaware, Iowa.
He first saw the light of day in Holstein,
Germany, September 2,
1826.
His parents, John and Magdalena (Strove) Ehlers, were natives of the
same place, and died
there at the
respective ages of seventy-two and
sixty-seven years, both of the faith of the Lutheran church. To this venerable couple were born five children in the following
order —Claus, who is following the calling of his father, that of farming in
his native country—Germany; Anna, wife
of William Lentz, a mason and blacksmith, still in Holstein; Hans, a
cabinet-maker, now living in Dubuque, Iowa; John, who died at the age of
twenty-four years in his native country,
and Henry, with whom this sketch is most connected.
Henry
Ehlers was reared to farming in the old country, and there also was educated,
and there he performed the military service due to his sovereign, William, serving
three years and five months. At the conclusion of his term in the army he worked
on a farm, and in less than two years saved enough money to pay his passage to America, and had left over when he arrived
in Quebec, Canada, about $35 in cash. For the
following nine months he worked for a railroad company, added his savings to
the little capital he had on his arrival, and on the first day of April, 1855,
was rich enough to land himself in Delaware county, Iowa, and purchased a
tract of eighty acres of raw prairie land at $1 per acre, which tract he still
retains as his homestead. Here he at once began his improvements, and by 1860
was able to erect his present fine residence. Industrious, shrewd and
economical, he has been able to add to his first purchase eighty acres on
section 25, making one hundred and sixty acres as a home farm; besides this he
has bought one hundred and fifty acres in section 23 in Adams township, and
twenty acres of timber-land in Jackson township, section 10, Linn county, and
all now without incumbrance. His attention is not
given altogether to farming, but dairying and live stock added to his business
interests. Of the latter he keeps on hand an average of about sixty-five head
and milks about twenty-two cows, the profits from the dairy alone amounting to
quite an income. His barns he built in 1875 and in 1888, as his stock in its
increase demanded additional accommodations, and these barns are in themselves
models of convenience and comfort to their occupants.
Mr. Ehlers
seems to have been a natural-born soldier, for, not satisfied with his
military life in the old country, or disgusted with the pertinacity of the
rebelling South in the late civil war, he enlisted in Company I, Fourth Iowa
volunteer infantry, and served until the war was ended. During this service he
was with General Sberman from Atlanta to the sea, taking
part in all the engagements in which the Fourth Iowa participated, among them
being that of Dentonville, N.C., in which he was
under fire twenty-four consecutive hours. Finally, he reached Washington, D. C., took part in the grandest
review the world ever witnessed, and in that city received an honorable
discharge June 17, 1865.
The
popularity of Mr. Ehlers is manifested in the fact that his fellow-townsmen
have intrusted him with all the township offices at
different times, and also by the fact that he is now serving his third term as
county supervisor for his township.
July 1, 1862, Mr. Ehlers was united in marriage
with Miss Anna B. Mangold, a native of Switzerland, born December
20, 1830.
For twenty-six years this lady was to him a loving and faithful companion,
dying October 10, 1888, the mother of three children, born in the following
order —William H., April 27, 1863; John H., March 7, 1886, and Caroline, August
12, 1869, all three living with their father.
To these
children Mr. Ehlers has given most excellent advantages in educational matters,
having sent them to the excellent public schools of his neighborhood and to the
high school at Epworth, Dubuque county.
Although not a communicant of any Christian church denomination, Mr. Ehlers is
nevertheless a Christian at heart, and freely contributes of his means to all
church organizations regardless of sect. In politics he is a republican, and it
will be seen that he has faith in the principles of the party and that the
party has faith in him by its having invested him with the various public
trusts he has been charged with, the duties of which he has so faithfully
performed.
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