1890 Buchanan and Delaware Counties History pgs. 239-240
CASPER H.
NIEDERFRANKE was
born in Prussia January 15,
1837.
He is a son of Charles F. and Catherine (Bridenkamp)
Niederfranke, both of whom were natives also of Prussia. The father died in his native
country and the mother subsequently remarried,
her second husband being
a countryman named Casper Brandhorst.
To the union of Charles F. and Catherine (Bridenkamp)
Niederfranke were born two children- Casper H., the
subject of this notice, and Louisa, now the wife of Henry Nieman,
a farmer of Elk township, Delaware
county, a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this volume.
To the union of Casper and Catherine
Brandhorst were also born two
children-Mary, now the wife of William C. Niemanm,
farmer of Delhi township, Delaware county, and Henry, a farmer of Carroll county, this state.
In the fall of 1849 Caspar Brandhorst
with his family, consisting of his wife and the four children here mentioned,
sailed for America, taking passage on the vessel Annadalius. After a voyage extending over seven weeks and
five days, they landed at New Orleans about the first of
January, 1850.
There they took a steamer for St. Louis. On the way up the river the mother
fell a victim to that dread disease, cholera, and died. The father with the
children came on to St. Louis and in the spring following made
his way to Guttenburg, in Clayton county,
this state. In
that place began the career of the subject of this notice, and what here follows
is an outline of his personal history since coming to Iowa, a poor fatherless and motherless
boy, the eldest of four almost helpless children. Mr. Niederfranke's
life carries an encouraging lesson to struggling boys, as it serves also to
strengthen our confidence in the inherent worth and nobility of the race.
Mr. Niederfranke's earlier education was necessarily very limited.
He could hardly be said to have begun his education when his mother
and step-father started for America. The sad and unlooked-for
death of his mother on reaching this country threw him at once, a youth of tender years, upon his own
resources, and forever cut off any hopes there might have been entertained
before that event for a good mental training for the son. Life
for him immediately resolved itself into a struggle for bread and butter.
On settling in Clayton county
he hired out to work by the year on a farm. He worked
diligently for years as a farm laborer, saving his means as they were slowly
earned and storing them up to be afterward used in making a start for
himself. In 1863 he married, and, having taken this important
step in life, he purchased a farm in Clayton county
and paid for it with money he had saved from his labors during the ten years
preceding that time. For six years he was engaged in farming in Clayton county, and then in 1866 he bought a farm in Delaware county, in section 36, Elk
township, to which he moved, continuing in agricultural pursuits. His first
dwelling on this place was a little shanty, 18x20 feet, built of lumber and
cheaply constructed. He lived in this for five years and what funds he
accumulated in the meantime he put into other improvements on his place, and
expended in buying other land. When his means could allow, however, he erected
a handsome two-story residence, one of the largest and best-finished houses in
the township, and he built also a splendid barn, large enough to house most of
the perishable products of the farm and give needed shelter to all his stock.
He bought land from time to time, until he now owns a farm of three hundred and
twenty acres where he lives in Elk township, one hundred and sixty acres in
section 33 in Elk township, and seventy acres of
timber land also in Elk. The greater part of his land is under cultivation,
being enclosed by fence, and is productive crop. To do what Mr. Niederfranke has done for his place has required much
patient industry and a large share of practical business talent; but his
success has been complete and it shows what those qualities under favorable
conditions will do.
In 1863, as
we have noted, Mr. Niederfranke married. The lady on whom
his choice fell for a companion was Miss Louisa Walkamp,
who was then residing in Clayton county, Iowa, but who was a native of Cincinnati, Ohio. Only one child was born to this
union when the mother died in 1865. The child, a daughter, Sophia, now grown,
is one of Delaware county's accomplished
teachers. Mr. Niederfranke married a second time in
1866, his last wife being Miss Mary Nieman, who was
also then residing in Clayton county, being a daughter
of William and Catherine M. Nieman, natives of Prussia.
Mrs. Niederfranke was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, in
1847. By his second marriage Mr. Niederfranke has had
nine children, all of whom are living, viz.- Louis, Louisa, Alvina,
Eddie, Emma, Hannah, Pauline, Ida and Mary. Mr. Niederfranke
and his wife are both members of the Lutheran church, and they have reared
their family in a knowledge of the teachings of
that church, as well as in the practice of the broad charities of the Christian
religion.
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