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.

 

Back to Biographies

 

Back to Main Page
Back to Iowa AHGP
Back to AHGP