Hans Godberson, born February 18, 1853 in Schleswig, Holstein, Germany.  In 1871 when eighteen years of age he came to America, locating first at Lyons, Iowa.  In 1881 he came to Sac County.  On October 12, 1883 he married Margaretta Wunschel, who was born September 26, 1861 at Fodorf Bayern, Germany.  She came to [the] United States in 1880 and made her home with her oldest brother Chris.

In 1888 Mr. and Mrs. Hans Godberson bought a farm one mile north of Odebolt and lived there until their retirement in 1911 when they moved into Odebolt.  Hans died in 1927 and his wife Margaretta in 1932.

They were parents of seven children: John; William; Edward; Clara (Mrs. Earl Mandernach); Henry, Herman; and Mabel.

William Godberson married Ella Fredrickson. Their children are Edward, married Dorothy Siebrecht; Clarence, married Dorothy Gustafson; Harry, married Genevieve Freese; Dorothy (Mrs. Roland Anderson); and Laura (Mrs. William Arnett).

Edward Godberson married Mary Gonnerman; Their children are Mathilda (Mrs. Joe Ziegmann); Edna (Mrs. Arling Peterson); Eleanor, married Arling Peterson after the death of Edna; Marjorie (Mrs. Bernie Thayer); Helen, (Mrs. Donald Mentzer); Harold, married Hazel Wilson; Mildred (Mrs. Dean Hartsell); William Edward, died in infancy; Mary Ann (Mrs. Lyle Siebrecht).

Herman married Myrtle Gamblier; their children are Maxine and Jean Ann

Clara under Mandernach history.

Joseph P. Goreham was born March 4,1840, in Stockholm, St. Lawrence County, New York, son of Philo and Maria (Bard) Goreham, natives of Vermont, and who moved to Canada in 1845.  In 1861 they moved to Clinton County, Iowa, where the father died in 1888.

On January 20, 1964, Joseph married Charlotte Hill, who was born May 8, 1844, in Yorkshire, England, daughter of John and Susannah Hill, who came to America in 1851 and to Clinton County, Iowa in 1854.

In 1874 Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Goreham came to Sac County, Iowa and purchased land in Wheeler Township.  At this time there were no roads and few settlers in their vicinity.  Some of this land purchased by Joseph P. Goreham is now [in 1977] owned by his great grandson having been in the family continuously for over one hundred years.

Mr. Goreham was the first Clerk of Wheeler Township and assisted in the organization of the Township when it was set off from Levey.  He was also township trustee and served as secretary of the school board.

Mr. and Mrs. Goreham were parents of George, who died in infancy; Mary (Mrs. Proctor Coy); Horace, married Florence Carmichael; Leonard; Edson; Grace (Mrs. Anton Gunderson); Mabel (Mrs. Austin Irwin).

Leonard Goreham married Sophronia Brennan; their children are: Clarence; Irene (Mrs. Glen Peck); and Laura (Mrs. Ed Schwaller).

Edson Goreham married Mabel Lester; their children are twins Doris and Dorothy; Charlotte; Mildred; Gertrude (Mrs. Lyle Paul) and Lois (Mrs. Emery Smith);  Lester, a twin to Lois, died in childhood.

Grace under Gunderson Century Farms.

John Gosch was born 1857 in Schleswig, Holstein, Germany, son of Peter Frederick and Mary (Kuhr) Gosch.  Mr. Gosch received his education in Germany and at age twenty-five left his native land and came to Odebolt, Iowa. 

In 1885 Mr. Gosch married Mary M. Fleck, born 1853 in Germany, daughter of Johann Henry and Sophia Magdalena (Seeman) Fleck.

Mr. and Mrs. John Gosch were parents of Fred; Johannes D.; Edward; Lorena Mary (Mrs. Albert Fleuhr); Elsie (Mrs. George Mumm); Wilhelm; Elbert; Edna (Mrs. Ferdinand Wilken); Robert; and Arthur.

Mr. and Mrs. Ferdinand Wilken were parents of Russell, married Joyce Albrecht; Paul, married Bonnie Crampton; and Joan, married Rev. Reynold Petersen.

Lorena under Fleuhr history.

John H. Gosch

(Source: “As Time Goes By”, Odebolt, Iowa 1877-1977, 
printed by The Odebolt Chronicle May, 1977)
[note: This biography was apparently taken from an old county history book, 
but the source is not cited

Click photo for enlargement

There are no thriftier people in Sac county today than those who are of German descent and while they have always been successful in their business affairs, they had also taken their full share in the public life of their respective communities.

John H. Gosch, one of the most prosperous farmers of Levey township, Sac county, Iowa, was born September 9, 1857, in Schleswig, Holstein, Germany.  He is the son of Peter Frederick and Mary (Kuhr) Gosch, who spent all their lives in the land of their birth.

John H. Gosch received a good practical education in the public schools of Germany and when twenty-five years of age left his native land and came direct to Odebolt, Sac county, Iowa, landing here on October 9th. A few years later he married and went on a rented farm in Levey township, where he lived for three years.  In 1888 he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land for twenty-six dollars an acre and in 1894 he added forty acres adjoining at the cost of fifty dollars an acre, bought from J. H. Knappen.  The next purchase was in 1809 [probably an error for 1899], when he bought eighty acres at fifty dollars an acre from C.E. Allen; in 1906 he added eighty more acres adjoining at a total cost of sixty-four hundred dollars, purchased of Josias Skinner.  In 1909 he purchased a quarter section in Osceola county, this state, for which he paid fifty-five dollars an acre.  He has been prosperous from the start and is now recognized as a progressive farmer who never neglects to take advantage of the latest improvements in machinery or the newest methods in crop production.  In 1910 he built a new home, enlarged his barn, erected a large corn crib and other buildings.  In 1914 he erected a new barn, fifty by sixty feet in size.  He markets from seventy-five to a hundred head of cattle and one hundred head of hogs annually.

Mr. Gosch was married March 10, 1885 to Mary M. Fleck.  She was born September 12, 1863, in Germany and is the daughter of Johann Henry and Sophia Magdalena (Seeman) Fleck.  She came to this country from her native land in 1883.  To Mr. and Mrs. Gosch have been born ten children; Fred, who was accidentally killed while plowing on September 30, 1913, was twenty-seven years of age, married and left his widow with two children.  Alfred Robert and Christian August; Johannes D., of Osceola county, who is married and has one son, Marvin Herman; Edward, of Levey township, who is married and has one daughter, Vera Edna.  The remaining seven children, still with their parents, are Lorena Mary, Elsie Wilhelmina, Wilhelm, Elbert, Edna, Robert and Arthur.

Mr. Gosch has identified himself with the Democratic party since coming to this country, but is not a blind partisan, reserving the right to cast his ballot for the right man irrespective of politics.  Since settling in his township he has served six years a township assessor and filled this position to the entire satisfaction of all of his fellow citizens.  He and his family are earnest members of the German Lutheran church and contribute generously of their substance to its support. Mr. Gosch reserves a great deal of credit for his success, which has come about solely through his own efforts.  He came to this county with no money and in the course of a few years was recognized as one of the substantial farmers of his township.  He is a man who takes things easy and because of his clean and wholesome life is highly regarded by everyone with whom he is associated.

Juergen P. Gosch

(Source: “As Time Goes By”, Odebolt, Iowa 1877-1977, 
printed by The Odebolt Chronicle May, 1977)
[note: This biography was apparently taken from an old county history book, 
but the source is not cited

Click photo for enlargement

The farming profession has been revolutionized within the last fifty years, and the farmer of today in Iowa has so modernized the former methods of agriculture that he has very few of the disadvantages of a past decade to contend with in tilling the soil. The pioneers themselves now living in Sac County have come up through this great transformation in agricultural methods and have prospered accordingly. Scores of inventions have been put on the market which enable the farmer to lead a life of ease as compared with the hardships of an earlier day.  The farmer is certainly the most independent man of the country and all other professions must bow to him.  Iowa is known throughout the length and breadth of this country as one of the leading agricultural states of the Union and Sac county is one of its best subdivisions.  Among the many excellent farmers of this progressive and wealthy county who is of German birth none occupies a more prominent place than Juergen P. Gosch, who arose from a poor immigrant to become one of the wealthy and influential figures in the county.

Juergen P. Gosch has built his large farm from prairie land to one of the best equipped and most productive in the county.  He was born March 2, 1848 in Schleswig, Germany, and is the son of Peter and Mary Gosch.  When he was twenty-four years of age he came to America and in the spring of 1872 located in Jackson county, Iowa, where he worked at farm labor for a period of five years and saved his money.  While a resident of Jackson county he married and then decided that it was time to become a land owner and tiller of his own land.  First, he rented a farm for two years, then came to Sac county and invested his savings in one hundred and twenty acres of land in Levey township, which formed the nucleus of his present large acreage.  This first tract of land cost him twenty dollars an acre and was purchased on a time contract, as was the custom in that early day.  Very few settlers came to Sac county with much money, and Mr. Gosch was as poor as his neighbors at that time. A few years later he bought one hundred and eighty-eight acres at a cost price of twenty-eight dollars an acre.  In 1889 he again invested in a tract of two hundred and twenty-three acres at a cost of thirty-nine dollars an acre.  The Northwestern railroad cuts diagonally through Mr. Gosch's section, hence the odd acreage.  Mr. Gosch has from time to time invested in lands in Dakota, Kansas and Iowa, and has usually sold out at a profit.  At the present time he is the owner of an entire section of land in Kansas and owns a half section of fine farm lands in Dakota.  On his Sac county farm are three sets of farm buildings, all in excellent condition.  His home farm is a very fine one and the residence is exceptionally good, as will be seen by the view herein presented.  Nearly all the buildings have been built or remodeled by Mr. Gosch and are kept in very good condition.  He also owns a nice residence in Wall Lake, where it is his intention to retire very soon and take life easy, as he can well afford to do.  Of late years he has entrusted the work of the farms to his children.

For a number of years Mr. Gosch has been a breeder of Percheron horses and has a band of forty head of fine thoroughbred stock on his farm.  He has always paid considerable attention to the raising of live stock for the market and is a live-stock farmer.  Among his forty head of fine horses are about twenty five head of registered Percherons, which are worth fancy prices in the market.

In the year 1877 this successful farmer was married to Mrs. Mary Mohr Sonderman, a widow who had two children by a former marriage.  Mrs. Gosch was born in 1853 on the ocean aboard a sailing vessel enroute to America from Germany.  She was the daughter of Fred and Elzaba Mohr, who first settled near Davenport, down the river in the timber belt of Jackson county.  This was in the year 1853., when settlers were few and far apart in that section of Iowa, and the Mohrs endured many hardships.  They, the parents of Mrs. Gosch, were among the very earliest pioneer settlers of Jackson county and lived and died in the county, well respected by all who knew them.

Mr. Gosch himself has not succeeded to his present position of affluence without hardships of a serious character at times, and his success has been due to hard work and thrift, combined with keen financial ability and rare business acumen.  One of the most serious disasters with which he had to contend was in 1889, when his barns and outbuildings were destroyed by fire.  At that time he had the largest barn in Sac county, and his loss was considerable.  Five horses, five thousand bushels of corn, ninety tons of hay, and buggies and harness were lost in the holocaust.

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