BIERHAUS, HENRY H. - Among the farmer who have many acquaintances and are generally liked in the vicinity where they live, is the gentleman whose name stands at the head of this personal narrative. Reared in the vicinity of the town of Virginia, Ill., where he parents carried on farming for many years, Henry H. Bierhaus is known to most of the residents of this section, all of whom commend him as an industrious and thrifty farmer, and a useful and upright member of the community. His parents were of German nativity, possessing those sturdy traits that win success in farming country, and their record in cultivating the soil after emigrating to their Illinois home was a creditable heritage to the son, with which to begin his agricultural career.

Henry Harry Bierhaus was born February 6, 1864, in township 18, Cass County, Ill., and is a son of Henry and Annie (Foley) Bierhaus, who came from Germany. In his youth Henry tended the Union district school, and continued to live with his father and mother up to his twenty-second year. Then, for two years, he worked out, after which he went to McCook, Nebr., and bought a claim where he remained six months. After returning to Cass County he was taken sick with typhoid fever, which disabled him for a year, and after recovery he stayed at home two years longer. Then he bought a farm of 100 acres, three miles north of Virginia, in township 18, range 10. The place was but partly improved, and the present substantial improvements were all made by him. He remodeled the dwelling and put up new buildings, and in 1909 bought forty acres more, near his first purchase, but across the road. Here he carries on general farming, having 105 acres under cultivation, and the remainder in pasture and timber. A good deal of his attention is devoted to raising mules and hogs.

In March, 1895, Mr. Bierhaus was married to Clara Schafer, born in Cass County, Ill., a daughter of Valentine and Mary (Treadway) Schafer, natives of the same county. Mr. and Mrs. Bierhaus have had three children: Neta, who died at the age of three years; Ralph and Helen. The religious connection of Mr. Bierhaus is with the Cumberland Presbyterian church. In politics, he is a Republican and has been a school director for sixteen years, during most of that time serving as clerk. He belongs to the M.W.A. of Virginia, Ill.