CHRISTIAN DAMM is one of the successful farmers and stock-raisers of Linder township. His landed possessions are represented by a farm of two hundred and forty acres, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation. He is a native son of Greene county, his birth having occurred in Carrollton on the 21st of January, 1844. His father was Dieter Damm, Sr., and he is a brother of Dieter Damm, Jr., who is represented elsewhere in this work.

Christian Damm was reared on the home farm and enjoyed the advantages afforded by the common schools and received practical business training from his father in the labor of the fields. When he had reached man's estate he started out in life on his own account, beginning farming for himself on a tract of land of eighty acres, which he cultivated for five years. He then sold that property and bought one hundred acres where he now resides, becoming owner of this in 1869. He at once began its further development and as his financial resources increased he added to his property from time to time until he is now the owner of two hundred and forty acres of rich land. In connection with general farming he has made a business of raising, feeding and fattening stock for the market and has prospered in these undertakings. He has also engaged in merchandising, carrying on that business for twelve years with fair success. He sold his store in 1903 in order to devote his entire time and attention to his farming and stock-raising interests, which had divided his labors with commercial pursuits while he was conducting his store.

Mr. Damm was married in Linder township, April 12, 1865, to Marguerite Rathgeber, a native of Germany, who was reared and educated, however, in Greene county, Illinois. Five children have been born of this union, namely: Christian, who is on the farm with his father; Philip, who is engaged in merchandising at Carrollton; Katy, the wife of Oscar Combrink, a farmer of Linder township; Maggie, the wife of Cliff Jacobs, also a farmer, located near Kirksville, Missouri; and Ella, at home.

In his political affairs Mr. Damm is a Democrat but his first presidential vote was cast for General U. S. Grant in 1868. He has never been an office seeker, nor has he cared for political preferment but has given his time and attention to his business interests in which he has met with success. He is, however, a public-spirited citizen, deeply interested in all that pertains to the substantial upbuilding and improvement of his county. He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church and have a wide and favorable acquaintance in Greene county where for many years his business integrity and activity have been tested. The qualities of an upright manhood have been manifested in his active career and those who know him esteem him for his genuine worth.