- HENRY WIEDERKEHR holds a position among the old settlers
of Jordan township, Green
- county, that bespeaks at once long and unwearied industry
and high moral character. He was born in Canton Zurich, Switzerland,
Aug. 2, 1835, and his parents, Jacob and Anna (KLEIN) WIEDERKEHR
died in their Swiss home. Our subject is, as far as known, their
only living child.
- Henry WIDERKEHR left Switzerland in 1855, and spent some
ten years in Brazil, where he
- followed various vocations, and gained much knowledge of
strange lands and customs. In 1866 he went back to Switzerland,
where he remained only about three months, and then emigrated
to the United States, making his home for some two years in New
Glarus, Wis. In 1870 he bought a farm located on Section 29,
Jordan township, acquiring a place of 176 acres, which he has
recently sold to his son.
- On Feb. 18, 1861, Henry WIEDERKEHR was married in Brazil
to Miss Mary MARTIN, a
- daughter of Rudolph MARTIN, of Canton Glarus, Switzerland.
To this marriage have been born the following children: (1) Jacob,
born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Nov. 15, 1861, is at home, and
is unmarried. (2) Felix, born in Canton Glarus, Switzerland,
April 9, 1866, married Miss Lizzie YOUNGBLOOD, of Jordan township,
and is now the owner of the old WIEDERKEHR home place. (3) Miss
Rosa, born in New Glarus, Green county, Aug. 14, 1868, lives
in Iowa. (4) Anna, born Sept. 4, 1870, in Jordan township, married
Charles JONES, a farmer in Iowa. (5) Mary, born Feb. 10, 1873,
is the wife of Joseph GINNER, of Monroe.
- Mr. WIEDERKEHR came to this country a very poor man, but
by unceasing industry and the
- most careful economy, has accumulated a very handsome property,
enabling him to enjoy well earned rest and comfort in his old
age. In his politics he is a Democrat, and in religion is a member
of the Lutheran Church.
- Mr. WIEDERKEHR, while deprived of schooling in his boyhood,
has traveled much, and gained
- that practical schooling of experience that helps a man to
know himself and to understand the world around him - the best
of all education. Three times he has crossed the ocean. In his
dealing with the world he has displayed a substantial integrity
that has won warm recognition wherever he has gone. An honest
man, and one true to his convictions of the right, he has never
lacked friends. Today he is highly regarded in the community
in which he lives, where he is known as an upright man, a kind
father, and a devoted husband.
-
- Taken from "Commemorative Biographical Record of
the Counties of Rock, Green, Grant, Iowa and Lafayette Wisconsin,"
(c)1901 Union Publishing; p. 805.
-
- Courtesy of Carol.
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