Welcome to
Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
|
|
|
|
John Claussen Claus
(John) Claussen, aged sixty-six years, was born in Swopsteadt, Germany, March
19, 1844, his father being Hans Claussen, a native of Germany, who died in
Jasper County, Iowa, on a farm at the advanced age of eighty-six years, his
mother being also a native of Germany, her maiden name being Margaret (Block)
Claussen, she dying in Germany at the age of thirty years.
Mr. Claussen has only one full sister and no brother, but as his father
married twice after the death of his mother, he has three half brothers and
three half sisters, all of whom reside in Jasper County.
The name of his sister is Christina Reincke, and she is the widow of
William Reincke, residing in Carroll
County, Iowa.
The
life history of Mr. Claussen is most interesting. He was but twenty-one years of age when he came to America,
coming alone and landing at New York.
From there he went to Davenport, Iowa, and engaged in the butcher
business. After a nine months' stay in Davenport, he came to Newton,
Iowa, where he has since remained. It
was something near a year and a half after coming to Newton that Mr. Claussen
purchased the two and one-half acres upon which his residence now stands.
Starting with very little, he set resolutely to work at his trade of
butcher and to this small purchase kept adding and adding until at one time he
was one of the large land owners in the County, owning over five hundred acres
of land. Subsequent reverses and
misfortunes, such as often overtake the most far-sighted and resolute, have lost
him a considerable portion of this property, but Mr. Claussen is still well
fixed and is as cheerful and undaunted as the day he first landed in Jasper
County. After
Mr. Claussen had secured a foothold in this County he sent money back to Germany
with which to bring four brothers and sisters over here and at all times he was
a considerate and dutiful son. On
October 1, 1868, Mr. Claussen was married to Mary Klopping, herself a native of
Germany, her father being Conrad Klopping and her mother Elizabeth (Reinke)
Klopping, also a native of Germany. Mrs.
Claussen came with her parents to America when she was but eight years of age
and recounts that the ship that carried them was an old sailing vessel, which
was driven by contrary winds far out of her course.
Eleven weeks they were upon the seas before they made port and when,
after their provisions were almost exhausted, they came to land, it was the port
of New Orleans they entered instead of New York as was first intended.
Mrs. Claussen states that much of their trouble came from the fact that
their captain was making his first voyage to America and was inexperienced.
Even at the time of landing he would have run his ship aground upon a
sand bar, but for a pilot who came off from the shore and set them right.
Mrs. Claussen's parents both died in Jasper County, Iowa, her father four
years after coming to America, her mother thirty-six years after coming to this
country. Mrs. Claussen is one of
seven children, of whom two besides herself are living: Elizabeth Klopping, a
half sister, Mrs. Claussen's mother having been married twice, resides in
Newton, is the widow of William Klopping, deceased, a cousin of Mrs. Claussen
upon her father's side; Louise Myers, widow of John Myers, deceased, is a full
sister of Mrs. Claussen, and is seventy-one years of age and resides in Newton. Mrs. Claussen has at
all times been a loyal and cheerful companion and helpmate to her husband,
working with him to raise money with which to bring his brothers and sisters
over to America from Germany and entering with spirit and sympathy into all his
undertakings. She remembers much of
interest concerning the growth of the County and the changes that have come
since 1853 when she came here. There
were only thirty houses here when she came and Sunday school was held in the old
courthouse. Land was sold at five
dollars per acre and she saw the first court house in the County built. Seven children have
been born to Mr. and Mrs. Claussen, six of whom are living:
Frederick, aged forty-one, resides in Boone, Iowa, his wife's maiden name
being May Woodard; Leonora, aged thirty-nine years, is the wife of the Rev. W.
McMillan, and resides in Eureka, Illinois; Arthur, aged thirty-seven, is
unmarried and lives at home; Christopher, aged thirty-five years, resides in
Waterman, state of Washington, his wife's maiden name being Etta Bowker; Henry,
of Moline, Illinois; Walter, aged twenty-nine, resides in Newton, his wife's
maiden name being Maude Atkins; Una Margaret died in infancy. Besides farming, Mr. Claussen has always paid much attention to stock buying, being still engaged in that business to a considerable extent. He is and always has been a public-spirited citizen, giving liberally towards many public enterprises. In politics he is a Republican. Both he and his wife are members of the English Lutheran Church. The Past and Present
of Jasper County, Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-in-Chief, 1912, B. F.
Bowden & Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. |
|
|
