Joseph L. Wichers, 1899 Biography

WICHERS, RODE

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 3/11/2007 at 19:06:01

I translated the following biography from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. It was originally published in a special 25th Anniversary Edition of the paper on Friday, 20 September 1899. Words in quotations are original. Any information in brackets or notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

Joseph L. Wichers

Mr. Wichers was born on 24 March 1854 in Eversen, near Nieheim, Westphalia. He attended elementary school there until his 14th year and received First Holy Communion in the parish church at Sommersell. He then worked a few years at linen weaving, but since farming suited him better, he took up the plow and worked approximately six or seven years on various farms. In the spring of 1882, he gathered his things together and shook the soil of Germany off his feet. Arriving here in America, he made his way quickly to Carroll County, Iowa, where he worked for three on various farms in order to learn the unique methods of working the soil. After he had worked another year at farming on his own, during which time a sister kept house for him, on 24 October 1886 Mr. Wichers married Miss Wilhelmine Rode, a virtuous young woman who was born in July 1856 in the same village in Westphalia. Mr. Wichers settled with his young wife in Grant Township, Carroll County, where he has worked at farming and lived very happily and peacefully since. The Wichers family is highly respected and enjoys a fine reputation. This very Christian marriage has produced a little daughter named Maria.