FREDERICK D. ALBERTUS

Frederick D. ALBERTUS, of Panama, is an old resident of Shelby County. He was born in Saxony, Germany, May 19, 1822, and is a son of Karl and Mary (OBERICHT) ALBERTUS. They were the parents of six children -- Frederick T., Charles, Minnie, Gustavus, and John; two of the children are deceased. Karl ALBERTUS and wife came with their family to America in 1843. Frederick D. and his sister remained in New York and the other members of the family went to Wisconsin and settled there. Frederick D. worked at his trade, that of a confectioner, until July 3, 1844, when he started to Wisconsin. He went by way of the Hudson River, Erie Canal and the lakes to Milwaukee, then a very small town. From Milwaukee he walked to Sauk City, a distance of twenty-five miles. When he reached the Wisconsin River he found he could not cross it. He discovered an old shanty and determined to sleep there; he concluded, however, to make one more effort, and going farther up the river, he spied a hamlet on the other side; he called a man who came and took him across in a canoe. He finally reached his father's home, and they two started out prospecting for a place to locate. They waded through swamps and forded streams, and at last settled on a tract of forest land. They each took 120 acres, which had not been surveyed by the government; the survey was nade the next year. Frederick D. worked with his father for three years and dissolved partnership.

He had been married in Germany, June 13, 1841, but his wife did not come to America until 1848. Mr. and Mrs. ALBERTUS are the parents of six children -- Arthur, Augustus. Charles, Frederick, John, and Minnie, wife of George WALTERS; Arthur and Charles are deceased. Mrs. ALBERTUS was born in Switzerland, October 15, 1818, and died in Portsmouth, May 30, 1887. Mr. ALBERTUS sold his farm of 120 acres in Wisconsin fifteen years after he settled there, for $1,700. In 1859 he bought a farm of eighty acres in the same township, and added to it until he worked 290 acres; he traded this to his son Frederick in 1874 for 160 acres of land near Shelby, Iowa. He had made fine improvements on the farm, and had erected a stone residence at a cost of $3,000. When he first came to Shelby County he bought 420 acres of land which he has sold. He now owns 177 acres of good land near Portsmouth.

Mr. ALBERTUS continued farming until 1877, when he went to Shelby to live. In 1882 he removed to Portsmouth and engaged in general merchandise trade; in 1886 he traded his stock for 160 acres in Cedar County, Nebraska, and 440 acres in Monona County, Iowa. He still owns a residence in Shelby.

Mr. ALBERTUS is a member of the Evangelical church. Before the war he voted with the Democratic party, but since that time has supported the issues of the Republican party. He died June 9, 1889, of inflammation of the bowels; was buried beside his wife in Cass Township cemetery.

Source: 1889 Biographical History of Shelby County, Iowa. pp. 585-86. Transcribed by Dennis Walsh.

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