Theodore Roerkohl
Although more than a decade has passed since Theodore Roerkohl
has departed this life there are many who remember him as one of
the prosperous, progressive and representative agriculturists of
Waterloo township. He was a native of Germany, where he was born
in 1829, and in 1866 came to America, locating first in Ohio,
where he resided for two years. At the end of that time he came
to Iowa and five years later established his home in Allamakee
county, where he bought land and subsequently married. Throughout
his entire life he followed agricultural pursuits, but for a
period of six years he also operated a brewery in connection with
his farming. He was energetic, industrious and thrifty,
possessing in large measure those study characteristics of the
German race, and as the years passed his incessant labor and well
directed efforts were fruitful of good results, returning to him
a most gratifying measure of success. At the time of his death he
was the owner of two hundred and forty acres of highly improved
land in Waterloo township, three miles west of Dorchester upon
which his widow still resides at the age of fifty-eight years.
In 1877, in Allamakee county, Mr. Roerkohl was united in marriage
to Miss Anna Wensing, who was born in Germany and came to America
when a little maiden of one years, with her parents, who
established their home in Racine county, Wisconsin. Shortly
afterward, however, they removed to Iowa, where the father died.
The mother and her children then went to Dakota and there the
mother’s death occurred. In their family were eight
children, of whom four survive, Mrs. Roerkohl being the youngest
of the living children. She received her education in the schools
of Wisconsin and Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Roerkohl became the parents
of eight children, all yet living, namely; Joseph, of Caledonia,
Minnesota who married Tillie Schulte and has two children, Herold
and Mary; Theodore, also of Caledonia, who married Therese Hill
and has two children, Lionel and Howard; Bernard, who operates a
portion of the homestead farm and who married, in 1907, Miss Anna
Schulte, who by her marriage became the mother of one daughter,
Bernadine; Henry, residing in Caledonia, Minnesota; Elizabeth,
who married John Schiltz, of Houston county, Minnesota, and they
have two daughters, Marcella and Helen; Mary, the wife of Ben
Schulte, of Dorchester, Iowa, by whom she has two daughters,
Veronica and Mary; Margaret, at home; and William, operating the
homestead farm. All of these children received their education in
the schools of Allamakee county. The family are communicants of
the Catholic church, in the faith of which Mr. Roerkohl passed
away in 1902, his remains being interred in St. Mary’s
cemetery in Waterloo township.
In politics Mr. Roerkohl gave stalwart support to the democratic
party, although the emoluments and honors of office held no
attraction for him. All project, having for their object the
welfare of the community, however, found in him a ready champion
and he was public-spirited in large degree. He had passed the
Psalmist’s allotted span of threescore years and ten ere
departing his life, and with his demise Waterloo township lost
one of it honored, representative and highly respected citizens.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
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