IAGenWeb Project - Clayton co.

John Krambier, Sr.

John Krambier, Sr., is one of those sterling citizens who, after years of close and effective association with the great basic industry of agriculture, find that there has come the well earned prosperity which permits them to lay aside the arduous labors and responsi bilities that long fell to their lot and to pass the gracious twilight of their worthy lives in retirement, with the repose, peace and prosperity that properly crown such careers of useful endeavor.

Mr. Krambier was born in Mecklenburg, Germany, on the 8th of December, 1844, and has been a resident of Clayton county since he was a lad of fourteen years. He is a son of John and Elizabeth (Schultz) Krambier, who were born and reared in Mecklenburg, where the former learned in his youth the sturdy trade of blacksmith. In 1859 the family immigrated to the United States and became members of the very appreciable German pioneer colony that was established in and about Guttenberg, Clayton county, in which village John Krambier (I) engaged in the work of his trade. Later he removed to St. Olaf, this county, where he established a shop and built up a substantial and prosperous business as a blacksmith, besides which he made judicious investment in land and developed a productive farm, both he and his wife having been honored pioneer citizens of the county at the time of their death and both having held reverently to the faith of the German Lutheran Church.

Of their children, the subject of this review is the eldest; Elizabeth died when young; Louise is the wife of Henry Gilster, of Farmersburg, this county; August and Lena are deceased; Charles is now a resident of Austin, Minnesota; Fred and Annie are deceased; Frederica is the wife of William Jacobi and they reside in the State of California; and Mary is the widow of John Tiedeman, her home being in the city of Seattle, Washington, where her husband’s death occurred.

John Krambier, immediate subject of this sketch, acquired his early education in the excellent schools of his fatherland and was, as before stated, about fourteen years old at the time of the family immigration to America. He was reared to manhood on the pioneer farm in Clayton county and con tinued to be associated with his father in the work of the home farm until he had attained to the age of twenty-two years. He then bought a farm of eighty acres, in Wagner township, where he continued his activities as an agriculturist for a period of about ten years. He then sold the property and went to Minnesota, from which State he later went to South Dakota, but after an absence of about twelve years he returned to Clayton county and purchased a farm of one hundred and eighty-three acres in Wagner township. After operating this place successfully for a period of ten years he sold the property and purchased a farm of one hundred and ten acres in Monona township, near the village of the same name. There he upheld his reputation as a progressive and successful agriculturist and stock grower until 1911, when he felt justified in retiring from active labor, with the result that he sold the farm and established his residence in the village of Luana, where he has an attractive home and is enjoying generous peace and prosperity, the while he is surrounded by a host of friends who are tried and true.

Mr. Krambier is found arrayed in the ranks of the Democratic party and both he and his wife are communicants of the German Lutheran Church, in the faith of which they were reared. November 14, 1868, recorded the marriage of Mr. Krambier to Miss Augusta Englehardt, who was born in Pomerania, Germany, on the 14th of September, 1848, and who there received her early educational training. She is a daughter of John and Mary (Schmidt) Englehardt, who immigrated from Prussia to America about the year 1862 and who became early settlers in Clayton county, where Mr. Englehardt became a prosperous farmer near Garnavillo, both he and his wife having passed the closing period of their lives in the village of Farmersburg. Their eldest child, Rudolph, is deceased; Bertha resides at Farmersburg and is the widow of Ferdinand Ranke; William is deceased; Mrs. Krambier was the next in order of birth; Carl is deceased; Henry resides in Farmersburg; and Minnie is the wife of Louis Hockendorf, their home being now in California.

Mr. and Mrs. Krambier became the parents of fourteen children, and it is most gratifying to note that death has never invaded this admirable family circle: Henry resides at Luana, and William at Rudd, Iowa; Hattie is the wife of Charles Baumgart and their home is in Minnesota; Charles is a resident of South Dakota; Augusta is the wife of August Duering, of Luana; John, Jr., is a prosperous farmer in Monona township, Robert in South Dakota and Louis in Monona township; Emma is the wife of William Rasmussen, of Britt, Hancock county; Minnie remains at the parental home; Ida is the wife of William Landt, of Luana; Benjamin resides at Luana, George at Britt, Hancock county, and Bertha remains with her parents.

source: History of Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; pg. 221-223

-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall

 

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