Gustav Pufahl was a lad of
about thirteen years when he accompanied his parents
on their immigration from Germany to the United
States, in 1871, and in that year the family home was
established at Guttenberg, Clayton county. That he
has proved himself a man of energy and ability and
that he has availed himself consistently of the
advantages afforded in this section of the Hawkeye
state needs no further voucher than the statement
that he is the owner of one of the large and
well-improved landed estates of the county and has
secure prestige as a representative agriculturist and
stock-grower whose success has been the direct result
of his own well-ordered endeavors.
Mr. Pufahl was born in the
northeastern part of Prussia, on the 6th of
September, 1858, and is a son of Gottlieb and
Wilhelmina (Kobs) Pufahl, who there continued to
maintain their home until 1871 when they came to
America and established their residence at
Guttenberg, Clayton county, where the family arrived
on the 2d of July of that year. Here the father was
employed for a time in a saw mill and later he
purchased a tract of ten acres of land, upon which he
made good improvements, this little homestead
continuing to be the place of residence of both
himself and his wife during the remainder of their
lives. Both were earnest communicants of the Lutheran
church and in politics he gave his allegiance to the
Republican party. Of the children the subject of this
sketch is the eldest; Bertha is the wife of Frederick
Williams; of Steamboat Springs, Colo.; Julius is
deceased; Herman resides at Bolivar, Mo.; Emil, Otto
and Emma are deceased; and Mrs. Hulda Burke maintains
her home in Colorado.
Gustav Pufahl gained his
early education in his native land and continued his
studies in the public schools after the family home
had been established in Clayton county. As a youth he
was for a time employed in a printing office in
Guttenberg, this county, later he assisted in the
operation of a saw mill and thereafter he was engaged
in farm work until he had attained to the age of
twenty-five years, when he rented a farm and
initiated his independent activities as an
agriculturist. Under these conditions he continued
his activities with characteristic energy for the
ensuing six years, at the expiration of which he
purchased, in 1889, a tract of two hundred and thirty
acres of land in Monona township. To this he has
since added an adjoining eighty acres, and he has
developed the property into one of the model farms of
Clayton county, the excellent buildings on the
homestead having been erected by him. He gives his
attention to diversified agriculture and to the
raising of high-grade live stock, including
short-horn cattle and Poland-China swine. Indomitable
energy and excellent judgment have marked his
activities and he has achieved substantial and worthy
success. He is a stockholder and director of the
Luana Savings Bank, is a Republican, has served as
school director, and both he and his wife are
communicants of the Lutheran church.
On the 6th of December,
1887, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Pufahl to
Miss Elizabeth Bierbaum, who was born and reared in
this county and who was afforded the advantages of
the public schools of Garnavillo, near which village
the homestead farm of her parents was situated, her
father being now deceased and her mother being a
resident of Monona, this county.
Mrs. Pufahl is a daughter of
Christopher and Florentina (Johaninghmeyer) Bierbaum,
who immigrated to America from Germany in 1845,
passing the first year in Ohio and then coming to
Iowa and numbering themselves among the pioneer
settlers of Clayton county, where the father obtained
a tract of government land, between Guttenberg and
Garnavillo, and where he reclaimed one of the
valuable farms of the county. He was a Democrat in
his political proclivities and was a communicant of
the Lutheran church, as is also his venerable widow.
Of their children several are now living and of the
number Mrs. Pufahl was born May 22, 1859.
Mr. and Mrs. Pufahl have
three children, all of whom remain at the parental
home, namely: Albert, Edward and Florentina.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II; pg. 335-336
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
