JACOB CHRISTIAN WERTZ

Jacob Christian Wertz, a highly respected farmer of Flint River township, is a native of Des Moines county, being born in the city of Burlington, Iowa, Dec. 29, 1853. He attended a German school for one winter. When at the age of six years his parents moved to Union township, where he attended the district schools and later finished his education in the grammar schools in the city of his birth, boarding with a relative, Mr. G. H. Bicklen. He has followed general farming and truck-gardening all his life, at which he has been very successful. In 1892 he bought ninety-six acres of land in Flint River township, upon which he has a farm and nursery, besides raising all kinds of small fruits. Feb 6, 1882, Mr. Wertz married Miss Elizabeth Heckenberg, daughter of Herman and Ann (Schmeil) Heckenberg. They are the happy parents of eight children: Bertha, Clara, Lydia, Lillie, Olva, Laura, Alma, and Esther, all at home except the two oldest, who work in Burlington. Politically, Mr. Wertz is a straight Republican, but does not care to hold any office in the hands of his party. He has made all of the improvements on his farm from time to time, and is just now completing a large new barn 30 x 42 feet, and also a neat cottage of four rooms for a residence. He is a man of much energy and enterprise, being deeply interested in the welfare of his township; he is a man who never takes advantage of the necessities of his fellow-men, and lives day by day in the hope of rounding out a life well begun, and one worthy of the emulation of all.