George Wuennecke
Among the residents of Allamakee county who have attained an
honorable place in the community through their acknowledged
ability and personal worth is George Wuennecke, who since 1892
has owned and cultivated a fine farm of two hundred acres in
Union City township. Germany numbers him among her native sons,
his birth having there occurred in 1855, his parents being Peter
and Dora Wuennecke. They came to America in 1866 and settled in
Minnesota, where the father engaged in general farming, an
occupation which he followed until his death in 1883. The mother
survived him many years, passing away in 1908. To their union
were born six children, two of whom survive: George, the subject
of this review: and Dora, the widow of Christ Bunge.
George Wuennecke began his independent career at the age of
fourteen years, and being thus early thrown upon his own
resources, developed qualities of industry, self- reliance and
independence which form the basis of his success today. For ten
years after laying aside his books he worked as a farm laborer,
saving his money and eventually accumulating enough to enable him
to purchase land of his own. He farmed for thirteen years
thereafter upon his own property in Minnesota, at the end of that
time disposing of his interests and coming to Iowa, in which
state he bought two hundred acres of land in Union City,
township, Allamakee county, upon which he still resides. He has
not confined his attention to the raising of live stock and in
this as in all departments of the farm he has shown a judgment
and skill that have steadily increased the annual income from the
place and added to its value. He is a director and stockholder of
The Merchant Savings Bank of New Albin and a stockholder in the
Crystal Creamery of Eitzen, Minnesota.
In 1879 Mr. Wuennecke married Miss Margaret Gade, who was born in
Germany in 1860. She came to America with her parents in 1872 and
they settled in Iowa, later moving to Minnesota, where the father
and mother passed away. Of the children bore to their union three
are still living, as follows: Mrs. Katherine Hyndman, of Union
City township; George, a resident of Dakota; and Margaret, the
wife of our subject. Mr. and Mrs. Wuennecke became the parents of
fourteen children, ten of whom survive: Bertha, who married
Charles Deters, a farmer in Minnesota; Emma, the wife of Richard
Pottratz, also of Minnesota; August and Gustave, twins, the
former of whom resides in Minnesota and the latter in Iowa;
George, who is engaged in farming in South Dakota; and Annie,
Margaret, Dora, John and Hulda, all of whom are at home.
The family are devout members of the Evangelical church.
Mr. Wuennecke gives his political allegiance to the republican
party and is intelligently interested in the growth of the
community, although he never seeks public office. He is one of
the well informed and progressive men of Union City township,
active and enterprising in business, and his intelligently
directed efforts are making the property of which he is the owner
a valuable and productive one.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Diana Diedrich
Return to 1913 biographies index