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OKKE 0. BOOMGARDEN, a successful farmer of section 6, Eldorado township, Benton county, Iowa, was born in Grundy county, Iowa, in Pleasant Valley township, March 9, 1869. He is a son of Okke and Elizabeth (Meister) Boomgarden, both natives of Germany. The father died in 1903, aged seventy-eight years, and the mother died in 1873, aged forty-three years. They were parents of eight children, of whom seven are living, namely: Jacob, of Lyon county, Iowa; Ella, wife of John Krugher, of Lyon county, Iowa; Amelia, wife of Wilken Brower, of Winnebago county, Illinois; Mary, wife of Harm Van Hauen, of Butler county, Iowa; Zike, wife of John Brower, of Winnebago county, Illinois; Martin, of Wright county, Iowa; and Okke 0. Mr. Boomgarden and his wife came from Germany to the United States soon after 1840, and first located in Ogle county, Illinois; in 1856 they came to Iowa and located in Grundy county, where they bought land from the government at a dollar and a quarter an acre. They both died on the farm in Grundy county.
Okke 0. Boomgarden was reared on a farm in Grundy county, Iowa, and attended the public school. When thirteen years of age he began working out by the month, which he continued thirteen years, and he then rented land in Grundy county. He bought eighty acres, and in 1900 moved to the farm where he now lives, consisting of one hundred and forty acres, which his wife received from her parents. He now has a well improved farm, on which he has erected part of the buildings, and he has planted some fine trees around his house. Mr. Boomgarden has a good grade of cattle and hogs, and is an intelligent, enterprising farmer.
In politics Mr. Boomgarden is a Republican, and he is now a director on the school board. He was reared in the German Lutheran church. He was a member of the Modern Woodmen of America of Applington, Iowa, and is also affiliated with Van Home Lodge, No. 249, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having taken all the degrees in the order and also the canton.
On July 25, 1896, Mr. Boomgarden married Minnie, daughter of Jurgen Koopman, of Eldorado township, born June 20, 1875. Her father is mentioned at length elsewhere in this work, in connection with his son, Otto A. Koopman. Mr. Boomgarden and his wife have two children, Elizabeth and Matilda, both at home.
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