M.F. Kohl

KOHL, BLESSING, YESSLER, MADDEN

Posted By: Emmet County IAGenWeb Coordinator (email)
Date: 2/21/2011 at 16:05:51

Since 1904 M. F. Kohl has engaged in farming on section 8, Denmark township, and is recognized as one of the leading agriculturists of his locality. He was born in Linn county, Iowa, in the vicinity of Lisbon, on the 15th of January, 1863. His parents, Simon and Catharine (Blessing) Kohl, were born respectively in Berks and Dauphin counties, Pennsylvania, and their children were eight in number, M. F. Kohl being the sixth in order of birth. The mother's natal day was March 8, 1827, and in 1845 she married Joseph Keller, by whom she had two children, both of whom died in infancy. She and her husband joined a party of emigrants bound for Iowa and embarked on the ill-fated steamer Belle of the West. The vessel was burned near Warsaw, Kentucky, and Mr. Keller with fourteen others perished, but Mrs. Keller was rescued from the water. She lost all her effects but was cared for by the other survivors and at length reached Iowa, where the party founded the town of Lisbon. In 1851 she was married to Simon Kohl. She reached the age of seventy-one years, dying on the 30th of October, 1898. Mr. Kohl was born on the 3d of July, 1827, and lived to an advanced age as his death occurred on the 31st of December, 1912. He was an active member of the United Brethren church and in his daily life exemplified the teachings of Christianity. Five of his eight children survive: Mrs. Lavina Koch, of Hampton, Iowa; M. F.; Albert, a resident of Cedar Rapids; Mrs. Elizabeth Walmer, of Lisbon; and Mrs. Barbara Andre, of Mechanicsville.

M. F. Kohl received his education in the common schools and devoted his time and energy to farming rented land until he was twenty-eight years old, when he bought a farm in Cedar county. After operating that place for nine years he sold it and cultivated rented farms for three years, but in 1903 came to Denmark township and erected buildings upon the north half of the northwest quarter of section 8, which he had purchased, and in the spring of 1904 took up his residence upon the farm. He is there engaged in grain and stock raising and his familiarity with agricultural work and his enterprise are important factors in his success.

In 1892 occurred the marriage of Mr. Kohl and Miss Ida A. Yessler, a daughter of Henry and Mary Yessler, residents of Linn county. Two children have been born to this union, namely: Alma, who married Joseph Madden, of Swan Lake township; and Alta, the wife of George Madden, also of Swan Lake township.

Mr. Kohl supports the republican party at the polls and is faithful in the discharge of all his duties as a citizen but has never been an office seeker. He has, however, served as school director and his interest in the forces that make for advancement is also manifest in the fact that he is a trustee of the Presbyterian church at Halfa. He is a self-made man and is entitled to all the credit which that term carries with it, implying as it does determination, sound judgment and industry.

Source: History of Emmet County and Dickinson County Iowa: A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement, The Pioneer Publishing Company, Chicago, Illinois, 1917.