PRIEM, William
PRIEM, GOLDSPOHN, THOMPSON, CAWELTI
Posted By: Gordon Felland (email)
Date: 1/30/2011 at 21:39:29
William Priem is a respected and valued citizen of Mitchell county now living retired in St. Ansgar. For many years he was actively identified with agricultural interests and carefully and systematically directed his labors, with the result that he has become one of the substantial citizens of the county, possessing a handsome competence which enables him to rest from further labors and enjoy the fruits of his former toil.
He is a native of Pomerania, Germany, his birth having occurred in that province on the 13th of November, 1845. He was a youth of fourteen years when he crossed the Atlantic to America in 1860 in company with his parents, Carl and Charlotte Priem. Carl Priem was born in Germany, April 8, 1815, and upon coming to America in 1860 joined the Lutheran Evangelical church in Wisconsin and was an earnest and most devoted member of the same until his death, which occurred April 4, 1885, when he was nearly seventy years of age. His wife was also born in Germany, in 1808. She lived to be eighty-one years of age, passing away on November 27, 1889, after a severe illness and great suffering, the immediate cause of her death being attributed to the effects of cancer. The family home was established in Columbia county, Wisconsin, where they lived for seven years, and in 1868 they again started westward, with Mitchell county, Iowa, as their destination. They took up their abode in Newburg township, securing a tract of one section and forty acres of land, which was divided between the brothers and upon which E. W. Priem, a son of William Priem, now resides.
The parents, Mr. and Mrs. Carl Priem, continued to make their home upon that place throughout their remaining days and the family became actively identified with the early development and progress of the county, especially along agricultural lines, Mr. Priem at one time owning over a section of land.
William Priem was a young man of twenty-three years at the time of the removal of the family to Iowa and he became an active factor in the development and cultivation of the home farm, upon which he lived for many years, increasing his holdings from time to time by the purchase of many acres.
He improved his farm with the best buildings and added all of the accessories and conveniences of a model farm. Everything about the place indicated his careful supervision and his practical and progressive methods and he left undone nothing that would contribute to the further development of his property.
On the 15th of June, 1871, Mr. Priem was united in marriage to Miss Mary Goldspohn, who was born in Dane county, Wisconsin, April 9, 1853, a daughter of William and Friedericka Goldspohn, who were natives of Germany and were of a very prominent family of Wisconsin. To Mr. and Mrs. Priem were born six children: Albert, who is living in Seattle, Washington, where he is engaged in business as a lumber merchant; E. W., who occupies the old homestead and is one of the prominent young farmers of Mitchell county; Harry, who was graduated with the M. D. degree from the Northwestern University of Chicago, where he is now engaged in the practice of his profession; Minnie, the wife of C. Thompson; Louise, deceased, who was the wife of Carl Cawelti; and Marie V., who died in infancy.
Aside from his farming interests, William Priem became an active factor in promoting business progress in St. Ansgar and his section of the state. He aided in organizing the first cooperative creamery company in St. Ansgar and in building the creamery plant. He also became a stockholder of the Cooperative Lumber & Grain Company of St. Ansgar at its organization. He was interested in everything that tended to promote the business development and progress of the community and to advance the interests of the farmers. He was also connected with many enterprises having to do with the public good.
He assisted in building the German Lutheran church at St. Ansgar and he was one of the organizers of the first rural school and served as a member of the board of education, acting as chairman of the board or as a director for many years. His political faith is that of the republican party, of which he has been a stalwart supporter since becoming a naturalized American citizen. He has ever been actuated by a spirit of progress and improvement in all that he has undertaken, and his labors have resulted beneficially to the community in which he lives. All who know him—and he has a wide acquaintance—entertain for him warm regard and recognize in him a citizen whose work has been of great worth to the community. After long identification with agricultural interests he put aside further business cares to enjoy a rest which he has truly earned and richly merits, and he is now living retired in St. Ansgar, where he has made his home since 1913. His activities have ever been intelligently directed and his success is the direct and legitimate outcome of his own labors.
Source: History of Mitchell and Worth Counties, Iowa, 1918, Vol. II, pages 378 & 381.
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Photo of Mr. and Mrs. Priem, from the same book as the bio above. See additional photos in Mitchell county/IAGenWeb Photos pages.
Mitchell Biographies maintained by Sharyl Ferrall.
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