Theodore W. GAULKE

GAULKE, PIGOLPKE, HESS, BUGE, SCHWANTZ, ERICKSON

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 7/28/2013 at 11:30:45

T. W. [Theodore W.] Gaulke, a native of Germany, has become one of the successful agriculturists of Morgan township, where he owns a valuable farm and also serves at the present time as township assessor. He was born May 11, 1864, and is a son of Herman and Wilhelmina (Pigolpke) Gaulke, natives of the fatherland, who came to America about 1867 when our subject was but three years of age. They settled in Wisconsin but after two years came to Franklin county, locating in Morgan township, where the father still lives at the age of seventy-seven years. The mother has passed away. To their union were born seven children: Otto, of Hampton; a daughter who died in infancy; Ernest, of Morgan township; T. W., our subject; Ida, the wife of George A. Hess, of Bird Island, Minnesota; Emma, deceased; and Sarah, of Dows.

T. W. Gaulke received his education in the schools near his father's farm and remained with his parent, assisting him with the farm work until twenty-nine years of age. He then took up farming independently, acquiring title to one hundred and seventy-three acres in Morgan township. He has since added to this property and also owns in partnership with his brother Otto four hundred and eighty acres in North Dakota. For a number of years Mr. Gaulke devoted his attention to his farm, bringing the land to a high state of productivity and installing the most modern machinery. He now rents his property and lives retired at Dows.

On September 13, 1893, Mr. Gaulke married Miss Sarah Buge, a native of Hardin county, this state, and a daughter of William and Caroline (Schwantz) Buge, natives of Germany, who upon coming to this country located in Morgan township. The father died June 22, 1910, and the mother now makes her home in Dows. They had five children: August, a resident of Dows; Frank, of Popejoy; Sarah, wife of the subject of this review; Otto, of Minnesota; and Lucinda, who married E. Erickson, of Oakland township. Mr. and Mrs. Gaulke have seven children, Harry H., Edna Estella, Louis W., Inez Esther, Orville Newton, Leo Theodore and Fay Sylvester.

Mr. Gaulke is a democrat and has been actively interested in politics. He is now serving as township assessor, faithfully fulfilling the duties falling upon him in this official capacity. Fraternally he is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, in which order he is very popular. His religion is that of the Evangelical church. Mr. Gaulke has by diligence and modern methods succeeded in making himself financially independent at a comparatively early age in life and his success is the merited reward of honest labor. He is a man of high character and pleasant manner, and those who call him friend are proud of the distinction of being admitted to his close acquaintance.

History of Franklin County, Iowa by I. L. Stuart. 2 vols. Chicago: S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1914.