Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

Paul A. Soeth, who follows farming and stock-raising in Grant township, Buena Vista county, is a native son of the state, born in Dubuque county, September 1,. 1869, of the marriage of Marx and Anna C. (Shroder) Soeth, both of whom were natives of Germany, the former born January 3, 1832.  When a young man of twenty years he emigrated to America and spent one year in Davenport, Iowa.  From that city he went to Clayton county, Iowa, and operated rented land for two years, while the year 1806 witnessed his arrival in Dubuque, where he first engaged in logging, floating logs down the Turkey river.  Later he took a contract to furnish cordwood for fuel on the engines of what is now the Iowa division of the Illinois Central Railroad.  He was a witness to the bringing of the first locomotive across the Mississippi river on the ice at Dubuque, forty yoke of oxen being used to perform the task.  For five years Mr. Soeth was employed as clerk in a grocery and then engaged in merchandising on his own account, carrying on the business for five years.  Disposing of his store, he invested in four hundred acres of land near that city and lived thereon for twelve years, or until 1884, when he took up his abode in Buena Vista county, purchasing his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Grant township.  He is numbered among the county's substantial agriculturists, a man deeply interested in the welfare and progress of the community in which he lives.  His wife died December 26, 1900.

The family of Mr. and .Mrs. Marx Soeth numbered three sons and three daughters who are still living, and they also lost one child in infancy.  The living members are:  August W., who resides in Storm Lake; Martin L., a resident of Lincoln township, Buena Vista county; Anna C. the wife of Peter Larson; Christine, the wife of Everett Powell; and Emma, the wife of A. M. Bellows.

The other members of the family:  Paul A. Soeth, whose name heads this sketch, accompanied his parents on their various removals and began his education in the schools of Delaware, Iowa, pursuing his studies there to the age of fifteen years.  After the removal of the family to Grant township he completed his education in the schools of this section, attending to the age of twenty years.  He has made farming his life work and now operates two hundred acres of land in Grant township, his farm being known as Pleasant Home.  He raises the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and each year harvests abundant crops as a reward for the care and labor which he bestows upon the fields.

Mr. Soeth established a home of his own on March 6, 1895 by his marriage to Miss Lilly K. Cole, who was born in Will county. Illinois, but was married in Storm Lake, Iowa.  The home of Mr. and Mrs. Soeth has been blessed with three children, Norah Myrle, Dorothy Priscilla and Thomas Ralph.

Mr. Soeth gives his political support to the republican party, while his fraternal relations are with the .Modern Woodmen and the Odd Fellows.  He is a citizen worthy the admiration and respect which is uniformly given him, for in all his business dealings he is straightforward and honorable.