C. G. NORDMAN, WIOTA.
Born in the present great State of Colorado in 1862, when almost the whole of it was an unpeopled wild, with here and there an adventurous ranchman tending his flocks and herds remote from civilization, and in many another place uncanny mining camps filled with daring argonauts, while at widely scattered points of vantage were cities of tents, in which all the activity of mercantile life bustled with its busy hum; and coming from that far away region to the borders of civilization in this State when he was but a child, then here on the virgin prairie for years wrestling with the obstinate luxuriance of nature -- C. G. Nordman, one of the prosperous and progressive farmers of Franklin township, in Cass county, has had an extensive experience on the frontier and has known all the hardships, dangers and privations of pioneer life. His parents, Frank and Mary (Stoodt) Nordman, were natives of Germany, the father born on April 26, 1827, and the mother on March 27, 1841.
The father emigrated to the United States in 1852, and the mother in the spring of 1847. They first came to Iowa in 1855, and four years later, during the excitement over the discovery of gold in the neighborhood of Pike's Peak, they went with hosts of others to Colorado, where they remained until 1865. They then returned to this State and located on a farm near Wiota, Cass county, which the father tilled until recently, when he retired from active work. The mother died on the farm on November 10, 1898. During his residence in Colorado the father followed blacksmithing and mining. The journey going and coming was made with ox teams, and was long and tedious, and at time every hour was beset with peril from savage Indians and beasts of prey. One son and two daughters were born in the household, all of whom are living, one of the daughters in this county, and the other at Fairbury, Neb. The paternal grandfather was born in Honge-da-Mulhausen, Germany, on December 29, 1799, and died there in 1876.
C. G. Nordman has prospered in farming and is well thought of by his friends and neighbors. He is active in aid of all improvements in his locality, and industriously attentive to all the duties of citizenship. On March 25, 1888, he was united in marriage with Carrie E. Herbert, a native of Iowa born on November 22, 1867. Their union occurred in Atlantic, and they have had nine children, a daughter named Effie dying in infancy and the others living, viz. == Beulah F., Grover C., Hazel A., Leah B., Frank G., Manilla N., Isabel M. and Fred C. Mr Nordman is a life-long Democrat and has filled several township offices with credit.
From "Compendium and History of Cass County, Iowa." Chicago: Henry and Taylor & Co., 1906, pp. 454-455.
