Henry Eiffert
Henry Eiffert is the owner of a
valuable landed estate of two hundred acres, eligibly
situated in Giard township and near the little village of
Froelich, and by his energy, stability and good judgment
he has proved himself one of the essentially
representative agriculturists and stock-growers of his
native county. As a farmer and as a public-spirited
citizen he has directed his course with that
discriminating sense of stewardship that betokens
sterling character and that begets unqualified popular
approbation, the while definite success and prosperity
have come as a natural sequel.
Mr. Eiffert is a representative of one of the honored
pioneer families of this county and here was born in
Monona township on the 10th of April, 1859, a son of
Hanscourt and Elizabeth (Hoch) Eiffert, both of whom were
born in Hessen, Germany. Within a comparatively short
time after his immigration to the United States Hanscourt
Eiffert came to Iowa and established his residence in
Cayton county. He was a young man at the time and in the
initial stage of his progress toward the goal of
independence he was employed on the farm of a Mr.
Schneider, in Monona township. Industrious and frugral,
his ambitious purpose caused him carefully to conserve
his earnings until he realized the prime object of this
ambition and was enabled to purchase a farm of his own,
in Monona township. He developed and improved this land
into one of the productive and valuable farms of that
township and there continued his successful activities as
an agriculturist until his death, which occurred February
12, 1887, when he was in the prime of his useful manhood.
His venerable widow now resides in the village of Monona,
both having early become members of the religious
organization known as the Evangelical association, and
he, as a loyal citizen of his adopted country, having
allied himself staunchly with the Republican party. Of
the two children the subject of this review is the elder,
and the younger son, Emil, is deceased.
Henry Eiffert was reared to manhood on the old homestead
farm which was the place of his nativity and in the
meanwhile he did not neglect to avail himself fully of
the advantages afforded in the local schools. He was
about twenty-eight years of age at the time of his
father's death and the management of the home farm then
devolved upon him, though he profited much by the wise
counsel and earnest co-operation of his widowed mother.
When thirty-three years of age he purchased his mother's
interest in the farm, to the operation of which he
thereafter devoted himself for some years, at the
expiration of which he sold the property and purchased
one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm, to the
area of which he later added by the purchase of a
contiguous tract of forty acres, so that his fine domain
now has a total of two hundred acres of the fertile and
valuable land of his native county. He has made many
admirable improvements on his farm, including the
erection of good buildings, and has made it give forth
the unmistakable evidences of thrift and prosperity. He
is discriminating and progressive as an exponent of
diversified agriculture, and has proved specially
successful also in the raising of high-grade live stock,
his farm having high reputation for its full-blooded
black Polled Angus cattle. Mr. Eiffert has at all times
done his part in the furtherance of those things which
have tended to advance the social and material prosperity
of the community, is aligned as a loyal supporter of the
cause of the Republican party and has been signally
immune from office-seeking proclivities, the only public
office which he has consented to assume being that of
school director, of which he was the incumbent several
years. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the
Evangelical church, or Association, at Froelich, and he
has served as a member of its board of trustees.
The marriage of Mr. Eiffert to Miss Elizabeth Ulrich was
solemnized June 3, 1892, and they have three children,
whose names and respective dates of birth are here given:
Blanche, June 7, 1893; Esther, March 6, 1895; and Roy,
July 17, 1898. Mrs. Eiffert was born in Giard township,
this county, on the 11th of February, 1862, and is a
daughter of John and Catherine (Wagner) Ulrich, the
former of whom was born in Germany and the latter in the
State of Indiana. John Ulrich was a boy at the time of
accompanying his parents on their immigration to America.
Upon coming to Clayton county he located in the vicinity
of the village of Watson, and later he purchased a farm
in Monona township. After selling this property he bought
a farm in Giard township, and there he continued his
residence, as one of the sterling citizens and successful
farmers of the county, until his death, which occurred
May 22, 1905, his widow, who was born March 17, 1835,
being now one of the venerable and loved pioneer women of
Clayton county. Of their children the eldest is John, who
is a resident of Clarion, Wright county; George maintains
his home at Garner, Hancock county; James is a resident
of Cedar Falls, Blackhawk county; Mrs. Eiffert was the
fourth child and she is now the only representative of
the immediate family in Clayton county; and Helen died in
childhood.
source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; 106-108
-submitted by S. Ferrall
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