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PHILIP LAUER

That the plenitude of satiety is seldom attained in the affairs of life is to be considered a most beneficial deprivation, for where ambition is satisfied and every ultimate end realized, if such be possible, apathy must follow. The men who have pushed forward the wheels of progress have been those to whom satisfaction lied ever in the future, who have labored continuously, always finding in each transition state an incentive for further effort. Mr. Lauer is one whose well directed efforts have gained for him a position of desirable prominence in his community and his energy and enterprise have been crowned by a gratifying measure of success, so that now he is enabled to enjoy a surcease from active labor and live in comfort and ease.

Philip Lauer was born in Germany in 1840 and is a son of Peter and Dora (Beal) Lauer, both of whom were natives and lifelong residents of the Fatherland. Philip was reared to the years of youth by his parents and attended the splendid schools of his native land. At the early age of fifteen years he came alone to the United States and first located in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, where he learned and followed the trade of a carpenter. In 1860 he came to Iowa, locating in Winneshiek county, where he acquired a tract of two hundred and forty-seven acres, to the cultivation of which he devoted himself. He made many improvements and gave much attention to the raising of cattle and hogs. He remained there until 1898, when he bought two hundred and thirty-five acres of fine land lying north of Eldorado, Fayette county, to which he moved the following year, and this has been his home since. He has here followed a general line of farming and stock raising and his efforts were rewarded with marked success. He also owns another tract of twenty acres which he had bought before leaving Winneshiek county. He has looked carefully after the material welfare of his children and has bought and given to his sons tracts of one hundred and sixty, and one hundred and thirty-eight and one hundred and three acres respectively. During the past few years he has practically retired from active labor.

In 1862 Mr. Lauer was united in marriage to Gosen Kaster, whose death occurred in January, 1910. They became the parents of twelve children, namely: Henry, Charles, Philip H., John P. (deceased October 16, 1910), William P. Peter, Fritz, Maggie, John and Elizabeth , the last two named also being deceased.

Politically, Mr. Lauer is a stanch Republican, and he has served six years as township trustee and two terms as school director, and while living in Winneshiek county he was trustee for nine years and school director for many years. He is a member of the Lutheran church at Eldorado, being the oldest member of the society and the first person married in it. He has taken a deep interest in the welfare of the community in which he lives and gives an unreserved support to every movement calculated to benefit his fellow man morally, educationally, socially or materially. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Insurance Company, of which he has been treasurer for the past twenty-seven years, much of the success of the company being due to his influence and efforts in its behalf, it being one of the solid and beneficial institutions of the county. Personally, Mr. Lauer is genial and companionable, enjoys wide acquaintance and has a large circle of warm personal friends, who esteem him for his ability and genuine worth.

~transcribed for the Fayette Co IAGenWeb Project by Claudia Hamilton Meyer