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REV. GUSTAV EDWARD BLESSIN

"Fayette county has been the home and the scene of labor of many men who have not only led lives which should serve as a lesson and inspiration to those who follow them on the stage of life's activities, but who have also been of inestimable service through important avenues of usefulness in various lines.

The honored and highly esteemed pastor of the Lutheran church at Eldorado, the Rev. Gustav Edward Blessin, is one of those who have labored long and unceasingly for the amelioration of conditions in this county and whose services have been richly crowned. He is known to all classes as a man of well-rounded character, devoted and loyal, so that there are many salient points which render consonant a tribute to his commendable career. He was born on February 1, 1847, in Berlin, Germany, of an excellent old family, and there he attended school until ten years of age; then entered the Cadet school in Potsdam. He was confirmed there in 1861, in the Garrison church. In 1865 he entered the normal school in Drossen, Germany, finished the prescribed course with credit, and then began the study of theology under Loche, Rauer, and I. Deinzer, in the theological school at Neuendettelsan.

Thus well equipped for his high calling, he sought a proper field for the exercise of his talents and where he believed he could accomplish the greatest good as an humble follower of the lowly Nazarene, so he set sail for America, for the purpose of serving in the Lutheran church, in the fall of the year 1871. He became the assistant of the late Rev. I. Hoertein, in Iowa City, Iowa. In the spring of 1872 he followed a call to Crane Creek, Bremer county, Iowa, and he remained there four and one-half years where he did a great work in strengthening the congregation and raising the general moral status of the community and elevating the spiritual tone of the people; this has been his record wherever his lot has been cast. While at Crake Creek he accepted a call from the congregations at Eldorado and Fort Atkinson, in Fayette county, where he is well known, honored and admired by all classes, everybody recognizing his genuine worth and his fidelity to his trust. He says he has worked nearly thirty-four years in sunshine and rain, and that the Lord has guided and provided, and will guide and provide after his promise.

Rev. Blessin is a thoroughly accomplished musician and a teacher of music, renowned for his success and efficiency. He is a thorough scholar, versed in many languages, talented, versatile, a forceful, earnest and eloquent speaker, a deep theologian, a wise but conservative pastor, an excellent church financier and a man who would accomplish great good in any field. He has a beautiful home in Eldorado, and possesses a large and very valuable private library where he delights to spend much of his time perusing the world's best literature, "losing himself in other men's minds," as Charles Lamb wrote. His home life is simple and unpretentious.

The acts of Rev. Blessin, both spiritual and temporal, have met with the united approval of his own people and all others as well, the good he has done being deeply engraved on the hearts of the people whom he has served, and the approval of his own conscience and that of the divine master are all the reward he wishes for his labors in behalf of the church.