The Nuehring Family of Clayton County, Iowa

John Nuehring is one of the sterling and honored citizens who is specially entitled to specific representation in this history, for he is not only one of the extensive landholders and prosperous and influential farmers of the county, which has been his home from the time of his birth, but is also a schon of one of the very early pioneer families of Clayton county, with whose history the name has been identified for more than seventy years. Mr. Nuehring was born in Jefiferson township, this county, on the 16th of November, 1848, and is a son of William and Mary (Biermann) Nuehring, both natives of the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany. William Nuehring was reared and educated in his native land and was a youth when he severed the home ties and set forth to seek his fortunes in America. He came to this country about the year 1838 and first established his residence in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio. About the year 1843 he came to Clayton county, Iowa, and became one of the pioneer settlers of Jefferson township, where he obtained a tract of wild land and set to himself the task of reclaiming a farm. He proved himself well fortified for the activities and responsibilities of pioneer life, but his life was not spared to enable him to gain the fruition of his earnest labors. He passed to eternal rest about the year 1851, when in the prime of his useful manhood and when his son John, of this review, was a child of about three years. His wife survived him by more than forty years and was summoned to the life eternal about the year 1896, when venerable in age, both having been devout communicants of the Lutheran church. Of their children the first-born was Eliza, who died at the age of 76 years; Mary is the widow of Adam Brown and maintains her home in the city of Columbus, Ohio; William is deceased; John, of this review, was the next in order of birth; Henry is a resident of Guttenburg, this county; and Frederick is deceased. John Nuehring was, as already noted, a mere child at the time of his father's death, but he was reared to manhood under the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm, the while he made good use of the educational opportunities afforded in the schools of the village of Guttenberg, a fine German colony having seen to it in the early days that excellent schools were provided for the youth of the community. Mr, Nuehring as a youth continued his active association with the work and management of the old home farm which was the place of his birth, and finally he purchased the property, his present valuable landed estate, which comprises four hundred acres and constitutes one of the model farms of the county. He still gives his active supervision to the operations of his splendidly improved farm, which is devoted to diversified agriculture and to the raising of high-grade live stock, including the Aberdeen type of cattle. Mr. Nuehring has never wavered in his allegiance to the Republican party, has been loyal and public-spirited as a citizen, has served as school director, and both he and his wife have long been zealous communicants of the Lutheran church at Guttenberg, which is their postoffice address. In April, 1870, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Nuehring to Miss Annistina Ribbie, who was born in Hanover, Germany, on the 18th of September, 1852, and who was a child when her parents, William and Louisa (Luehring) Ribbie came to Clayton county and established their home in Jefferson township. Of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Nuehring the first was Amelia, who died when about 18 years of age; Alvina remains at the parental home; Louisa is the wife of Otto Lake, of Guttenberg; William is a substantial farmer of Jefferson township and is individually mentioned on other pages of this work; and Mary died in childhood.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.

William Nuehring is a schon of the third generation of the Nuehring family in Clayton county and as an ambitious and progressive agriculturist and stock-grower he is effectively upholding the civic and industrial prestige of the honored name which he bears and which has been worthily linked with the history of this county since the early pioneer days. Due record concerning the family history is given on other pages of this compilation, in the sketch of the career of his father, John Nuehring, and it is thus unnecessary to repeat the data in the present article. William Nuehring was born in Jefferson township, this county, on the 16tii of August, 1877, and is a son of John and Annistina (Ribbie) Nuehring, who still reside on their fine landed estate in Jefferson township. William gained his early educational training in the schools of his native township and continued to be associated in the work of his father's farm until he had attained to the age of twenty years, after which he conducted independent farming operations on rented land for eight years. He proved in this connection his versatility and resourcefulness as an exponent of agriculture and live stock industry, and in 1905 he purchased his present admirably improved stock farm, which is eligibly situated in Section 30, Jefferson township, and which comprises two hundred acres of as fine land as is to be found in this favored section of the Hawkeye state. He is giving special attention to the raising of Hereford cattle and approved grades of swine, in connection with his general agricultural

Operations, and his success has been of unequivocal order. He is one of the wide-awake and progressive farmers and loyal and popular citizens of his native township and county, is an active member of the Farmers' Shipping Society and a director of the Clayton County Mutual Insurance Company. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, he has served with marked efficiency and acceptability in the office of township trustee, besides which he has accorded equally effective service as a member of the school board of his district. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Lutheran church at Guttenberg, from which village their attractive home receives service on rural mail route No. 2. On the 18th of February, 1897, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Nuehring to Miss Mathilda Dittmer, who likewise was born and reared in this county and who is a daughter of Gustav and Ricka (Rausch) Dittmer, of Guttenberg. Mr. and Mrs. Nuehring have four children, namely: Verni, Sylvia, Augusta and Mathilda.

As printed in the source¹. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.