Henry Becker

As printed in 1910

HENRY BECKER.

Henry Becker was well known as a representative business man of Scott county. He had the ability to discern opportunities that others passed by heedlessly and his enterprise and laudable ambition prompted him to take advantage of these with the result that as the years passed he won substantial and gratifying success. A native of Prussia, he was born in Solingen about the year 1820 and his youthful days were passed in his native country, where he was an interested witness of that spirit of political prise that was manifested throughout Europe and had its culmination in Germany in the revolution of 1848.

It was in that year that Mr. Becker came to America to enjoy the liberty offered in this land. For four years thereafter he was a resident of St. Louis and then came t6 Scott county, settling in Le Claire, where he remained until his death. In 1858 he returned to Germany and after a short visit at his old home and among the friends of his boyhood and youth he embarked on the steamer Austria for America. When ten days out this steamer took fire and burned to the water's edge. Mr. Becker with over three hundred others jumped overboard. He lost all of his possessions save his money, which was fastened around him in a belt. When he came to the surface he caught hold of a window frame that would help him keep afloat. Later, with two other men, he took hold of a plank, eight feet long, a foot wide and an inch and a half thick. To this the men clung for three and a half hours, at the end of which time they were picked up by the French bark Maurice. On that vessel all of the rescued were taken to the island of Fayal, one of the group of Azores. After remaining there for nine days they were taken aboard the British ship Valorous and brought to the United States. It was an experience which Mr. Becker never forgot.

Following the establishment of his home in Le Claire he was here married, and at his death left a wife and four children. A few years before his demise he retired from active business and was succeeded by his two sons. He was preeminently a business man, loyal, energetic and determined. At the time of the war he foresaw the rise in values and, taking advantage of the same, won wealth by dealing in whiskey and cotton goods. In all of his business undertakings he manifested the keenest discernment, a quality which is too often lacking and leads to failure. In matters of business judgment, however, he was always sound and reliable and won substantial success, enabling him to leave his family in very comfortable financial circumstances. Following his demise Mrs. Becker retained her residence in Le Claire but the daughter. Miss Hilda Becker, has now made her home in Davenport for some time and has a wide circle of acquaintances here.

As printed in History of Davenport and Scott County Iowa : Illustrated (1910). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.