Robert Lange

As printed in 1914

ROBERT LANGE.

One of the most prosperous agriculturists of Green Bay township is Robert Lange, whose elegant home is located on section 8. He was born in the township where he still resides on the 4th of October, 1854, and is a son of Herman and Christina (Bettelthon) Lange, who emigrated to the new world in 1851. At that time the family were in very limited circumstances and the father afterward remarked that he hardly knew where his first meal in America was to come from. Success attended his well directed efforts, and he eventually became the owner of several hundred acres of very valuable and productive land in Green Bay township. In connection with its cultivation he also bought and sold cattle to some extent. He held membership in the German Lutheran church and by his ballot supported the men and measures of the democratic party. He served as township trustee for two terms and was honored and respected by all who knew him. He was born December 18, 1820, and passed away more than two decades ago, but his widow, who was born on the 2d of February, 1821, is still living and continues to make her home in this county. Their children were: Paulina, who makes her home with her mother; Ernest, a farmer of Green Bay township; Ernestina; Augusta, the wife of August Schubert; Robert, of this review; Anna, the wife of John Fletcher, of Dover, Iowa; Alice, the wife of John Meisel; and Herman E., whose sketch appears upon another page of this volume.

Reared upon the homestead farm, Robert Lange early gained an excellent knowledge of agricultural pursuits, to which he has devoted his life.* In connection with general farming, however, he has engaged in the threshing business, in baling hay and straw and in feeding cattle for the market. He is today the owner of a fine farm of two hundred and sixty-nine acres near Wever and upon the place has recently completed a fine home at a cost of eight thousand dollars. It is an eight-room residence, supplied with all modern conveniences, including electric lights, for which purpose he has his own electric light and power plant. This plant also pumps the water for his stock and supplies power for the washing machine, cream separator and churn. Upon the place is a barn forty by sixty-two feet, with twenty-foot posts, and it is forty feet from the ground to the able. In this barn twenty head of horses can be accommodated and there is room for one hundred tons of hay, and there are two carriers which can handle two loads of hay at the same time. Mr. Lange keeps on hand twenty-five head of horses and mules, about thirty head of cattle and fifty head of hogs. He and his three sons do all the work upon the farm, and he has run as high as three gang plows and six cultivators at one time. He has upon the place three sets of buildings, two of which he rents.

On the 25th of September, 1887, Mr. Lange was united in marriage to Miss Ellen Mueller, who was born in Burlington, Iowa, November 3, 1863, of German parentage. Her father died while on a visit to the old country, but her mother is still living here. In the Lange family were ten children, of whom Alpha, the seventh in order of birth, died in infancy. The others are: Carl A., Harry F., Caroline, Robert, Herbert, Edna, Nelson, Arthur and Mabel. The two eldest sons are operating a farm of two hundred and forty acres, upon which the family lived until 1913, when Mr. Lange sold the place to the Water Power Company and bought his present farm. He is regarded as one of the most enterprising and progressive farmers of his community and is a man highly esteemed by all who know him.

He has filled all of the chairs in Wever Lodge, No. 552, L O.

As printed in Story of Lee County, Iowa; (1914). See the original pages. Wording is the original; obvious scanning errors have been corrected, and a few may remain.