CHRISTIAN GULDENPFENNIG

Rock Island county is noted for the excellence of its farms, us well as for the public spirit and enterprise of the agriculturists who till them, and one of these successful farmers, an old and honored resident of Zuma township, where he owns a well cultivated tract of 185 acres, is Christian Guldenpfennig. He is a native of Prussia, Germany, and was born July 10, 1836, a son of John Henry Guldenpfennig, who died in the Fatherland.

Christian Guldenpfennig was educated in the schools of his native country, and when he had attained his majority came to the United States, first locating at Hampton, Ill., where during the first winter he was employed at chopping wood. He started farming during the summer months, and after his marriage lived at Zuma Center for one winter, when he rented a farm in Hampton township. Later, in partnership with Louis Reiling, he bought eighty acres of land, and after improving that property sold it to his son, Henry, and in 1880 bought the 185-acre tract which he is now operating. Mr. Guldenpfennig is one of the self- made men of his community. Coming here as a young man. with no means and little knowledge of the language, he has won his way to success through his own industry, and his reputation for strict honesty and integrity has made him highly esteemed by his fellow towns­ men. He is a democrat in political matters, and has served in the capacity of road commissioner. With his family, he attends the Lutheran church.

In October, 1858, Mr. Guldenpfennig was married to Dorothea Glebe, who was born in Prussia, Germany. a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Saring) Klebe, who came to the United States at the same time as Mr. Guldenpfennig. The following children have been born to this union: Henry; Christian, who is living in Hampton township; August, who is on the old home place; Anna, who is the widow of Emil Saadt, of Rock Island; Emma, who married Irvil Wiley, of South Moline township; Bertha, who married William Frahl, of Zuma township; Clara, who married Christian Den­hardt, of Hampton township; Dora, who mar­ried Gustaf Miller, of Zuma township; Lillian, who married Frank Wiley, keeper of the Rock Island county poor farm; Minnie, who married William Miller, of South Dakota ; and Ida, who married William glebe, of Seward county, Nebr. The mother of the foregoing children died in October, 1880.