Marshall County KS Archives Biographies.....Wittmus, Albert July 18, 1868 - 
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com September 26, 2005, 1:02 am

Author: Emma E. Forter

ALBERT WITTMUS.

    Among the many well-known and successful men of Kansas who were born in
foreign countries and who have later come to the United States, is Albert
Wittmuss, of Balderson township, Marshall county, who was born in Germany on
July 18, 1868, the son of William and Augusta Wittmuss.

    William and Augusta Wittmuss were natives of Germany, where they were
educated, grew up and were later married. For a number of years after their
marriage they continued to live in Germany, where Mr. Wittmuss engaged in
farming. In 1882, when the son, Albert, was fourteen years of age, the parents
decided to come to America. On their arrival in this country they located at
Omaha, Nebraska, where the father worked as a laborer until 1886, when he moved
to a farm west of that city and engaged in farming for some years, after which
he moved to South Dakota, where he now lives.

    Albert Wittmuss received his early educational training in the schools of
Germany, and came with his parents to the United States. When the family located
in Omaha, Albert Wittmuss continued to live at home and remained with his
parents on the farm in Nebraska, until he was twenty-two years of age. In 1890
he came to Kansas, and as he had no money he worked as a farm hand for some time
and then he rented a farm and engaged in farm work for himself and later
purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Balderson township,
which he has developed and improved, and today has one of the ideal farms of the
township. He has made all the improvements and has a splendid eight-room modern
house, a large bank barn, forty-two by forty-four feet, with tool shed, thirty
by fifty feet, and a cattle barn, forty-four by fifty feet. He has his farm in
an excellent state of cultivation and his buildings are kept in the best repair.
As a farmer and stockman he is recognized as one of the most successful in the
district, his cattle and hogs being among the finest in the county.

    In 1893 Albert Wittmuss was united in marriage to Louisa Walker, who was
born in Germany in 1870 and is the daughter of Jacob and Mary (Lutz) Walker. Her
parents were also natives of that country and there resided until 1875, when
they came to the United States. On their arrival in. this country, Mr. and Mrs.
Walker located in Illinois, where they remained for a few years and then moA'ed
to Nebraska, and later were among the early settlers in this part of Kansas.
They are now living at Summerfield.

    Albert Wittmuss and wife are the parents of the following children: Ludwig,
Anna, Hilda and Arnold. The family are active members of the Evangelical
Lutheran church and take much interest in all church work and are prominent
residents of the township in which they live. Mr. Wittmuss is an independent
voter and looks to the men who are to administer the affairs of county and state
rather than to any party. He has always taken a keen interest in local affairs
and has had much to do with the growth and development of the district. He is
one of the stockholders of the Farmer's Elevator Company at Summerfield.

    At the time Albert Wittmuss came to Kansas and when he had purchased his
farm, he and his parents lived in a shanty, twelve by eighteen feet, until a
better house could be built, some ten years later. Those early years were full
of hardships and privations, but, with the sterling qualities of his race, Mr.
Wittmuss has made for himself a place among the substantial and successful men
of the county and is one of the most patriotic Americans in the state of Kansas.


Additional Comments:
Extracted from:

History of Marshall County, Kansas: its people, industries, and institutions
by
Emma E. Forter

Indianapolis, Ind.: B.F. Bowen & Co. (1917)



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