Bio of Giem, William (b.1827) Wabasha Co., MN
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Made available to The USGenWeb Archives by: Barbara Timm and Carol Judge
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This bio comes from "HISTORY OF WABASHA COUNTY" 1884.
Check out Barbara's site for more great information on this book:
http://www.rootsweb.com/~mnwabbio/wab1.htm
There are also some pictures and information from descendents for some 
of the bios on her pages.

Giem, William, settled on section 4, Elgin, in the fall of 1856, and has
dwelt there ever since. He endured many privations in those early days to
make himself a home, and now enjoys the reward of his labors in a
comfortable independence. During the winter of 1856-7 he dwelt in a shanty
twelve feet square, with board roof. The snow was so deep that he could
not use a team, and he was forced to get wood on his back. The nearest
market for grain in those days was Winona; but his first wheat crop having
failed, his family was forced to live eighteen months without wheat bread.
Corn-meal and buckwheat flour furnished them with bread. Being without
money to buy with, he had to put up with what he could produce. Potatoes
were plenty, and they lived happily, for they had hopes. William Giem is a
son of John Giem, and was born in Prussia, March 14, 1827. When he was ten
years old, his mother being dead, his father brought him to America, and
settled in Holmes County, Ohio, where William grew up on a farm. He has
always been a farmer, and possessed eighty acres of land in Ohio. He was
married May 27, 1852, to Elizabeth Miller, a native of Ohio. Mrs. Giem
passed away from earth in 1881. She left seven children, resident as
below: Jacob, same section as his father; Esther (Mrs. John Nelson),
Warren, Minnesota; Samuel, Silas, Melissa, Chauncey, and May with their
father. The latter now has a farm of 236 acres, ten of which consists of
timberland in West Albany, and raises both grain and stock. He is a
Methodist in religious faith and a Democrat.