HENRY NIEMANN.
Wherever members of the German race have settled in the agricultural sections of the Middle West, we find that they have been uniformly successful, and it is only natural to find that certain individuals achieve greater success than others. Henry Niemann, of Center township, Atchison county, is an American citizen of German birth, who came to this country a poor emigrant lad, and has made a wonderful success since he purchased his first eighty acre tract in this county, nearly forty years ago. He is now one of the largest landed proprietors of the county, and one of the best known stockmen of northeast Kansas.
Henry Niemann was born February 14, 1853, in Minden, Germany, a son of Christian and Mary (Krouse) Niemann, who lived and died in the Fatherland. They were the parents of seven children as follows: Crist, deceased; Henry, whom this review directly concerns; Fred, a farmer of Center township; Mrs. Christena Krouse, deceased; Charles, a farmer of Atchison county; William, living in Germany, and Augustav, deceased. Henry was educated in the schools of his native land and at the age of eighteen years left the Fatherland and immigrated to America in search of his fortune, which he was eventually to find in Kansas. He first settled in Madison county, Illinois, and worked there as a farm hand for five years. He saved his money carefully while working on the farms of Illinois, and in 1876 came to Kansas and invested in a tract of eighty acres of land in Center township. He erected a small two-room cabin on his land and a barn to house his team of horses. He broke his land gradually and at first was able to farm only a small portion of it. The neighbors tried to discourage him by telling him that the strong winds might wreck his home at any time and advised him to find a better and safer location. He failed to find a place which suited him as well as his first choice, and although he has lived for forty years on the farm his buildings have never yet been blown away by the Kansas zephyrs. Mr. Niemann has prospered as he deserved and by the exercise of economy, hard work and good financial judgment, has become the owner of 615 acres of land in several farms, all of which are well improved and highly productive. Mr. Niemann is an extensive feeder of hogs and raises large numbers annually for the market. He believes in feeding the grain products of his farm to live stock on the place and thus reaps greater benefits than the ordinary methods of farming would yield. He is a stockholder in a prosperous mercantile concern at Nortonville, Kan.
Mr. Niemann was married in 1897 to Louise Frommer, and to this marriage have been born ten children, namely: Mrs. Mary Dietrich, a widow, who lives with her parents; Rosa, widow of George Moeck, also living with her parents; Christena, deceased; Dena, deceased; William, a farmer living in Center township; Mrs. Dora Dietrich, deceased; Harry, Henry and Julius, living at home, and Mrs. Lillie Poos, Nortonville, Kan. The mother of these children was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, in 1858, a daughter of John and Kathrine (Markley) Frommer, natives of Germany, who were early settlers of Atchison county.
Mr. Niemann is an independent Republican voter, who refuses to wear the collar of any one set of political bosses, and votes as his judgment indicates. He and his family are members of the German Lutheran church. Henry Niemann is a fine type of successful German-American farmer and is a tiller of the soil first and last; he lays claim to no ambition beyond tilling his broad acres and making his land yield the maximum of sustenance for man and beast; his great success lays in the fact that he has confined his energies to the soil and its cultivation and he has managed to get a good slice of the best land obtainable.