My Genealogy Hound

JOHN ROMANN, a farmer residing on section 4, Degognia Township, Jackson County, where he operates a farm of some eighty-five acres of rich alluvial land, was born in the village of Dachslehren, Canton Zurich, Switzerland, April 7, 1832. He is a son of Rudolph and Elizabeth Romann, also natives of Switzerland, who died in the land of their birth in 1861 and 1870 respectively. His preliminary education was secured in his native village and was later supplemented by a higher course in the polytechnical school of Zurich.

When a youth of seventeen our subject was apprenticed to a cabinet-maker, serving three years, for which his father had to pay. At the close of his apprenticeship he continued to work for his preceptor and another manufacturer as a journeyman for a period of three years, at the expiration of which time he emigrated to America. In the spring of 1853 he was united in marriage with Miss Selina, daughter of Hartman and Annie (Hildebrand) Keller, who was born January 7, 1833.

In the fall of the following year after his marriage, Mr. Romann, together with his young wife and their first-born son, left Switzerland, embarked at Havre for New York and after a voyage of thirty-two days, landed in the New World. After a few days’ rest in New York they proceeded to Cincinnati, remained there about a fortnight and then went to Louisville, where he secured a position and worked at his trade. In that city he remained until the “know-nothing” riots in the summer of 1855.

Thence he went to Cannelton, Perry County, Ind., and found a situation in a cotton factory, remaining there until the spring of 1857. He then again crossed into Kentucky, to Hawesville, opposite Cannelton, and found work in a coal mine, remaining, however, but a few months.

That being the year of the panic, times were very hard, work scarce and money scarcer. Going to St. Louis, Mr. Romann found employment on steamboats; also worked in a sugar refinery and in a pork house. Going up the river on a steamboat he found work in the harvest fields in Iowa and Illinois, around Rock Island. Upon his return to St. Louis he found work still very scarce and crossed the river into Illinois, where, near Nameoki, he secured employment in the potato harvests of Samuel Squires. Securing work among the farmers, our subject removed his family hither, and in the spring of 1864 began farming for himself, working on shares. In 1864 he purchased a team and commenced agricultural pursuits on his own account.

Renting land, Mr. Romann continued farming in Madison County until November of 1888, when he purchased his present estate in Jackson County and removed his family to their new home. Of the original purchase of one hundred and twenty-five acres, about forty have been washed away by the encroachment of the Mississippi. On the farm have been erected a fine two-story residence, two commodious barns and other buildings. From the rich loamy soil Mr. Romann reaps bountiful harvests. Corn, hay, melons and potatoes are the principal crops, and in addition he raises livestock.

Unto the union of Mr. and Mrs. Romann have been born eight children, six sons and two daughters, the latter deceased. The sons are: Walter (who was born in Switzerland), John, Otto, Arnold, Edwin and Louis. They are members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, but as no congregation is near them their affiliation is not so close as it has been heretofore. During their residence in Madison County the family had an exciting experience in a cyclone, March 8, 1871. Their house was demolished, their furniture and clothing blown away and Mr. Romann seriously injured, so much so that he was laid up some six weeks. Every year since solemn services have been held in the church there on the anniversary of the calamity. Three successive years, commencing with 1881, their crops were ruined by floods, and since coming to Jackson County they have twice suffered the same calamity, in 1892 and 1893. The house in which the family first lived had to be moved away owing to the encroachment of the river, forcing the building of their present residence in the spring of 1893.

It will thus be seen that Mr. Romann has had many hardships to encounter and obstacles to overcome. The path to success has not been an easy one to travel, and had it not been for his indomitable pluck he might have despaired of winning the goal. What he is and what he has are due to his efforts in the face of great obstacles, and to the young his life furnishes an example of perseverance well worthy of their emulation. In politics Mr. Romann is a stanch Republican and looks for better times when the party again comes into power. He is now serving as School Trustee for his township. While in Madison County he served as Road Commissioner of Venice Township and also filled the positions of Road Overseer and School Director. In the spring of 1893, during his absence in St. Louis, his party friends nominated him for Justice of the Peace. Desiring to devote his entire time and energies to his farm, he took his sons and a neighbor to vote with him against himself, and was thereby defeated by three votes, much to his own satisfaction.