My Genealogy Hound

CARL BLOOM was born in Germany, February 11, 1844. His father, John Bloom, was a common laborer. His mother died when he was quite small and he has little recollection of her.

He came to America in the fall of 1865 and located in Marathon county, Wis., where he hired out and for seven years was engaged in the saw-mills and woods of the neighboring country. He came from there to Harlan county, Nebr., in March, 1871, and was one of the first to locate in the Republican valley. He homesteaded his present place, in section 32 township 2, range 18 west, on which he built a log cabin, 18x24 feet, and in which he lived for fourteen years. The country at the time of his coming was alive with buffalo, elk, deer and antelope, though he, not being a hunter, killed but one buffalo. The first few years, with the exception of the second, his crops, on account of drought and grasshoppers, were almost total failures and in consequence thereof he had a hard time, like many other early settlers, to make a living for himself and family. He occasionally got a job of hauling freight from Kearney, and with this money thus earned and the practice of the most rigid economy, he managed to get along and keep soul and body together. In 1876, on account of his brother’s death, he fell heir to 160 acres of land in the same section as that of his own and has since prospered and purchased additional land until he owns nearly 400 acres, which is finely improved. He has raised and dealt in cattle and horses considerably, and notwithstanding the hardships of his early pioneer life, has amassed considerable of a fortune.

He was married in September, 1870, to Anna Bartell, who is of German descent and was born in Wisconsin in June, 1855. Their happy union has been blessed with the birth of five children as follows — Aurora, born April 29, 1871; Wm., March 4, 1874; Otto, November 20, 1877; Mary, January 16, 1883 and Carl, November 25, 1883. The entire family are members of the Lutheran church. Politically, he is independent.