My Genealogy Hound

CARL HERMAN, a highly-respected and successful general agriculturist located upon section 15, Bertrand Township, Berrien County, is a native of Wurtemberg, Germany, and was born September 24, 1829. The father, John Herman, and the mother, whose maiden name was Scheu, were both born in Germany, and received a limited education in the Government schools. They were of honest but humble parentage, and the father worked as a day-laborer. He and his good wife were the parents of seven sons, of whom Carl is the third in order of birth. The mother died in the land of her birth, and in 1868 the father came to America to make his home with his son Carl, and here died.

Our subject attained to manhood in the Old Country, and was twenty-six years of age when, shortly before emigrating, he was, in 1857, united in marriage with Miss Elizabeth Vetter, a native of Germany, who, in company with her husband, almost immediately sailed for America. They did not tarry long in the East, but were in a brief time located in Berrien County, their first home being in Niles Township. Five years later, in 1862, they removed to a farm purchased by Mr. Herman in Bertrand Township. Three years afterward our subject profitably disposed of this farm, and in 1865 bought the valuable homestead of one hundred acres, where with his family he has since resided. The improvements then on the place consisted mainly of an old house with a dilapidated roof and no floor. During the past twenty- eight years the acreage has been brought up to a high state of cultivation, and a comfortable and attractive residence, commodious barns and out-buildings have made the old farm one of the pleasant homesteads of Bertrand Township.

Mr. and Mrs. Herman have had six children, three daughters and three sons. Charles resides in Nebraska; David also makes his home in that State; Minnie is the wife of Henry Ehninger, a prosperous farmer of Bertrand Township; Lucy is the wife of Washington Gogley, and lives in Indiana; George and Ida are at home. Our subject arrived in the United States with little or no capital, and has with sturdy self-reliance and persistent industry steadily won his way upward to a position of comparative ease and comfort. Practical, and possessing excellent judgment, he has made a success of general farming, and also raises some fine stock. Mr. Herman is a Democrat, and in all matters pertaining to local progress and mutual welfare is a true and liberal American citizen. He is in no sense of the word a politician, but is well posted in national and local affairs.