I'm a few days late in wishing a "happy birthday" --- his 194th --- to my great-great-grandfather, John G. Redlingshafer. That's John above, late in life, looking a bit like Santa Claus.
Parish records tell us that John was born at 9 p.m. on Friday, May 9th, 1828, in the Bavarian farm village of Heinersdorf and baptized two days later, on the 11th, at the Evangelical Lutheran Parish Church of Langenzenn. Yes, I know that the birth year carved into his tombstone in the Chariton Cemetery is 1827. It's wrong.
John, his parents and all of his siblings save two arrived in the United States during 1848, when he was 20; the brother and sister who did not travel with them had arrived in Pennsylvania some years earlier and were on hand to welcome them.
The little tribute that follows covers the highlights of John's life and was published on the front page of The Chariton Patriot of May 18, 1905. At the time, John had turned the farm in Benton Township over to his son, Greer, and was living in Chariton with his granddaughter, Mary Maxwell, as housekeeper. Here's the report:
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John Redlingshafer passed his seventy-seventh year Tuesday, May 9th. Arrangements had been made to properly observe the anniversary of the birthday of this venerable and excellent citizen but, unfortunately, the excessive rain prevented the attendance of his brother and other relatives from the country.
Mr. Redlingshafer was born in Bavaria, Germany, May 9, 1828. Came to America with his parents in 1848, the family settling in Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he lived about eight years. He was united in marriage with Isabel Greer in 1856 and on April 12, 1857, the young husband and wife came to Iowa, taking up land in Benton township, Lucas county, where they lived continuously 48 years. Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Redlingshafer, two sons and three daughters, four of whom are living. The wife and mother died several years ago.
No community ever had a better citizen than John Redlingshafer. An affectionate husband and father, a good neighbor and prudent businessman, an industrious farmer, he illustrated the christian virtues in providing well for his own household, and in his declining years rests secure upon the result of the wisely handled energies of his vigorous manhood.
He was among the first coming of the pioneers into this now prosperous county, which upon his advent was practically an untamed land. In speaking of the public improvements made since he came, Mr. Redlingshafer said he had paid his share of the taxes to build two courthouses, two poor houses and two jails in Lucas County, and while occasionally visiting the court house to pay taxes he, fortunately, had escaped any personal experience with the two latter institutions.
In talking over the events of the past, Mr. Redlingshafer remarked that when he came, political excitement ran high in Chariton and was still at fever heat, the deep feeling of the Buchanan-Fremont campaign not having subsided, Though James Buchanan had been inaugurated President there was much bitter partisanship which, upon one occasion, found expression in the hanging, in effigy, of Mr. St. John, a prominent citizen and ardent Fremont supporter.
Another interesting item was the fact that Mr. Redlingshafer subscribed for the first issue of the Patriot, founded in 1857 by General John Edwards, and for forty-eight years the paper has been a welcome weekly visitor in his household. May he live many years to enjoy the affectionate regard of his children and the profound respect of a host of friends.
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John did live for several more years, passing at the age of 84 on Feb. 8, 1913, at the home of his daughter and son-in-law, Mary Belle (Redlingshafer) and Daniel Myers, in Benton Township.
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