My Genealogy Hound

J. J. Pettinger, the appearance of whose farm indicates careful methods of husbandry and the thrifty spirit of the German ancestry, has since 1901 lived upon his present place on section 35, Grant township. He was born in Luxemburg, May 10, 1868, and is a brother of Prosper Pettinger, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Each has made a success of American farming, and, residents of this country from early manhood, are self-made men, whose record is most creditable. Their father, John Pettinger, is mentioned elsewhere in this volume in connection with the history of Prosper Pettinger.

In the land of his nativity J. J. Pettinger was reared and received instruction in German and French but his knowledge of English has all been acquired since he came to the United States. He remained in the father land until twenty-one years of age, when, attracted by the opportunities and advantages of the new world, he crossed the Atlantic in 1889, sailing from Antwerp on the steamer Waesland of the Red Star line to New York. He did not tarry in the east, however, but made his way direct to Cass county, Iowa, led to this step by the fact that he had relatives there. As his capital was very limited, rendering immediate employment a necessity, he sought and secured a position as a farm hand and was thus employed for three years. He then rented land, which he cultivated for seven years, during which time he carefully saved his earnings, his industry and economy at length bringing him sufficient capital to enable him to purchase two hundred acres of good farm land about a mile from Shannon City, upon his arrival in Union county. The farm is today valuable and well improved, owing to the care and labor which he has bestowed upon it. He has erected substantial buildings, has put up fences, corn cribs, a barn and wagon shed and in fact has many modern conveniences and equipments on his place which indicate his progressive spirit and stalwart determination. He has been raising registered shorthorn cattle for five years and feeds about a carload of cattle each year. He also raises and feeds about a carload of Poland China hogs annually and is raising Norman Percheron horses, keeping a thoroughbred stallion. His business interests are carefully conducted and his persistency of purpose and straightforward dealing have ever been elements in his success.

Mr. Pettinger was married January 30, 1894, to Miss Margaret Schneider, also a native of Luxemburg, and to them were born eight children but three have now passed away: Margaret, who died at the age of five years; Michael, who died at the age of three years; and Anna, who died in infancy. Camillus, Ernest, Albert, Joseph and Margaret are all yet at home.

The parents are communicants of the Catholic church of Shannon City and Mr. Pettinger has given his political allegiance to the republican party since he became a naturalized American citizen, yet does not feel himself bound by party ties and frequently casts an independent local ballot. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America, for here he has found the opportunities he sought and has gained not only a substantial reward for his labor but has also won the confidence and good will of many friends. He is an excellent type of the German-American citizen and has in various ways by his loyalty to his adopted country and her institutions demonstrated the fact that nationality or birth does not determine in this country either in spirit or degree the loftiest patriotism or the truest conception of the American idea of the “common brotherhood of man.”