Biographical History of Pottawattmie Co., IA

ERNARD GRESS, a prominent farmer of Pottawattamie County, and the proprietor of the Cottage Home Hotel in Walnut, was born in the Grand Dukedom of Baden, Germany, June 24, 1851, the son of Balthaser S. Gress, a blacksmith of Baden. He was married to Magdalena Kanzler and they had four children: Bernhard, Anna, Frank, and Katie. He was engaged in the Rebellion, and was under the command of Franz Siegel, afterward a distinguished general in our great civil war. In 1860 Mr. Gress brought his family, then consisting of a wife and two children, to America, settling in Iowa City. He engaged in farming six miles north of that city, and remained until 1878, when he came to Pottawattamie County, where he still lives, at the age of sixty-four years. He has always been a hard-working and honest man.

Bernhard Gress, the subject of this sketch, was but eight years old when he came with his father to America. In his twenty-third year he came to Pottawattamie County, and began farming in Waveland Township. He sold this farm and bought 240 acres of land in Lincoln Township, which he still owns. In 1889 he moved to Walnut and bought the old Hinkley residence, which he converted into a hotel, the "Cottage Home," and is now running with success and general satisfaction to the public. Mr. Gress has had the confidence of his fellow townsmen, and in Lincoln Township was Assessor for eight years. His farm is one of the best in this part of the county, and has many excellent improvements.

In 1870 he was married to Miss Katie Eichhorn, daughter of Adam Eichhorn, of Johnson County, and a native of Germany. He is now retired, and is living with Mr. Gress. Mr. and Mrs. Gress are the parents of seven children: Frank, George, and Vina. Mr. and Mrs. Gress lost four children in three weeks, by diphtheria, in the winter of 1887.

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