1905 Iowa State Census

I looked for all of my ancestors that could be found in the 1905 Iowa State Census. Some of the information is exactly as I expected it. Some of it confirmed what I believed and some of it sheds light on their lives and some raises more questions.

August Menke is interesting. I knew he came to America when he was about seven years old. What surprises me is that is shows that he had spent 30 years in Iowa but 33 years in America. Where did his family live when he first arrived in America? This is the first time I've seen a hint that he may have lived somewhere else in America before Iowa.



Charles and Minnie Miller show that they had been living in Iowa for 14 years. Their son, my grandfather, Leo, was 9 years old. This means that he was definitely born in Iowa. I wasn't sure about this previously. I had suspected he was born in Chariton County, Missouri before his family moved to Iowa. In addition, Charles Miller's entry shows that he had been in America for 40 years. This means he arrived in about 1865. I know this isn't a primary source for his immigration but it is interesting that this is 8 years prior to when I believed he arrived.

Alois Panther was found living in Sperry, Iowa. It doesn't give an address like many of them do and it lists his occupation as laborer. This is a bit surprising to me as I always thought that Alois was a farmer.

Elizabeth Dunzinger was also found in Sperry, Iowa, as expected. It shows that she was 51 years old, had spent all of those 51 years in America and 49 of them in Iowa. This is the earliest record we have that shows that she came to Iowa when she was two years old. Previously, we had heard that her grandparents brought her to Iowa after the death of her parents when she was two or three years old. This lines up very well with that story. It still doesn't prove it, but it lends more credence to the story.

--Matt