Among the worthy citizens that Germany has furnished to Pottawattamie County is numbered Claus Kuhr, a resident of Lincoln Township. His birth occurred in the fatherland, February 20, 1844, his parents being Henry and Wiebke Kuhr, who were natives of Germany, where they spent their entire lives. Their family numbered seven children, of whom four are yet living: Henry, still a resident of Germany; Claus; Frank of Germany; and Hans, who is living in Mitchell, South Dakota.

Claus Kuhr spent the first twenty-two years of his life in the land of his nativity, where he acquired a fair public-school education. The favorable reports which reached him concerning America and its opportunities led him to seek a home in the new world, and crossing the Atlantic to the United States, he located first at Davenport, Iowa, in 1866. In the vicinity of that city he worked as a farm hand for three years and then removed to Benton County, Iowa, where he was employed for four years, working on a farm by month. In 1873 he arrived in Pottawattamie County, and with the capital he had acquired through his industry and economy he bought a farm in Shelby County, just across the county line, which he at once began to cultivate and improve, living thereon until 1888. He then took up his abode in Pottawattamie County, where he purchased two hundred and eighty acres of land, to which he afterward added one hundred and sixty acres, so that he is now the owner of a large and valuable farm property of four hundred and forty acres, all in Lincoln Township. The soil is rich and productive and his labors have resulted in bringing forth good crops. Everything about his place is kept in excellent condition, the fences and buildings being in a good state of repair, and in addition to this property he owns a fine residence in the village of Walnut. In his farming operations he has made a specialty of raising and feeding stock and this branch of his business has contributed in substantial measure to his income.

On the 20th of February, 1880, Mr. Kuhr was married to Miss Lizzie Aulerich, who was born in Germany and in her girlhood days was brought to America by her parents, both of whom died in Pottawattamie County. Mrs. Kuhr was one of a family of four children and by her marriage has become the mother of eight children, of whom seven are yet living, namely: Henry, at home; Emma, the wife of Earnest Kahl of Lincoln Township; Fred, Anna, Bernard, Otto and Emiel, all yet under the parental roof.

The parents are members of the Germany Lutheran Church and are greatly esteemed in the community where they reside, having made many friends during the years of their residence here. In his political views Mr. Kuhr has been a Democrat since becoming a naturalized American citizen. For ten years he has served as school director and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion. His business career has been characterized by progress in successive stages. He has utilized his opportunities to the best advantage, and each forward step has brought him a broader outlook. Though he started out in life with very limited capital he is now the possessor of valuable farming and other realty interests, which are the visible evidence of his thrift and energy intelligently applied.