Henry GERTZ, Germany to Iowa, 1846, s/o Henry Gertz
While I'm not a GERTZ researcher, perhaps this 1891 bio from Pottawattamie County, Iowa, will help some researcher.I'll post the entire bio at the USGenWeb site for Pottawattamie Co., IA:
HENRY P. GERTZ, of Shelby, Iowa, is one of the sturdy German citizens who has shed his blood for his adopted country in the great Civil War.His father, Henry, was a weaver in the village of Abenvale, Holstein, Germany, and served during a period of peace in the army.He married Lena BECK and had five children:Christina, Catharine, Christian, Henry and Lena.He came to America with his family in 1846, from Hamburg, Germany to New Orleans, by a sailing vessel.The first three years in this country, he resided at Quincy, Illinois, working at his trade.He then went to Davenport and became a farmer, owning 298 acres of good land, but he lost his property during the financial troubles of 1859.He died on a farm six miles north of Davenport.His first wife died on the voyage to America and was buried at sea.And about ten years afterward, in America, Mr. GERTZ married Mrs. Hannah SCHROEDER, and Mr. GERTZ, our subject, was brought up by Henry BECK, his grandfather, who came to America at the same time.Mr. GERTZ died at the age of fifty-six years, a member of the Lutheran Church.He was an industrious and honorable man, taking extraordinary care of his children.
Mr. GERTZ, the subject of this sketch, was born in the village of Abenvale, Holstein, November 5, 1840, and was about six years of age when he came to this country, and obtained here a limited education.When Lincoln made his first call for 300,000 men. Mr. GERTZ, then of age, enlisted August 7, 1861, in Company E, 20th Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served through the war, being honorably discharged July 8, 1865, at Mobile Alabama.