Homfeld, BiographyPorter County biographical sketches . . . .
Transcribed biography of Homfeld
THE HOMFELD FAMILY
Henry Homfeld came to Porter County from Germany in 1879 and established a cooper shop in Valparaiso on the present site of the Foster Lumber Company. On January 4, 1880, he married Caroline Jaeske, also an immigrant from Germany. They made their home at 604 Morgan Boulevard, across from the cooper shop. In 1881, he disposed of the cooper shop and purchased a farm in Porter Township where he lived until his death in 1918. As a farmer, he introduced alfalfa to Indiana and became well known for his efforts to promote the new crop. In 1919, Mrs. Homfeld returned to the house on Morgan Boulevard where she lived until her death in 1936.
Henry and Caroline Homfeld had six children: Mathilda, Meta, Herman, Minne, Fred, and Albert. Herman and Albert were Porter County farmers. Mathilda married John Hamann, also a Porter County farmer. Fred married Irene Black and farmed in Lake County. All six of the second generation are now deceased. No one named Homfeld now lives in Porter County, though the third generation is represented in the county by Herman's daughter, Mary Louise Osenga, Mathilda's sons Fred and Louis Hamann, Minne's daughter Martha (Mrs. Roland Hawkins), as well as some of the fourth and fifth generation.
The Homfeld name is carried on by Herman's son Kenneth of Houston, Texas, and his sons Conrad, Kenneth Lee, and Carlton, as well as Albert's son Max of Grosse Pointe, Michigan, and his son Edward.
The most recent family reunion was held in July 1975, at the Lake County farm of Mrs. Fred Homfeld, Fifty-one family members attended.
Source: American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Porter County. 1976. A Biographical History of Porter County, Indiana. Valparaiso, Indiana: American Revolution Bicentennial Committee of Porter County, Inc. 180 p.
Page(s) in Source: 123
This biography has been transcribed exactly as it was originally published in the source. Please note that we do not provide photocopies or digital scans of biographies appearing on this website.
Biography transcribed by Steven R. Shook