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Note: From the book: Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, by Edward S. White, 1915 B.T. Bowen & Co., Indianapolis, IN.
JOHN A. SCHWERY.
Agriculture has always been an honorable occupation, and at the present time the agricultural output of the United States is more than equivalent to the total output of all the factories of the country put together. There is one feature in the life of the farmer which distinguishes it from any other occupation, and that is his ability to exist independently of every other occu-pation. The merchant, the banker and the manufacturer all depend absolutely upon the farmer's crops. A famine throughout this country would bankrupt the strongest merchant, wreck the largest bank and close the most extensive factory. Business men can see their business collapse within a week, but nothing short of an earthquake can ruin the farmer. A panic may sweep the manufacturer out of business over night, but the farmer can survive when every other industry falls. Therefore, the farmer is the backbone of the nation, and he who makes two blades of grass grow where one formerly grew is performing the most useful mission of man. Shelby county farmers are as good tillers of the soil as can be found anywhere in the world, and their history is largely the history of the material advancement of the county. Among Shelby County's many excellent farmers John A. Schwery is de-serving of recognition as one of the progressive agriculturists of Westphalia Township. John A. Schwery, the son of Godfred and Margaret (Jemming) Schwery, was born in LaSa11e County, Illinois, September 10, 1873. His father was a native of Switzerland and his mother of Luxembourg, Germany, and they came to the United States several years before their marriage. Godfred Schwery was educated in Switzerland and after leaving school worked on a farm until he came to this country, at the age of twenty-three. He located in Illinois, and worked as a farm hand for ten years, during which time he married and began to farm for himself. In 1880 he sold the farm which he had previously bought in LaSalle county, Illinois, and brought his family to Shelby county. Iowa, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He farmed this for four or five years and then sold it and bought the farm on which his son, John A., is now living. He remained on this farm until 1901, when he bought a farm near Panama, this county, on which he lived until his death, which occurred February 12, 1914, his wife having died two days previously. Godfred Schwery and wife were the par-ents of five children: Theodore, who married Mary Foxhoven: John A., with whom this narrative deals; Susan, the wife of Joseph Leuschen: Mel-chier, who first married Matilda Schomer, and after her death, Theresa Klein, and Fred, who married Bessie Miller. John A. Schwery finished the course in the public schools at Westphalia, then entered St. Mary's College at St. Mary's, Kansas where he re-mained in attendance for two years. He then returned home and assisted his father on the farm until he was twenty-one years old, when he rented a farm from his father in Washington township on which he lived for three years, after which he rented the farm which he bought in 1907. This farm comprised one hundred and sixty acres and to this he added thirty-five more acres in 1913 giving him a total acreage of one hundred and ninety-five acres. Besides his general farming, Mr. Schwery is engaged in the breeding of high grade stock and the feeding of them for the market. His farming operations have been so uniformly successful as to entitle him to rank among the best farmers of his community. Mr. Schwery was married November 20, 1898, to Mary Schmitz, the daughter of Adam Schmitz and wife. The history of Adam Schmitz, which appears elsewhere in this volume, gives the family history of Mrs. Schwery To this union have been born eight children, seven of whom are single and still living with their parents: Margaret, Joseph, Leo, Arthur, Henry, Urban, deceased; Lydia and Bernetta. The democratic party has always appealed to Mr. Schwery and to it he gives his hearty support at all times. He has served as township assessor.
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