Henry Merschbrock was born on October 4, 1881 in St Paul, Iowa. Henry married Elizabeth Wellman, Walt’s 1st cousin twice removed.

Henry Merschbrock was born October 4, 1881 to Edward and Elizabeth Umthum Merschbrock in St. Paul, Lee County, Iowa. He was the oldest of 8 children born to the couple. They were farmers in Marion Township. Edward died in February of 1900, leaving Elizabeth and her children to run the family farm. In the 19oo census, taken in June, Edward’s father is living with the family on the farm and working as a shoemaker.

On October 17, 1905, Henry married Elizabeth Wellman in St. Mary’s Catholic Church in West Point, Iowa. Elizabeth is the daughter of Herman and Mary Brinker Wellman. Herman is Walt’s 2x great uncle.

Elizabeth and Henry. I don’t have a date for this picture, but would guess sometime in the late 1920s or early 1930s.

Henry and Elizabeth rented a farm in Franklin Township of Lee County. By the 1910 census, they had two children and a third on the way. They had 5 children altogether. I found draft cards for both World War I and World War II.

Henry and Elizabeth continued to live on the farm for more than 35 years. Henry Merschbrock died on April 13, 1947 in West Point, Iowa. He is buried in Calvary Cemetery.

I haven’t written much about the Merschbrocks yet. I have written about a couple of Elizabeth Wellman’s siblings in this post and this post.