Creating Fiction from History: 7/27/2022

Frederich Charles Blumenfeldt was born to Frederich and Florence Blumenfeldt, German immigrants who had settled on Makee Ridge in the area of what would become Waukon, Iowa. The town itself would not be incorporated as such for several decades. So Fred, as he was known, born in the fall of 1846, did not technically grow up in Waukon, though he probably knew its environs better than anyone!

Along with the famous Shattuck family, the Blumenfeldts were among the first white settlers who dared venture into this region of the brand new state of Iowa. As such, they happened to have claimed their 360...