Guentzel Family Farms

We are very proud of our heritage here at Jon Guentzel

Family Farms. Our Base of operations is still within 3 miles of

where Jon’s great great great grandfather Gottfried Guentzel

settled nearly 150 years ago. We are still farming some of the

same soil that has been worked by 5 generations starting with

Gottfried’s oldest son, Frederick. This soil has been worked by

the Guentzel family for nearly 120 years. This is a testament

to the hard work and dedication that the previous generations

have put forth towards the farming endeavor. At Jon Guentzel

Family Farms we intend to continue that tradition of hard

work and dedication as our ancestors have done.

Gottfried Guentzel and his wife Katharina were farmi ng in

Saxony, Germany until 1855. More than likely they only had a

2-3 acre plot as was common during that time. At the age of

30, Gottfried, Katharina and their two children Frederick and

Henry decided to pursue a new life in the Americas. The five of

them arrived in New York in May of 1855. After passing

through immigration at Castle Gardens they traveled to Milwaukee,

WI.  They stayed in Wisconsin for nearly 10 years, farming

and raising a family. The family had now grown to seven

children after the births of Friedlin, Caroline, Constantine, Alvin,

and Albert.

In May of 1867 Gottfried Guentzel bought a sixty

acre farm that was originally homesteaded by a Daniel Miller

for the sum of one thousand dollars. Now permanently settled

in Lime township, Blue Earth County the family continued to

grow. With the births of Charles, Herman, Sophia, and

John they numbered eleven children for a family of thirteen.

Almost every child of Gottfried Guentzel settled and farmed

within a five mile radius of the original Guentzel homestead.

Frederick, his oldest son, bought his first farm about 1877 after

marrying Caroline Duemland, also of German ancestry. In

1895 he bought an additional 40 acres south of his farmsite.

This plot eventually was owned by Frederick’s son, Edward

Guentzel. Later,Norman Guentzel, Jon’s grandfather owned

this farm. Frederick’s youngest daughter, Hattie, married

Martin Wandersee and she moved to a farm less than one mile

northeast of the original Frederick Guentzel homeplace. This

farm is currently where our base of operations is located.

Hattie’s 100+ years old house was lived in by Jon’s parents and

his siblings until 1996 when they built a new house where the

old one stood. The old barn, windmill and some outbuildings

are still being used in our farm operation. Jon now lives on

this farmsite where he grew up.

After nearly 150 years Jon Guentzel Family Farms is still within

3 miles of the original Gottfried Guentzel pioneer farm.