1904 - Hugo Beyer, "the Burbank of Iowa"

As an east coast resident who has spent most of my life living in New England events in the 19th century seem "new" to me as I read historical accounts.  Thinking about it, you need to reference the 16th or even 15th centuries before I perk up thinking "OK, that's old!".  
In this age of YouTube and being able to access BBC shows even those dates are loosing their impact; just yesterday I was watching Escape to the Country and the hostess was standing in front of a flour mill which had been there and working for a thousand years!   

Back to my point - businesses in the west are old when you see 1850s for their start date.  Iowa was opened for settlement in 1833!  Another factor I need to remember is that the railroads, necessary to support a bigger business, didn't cross the Mississippi until after 1850.  
One did not come near Mr. Beyer's community until late 1856 when it came as far as New London on its way to California from Chicago.
Hugo Beyer arrived in America in 1854, part of a large wave of German immigrants which had begun earlier in the century.  Most were farmers looking for good land in which to invest their modest savings.  

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This synopsis of his life is from The History of Henry County, Iowa - 1879.

BEYER, HUGO, cultivator of vegetable and flower seeds, S. 10; P. O. New London; born in Prussia March 21, 1830; was brought up there, and came to America in 1854; he came to Iowa and located in this county in 1856, on the place where he now lives, and engaged in cultivating vegetable and flower seeds. 

He is the oldest seedsman in this State, and has built up a large business; he has demand for his seeds throughout this State and Missouri, and as far west as California.
Mr. Beyer is very successful in keeping plants through the winter without fire—a method peculiarly his own, and which keeps the plants nice and fresh and far more healthy than the old way. (To which I say, "So what is that method?!!!) 

He married Miss Bertha Schael, from Prussia, April 16, 1868; they have two children— Herbert and Oswald; they have lost two children—Hugo and Max.

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The Luther Burbank of Iowa

unimproved R. occidentalis
Artist: Helen Sharp, 1907

Hugo Beyer, the veteran seedsman from New London, IA., was hero this week with samples of his “Perpetual Bearing Raspberry.” Mr. Beyer, who will deserve to be remembered as the Luther Burbank of Iowa, has been developing this new and wonderful variety of blackcap raspberry for the past 13 years.

It will interest especially the people of this community to know that Mr. Beyer secured the original stock from Dr. Tom Hell of Wapello, who is supposed to have transferred it from its original wild state. It is what is called a “sport”, an “accident” in the speech of of the unthinking, but what Mr. Beyer calls a “Providence.” 

It remained for him to discover and develop this remarkable new variety of one of the most valuable berries grown. The peculiarity of "Beyer’s Perpetual”,  by which name it is known in the government department at Washington, is that it fruits continuously from the time it begins to bear until frost. 

The cane which he left at the REPUBLICAN office contains fruit in all stages from the blossom to the ripe berry. Thus it bears for two or three months, and at a season when most small fruit is scarce.  The sample given us on the first day of August indicates that this variety fruits later than the ordinary black and red varieties.  Another peculiarity in which it differs from other kinds of raspberries and from the blackberry, is that the fruit is found on this year’s growth of canes, thus insuring against winter killing and injury from rabbits and mice. The roots also strike down deep into the ground, instead of spreading over the surface, thus preventing the injurious effects of drouth. 

It is certainly a gift of providence to the people through the watchful care of a good man, who spent fifty years in the study of fruits and flowers. Hugo Beyer, who is a native of Germany, and a resident of Henry county, Iowa, for over fifty years, is known for his integrity.   This new variety of raspberry has been introduced into thirteen experiment stations in the U S. and has also been sent to the Horticultural Society of London. And the original stock came from Louisa county. 

From the Wapello Republican, Aug. 3, 1904.

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Testimonials are always hard to ignore!  

I wonder where the watercolor is, and who painted it.