Although he has retired from active work Henry Repenn continues to reside on the excellent farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Sheridan township, in the cultivation of which he engaged for many years. Mr. Repenn is a native of Germany. He was born on the 15th of September, 1839, son of Claus and Catharine Repenn, who emigrated to the United States in 1853, locating in Clinton county, Iowa, where the father preempted forty acres of land. In 1871 they purchased one hundred and fifty acres of land on section 5, Sheridan township, Poweshiek county, where they continued to reside until they died, the father passing away on the 28th of October, 1900, and the mother on the 15th of March, 1904. They were both natives of Schleswig-Holstein, the father's natal day being the 12th of April, 1816, and the mother's the 29th of September, 1818.
Henry Repenn was a youth of fourteen years of age when his parents came to the United States, so that practically his entire education was acquired in the common schools of the fatherland. He remained under the paternal roof assisting his father in the cultivation of the homestead, one hundred acres of which the latter deeded him in 1877, until after the death of his parents, at which time he purchased from the heirs the remaining fifty acres. His sister and brother-in-law, Mr. and Mrs. Paul Jochims, reside with him and operate the farm.
Mr. Repenn has always been very loyal to the country of his adoption and when the call came for volunteers in '61 he responded, enlisting on the 1st of October, 1861, at Lyons, Clinton county, Iowa, in Company A, Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. The regiment was organized at Keokuk, where they remained until the 19th of March, 1862, when they were ordered to report at Benton Barracks, St. Louis, where they were equipped. From St. Louis they were sent into Tennessee, arriving just in time to participate in the battle of Shiloh. Mr. Repenn was taken sick in June, being compelled to spend several months in the hospital at St. Louis. When released he was sent to join his command in Mississippi but was taken prisoner en route by General Forrest, who was then at Trenton, Tennessee, and taken to Columbus, Kentucky, and later to Benton Barracks, St. Louis, under parole. He was retained in the latter place until September, 1863, when he was permitted to join his regiment at Vicksburg. Before the expiration of his period of service he took part in a number of sharp skirmishes, being mustered out on the 16th of November, 1864, at Chattanooga, Tennessee. Returning home Mr. Repenn again engaged in agricultural pursuits, continuing to be identified with general farming and stock-raising during the remainder of his active career.
Mr. Repenn has never married and has for several years made his home with his sister, Mrs. Jochims. He has three other sisters: Mrs. Anna Davids, of Osmond, Nebraska: Mrs. A. W. Mustapha, of Davenport; and Mrs. George Haferbier, of Jackson county, Iowa. He has always been very successful in his ventures and now owns one of the excellent farms of the county, in addition to which he has a very comfortable competence.
SOURCE: Leonard Fletcher Parker, History of Poweshiek County, Iowa, Volume 2, p. 550-3
