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From: Debbie Clough Gerischer <>
Subject: [IASCOTT] Alfred Christian Mueller, Bio
Date: Fri, 2 Jun 2000 06:39:11 -0700


Posted on: Scott County Biographies
Board URL: http://cgi.rootsweb.com/~genbbs/genbbs.cgi/USA/Ia/ScottBios?read=917

Surname: Mueller, Claussen, Rahbeck, Lischer, Bawden, Ellsworth
-------------------------

"From Vol 2 History of Davenport and Scott County" by Harry E. Downer -
S. J. Clarke Publishing Co 1910 Chicago

Fortunate is the man who has back of him an ancestry honorable and distinguished,
and happy is he if his lines of life are cast in harmony therewith. In
person, in talents and in character Alfred Christian Mueller is a worthy
scion of his race. He is a representative in the maternal line of a family
that has figured conspicuously in connection with the legal history of
Davenport for fifty-seven years, and in his personal connection with the
bar he has demonstrated the possession of those qualities which win success
in law practice - close application, comprehensive study of legal principles
and unfaltering devotion to the interests of his clients.

Mr. Mueller was born in Davenport, June 14, 1875, a son of Christian and
Elfrieda (Claussen) Mueller. The father, for many years a leading lumber
merchant and prominent and beloved citizen of Davenport, is mentioned at
length on another pages of this volume. The mother was a daughter of Hans
Reimer Claussen, who in 1853 was the founder of the present law firm with
which A. C. Mueller is now connected. The business has descended by legacy
or purchase to son and grandson to the present time and the firm has ever
stood as one of the most successful and representative among the practitioners
of the Davenport bar. Hans Reimer Claussen, the founder of the firm, was
born in Schleswig-Holstein, in 1804, and prepared for the practice of law
as a student in the University of Kiel between the years 1824 and 1829.
The following year he was admitted to the bar and entered upon the active
duties of the profession near his old home. In 1834 he opened an office
in Kiel, where he remained in active practice until 1851, when he was exiled
by the King of Denmark, then ruler of Schleswig-Holstein. He served as
a member of the legislature of Holstein from 1840 until 1851 and in 1848-9
was a member of the German parliament, which convened in May of the former
year. For the prominent part which he took in the discussion of governmental
affairs, and because his son Ernest fought in the ranks of the revolutionists
in 1848, the family were exiled. America, the refuge of so many political
exiles from Germany, offered shelter and opportunity to H. R. Claussen,
who, arriving in Davenport in 1851, began the study of the English language
and two years thereafter was admitted to the bar. His son Ernest became
his law partner and the firm soon took rank with the leading representatives
of the legal profession in this city. In 1869 Hans R. Claussen was elected
to the state senate for a four years' term, and his knowledge of the law
enabled him to take active part in the revision of the court in 1873. He
left the impress of his individuality upon the laws enacted during his
connection with the general assembly and also upon the history of the republican
party, aiding largely in shaping its history in this state. In May, 1832,
he married Anna Rahbeck, a daughter of a Danish civil officer and niece
of a celebrated Danish poet. Ernest Claussen, who became his father's law
partner and was an uncle of A. C. Mueller, was born in 1833, spent the
first two years in America in St. Louis and then became a resident of Davenport.
Following his father's retirement from the bar in 1870 he continued in
practice alone until his son Alfred became his associate. Moreover, he
was prominent in connection with municipal affairs and that his fellow
townsmen recognized his devotion to the public welfare is indicated in
the fact that he was for five terms mayor of Davenport.

>From a family of lawyers, therefore, Alfred Christian Mueller was descended
in the maternal line. At the usual age he became a pupil in the public
schools and afterward attended Duncan's Commercial College, while for one
year he was a student in the polytechnic school at Hanover, Germany. His
literary course completed, he took up the study of law and afterward pursued
his reading for one year under the direction of Julius Lischer. He next
entered the law school of the Iowa State University, from which he was
graduated in 1897 and afterward spent one year in the office of Lischer
& Bawden. He next went to New York and pursued a three years' course in
law in Columbia University, from which he was graduated in the class of
1901. Returning to Davenport, he became associated with the Mueller Lumber
Company as auditor, but in 1903 entered actively upon the practice of law
and became the successor of his cousin, Alfred Claussen, thus continuing
the firm which was founded by his grandfather.

On the 21st of January, 1903, Mr. Mueller was married to Lulu May Ellsworth,
a native of New York city and a daughter of Albert Starr and Cora Ellsworth,
who were of English descent. Mr. Mueller takes little active part in politics
but is a member of the school board and is much interested in the cause
of education, recognizing the full value of public instruction as one of
the bulwarks of the nation.

Link: Scott County Page
URL: <http://www.rootsweb.com/~iascott/scott.htm>;

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