Louis William Schluter. A splendid farm and country estate two miles east of Gifford represents the toil and effort and expenditure of character and industry on the part of the Schluter family covering a long period of years. The present manager of that farm, and one who knows full well how to get the best out of the soil, is Louis William Schluter, a young and progressive farmer whose activities have brought him commendable prominence among the agriculturists of this section. Mr. Schluter’s home is in section 36 of Kerr Township.
He is a native of Champaign County and a son of John William and Gesche (Fecht) Schluter. His parents were both born in Germany but came to America when single and were married in this country. They first located in Adams County, Illinois, and then came to Champaign County. They possessed the sturdy characteristics of the German fatherland, and by energy and economy secured the comforts of their simple home and gradually expanded their holdings to the possession of a very splendid estate. For a long time John W. Schluter worked for wages of $13 a month. There came a time when he was able to buy his first land, and he gradually accumulated more until his estate consisted of 480 broad acres, improved with excellent buildings, shade trees, and altogether constituting one of the most attractive farms in Champaign County. He and his good wife had a large family of children, one of whom died in infancy, another at six years, while Martin passed away at nineteen. The surviving children are John, Harm, Catherine, Anna, Louis and Antje.
The parents did much for the education and training of these children, sending them to the Pleasant Valley school and also to the German school at Flatville. The family were for many years members of the German church at Flatville, but at present all of them attend the German Lutheran Church at Gifford.
Louis W. Schluter grew up on the home farm and learned lessons of industry from his parents, acquiring the fundamentals of a literary training in the local schools. In 1913 he married Miss Annie Sjoken. Mrs. Schluter was born in Germany, daughter of John and Margaret Sjoken, natives of the same country. When she was twelve years of age the family immigrated to America. She was educated partly in the schools of Germany and partly in Champaign County.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Schluter located on his father’s estate and he assumed active management and has made good as a crop raiser and general farmer. Some years he has raised crops of 6,000 bushels of corn and 5,000 bushels of oats and is one of the young men who responded vigorously to the call for increased food production in the year 1917. Besides a large equipment of farm machinery he has some very fine horses.
Mr. and Mrs. Schluter have two bright young children, William, born in July, 1914, and John, born in July, 1916. In politics Mr. Schluter while usually a Republican is quite careful in the matter of casting his vote for the man and the principles he believes best suited for good government and progress. He is a splendid type of American citizen and it is his conviction, based upon experience that no greater country exists in the world for the poor man who is ambitious and willing to work. Mr. Schluter has served as school trustee of Kerr Township. Having stepped into the position vacated by his father and having assumed the large responsibilities of managing the farm, he has neglected none of the rich opportunities thus presented, and has kept up the fields and all the details of the homestead and is a man of mark among the younger agricultural element of Champaign County. Standing by him through all his labors is his good wife, who is endowed with the solid virtues and the methodical industry characteristic of her German forefathers, and they have already gained many of those things which constitute success, while there is still a large future before them.