George was born Gerhard Hahnenkamp in Ostfriesland, Germany on April 3, 1847. He immigrated to Madison County, Illinois, USA about 1870, where he was a dairy farmer for many years. He died near Upper Alton in Madison County, August 2, 1923.
George began his farming career in the US by working as a farmhand, but by 1906 he owned an 80 acre dairy farm in Madison County. While this was not the largest farm in the township, which approached 300 acres in size, it was also not the smallest farm in the township. Many were 40 acres or less. George’s farm and dairy business obviously left him feeling pretty prosperous, judging by some of the purchases he made.
In 1913, George purchased a new “7-passenger automobile”, an event that was also deemed newsworthy for the time. I don’t know what model car he purchased or how much it cost, but I did find an ad that appeared in the Saturday Evening Post on December 12, 1913. It shows Buick models ranging in price from $950 to $1985. According to CPI Inflation Calculator, that equates to $24, 754.79 to $51,724.49 in today’s dollars. Nice car, George!
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