Page "Dwight D. Eisenhower" Paragraph 6

The Eisenhauer ( German for " iron hewer ") family migrated from Karlsbrunn, Germany, to Switzerland in the 17th century due to religious persecution, and a century later came to the United States.

The Eisenhower family settled in York, Pennsylvania, in 1730, and in the 1880s they moved to Kansas.

Accounts vary as to how and when the German name Eisenhauer was changed to a more American spelling of Eisenhower.

Eisenhower's Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors, who were primarily farmers, included Hans Nikolaus Eisenhauer of Karlsbrunn, who migrated to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1741.

Hans ' great-great grandson, David Jacob Eisenhower ( 1863 – 1942 ), was Dwight's father, and was a college-educated engineer, despite his own father Jacob's urging to stay on the family farm.

Eisenhower's mother, Ida Elizabeth Stover, born in Virginia of German Lutheran ancestry, moved to Kansas from Virginia.

She married David on September 23, 1885, in Lecompton, Kansas, on the campus of their alma mater, Lane University.

David owned a general store in Hope, Kansas, but the business failed due to economic conditions and the family became impoverished.

The Eisenhowers then lived in Texas from 1889 until 1892, and later returned to Kansas, with $ 24 to their name at the time ; David worked as a mechanic with a railroad and then with a creamery.

By 1898, the family was self-sustaining with suitable accommodations for their large family.