While granddaughter Helen looks on, Eg- 

 gerdlng prepares a policy for the Horse 

 Prairie Mutual Fire Insurance Company. 



Editor's Note: This is the first of a 

 series of articles to further acquaint you 

 with the men who represent you on the 

 Illinois Agricultural Association board 

 of directors. 



'Tt was just an accident that put me 

 •I on the lAA board back in 1937," 

 good-natured August G. Eggerding said 

 with a laugh as he recently reviewed some 

 of the highlights in his colorful career. 

 Eggerding, who represents the 25th 

 district comprising Randolph, Perry, Jack- 

 son, Franklin, Williamson, Union, Alex- 

 ander and Pulaski counties, said the most 

 likely man for the board at the 1937 

 lAA convention was ineligible because 

 he had a government job, so he (Eggerd- 

 ing) was chosen instead. 



But the explanation isn't that simple. 

 Eggerding's career of community service 

 in banking, insurance, agriculture, in- 

 dustry, local government, civic and church 

 affairs prior to his election to the lAA 

 board made him appear to be the logical 

 man for the job. His record since proves 

 it- 

 Family of Pioneers 



The wave of German migration that 

 swept across the Midwest about the mid- 

 dle of the 19th century brought God- 

 fearing, frugal, industrious German farm- 

 ers to Randolph county. Among them 

 was Eggerding's grandfather who settled 

 east of Red Bud where he ripped open 

 the untitled prairie with his plow and 

 built a log cabin. 



Red Bud is still a community of pre- 

 dominant German stock. After three 

 generations you can still detect a slight 

 German inflection in their speech. 



Passing from father to son, the 200- 

 acre Eggerding farm is now being tilled 

 by Wilbert Eggerding, 31, of the fourth 

 generation of the family. 



August is still active around the farm 

 but has left the management to his son, 

 Wilbert. Recently Mr. and Mrs. Eggerd- 



I.A.A. DIRECTOR 



HAS 



AAANY - SIDED 



CAREER 



By Jim Thomson 



Ass't EdHer, lAA RECORD 



ing moved across the road to a new 

 home from the original homestead when 

 he retired. But he can't quite give up 

 operating on his own and still finds 

 time to raise about two dozen pigs on 

 a two-acre tract. 



Eggerding's list of offices reads like 

 a biography from Who's Who. He 

 has been associated with the First Na- 

 tional Bank of Red Bud for 36 years, 

 serving as president for the past 30 years 

 during which the bank's deposits quad- 

 rupled. 



Shaded area on map is 26th congreuienol 



district which August Eggerding reprasents 



en lAA board of directors. 



Retired from full-time job of farming, lAA 



Director August Eggerding raises about two 



dozen pigs which he Is shown feeding. 



He was president of the Horse Prairie 

 Mutual Fire Insurance Company from 

 1918 to 1941 and secretary since then, 

 and is secretary of the Horse Prairie 

 Township District Mutual Tornado In- 

 surance Company after having served as 

 president for 14 years. He helped or- 

 ganize and is president of his rural fire 

 department. 



The town board has been headed by 

 Eggerding for the past 25 years. He 

 was president of the Red Bud Quarr)' 

 Company for 18 years before the or 

 ganization liquidated its holdings, chair- 

 man of rural resettlement in Randolph 

 county for four years, and before coming 

 to the lAA board served /our years as 

 chairman of the local soil conservation 

 board. 



Eggerding is a charter member of the 

 Randolph County Farm Bureau and was 

 on the organizing board of the Ran- 

 dolph County Service Company, serving 

 as president of the board for five years. 



Devoted to Church 



He is deeply devoted to his rural 

 Lutheran church, has been a voting mem- 

 ber since 1904, an elder for a 3 year 

 term, and is a former president of the 

 church congregation. He has served on 

 the national board of support and pen- 

 sions of the Lutheran church. 



The Eggerdings were married in 1904. 

 Mrs. Eggerding is the former Amanda 

 Liefer. They are the parents of three 

 sons and two daughters — Edwin of 

 Red Bud, an oil trudc salesman; Wilbert, 

 who operates the home farm; Mrs. 

 Adelia Wiedman of Waterloo, la., a 

 former school teacher, and Mrs. Dorothy 

 Spier, who lives on a farm in Baldwin. 



A son, Oliver, died in 1938 at the 

 age of 27 of pneumonia two years after 

 he had been ordained a Lutheran min- 

 ister. The Eggerdings also have nine 

 grandchildren. 



Like many Randolph county farmers 

 prior to 1932, Eggerding considered him- 



(Continued on page 23) 



20 



L A. A. RECORD 



