A history of Tennessee and Tennesseans, Volume 5
By Will Thomas Hale, Dixon Lanier Merritt
The Lewis Publishing Co., Chicago and New York; 1913

Pages 1435-1436, Herman Deitzel, Jr.

Scientific agriculture is no longer a highsounding phrase, and farming, formerly an occupation in which the surplus sons of the old-time large families engaged as their natural and only means of livelihood, has been brought to the front as one of the professions and one that demands careful preparation and that returns sure and generous compensation. Each year witnesses remarkable progress along this line and to understand this aroused and continued interest, the work carried on by the progressive and enterprising agriculturists must be considered. Among the farmers of this class found in Obion county, none have achieved better results than Herman Deitzel, Jr., whose valuable property of 380 acres of land, situated near Union City, has been brought up to the highest state of cultivation. Mr. Deitzel, although still a young man, has risen to a high place in his chosen calling, and his career has been marked by steady advancement and constant industry since early youth. He was born in Union City, Tennessee, in 1883, and is a son of Herman and Josephine (Cloys) Deitzel. His father, a native of Germany, emigrated to the United States in 1869, and in the following year came to Tennessee, where he spent the rest of his life in various pursuits, principally the hardware business, and became a successful man. He and his wife were the parents of ten children, of whom seven are still living, and Herman is the second in order of birth.

Herman Deitzel, Jr., was reared and educated in his native city, and what time he could spare from his studies he spent in working in his father’s store, thus demonstrating an industrious spirit at the age of ten years. Ambitious and thrifty, he carefully saved his earnings, having decided to become a farmer, and on reaching his majority he invested his capital in a tract of land near Union City. He at once engaged in agricultural pursuits, and as the years have passed he has added to his land from time to time, now having 380 acres in the highest productive state. Mr. Deitzel has not devoted his entire time to general farming, as stock raising and dairying have also held a part of his attention. His crops consist of corn, wheat, oats, clover, timothy and alfalfa, and in 1912 he devoted twenty acres to tomatoes. In his fine herd of Jerseys are to be found some of the best cattle in the state, and these animals always bring top-notch prices in the markets. His dairy herd consists of thirteen animals, and he also carries about twenty-five head of young stock, from which to draw and also to supply the home market. His breed of hogs are of a strain of superior quality, and well adapted for speedy growth and quick returns. Models of neatness, Mr. Deitzel ‘s farm buildings are in a first-class sanitary condition, are well ventilated and lighted with electricity, while his residence is modern in architecture and equipped with up-to-date conveniences. Modern machinery is used throughout the premises, and the entire property gives eloquent evidence of the presence of ability, thrift and good management. Some there are who regard the tiller of the soil as one whose vocation is deserving of but little consideration. There can be no more erroneous idea. To the farms must the nation look for its sustenance, and to those agriculturists of Mr. Deitzel’s class it owes a debt of gratitude. Also from the farm have come some of the most public-spirited of any community’s citizens, ready to support movements calculated to advance their localities and giving their time and means in the cause of education and morality. Mr. Deitzel belongs to this class, and has so conducted himself that he has the entire respect of his neighbors and fellow-citizens.

On October 12, 1909, Mr. Deitzel was married to Miss Ella Harris, daughter of Anselmo Harris, of Obion county.