Carl Brumm, who, even in his homeland of Württemberg spelled his name with a "C" rather than "K," was born in Sternenfels, Oberamt Maulbronn, Württemberg in about 1816 (though a biography of his son, William, written in 1905 stated it was 1811, I disagree with that date). He grew to manhood on German soil, worked as a freighter hauling provisions and delivering mail between Carlsbad, where he made home as an adult, and Stuttgart. In about 1843 Carl married Julianna Oswalt, and together they had ten children. Their first born was Jacob Brumm, born in about 1844. Next was Philip (between 1845/47), Frederika (about 1848) and William Brumm, born February 12, 1850. Carl Brumm Jr. was born between March and April, 1853 in Württemberg. He emigrated with the family to America and was still listed in the 1856 Iowa census with the family in Des Moines County, but by 1860 he apparently had died.
In October of 1853 Carl and Julianna Brumm, as well as an apparent brother, Daniel, and his family, applied to emigrate from their homeland with the intention of moving to North America. They left in late October or early November from Le Havre (Normandy), France on the ship Heidelberg and arrived six weeks later in New Orleans on December 18, 1853. Carl and Juliana remained in New Orleans until 1854 or possibly 1855 whereupon they traveled north on the Mississippi River (on a barge?) as far as Burlington, Des Moines County, Iowa. Within a year the family of Daniel Brumm, along with an adult male, John, another apparent brother in the family, joined Carl and Julianna and their Brumm family in Burlington. They all showed up in the 1856 Iowa census in Des Moines County under the family name "Broom," which is the phoenetic spelling of the German pronounciation of Brumm.
In America Carl began to use the spelling Charles. He worked as a cooper (barrel maker) in Burlington, rented some farm land, saved his money and by 1870 bought a farm in Benton Township in Des Moines County, north of Burlington. In the meantime, he and Julianna apparently lost their son, Carl Jr., and had more children: John, born about 1856; Margaret, born about 1857; Charles, born sometime between January - February of 1860l; Julia, born about 1862; and Lewis (Louis), born about 1866. William, Philip, John, and two other children (which two this was is presently not known) were alive in 1905.
Charles's farming proceeded well, he became a citizen (applied for U.S. citizenship intent in 1856), voted Democratic, and the farm was improved from the time he purchased it until his death in 1870, whereupon his sons continued to farm there and his mother and her younger children still lived on the farm until they were grown. Julianna died in 1902.
Charles Brumm, a Lutheran, was buried at the Saint Paul Cemetery in Benton Township; Julianna had become a Methodist. She is buried in the Methodist Cemetery in Des Moines County, Iowa.
