According to Kathy Henderson ([email protected]), Gottlieb Haas was born in a 300 year-old farmhouse that was originally purchased by his grandfather Johannes Gotz in 1851.

The Haas and Goetz families have lived in and around Burgberg, Baden, Germany for many generations. Burgberg is a small village in the Black Forest region of Germany.
The people in the Burgberg area speak a "rough German," as is spoken in Switzerland. Kathy explained that "Gottlieb spoke German in the Swabian way. (Swabia is the name of the whole region of Baden-Wurthemberg because of the old Germanic tribe of the Swabians who settled there.)"

Gottlieb did his military service in Constance, Baden, Germany around 1878 and 1879. At that time the length of mandatory military service was three years. He is thought to have come to America in about 1882.

On 3 December 1884 Gortieb filed a Declaration of Intention to become a citizen of the United States. On 28 Feb. 1895 he became a naturalized citizen of the United States. They still spoke German at home and all of the children knew how to speak German

All of Gottlieb's children are believed to have been baptized in the Evengelical Reformed Lutheran Church even though their mother Catherina Meier was Catholic. It wouldn't have been possible during the 19th century in Germany for a Protestant to marry a Catholic. They met in Iowa and married in Le Mars on 9 Nov. 1882. Katie died 4 April 1893 in Le Mars.

The second wife of Gottlieb was Marie Charlotte Stutzmann who he married on 25 Oct. 1894 in Le Mars. The records of the Beeley Funderal Home, which later became the Mauer Funeral Home, show that Gottlieb & Marie had a stillborn infant born to them on 16 June 1895.

Obituary: LeMara Semi-Weekly Sentinel, July 10, 1908
"The funeral of the late Gottlieb Haas was held on Monday afternood at St. John's church, Rev. H.J. Dammann, the pastor, officiating. The deceased was a member of Dewey Camp W.O.W. and the members of that order attended the funeral in a body.
Gottlieb Haas was a native of Germany, being born at Oberant Filligen, Baden, on February, 1857. He came to Plymouth county in 1883 and worked on a farm near Merrill and shortly afterwards came to LaMars which was his home until his death. For the past eleven years he was in the employ of the LeMars Water & Light company. He was faithful in his duties and was highly esteemed by his employers and his fellow workmen. He was a man of rugged physique and worked hard early and late. A few wees ago he was taken ill and death resulted from organic heart trouble, accelerated by constant physical exertion. He was married twice. His first wife was Miss Catherine Meyer to whom he was married in June, 1878. Six children born to them, three of whom survive: Mrs. Frank Sutton, of this place; Mrs. Frank Messick, of Sioux City; and Miss Catherine Haas, of Merrill.
On October 20, 1894, he was united in marriage with Miss Mary Stutzmann at St. John's Evangelical church in LeMars and to this union four children were born, two boys and two girls. Mr. Haas was an upright hard working citizen, a loving husband and father, highly respected in the community where he lived for a quarter of a century."