USA > Iowa > Clayton County > History of Clayton County, Iowa : from the earliest historical times down to the present : including a genealogical and biographical record of many representative families, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information, Volume I > Part 69
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79 | Part 80 | Part 81 | Part 82 | Part 83 | Part 84 | Part 85 | Part 86 | Part 87 | Part 88 | Part 89 | Part 90 | Part 91 | Part 92 | Part 93 | Part 94 | Part 95 | Part 96
103
BIOGRAPHICAL
Oscar B. Eckart, the popular incumbent of the position of assistant cashier of the Guttenberg State Bank, is proving an effi- cient and valued coadjutor of his brother, John P. Eckart, who is the cashier of the institution and who is made the subject of indi- vidual mention on other pages of this work, in which connection is given also brief record concerning his parents, honored pioneer citizens of Clayton, county, the information thus given rendering it unnecessary to repeat the family data in the sketch here presented. Oscar B. Eckart was born at Guttenberg, on the 5th of December, 1884, and after having made good use of the advantages afforded in the excellent public schools of his native city he took a course of higher study in the Iowa State Agricultural College, at Ames. After leaving college he was for a time employed in the Guttenberg State Bank, and in 1904 he went to the city of St. Louis, Missouri, but after having there been employed a short interval he made his way to Chicago, in which great metropolis he passed nine months in the employ of Lyon Brothers, engaged in the wholesale general merchandise business. He then returned to Guttenberg, in the fall of 1905, where he has since served with marked efficiency as assist- ant cashier of the Guttenberg State Bank, one of the substantial financial institutions of Clayton county. He is serving also as city treasurer, is a Republican in politics, and is affiliated with the Fraternal Order of Mystic Workers. On the 21st of November, 1912, Mr. Eckart wedded Miss Irene Kathryn Bunke, daughter of Joseph F. and Helen E. (Kriebs) Bunke. She was born in Omaha, Nebr., Sept. 14, 1886, moving with her mother to Clayton county when ten years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Eckart have two children- Dorothea Helen, who was born June 22, 1913; and Kathryn Ida, who was born October 20, 1915.
John Eglseder owns and effectively operates in his native town- ship a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres, and he is recognized as one of the vigorous and resourceful agriculturists and stock-raisers of the younger generation in Clayton county, his association with farming having been continuous since the time when he began to lend his boyish assistance in the work of his father's old homestead. He was born in Jefferson township, this county, on the 23rd of October, 1882, and is a son of John and Mary (Vonbruel) Eglseder, the former of whom was born in Germany, and the latter at Guttenberg, Clayton county, her parents having been early pioneer settlers of this county. John Eglseder, Sr., came with his parents to the United States about the year 1855, and after remaining for a short period in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, the family came to Clayton county and established residence in the vil- lage of Garnavillo. Later John Eglseder purchased and improved a farm in Jefferson township, and for many years he continued as one of the active and successful exponents of farm enterprise in this county. He and his wife now reside in an attractive home near Garnavillo, and he is now living virtually retired. He gives his support to the cause of the Democratic party and he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church. Of their children the eldest is Mary, who is the wife of Henry Mormann, of Jefferson
105
BIOGRAPHICAL
to the United States in the early '50s. After his marriage, which was solemnized in the State of New York, he there continued his residence until 1858, when he came with his family to Clayton county, Iowa, and became a pioneer farmer in Boardman township, where he reclaimed and improved a good farm and became a sub- stantial and honored citizen who was known for sterling integrity and for his industry and enterprise as a farmer. He was about 84 years of age at the time of his death and his wife passed away when 55 years of age, the names of both meriting enduring place on the roll of the worthy pioneers of this county. Both were zealous communicants of the Lutheran church, in the faith of which they carefully reared their children, of whom the subject of this sketch is the eldest; Annie, the second child, died in childhood; Lena is the wife of L. Maville, a prosperous farmer of Cox Creek town- ship; John is a resident of Elkader; Mary is the wife of J. J. Kuehl, of Boardman township, and her twin sister died in infancy ; and George lives at Elkader. E. Charles Ehrhardt early began to assist in the work of his father's farm and his educational advan- tages in his youth were those afforded in the pioneer schools of Boardman township, where he has continued his active allegiance to the great basic industry of agriculture during the long interven- ing years and where he has achieved success of unequivocal order, a preceding paragraph having indicated the scope and importance of his operations as a farmer and stock-raiser. On the 5th of June, 1884, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Ehrhardt to Miss Elizabeth Brockman, who was born and reared in this county and who is a daughter of Christ and Maria (Meyer) Brockman, both natives of Germany. Her father immigrated to the United States in 1852 and became a pioneer settler in Clayton county, his old homestead, in Farmersburg township, having continued as his place of residence to the present time and his devoted wife having passed to the life eternal on the 8th of March, 1908. She lived for three years in Ohio before coming to Clayton county. Of their children Mrs. Ehrhardt is the eldest; Annie is the wife of Edward
Reardon, of Elkader ; August, George and Bertha are deceased ; and Frederick, Sarah and Christ remain at the paternal home, in Farm- ersburg township. Mr. and Mrs. Ehrhardt became the parents of six children, concerning whom brief record is given in conclusion of this review: George C., a merchant at Communia, Volga town- ship; Carl R. is associated with his father in the work and manage- ment of the home farm; Frederick J. is a successful and popular teacher in public schools; Edward H. remains at the parental home; the fifth child, a daughter, died in infancy; and the youngest mem- ber of the home circle is Elmer.
Walter L. Eichendorf is consistently to be designated as one of the representative younger members of the bar of Clayton county, and is engaged in the successful practice of his profession at Mc- Gregor. His personality and professional ability have given him secure place in popular confidence and esteem and his law business shows a constantly cumulative tendency, the while it has involved his appearance in connection with important litigated causes in
107
BIOGRAPHICAL
success and prosperity have come as a natural sequel. Mr. Eiffert is a representative of one of the honored pioneer families of this county and here was born in Monona township on the 10th of April, 1859, a son of Hanscourt and Elizabeth (Hoch) Eiffert, both of whom were born in Hessen, Germany. Within a comparatively short time after his immigration to the United States Hanscourt Eiffert came to Iowa and established his residence in Clayton county. He was a young man at the time and in the initial stage of his progress toward the goal of independence he was employed on the farm of a Mr. Schneider, in Monona township. Industrious and frugral, his ambitious purpose caused him carefully to conserve his earnings until he realized the prime object of this ambition and was enabled to purchase a farm of his own, in Monona township. He developed and improved this land into one of the productive and valuable farms of that township and there continued his successful activities as an agriculturist until his death, which occurred Febru- ary 12, 1887, when he was in the prime of his useful manhood. His venerable widow now resides in the village of Monona, both having early become members of the religious organization known as the Evangelical association, and he, as a loyal citizen of his adopted country, having allied himself staunchly with the Republican party. Of the two children the subject of this review is the elder, and the younger son, Emil, is deceased. Henry Eiffert was reared to man- hood on the old homestead farm which was the place of his nativity and in the meanwhile he did not neglect to avail himself fully of the advantages afforded in the local schools. He was about twenty- eight years of age at the time of his father's death and the man- agement of the home farm then devolved upon him, though he profited much by the wise counsel and earnest co-operation of his widowed mother. When thirty-three years of age he purchased his mother's interest in the farm, to the operation of which he there- after devoted himself for some years, at the expiration of which he sold the property and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of his present farm, to the area of which he later added by the pur- chase of a contiguous tract of forty acres, so that his fine domain now has a total of two hundred acres of the fertile and valuable land of his native county. He has made many admirable improve- ments on his farm, including the erection of good buildings, and has made it give forth the unmistakable evidences of thrift and prosperity. He is discriminating and progressive as an exponent of diversified agriculture, and has proved specially successful also in the raising of high-grade live stock, his farm having high repu- tation for its full-blooded black Polled Angus cattle. Mr. Eiffert has at all times done his part in the furtherance of those things which have tended to advance the social and material prosperity of the community, is aligned as a loyal supporter of the cause of the Republican party and has been signally immune from office-seeking proclivities, the only public office which he has consented to assume being that of school director, of which he was the incumbent sev- eral years. Both he and his wife are earnest members of the Evan- gelical church, or Association, at Froelich, and he has served as a
Digitized by Google
109
BIOGRAPHICAL
Mitchell county ; and Ludwich is a representative farmer of Wagner township, Clayton county. Reared under the conditions and influ- ences which marked the pioneer epoch in the history of Clayton county, Ember Embertson attended the local schools when oppor- tunity afforded and in the meanwhile he gained invaluable experi- ence in connection with the work of the home farm, with the opera- tion of which he continued to be associated until he had attained to the age of twenty-two years. He then opened a modest general store at St. Olaf, and from a small inception he built up a large and prosperous business, to which he continued to devote his atten- tion for a period of about twenty years, when he retired from this line of enterprise, after having served during the greater part of this interval as postmaster of the village. While thus engaged in busi- ness at St. Olaf Mr. Embretson purchased his present fine little farmstead of sixty-six acres, a short distance to the south of the village, and here he erected his commodious and attractive mod- ern residence, which continues as the family home and which is a center of unostentatious hospitality and good cheer. In South Dakota Mr. Embretson is the owner of a valuable estate of seven hundred acres, and in the State of Minnesota he has four hundred and eighty acres, both of these properties receiving on his part a general supervision. He is a stalwart in the camp of the Repub- lican party and has been influential in its local councils and cam- paign activities. He served four terms as trustee of Wagner town- ship and has been notably liberal and progressive as a citizen. Mr. Embretson is one of the substantial men of Clayton county and is a stockholder and director of the St. Olaf Savings Bank. Both he and his wife are communicants of the Lutheran church at St. Olaf. As a young man Mr. Embretson wedded Miss Betsy Larson, of Reid township, and she is survived by four children-Geneva, Parina, Adelia, and Ella. For his second wife Mr. Embretson wedded Miss Nellie Hulgerson, who was born and reared in this county, and they have two children-Phelman and Edwin, who remain members of the home circle.
Ernst Enderes holds a place of prominence as one of the rep- resentative business men of his native county, as he is president of the Enderes Manufacturing Company, which is engaged in the manufacturing of various types of tools at Littleport. The com- pany has a well equipped plant and certain of the high-grade tools manufactured were invented and patented by the president of the corporation, who has long been known as a man of fine mechanical ability. Mr. Enderes was born on the old homestead farm of his father, near Communia, this county, and the date of his nativity was March 9, 1861. He is a son of John and Barbara (Prupst) Enderes, both natives of Germany and both honored pioneer citi- zens of Clayton county at the time of their death. John Enderes was one of the earliest settlers in the community about Communia, this county, where he established his home about the year 1849 and where he reclaimed and improved a good farm. He was a nail- smith by trade and prior to coming to Clayton county he had fol- lowed the work of his trade. Of the three children the eldest is
110
MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY
William, who is a resident of Littleport; and Ernst and Emiline were twins, the latter being now deceased. Ernst Enderes was reared under the invigorating discipline of the farm and made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality and period. In his youth he learned the trade of blacksmith, and at the age of twenty years he left the parental home and engaged in the work of his trade in Postville, Allamakee county. There he remained about four years, and he then, in 1885, established his home at Littleport, where for the ensuing twenty-six years he vig- orously and successfully applied himself to the work of his trade, as the owner of a blacksmith shop. In 1907 he became the founder of the prosperous manufacturing enterprise of which he is now the executive head, and his associates as stockholders and directors of the company are Ernst and John W. Enderes, Christ C. Pust, Elmer L. Gifford, and George C. Ruegnitz, Jr. In politics Mr. Enderes gives his allegiance to no definite party but supports the men and measures meeting the approval of his judgment. He is affiliated with the local organizations of the Modern Woodmen of America and with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. On the 18th of September, 1883, Mr. Enderes wedded Miss Louisa Hupp, who was born in Allamakee county, this state, and they have three children: John is associated with the manufacturing company of which his father is president ; Rose is the wife of George Ruegnitz, of Volga township; and Elsie is the wife of Seymour Lalleyer, of Littleport.
John Engelhardt is another of the native sons of Clayton county who stands effectively forward as an able and successful rep- resentative of agricultural and live-stock industry in this favored section of the Hawkeye State, and through his own energy and well ordered endeavors he has become the owner of one of the well improved and valuable landed estates of his native county, the same comprising two hundred and eighty acres and being situated in sec- tions 23 and 26, Wagner township, and about three-fourths of a mile distant from the village of St. Olaf, which is his postoffice address. Mr. Engelhardt was born in Wagner township, this county, on the 19th of May, 1876, and is a son of Rudolph and Mary (Schmidt) Engelhardt, both of whom were born in Germany. Rudolph Engelhardt was twenty years of age at the time when he numbered himself among the pioneers of Clayton county, and here he devoted the remainder of his life to the great basic industry of agriculture, in connection with which he gained distinctive independence and substantial prosperity. He was one of the well known and highly esteemed citizens of this county at the time of his death, which occurred on the 9th of August, 1893, and his widow now maintains her home at Farmersburg, this county. Of the eleven children George and Louis are prosperous farmers of Monona township; John, of this review, was the third in order of birth; Augusta is the wife of William Jones, of Lime Spring, Howard county; Emma is the wife of Jefferson Jones, of Gunder, Clayton county ; Martha is the wife of Henry Boler, of Cresco, Howard county ; Amelia is the wife of Frederick G. Wilkie, of Reid township, Clayton county ; Arthur resides at Bonair, Howard county, and Robert at Farmers-
III
BIOGRAPHICAL
burg, Clayton county ; Alma is the wife of Edward Olke, of Lee, South Dakota; and the eleventh child, a girl, died in infancy. John Englehardt is indebted to the public schools of Clayton county for his early educational discipline and he was a lad of sixteen years at the time of his father's death. He had in the meanwhile gained his due quota of experience in connection with the work of the home farm and after the death of his father he entered the employ of his oldest brother, as an assistant in the work and management of the latter's farm. In 1900 he gave patent evidence of his ambition and self-reliance by purchasing a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in Wagner township, and with increasing prosperity he has made judicious investment in other valuable land in this township until he now has a fine domain of two hundred and eighty acres, improved with good buildings and devoted to diversified agricul- ture and the raising of excellent grades of live stock. Mr. Engel- hardt is most loyal to his native county and has here found ample opportunity for the achieving of worthy success in connection with the great fundamental industry under whose influence he was reared. He is liberal and progressive in his civic attitude, is aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party and has been called upon to serve in minor township offices. He is affiliated with the Woodmen of the World and both he and his wife hold membership in the Lutheran church. In 1899 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Engelhardt to Miss Keka Draves, who likewise was born and reared in Clayton county, and of their five children two died in infancy. The surviving children are: Albin, age 9; Harvey, age 7; Philmon, the baby, one year of age.
Charles J. Engler .- One of the representative mercantile estab- lishments of the thriving village of Garnavillo is that owned and conducted by Mr. Engler, who here has a specially substantial and well equipped store in which he handles all kinds of heavy and shelf hardware, stoves, ranges, and plumbing, lighting and heating supplies and plants. He is at all times prepared to furnish esti- mates for the installation of plumbing, lighting and heating equip- ment, and the high reputation for his establishment constitutes its best commercial asset, for its service is of the best type in all departments and fair and honorable dealing is the rule from which no deviation is permitted. Mr. Engler has gained a secure place as one of the progressive business men of his native county and is specially worthy of recognition in this publication. Charles J. Engler was born at Monona, this county, on the 31st of March, 1877, and is a son of John and Mary (Light) Engler, the former a native of Germany and the latter of the State of Kentucky. John Engler established his home in Clayton county, was a harnessmaker by trade but after coming to this county he became a successful farmer of Clayton township, where his death occurred on the 17th of December, 1887, his widow being still a resident of that township and being a devout communicant of the Catholic church, as was also her husband. Of the children the first-born was Rose, who died in young girlhood ; Louis is a prosperous farmer of this county ; Emma is the wife of Robert Anderson and they maintain their home
112
MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY
in the city of Dubuque, Iowa; Lena is the wife of Bernard Tonner, of Clayton township; Catherine and William remain at the old homestead with their mother; Charles J., of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Albert is still with his mother on the home farm. Charles J. Engler gained his early experience of prac- tical nature in connection with the work of the home farm and was about ten years of age at the time of his father's death. He made good use of the advantages afforded in the public schools of the locality and at the age of twenty-two years he left the farm to enter upon an apprenticeship to the tinner's trade, in a hardware establishment at Elkader, the judicial center of his native county. Within two years he had so applied himself as to become a skilled workman at his trade, and his first work as a journeyman was at Neola, Pottawattamie county, where he remained two years. For the ensuing three years he was engaged in the work of his trade at Stuart, Guthrie county, and he then went to Kalispell, Montana, where he remained about one year. Upon his return to Clayton county he resumed his association with the work and management of the old homestead farm, but after a lapse of eighteen months he went to the city of Chicago, where he remained two years and broadened his knowledge of the hardware business as well as of the work of his trade. He next returned to his native county and assumed a clerical position in the general merchandise establish- ment of William L. Kords, in the village of Clayton. About a year later he removed to Ossian, Winneshiek county, where he worked at his trade for a brief interval. In 1909 he established his home at Garnavillo, where he has since risen to a prominent place in connection with the business and civic activities of the village. For three years he was employed in the hardware establishment of the firm of Kregel & Luehsen, and he then purchased the interest of the senior member of the firm. Thereafter the enterprise was continued under the firm name of Luehsen & Engler until the death of Mr. Luehsen, since which time Mr. Engler has individually owned and conducted the flourishing enterprise, his establishment controlling a substantial trade that extends throughout the ample territory normally tributary to Garnavillo. Mr. Engler is liberal and public-spirited as a citizen and while he has had no ambition for political preferment he has been found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, his religious faith being that of the Catholic church, of which he is a communicant. He still permits his name to remain engrossed on the roll of eligible bachelors in his native county, and here his circle of friends is vir- tually coincident with that of his acquaintances.
Henry Erickson has been a resident of Iowa from the time of his birth and while he is of the valiant type of loyal and progressive American citizenship he has not failed to mark his appreciation of the traditions and,his history of the land of his ancestors and exem- plifies in his personality the sterling integrity and the constructive energy that have made the Scandinavian element of citizenship so influential and valued a factor in connection with the social and industrial development of the greater western portion of our
gitized by Google
113
BIOGRAPHICAL
national domain. He takes just pride in being a scion of one of the honored pioneer families of Clayton county and here he is one of the successful farmers and substantial and honored citizens of Marion township, liberal and loyal as a citizen and influential in public affairs of a local order. He was born in Marion township, on the 14th of December, 1864, and is a son of Peter and Barbara Erickson, both natives of Norway. Peter Erickson was reared and educated in his native land and was a young man when, in 1854, he immigrated to America and established his residence in the State of Wisconsin. There he remained until 1859, when he came with his family to Clayton county and established a home on one of the pioneer farms of Marion township. Substantial success attended his indefatigable labors as an agriculturist and stock-grower and he still continues his association with farm industry, being now one of the sterling pioneer citizens of Grand Meadow township. He is a Republican in politics and both he and his wife are earnest communicants of the Norwegian Lutheran church. Of their seven children the first, Erick, died young ; Louis is a resident of the State of Montana and the subject of this sketch was the third child; Samuel and Benjamin are successful farmers in Grand Meadow township; Albert is deceased; and Emma remains at the parental home. Henry Erickson did not fail to profit duly by the advantages afforded in the public schools of his native county and he there- after continued his association with the work and management of his father's farm until he had attained to the age of twenty-four years. He then went to Lyon county, this state, where he pur- chased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres and where he con- tinued his residence for the ensuing four years. He then sold the property and returned to Clayton county, where he purchased his present excellent farm, on section 12, Marion township, the place comprising one hundred and forty-seven acres of most fertile land and the improvements on the same being of modern order. In connection with diversified agriculture Mr. Erickson gives special attention to the raising of Poland-China and Chester White swine, and in all of his activities he has shown the spirit of thrift and pro- gressiveness. He has given his ready support to measures and enter- prises projected for the general good of the community and has been called upon to service in local offices of public trust. He held the office of township trustee for seven years and that of township clerk for eight years, besides which he has served as school director of his district. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and he and his family hold membership in the Norwegian Lutheran church. His home receives its mail service on rural route No. 1 from the village of Postville. On the 18th of Septem- ber, 1889, was recorded the marriage of Mr. Erickson to Miss Josephine Nelson, who was born April 26, 1870, in Marion town- ship, this county, and concerning their children the following brief data are given in conclusion of this review: Nora in 1915 was a student in one of the leading conservatories of the city of Chicago, where she is studying dramatic art and preparing herself for a stage career, her talent in this line being pronounced exceptional ;
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.