USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa. Containing a history from the earliest settlement to the present time biographical sketches; portraits of some of the early settlers, prominent men, etc. > Part 52
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JACOB LEUTZINGER, baker, Council Bluffs, was born in Switzerland in 1840. ITis parents' family, which consisted of five ehil- dren, came to this country in 1847. They
went to Southern Illinois, settling at a point twenty-five miles east of St. Louis, Mo. Our subject was engaged in the bakery busi- ness in the latter city from 1856 to 1859, when he came to Council Bluffs April 1 of that year. He is the leading baker of Council Bluffs, and is sole proprietor of the Empire Bakery of this city. He was married in 1870 to Anna Hil- tonberg, of this city. They have two children -- Anna, aged eleven, and Matilda, who is six years old.
J. C. LANGE, of the firm of Lutz & Lange, wholesale cigars and pipes, Council Bluff's, was born in Russia in 1846; came to the United States in 1867, and settled in Brooklyn, N. Y., where he was employed in an architect's office ; he left there in 1869, and went to Burlington, Iowa; stayed there two years, then went to St. Louis, and from there came to Council Bluff's in December, 1878. Mr. Lange was married in December, 1873, in Ottminwa, Iowa, and has three children, one boy and two girls. Ile is an active Democrat.
J. I. LUTZ, of the firm of Lutz & Lange, wholesale cigars and pipes, Council Bluffs, was born in Germany in 1843 ; came to the United States in 1865, and settled in Burlington, Iowa. From Burlington, he came to Council Bluffs in 1876. In 1877, he, in company with his part- ner, opened a wholesale cigar and pipe store. They employ three traveling men and have one assistant in the store besides himself and part- ner. They keep a stock on hand worth about $18,000, and their yearly sales amount to $150,000. Mr. Lutz was married in 1868, in Burlington, Iowa, and has five children. all at home, the three eldest going to school. He is an active Democrat.
P. J. MONTGOMERY, physician, Conncil Bluffs; though a resident of this place but a lit- tle over two years, the Doctor has already estab- lished himself in the practice of medicine in a very satisfactory manner. He is a native of Del- aware County, N. Y., and on his father's side is
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a lineal descendant of Gen. Montgomery, while by his mother, who was an Abbott, he traces the genealogy of his family to the Abbots of England, and to the Mayflower pilgrims of that name. When he was eleven years of age, the Doctor's parents moved to Wisconsin; his edu- cation was received principally at the Albion Academy of Dane County, Wis .; he studied medieine with Dr. D. L. Davis, of Waterloo, Iowa, an allopathic physician, and also with Dr. L. N. Squire of the same place, who was a homeopathic physician. In 1866, he graduated from the Hahnemann Medical Col- lege of Chicago; he also attended the Chi- cago Medical College, an allopathic institu- tion, and, in addition to this, he took a course of lectures at the Homiston Institute College of Cleveland, Ohio. During last two years of the war, he served in the Nashville City Hospital, or what was better known as the College Bluff Hospital. In May, 1880, he was appointed Surgeon of the Wabash Railroad at this point. He is a member of the Northwestern Academy of Medicine, and was President of that society in 1881; he is also a member of the State Homoeopathic Medical Society, and is now holding the position of Chairman of the Bureau of Surgery in that society. His success in practice and the honorable position he has held in the medieal societies is due to his ex- tensive study of the science of medicine, and to the honorable course he has pursued sinee he became a resident of the Bluffs City.
MAX MOHN, proprietor of the Creston House, Council Bluffs, was born in Wurtem- berg, Germany, December 6, 1843, where he was educated, and where he lived till he came to America. He came to Council Bluff's June 9, 1869, and worked for Max Kreidler, boot and shoe maker, for two and a half years; he then engaged for one year as clerk for Charles Beck- man, in the leather business; then worked for Louis Zurmuelen four and a half years, and, in 1877, went into partnership with his sister, Mrs.
Weber, in the hotel business, on South Main street, in a one-story building, which would ac- commodate about nineteen boarders. Finding that his business justified it, he erected a fine three-story brick hotel, with stone front, cost- ing $12,000, with twenty-four sleeping apart- ments, and nine other rooms, having now about fifty regular boarders, and a large transient custom. Mr. Mohn was married, in June, 1879, to Anne Betz, and by this marriage they have one daughter. In 1881, he bought the building occupied by Thrall & Kracht, grocers, for $2,- 500, and, in November, 1881, bought for $7,- 000, a two-story brick building, containing one large room down stairs occupied as the billiard hall and bar, and with four rooms in the upper story.
W. S. MAYNE, attorney, Council Bluffs, was born in Clark County, Ohio, in 1835; removed with his parents to Ottumwa, Iowa, in the fall of 1848, and thence removed to Van Buren County, Iowa; his father was elected Judge of Van Buren County, and removed to Keosau- qna, Iowa, in the fall of 1851. Our subject at- tended a private school in Keosanqua, and, in 1853, entered the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, from which he graduated in 1856, he being the first graduate of that institut- tion. He began reading law with C. C. Nourse, afterward finishing with Hon. G. G. Wright, then sitting on the supreme bench of Iowa, and was admitted to the bar in 185S. He began the practice of his profession in Keosauqua. where he remained until 1872, when he removed to Red Oak, Iowa, where he formed a partner- ship with the present Attorney General of the State-Smith McPherson. In the fall of 1875, he came to Council Bluffs, where he took charge of the business of the law firm of Baldwin & Wright, while the latter was attending the ses- sion of the Legislature. The following spring. Mr. Mayne formed a partnership with George F. Wright, and continued in the firm till July, 1877, when he formed a partnership with Mar-
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shal Key, and under the firm name of Mayne & Key. carried on the practice of law till August, 1880, when Mr. Mayne took up the practice of Mr. Ross, the latter having gone to Iowa City. Mr. Mayne is now located in L. W. Ross' old office, corner of Main street and Broadway, Council Bluffs. In May, 1864, he married Miss R. E. Mangum, a native of Van Buren County, Iowa. Mr. Mayne was a member of the City Council in 1880 and 1881, and, in the spring of 1882. was elected City Attorney on the Re- publican ticket, the first election under the new charter.
GEORGE MARSHALL, street car company, Council Bluffs, was born in Essex Coun- ty, N. Y., in 1827. He went to Michigan at the age of sixteen, and stayed there three years, then entered the employ of Western Stage Company, coming with them to Council Blutf's in 1855. He remained in their employ for fourteen years, then left them and freighted on the plains eight years. In 1869, he began Government and mail contracting, and con- tinued until 1879, when he took charge of the street car barn. He has the supervision of everything belonging to the street car com- pany. including horses, cars and track, and employs ten men. Mr. Marshall was married in 1857, in Fulton, Ind. He has one daughter -Mary.
WILLIAM A. MYNSTER, attorney, Council Bluffs, is a native of Copenhagen, Denmark, born October 13, 1843, and is of Danish par- entage. On his third birthday, he was with his parents on the ocean on the way to Amer- ica. They first settled permanently at Washington, D. C., where they lived three years, then moved to Louisville, Ky., where they lived one year, and, in 1851 came to Kanesville, now Council Bluffs. Mr. Mynster was educated at Sinsinawa Mound, Wis., and St. Louis University. He studied law with Clinton & Baldwin of Council Bluffs, whose of- fice was then located opposite the present city
building; afterward pursued his law studies in New York City, and at the Albany Law School N. Y. He graduated from that institution in 1866, having conferred on him the degree of LL. B. The following year, he opened a law office in Council Bluffs, and formed partner- ship with B. W. Hight, present Supreme Court Reporter of Iowa, who was a classmate of his at the law school. This firm dissolved in 1872, and Mr. Mynster entered into partnership with James & Aylesworth, and remained in that firm until 1877, when he entered into partnership with C. F. Adams, which firm still exists.
ROSE & McMAHON, abstract and loans. Council Bluffs. The firm of Rose & McMahon, was formed July 1, 1882, the members of the firm being S. C. Rose and P. J. McMahon. Their office is on the ground floor of No. 4 Pearl street, Council Bluffs. P. J. McMahon was born in Council Bluff's January 5, 1859, and is a son of the celebrated Dr. P. J. McMahon, who died in 1875, from the effects of blood-poison- ing. His grandfather on his father's side was a native of Ireland; his ancestors on his mother's side came to America many genera- tions ago. His mother's uncle-Austin King- was Governor of Missouri. Mr. McMahon received his education in Council Bluffs, in the public schools and under private tuition. In 1876, he began clerking for A. D. Foster & Co., drnggists, with whom he remained one year, then engaged with J. D. Edmundson, real estate dealer, with whom he stayed till October, 1880. He then started the business in which he is at present engaged, at 506 Broadway, Council Bluffs, and in January, 1882, removed to present office, No. 4 Pearl street.
J. C. MITCHELL, ticket agent, Council Bluffs, was born in Mystic, New London Co., Conn., May 27, 1856. In 1866, be moved with his parents to Owatonna, Minn. In 1870, he accepted a position as operator at St. Paul, and was afterward at Stillwater, Minn., in the
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employ of the Lake Superior & Mississippi Railway Company. Here he remained about one year, when he went to St. Peter, Minn., as operator and clerk for the Chicago & North- Western Railway Company. He remained in the latter company's employ for about five years. He assisted his father for about a year and a half, in the latter's store in Owatonna, Minn. He came to Council Bluff's in the fall of 1880, when he accepted the position of Ticket Agent for the Wabash, St. Louis & Pacific Railway Company. Our subject is of English and Scotch descent.
F. C. MILLER, physician, Council Bluff's, who has recently become associated with Dr. Rice in the practice of medicine, is a native of Granby, N. Y., where he was born March 31, 1857. He resided there until twelve years of age, when his parents removed to Bristol, Ill., where they resided for eight years and then re- moved to Maryville, Mo. There the Doctor be- gan the study of medicine and subsequently attended and graduated from the St. Louis Eclectic Medical College. He graduated in the spring of 1882, and in March, the same year, he married Miss Jennie M. Gaunt of Maryville, Mo. A short time subsequent to this event he came to Council Bluffs, and effect- ed a partnership with his uncle Dr. R. Rice. Under the instruction of one so thoroughly capable of advising him, he begins the prac- tice of his chosen profession under most favor- able circumstances.
J. MUELLER, musical merchandise, Coun- cil Bluffs, is a native of Bohemia ; subsequent- ly became a resident of Prussia, where he re- sided for ten years, and in 1857 came to the United States and settled in Wisconsin. In 1859, he came to Council Bluffs and engaged in teach- ing innsic. He continned teaching as a business until 1864, when he began the sale of musical instruments and musical merchandise, running the two together until 1869, when he gave up teaching and turned his attention exclusively
to the sale of instruments and music. In the meantime, however, he was burned out, by which disaster he lost $8,000 worth of goods, and was left $1,300 in debt. He lost none of his energy and business ability, and in a short time was making fair progress toward accumu- lating another handsome property. In 1869, he began business in the old Bee Hive build- ing, where he remained until 1881, when he re- moved to the fine building which he now occu- pies, and which is his own property. The building is twenty-five by eighty feet, three floors and basement, all of which is filled with musical instruments, musical merchandise and toys. He now does an extensive wholesale trade, having about three regular men on the road and six or seven men in the house. He im- ports largely in sheet music and instruments. The Chickering & Sons, Weber and J. Mneller are among his best pianos, and the Burdett Standard and Western Cottage organs ; of the latter organ he is Western agent, and has sold of them in the eight years about 3,400. His annual sales now aggregate about $100,000. His success cannot be ascribed to luck, for every step of progress has been carefully con- sidered before an important business movement has been made. There are probably but one or two instances in Council Bluffs of like success.
THOMAS METCALF, wholesale and retail dealer in hats, caps, bnck goods and clothing, was born in Chardon, Geauga Co., Ohio, and in 1871 he married Miss Eva Canfield of Chardon, Ohio, and they have two children- Thomas, aged ten, and Frank aged eight years. Mr. Metcalf, came to Council Bluff's in the fall of 1867 and opened a hat and cap store on the south side of Broadway in a room eight by twenty feet. Here he remained two years, then moved into one-half of J. M. Philip's store, and in 1880 moved into his present stand. The firm of which Mr. Metcalf is a member carried ou the hat and cap business exclusively for eight years, then added clothing. They em-
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ploy six assistants aud carry about $50,000 worth of stock, the annual sales amounting to $150,000. H. Il. Metcalf, senior member of the firm, was married in 1868, to Miss Lida Brownsfield of South Bend, Ind. George Met- calf was married in 1878, to Helen Rue of Council Bluff's, and they have one child-Clara, one and a half years of age.
R. N. MERRIAM, groceries and provisions, Council Bluffs, was born in Princeton, Worcester Co., Mass., in 1837, and when he attained his ma- jority moved West to Iowa. He served in the army three years and three months, entering the Fourth Jowa Infantry as private, and being discharged as Sergeant. He came to Council Bluff's in the fall of 1864. Started in business with his brother, in company with whom he continued till 1872, when he bought out his brother's interest, and has since carried on the business himself. He employs three assistants in his store, and carries about $3,000 worth of stock, his yearly sales amounting to $20,000. In 1871, he married Miss Lucretia M. Lewis, of Pennsylvania, and they have been blessed with four children-Freddie, ten : Harry, seven ; Bessie, five, and Ottie, three years old. Mr. and Mrs. Merriam are members of the Presby- terian Church.
D. MACRAE, M. D., Council Bluff's, whose portrait appears in this work, has been a resident of Council Bluffs since March, 1867. He is a native of Edginburgh, Scotland, receiving both his literary and medical education at the Uni- versity of Edinburgh, from which he gradu- ated in 1861. He spent three years in the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh, after graduat- ing, and then accepted a position as Surgeon for the Cunard Line of steamers. He re- mained with the Cunard Line three years, during which time he crossed the Atlantic sev- enty-five times. The half of the last "round trip " landed him in New York City in 1867, where, before coming to Council Bluffs, he married Miss Charlotte, daughter of Joseph
Banchette, late Surveyor General of Canada, who died in 1881, aged eighty-six years. The family was of French origin and well known in Canada, which is the native place of Mrs. Mac- rae. The Doctor has been in active practice since his residence in the city. In 1882, he was appointed Professor of Diseases of Women in this district for the Des Moines College of Physicians and Surgeons. He is a member of the Council Bluff's Medieal Society and of the State Medieal Society. He is also a charter member of the lodges of the following orders in Council Bluffs : A. O. U. W., A. M. L. of H., and Equitable Aid Union. The Doctor is so well and favorably known socially and pro- fessionally that anything of a eulogistic nat- ure in connection with the above facts would · sound like flattery.
R. MORGAN, undertaker, Council Bluffs, came to Council Bluffs in 1874 and opened an undertaking establishment, employing two or three men steadily. He was born in Chautau- qua County, N. Y., in 1821, and began business in Jamestown in 1842. In 1844, he moved to Sinclairville, N. Y., and engaged in the manu- facture of furniture, and then moved to Corry, Penn., in 1855, where he remained till he came to Council Bluff's. He was married in James- town, N. Y., in 1842, and has a family of twelve children. His wife dying in 1861, he again married in 1879. Mr. Morgan united with the Baptist Church at Buffalo at the early age of fifteen. He was the founder of the First Bap- tist Church in Corry, Penn., maintaining the minister for the first six months himself, and was Trustee and Deacon while he remained in that city. Is also Trustee and Deacon of the First Baptist Church of Council Bluffs at the present time.
MAURER & CRAIG, crockery and glass- ware, Council Bluff's, began business in Coun- cil Bluffs in August, 1881, buying out the stock of William Whitney. They have con- verted their business from retail to wholesale,
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and are doing a large trade. When they com- menced business, they had but two salesmen ; now they have four, and have also two regular men on the road, as their stock has increased to five times its original proportions. Their business house is 110 feet long and 24 feet
wide, three stories and basement. W. A. Maurer, senior member of this firm, was born in Sandusky, Ohio, June 1, 1856. At an early age, he removed with his parents to La Porte, Ind., where he was educated in the public schools, and graduated from the high school there about the year 1870. That same year, he became salesman in the retail crockery and glassware establishment of H. T. Culver, at La Porte, Ind. He afterward managed the busi- ness of D. C. Decker, wholesale crockery and glassware, La Porte, Ind., and in 1880 went South and engaged as salesman for L. A. Mueller, dealer in crockery and glassware. July 17, 1881, he came to Council Bluffs and formed partnership with J. H. Craig, and they have since continued in business together. J. H. Craig, junior member of this firm, was born in Cahaba, Ala., April 3, 1859, and during the late war lived at Milledgeville, Ga. In the fall of 1868, he moved to Selma, Ala. During the years 1876 and 1877, he attended the State University of Alabama, at Tuscaloosa, Ala., and from September, 1877, till the spring of 1878, attended the business college, at Pongh- keepsie, N. Y. In September, 1878, he began working the General Freight and Ticket Office of the Selma, Rome & Dalton Railroad, at Patona, Ala., where he remained till December 4. 1878, when he accepted the position of book- keeper for Knapp, Stout & Co., at Prairie Farm, Wis. He was soon promoted to the position of assistant book-keeper at the headquarters of that company, at Menomonee, Wis., where he remained one year. He then went back to Selma, Ala., where he remained until he started for Council Bluff's, at which place he arrived August 5, 1881, and immedi-
ately became a partner in the firm of Maurer & Craig.
W. GERALD NASON, agent for the Coun- cil Bluffs Insurance Company, Council Bluffs. was born in Schenectady, N. Y., May 15, 1837; came to Iowa in 1855, and located in Boomer Township, Pottawattamie County. He farmed there until July, 1856, at which time he went to Omaha, Neb .; went to work in hotel there, and remained until November of the same year. He then came to Council Bluffs, where he drove a team until the following spring ; then went back on a farm, and remained there until March, 1859. He then, in connection with his brother, engaged in the grocery busi- ness in Council Bluffs, in which they continued until December, 1859. He then went back again to the farm, and remained there until July, 1860, when he went to Colorado with his brother and engaged in mercantile business in Cottonwood Springs ; he remained there three months ; then returned to this county and went back on the farm, and remained there until September, 1862. He then enlisted in Company E, Sixth Iowa Cavalry, and was mustered out June 20, 1865, after which he re- turned to the farm. Mr. Nason was married February 10, 1866, to Miss Maggie McKenna, of Delaware, Ohio, and removed to Council Bluffs April 15, same year, and engaged in the wood and railroad-tie business. He again en- gaged in farming in March, 1867, and pursued that occupation till April, 1873, when he again removed to Council Bluffs. Here he engaged in the insurance business with the Continental Insurance Company, with which he remained until January, 1880, at which time he resigned his position with that company and took the superintendency of agencies of the Council Bluffs Insurance Company. He has also been representing five Eastern insurance companies as local agent of Council Bluffs. The duties of the Council Bluffs Company keeps him almost constantly on the road. He has a
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brother engaged in stock business in Montana, who is very wealthy, and also a brother in Boomer Township, this county, a farmer, who has been on the same farm for twenty-seven years. He has two sisters, married, who reside on farms in Boomer Township. Mr. Nason has been one of the very few who have made a success of the insurance business. He was educated in the town of Boonville, Oneida Co., N. Y.
F. J. OSBORNE, dealer in staple and fancy groceries, Council Bluff's, was born in Canada ; his mother died in May, 1874; his father is still living in Canada. In 1876, he married Miss Lillian Hilton, daughter of Dr. Hilton, of Council Bluffs, and by this marriage they have one child-Florence, an infant nine weeks old. Mr. Osborne went to Michigan in 1879, and the following year came to Council Bluffs. Here he engaged in the grocery business, which he has since carried on, doing an annual business of about $35,000. He employs four men. and carries from $4,000 to $5,000 worth of stock. He has two brothers and two sis- ters. One of his brothers, W. H., is married, and lives in San Jose, Cal., where he is en- gagel in the milling business. The other brother is in the dry-goo's business in Chica- go. His two sisters, one of whom is married, reside in Canada.
DR. PETER WILHELM POULSON-FA- GERSTJERNA. He was born at Copenhagen, Denmark, December 14. 1831. His father was born in Denmark, but of Swedish parents, and belonged to a prominent old Swedish family, of military distinction and nobility, the Counts Fagerstjerna. Ilis mother was also born in Denmark, but her parents were of German descent, and lost their great wealth when the Danish Government, bankrupt, repudiated the national debt in 1808, and many of the bond- holders were financially ruined. His grand- father, Poul Svendson Fagerstjerna, retired from military service, as his father, Svend
Nielson Fagerstjerna, also did when at the age of forty, and Poul sold his property in Sweden and settled in Denmark, where he bought large farms near Copenhagen, and also an extensive brickyard, but five years later he died suddenly from pneumonia and left the children as minors. His widow married again, and the Doctor's father, as the youngest son, was given a military education in the Danish Army. His great love for mathematics and architecture made him, however, make it his favorite study. The long line of his mother's ancestors were ministers of the Lntheran Church. His mother's father, Johan Peter Gudenschrager, lived on the island Moen where he owned much land and two grist mills. His father, Ole Poulson Fagerstjerna, became an architect and builder by profession, and when the Doctor was only five months old his father accepted the management of a large manufact- uring company at Copenhagen. By moving, the baby took a cold, and a congestion of the lungs. Dr. Berg, the family physician, de- clared it fatal, and told the mother to call next day and get the death certificate, but when he stopped his visits the child got well. When five years old, the boy was sent to the Royal Military Elementary School. There he remained six years, and graduated when eleven years old. He was then put in the Royal School of Education, where he remained four years, and graduated at the age of fifteen. Only one and a half years later the war broke ont between Denmark and Prussia, and the rebellion of Schleswig and Holstein and Lunenburg made it hot for the country to save itself. He became filled with patriotism, and volunteered, much against his father's will, and entered the Danish Army as Corporal ; finished the first campaign with distinction, and was, in the fall of 1848, sent to Copenhagen to enter the graduating class of the military academy, and was appointed Sergeant. After graduation, he was sent back to his regiment and made his
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