USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 1907, Vol. II > Part 33
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Unto Mr. and Mrs. Kohlscheen have been born eight children: Gustav, who attended the business college in Davenport, is now operating his father's land in Lincoln township. Emma is the wife of Henry Mattice, of Lincoln township. Ferdinand, who was a pupil in the Davenport Business College. operates his farm in Pleasant township. Bernhardt, who attended the business college at Des Moines, is at home. August, who was a student in the Omaha Business College, is cultivating land in Pleasant township in connection with his brother Ferdinand. Amanda, Alma and Herbert are all at home.
Mr. Kohlschéen is independent in politics, voting for men and measures rather than for party. He has served for several terms as road overseer but
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has not been a politician in the sense of desiring office. He belong- to the Lutheran church and has lived a life of uprightness and honor, winning him high regard. Moreover, his example in a business way may well serve to encourage and inspire others who have to start out in life as he did- without capital save strong purpose and laudable ambition. In this country. where labor always finds its sure reward, he has gradually advanced until he is today one of the wealthy agriculturists of this section of the state, and his prosperity is well merited.
LOUIS HAGEDORN.
Louis Hagedorn is engaged in raising cattle and hogs on section 4, James township, where he owns and cultivates a good tract of land of one hundred and forty-seven acres. He is one of Iowa's native sons, his birth having oc- curred in Scott county, July 16, 1866. His parents were Chris and Sophia (Groth) Hagedorn, who were natives of Holstein, Germany, and are now liv- ing in Avoca, Iowa, having come to America in the early '60s. They first settled near Davenport, where they resided for five years, and then took up their abode in Council Bluffs but later removed to Pleasant township, where the father purchased two hundred and sixty-six acres of land. He then carried on general farming with good success until 1902, when he put aside further business cares and is now living retired in Avoca. His diligence and persever- ance have constituted the basis of the success which he is now enjoying and which enables him to live without further recourse to labor. Unto him and his wife were born seven children, namely: Dora, the wife of August Ruidiger of Neola, Iowa; Henry, whose home is in Pleasant township, this county: Louis; Clara, the wife of Herman Siffert of Avoca; Minnie, the wife of John Gutchlutch, also of Avoca; John, who is residing in Bentley, Iowa; and Laura. the wife of August Hager, whose home is in Knox township.
Louis Hagedorn remained at home with his father through the period of his minority and was a pupil in the public schools. On starting out in life on his own account he worked by the month as a farm hand, being thus em- ployed for three years, but desiring that his labors should more directly benefit himself he rented a farm, which he cultivated for nine years. That he pros- pered in this undertaking is indicated by the fact that on the expiration of that period he was enabled to purchase the farm upon which he now resides, com- prising one hundred and forty-seven acres on section 4. James township. Here, in addition to tilling the soil, he raises cattle and hogs of good grades and for his stock secures good prices on the market.
In 1894 Mr. Hagedorn was married to Miss Verna Rihner, who was born in Scott county, Iowa, in 1873, a daughter of Samuel and Catharine (Rush) Rihner, who were natives of Switzerland. The father died in 1905, but the mother is still living, making her home in Minden, Iowa. Their family num- bered nine children, while unto Mr. and Mrs. Hagedorn have been born two children-Herman F. and Rinehart J.
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The parents are members of the Lutheran church. They deserve much credit for what they have accomplished for they started in life empty-handed and as the years have gone by they have accumulated enough to enable them to purchase one of the finest farms in James township. They have many friends in the county and are well known socially, the hospitality of the best homes in their locality being freely accorded them. Mr. Hagedorn votes with the republican party and is in thorough sympathy with its platform and its purposes but does not seek nor desire office, preferring that his attention shall be given entirely to his business affairs, whereby he has met with a merited degree of prosperity.
GUIDO LOUIS STEMPEL, M. D.
Dr. Guido Louis Stempel, who for many years has been an active mem- ber of the medical fraternity in Pottawattamie county, practicing at Mace- donia, is perhaps even better known in connection with his studies and re- search in the lines of natural science, possessing as he does one of the finest collections of the fauna of Iowa. He was born in Drachhausen, Germany, February 19, 1836, a son of Dr. Christian Wilhelm Stempel, a retired military surgeon. His mother was the sister of his father's first wife, who died during the absence of Dr. Stempel with the German army, engaged in opposing the invasion of Napoleon and his troops. It was following his return from the war that he was married a second time and by that union there were eleven children, of whom Dr. Stempel of this review is the youngest. His mother died soon after his birth and the father was thus left to care for his large family, Guido Louis Stempel being left in charge of old Hannah, a faithful domestic, who was so good to him that he has always said he loved her as though she were his real mother. The father, who was now past sixty years of age, married a third wife, who was younger than some of his sons and daughters and not their equal in social standing. This somewhat marred the happiness of the family but not to such an extent that it lessened the love of the children for their father. Their farm lands were situated near the village of Drachhausen in the province of Brandenburg in the kingdom of Prussia.
There Dr. Stempel passed a happy boyhood, roaming in the garden among all kinds of fruits and flowers, butterflies and birds. He had, too, the care and protection of a loving father, brothers and sisters, and in his youth he attended the village school but it was his home influence and the constant intercourse with his father and the older children of the family that formed his character and marked out his path in life. He was eleven years of age when the happiness of their German home was disturbed by the political con- dition of the country prior to the outbreak of the rebellion of 1848. Antici- pating what was to come, Dr. C. W. Stempel resolved to take his family to the new world, where he might live without being subject to any potentate. At Bremen they sailed on the good ship Anna, a three masted sailing vessel,
DR. AND MRS. G. L. STEMPEL.
THE NEW YORF PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOR, LENOX AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS.
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which after a voyage of seven long weeks dropped anchor safely in the harbor of Baltimore, Maryland. The family there rested for a few days, after which they continued their journey across the Alleghanies to Brownsville on the Monongahela river, thence down that stream to the Ohio and from the Ohio proceeded up the Mississippi river to Keokuk, Iowa, being forced to land there on account of great masses of ice obstructing the river. Keokuk was at that. time a booming town and as no house or room could be rented there the family had to go on to Fort Madison, Iowa, which was situated about forty miles up the river. The next day, traveling overland, they reached Fort Madison and the father rented two rooms in which the family began housekeeping. It was their intention when spring came to resume their journey but by that time they had formed so many pleasant acquaintances that they decided to remain in the neighborhood. The father sought a place in which to invest his money and fell a victim to the sharpers. He bought a large tract of land situated on the Mississippi bottoms between Fort Madison and Burlington. He thought that he had purchased the best of land and so it looked to be, but when the spring floods came the larger portion of the district was under water from one to six feet deep. In the summer of 1848 Dr. Stempel of this review and two of his brothers moved on to the farm into a one-room log cabin. The eldest of the three officiated as manager, the second one as cook and the Doctor as roustabout, his main business being to ride over the bottoms among the grass and herbage five to six feet high, looking after the cattle and also hunting and fishing, always carrying a gun in his rambles. In 1849 the brothers all suf- fered from malaria. About that time the father sent a carpenter whom he had brought with him from Germany to build a four-room house out of hewn logs and plastered inside. This was the envy of the neighbors, who really re- garded it as an extravagance. When the house was finished late in the fall the father and the others of the family removed from town into this dwelling and the three sons thereby lost their position, becoming only common mem- bers of the family. The summer of 1849, however, brought little joy to the household, for the father died, the children were left orphans and the family was thus broken up.
Dr. Stempel, then only thirteen years of age, was the most helpless, being the youngest. Although of tender years he had to support himself. His father died at the age of seventy-two, although according to ancestral history in re- gard to longevity he should have reached the age of eighty or more. It was too late in life for him to emigrate to a wild country ; he needed rest and more comfort than it was possible to have in the wilderness of the far west.
Starting out to seek employment, Dr. Stempel hired out to a man who was engaged in the conduct of a bakery and candy business, his occupation be- ing to tend store when the proprietor was elsewhere and also to go to the steamboats with a basket filled with gingerbread to sell to the emigrants. For six months he aeted in that capacity and then hired out to a barber, who also made cigars, being employed in the cigar department. In 1852 he obtained employment in a harness shop through the influence of his brother Hugo, who was then working in the shop. Hugo Stempel has since studied law and is now an attorney of Fort Madison, Iowa. In this shop the brothers worked
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until the winter of 1853, when one luckless Sunday-or was it a lucky one- they went skating. Their employer professed to be a very religious man. His idea was that if a boy had plenty of religion, plenty of work and some- thing to eat it was all that was necessary for his earthly comfort and his hap- piness hereafter. On Monday morning, after fifteen of the boys had been skating on the river all day Sunday, the employer entered the shop with the order that such wickedness had to be stopped-that every boy had to go to Sunday school and attend the church services. Dr. Stempel, his brother and another boy, not pleased with this edict, concluded they would run away and the following night surreptitiously took their departure. They carried with them a little bundle and tramped up the Mississippi river in search of work. They passed through several towns where they were refused employment and arrived at Keithsburg, Illinois, with sore feet, heavy hearts and empty pockets and stomachs; but the tide of their fortunes turned here and they found work in a harness shop owned by a very kind-hearted man. The Stempel brothers were there employed until 1855, when they returned to Fort Madison and joined an older brother in establishing a harness shop on their own account but the new enterprise continued for only a year. In the spring of 1856 Dr. Stempel and his brother Adolph engaged in the fur business, going up the Des Moines river and its tributaries to trade for furs of all kinds. Later the Doctor and four companions undertook the trip to the gold fields of Colorado, starting in March from the Mississippi with an ox team. They proceeded as far as central Nebraska, where they met many disappointed men returning from Pike's Peak, reporting the gold boom a great humbug. Accordingly Dr. Stempel and his partner started back and on reaching the Missouri river sold their team, boarded a steamer for St. Louis and from the latter point proceeded to Fort Madison.
A decided change in the life of Dr. Stempel came in 1857, when he was twenty years of age. His brother Herman who then held the position of deputy county treasurer, had purchased a tract of hilly land near Fort Madi- son, which he intended to convert into a vineyard and orchard and Dr. Stem- pel was installed as manager of the new enterprise. This occupation was en- tirely in harmony with his inclinations and, relieved of the confining work of the shops, which was not to his taste, he felt like a bird just out of its cage. He has always loved the fresh air and the sunshine and he gladly did his work surrounded by green trees, chirping birds, bright flowers and beautifully col- ored butterflies. Nor was this all, for he was able to resume the studies which he had been forced to neglect for so long. During the long winter evenings when there was nothing to do in the vineyard he could read books, of which his brother had many. About this time he became acquainted with Dr. Au- gust Hoffmeister, who had the same desire for study and collecting of birds, beetles and butterflies. When the young men found time they would ramble in the fields and forests together in pursuit of specimens and the friendship thus formed had the greatest influence on Dr. Stempel's future life. He con- ducted his brother's vineyard until 1861, when he traded for twenty acres of hill land on the high bluffs just north of Fort Madison and on this es- tablished his home.
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On the 18th of September, 1865, Dr. Stempel was married to Miss Jo- hanna Koehler, a daughter of Charles P. Koehler, and on the 25th of August, 1867, was born their eldest son, Hugo C., who is now manager of the business of the Stewart Lumber Company at Dow City, Iowa. Their second child. Bianca O., was born August 21, 1869, and is now the wife of Charle- Me- Cready, manager of the Macedonia Implement Company. Maximilian A., born August 6, 1872, is now his father's partner and the manager of The City Drug Store at Macedonia.
In 1866, through the influence of Dr. Hoffmeister, Dr. Stempel was ap- pointed hospital steward for the Iowa penitentiary at Fort Madison and there studied medicine under the preceptorship of Dr. Hoffmeister until 1872. when he removed to Cedar Bluffs, Iowa, a village located on the Cedar river. There. by the advice of his friend and preceptor, he began the active practice of medicine, in which he met with fair success, enabling him to start the first drug store in the village. In 1879 he went to Chicago, where he did dissect- ing and attended a course in Rush Medical College. In 1884 he removed with his family to Macedonia, Pottawattamie county, Iowa, where he has since lived, and in the same year bought the drug store owned by J. M. Kelly & Company.
Being now in much easier financial circumstances, he could follow his inclination and devote much time to the study of local bird and insect life. His observations and collection of specimens have been continued for over twenty-two years with the result that he has the finest private collection in the state. He has also made two trips in the interests of the science-one to California and one to Montana and the Yellowstone National Park to study the fauna of the higher altitudes. In 1903 he became a member of the Potta- wattamie County and State Medical Societies, with which he is still identified. although he does not engage to any great extent in practice, being now in his seventy-first year and preferring to devote his time and energies to scientific research. He has the best collection of butterflies and birds in the state. Throughout his entire life he has been greatly interested in the study of orni- thology and entomology and his opinions are largely received as authority in Iowa concerning these lines of natural science. Although in his earlier years there came many hardships and difficulties in his life his lines are now cast in pleasant places.
SHERMAN S. ELLIOTT.
Sherman S. Elliott, of the Harle-Haas Drug Company, of Council Bluffs, was born on a farm in Harrison county, Iowa, January 30, 1869. His father, William Elliott, was born in England, in 1825, and came to America in early manhood. For years he resided in Harrison county, Iowa, where he died in 1897.
Sherman S. Elliott is one of the seven surviving children of the family. He was reared in his native county, spending his boyhood days on the home
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farm under the parental roof, while in the public schools of Missouri Valley in Harrison county he acquired his education, pursuing his studies to the age of sixteen years, when he entered upon his business career as an employe in a drug store in Missouri Valley. There he acquainted himself with the trade and in two and a half years had become a registered pharmacist. He remained in Missouri Valley until 1889, when he removed to Council Bluffs and opened a drug store, where he conducted business for two years. He then moved his stock to Missouri Valley, where he again carried on business, but in 1900 he returned to Council Bluffs and became interested in the present firm. In 1903 he was chosen secretary of the Harle-Haas Drug Company and is thus asso- ciated with the commercial interests of the city, being also manager of the Elliott Medicine Company of Council Bluffs.
In 1892 in this city Mr. Elliott was married to Miss Theresa Kuhn, and unto them have been born three children, Gladys Theresa, Arthur Sherman and Cornelia Clara. Mr. Elliott belongs to the Masonic fraternity and to the Modern Woodmen of America. He is now serving on the school board of Council Bluffs and is much interested in community affairs, giving active aid to various movements for the material, intellectual and social progress of the community. He is a young business man, imbued with the progressive spirit of the age, and realizing that success lies in the individual and not in any out- side condition or environment, he has worked persistently to win the measure of prosperity which he is now enjoying.
CONRAD GEISE, SR.
Conrad Geise, Sr., is proprietor of the bottling works of Council Bluffs and is conducting a successful business, putting forth the enterprise and energy so necessary to mold business interests into a prosperous outcome. He was born in Germany. November 5, 1842, and from that country made his way direct to Council Bluffs, where he arrived on the 10th of June, 1858, when about six- teen years of age. During the first summer succeeding his arrival he worked at farm labor and afterward spent two years in a brickyard. The succeeding six months were passed in the employ of Officer & Pusey, and later worked for Hagg for two years. In January, 1863, in association with Frank Hagg he took charge of the brewery which they conducted for five years, when Mr. Geise withdrew from that enterprise and established a brewery of his own, conduct- ing it until 1887, when it was closed on account of the prohibition law. He then began bottling beer and has since continued in the bottling business. In 1905 he established a cereal mill, which he is also operating, and the dual in- dustrial interests make heavy demands upon his time and attention.
In 1864, in Council Bluffs, Mr. Geise was united in marriage to Miss Ludowike Horn, and unto them have been born nine children, three of whom died in childhood, while Frederick H., whose sketch is found elsewhere in this volume. died in 1904. at the age of thirty-eight years, leaving a daughter, Marie. The other children of Mr. and Mrs. Geise are: Edwin H .; Conrad; Philip E .;
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Ludowike, the wife of Wynn Wilkinson, of Waterloo, Iowa: and Louisa, the wife of Charles Brandt, of Neola, Iowa.
Mr. Geise has membership relations with the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and with the Sons of Hermann. His political allegiance is given to the democracy and for one term be served as alderman from the first ward, in which he has always lived since coming to Council Bluffs, ahnost a half century ago. His capital was very limited at the time of his arrival here and the success he has achieved has come in recognition of his capable man- agement and unfaltering industry.
JAMES N. CASADY, JR.
The name of Casady is inextricably interwoven with the history of central and western Iowa in connection with the development of its financial interests and the work instituted by a former generation-the father and uncles of our subject-is now being continued by James N. Casady, Jr., banker, broker and real-estate dealer of Council Bluffs. Endowed by nature with a sound judg- ment and an accurate, discriminating mind. he has not feared that laborious attention to business so necessary to achieve success and this essential quality has ever been guided by a sense of moral right which would tolerate the em- ployment only of means that will bear the most rigid examination, by a fair- ness of intention that has neither sought nor required disguise.
A native resident of Council Bluffs, born June 10, 1869. he is a son of J. N. and Ellen M. Casady. The father, a pioneer of Iowa, came to this city in 1853 and organized the real-estate and banking firm of J. P. & J. N. Casady. with which he was actively connected until 1893, when J. N. Casady, Jr .. suc- ceeded to the large and increasing business of the firm, so that the family name still figures prominently in connection with the financial interests of the city. The father is now a resident of Spokane, Washington, while the mother passed away in Council Bluffs, April 6, 1904.
Passing through successive grades in the public schools, J. N. Casady. Jr .. left the high school of Council Bluffs in the year 1885 and continued hi- studies in a private school in Chicago, known as Allen Academy. situated at Nos. 1832-1836 Michigan avenue, where the home of Ferd Peck now stands. Putting aside his text-books in 1888 to take up the actual lessons of life in the school of experience, Mr. Casady entered the Des Moines Savings Bank owned by his uncle in the capital city and now the largest bank of the state. There he continued, receiving his business training under the personal direction of the Hon. P. M. Casady until 1892, after which he pursued an extra course of training in Bryant & Stratton Business College of Chicago. He completed his studies in 1893 and having acquired through technical and practical train- ing a comprehensive knowledge of the banking business, he returned home and succeeded the firm of J. P. & J. N. Casady, bankers, brokers and real-estate dealers. In 1907 the business was incorporated under the name of the J. N.
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Casady, Jr., Company. Mr. Casady has associated with him as counsel and as vice president the Hon. Emmet Tinley, one of the ablest lawyers of the west.
He possesses the ability so characteristic of the family for the successful management of financial interests, seeming to recognize almost intuitively a judicious investment. He entered business circles in this city well qualified for the responsibilities that devolved upon him and the opportunities which came to him, having received a most practical and comprehensive training in Iowa's largest banking institution. He stands today in his mature years a strong man-strong to plan and perform, strong in his credit and good name, his record adding new laurels to an untarnished family history. He has been connected as director with several other enterprises bearing upon the business activity and consequent prosperity of the city. In addition to the banking and brokerage business the Casady Company takes charge of estates and man- ages property for non-resident tax-payers. They have a large acquaintance in financial circles and are enabled to obtain loans, mortgages, bonds and first class collateral at the lowest rate-in fact are equipped to carry through to a successful issue all business placed in their hands. They represent the Pru- dential Insurance Company as special agents and travel over Iowa also for the Standard Fire Insurance Company of Iowa located at Keokuk, Mr. Casady be- ing state agent.
On the 24th of July, 1903, Mr. Casady was married at Burlington, Kan- sas, to Miss Henrietta Ewing Cowgill. Her father, now deceased, was one of the prominent representatives of the professional life in Kansas and Cowgill, Missouri, was named in his honor. In his fraternal relations Mr. Casady is an Elk, having joined Council Bluffs lodge, No. 531, B. P. O. E., in the year 1902, when Hon. Emmet Tinley was exalted ruler. Mr. Casady has been treasurer of the Driving Park Association for many years of the Council Bluffs Roadster Club, an association which indicates what is to him a favorite sport and relaxa- tion from the onerous cares of a large and complex business. Politically he is an old line democrat. As an energetic, upright and conscientious business man and a gentleman of attractive social qualities, he stands high in the esti- mation of the community.
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