USA > Iowa > Wapello County > History of Wapello County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 17
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ROY W. JOHNSTON.
Roy W. Johnston, who is a representative of important man- ufacturing interests in Ottumwa, was one of the organizers and promoters of the Johnston & Sharp Manufacturing Company and the Johnston Pressed Gear Company. He was born in Ot- tumwa, July 18, 1876, and is a member of one of the old and prominent families here. He is a son of Allen and Elizabeth (Wiley) Johnston, of whom extended mention is made in another part of this work.
After attending the Ottumwa schools, Roy W. Johnston spent a year in the Chicago Polytechnic School and was subse-
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quently employed by the Johnston Ruffler Company and the Ottumwa Iron Works, serving his apprenticeship with these enterprises. He then engaged in business for himself, his firm developing into the Johnston & Sharp Manufacturing Com- pany. He subsequently also became one of the promoters of the Johnston Pressed Gear Company. In business affairs he has proven himself farsighted and sagacious and has shown an extraordinary amount of executive force in all his transactions. Moreover, he has a great capacity for detail and keeps in touch with all matters which affect his business. In building up two important industries he has largely added to the prosperity of Ottumwa and has become a factor in its growth. All the arti- cles manufactured by his firms are made under their own pat- ents, and the business has now reached gratifying proportions and is steadily growing.
On the 26th of October, 1906, Mr. Johnston was united in marriage to Miss Jessie Mabel Fair, who was born in Agency, Wapello county, a daughter of E. D. and Sarah (Giltner) Fair. Her father was formerly connected with the Fair, Williams Company, bridge builders, but is now living retired in Agency. Mrs. Johnston holds membership with the Daughters of the American Revolution.
Politically Mr. Johnston is a republican where national issues are involved, but casts an independent local ballot, taking into consideration only the qualifications of a candidate and not his party affiliations. Both he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, in which he is serving as one of the trustees, and of whose choir Mrs. Johnston is a member. He is popular in the Country and Wapello Clubs, in which he has many friends. His entire life has been passed in Ot- tumwa, where he has gained many warm friendships in recogni- tion of his substantial qualities of character.
PETER WINTER, SR.
The writer of this biography called upon Peter Winter, Sr., the day after he had celebrated the ninetieth anniversary of his birth, finding him a most interesting and entertaining old gentle- man, well known in Ottumwa and in this county. He was born in Lorraine, Germany, March 29, 1824, and is a son of John
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MR. AND MRS. PETER WINTER, SR.
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and Katharine (Hovener) Winter. The father's birth occurred in Lorraine, France, in 1785, and the mother was born in the same province in 1793, the former being thirty years of age when the province of Lorraine was ceded to Germany by France. He was a recruit of the French army and was on the way to join the Napoleonic troops when the battle of Waterloo was fought. On the 18th of May, 1841, the family landed at New Orleans, having crossed the Atlantic in the sailing ship Marengo, which was forty-five days in completing that voyage. In the party were father and mother and six children, who made their way up the Mississippi river and on to Cincinnati, Ohio, where they arrived on the 28th of May. There they continued until July 3, when they went to a farm in Rush county, Indiana. The father there died of fever in 1845, while the mother, who long survived him, passed away in Ottumwa, December 31, 1877, being then almost eighty-five years of age. He had made farm- ing his life work and thus provided for the support of his family, which numbered six children: Nicholas, who died in Madison, Indiana, about 1890; Peter; John, who passed away in Cin- cinnati in 1851; Catherine, who became the wife of John Hirschauer and died in Shelby county, Indiana; Annie, who is the widow of John Bauer, of Ottumwa, and was eighty-two years of age in January, 1914; and Jacob, who died in Pueblo, Colorado, in 1897.
Peter Winter spent much of his youth in his native land and then accompanied his parents to the new world. Six years after his arrival, or on the 3d of May, 1847, he was married in Rush county, Indiana, to Catherine Hirschauer, who was born April 17, 1822, in Lorraine, Germany, and was a schoolmate of her husband in their childhood days. They came to America on the same ship and for thirty-five years they traveled life's journey together as husband and wife, but Mrs. Winter passed away on the 16th of October, 1882.
Following his marriage Mr. Winter went to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he learned the trade of boiler making. He dis- played energy and adaptability in his work and after two years he was made foreman of the factory. He spent seven and a half years in Cincinnati, remaining for more than five years in the employ of one man. In 1856 Mr. Winter came to Ottumwa, arriving on the 26th of April. The journey was made by boat to Keokuk, covering eleven days, and thence by prairie schooner to his destination. For forty-five years he resided on one farm Vol. II-12
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on Sugar Creek, two miles east of Ottumwa, and still owns that property, which now comprises two hundred and ten acres of rich and arable land. When he retired from farming, however, he was the owner of seven hundred acres, but has since disposed of much of this, not wishing to be burdened with the care of so large a property. When he went to Cincinnati he had a wife and baby and seven dollars in money, together with a small amount of household furniture. At that time cholera was prevalent in the city. Mr. Winter went to work for a dollar per day and for a year was employed at that wage. He was busy every day and some times worked at night. Industry has ever been one of his salient characteristics and has constituted the foundation of his splendid success. He carefully saved his earnings and when he left Ohio for lowa he had saved twenty- two hundred dollars, or enough to enable him to purchase one hundred and sixteen acres of land. He was making thirty-five dollars per week when he gave up his position in the boiler factory, but he was there compelled to work Sundays and often at night and he felt that he preferred to get into some district in which he might see the sun and not spend all of his life in the grime and smoke of the shop. Accordingly, he came to Iowa, and here he has lived the life of the Iowa farmer, finding the soil rich and productive, responding readily to the care and labor he has bestowed upon it. As time passed on he added to his holdings until his landed possessions aggregated seven hun- dred acres and from his property he derived a gratifying annual income. At the present time his investments give him a good living, supplying him with all of the comforts and many of the luxuries of life.
To Mr. and Mrs. Winter were born the following children : Peter, who is now living at Pine Bluff, Arkansas ; two daughters who died in infancy ere the family left Cincinnati; John, who died in this county at the age of seven years; Nicholas, a resident farmer of Center township; Mary, at home; Catherine, the wife of David Kelly, of Center township; Rosa, who is with her father; and Elizabeth, who died in 1884, at the age of twenty years; Mr. and Mrs. Winter also reared an adopted son, Frank, who is now in Seattle, Washington.
Mr. Winter donated labor and money for the building of all three Catholic churches here. He has been a life long member of the Catholic church and his family are also members. He was in Cincinnati at the time that the Know-Nothing movement was
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at its height and says that made a democrat of him. He has held some road and school offices, but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking. Honesty has been one of his outstanding characteristics and although at one time in his life he was obliged to practice very strict economy he has never failed to scrupu- lously meet all of his financial obligations and he has only given two notes, which were fully paid. He is a remarkably well preserved man both physically and mentally for one of his years. His eyesight and hearing are but slightly impaired, and he has splendid command of all of his faculties. He has never regretted his determination to come to Iowa and leave the city, for here he found good business opportunities and gradually worked his way upward until he had won most gratifying success.
FRANK P. HOFMANN.
Frank P. Hofmann has for the past twelve years been identi- fied with business interests in Ottumwa as proprietor of a drug store in the Hofmann building and has been accorded a gratify- ing patronage. His birth occurred in Ottumwa, this county, on the 22d of November, 1876. His father, Bernhard Hofmann, a native of Germany, came to Iowa about 1870 and has been con- nected with business interests here as a manufacturer of oatmeal and as a brewer and also as a real-estate operator. He erected the Hofmann building, one of the foremost office structures in Ottumwa, and is still giving his attention to the supervision of his varied business interests. His wife, who bore the maiden name of Maria Schlagater, is a native of New York city and was but one year old when brought by her parents to Wapello county, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Bernhard Hofmann have six surviving children, as follows: Carrie, who is the wife of J. F. Dings of Ottumwa; Frank P., of this review; Dora, the wife of Monroe A. Thompson, of Tacoma, Washington; Wilhelmina, at home; Ralph C., a resident of Los Angeles; and George B., living in Salt Lake City.
Frank P. Hofmann acquired his early education in the com- mon schools of this county and also attended a boarding school in St. Louis, while subsequently he spent two years as a student in the State University of Iowa, of Iowa City. In 1902 he was graduated from the Northwestern University of Chicago with
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the degree of Ph. G. The same year he opened a drug store in the Hofmann building in Ottumwa and has conducted the same continuously since, carrying an extensive and attractively ar- ranged stock of drugs and druggists' sundries and being accorded a liberal patronage.
On the 4th of October, 1905, Mr. Hofmann was united in marriage to Miss Isabelle Matson, a native of Chicago, Illinois, and a daughter of C. R. and Isabelle (Anderson) Matson. Her father served as sheriff of Cook county during all the anarchist trouble, including the Haymarket riot, and gained renown as "the man that tamed the anarchist." Some of the most famous cases of Cook county came up during his incumbency as sheriff, one of these being the Cronin case. Both Mr. and Mrs. Matson are now deceased. The former was a thirty-third degree Mason -an honored and prominent representative of the fraternity. Mrs. Matson was a well known club woman, belonging to the Chicago Woman's Club and many other organizations. The maternal grandfather of Mrs. Isabelle Hofmann founded the first Lutheran church in Chicago. The wife of our subject pursued a high-school course in Chicago and was also graduated from Mount Holyoke College with the degree of A. B. She is a member of the Tourist and Fortnightly Clubs and for one year acted as president of the Woman's Club. By her marriage she has become the mother of one son, Philip Bernhard, who was born on the 25th of May, 1909.
Mr. Hofmann is a popular member of the Wapello and Country Clubs and is also connected with the Beta Theta Pi and Theta Nu Epsilon fraternities. His religious faith is that of the Episcopal church. In his native city he is widely recog- nized as an esteemed and public-spirited citizen and one whose cooperation can be counted upon to further any measure or movement calculated to promote the general welfare.
M. W. POLING.
M. W. Poling is not only well known in the electric business in Ottumwa, as president of the Poling Electric Company, but has interests of a similar character in other cities of Iowa and also is part owner of the Iowa Auto Sales Company of Ottumwa. His experience along his line if very extensive, for
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he has for many years been connected with electric light and power plants in various parts of the country. His success has come to him on account of his wide knowledge, his experience and business ability. He was born in Ottumwa, Wapello county, Iowa, December 24, 1868. His father is N. S. Poling, who was born in what is now West Virginia, near Grafton, April 28, 1838. He came to Iowa in 1865 to profit by the agri- cultural conditions presented by the rich prairie lands and was successful in this occupation. He now lives retired at 515 Ham- ilton street, Ottumwa. Mr. Poling, Sr., was a Confederate sol- dier and had the distinction of serving under Stonewall Jackson in the Army of the Potomac. Mr. Poling married Catherine Smith, who was born in Maryland, June 10, 1838. They had four children besides our subject, as follows: James F., who is connected with the Poling Electric Company, and of whom further mention is made in another part of this work; Mary Alva, at home; Lulu, deceased; and Harry Leroy, member of the firm of Cramblit & Poling.
M. W. Poling was reared on his father's farm and in the acquirement of his education attended the common schools. He remained on the homestead until 1892, when he joined the Gen- eral Electric Company of Schenectady, New York. He remained with this firm for about one year and then removed to Albia, Iowa, where he joined A. R. Jackson in installing the electric plant. He next was with the Ottumwa Railway & Light Company for about thirteen years, at the end of which time he and his brother, James F., established themselves inde- pendently under the firm name of the Poling Electric Com- pany. By his former extensive experience he was well fitted for engaging in business on his own account, and that he pos- sessed the necessary business ability he subsequently proved. The Poling Electric Company is engaged in the installation of lights and motors and are doing both inside and outside work. Mr. Poling is, moreover, part owner and president of an elec- tric store at Burlington known as the Home Electric Company. The Poling brothers also own a store at Albia. On January 9, 1911, M. W. Poling bought a part of the business of the Iowa Auto Sales Company, and he is now manager of this concern, which is owned by his brother, himself and one other partner, Andrew Lames. Ottumwa is to be congratulated upon having among its business men, men of the capability and initative of Mr. Poling, who from small beginnings has built up important
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business interests. In an indirect way he has thereby largely benefited his city and other sections of the state and has been a force in the general development.
On February 20, 1906, M. W. Poling married Miss Kath- erine Cecil, who was born in Muscatine county and is a daugh- ter of A. J. and Elizabeth ( Fullmer) Cecil, the former a farmer and both yet living in Muscatine.
Mr. Poling is a democrat. Although his many business interests have not permitted him to actively enter the political field yet he is public-spirited and ever interested in matters of public advancement. Fraternally he is prominent, being a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Royal Arcanum, and the Independent Order of Foresters. He is highly esteemed and well liked by all who know him in busi- ness, social and fraternal circles and by his active and honor- able life gives a worthy example of what American citizenship should consist of.
CHARLES T. SULLIVAN.
Charles T. Sullivan, a prominent and successful business man of Ottumwa, is an undertaker who has been identified with that work here for the past twenty-six years. His birth occurred in Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio, on the 22d of March, 1854, his parents being Henry Howard and Sarah ( Engle) Sul- livan, the former born in Baltimore, Maryland, on the 6th of June, 1807, and the latter in Columbus, Ohio, on the 20th of February, 1829. In the year 1858 the family journeyed by wagon to Ellisville, Fulton county, Illinois, where Henry H. Sullivan was engaged in business as a wholesale and retail boot and shoemaker. For many years he served as overseer of the poor at that place. He passed away in Ellisville on the 6th of February, 1891, but his widow still survives and makes her home there. They became the parents of eleven children, as follows: Ellen and William, both of whom are deceased ; Charles T., of this review; Milton; Alice, who has also passed away; Andrew; Joseph; Katie, deceased; Flora; Belle, and Irvin.
Charles T. Sullivan, who was but four years old when his parents established their home in Ellisville, Ilinois, there
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remained until twenty-three years of age. He attended the common schools in the acquirement of an education and was a youth of sixteen when he first helped in the burial preparations of a corpse. He also assisted a chum whose father dealt in cof- fins and became interested in the work in that way. His first instructions in embalming were received from Professor Per- rigo, in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1886, while subsequently he received training under Professor Sullivan, a noted embalmer of the United States, and under Professor Clark. In later years he worked under the preceptorship of Professor William Hohen- schuh, one of the most noted embalmers in the world. A license was then granted him-No. 234-and for the past seven years he has practiced under license No. 1087. He came to Ottumwa, Iowa, in February, 1888, and identified himself with the firm of Workman & Truitt, while later he was associated with Work- man & Bayliss. Subsequently he became a member of the firm of Harned & Sullivan, which was afterward changed to Mcintyre & Sullivan, and eventually he became an associate of E. L. Scott under the firm style of Scott & Sullivan. Since January, 1904, he has been engaged in business alone under the style of Charles T. Sullivan and in the intervening decade has buried more than twenty-five hundred people. He carries his own casketware, has a morgue and funeral chapel, an ambu- lance, etc. In January, 1909, he moved into his present build- ing, which he erected. The structure comprises three floors and basement and includes ten modern flats. Mr. Sullivan is assisted by Walter Roscoe, a licensed embalmer, who has been with him for nine years, and also Carroll MI. Reese, who is pur- suing a course in the work. Mrs. Sullivan has charge of the books, and it is to her that our subject generously attributes much of his success.
On the 29th of April, 1891, Mr. Sullivan was united in mar- riage to Mrs. Rena Monnett, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Henry C. Houk, who were born and reared in Kcosauqua, Van Buren county, Iowa. Her father was killed at the battle of Fort Don- elson, in the Civil war, and her mother died suddenly at the home of her son-in-law, Charles T. Sullivan, on the roth of March, 1913, when eighty-four years of age.
In his political views Mr. Sullivan is independent, support- ing men and measures rather than party. He is a supporter of the First Methodist church, joining that denomination in Ful- ton county, Illinois, in 1875. In 1884 he joined the local lodge
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of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Shenandoah, Iowa, and in the same week became connected with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, now holding membership in Ottumwa. He likewise belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America, the Woodmen of the World, the Rebekahs, the Knights and Ladies of Security and the Yeomen. At all times he has been true to the obligations and responsibilities that have devolved upon him in every relation of life, so that he well merits the esteem and good-will which are uniformly accorded him.
ALLEN JOHNSTON.
Allen Johnston was born in Muskingum county, Ohio, in 1848, and was a little lad of seven summers when the family removed to Iowa, settling on a farm a mile northeast of Blakes- burg. Allen Johnston had the usual experiences of the farm lad until nineteen years of age, when, in 1867, he left the farm and took up the study of dentistry in Ottumwa under his brother, W. T. Johnston, who was also agent for the Singer sewing machine. The younger brother took a greater interest in the sale and mechanism of sewing machines than in dentistry, and, therefore, directed his energies in that direction. From an early age he had displayed inventive genius. In this connection a contemporary biographer has written :
"In 1862, while carpenters were working on the erection of a new frame house on the farm, he sat watching them as they used the crank auger and chisel in making the mortices, and he conceived the idea of putting a chisel on the auger, so that the work of the auger and chisel would be done by the same crank at the same time, and thus the auger would throw out all the chips made by the chisel, forming a square hole. He explained his the- ory to the workmen and they thought there was a possibility of making a tool of that kind, but their remarks were of such a char- acter as to discourage his saying anything further about it. Later such a patent was taken out by other parties and became a very valuable discovery. He was not like most boys on the farm, and although he was eager for sports and spent much time in that way, he passed most of his leisure hours at home working in a little shop which he had fixed up in the attic. He spent his spare cash (which was small in amount) for tools and chemicals, with
ALLEN JOHNSTON
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which to make experiments. When young he made wagons and sleds. In his neighborhood hazel nuts were plentiful and young Johnston made a machine to hull them. He made silver and gold rings for the neighboring children, also repaired revolvers, guns and other implements. It was while selling sewing machines that Mr. Johnston first began to make extensive use of his inventive power along commercial lines. The first patent he worked on was taken out by his brother, W. T. John- ston, in 1869, and was an embroidery attachment for sewing machines. His second invention was a ruffler attachment, which was made by him in his brother's dental office; they were first sold by canvassing from house to house. As trade increased there was a demand for more room and they moved into the third story of a Main street building, where he made tools with which to manufacture the celebrated Johnston rufflers. The first ma- chinery was propelled by hand, through the aid of a large grind- stone. The old grindstone was soon replaced by an engine and more spacious quarters were taken on Court street, where a large store room was secured. Business grew rapidly and soon thirty hands were employed. The company was known as W. T. John- ston & Company, consisting of W. T. Johnston, Allen Johnston, W. T. Major, J. T. Hackworth and J. G. Hutchison. In the spring of 1871 they bought a lot in the middle of the block they now occupy and thereon built a factory, thirty by sixty feet in dimensions and two stories high, thinking that structure would accommodate all the business the firm would ever have; but this was a mistake, as business increased rapidly and they had to add to their capacity until the entire block was covered by one solid building. In 1872 the concern was organized as a corporation under the title of the Johnston Ruffler Company, the incorpo- rators being J. T. Hackworth, Allen Johnston, W. T. Major and J. G. Hutchison. The last named gentleman sold his business after a few years and A. G. Harrow was admitted into the cor- poration. The largest amount of business done by them was during the period from 1882 to 1892. The Johnston Ruffler Company had in its employ over five hundred employes.
"Allen Johnston took out patents on various sewing machine attachments and they were all manufactured by the Johnston Ruffler Company until recent years. Most of the sewing ma- chine patents have been sold to an eastern corporation, and the Ottumwa Iron Works, which now occupy the plant formerly ยท operated by the Johnston Ruffler Company and which are con-
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trolled and managed by the same gentlemen who promoted the latter company, now manufacture other machinery patented by Mr. Johnston. Mr. Johnston's patents for the automatic screw machines were among the first secured for that kind of ma- chinery. These machines were manufactured and sold for a time by the Johnston Ruffler Company and the Ottumwa Iron Works, but, the patents having been finally sold to other parties, they ceased to manufacture the machines. Among the many other patents taken out by Mr. Johnston the latest and most important are machines for the manufacture of cutlery.
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