USA > Iowa > Woodbury County > Sioux City > Past and present of Sioux City and Woodbury County, Iowa > Part 30
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
MICHAEL HAWK.
In America labor is king. It is the only sovereign which our liberty-loving people ac- knowledge and it has been the foundation of the great successes which have been achieved in America from the time of the earliest coloni- zation of the new world down to the present. The record which American citizens hold in greatest esteem is that of the self-made man, one whose own energy and sound judgment have enabled him to make steady progress on the highway of life and ultimately gain the goal of success.
Michael Hawk is a representative of this class. He is now engaged in business as a lathing contractor in Sioux City. He was born in Wayne county, Ohio, December 20, 1846, a son of Henry and Fannie Hawk, both of whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The mother died in 1889 but the father is now living in Columbus City, Indiana. The son was edu- cated in the county of his nativity, attending the public schools, and when fifteen years of age he started to work by the month as a farm hand, being thus employed until June, 1864. At that time he put aside business and personal considerations for he felt that his country need- ed his services and that his first duty was to the Union. He, therefore, enlisted in Com- pany I, Seventy-eighth Infantry, and was dis- charged in June, 1865. During that period he rendered active and helpful service to the northern cause and when the war was over he served for three years with the regular army. On the expiration of that period he returned to Wayne county and began the business of lathing. Hle removed from Ohio to Indiana and afterward became a resident of White
Lake, South Dakota, while in 1888 he took up his abode in Leeds, a suburb of Sioux City. He has since been engaged in business here as a lathing contractor and a large patronage has been accorded him because of his efficiency in the line of his chosen occupation and also by reason of his honorable business dealing.
On the 17th of August, 1878, Mr. Hawk was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Coombe, a danghter of Nicholas and Mary Coombe. They have two children: May, who is now the wid- ow of Phil Halzer, of Sioux City; and Nicho- las, who is married and resides at No. 4037 Harrison avenue, Sioux City. The family are members of the Episcopal church and during their residence here have become widely and favorably known, winning the friendship of many with whom they have come in contact.
BENJAMIN F. JENNINGS.
Benjamin Franklin Jennings, deceased, was for many years actively engaged in the hotel business in Hornick, where he became widely and favorably known and as a reliable citizen and business man he contributed to the im- provement and upbuilding of the town, so that his death was the occasion of uniform and sin- cere sorrow in his part of the county.
Mr. Jennings was a native of Ohio, his birth having occurred there in 1834. He came of Pennsylvania-Dutch and of English and Ger- man descent, his ancestors having settled in Pennsylvania at an early day. He removed from Ohio to Illinois and afterward to eastern Iowa, arriving in this state seven years before its admission into the Union. He located in Marion county, casting in his lot with the pio- neer settlers and bearing his full share in the ardnons task of developing and improving a new district. He seenred a traet of land which he at once began to cultivate, although not a furrow had been turned or an improvement made when the land came into his possession.
352
PAST AND PRESENT OF WOODBURY COUNTY
There he carried on general farming until after the outbreak of the Civil war when his sym- pathies being aroused in behalf of the Union he offered his services to the government and served for three years and eleven days as a member of Company II, Fortieth Regiment of Iowa Infantry. He enlisted at Red Rock, Marion county, participated in several skir- mishes, but was never wounded, and spent the last year of his service at Little Rock, Arkansas.
When the war was over Mr. Jennings was honorably discharged and returned to his home in Marion county. There in December, 1865, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary E. Jones, a daughter of T. P. and Eleanor (Boyd) Jones, formerly of Delaware and Virginia. Mrs. Jennings was born in Hancock county, Indiana, November 29, 1839, and after their marriage they continued to reside in Marion county, where Mr. Jennings carried on agricul- tural pursuits. About twenty years ago they came to Woodbury county, settling on a tract of land on which he engaged in general farm- ing and stock-raising for three years. He then took up his abode in Hornick, where he estab- lished a hotel, which he conducted until his death. He was a well read man, keeping in touch with the progress of the age through read- ing and observation. He was left fatherless at the age of five years and largely made his own way in the world, whatever success he achieved being due entirely to his enterprise and careful management. In citizenship he was always as trne to his country as when he enlisted in de- fense of the old flag, and in private life he was found trustworthy. He was a man of fine personal appearance, five feet eight inches in height, with good physique and weighing about one hundred and fifty-five pounds. ITis com- plexion was dark and he had black hair and black eyes.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Jennings were born seven children : Laura E., wife of G. L. Washburn, residing near Gesses, South Dakota, by whom she has thirteen children; Minnie E., wife of
Jay Branam, of Sioux City; Wesley G., of Monona county, Iowa, who married Hulda Jane Scott, by whom he has four children; Cora M., who is a traveling saleslady and makes her home with her mother; Elmer C., a traveling salesman ; Grace M., the wife of William Bat- man, of Moville, Iowa, by whom she has three children ; and Eva M., who is in the county re- eorder's office in Sioux City.
After the death of Mr. Jennings his widow with her son and daughter, Elmer and Cora, continued to conduct the hotel until 1903, and they are still residents of Hornick. The son, born in 1875, is said to strongly resemble his father in personal appearance and is a young man of excellent business ability with a bright future before him.
AUGUST GRONINGER.
Angust Groninger, whose full name was Jo- hann Diedrich Angust Groninger, came to Woodbury county in 1857. He was born in Elsfleth, Germany, December 24, 1828, and, as is nsnal in Germany, was called by the last of his baptismal names-August. His parents were Rev. Frederick and Helen (Ahlers) Groninger, who were natives of Elsfleth, where they spent their lives. The father was a min- ister of the Lutheran church. He devoted his life to his holy calling, having retired from the active ministry only six years before his death in 1866. August was the eldest of three broth- ers. One brother, William, still resides in Munich, Germany, and Adolph is a farmer at Blue Mound, Illinois.
August Groninger was provided with liberal educational advantages, being instructed in the common schools and by a private tutor until he was fifteen years of age. He then went to Bremen, where he received his business train- ing for five years in the employ of the old and well known firm of Hagendorf & Grote. Thus well equipped to meet the practical and
A. Groningen
355
PAST AND PRESENT OF WOODBURY COUNTY
responsible duties of a business career, he sailed 15, 1903. He was not an office secker, but he for America when twenty years of age. He served for two terms as city treasurer, was a spent a few months in a wholesale drug house in New York city, and then went to Baltimore, Maryland, where he was employed in a whole- sale tobacco house for a short time. After spending three years as elerk in a hardware store in Chillicothe, Ohio, he returned to New York city, where he secured a position as book- keeper in a bank. member of the city council for several years, and was also for several years a member of the school board. Mr. Groninger's labor in behalf of the city and its welfare was effective and beneficial. Ilis political allegiance was ever given the Republican party from the time he took out his naturalization papers. He joined the Masonie fraternity in New York Two years later he started west. He pur- chased a stock of shelf hardware in Cincinnati, Ohio, and shipped it by boat to Sioux City. From that time until his death Mr. Groninger was a resident of Sioux City. At the time of his arrival this was a wild country. Wolves were heard howling at night and wild game was plentiful. Sioux City was just entering upon the period of its pioneer development and progress. Mr. Groninger built a small store- room on Pearl street, between Second and Third, in which he put his stock of hardware. in 1853 and was one of the oldest members of the order here, having become a charter mem- ber of Landmark Lodge, A. F. & A. M., of Sioux City. Mr. and Mrs. Groninger joined the Unitarian church on its organization in 1885. He was a very charitable man, extend- ing a helping hand to the poor and needy and also giving generous assistance to every public measure which he believed would contribute to the substantial growth or to the educational and moral development of his community. He had a wide acquaintance throughout northwest- On the 8th of September, 1860, Mr. Gron- inger married Miss Caroline Reinke, of Meek- lenburg, Germany, born March 11, 1844. Mr. and Mrs. Groninger had but one child, Fritz, who was born November 29, 1874. He was killed by accident, being thrown from his pony, May 14, 1888. ern Iowa and had so endeared himself to the people of Sioux City and Woodbury county that his death was regarded as a publie calam- ity and the sorrow manifested was deep and sineerc. He built the residence that is still occupied by Mrs. Groninger, who is prominent in social circles and whose home is notable for its generous and attractive hospitality.
For many years Mr. and Mrs. Groninger lived in a small house just back of the store. Mr. Groninger found it difficult to get a start in business, owing to the unsettled condition of the country. He had his periods of adver- sity and prosperity, as times were good or bad. He bought all of his goods in Cincinnati and shipped them by boat. One fall the boat, on which was the entire stock of goods that he had purchased for the spring trade, sank and he lost all of his hardware. He persevered, how- ever, in the face of all difficulties and at length built up a large trade. He continued in the business for twenty-four years and then in 1881 sold out to F. C. Hills.
Mr. Groninger's death occurred December
WILHELM REINKE.
Wilhelm Reinke was born in Hagenow, Mecklenburg, Schwerin, Germany, April 17, 1813. He was edueated in the common schools of the town up to his fourteenth year, when he was apprenticed to a locksmith and there- after he followed the trade for many years. On the 25th day of May, 1837, he was married to Mary Warnholz, from Lubthen, a neigh- boring village. Six children were born to them in Germany, but only two lived to grow to maturity. Mrs. Caroline Groninger and
356
PAST AND PRESENT OF WOODBURY COUNTY
Mrs. Julia Hainer, who still reside in Sioux river, so all the lumber was carried across on City.
In 1851 he emigrated with his family to America, starting from Bremen in a sailing vessel and landing at New Orleans, Louisiana, seven weeks later. They lived in New Or- leans, and at Covington, across lake Pontchar- train, for two years, but the climate in the swampy south proving detrimental to their health, they went to Dubuque, Iowa, traveling by boat up the Mississippi river. For four years their home was in Dubuque. As proper- ty was very high there and Mr. Reinke was anxious to procure a home he took a trip across the state in search of a new location. Mr. Reinke, Henry Cordna and two others were chosen a committee to purchase land for a com- pany of Germans, who also wanted to make homes for themselves elsewhere, as prices of real estate were far beyond their reach in Dn- buque. These four men started across the state with a team in July, 1856, enduring ter- rible hardships as there were no roads to fol- low. At times the team was almost sunk in the sloughs.
Sioux City had just been started, and con- sisted of only a few log huts rudely constructed, a few sodhouses and the stores, which were conducted in tents, mostly situated on Second street between the mouth of Perry creek and the present Milwaukee depot. The commit- tee purchased a traet from Austin Cole, known as Cole's addition. There being no land office or any way of transferring the property it was necessary to build a house and live upon it. After the committee had returned to Dubuque and made their report Mr. Reinke was asked to return to Sioux City and represent the com- pany, which he did in October of that same year.
During his absence Sanborn & Follett had sawed cottonwood trees into lumber, enabling him to construet a small house, situated on Sev- enth street opposite the present Floyd ceme- tery. There was no bridge across the Floyd
a rudely constructed boat, and carried from the river ou Mr. Reinke's back. While carrying the door for this house from the town to Cole's addition, although starting on a bright clear morning, he was overtaken by a terrible bliz- zard, and carried away, losing the door and was himself blown against a sodhouse occupied by Mr. and Mrs. John Gertz, where he found shelter for three days, until the storm was over. That same winter Mr. Reinke built a small house, twelve by twelve feet, at Seventh and Water streets, to be used as a gunsmith shop. He found work enough to make a live- lihood for himself repairing guns for the In- dians, the hunters and trappers, and the few white settlers. The winter of 1856-57 will be remembered by old people as an unusually severe one, and before the first boat was able to come up the river with provisions the stock of supplies was exhausted and friends would borrow or lend a pint or quart of flour, meal or beans to keep one another alive.
In May, 1857, Mr. Reinke was joined by his family, who had come from Duhuque by boat, going down the river to St. Louis and up the Missouri, spending five weeks and two days on the way. Mr. Reinke had grown so thin from the exposures and lack of food that his family did not recognize him upon their ar- rival in Sioux City. During that summer Sioux City had a miniature boom and Mr. Reinke purchased a quarter block of land in eentral Sioux City, building a house of five rooms, two of which were lathed and plastered - an almost unknown Inxury at that time. There the family resided and the daughters were married. At length the repeated over- flowing of the Floyd river drove most of the settlers away and Mr. Reinke purchased the quarter block, corner of Eighth and Nebraska street, where he built a cottage for himself and wife, building one house after another until the block was filled. In 1887 Mr. and Mrs. Reinke celebrated their golden wedding, invit-
WILLIAM REINKE.
MRS. M. W. REINKE.
361
PAST AND PRESENT OF WOODBURY COUNTY
ing all the old friends of their acquaintances. The couple lived together for fifty-seven years. Mr. Reinke died December 10, 1893. He was a great home lover and never voluntarily spent an evening away from his family during his married life.
MARY WARNHOLZ REINKE.
"Happy women, like happy nations, have no history," says some one, writing from the standpoint of the old idea of what is of im- portance. But if history means a record of those forces and influences that have produced the present, then surely all that make for hu- man life, for human character, and human destiny must enter in. Our historians ignore this when they write of men only in making up the records of the early days. There are factors in our life of to-day that can be under- stood only as we know of the life of the pio- neer women. Patience and courage are not virtues peculiar to either sex and are to be honored wherever found. In our appreciation of the past should we not offer homage to the woman who, given a log cabin and her wits, could make a home, comfortable, restful and attractive ? Should we not reverence the mem- ory of a woman who, given pork, corn and cof- fee, could furnish three good meals a day with a varied bill of fare, who through drouth, pes- tilence and famine, through disappointment, sickness and death, kept her faith in the Eter- nal Goodness and her belief in the final tri- umph of the right ? Should we not honor those women, who with such indomitable en- ergy and perseverance made dark places bright, crooked places straight, hard places easy and with it all kept peace in the family ? Should we not honor them as we would honor the mem- ory of a sea captain who, with leaking ship and broken rudder, brought his vessel safe to port despite opposing currents and contrary winds ? It is because we honor such patient,
faithful service that we write of Mary Warn- holz Reinke.
Mary Warnholz was the fourth child in the family of seven children of William and Doro- thea Warnholz. They lived in the village of Luebthen, Mecklenburg, and here the little girl was born November 11, 1814. She married Wilhehn Reinke, May 25, 1838, and with him came to America in a sailing vessel in 1851. They landed in New Orleans and remained in Louisiana for two years. The climate prov- ing inhospitable the family moved to Dubuque, but still not contented, four years later they came to Sioux City. That they might avoid the weariness of overland travel, Mrs. Reinke with her children made the journey by boat, which meant over thirty-seven days were spent in going from Dubuque to St. Louis on the Mississippi and from St. Louis to Sioux City.
In 1857 Sioux City had few comforts to offer to people of limited means. Of the six children born to Mr. and Mrs. Reinke only two were living, Caroline and Julia. The fam- ily of four made their home in one room, twelve feet square, which stood on the corner of Seventh and Water streets. The house was without lath or plaster, and had but one win- dow, in front of which stood the father's work- bench. In addition to this a bed, trundle bed. table, stove and benches for chairs made up the furniture of the little room, but the at- mosphere of the true home was there, for the spirit of hospitality was ever there. Two men, Fred and Christian Doss, were without a home and they were cordially invited to become mem- bers of this household. An opening large enough for a man to enter was made in the gable end of the small house, two sheets were sewed together and the bag filled with dried weeds for a bed, and the guest-room in the garret was ready.
For fifty-seven years this faithful, untiring, loyal wife labored on, ever ambitions for her children, doing each day her best for them and for her husband and friends. Thus her life
362
PAST AND PRESENT OF WOODBURY COUNTY
rounded itself to its close May 27, 1894. When the great novelist wrote: "That things are not so ill with you and me as they might have been, is half owing to the men and women who have lived faithfully a hidden life and now rest in unvisited tombs," she described well the pioneer men and women of the great northwest.
DAVID C. ROWLAND, M. D.
Dr. David C. Rowland, who since 1885 has engaged in the practice of medicine in Sioux City, has not feared that laborious attention to duty and the close and earnest study which make the successful physician and in his profes- sional labors here his efforts have been of signal benefit to his fellow men as well as a source of fair income to himself.
Dr. Rowland was born in Litchfield county, Connecticut, August 14, 1843, and is a son of Orrin and Lucy (Crittenden) Rowland, both representatives of pioneer families of that local- ity. He is descended from Welsh ancestry, his great-grandfather in the paternal line being a native of Wales and the founder of the family in America, while the maternal great-grand- father was a native of England. Coming to the new world, at Milford, Connecticut, he made the first clock ever mannfacutred in that state. The paternal great-grandfather was a soldier of the Revolutionary war, as were also maternal ancestors of our subject. His grand- mother Rowland lived to be one hundred and one years of age.
Orrin Rowland removed to Greene county, Wiseonsin, in 1856, and the following year died, so that the support of the family then devolved upon the eldest son and three years later upon Dr. Rowland, who at that time was but sixteen years of age. The family then consisted of his mother, grandmother and youngest brother. He had attended school in Connecticut and com- pleted his education with such advantages as the
schools of the frontier afforded after the removal to Wiseonsin. He remained in the latter state until 1863, and at the age of twenty years he removed to Olmsted county, Minnesota, settling ten miles from Rochester, where he worked ou a farmı. In 1866 he went to St. Ansgar, Mitch- ell county, Iowa, and in 1868 took up his abode in Northwood, Iowa. He had previously learned the trades of painting and graining and he followed those pursuits in Iowa until 1871, when he went to Twin Lakes, Minnesota.
Dr. Rowland began reading medicine when but fourteen years of age and when not working to support the family he spent all his leisure hours in the study, so that in 1868 he won a preceptor's certificate to practice medicine. In 1871 he was made a member of the State Medi- cal Society and received a diploma from the state board of censors, who at that time were appointed by the legislature. In 1874 he left his family at Twin Lakes and went to Cinein- nati, Ohio, where he attended the Eclectic Med- ical Institute and was graduated on the 25th of January, 1876. He then rejoined his family and entered upon the practice of medicine, which he continued in Minnesota until June, 1881, when he removed to Battle Creek, Iowa. He practiced there until 1885, when he came to Sioux City where he has since been in active practice, and his labors have been attended with gratifying success.
In 1864 Dr. Rowland was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Jane Williams, a daughter of Jonathan Williams, of Eyota, Minnesota, who follows farming there. Unto Dr. and Mrs. Row- land have been born the following children : William J., born January 15. 1866, married Miss Eva Carter, of Twin Lakes, Minnesota, and has four children. Martha Jane, born Feb- ruary 17, 1869, is the wife of George I. Fogle, a farmer of Montana, and they have four chil- dren. Luey C., born January 27, 1871, is aet- ing as her father's housekeeper. Ambronette, born October 15, 1872, is the wife of Walter Gorham, who is engaged in railroading and
.2
D.l. Rowland, M.D.
365
PAST AND PRESENT OF WOODBURY COUNTY
makes his home in Minneapolis. On October 12, 1889, Dr. Rowland was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who died in Minne- sota.
The Doctor attends the Christian church and in his political views is a Republican. He be- longs to Perseverance Lodge, No. 446, A. F. & A. M., at Battle Creek, Iowa ; Echo Lodge, No. 119, I. O. O. F., of Battle Creek; the Modern Woodmen; and the Mystic Toilers. He is ex- amining surgeon for the Woodmen of the World and in the line of his profession he is a member of the Iowa State Eclectic Medical Society and the National Eclectic Medical Society. He is one of the leading representatives of his school of medicine in this part of the state, conscien- tions in the performance of his professional du- ties, diagnosing a case with great care and pre- seribing with a full realization of the responsi- bility which rests upon the physician as the cus- todian of human life and health. He is now engaged in a life work for which he early mani- fested strong predilection and has followed in the line for which nature probably intended him, if success and efficiency be any criterion.
OSGOOD WHITTEMORE.
Although Osgood Whittemore was a resident of Sioux City for only a few years he became well known and is yet kindly remembered by many who gave him their friendship and re- gard. He was a native of Rome, New York, and a son of James H. Whittemore, who was born in Boston, Massachusetts, whence he re- moved to Rome at an early day. There he be- came actively identified with industrial and commercial interests and he owned sawmills, tanneries and stores in various parts of the east, both in Massachusetts and New York. Thus he conducted business for many years, but made his home in Rome, New York, and in the latter part of his life lived retired there.
Osgood Whittemore acquired a practical edu- cation in the best schools of Rome and Clinton,
New York, and on putting aside his text-books he began working for his father, having super- vision over some of his father's stores and mills. Ile thus visited many parts of the cast through the years spent in that way. Later he went to Brooklyn, New York, where he engaged in the crystal gold business known as the A. J. Watts famous gold filling for teeth, the gold being used for all kinds of dental work, and first in- troduced by A. J. Watts, the noted inventor. For fifteen years Mr. Whittemore engaged in that business and was very successful. His close proximity to the sea, however, proved detrimental to his health and his physician ad- vised him to go south. He then began travel- ing through the southern states and finally lo- cated at Texarkana, Texas, where he built a home and also invested in property in that vicinity. He resided there and in Texarkana, Arkansas, largely living retired for fifteen years, merely supervising his invested interests. His health became much impaired in that time. In the meantime his sons had left the south and located in Sioux City, Iowa, and in May, 1896, Mr. Whittemore came to Woodbury county.
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.