The history of Dubuque County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., Part 110

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical
Number of Pages: 964

USA > Iowa > Dubuque County > The history of Dubuque County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc. > Part 110

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WILLIAM RUFF, retired, No. 532 Main street, Dubuque; was born in Baden, Germany, May 28, 1811; when 10 years old, he went to Lyons, France, where he grew up and learned the trade of cabinet-maker; he lived in Paris ten years, and came to America in 1843, and came to Dubuque in June, 1845 ; he engaged in the cabinet-making business, on the same lot where he now lives ; people laughed at him for locating in the country ; he was the first cabinet-maker to engage in the business in Dubuque, and he continued in the trade until a few years ago ; he laid the first brick sidewalk in front of his store that was laid on Main street. In 1844, in New Orleans, he married Miss Katherina Schunk, a native of Bavaria, Germany ; they have had ten children, six of whom are living-William A., attorney in Chicago, he was in the army and was Captain of Co. G, 16th I. V. I., served four years, and was wounded at the

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battle of Shiloh ; Herman, auditor, C., C. & D. R. R .; Emile, money-order clerk in the post office ; Carrie, now Mrs. C. H. Meyer; Charles H., machinist; Edward F., letter- carrier in Dubuque Post Office.

BENJAMIN RUPERT, Deputy Surveyor of Customs ; is a native of the city of Philadelphia, and was born May 1, 1805; he grew up to manhood and lived there until coming to Iowa ; he arrived in Dubuque June 5, 1836, and began working at the trade of carpenter and joiner ; he continued building until 1852, when he was elected Clerk of the Courts, and held that office until 1859 ; when the City Court was established, he served as clerk for two years. In 1831, he was united in marriage to Miss Hannah Dungan, a native of Philadelphia ; they have two children ; one son- J. K. Rupert, and one daughter-Frances, now Mrs. A. G. Chapin, living here ; they lost one son-William. Mr. Rupert is prominently connected with the fraternity of Odd Fellows, and has been a member of the Order over fifty years ; he is a member of Harmony Lodge, No. 2, the second lodge formed in the State ; in 1867, he was elected Grand Master of the State, and, in 1868, was elected Grand Representative to the Grand Lodge of the United States ; in 1869, he went to California and attended the annual session held there; he is quoted as authority on matters pertaining to the Order.

G. F. RYAN, of the firm of Ryan Bros., dealers in groceries and provisions, Main street, between First and Second, Dubuque; is a native of the city of Dubuque, born May 9, 1856 ; grew up and received his education here; after reaching manhood, engaged in the grocery and provision trade in 1879, and is building up a good business.

REV. ROGER RYAN, Pastor of St. Patrick's Church, corner Fifteenth and Iowa streets, Dubuque ; is a native of Ireland, and was born in County Limerick April 6, 1843; he grew up and received his literary education there, and then pursued his theological studies ; he came to the United States in 1866 ; he came to Dubuque and was appointed Pastor of St. Patrick's Church in 1869, aud has served acceptably in his present pastorate for eleven years.

H. L. RYDER, Superintendent of the Diamond Jo Boat Store, Nos. 1 and 2 Levee, Dubuque ; is a native of Ohio, and was born in Cincinnati Jan. 19, 1840; he grew up, and was a licensed pilot when only 18 years of age, and was one of youngest pilots on the river. After the war broke out, he enlisted and served in the 1st Wis. Heavy Artillery, and was in several battles. Mr. Ryder has been on the river since 1858; since 1877, he has been Superintendent of the Diamond Jo Boat Store; he holds the office of Alderman of East Dubuque; he has lived there since 1873. He married Miss Sophia Plourde, from Benton, Wis., Sept. 29, 1869; they have two children-Mattie and Gertrude.

GEORGE SALOT, Deputy Sheriff of Dubuque County, Dubuque; is a native of France, and was born March 15, 1837; when 16 years of age, he came to America, and came to Dubuque in 1853, and since then has resided here; he has held the offices of City Recorder and Wharfmaster ; he was appointed Deputy Sheriff and has held that office since Jan. 1, 1872, and is a courteous and popular officer: He was united in marriage to Miss Catharine Scheibler, of this city, Feb. 2, 1860; they have five children.

H. W. SANFORD was born in Sherburne, Chenango Co., N. Y .; at an early age, even in boyhood, he migrated to Dubuque; while in his native town, and before the age of 14, he received, at the village school, all the education he ever obtained ; but his subsequent history proves that he gave himself a business education by practi- cal experience, which is no less creditable to himself than it is a bright example of what American youth may accomplish by imitating his course of industry, temperance, pru- dence and economy, used in acquiring a fortune and then enjoying it before age dulls the senses, and in a manner conducive to the best interests of society ; he learned some- thing of the mercantile business in a store in his native place; like thousands of other boys and young men in New York and other Eastern States, his thoughts and

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aspirations were turned to the West, the utmost limit of which was then considered to be the shores of the Mississippi.

When he came to Dubuque, a town of only about 500 inhabitants, he sought a sit- uation as a merchant's clerk. But there was no vacancy in the few stores which then managed all the commerce of the largest town above St. Louis; the few business houses were all situated in the vicinity of Main, Locust and Iowa streets, and below Second street; while seeking employment in the only business he considered himself fitted for, he stopped at an Irish boarding-house situated near the present site of A. A. Cooper's wagon manufactory ; failing for several weeks to obtain a clerkship, he concluded to go into the country and seek other employment; cvery kind of business was very dull-the town was then sickly-and his prospects seemcd gloomy; still he determined to save liis $100 and invest it in some way for profit when an opportunity should offer. He accordingly packed up some of his wearing apparel and started up the Coule (now Couler avenue) on foot to look for work; in a mile he had passed over the prairie which is now the center of population, and of the business of Dubuque, and entered the Coule Valley ; he saw some men making hay and offered his work for the mere consideration of board; the haymaker was Jesse Morning, who looked at the slim spare youth before him, and thought there was not sufficient strength in him for work enough to pay for three meals a day, and he declined Mr. Sanford's proposition.

He went on northward several miles farther, and at noon reached the site of the subsequent Sageville, five miles distant, where, with one of the early settlers along the Little Maquoketa, he procured dinner, but no chance to work. Learning that there were some settlers still further up the stream, he set out to find them, and reached the last "cabin" in three miles, but no one wanted to furnish board for any "help." Being afraid to try to cross the hills and prairies to any other " settlements," in fear of being lost or waylaid by strolling Indians, he resolved upon a retreat, and to apply to every man he met on his way to Dubuque. Toward night, he reached the spot which afterward became the John E. Miller farm, a part of which is now the present fair ground, where, by the side of the road, he accosted two lead miners standing by their rudely constructed cabin. They were two bachelor brothers, of the name of Carson. He told his condition, of wanting a clerkship, but was willing to do any kind of work till he could get such a situation. Partly from sympathy, the Carsons told him that he might board with them and do such work as he could till he could get other employ .. ment. He adopted a new kind of life at once, and slept on the floor of the log cabin. The next day, he took his trunk to the Carson cabin, and assisted the bachelors in making hay, and in other work in providing for the winter. Dubuque, dating from the first permanent settlement, was then but two years old, and everything about it indicated the very first stages of pioneer life. But young Sanford had no congeniality for the much whisky drinking, some gambling and more rowdyism incident to the first settlement of all mining localities. He was not one of the adventurers who sought to make a fortune in a day or a week, and who would be likely to waste it in a month or a year, and hence the moral principles of his youth were not affected by the allure- ments of the dissipation he saw around him. The better part of the community-those who, if able, would have built churches and established schools and public libraries- were not only in the minority, but it required, in that year, all the moral power of the new town to close the stores, shops and liquor saloons (then called " groceries ") on the Sabbath. Mr. Sanford remained with the brothers Carson about two months, making hay, harvesting their grain, and in other work, until October. Meantime, he waited to see a chance for a clerkship for any one of the few merchants who then controlled all the commercial affairs of the first place settled in Iowa, and which has since become the metropolis of the State.

One evening, one of the Carsons told him that he had engaged a situation for him with Messrs. Sleator & Smoker, dealing in dry goods and groceries, in a small building on the east side of Main street and near the site of the present Julien House. He entered upon his clerk duty the next day, at a salary of $50 per month and board, and remained with his employers about a year, when they closed business. He then entered

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the service of another merchant, Davis Gillilan, with whom he remained a year at the same salary. Mr. Gillilan having closed his business, Mr. Sanford next became a clerk for F. K. O'Ferrall, then one of the most prosperous of Dubuque merchants. He took nearly the entire charge of Mr. O'Ferrall's business, as well as that of O'Ferral & Har- berson, smelters, for about five years.

While in the service of Mr. Gillilan, Mr. Sanford made his first purchase of real estate, a lot on the west side of Bluff street, above Fifth. Soon afterward, while a clerk for Mr. O'Ferrall, he began to lend money, at the then usual rate of 25 per cent interest, a rate often exceeded in all the new mining towns. Mr. Sanford had saved his earnings to the amount of $1,500 besides the purchase of a few lots. In 1842, he became a clerk for William Lawther, with whom he remained in mercantile business for about four years, at a salary of from $600 to $700 a year. In the year 1846, Mr. Sanford thought he could make a better use of his time and money by giving his exclu- sive attention to the loaning of money, to brokerage, to land agency, purchase and sale of city lots, and especially to " entering land on time," the latter plan being to enter Government land in his own name on the request of parties desiring it, and giving the party a bond expressing an obligation to deed to him the land at the end of a specified time on the payment of the Government price, with a certain high rate of interest added. If the new Iowa farmer was successful, the "promise to pay " was a profitable investment for him, as was the case with a majority of those who obtained, in that way, their first claim to Iowa lands. If, however, the party left the country or did not improve the opportunity he had himself sought, Mr. Sanford retained the title to the land, which often doubled in value in a single year by the general growth and prosperity of the country. So profitable was this business, that in four years, or in 1850, he had accumulated about $30,000, but partly from the rise in value of some of his city lots. His land office was first opened in a second-story back room, of the building occupied by the hardware business of J. Christman & Co., on Main, below Fourth street. In a few years, he moved his office to the corner of Fourth and Main, then the center of busi- ness, and, about 1856, on becoming the owner of the " Sanford Block," he moved. his business to commodious rooms in that building.

His most extensive purchases of city property were made in 1854-55, at prices which were then considered very high ; he did not sell many lots until after 1860, though he commenced the sale of his country lands before that time, and had sold them all by the year 1865; retaining most of his city property, he found it rapidly increasing in value up to 1867, when he concluded that twenty-five years of steady work entitled him to the privilege of some rest and recreation. In 1858, when he had made over $100,000, and had securely laid the foundation of his present fortune, he arranged his business for a half-year's absence, and made his first tour to Europe. In 1846, his capital, including the value of his lands and lots, did not reach $10,000; at that time, and for several years after, there were several other parties engaged in com- petition with him, each with a much larger amount of capital, but none attended so tenaciously to the business, especially in reference to the dealings in public lands ; some of them failed about the time Mr. Sanford's success was complete; of his competitors who are living, few, if any, own any property in Dubuque or elsewhere.

In the ten years of his hard labor of brain, pen and book-keeping work in the land business, he never had a clerk-never intrusted any man with his letters, papers, plans or accounts ; to this fact may be ascribed the circumstances that lie made no errors involving a loss, and that he could, at any moment, by ready reference, know all the facts of any of his former or pending business transactions ; the result has shown that he did more work than the competing land agencies with their several clerks, and did it better ; the titles to over a million acres of land have passed through his hands, in Northern Iowa, and no title or paper to which his name has been attached, touching lots or lands, has ever been disputed, and he has never had any lands or lots sold for taxes ; he has had but few law-suits, and in all cases has been successful ; his word, his business integrity and his moral character are not surpassed by the reputation for like qualities by any man in the State.

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The success of Mr. Sanford in being the architect of his own fortune is a worthy example for the youth and young men to imitate, not for the mere purpose of making money, but for the higher object of leading a pure life, maintaining a spotless reputa- tion, and, in later years, enjoying the fruits of industry in a conscious prosperity, and in the use of wealth in the most rational manner; he has not only built costly build- ings, but he has enabled others to do so; he has never lived in a house of his own, though a hundred families are his tenants. Now, though in good health, he gives little attention to business, having his affairs all so well arranged that they can be easily attended to by an agent ; hence, with no desire to accumulate more, he spends a part of his time in Dubuque, and in visiting each season his birthplace at Sherburne, taking in the Eastern cities and the numerous summer resorts at the sea shore.

There is not residing here a better example to the boys and young men of Dubuque of what may be accomplished in one-fourth of an ordinary lifetime that the result shown by the success of Mr. Sanford; with only a limited education, but indomitable perse- verance, he worked years at the rate of $600 a year, while now the same labor would command $1,000 to $2,000; he was content with small profits, compared with those made by many others and soon lost ; he sought only honest gains that were untainted by fraudulent speculations ; he reaped only where he sowed, and was himself the just steward of his own conscience ; few men, of active temperament, are as con- tented with what they have gained as Mr. Sanford ; his success is plainly to be attrib- uted to his untiring industry, his abstemious habits, his strict temperance, his rigid economy and his punctual regularity, all tending to his perfect health, clear mind, quick perception and ready action for the dispatch of any business that came before him.

Since June, 1858, he has passed over half the time on the Eastern continent; in his first tour, that year, he visited all the principal cities and traversed the most impor- tant countries in Europe ; he returned happy, and with expanded ideas of the world's progress, and resolved not to pass the rest of his life in filling out deeds, receiving and paying out money, or in looking for new investments; the next year, he extended his European travels and included a tour of Russia, and, passing through Moscow, he approached Middle Asia, and in half a year added largely to his knowledge of the geog- raphy and of the political and civil condition of the Eastern World. In 1862, he made his third tour and visited Palestine and Egypt, passing some months in the ancient land of the Israelites, among the localities known in ancient history as the places of events narrated by the sacred records of the Bible; on this trip, he revisited the principal cities he had seen before, and a hundred others for the first time, and returned gladly to Dubuque, though not quite satisfied with having seen only a part of the thousand attractions which kept half his thoughts upon the Old World. In 1865, he set out again, without fixing the time for his return. He had learned to make trav- eling haste more slowly, and stopped longer to learn all about the evidences of the progress by which an Old World city is built in a thousand years, and how, and why great cities of the dead past became ruins thousands of ages ago-to compare the rapidly progressive America with the slow movements of some of the nations of Europe-to study the habits of the people of different classes, nations and races, and amuse himself with a study of human nature in the phases that mark different degrees of civilization under different forms of Christianity, and the religious policy of Mohammedanism.

In the course of his travels, he has become familiar with the land where historic cities stood, where ancient battles were fought for human freedom or political aggrand- izcment ; has followed the roads along which ancient and modern armies marched, and drank at the fountains where even the fabled heroes of antiquity were said to have quenched their thirst ; he has seen all the best of modern civilization of the Eastern World, from Sweden to the Mediterranean, and from the Bay of Biscay to the land of the Tartars ; with a mind stored with a knowledge of the present and the past, he has food for thought for the rest of his life; even the names of the sites of ancient cities and of the modern cities and towns he has visited beyond the Atlantic, in the hundred thousand miles he has traveled, would more than fill a newspaper column. On his tour abroad of 1865, he was absent three years; spent a winter in Egypt,

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ascending the Nile to the Cataracts, and was present at the world's exposition at Paris in 1867, returning home to Dubuque in 1868 ; since that time, he has made three sub- sequent tours to Europe-making seven in all; he spent the summer of 1873 at Vienna, attending the world's exhibition held there that year ; in 1876, he was present most of the season at Philadelphia, at the centennial exhibition, and in 1878, attended the world's exhibition at Paris for several months, returning home late in the fall to Dubuque; that was his seventh trip to Europe ; in November, 1868, Mr. Sanford sailed from New York to Havana, and spent the entire winter in Cuba and in Mexico, arriving in the City of Mexico in January ; he found his visit to Mexico very instructive and most pleasant, as well as that to the tropical region of Cuba ; he returned to New York in the spring of 1869, with a valuable addition to his stock of knowledge of this world and of foreign lands. In stature, Mr. Sanford is tall and slim, being near six feet in height, and never weighing over 140 pounds ; his complexion is fair, his eyes dark, his manners are unassuming and plain, and kindly to all, gentlemanly and courteous, becoming one who has seen so much of the world and so many of the distinguished personages in it ; he has a fluent tongue, and a vast fund of knowledge of nearly all the world ; his powers of describing are remarkably good and intelligent; he is almost as familiar with the continental capitals and cities as with Dubuque, where he resides ; his fortune is ample, and he gives it liberally and quickly where he thinks it is most needed. The public county records of all of Northern Iowa, showing deeds from Mr. Sanford by thousands to the farmers for hundreds of thousands of acres of land, now their cherished homes and their children's after them-these will be a monument to Mr. Sanford, more enduring than marble or granite, and it is great satisfaction to him to know that every one of those thousands of persons has a solid title to his land, and that in all the varied and numerous transactions connected with their titles and Mr. Sanford, each and every one, rich and poor, were honorably and honestly dealt with by him.

H. H. SATER, Superintendent of the manufacturing department of the Nor- wegian Plow Company; was born in Norway, about seventy miles from Christiana, the capital, in 1842 ; he grew up to manhood in that country and emigrated to America in 1868; he came West to Wisconsin the same year ; he engaged in blacksmithing ; he is a natural mechanic, inheriting it from his father, who was a plow-maker. Mr. Sater began making plows on a small scale, and by giving close attention to his work, he soon earned a reputation for his plows. In May, 1875, Mr. Mitchell, the present Vice President of the company, became associated with him, and they manufactured the Norwegian Plow at Brodhead, Wis., until June, 1879, where the Norwegian Plow Company was organized ; in October, they removed to Dubuque and erected large works, and Mr. Sater was elected Superintendent of the manufacturing department. In 1874, Mr. Sater was married to Miss Barbara Jensvold, a native of Albany, Green Co., Wis .; they have two children-H. Melvin and Josephine.

FRED SCHLOTH, of the firm of Schloth Bros. & Gray, manufacturers of Caledonia oatmeal and kiln-dried cornmeal, foot of Eleventh street, Dubuque; is a native of Germany, and was born Feb. 9, 1831; he emigrated to America in 1854, and came to Dubuque in 1856; in 1858, he engaged in the butchering and meat-market business and continued for twenty years; they established their present business in October, 1879, and promise to build up a large trade. In 1866, he married Miss Sophia Meyer, a native of Germany; they have five children-Mary, Laura, Freda, Selma and Charles.

PAUL SCHLENKER, dealer in general hardware and stoves and worker in tin, sheet iron and copper, No. 1378 Clay street, Dubuque ; was born in Prussia, Ger- many, Nov. 24, 1831; he came to America in 1853, and the same year came to Dubuque ; he went over to Galena and learned the tinner's trade ; in 1861, he returned to Dubuque and engaged in his present business, and has carried it on since, building up a good trade. He belongs to the I. O. O. F. and is a member of Schiller Lodge, No. 11, and also of the Encampment. He married Miss Barbara Zanuck, a native of Switzerland, Dec. 27, 1859; she died Aug. 13, 1874, leaving one son-Albert; he

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married Miss Anna Rehbaum, a native of Buffalo, N. Y .; they have two children- Emma and Paul.

M. H. SCHILLING, brickmason and contractor; residence, 2011 Couler avenue; is a native of Germany, and was born April 1, 1835 ; he grew up and learned the trade of stonecutter; he came to the United States in 1852, lived in New Jersey and Ohio, and came to Iowa, learned the trade of bricklayer, and settled in Dubuque April 1, 1857, and began bricklaying, and since then has been engaged in that business; he is one of the oldest bricklayers and contractors in Dubuque, and has done some of the best work in the city. He married Miss Mary Froelcy, a native of France, in 1858; she died Sept. 14, 1874, leaving six children-Matilda, Henry, Emile, William and Bertha; Annie has since died. In June, 1875, Mr. Schilling married Matilda Stolde, from Mecklenburg, Germany; they have two children-Alma and Eddie. Mr. Schilling belongs to Julien Lodge, No. 2, I. O. O. F., and to Halcyon Encampment and to the A. O. U. W. and to the Knights of Honor. His father died in 1858; his mother is 80 years of age and is living here with her son.

C. W. SCHRIEBER, of the firm of Schrieber & Strinsky, proprietors of the Key City Iron Works, Eighth street, between Iowa and Clay, Dubuque ; is a native of Luzerne, Switzerland, and was born Dec. 3, 1847; and came to Iowa in 1851. He enlisted in the 27th I. V. I., Co. A, and served three years; was wounded at the battle of Pleasant Hill. After the war, came to Lansing, Allamakee Co., Iowa, and, in 1868, came to Dubuque and worked for Rouse & Dean; in 1877, engaged in business with Mr. Strinsky ; they are building up a good trade. Mr. S. belongs to the Masonic Order, and is a member of the Chapter and the Commandery; also a member of the I. O. O. F. and the Foresters. In 1872, was united in marriage to Miss Lizzie Wood- ward, a native of Dubuque; they have two children-George and Olma.

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The history of Dubuque County, Iowa : containing a history of the county, its cities, towns, etc., Part 110

Author: Publication date: 1880 Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical Number of Pages: 964

Author:
Publication date: 1880
Publisher: Chicago : Western Historical
Number of Pages: 964