E. Kretchmer

KRETCHMER

Posted By: Jake Tornholm (email)
Date: 4/20/2020 at 17:04:34

E. Kretchmer, manufacturer of and dealer in beekeepers' supplies, and importer and breeder of Italian bees, has near Red Oak one of the largest establishments of the kind in the United States, and is therefore one of the best known bee men in this country. He imported the first Italian queen bee west of the Mississippi river, in 1861, and is the author of four standard works on the honey bee. His "Beekeepers' Guide-Book" was one of the first published in the United States, and is still a popular and valuable work. In 1864 he manufactured supplies in Des Moines county, Iowa, and in 1866 he came to Coburg, Iowa, and was engaged in the bee business there for years, with great success. That village was laid out on his farm, and at that place he was postmaster for a time. He came to Red Oak in 1890, with a plant which cost $12,000. The main building is two stories high, is 60 x 86 feet in ground area; one other building, also two stories high, is 30 x 80 feet; and the store house or wareroom is 24 x 45 feet. Mr. Kretchmer's sales are made by correspondence, and he issues annually, a fifty-two-page catalogue to parties in every State and Territory of the Union Great Britain. Germany, Australia and South America. He employs eighteen men in the wholesale department alone.

Mr. Kretchmer was born on a United States vessel on the ocean, received his education in Prussia, became a cadet in the Prussian army and breveted Lieutenant. At the age of seventeen years he came to this country and settled at Pleasant Grove, Des Moines county, this State. For some time he was clerk on a steamboat. During the war he was one of the first to enlist, coming out with the first Iowa Infantry Regiment; he afterward enlisted in the Eleventh Illinois Cavalry, where he served two years. He was captured by the enemy near Corinth, Mississippi, and was confined for a time at Jackson, and at Vicksburg for two or three months, when he was exchanged. On account of disability he was honorably discharged, when he was First Lieutenant of Company H, and he returned to Pleasant Grove; but since 1867 he has been a resident of Montgomery county. His present place comprises 189 acres, near the town of Red Oak, a large part of which is within the incorporation, with a residence which cost $10,000. It is, indeed, one of the best residences in the county, while the premises and surroundings are both tasteful and commanding.

Mr. Kretchmer was married, in 1864, in Des Moines county, Iowa, to Miss Iowa Clark, a daughter of Justus Clark, and they had four sons and three daughters, namely: Justus C., Elizabeth Eleanor, now the wife Charles Collard, of Kearney, Nebraska, and a graduate of Red Oak high school; Charles W., of New Mexico; May Adelina, Viola M., Bernard E. and Raymond. In 1880 Mr. Kretchmer married for his present wife Miss Caroline, daughter of Peter Smith, and by this union is one daughter, named Valencia. Mr. Kretchmer is a Republican in his political views, being one of the wheel-horses of the party. He has served three years and a half as county Supervisor, has had all the township offices, filling every position with credit and satisfaction. He is a member of the G. A. R.. Has taken every degree in Odd Fellowship and has held every prominent office in all its branches. He is also a very accomplished Mason and has held the highest offices in that order from the blue lodge to the Mystic Shrine not forgetting the Eastern Star, which mainly through his efforts, was organized here.