FRANK A. OSINCUP

OSINCUP, FAIRBROTHER, CHAMBERLIN, BURLINGTON, WOODRING, STOEBER

Posted By: Debbie Clough Gerischer
Date: 11/20/2008 at 22:45:19

FRANK A. OSINCUP, M.D., has a fine record of service as a physician and surgeon at Waverly, but his chief distinction in that community rests upon his sixteen consecutive years of service in the office of mayor. Only in his first election was there any active opposition to his candidacy. The community has been more than satisfied with the progressive administration he has given to municipal affairs. Doctor Osincup has the real interest of the town at heart, has his own home and property investments there, and people recognize that his acts are regulated by his public spirit, a conservative policy and by complete unselfishness, and during these years he has set a progressive record in the matter of constructive improvements. During this time a complete sewer system has been built, dam and water works constructed and an extensive program of street paving carried out.

Doctor Osincup was born at Vestal Center, New York, August 1, 1862, son of Rev. Asbury and Hester (Fairbrother) Osincup. Both his parents were born in New York State. His grandfather came from Germany. Asbury Osincup gave many years to the ministry of the Gospel, but depended on his farm for the support and rearing of his family. He lived to be sixty-seven years of age, and his wife died at the age of sixty-eight. They reared two sons and three daughters, one daughter having died in infancy. One of the sons, Wesley H., was a contractor at Binghamton, New York, but died about 1920.

Frank A. Osincup attended public schools in New York, took a business course in the Lowell Business College at Binghamton, and spent two years with his pre-medical studies in Cornell University. In 1894 he was graduated M.D. from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chicago and had one year of interne experience and training in Saint Mary's Hospital. He paid all his expenses while in medical school, working during summer vacations at the carpenter's trade. A friend of his was a Baptist minister who has been a pastor at Waverly, Iowa. It was at his suggestion that Doctor Osincup came to this Iowa Community. For a number of years he specialized in surgery, and his reputation as a skillful surgeon extended far beyond the borders of Bremer County. Soon after coming to Waverly he was called upon to perform a major operation in surgery. It was the first successful operation of the kind in this section of the state. Doctor Osincup was unsparing of his energy and strength in his devotion to his work, and finally his health failed and for five years he completely retired from practice. When he resumed his professional work it was as a general practitioner.

Doctor Osincup some years ago founded the Caphemin Chemical Company, for the manufacture of tablets and other preparations recognized as standard by the medical profession. This business is now conducted by his two sons, Lynn C. and F. Willard, who grew up in that line of work.

Doctor Osincup received first political honor at the age of twenty-one, when he was elected justice of the peace at Vestal Center, New York. In addition to his long continued labors as mayor he served two terms on the Waverly School Board, part of the time as chairman. He is a member of the Bremer County Medical Society, Austin Flint Society, the Iowa State and American Medical Association. he has been a sincere student of Masonry and is affiliated with the Lodge, Royal Rach Chapter, Knights Templar Commandery, thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and the Mystic Shrine and Eastern Star. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Modern Woodmen of America and Knights of the Maccabees,is a member of the Rotary Club, Community Club, a Republican and a Methodist.

Doctor Osincup married, in New York, Alma M. Chamberlin, daughter of Samuel and Caroline Chamberlin. She died in 1911, leaving two sons, Lynn and Willard. Willard during the World war was at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station near Chicago. After the death of his first wife Doctor Osincup married Mrs. Mary Burlington Woodring, whose father was a Baptist minister. By her first marriage she has a daughter, Carol, now the wife of A. M. Stoeber, of Sioux City.

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