Charles Walterscheid, 1899 Biography

WALTERSCHEID, NEU

Posted By: David Reineke (email)
Date: 2/1/2007 at 22:10:03

I translated the following biography from Der Carroll Demokrat, a German-language newspaper published in Carroll, Iowa, between about 1874 and 1920. It was originally published in a special 25th Anniversary Edition of the paper on Friday, 20 September 1899. Words in quotations are original. Any information in brackets or notes at the end are my own explanations. It reads as follows:

Chas. Walterscheid

This man, of whom the Anniversary Edition presents a fine portrait, is among the most prominent business people in Carroll County, and from a modest beginning has risen to his present state of success through hard work, trustworthiness, and solid business practices.

Mr. Chas. Walterscheid was born on 25 February 1859 in Bröl, County of Sieg, District of Cologne. He attended elementary school in Winterscheid and came to America with his parents in 1873. The family initially visited a relative in Mendota, Illinois, and after six weeks they moved together to Roselle Township, Carroll County, Iowa. At first, Mr. Walterscheid remained for one year on his parents’ farm, he then worked for a time at the Demokrat Printing Company in Carroll, and from 1874 to 1881 he was employed in a mercantile business as a shop assistant. The business often changed owners, but each new owner ensured that he retained the valuable help of Mr. Chas. Walterscheid.

In 1881, when the branch line of the Southwestern Railway had been finished through Halbur, he took his savings to the new town and opened a “fancy grocery,” dry goods, and pharmacy business. On 7 September 1881 he married Miss Margaretha Neu, and from then on the young married couple worked devotedly and industriously, and one must say that god’s blessings were with them. The business gradually grew. In 1881 he and his brother, Wilhelm Walterscheid, began a grain business and a year later a business in agricultural machines and implements. But the business grew to the point that the Walterscheids finally had to build a large grain storage facility equipped with an elevator. They also erected a warehouse for the agricultural machinery business. In 1893 Mr. Chas. Walterscheid became a shareholder of the First National Bank in Carroll and was elected to the board of directors. Since Mr. Wilhelm Walterscheid had become ill and had to undertake a change of climate, Mr. Chas. Walterscheid assumed the implement and grain businesses on his own. The brothers then assumed the controlling interest in a pump and windmill factory in Wichita, Kansas, in which 36 people were employed, and which is now managed by Mr. Wilhelm Walterscheid. Over time, the business in Halbur expanded a great deal, so that Mr. Chas. Walterscheid had confidence in the idea of dissolving his business ties in Halbur to move with his family to Wichita. He then sold his elevator, his implement business, and, a few weeks ago, his grocery and dry goods business.

And so the little town of Halbur will soon lose a citizen who was postmaster of the town back in 1883, and through his lively and expansive business has contributed greatly to the success of the little town. But indeed, wherever the man and his family may move, the residents of Carroll County, and especially of Halbur, will keep him in their memories.