Matzen & Hansen

MATZEN, HANSEN, TRAEGER, MAXHEIM, TOLK, HAGEN, ANDRESEN

Posted By: Volunteer Subscribers
Date: 2/18/2003 at 09:42:42

1911 Biographical Index to Wolfe's History of Clinton County Iowa, by P. B. Wolfe.
MATZEN & HANSEN
Herein we mention a firm composed of young and enterprising business men, who have been engaged but a short time in their present business, but in that short time have shown their equipment in the qualities which make for success and the results of their training in the school of experience, and they have taken their place in the front rank of Clinton's commercial life.
Frank Joseph Matzen was born in Clinton, Iowa, May 12, 1879, the son of Peter Matzen, born in Germany, and Anna (Traeger) Matzen, born in Galena, Illinois, August 22, 1855. Peter Matzen came to America when a young man, and for many years conducted a retail clothing store in Clinton under the name of Matzen & Bockel Company. Later in life he was engaged in the insurance business, in which he continued until his death, in 1881. He was a man of strong character and highly respected. He and his wife were the parents of four children, Frank Joseph, Mrs. Anna Maxheim, Peter and Mrs. Louise Hansen. The mother died when Frank Joseph was five years old.
Frank Matzen was educated in the Clinton schools and in 1895 began working for W. L. Hale, the grocer, and continued with him until he went out of business, gaining under him much valuable experience. On June 25, 1910, he and John C. Hansen bought out the old Hale grocery, one of the first established in Clinton, and have since been conducting it.
Mr. Matzen was married on December 15, 1905, to Clara E. Hansen, who was born in Clinton, the daughter of Godber and Wipke Hansen.
John C. Hansen was born in Clinton, Iowa, December 27, 1870, the son of Godber Hansen, who was born in Germany in December, 1843, and Wipke (Tolk) Hansen, born in Germany March 7, 1846. Godber Hansen and his wife came to this country in 1865 or 1866, and were married in 1868 in Clinton, Iowa. In the early eighties Mr. Hansen entered the retail grocery business, and continued in it until 1890. Since that time he has been engaged as a general contractor. He served the Democratic party as county supervisor from 1889 to 1893, and has also been alderman from the first ward of Clinton. He has been faithful to the interests of the people in his official capacities, and has gained the esteem of those who know him. John C. Hansen has two brothers, Alfred and Fred G., and four sisters, Minnie, Mrs. Clara Matzen, Mrs. Amanda Hagen and Alma.
John C. Hansen attended the Clinton public schools, then for five years he worked for his father in his grocery store. For three years he was engaged in bridge building, then from 1891 until 1900 was in the Clinton fire department, following which for ten years was in the saloon business, for six years of that time in the Turner Hall. In June, 1910, he entered with his brother-in-law, Frank J. Matzen, as partner in a retail grocery at No. 216 South Fourth street. Fraternally, he is a member of the Turner Society and of the Eagles.
Mr. Hansen was married on April 18, 1894, to Christine Andresen, who was born in Clinton, the daughter of Julius and Eliza Andresen, early settlers of Clinton. (See sketch elsewhere of the Andresen family.) They are the parents of the following children: Alvin, Ethel, Leona, Edna, Hilma, Edwin, Louis, and Harold, deceased. They are as bright and attractive a family of young people as one would wish to see.
Mr. Matzen and Mr. Hansen are courteous and accommodating, energetic and enterprising, and have many friends. They are the proprietors of a very neat grocery, in which their goods are well arranged for display, and show that they thoroughly understand the essentials of their business. They handle a fresh line of staple and fancy groceries of every kind, and enjoy a large and constantly increasing patronage.