John Werkmeister

WERKMEISTER, WEBERWERKMEISTER, WEBER

Posted By: Oregon Rain
Date: 9/2/2006 at 22:43:48

John Werkmeister is actively engaged in business at Earlville as the proprietor of a furniture and undertaking establishment and has won merited success in this connection. His birth occurred in Dubuque, Dubuque county, Iowa, on the 25th of April, 1864, his parents being Finton and Juditha (Weber) Werkmeister, both of who are natives of Baden, Germany. Following their emigration to the United States they settled first in New York City, where the father worked at his trade of wood carving and designing for eight years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Dubuque, Iowa, and about 1859 took up his abode in St. Louis, Missouri, where the family home was maintained for a short time. Subsequently he returned to Dubuque and in 1872 came to Delaware county, spending the remainder of his life at Earlville, where his demise occurred in 1908. The period of his residence in this community covered more than a third of a century and he had gained many friends here who sincerely mourned his loss. His wife was called to her final rest in the year 1903. To them were born eleven children, five of whom still survive.

John Werkmeister, who was a lad of eight years when he came to this county with his parents, acquired his education in the common schools and prepared for his business career by pursuing a course in embalming, being graduated in 882. He took out his license in 1897 and has since been continuously engaged in business as a furniture dealer and undertaker of Earlville, conducting his establishment in a manner that insures his growing success. He owns a tract of land in Oregon and also his store and a number of lots in Earlville, where he lives at home with his sisters.

In politics Mr. Werkmeister is a stanch republican and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and ability, have called him to positions of public trust. He served as secretary of the school board for eighteen years, was a member of the council for a period of sixteen years and for four years acted as mayor of Earlville, giving the town a progressive, beneficial and business like administration. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias. He has lived in Delaware county for more than four decades and has won and maintained an enviable reputation as one of its representative business men and valued citizen.

~ source: History of Delaware County, Iowa and its People, Illustrated, Volume II. The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1914, Chicago. Page 142-145. Call Number 977.7385 H2m; LDS microfilm #934937.