Henry W. Kruse
KRUSE
Posted By: Anne Hermann (email)
Date: 5/4/2010 at 21:44:40
History of Jackson County, Iowa,James W. Ellis, 1910
HENRY W. KRUSE.
Henry W. Kruse, whose service in public office has been of signal usefulness and value to his fellow townsmen, and whose business life has been one of intense and well directed activity, was born in Iowa township, Jackson county, on the 17th of April, 1859. His parents, Louis and Fredericka (Krabbenhoeft) Kruse, were both natives of Holstein, Germany, and soon after attaining adult age came to the United States, crossing the Atlantic about 1855 or 1856. They made their way directly to the middle west, settling in Iowa township, Jackson county, and for some years Louis Kruse was employed at farm labor. He afterward went to Sabula and was one of the first butchers in the packing house of P. G. Stiles & Company, at which time the firm butchered only forty or fifty hogs per day. During the period of his connection with the firm, the business greatly increased, until they were butchering as high as twenty-five hundred hogs daily Subsequently Mr. Kruse engaged in business for himself and later turned his attention to general farming. He removed to Tama county, Iowa, in 1878, and in 1885 went to South Dakota, locating on a farm in Jerauld county, where he resided up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1905, when he had reached the age of sixty-seven years. He had for some time survived his wife, who passed away in 1898, at the age of sixty-one years. Both were members of the Lutheran church and were people of the highest respectability.
Henry W. Kruse spent his youthful days in his parents' home to the age of fourteen years. His education was largely acquired prior to that time in a select school. He left home in the winter prior to attaining his fifteenth birthday and from that time forward has been dependent entirely upon his own resources, so that he justly deserves the praise implied in the term a self-made man. He worked on a farm for a little more than a year, after which he apprenticed himself to the blacksmith's trade in Sabula. He did not find service with his employer very pleasant, however, for at odd moments, when his duties in the smithy were not pressing, he was obliged to work in the harvest fields and in a packing house and had to provide his own clothing. He therefore left his first position and went to Davenport, where he engaged in clerking in a short order eating house through the summer. Subsequently he went into the harvest fields, for the farmers were offering as high as three dollars and a half per day for hands. He was thus employed for two weeks and then returned to his home in Sabula, where he was offered a position in the packing house, but the opportunity came whereby he might return to his trade and he was advised by friends to finish his apprenticeship. He therefore went to Van Buren, where he completed a regular term, after which he continued in the same employ as a journeyman. He was at that time only twenty years of age. Going to Union Center in Fairfield township, this county, he established a little blacksmith shop on his own account and there conducted a successful business for eleven years. In the winter in which he located there he was married, Miss Mary E. Prior becoming his wife on Christmas day of 1879. They established their home at Union Center and as the years passed Mr. Kruse's labor won him a liberal patronage. In 1890 he removed to Miles, where he purchased and conducted a blacksmith shop for thirteen years.
While there residing he was also called to public office, serving as marshal of the village for several years and also as a member of the town council for several terms. He was likewise chief of the volunteer fire department for a number of years and in 1893 was again called to office in his election as sheriff of Jackson county. He then took up his residence in Maquoketa, January 5, 1904, and without fear or favor discharged the duties of his position for five years, filling the office for two terms and an extra year, which was accorded him as a result of the biennial election law which came into effect, Mr. Kruse being one of the officials who held over by reason of the adoption of this law. During his term of office he purchased the machine shop at Maquoketa and placed it on a sound financial basis. He also was associated with five others in organizing the acetylene gas plant of this city. Since the expiration of his term of office he has purchased and is operating a sand dredge in the Maquoketa river, and the necessity of work of that character in this stream makes his services in constant demand, so that his business is a profitable one.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Kruse was blessed with three children: Leo F., who is agent for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad at Van Horn, Iowa; and Cora Belle and Hugo Wilbur, both at home. The family is well known
socially, and the hospitality of the Kruse home is greatly enjoyed by their many friends. Mr. Kruse has always given his political allegiance to the democracy and is recognized as one of the local leaders of the party. He belongs to Helion Lodge, No. 36, A. F. & A. M.; Bath Kol Chapter, No. 94, R. A. M.; Tancrecl Commandery, No. 40, K. T.; El Khir Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Cedar Rapids; Central Lodge, No. 572,I. O. O. F., at Miles; Maquoketa Encampment, No. 104, I. O. O. F.; and Peerless Lodge, No. 61, K. P. He is also a charter member of Maquoketa Camp, M. W. A. and is affiliated with the Mutual Benevolent Association. He served as representative from this district to the supreme lodge at the time the Modern Brotherhood of America was put on a sure and safe footing at Sioux Falls. His interests are varied, and each indicates him to be a man of broad mind and well rounded character, for his cooperation has ever been in movements and measures for the general good, while in business lines his activity has brought substantial results, and in political circles his record is such as is undimmed by the perversion of the duties of office.
Henry Kruse Grave
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