Altemeier, Edward C.

ALTEMEIER, KLOPPING, WERMAN, WIESMAN, BANGHART

Posted By: Volunteer (email)
Date: 5/23/2007 at 20:39:45

In all that constitutes true manhood and good citizenship Edward C. Altemeier, farmer, of Mariposa Township, Jasper County, is one of the conspicuous examples among our young native men and none stands higher than he in the esteem and confidence of the community. His career has been characterized by duty faithfully done and by industry, thrift and wisely directed efforts he has acquired a valuable farm and is receiving his just share of this world's goods, besides earning a reputation which he has never clouded by the commission of a single unworthy act so far as his neighbors and those who have been closely associated with him have discovered. He is known to be a man of good judgment and pronounced views and while keeping himself informed upon current events and taking a lively interest in all public affairs of his township and county he has never expressed so much as the faintest desire to exchange the quiet and content life on the cozy farm for the distractions and cares which usually come to the man who fills official positions and aspires to some exalted station among their fellow men. He is to be commended in this attitude, for such as he constitutes our best citizens.

Mr. Edward C. Altemeier was born in Mariposa Township. Jasper County, on March 21, 1881. He is the son of Adolph and Wilhelmina (Klopping) Altemeier, the father born in the town of Horn, Province of Lippe, Germany, on December 24, 1837, and the mother was born in the town of Detmold, Province of Lippe, Germany. There the father grew up and as a boy engaged in farm work. In 1855 he came to Freeport, Illinois, where his brother Simon and sister Louise had previously located, they having emigrated from Germany to New Jersey in 1852, coming to Illinois the following year. Simon Altemeier is now living in Mariposa Township, Jasper County, Iowa. It was in 1857 that Adolph Altemeier, Sr., came to Newton, Iowa, and there he worked for some time in a brickyard, then began renting land five miles east of Newton. He then went to Spirit Lake, this state, and took up a claim in that wild, unsettled country and at the Indian uprising he was compelled to give up his land and return to Jasper County. In 1860 he bought forty acres in Malaka Township. Selling this a few years later, he purchased one hundred and twenty acres in Mariposa Township, this County, and here he prospered, adding to his farm until he became the owner of five hundred acres of valuable land. He farmed on a large scale and became one of the substantial and well-known men of this community. He served his Township as trustee and assessor, also serving on the Township board. He and his wife were members of the German Evangelical Church. His death occurred on October 10, 1886, after a successful and well-spent life. The mother of the subject of this sketch came to America when she was nine years of age, in 1850, locating at Freeport, Illinois, where she spent four or five years with neighbors who had settled there from her old locality in Germany. Her parents died when she was a small child. She came to Newton, Jasper County, Iowa, about 1856 and worked in the home of Colonel Cozad for several years, then married Mr. Altemeier. Since his death she has lived principally in Newton.

To Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Altemeier were born nine children, named as follows: Adolph G., Jr.; Mary, deceased; Mrs. Lottie Rathelson, deceased; William J. is farming in Mariposa Township; Mrs. Minnie Werman, Mrs. Anna Wiesman, Louis, Edward C., of this review, and Fred.

Edward C. Altemeier spent his boyhood on the farm and assisted with the general work there, attending the district schools between crop seasons. When he was twenty-one years of age he began farming, renting land of his mother, the father having previously died; when the subject was five years of age. It was in 1906 that the subject began renting the farm of one hundred and sixty acres where he now lives, this land having belonged to his mother. He has met with success as a general farmer and stock raiser, paying special attention to raising Hereford cattle. In 1910 he purchased one hundred and sixty acres just southeast of where he now lives. Politically, he is a Democrat, but is not, as already intimated, a public man.

On December 6, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Edward C. Altemeier and Sarah Davis Banghart, who was born in Mariposa Township, this County, December 27, 1883, and here she grew to womanhood and was educated. She is the daughter of Thomas Banghart, a highly respected citizen. Two children have been born to the subject and wife, Leroy Edward and Virgil.

Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, B.F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912, p. 899.