RINGSDORF, FRED

RINGSDORF, GIDDINGS, STOTT, CHEEVER

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 9/1/2003 at 20:17:44

Biography reproduced from page 159 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Fred Ringsdorf, a pioneer settler of Kossuth county, Iowa, and a man who has for many years been constructively active in its agricultural growth, is now operating one hundred and sixty acres of well improved land on section 22, Portland township. He dates his residence in Iowa from 1867 and is numbered among the active, prosperous and deservedly successful men in the state. He is a native of Wisconsin, having been born in Whitewater, on April 28, 1860. His father, William Ringsdorf, was born in Germany and was educated in the public schools of his native country. He crossed the Atlantic when he was eighteen years of age and went directly to Wisconsin, where he followed agriculture for a number of years. He married in Whitewater and remained upon his farm until 1867, in which year he moved to Iowa and located in Kossuth county. Here he took up a homestead claim, broke the land and cultivated the soil, and carried on general agriculture for a number of years. He subsequently retired from active life and removed to Bancroft, Iowa, where he resided until his death. His wife survives him and is living on the old homestead.

Fred Ringsdorf came to Kossuth county with his parents when he was seven years of age and received his education in the public schools of the district. His early life was spent in aiding his father in the work of carrying on a large agricultural enterprise and he remained upon the homestead until his marriage, in 1888. In that year he bought the one hundred and sixty acres upon which he is now residing and has converted an undeveloped tract of land into one of the well improved farms of Kossuth county. He has fenced his fields, built barns and outbuildings, and has erected a comfortable and pleasant home upon his farm. He does general farming and dairying and is a stockholder in the Burt Cooperative Creamery. During the course of his life Mr. Ringsdorf has acquired a comfortable fortune which he has judiciously invested. He owns a farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Marshall county, South Dakota, and has four residences in Burt. He is also the proprietor of a blacksmith shop and adds to his income by its operation. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator Company at Burt.

On February 26, 1888, Mr. Ringsdorf was married in Portland township to Miss Tessie Giddings, a native of Kossuth county. Mrs. Ringsdorf was educated in the public schools of the district and equipped herself for teaching, which occupation she followed for a short time previous to her marriage. Mr. and Mrs. Ringsdorf have eight children, four sons and four daughters, the former being Earl, Ross, Freddie and Ward. The daughters are as follows: Elsie, the wife of Wyatt Stott, a farmer of Portland township; Iva, the wife of Harry Cheever, of Jewell, Iowa; Verna; and Tressie. Mr. Ringsdorf is a democrat, but has never sought public office preferring to devote his time to his extensive agricultural and business interests. He has seen the development and progress of Kossuth county from unbroken prairie land into rich and fertile fields. As a man he has been an individual force in this transformation who is entitled to the regard of his fellow citizens and this tribute has never been refused him.