LANDMARK, EDWIN ALEXANDER

LANDMARK, MCMULLEN, WELCH

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 1/25/2004 at 15:44:08

Biography reproduced from page 487 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Edwin Alexander Landmark, proprietor of the Park Hotel at Germania, Kossuth county, which he has been conducting for more than a year, was born in Minnesota, his birth occurring on the 5th of April, 1878. He is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence Landmark, who removed from Minnesota to Deuel county, South Dakota, when their son was two weeks old. They located on a homestead, three miles from the site where the town of Toronto was founded shortly after they settled there.

The boyhood and early youth of Edwin Alexander Landmark were passed on his father’s homestead in South Dakota. At the usual age he entered the public schools of Toronto, where he acquired his preliminary education, completing his course in Sioux Falls. After laying aside his textbooks, he spent six months in acquiring a knowledge of telegraphy in one of the stations of the Rock Island system, following which he worked as operator for this company for three years. At the expiration of that time he was also assigned the duties of agent and was stationed at various points in Iowa and South Dakota, among them Montgomery and Superior, Iowa, and Toronto, South Dakota. He was subsequently sent to Germania, remaining here for two years as operator and agent. Following his marriage he was located at Lake Park, this state, remaining there until March, 1910, when he returned to Germania. He has entire charge of the Rock Island station here with one assistant. In August, 1910, Mr. Landmark purchased the Park Hotel from J. J. Rink, and has ever since conducted this hostelry. He has since enlarged and remodeled the building, and it is now an attractive and well conducted establishment and is in every way a credit to the town. In connection with the hotel he is conducting a restaurant and confectionery shop and is meeting with success in the development of his business.

On the 5th of May, 1904, Mr. Landmark was united in marriage to Cora Blanchon McMullen, who was born in Aledo, Mercer county, Illinois, on the 13th of January, 1883. She is a daughter of John and Julietta (Welch) McMullen, who were married in Sac City, Iowa, of which state the mother is a native, her parents being John and Carolina Welch. The paternal grandparents were John and Elizabeth McMullen, who are deceased and buried in the cemetery at Galesburg, Illinois. After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. John McMullen settled on a farm in Mercer county, located just without the corporate limits of Aledo, where they still reside. They also own property at Lake Park, Iowa. They are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in politics Mr. McMullen is a republican. To Mr. and Mrs. McMullen were born the following children: Roe C., who is a machinist at Seattle, Washington; Asa O., who is a stock-raiser at Milford, Illinois; Mrs. Landmark; Harriet May, who lives at Superior, Iowa; twins, who died in infancy; and John I., who died when three years of age. Mrs. Landmark obtained her education in the public schools of Aledo, following which she took a course in stenography and was employed in an office in her native town. Mr. and Mrs. Landmark have one child, Orion Edward, who was born at Lake Park, Iowa, on the 16th of May, 1905.

Mr. and Mrs. Landmark are members of the Christian church and sing in the choir, and fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, but he has never been identified with municipal affairs, although he is one of the enterprising and progressive citizens of the town.