HEISE, C. E.

HEISE, TORNEDA, THIEMANN, ARENT, LOGAN, SEELEY

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 3/24/2004 at 09:42:24

Biography reproduced from page 580 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

C. E. Heise has figured prominently in the political circles of Kossuth county and is now a member of the board of supervisors, upon which office he entered on the 1st of January, 1907. He has been reelected for each succeeding term since that time and will continue in the office under his present term since that time and will continue in the office under his present term to the 1st of January, 1915. He was born in Brunswick, Germany, August 15, 1849, a son of August and Augusta (Torneda) Heise. The mother died in 1854, when her son, C. E. Heise, was only five years old. He pursued his education in the public schools of the fatherland and came to the United States in 1868, when about nineteen years of age, settling at Steubenville, Ohio. There he remained for nine months, after which he went to Madison, Wisconsin, where he learned the barber’s trade, spending two and a half years in that city. In November, 1871, he arrived in Algona and for a few months was employed in a barber shop but at the end of that time began business on his own account. He conducted one of the leading barber shops of Kossuth county until 1905, when he sold out and has since devoted his attention to other business interests. In the fall of 1906 he was elected a member of the board of supervisors and took the office on the 1st of January, 1907. He has since acted in that capacity, having been reelected and his present term runs until the 1st of January, 1915. During the session of 1910 he acted as chairman of the board. In this connection he has proven himself a capable official, active and helpful in promoting the best interests of the county and prompt and loyal in the discharge of his various duties.

On the 19th of August, 1874, Mr. Heise was united in marriage to Miss Sophia Louise Thiemann, a daughter of August Thiemann, of Marble Rock, Iowa, who has made farming his life work. He came to the United States from Germany in 1868, settling first at Beaver Dam, Wisconsin, and in 1871 he removed to Floyd county, Iowa, where his remaining days were passed, his death there occurring in 1905. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Heise have been born eight children, of whom six are living. Bertha is the wife of Dr. Asaph Arent, a physician of Humboldt, Iowa, and they have one son. Emma is the wife of Dr. F. W. Logan, of Fenton, Iowa, and they have one daughter. Arno C. is living in Denver, Colorado. Mina is the wife of Dr. Burton A. Seeley, formerly of Algona but now living in the Philippines, about seventy miles from Manila. Reynold, born in 1890, is at home. Linda, born in 1893, is a graduate of the Algona high school of the class of 1912.

Mr. Heise has long been identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, holding membership since 1872 in the lodge at Algona, in which he has passed through all of the chairs. He is one of its prominent members and five different times has been sent as representative to the grand lodge. He also holds membership with Algona Lodge, No. 174, K. P., has been through all its chairs and has a number of times been its representative to the grand lodge. He became a charter member of the Improved Order of Red Men of Algona, was their first presiding officer and was afterward representative to the grand lodge. He has a very wide acquaintance by reason of his political and fraternal connections and is a man of considerable influence along both lines. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to try his fortune in the new world, for here he has found the opportunities which he sought and has gradually worked his way upward, making for himself a creditable name and place in Kossuth county.