GINGRICH, W. F.

GINGRICH, BAKER, CROSBAUER

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/21/2006 at 21:43:26

GINGRICH, W. F.

W. F. Gingrich, a skilled mechanic and engineer in Rock Rapids, was born on a farm January 7, 1870, in Livingston county, Illinois, where he remained until he was nineteen years old, working summers and attending school during the winter season. He then secured a position as fireman on the Great Northern Railroad, where he worked for four years. For a number of years he had charge of an engine in a mill.

Then he took charge of the water works plant of Rock Rapids as an engineer. He then went to work on the Great Western as fireman. When the city of Rock Rapids put in a lighting plant, three years later, he became its engineer and has held the position ever since. He is studious and has taken a course with the International Correspondence School at Scranton, Pennsylvania. This has greatly helped him to understand the electric lighting system in all its varied working. He never tires of learning new things in connection with his chosen profession, and sees that one to keep pace with the world must be forever mastering new things himself.

Mr. Gingrich is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and of St. Julian Lodge, No. 322, Dubuque, Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen. By close reading and careful observation he has embraced the Socialistic theory of politics.

In 1895 he was married to Miss Ethel A. Baker, a daughter of George A. Baker, a farmer and a resident of Dakota. He comes of English ancestry. To this union have come four children: Harold, Inez, Hazel, and Verna.

William Gingrich, the father of W.F., was born in Germany, and at the age of nine years, came to the United States. He was here at the outbreak of the Civil war, and quickly responded to the call for troops. He was a gallant soldier and made an honorable record. His wife, the mother of W.F., was Emma Crosbauer, a native of Germany, and an immigrant to this country when twenty-three years old.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson