Loudenbeck, Mary (Mrs.)

LOUDENBECK, CLEMONS

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/23/2006 at 19:15:12

LOUDENBECK, MRS. MARY

Mrs. Mary Loudenbeck, under whose capable management the Windsor Hotel at George, Lyon county, maintains the high standing to which her late husband lifted it, is a woman of much force of character, business ability of a high order, and a natural fitness for the exacting duties that attend the successful operation of a hotel like this of which we speak.

The Windsor Hotel was purchased by the late John Loudenbeck in 1897, and until his death was under his personal care. It was close to his heart, as it has since been to the widow, that here should be operated a hotel ample to its patronage, clean and faultless, and kept at a price that would be fair and right to all parties. On the first floor it has large offices, dining room, parlors and a kitchen, while upon the second floor are the bedrooms, each with an outside window. There are twenty-four of these rooms all well furnished, and the management can entertain the traveling public in a way that should give the people of George a just pride in their landlady.

Mr. Loudenbeck was born in New York, near Albany, August 1, 1836, of a German and English parentage, and when he became a man took up the calling of a railroad engineer. His wife, Mary, was a daughter of John Clemons, who came of an Irish lineage. The grandparents of Mrs. Loudenbeck came to Canada in early life, and the grandfather was killed while John Clemons was still a child, by the falling of a tree. The grandmother could not rally from the shock, and she followed him to the grave within a year. John Clemons was left among strangers, but he never forgot his mother's teachings to be honest and true. This was his building star through life. When grown to manhood he married a French lady, who bore him twelve children, eight of whom still survive. The father only is now living, and he makes his home with his daughter, Mrs. Loudenbeck.

Mrs. Looudenbeck is the mother of five children: Charles H., married, and is a farmer; his home is in North Dakota; Albert W., who remains with his mother; Ada F., is married, and lives at Morehead, Iowa; Mabel S., a member of the graduating class of 1898 from Highland Park College, now married and lives in George; and Leota, who is still at home.

Mrs. Loudenbeck owns beside the Hotel Windsor, a fine farm two and a half miles from town, and also some very desirable land in North Dakota. Her husband, while he was living, was associated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America.

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