Pogreba, Andrew

POGREBA, TORGERSON

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/25/2006 at 11:29:58

POGREBA, ANDREW

Andrew Pogreba, the assistant road-master of the Garretson and Iowa Division of the Great Northern Railroad, was born in Germany November 30, 1855, where he attended school, finishing his attendance on the schoolmaster before he was fourteen years old. After this he went to Berlin where he learned the baker's trade, but though he regarded this as an honorable occupation, he felt himself possessed of powers and gifts for something very much higher. At the age of eighteen he crossed the ocean and landed in the United States at New York March 21, 1874 in search for this higher occupation. Here he drifted into work on the great railroads, and by this his whole course of life was entirely changed. For by his connection with the railroads was developed his ability to handle men. The green German trackman was selected for promotion, and from a common laborer his promotion was rapid. He soon became section boss, where he at once showed his ability to handle men. He was soon put in charge of a large gang of men working on steam shovels, often having from fifty to a hundred men engaged in the construction of new railroads or the remaking of old tracks. He was held responsible for the amount of work the men did, and it was a matter of exact record. The work must show for itself and so much work must be done. The boss must show it or step down and out. In all these trying places Mr. Pogreba was always equal to the demands upon him, and presently became assistant road master.

With the thrift and economy of his ancestral blood, he saved his money, and was able to leave the railroad and go into a general mercantile business in North Dakota, which was in his personal care until it was destroyed by fire. After this disaster he resumed his connection with the railroad, again becoming assistant road-master of the Garretson and Iowa Division of the Great Northern Railroad, a position he is now creditably filling. For some time Mr. Pogreba's headquarters were at Doon in Lyon County, but his headquarters have since been removed to Sioux City, Iowa.

Mr. Pogreba was married September 8, 1879 at the age of twenty-three years, to Miss Emma Torgerson, by whom he has a family of eight children: Anna, Leo, John, Peter, Norah, Minnie, Eliza and Aggie. All are living at home. He and his family are members of the Catholic Church and they have been at all times very progressive and among the best people in whatever locality they have lived.

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