Williams & Getman

WILLIAMS, GETMAN, HILL, FISHER, TEGHTMEYER, SPENCER, MC CLAY

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/25/2006 at 21:34:57

WILLIAMS & GETMAN

In 1897 N.E. Getman purchased an interest of J.R. Williams at Larchwood, and they began business under the firm name of Williams & Getman, dealing in drugs and the material usually carried in first class establishments of the kind. Their stock of wall paper is said to be the largest carried in the county, and from the time they opened their doors their trade has gradually increased. Both members of the firm reside in Larchwood, where they are personally very popular. They are graduate pharmacists, and do a large prescription business.

N. E. GETMAN was born in Rochester, Minnesota, December 23, 1873, and was brought by his parents to Ida Grove, Iowa, in 1880, where he received a good academic education, and made his preparatory studies for the druggist's profession. In January, 1896, he went before the Iowa State Board of Pharmacy, passed a very creditable examination and received his diploma. He also is a graduate of the Northern Illinois College of Opthalmology and Otology of Chicago.

Mr. Getman is the son of R. M. and Evaline (Williams) Getman. The father spent the most of his life in a successful agricultural career, giving especial attention to the breeding of fine stock, but has now retired from farming, and is keeping hotel in Ida Grove, Iowa. His father, Nicholas Getman, came of old Pennsylvania-Dutch stock. Evaline Getman was a daughter of David and Cynthia (Hill) Williams, and for information regarding her family the reader is referred to the biography of J. R. Williams that may be found in another place.

N. E. Getman was married January 21, 1897, to Lila, daughter of P.W. and Julia (Fisher) Teghtmeyer, a family whose ancestral roots run far back into German history. Two children have come to this marriage: Wayne and Lola. Mr. Getman is a Republican, and for three years has served as township committeeman. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and has served two terms as banker. In religion he is connected with the Friends church. Hannah Fisher, the grandmother of Mrs. N. E. Getman, held the deed of land given by William Penn to Grandfather Fisher, for land purchased by him of William Penn, showing that the Fisher family had a very early start in the old colonial days when the best blood of Holland came to the settlement of "the land of peace," as Penn would make his territory.

JAMES R. WILLIAMS, the senior member of the firm of Williams & Getman, was born in Eyota, Minnesota, July 9, 1860, a son of David and Cynthia (Hill) Williams. The father was a farmer who had gone to Minnesota and settled before the war. When the first call for troops came from Washington in 1861 he at once responded and enlisted in the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Company B, and was with his command until his death at Chickamauga. His widow continued with her little family and did the best she could for them. When the Indians became uneasy she took her family to Ohio, where she remained until after the war. Then she came back to Minnesota to her land and reared her children to an honorable maturity. In 1874 she became the wife of Nathan Spencer, with whom she is still living.

David Williams, grandfather of J. R., was born in Wales, but very early in his life came to these shores.

J. R. Williams spent his early life on the farm, but at the age of seventeen years he became a clerk in a general store at Eyota. After two years he attended business college at LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and in 1879, after working for a time with a threshing machine outfit, began work as a bookkeeper. In 1883 he went into a general mercantile business at Holstein, Iowa, in which he continued for five years; then selling out he engaged in business at Holyoke, Iowa, under the firm name of Tinkel & Williams. In 1891 he sold out, and coming to Larchwood, bought the stock of drugs and goods, under the firm name of J. R. Williams & Co. Seven years later as noted above, Mr. Getman came into the firm, which then became Williams & Getman.

Mr. Williams was married in 1884 to Edith, daughter of William and Catherine McClay, of Scotch and Dutch ancestry, by whom he became the father of five children: Ralph, Jenetta, Edith, Catherine and Russel, the baby. Mr. Williams is a Republican, and has been postmaster for two terms. He was mayor of Larchwood for one year, and is serving as a member of the council at present. For two terms was town clerk. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Lodge, No. 552, 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