George F. Sokol

SOKOL, SHUTTLEWORTH, SHIMERDA, NISBET

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 3/6/2007 at 11:25:23

Biographies from the 1914 "Past and Present of O'Brien and Osceola Counties of Iowa"

GEORGE F. SOKOL.

The business man to a brief review of whose life and characteristics the reader's attention is herewith directed, is among the prominent business men of Sibley, Iowa, and has by his enterprise and progressive methods contributed in a material way to the industrial and commercial advancement of Osceola County. Although still a young man, he has in the course of a business career, been most successful in the enterprise with which he is connected. He is a man of strong intelligence, good judgment and has been active in the affairs of his community and uses his influence in every way to better its developments.

George F. Sokol, the secretary and treasurer of the Shell Lumber Company of Sibley, Iowa, was born August 18, 1880, in Jackson County, Iowa. He is the son of F. J. and Anna Sokol, both of whom were born in Bohemia. F. J. Sokol came to Iowa in 1855, where he followed the occupation of a farmer and merchant in Jackson county. In 1880 he moved to Jones County, Iowa, and engaged in the lumber business, building up a prosperous business there during the twenty-five years he was engaged in that particular line. His wife died in 1910 and since then he has lived a retired life in California. J. J. Sokol was one of the leading citizens of Jones County and was one of the most influential men of the county. He was a member of the county board of supervisors for seven years and represented the county in the Legislature for two terms. For several years before leaving Jones County he was heavily interested in the banking business in the county. F. J. Sokol and wife were the parents of four children: Mrs. Blanche Shuttleworth, of Sibley, Iowa; Mrs. Emma Shimerda, of Oxford Junction, Iowa; Dr. J. M. Sokol, of Spencer, Iowa, and George F., whose history is here briefly related.

George F. Sokol was educated in the district schools of his home county and when eighteen years of age he entered Ames College, and three years later graduated in the agricultural course from that institution. He then engaged in the lumber business in Jones County, at Onslow, and remained there for two years. During the next two years and a half he was at Clermont, Iowa, in the lumber business, and in 1906 came to Sibley and became connected with the Shell Lumber Company as secretary and treasurer. He is a man of culture and refinement and of marked business ability. Since becoming connected with the firm he has shown business ability of a high rank and he is rapidly impressing those with whom he is associated as a man of unusual attainment.

Mr. Sokol was married April 6, 1910, to Agnes Nisbet, of Sibley, Iowa, and to this union have been born two children, Howard and Anna May. Fraternally, Mr. Sokol is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Sibley and also holds membership in the chapter of that fraternity. He is now treasurer of the blue lodge and chapter in Sibley. Mr. Sokol is one of the sterling and substantial citizens of Sibley, a man whose strong qualities demand respect and his genial disposition has won him many friends since becoming a resident of the city.

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