VanVranken, E. A.

VANVRANKEN

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 9/24/2008 at 16:23:33

E. A. VanVranken

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.170, Macedonia Twp.)
E. A. Van Vranken, station agent and telegraph operator, Macedonia, was born in Schenectady, N. Y., March 11, 1848; his father, Abram S. Van Vranken, was born in Niskayuna Township, near Schenectady, N. Y., June 27, 1817; his father, Simon Van Vranken, was born in 1775, and died in 1849; his father, Nicholas Van Vranken was born about 1715. These men were all farmers, and were doubtless born, raised, lived and died in this portion of the country. Being originally from Holland, they continued the use of the language of their mother country up to the present generation. All lived and died as strict adherents to the Protestant faith. Mr. Van Vranken's father lives in the place of his birth in New York. He was a farmer in the early part of his life, but later years has followed carpentering and various other occupations. He is a very prominent and zealous lay-worker of the Church. The mother of our subject, Lydia (Bradt) Van Vranken, was born in 1823 in the city of Albany, N. Y. She was the daughter of Francis I Bradt, a prominent citizen of Albany, N. Y., and was the mother of six children, of whom four are still living. She and Abram Van Vranken were married in Albany, N. Y., in 1839; she died August 19, 1851. Subject's father next married Silah W. Day, of Connecticut. Subject was educated in the Union School of Schenectady, and began for himself by coming West in the fall of 1867 and stopping at Chicago, where he was engaged in various employments, until the winter of 1868, when he learned telegraphy, and was subsequently employed as telegraph operator and station agent by the T. P. & W. R. R. Co. at Watseka and Forest, Ill.; he continued in their employ about two years; then was employed by the C. B. & Q. R. R. Co. at Middletown, Mount Pleasant, New London, Hamburg, and finally Macedonia, where he is now located. Mr. Van Vranken married Miss Hannah E. Gladden of Middletown, Iowa, August 12, 1872. Her father, Madison Gladden, born about 1807, is a farmer, living near Middletown, Iowa, where he located about 1862, emigrating there from Jefferson County, Ohio. Her mother, Martha (McElroy) Gladden, born about 1817, died in 1866. Subject and wife have five children - Eula M., Frank A., Ernestina A., Iola B. and Sila D. Mr. Van Vranken is a Republican, and a member of the Presbyterian Church.