Witt, Charles M.

WITT

Posted By: Joyce Hickman (email)
Date: 10/7/2008 at 16:24:55

Charles M. Witt

(From the 1883 History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, by J. H. Keatley, p.197, Neola Twp.)
Charles M. Witt, merchant, Neola, was born in Prussia January 2, 1853; his father and mother were natives of Germany, the former born in 1853 and the latter in 1856. Subject's grandfather, Frederick Witt, was a soldier in the allied army of Blucher's Division, and in the battle of Waterloo was taken prisoner. About 1856, Mr. Witt came to America with his parents, who, after spending two years in Newark, N. J., removed to Chicago, where they still reside. Mr. Witt has five brothers and five sisters, all living in America. Our subject obtained his education by attending night school in Chicago, while in the employ of Sinclair & Moore, proprietors of a planing-mill. He commenced working for them when ten years of age, and finally became foreman of the mill, which position he held for two years, or until the mill changed hands, when Mr. Witt went to Ottawa, Ill., where he was foreman of a large lumber yard for two years. From Ottawa, Mr. Witt returned to Chicago, and entered the hardware firm of George Rehm & Co., with whom he remained one year; then, in 1879, he came to Neola, Iowa, and opened a hardware and furniture store, to which he has since added farm implements; he has built up a large and lucrative trade. Mr. Witt was married, in Ottawa, Ill., to Miss Adeline Jacob, born in Lancaster County, Penn., February 11, 1858, daughter of Henry and Catharine (Machedance) Jacob, who came to America from Germany in 1840; he is a dyer by trade, born January 10, 1823; they are now living on a farm in Illinois. This union has resulted in two children - Frederick H., born November 24, 1878, and Adeline E., born August 12, 1880. In 1880, Mr. Witt erected one of the finest houses in the town of Neola; he also has a fine double store in which to conduct his business. He is a member of the I. O. O. F. and of the Legion of Honor; in politics, he is a Republican, and in religion, Methodist Episcopal.