Nicholas Gambs

GAMBS WACK BAUER

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 8/27/2010 at 20:16:39

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Nicholas Gambs
By Edwin Gambs

Nicholas Gambs, was born in September, 1833, in Rimling. France. (The exact date of his birth is in question. The family celebrated it on September 9, but church records give September 18.) He was the third of five children born to Nicholas Gambs (1807-1886) and Barbe Wack (1807-1839). Both father and son were tanners.

In September of 1852, at the age of nineteen, he came to America. (The date of immigration is variously reported as 1851, 1852, 1853, and 1854. The records are confusing since he and his father had the same name and both came to America.) After landing at the Port of New York, he went to Miltonsburg, Ohio, and from there to Wheeling, West Virginia, where he worked in a tannery. In the spring of 1856, he returned to the Miltonsburg, Ohio, area where he carried on the tanning and currier business until 1865. He was, according to the 1860 census, also doing some farming at the time. Tanners were exempt form militiary duty during the Civil War, due to their importance to the economy and the war effort, so he had not service record.

In January, 1867, he married Maria Bauer, daughter of Adam Bauer and Regina (Hornberger) Bauer, in Miltonsburg, Ohio. Mary, as she was known, was the second of four children. Her parents were both born in France, but Mary was born in Malaga Township, Monroe County, Ohio, on April 13, 1838.

They made their home in the tiny hamlet of Calais, Ohio, a few miles from Miltonsburg. Three children were born to them at Calais: Mary Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’, October 18, 1859; Josephine, September 16, 1861; and Anna Regina, April 10, 1864.

In early 1865, Nicholas and his brother, John, came to Smithland, Iowa. Mary and the three children came in October of that same year. (They had planned to go to Dakota to open a tannery, but were unable to cross the Missouri River.) He bought two parcels of land on March 13, 1865 (ninety acres). On March 20, 1865, he settled on the land two miles east of Smithland. In August of 1865, he bought eighty acres with Adams Bauer, his wife’s brother. By early Janaury, 1870, he had acquired 379 acres. He continued to buy and sell land until 1900.

Eight more children were born to Nicholas and Mary on the farm near Smithland. John Nicoholas, Augustg 20, 1866, Andrew William, February 14, 1869, Margaret, February 17, 1871, Adam, July 23, 1873-July 29, 1873, George Washington, May 14, 1875, Frederick, August 28, 1877-February 7, 1878, Ella Mae, May 8, 1879, and Minnie Florence, August 31, 1881.

Mary was a typical farm wife. She was known for her cooking, especially cookies. She apparently did her share of farm work. She was working down in the creek putting in a flood gate to contain the cattle not long before death on July 3, 1882. She reportedly died of typhoid fever, which may have been the result of the work in the creek.

After Mary’s death, Lizzie, the eldest child, assumed the role of mother. She was the only mother the younger children ever knew. Lizzie never married, and when Nicholas later moved to town, she kep house for him and looked after him until he died.

Nicholas was fluent in French, German and English and widely read. He was a member of the Masonic order and a man of strong convictions. It is said that he drove his wagon to Danbury (about fifteen miles) to get a load of lumber. As he entered the town he encountered some acquaintances. They began to talk politics and Nicholas became so angry that he drove home without his lumber.

He was born and raised a Catholic. But he had a falling out with the priest over the ‘proper’ burial of a family member and quit the church. His descendants are Protestants. This is especially noteworthy, since he had at one time studied for the priesthood.

Nicholas had definite ideas about what was the right way to treat people. He quit the Masons because he thought they ‘didn’t do right by someone’.

Although he farmed for many years, Nicholas preferred working in his fifteen acres of orchards to doing field work. His son, George, did much of the farming for a number of years.

Nicholas wanted his children to speak German, so he hired a farm hand who spoke only German. But his children didn’t follow him in this.

He was an excellent shot and enjoyed teaching the younger members of the family to shoot. Once at a 4th of July celebration in Smithland, the owner of a carnival shooting gallery had to lock up because he hot tired of paying Nicholas. He was having a great time shooting down all the ducks!

Nicholas lived on the land east of Smithland until 1910. HE then moved to Smithland, living there the remainder of his life. He died on Augus t20, 1923, and was buried in the Little Sioux Cemetery at Smithland.