Jandt

JANDT CARROLL

Posted By: Connie Swearingen (email)
Date: 8/27/2010 at 20:50:50

History of Woodbury County, Iowa 1984

Jandt
By Helen Jandt Durlin

The H A Jandt family was among the early settlers of Sioux City, arriving here in the late 1860’s or early 70’s. Henry Adolphus Jandt came to America as a child with his father, Heinrick Gotleib, from Hamburg, Germany, arriving in Louisiana. He later moved to Marine, Illinois, where he married Rhoda Carroll. Rhoda’s father originally came from England. We believe she was connected with the Carroll’s who signed the Declaration of Independence. Her mother and father were moving by covered wagon and she was born on the road, and was named Rhoda.
The oldest daughter, Liza, who was married to Charles Kneedler in Illinois, also moved to Sioux City. They had one boy, Charles, and three girls. Charles Kneedler, Jr., became a prominent Insurance man, operating Kneedler Insurance Agency. He had two daughters, Abbie and Katherine. His wife was Lillian Stockerill. Liza’s three daughters were Maude Caldwell, Edith Hammer and Grace Nichols. Grace had two children, John and Barbara. Liza’s husband had a steam-powered car, one of the early cars in Sioux City. I believe it was called a White.
George Jandt lived in the 1800 block of Court Street for many years. He had three daughters: Ada Jandt, once a Sioux City school teacher (Dwight School), and later a well-known Christian Science Reader; Edna Baker; and Hattie Flinn (Mrs. Frank). Hattie’s daughter, Margaret, passed away in Sioux City in the 80’s.
Ed Jandt married Minnie Borman. They had two sons, C H and Harry of California, and a daughter, called Jott, who married a Mr. McVay and lived on the West Coast.
Frank Jandt was killed in a train accident while bringing a load of cattle from Western Nebraska to Chicago. His wife died when their two girls, Gertrude and Florence were little girls. Mr. and Mrs. H A Jandt, raised these two girls. Both these girls married army officers, Mueller and Lughn, respectively. Gertrude (Jidd) had one daughter, Janet, and Florence’s daughter was Nancy.
Will Jandt (my father), youngest of the four boys, married Mabel Aldridge, formerly of Onawa. They had four children who grew to maturity in Sioux City. The oldest, Carroll H Jandt, passed away in January, 1981, at age eighty-six. He lived in Sioux City all of his life (barring the years in the first World War). He was a wholesale fruit broker, a County Recorder, and a real estate man. He and his wife (Anne Lang) had two children. Richard, a Sioux City attorney and alter a Federal Judge, married Bonnie Reugger. They live near Kansas City and have three children, a boy, James, and twin girls, Mary and Margaret. Bette, Carroll’s daughter, married Charles Dobyns, Jr. They live in Sioux City and have two daughters : Nancy of Sioux City, and Susan of Tucson, Arizona.
Helen Jandt Durlin, daughter of Will, is the oldest descendant of H A living in Sioux City. She taught school in Sioux City from 1924-1968. She attended the old Sioux City Normal Training School housed in the Armstron school building, located at 8th and Pierce and graduated from Morningside College. She married Ed Durlin and has one daughter, Janet, who is Mrs. C D Hansen, living in Sioux City. Janet and Cliff have four children: Kirk, of California; Lisa Koester (Mrs. Dave) of Gladbrook, Iowa; Lori and Todd, of Sioux City. Lisa has a son, Andrew Koester.
Doris Jandt Walters House, daughter, of Will, lives in Phoenix, Arizona. She has two children, Lee and Kent Walters. Lee has two children, Scott and Wendy; and Kent has two also, Carla and Kevin; all live in Arizona.
The H A Jandt family home (which was referred to in an old newspaper as the Jandt mansion) was located at the northeast corner of 6th and Jennings. It was a beautiful three-story brick structure with a bell tower. It looked much as if it might have been of the same architecture and era as that of Terrace Hill, the Governor’s mansion in Des Moines. It and its grounds covered an area of ¼ square block. There was a horse barn and a carriage house east of the home. A fence surrounded the property. A veranda extended along the west side of the house and a small porch at the main entrance on the south side. This opened into a vestibule and then into a large open hall which extended through the middle of the house.
A front stairway led to a balcony and hallway through the middle of the second floor. At the front end of this hallway was a sewing and sitting room. The one bathroom was at the north end of this hall. There were three bedrooms on each side of the hall.
The stairs wound around and up to a third floor. It had the same center hall, with three bedrooms on the east side and two large rooms on the west, used as a game room and ballroom. The game room was equipped with large billiard tables and a birdseye maple card table and chairs.
On the first floor, east side, were a sitting room, a dining room, and a kitchen. On the west side were double parlors. These were huge rooms, each had a beautiful fireplace with marble mantles and long narrow mirrors on either side. The beautiful crystal chandeliers were indeed an awesome sight to a little girl, as were the two grand pianos, one in each parlor. The parlors had lovely carpets and floors and furniture of beautiful wood, upholstered in red plush, and brass tables with marble tops. The double doors to these parlors were almost always closed. I do remember my grandmother allowing me to go in there now and then to play with my dolls.
In later years, Grandmother usually sat in the sitting room in the alcove windows in her rocking chair and surveyed her world. Probably rheumatism kept her from moving about much. The large dining room was a place for family dinners and gatherings. We were all expected to be there on Sundays and holidays. This was a must as far as Grandfather was concerned and one better have a good excuse if they were not to be present. With nine children and their families, it was an impressive group. Between the dining room and kitchen was a large butler’s pantry with swinging doors. I can remember Easter egg hunts in the large yard where the eggs had been hidden, pretty mottled brown eggs had been dyed with boiling them with onion skins.
H A Jandt was among other things, a member of the board establishing the First National Bank. He operated a wholesale dry goods store, first called Jandt and Tompkins. I believe this was located on lower Pearl Street. Later it was H A Jandt Wholesale Dry Goods, located in the 1000 block of Fourth Street, where Aalfs Mfg. Company is today.
H A Jandt was a tall slender man of austere appearance. Yet he could be kind to a little grandchild, me, who lived in his house so that my father, Will, could care for him during his illness. That was the year I was five years old.
H A Jandt was a member of the Hawkeye Club and almost each evening (before he became ill) he donned his frock coat and his high silk hat and with his gold-topped cane took off for an evening at the Hawkeye Club. H A Jandt died in 1911. Mrs. H A Jandt died a little lest than two years later. He and his descendants have had a long love affair with Sioux City!