Buena Vista County, IA
USGenWeb Project

John H. Wegerslev, editor and part owner with C. A. Van Buskirk in the publication of the Alta Advertiser, has also held the position of postmaster at Alta since 1906.  He was born in Broager, Nord Schleswig, Germany, May 20, 1876, his parents being Jacob and Christina Wegerslev, the former a carpenter by trade. In October, 1882, he accompanied his father and mother on their emigration to the United States, the family home being established in Alta, Buena Vista county, Iowa.

John H. Wegerslev attended the public schools of Alta until he had attained the age of fourteen years, when he put aside his text-books to begin work as an apprentice in the office of the Alta Advertiser, being employed by his brother, C. H. Wegerslev, who was then in partnership with Thomas Walpole. After working for ten years as a printer he became a partner of his brother, C. H. Wegerslev, and together they continued the publication of the Alta Advertiser until 1900. In 1899 he took a civil service examination at Omaha and in July of the following year accepted a position in the census bureau at Washington, D. C. He resigned, however, in 1901 and, returning to Alta, has since edited and controlled the Advertiser and is widely recognized as a most successful and prominent representative of the newspaper interests of the county.

On the 26th of December, 1900, Mr. Wegerslev was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Tincknell, a daughter of F. G. Tincknell, one of the proprietors of the Bank of Alta. They now have a daughter, Marion.

In his political views Mr. Wegerslev is a stanch republican and takes an active part in county, district and state politics. In 1906 he received the appointment of postmaster at Alta, in which position he has since capably and efficiently served. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons and has taken the chapter degrees, while in the Knights of Pythias order he has passed through the chairs and is a past chancellor and a member of the grand lodge of Iowa. Though born across the water he is thoroughly American in spirit and interests and the county of Buena Vista, where he has now made his home for a quarter of a century, numbers him among its substantial and valued citizens.