Carroll County IAGenWeb

HISTORY OF CARROLL COUNTY IOWA

A Record of Settlement, Organization, Progress and Achievement

VOLUME II ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO THE S. J. CLARKE PUBLISHING COMPANY 1912

Transcribed by Sharon Elijah August 20, 2020

The people of Carroll for many years recognized in Nicholaus Beiter those qualities of integrity, energy and persistence that lead to success. For thirty-seven years he was identified with the meat business in this city and as head of the firm of Beiter & Sons bore a highly honored reputation. He was a native of Prussia, Germany, born near Sigmaringen, March 21, 1847, a son of Franz and Katharina (Ziegler) Beiter, both of whom were born in Germany. The father engaged in farming and died at the age of eighty-three, his wife being called away in 1853 when she was about forty years of age. There were fourteen children in their family, five of whom grew to maturity: Max, deceased; Joseph, who is now living in Hohenzollern, Germany; Amandus, of Wilkesbarre, Pennsylvania; Nicholaus, of this review; and Anton, also of Hohenzollern. Joseph Beiter, the paternal grandfather, was a farmer and also ran a stage. He lived to be eighty-three years old and his wife reached an age of sixty years. They were the parents of three sons and two daughters, namely: Franz, Wendalenus, Mathias, Rosalia and Theodore.

Nicholaus Beiter received a common school education and under his father was taught the importance and value of labor. He learned the butcher’s trade and being a young man of enterprise and laudable ambition, he decided to seek his fortune beyond the seas and, accordingly, at the age of nineteen he crossed the ocean and for three years, from 1866 to 1869, followed his trade at Allentown, Pennsylvania, whence he removed to Chicago and a year later to Clarence, Cedar county, Iowa, where he spent four years. He arrived in Carroll in 1874 and up to the time of his death February 4, 1911, made this city his home, also being engaged with marked success during the entire period in the butcher business.

On the 18th day of March, 1872, Mr. Beiter was united in marriage to Miss Nancy Josephine Brigham, a daughter of John and Lydia A. (Smith) Brigham, and to them five children were born: Frank, who took over his father’s business, and married Carrie Buchheit and has three children, Chloris, Nicholaus and Margaret; John, in partnership with his brother, Frank, who married Martha Cowham and has two children, Mildred and Helen; Lydia, who died in infancy; Joseph, who is now studying law; and Helen. Mrs. Nancy J. Beiter died in 1881, being only thirty-one years of age. She was a native of Vermont and her parents were early settlers of Jones county, Iowa. On the 10th day of March, 1884, Mr. Beiter married Miss May Heath, a daughter of Chauncey Heath, and one son, Grover C., came to bless this union. Grover C. is a civil engineer and a member of the Waterloo, Iowa, Base Ball Club of the Three-I League. Mrs. May Beiter died at the age of thirty, in 1897. She was born in New York state, coming to Iowa with her parents who settled in Boone county.

Mr. Beiter had his share of sunshine and shadow in life and has contributed materially toward the comfort and happiness of others. He came as a young man to America and won his way to financial independence, acquiring a character for honesty and stability that is greatly to be desired by every right-minded individual. The position he attained in the community was the result of habits of industry, economy and sound judgment early established. He possessed many sterling qualities of mind and heart which won him a host of friends in the city of his adoption, who sincerely mourn him.

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