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

George M. Cretsinger, who for a number of years has been successfully engaged in the insurance and real-estate business at Coon Rapids, was born in Putnam county, Ohio, on the 18th of May, 1851. His parents, Jacob and Delilah (Harris) Cretsinger, were natives of Virginia and Ohio respectively. His paternal grandfather, a gentleman of Holland Dutch descent, lived in Virginia and later removed to Ohio. He was a shoemaker by trade and attained a ripe old age. The maternal grandfather of our subject spent his entire life in the Buckeye state.

Jacob Cretsinger, the father of George M. Cretsinger, was reared in Virginia, removed to Ohio in 1837 and in 1856 came to Carroll county, Iowa, settling in Union township, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres. He turned his attention to the further cultivation and improvement of the property and thereon reared his family. He spent a few years in Guthrie county but passed away in Carroll county in 1890, when he had attained the age of seventy-eight years. At one time he held the office of county treasurer. Both he and his wife were Methodists in religious belief, the latter passing away in the faith of that church in 1861 at the age of forty-two years. They were the parents of six children, three sons and three daughters, namely: John M., who is deceased; Mary Ann, the wife of J. M. Gilbert, of Creighton, Nebraska; Minerva J., who is the wife of John Minnich and resides in Guthrie county, Iowa; George M., of this review; Isaac M., living in Guthrie county, Iowa; and Sarah E.

George M. Cretsinger was a little lad of five years when he accompanied his parents on their removal to Carroll county. Eight years later the family home was established in Guthrie county, where he grew to manhood. He was reared on a farm and attended the district schools in the acquirement of an education. In 1878 he left the parental roof, rented a tract of land in Guthrie county from his father and cultivated it for several years. Subsequently he went to South Dakota, where for two years, in 1878 and 1879, he followed freighting from Sidney, Nebraska, and old Fort Pierre to Rapid City and Deadwood in the Black Hills. He hauled two loads of material from Fort Pierre to Lead City for the first one hundred and twenty stamp mill at that city in the Black Hills. Later he preempted one hundred and sixty acres of land in Pennington county, South Dakota, improved the property and then sold it. In 1882 he came to Coon Rapids, Iowa, which town has since remained his place of residence. He owns and leases a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Union township and also has property in Guthrie. For a number of years he has been identified with insurance and real-estate interests and has built up an extensive and gratifying patronage in these connections. Many sales and purchases of property have been entrusted to him, for he has made it his purpose to fully acquaint himself with realty values.

Since age conferred upon him the right of franchise Mr. Cretsinger has supported the men and measures of the democracy. Fraternally he is connected with the Masons, belonging to Charity Lodge. He enjoys a wide acquaintance throughout the community and has won uniform trust and good will by reason of a life which in all of its phases has been straightforward and honorable. In business circles he has been well known for his alert and enterprising spirit and his salient qualities and characteristics are such as win an honorable success.

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