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 June 26, 2020

The value of the local newspaper in the upbuilding of the best interests of any community is universally conceded, and W. I. Kortright, editor and publisher of the Breda News, is becoming a factor in the growth and development of the town of Breda through his advocacy in the columns of his paper of progressive public measures and through his cooperation with many movements which have had for their object the general good. Mr. Kortright was born in Rockford, Illinois, on the 27th of January, 1879, a son of George W. and Jennie (Irving) Kortright, natives of Sullivan county, New York. Prior to his marriage, George W. Kortright left the Empire state and went to Illinois, locating at Rockford, while later he made his way to Sioux City, Iowa. Subsequently he went to Nebraska, Colorado and Oklahoma, and in each of those states carried on a general mercantile business. He was then engaged for a time in the wholesale photographic business in Sioux City, after which he later returned to Rockford, Illinois, whence he made his way to Des Moines, Iowa. There he now makes his home, being engaged in the manufacture of violins, in which he has always been deeply interested. He found in a pawn shop an old violoncello which he remodeled and later sold for one thousand dollars. He has offices in the Knights of Pythias block, at Des Moines, and is a workman of considerable skill and ability. He is descended from old New Jersey Dutch stock, tracing his ancestry back to Peter Stuyvesant, of colonial days. In his family were three sons and two daughters, as follows: Jessie, deceased; W. I., of this review; Charles P., an electrician of Des Moines; Fern, of the Young Women’s Christian Association of Moody Institute, at Chicago, Illinois; and Harry G., teller in the National Bank at Des Moines. In the schools of Nebraska and Sioux City, Iowa, W. I. Kortright was educated, and upon entering the business world took up journalism as a vocation. His first step in newspaper work was made at Fairfax, South Dakota, where for five years he was connected with the Fairfax Sun Review. He then went to Gillette, Wyoming, where he edited the Gillette News, owned by S. D. Perry, for almost a year, after which he went to Randolph, Nebraska, where he published the Randolph Reporter. He abandoned the latter, however, in order to establish the Breda News, at Breda, Iowa, and edited the first issue of that paper on the 10th of June, 1909. The News is democratic in its political sympathy, and although one of the more recently established journals, is fast becoming one of the well known papers of the county, owing to the progressive spirit and business sagacity of Mr. Kortright. In the dissemination of local and general news he has devolved an excellent journal which is also a good advertising medium because of its increasing circulation. He has a well equipped office and has done much for the city in his championship of those measures which he has deemed would prove of public benefit. In addition to the newspaper he also engages in the real-estate business, selling southwest and Minnesota lands. In 1904 Mr. Kortright was united in marriage to Miss Flora Herrmann, and unto them has been born one daughter, Marian, now attending school. Mr. Kortright has always been a democrat in his political views and is now serving his first term as justice of the peace. He and his wife hold membership with the Royal Neighbors and he also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. He is an energetic, enterprising business man, and while doing everything in his power to legitimately advance his own interests by increasing the efficiency of his paper, he is also proving a potent force for progress and improvement in the community.

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