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 October 5, 2020

The commercial, financial and political interests of Breda, Carroll county, Iowa, have all felt the stimulus of the sound judgment and business sagacity of J. H. Ricke, who for many years has been one of the prominent and foremost business men of this community. He is one of the valuable class of citizens which Germany has furnished to the new world, his birth having occurred in Hanover, on the 22d of June, 1854. The parents, Bernard J. and Mary Anna (Menson) Ricke, were also natives of the same place, who in 1860 brought their family to America, locating in Jo Daviess county, Illinois. There the father carried on agricultural pursuits until his death, which occurred in 1866. His wife, who survived him for twenty-two years, passed away in 1888. Their family of four sons and two daughters contained the following: Mary Anna and Bernard, both deceased; Mrs. Elizabeth Sherman, of East Dubuque, Illinois; Richard, a general merchant at Breda, Iowa; Henry, engaged in farming in Kniest township; and J. H., of this review.

In the Illinois home J. H. RIcke spent the early period of his life, and his education was limited to the course of study taught in the district schools of his time. His schooling was necessarily of short duration for at an early age he was compelled to take upon himself the task of providing for his own livelihood, but this lack of tuition has in later years been overcome and his knowledge greatly supplemented by extensive reading, observation and experience, until today he has broad general information. When a lad of thirteen years he was thrown upon his own resources, and began earning his living as a farm hand in Jo Daviess county, Illinois. There he continued until 1871, in which year he came to Iowa, locating in Carroll county and the succeeding six years were passed in agricultural pursuits in Kneist township. In 1877 he went to California, and until 1882 was employed in the capacity of street car conductor in San Francisco. In the latter year he returned to Jo Daviess county, Illinois, and there, in 1885, was married, after which he again came to Carroll county, Iowa. Taking up his abode in Breda, he here became identified with the grain business and subsequently purchased the hardware business of H. Olerich, forming a partnership with his brother-in-law, H. F. Soat. Under the firm style of Ricke & Soat they conducted a hardware, furniture and undertaking establishment, this relation existing until 1894, when they sold their business and Mr. Ricke became associated with Joseph Olerich, with whom he continued until 1897. In that year their establishment was burned out, after which Mr. Ricke operated a grain elevator for the Northern Grain Company at Breda for one year. He was then appointed postmaster of that town in 1898, at which time he established a general merchandising business in connection with H. D. Bruning, being thus identified until October 3, 1907. He served as assistant postmaster and postmaster of Breda for eighteen years, and later sold one-half of his interest in the mercantile business to William RIcke, the present postmaster. The year 1906 witnessed his initiation into financial circles, assisting in the organization, in January of that year, of the Breda Savings Bank, of which he was elected first vice president, and in this office remained until chosen to the presidency, in which position he is now serving. In this connection he is manifesting great executive ability and administration direction, and although the bank is one of the more recent financial concerns of the county, it is, under his careful control and wise policy, rapidly attaining a place among the safe and substantial moneyed institutions of Wheatland township. He still maintains his connection with the grain business, having an interest in the grain elevator at Breda and also serving as president of the Breda Grain Company.

Mr. Ricke was married, in 1885, to Miss Mary Ann Soat, and unto this union a son, Arthur J. was born, August, 1894, who is attending the Carroll High School, from which he will graduate with the class of 1913. The family hold membership in the Catholic church, while the political belief of Mr. Ricke is that of the republican party, of which he has been a stalwart supporter since age conferred upon him the right of franchise. He is now serving efficiently as councilman of Breda, in which capacity he has acted for many years, and his long continuance in the office of postmaster indicates his popularity and capability in that position. In his present official capacity his interests are closely identified with those of the village and he has never allowed a feeling of partisanship to influence him in the discharge of his official duties, but ever casts the weight of his influence on the side of progress, improvement and advancement. Mr. Ricke is another illustration of the fact that no matter what the early environment of the place of birth, the individual in America has opportunity for the development of his latent powers and talents, for here labor is unhampered by caste or class and individual effort, intelligently directed, wins success. The steps in his orderly progression are easily discernible, each representing a substantial advance in the business world, and today he is numbered among the progressive, prosperous and representative citizens of Carroll county.

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