FRANK D. WINGERT

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Frank D. Wingert and Emma Wingert

No matter in how much fantastic theorizing one may indulge concerning success, careful consideration must eventually bring one to the fact that progress and prosperity in the business world are the direct and legitimate outcome of unflagging industry, unfaltering perseverance and unabating energy. The life record of Frank D. Wingert is another proof of this assertion. Giving the closest attention to business and watching his opportunities for judicious investment, he is now one of the wealthiest men of Cedar county with extensive land-holdings and also large financial interests.

He was born in Springfield township, about seven miles east of Tipton, April 18, 1857, his parents being Peter and Isabelle (Garey) Wingert. Both parents were born and reared near the boundary line that separates Pennsylvania and Maryland and in that district were married, after which they emigrated westward to Peoria county, Illinois. The father was born in Allegany county, Maryland, October 9, 1814, and first made his way to Peoria county in 1839. It was three years afterward, in 1842, that he was married in Maryland and brought his bride to the Mississippi valley. In 1856 they removed from Illinois to Cedar county and their remaining days were spent upon the farm on which they located when they first took up their abode within the borders of this state. Mr. Wingert donated to the York Prairie church the land upon which it stands and also contributed generously toward the building of the house of worship. He was one of the most active, earnest and helpful members in the church and was interested in all public affairs whereby the welfare and progress of the community are conserved. He held a number of township offices, the duties of which he discharged with promptness and fidelity. He died upon the old homestead, November 14, 1896, after which his widow removed to Tipton and there passed away May 27, 1909, at the venerable age of eighty-seven years, three months and six days. She was a native of Cumberland, Maryland, and like her husband held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, to which both were loyal throughout their entire lives. Their family numbered ten children: Ellen, the wife of Charles Evans of Clinton, Iowa; John, living in Tipton; George, a resident of Cedar Rapids; Mrs. Sarah West Focht, who died in 1910; Frank D.; Alice, the wife of Dr. W. E. Whitney of Eldora, Iowa; Annie, the wife of James Walkins of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Albert, deceased, and two who died in infancy.

Frank D. Wingert resided on the old homestead until he came to Tipton, save for a period of six years spent in Montgomery county, Iowa. He became the owner of a half-section of land included within the old homestead property and retained possession thereof until about five years ago. He now owns three hundred acres two and one-half miles southeast of Tipton, eighty acres one mile south of the town and three hundred and twenty acres two miles north of Bennett. In January, 1898, he took up his abode in Tipton, purchasing the large and beautiful residence which he now occupies and which is situated on the boulevard. Turning his attention to agricultural pursuits, for many years he continued to engage in farming, and his careful management of his land and his practical methods in cultivating the field brought to him substantial and well merited success.

He did not limit his efforts to one line, however, but extended his activities, becoming a prominent factor in financial circles. He was one of the organizers and was chosen president of the Bennett State Bank, in which connection he remained for a number of years. At present he is vice president of the City National Bank of Tipton and has so continued for the past ten years. He engaged in the real-estate business for two or three years and for many years was known as the leading live-stock man of this county, engaged in buying and selling stock on an extensive scale. He has owned over two thousand acres of land in South Dakota since he began dealing in property in that state and has about two sections there at the present time.

On the 29th of November, 1877, Mr. Wingert was united in marriage to Miss Emma Stubblefield, who was born four miles east of Tipton, Iowa, February 4, 1860, and resided there up to the time of her marriage. Her parents were John B. and Elizabeth (McClain) Stubblefield. The father was born in Champaign county Ohio, November 15, 1827, and the mother’s birth occurred in Center county, Pennsylvania, November 25, 1833. Mr. Stubblefield arrived in Cedar county in the fall of 1842 when a youth of fifteen years. He afterward entered land here and became a successful farmer, carrying on the work of tilling the soil until he retired to Tipton in his later years, there enjoying a well earned rest up to the time of his death, March 9, 1906. He had survived his wife for a number of years for she passed away in Tipton, December 2, 1897. Both were devoted members of the Methodist Protestant church and he assisted in building the Virginia Grove church and also the church in Bennett. In the family were ten children: James W., now deceased; Ann, the wife of J. H. McDonald of Cedar Rapids; Cerilda, the wife of E. A. Marks of Ortonville, Minnesota; Mrs. Wingert; Luella, the wife of H. P. Lee of South Dakota; Alice, the wife of T. H. Ocheltree of South Dakota; Flora, the wife of George J. Suess of Milwaukee, Wisconsin; and three who died in infancy.

Mr. and Mrs. Wingert have four children: Elma Grace, the wife of J. N. Witmer, living about three miles from Tipton; Ralph D., whose home is a mile and a half east of Tipton and who married Edna French; Ruby Ellen, at home; and Emma Lucile, attending St. Katharine’s Boarding School in Davenport. All four of the children are graduates of the Tipton high school, the two younger daughters having attended Cornell College, while Ralph was a student in the State University of Iowa. He also completed a business course at Davenport. By his marriage he has two children, Dorothy French and Harold.

Mr. Wingert and his family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal church and have assisted most liberally in building the present fine house of worship in Tipton. Mr. Wingert gives loyal support to the Masonic fraternity, to the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Modern Woodmen of American, in all of which he holds membership. He is a business man of marked enterprise, displaying in all things an aptitude for successful management. In his vocabulary there is no such word as fail. Thorough investigation into all business projects with which he becomes connected enables him to so place his investments as to secure substantial returns therefrom, his business integrity remaining unsullied, for all of his trade transactions are conducted along lines of fair honorable and open-handed dealing.