John Bahr is actively
associated with one of the representative business
enterprises of the vigorous little city of Elkader,
judicial center of Clayton county, and has made an
excellent record in his chosen vocation. He is a
skilled artisan, and has entire charge of the
plumbing and heating departments of the substantial
hardware establishment in which he owns a half
interest, as junior member of the firm of Brown &
Bahr, in which his coadjutor is H. D. Brown.
From infancy he has borne
the name of his step-father, and he is a son of Frank
and Sophie (Muller) Schornable, being an only child.
By his father's previous marriage there was one son,
Frank, and his mother later became the wife of Peter
Bahr. Of the children of this last marriage the
following brief record is consistently given at this
point: Mary and Lena reside at Elkport, this county;
Sophia is the wife of George Smith, and Clara the
wife of John Wittman, both likewise residents of
Elkport; Annie resides in the city of Cedar Rapids,
this State; Eliza is the wife of Ernest Heuschen, of
McGregor, Clayton county; and one daughter died in
infancy.
John Bahr, the immediate
subject of this sketch, was born in Volga township,
this county, on the 14th of December, 1870, and there
he attended in boyhood the district schools, though
his broader education has been that gained under the
direction of that wisest of all head-masters,
experience. As a lad of fourteen years he became
virtually dependent upon his own resources, as he
then left the home rooftree and found employment at
farm work. One year later he established his
residence in Elkader, where he entered the employ of
his present business associate, Mr. Brown, and served
a practical apprenticeship to the tinner's trade.
Later he purchased a half interest in the business,
to the expansion and definite success of which he has
contributed effectively, and it is interesting to
record that he became a partner in the thriving
enterprise before he had attained to his legal
majority.
Fidelity, consecutive
industry and sterling integrity have marked his
business career, and have given him inviolable place
in popular esteem, besides which he has won
substantial place as one of the vigorous and
enterprising business men of his native county. He
has shown deep interest in community affairs and has
been a member of the board of aldermen of Elkader for
thirteen years, his services in this office having
been marked by the same spirit of progressiveness and
loyalty that has dominated his course in his private
business. He is a stalwart in the local camp of the
Republican party, is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity and the Woodmen of the World, and both he
and his wife are communicants of the German Lutheran
church.
On the 21st of March, 1893,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Bahr to Miss Kate
Wertley, who likewise was born and reared in this
county, and of their two children the first, a
daughter, died in infancy, the surviving child, Harry
John, having been born February 21, 1903, and being
at the present time, 1916, a duly ambitious student
in the public schools of Elkader.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II; pg. 28-29
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
