IAGenWeb Project - Clayton co.


Carl Reinecke, SR

Carl Reinecke - Among the many men who have been potent in shaping the destiny and the public opinion of Clayton county, few have played a more important role than Carl Reinecke Sr., who for 45 years was the able editor of Der Nord Iowa Herold. Mr Reinecke brought to his newspaper work not only a thorough technical knowledge of the printing craft gained by experience both in the old world and the new, but a ripe judgment and a wide knowledge gained as a close student of affairs during the course of his long and useful life.

Carl Reinecke Sr. was born in Calbe. a.s. Saxony, on January 29, 1840, the son of Louis and Henrietta (Stange) Reinecke, both of whom were natives of Calbe. The thorough and efficient schools of the little Saxon city furnished the foundation for the broad education which characterized him. At the age of 15 he entered the office of the Wochenblatt published at Hettstaedt, Prussia, 25 miles from his early home and there he learned the printers' trade. After an apprenticeship of five years in this city he went to Brunswick and entered a book-printing establishment, where he remained for a little more than a year. Following the custom of Germany, Mr. Reinecke perfected himself in his trade by working in different offices and along different lines; accordingly we find him next in South Germany, where he worked for six months in a printing office at Baden Baden.

In 1866 Mr. Reinecke determined to avail himself of the wider opportunities offered in the new world and he emigrated to America, locating first in Freeport, Illinois. Here he entered the office of the Anzieger, in which he worked until the early part of 1871. The next few months found him employed in various offices and he then became aware of the opportunity to purchase the Der Nord Iowa Herold from the then owner, Mr. Papin. This paper had been established by Joseph Eiboeck and was one of the first newspapers in Iowa printed in the German language.

While at Freeport, on June 21, 1870, Mr Reinecke was married to Frederika Wagner, daughter of William Wagner, and it was with his young bride that he came to be a part of the social and civic life of Clayton county.

Mr Reinecke gave himself whole-heartedly to the work of his business, both in the mechanical and editorial departments. He was a man of strong conviction but of kindly and genial disposition, and his editorial utterances while virile were tempered by a sound and considerate judgment. Through his newspaper and through the example of his daily life, he has been a constant force for good in the community and he has earned the affectionate esteem of all the people of the county. Having thus lived a long life of untiring business activity and feeling the desire and necessity for cessation from his labors, Mr. Reinecke suspended the publication of the Herold, in September, 1916, preparing to spend his remaining days in quiet retirement surrounded by the love of his children and the warm regard of his many friends.

To Mr. and Mrs. Carl Reinecke Sr. were born five sons: William C.*, now a prominent banker at Strawberry Point, Iowa; Maximilian C., of Grand Forks, North Dakota; Alexander C., of Cleveland, Ohio; Richard C., of St. Paul, Minnesota, and Carl L., the present postmaster of Elkader.

Mr. Reinecke is a splendid example of the American of German birth, who has made this country his own in very truth and who has contributed largely to the upbuilding of his community. He may well point with pride not only to his own career as a molder of public opinion, but to the careers of his splendid sons, each of whom has carved his way as a successful and useful American citizen.

Carl Reinecke Jr., who has the honor of being known as one of the youngest postmasters in Iowa in a city of the importance of Elkader, was born in that city June 14, 1891. He received his preliminary education in the grade and high schools of which the city is so justly proud, and added to this a four years' course in electrical engineering at the Iowa State College at Ames, an institution which has earned more than a nation-wide reputation as a school of science and of agriculture. Returning to Elkader he assisted his father in the conduct of the Der Nord Iowa Herold, and he took such active and effective part in the councils of the Democratic party that he was fittingly rewarded with the appointment as postmaster of Elkader, which office he assumed on January 27, 1916. To the conduct of this office he has given faithful and efficient service and the patrons have been highly pleased with his administration in every respect. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and active in all the social and civic life of Elkader.

source: History of Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; pg. 345-347

-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall

*Note, conflict: this biography gives the son's name as William C., but the biography of the son, gives his middle initial as F.

 

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