Harry Lamp
Harry Lamp, who is a native son of Crawford county, his birth occurring on the 13th of January, 1884, is the second oldest child of Ferdinand and Dora (Simon) Lamp, natives of Germany, the father coming to America when a youth of sixteen years and the mother with her parents when a child of two.
They were married in Crawford county and have ever since continued to reside here. They began their domestic life on a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, which the father owned and where he engaged in general fanning and stock-raising for twenty-five years. In 1908, however, they sold that property and bought elsewhere, and at the present time they own five hundred and sixty acres of land, all of which is well improved and under a high state of cultivation. Two hundred and forty acres are in Crawford county and the other three hundred and twenty in Minnesota, but the latter place and one of the farms in this county are rented as Mr. Lamp is only cultivating the homestead. His success in agricultural pursuits he owes to his close application and tireless energy, but in the acquiring of his realty interests he has been most ably assisted by the careful supervision and capable management which Mrs. Lamp gives to her household affairs.
Ten children have been born to them, those beside Harry being: Paulina, who married Ed Georguis, a farmer of Crawford county; Anna, the wife of Louis Goettsch, who is the cashier of the Union Savings Bank, of Davenport; Bertha, who married Elvin Wick, a baker, of Harlan, Iowa; and Elsie, William, Minnie, Edwin, Julia and Otto, all of whom are still at home. The parents are yet in their prime, the father now being fifty-two years of age, while the mother has only passed her forty-fifth year.
Harry Lamp acquired his preliminary education in the district schools of Crawford county and then pursued a course in a commercial college, remaining a member of his father's household until he had reached his twentieth year, at which time he left home to accept a position with the Neola Elevator Company of Aspinwall, Iowa. He was identified with that concern for one year and then entered the employ of the Pride Poultry Company for a similar period. At. the end of that time he became a yard man and after serving in this capacity for a year he was promoted to the position of general manager, which he still retains.
Mr. Lamp was united in marriage on the 19th of December, 1906, to Miss Amanda Wiese, who was born and reared in this county, being a daughter of Carl and Dora (Schutt) Wiese. Her parents were natives of Germany but were married in America and some time afterward they located on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Crawford county, which they continued to cultivate until the time of their· retirement. They are now living in West Side, Iowa, where they own a very pleasant and comfortable residence, the income from their excellent farm, together with other resources, affording them all of the comforts and many of the luxuries which they were denied during their hard-working youth. They are the parents of eight children, Mrs. Lamp being the second child and eldest daughter. The others are: Charley, living in Clarinda, Iowa; Fred, who resides in West Side; Maggie, the wife of Herman Martin, of West Side; Albert, who lives in Denison; Frank, also of West Side; and two who are dead.
Mr. and Mrs. Lamp have had three children: Wayne, who died at the age of one year; Josephine, who was born on the 8th of October, 1909; and Lloyd, whose birth occurred on the 24th of December, 1910.
Mr. and Mrs. Lamp affiliate with the German Lutheran denomination, in the faith of which they were reared. Politically he gives his support to the candidates and measures of the democratic party, and although he does not aspire to public honors or the emoluments of office, he fulfills the requirements of good citizenship by voting at all elections.
Source: History of Crawford County, Iowa. Vol. II. Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., 1911.