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1907 Past and Present Biographies

Fred Bock

Fred C. Book, one of the leading young business men of Scranton, was born at Westside, Crawford county, Iowa, in 1881. His father, Frederick Bock, was a native of Germany who came to this country at a very early day and settled in Iowa. Unusually patriotic toward his adopted country, he felt called upon to do his duty in her army when the war of the Rebellion broke out. He accordingly entered the army from Missouri and served as a faithful soldier until the close of the war. He enlisted at St. Louis, September 22, 1861, in Company F, Second Regiment, Light Artillery, Missouri Volunteers, and was mustered out near Marietta, Georgia, October 13, 1864. His command was assigned to Langrove’s Battery, First Brigade, First Division, Fifteenth Army Corps, Army of the Tennessee. His wife, the mother of our subject, was Martha Lange, also a native of Germany. They had seven children, but the oldest daughter, Lulu, died when seven or eight years old. The others are: Carl, a graduate of Mount Vernon where he took a course in civil engineering, now engaged in work with a corporation in Bolivia, South America; Annette, the wife of E. E. Bradstreet, of Sioux City, Iowa; Christine, a teacher in the state training school in North Dakota; Emma, the wife of A. J. Wheeler, of Chicago; Henry, who is a mail clerk on the railroad; and Fred C., the subject of this review.

Fred C. Bock was educated in the common schools and in the high school at Westside, supplementing this early education with a course at Dennison Commercial College. His first venture in the business world was as a clerk at Westside. A business life seemed to be the one most attractive to him and in 1903 he came to Scranton, where he bought out Mr. Braverman’s stock of goods and has since conducted the business. This is the only clothing store in the town that handles a fine line of men’s furnishings and ladies’ and gentlemen’s fine shoes. With keen discrimination, sound judgment, executive ability and excellent management he has been able to make his business the best of its kind in this section of the county and in consequence has secured a patronage which makes the volume of trade transacted over its counters of great importance. Mr. Book has given his political support at all times to the men and measures of the republican party and though devoted to his business he always has time to serve his community in any capacity which will promote its welfare and growth.

Transcribed from "Past and Present of Greene County, Iowa Together With Biographical Sketches of Many of Its Prominent and Leading Citizens and Illustrious Dead,"
by E. B. Stillman assisted by an Advisory Board consisting of Paul E. Stillman, Gillum S. Toliver,
Benjamin F. Osborn, Mahlon Head, P. A. Smith and Lee B. Kinsey, Chicago: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company, 1907.

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