Iowa Old Press

LeMars Sentinel Post, LeMars, IA
July 11, 1901- Page 4

Steve Illingsworth of Boston, Mass., is visiting in Le Mars. He arrived last night.  

A Home Wedding

Miss Anne Corkery of Le Mars and Coneron Hugh Short of Sioux Rapids were
united in marriage last evening at the home of the bride's parents, Mr. and
Mrs. C.E. Corkery on Fifth street. Relatives of the two families were
present to witness the ceremony, Miss Hattie Perkins, the life long chum of
the bride, being the only other guest. The pretty home was decorated with
flowers for the occasion. Rev. Father Feuerstein of St. Joseph's church
performed the marriage service at nine o'clock, after which congratulations
followed and an elegant wedding supper was served. The bride was married
in her traveling gown, a dark blue tailor made serge with hat to match.

The young people were the recipients of a large number of beautiful and
costly wedding presents. They left on the night train on a wedding trip to
Minneapolis and St. Paul. From there they will go to Sioux Rapids where
the have prepared a cozy home beautifully furnished in which to begin
housekeeping.

The bride has lived all her life in LeMars and is deservedly popular by
reason of her pleasant disposition, sunny ways and good qualities of head
and heart. Mr. Short lived here for a number of years before engaging in
business in Sioux Rapids where he is a member of the clothing firm of Short
and Pratt. He is popular in business and social circles.

Akron Tribune
Thursday, July 4, 1901
Akron, Iowa

SUDDEN SUMMONS
Fred. Reemts, Union County, S. D., Farmer Dies
Suddenly of Heart Disease in Akron

Last Saturday afternoon, at about half past five o'clock, Fred Reemts and
family drove to Akron from their fine farm in Sioux Valley township, S. D., and
stopped in front of Noble & Son's store, where they alighted. Mr. Reemts had
taken but a few steps when, without the slightest warning, he fell heavily to
the street, stricken with heart failure.

He was tenderly conveyed to the vacant store room in the Clark-Cilley building
and Drs. Clark and Cilley immediately summoned. The physicians employed the
process of forced respiration and every other means known to medical science,
but without avail. Mr. Reemts breathed his last about five minutes after he
fell. So palpable was the cause of death that a coroner's inquest was not
deemed necessary.

The sudden summons of husband and father was a terrible blow to the family and
they have unbounded sympathy in their affliction.

Frederick J. Reemts was born at Kindorf, Germany, December 7, 1844, and lived
to the age of 56 years, 6 months, and 22 days. His early life was spent in
Germany, where he served in the army four years as a member of the Light
Dragoon cavalry. he was married to Flora Jacobs on June 30, 1873, and they
came to America just ten years later. They first settled in Illinois, but moved
to Iowa in 1880. After living east of Akron a short time, Mr. Reemts
purchased the Hans Anderson farm in Union county, S. D., which has been their
home during the past seven years.

Deceased is survived by his wife and eight children, as follows; Mrs. John
Kruse, Christ., Frank, John, Katie, Herman, Ida and Flora. Two of his
brothers live in this country, one near Le Mars and one in Kansas, and two
sisters reside in Germany.

After brief services at the home on Monday, the funeral was held at the
Preston township German Lutheran church, in Plymouth county, of which deceased
was a member. The pastor, Rev. K. Meyer, preached the sermon. Interment was
made in the Preston township cemetery.

Mr. Reemts was an upright, honest man, a good neighbor and held in highest
respect by all who knew him. He came to this country a poor man, but by thrift
and frugality has accumulated an ample legacy for his family. He had
previously been subject to the disease which resulted in his demise.

July 15, 1901 LeMars Daily Sentinel:

"Died at her home at Maurice, July 14th, 1901, Mrs. M. Keough. Mrs. Keough has been ailing for some time but her sickness was not considered dangerous until the past week. She bore her sickness with patience and was ready and willing to go when God was pleased to take her. She leaves a husband and eight children to mourn her loss, John, Will, Annie, Alice, Tom of Maurice; Mr. Dealy of Council Bluffs; Mrs. M. Howard, of Peckham, Oklahoma, M. F. of Sioux City. She was a kind wife and a loving mother. To know her was but to love her. She leaves a vacant place that never can be filled. The funeral will leave the residence at 9 A.M. Tuesday, and the interment will be in Maurice cemetery."

LeMars Semi-Weekly Sentinel
July 18, 1901

DEDICATE M. E. CHURCH AT SENEY.

The First Methodist church of Seney was dedicated on Sunday, July 14, and
the services were continued until Thursday of this week. The old building
which had sheltered the congregation in its worship for several years was
torn down and merged into the new edifice which was just completed at a cost
of $3500 and the indebtedness of about $2000 was completely wiped out by the
liberal contributions of members of the church and congregation and citizens
who love the teachings of the church and are willing to contribute to its
support until there was a surplus of about $300. The trustees of the church
are John Lancaster, president; John Walkup, secretary; Z. Rayburn,
treasurer; Edwin Lancaster, Elmer Anstine and Jonathan Alderson. The pastor
is Rev. Geo. A. Platts.

The sermons on Sunday were preached both morning and evening by the
presiding elder, Rev. J. B. Trimble, of Sioux City. The Monday sermon was
preached by Rev. G. D. Fulkins, Tuesday by Rev. W. T. MacDonald, pastor of
the M. E. church, LeMars; Wednesday by Rev. L. A. McCaffree; Thursday by
Rev. Robt. Bagnell, of Sioux City. The week has been one of rejoicing
especially in Methodist Episcopal church circles and many LeMars people
have been present during the five days service.

Ground was broken for the new church, January 22, 1901. The building is of
wood, 40x50 extreme dimensions: Auditorium 32x40; League room 18x22. John
Huxtable of LeMars was the architect and builder.

Le Mars Globe, July 27, 1901

DEATH OF JACOB WERNLI

Prominent Citizen and Educator Called to Reward

The death of Professor Jacob Wernli which occurred at his home on Main
street in Le Mars on Monday evening at about five thirty o’clock will be
most keenly regretted by citizens, not only of Plymouth county where he was
prominent as a citizen and educator but by hundreds of worker in the field
of education in Iowa and adjoining states. In his early life he sought the
educational field as the one in which he could accomplish the most good for
his fellowman and he persistently followed that channel to the closing of
his earthly career and in doing so left hundreds of living monuments in the
young men of Plymouth county whom he had directed to seek diligently for
education. His entire life was devoted to his chose avocation and how well
he succeeded will be told in future by those young men and young women who
he directed in that channel. No better monument could be erected to his
memory than the one he has left in the living.

The going out of his life was painless, loving hands ministered to his every
want and as the summons came he closed his eyes as though in peaceful sleep
and with a smile on his face he passed to his reward.

HIS EARLY LIFE

The early life of a man of his calibre cannot fail to be of interest
especially to the young. How he rose from a poor boy, left his home, became
a stranger in a strange land, and by virtue of his innate ability and
steadfastness of purpose gained for himself a competence and an enviable
reputation as a student, thinker and educator.

Jacob Wernli was born in Thalheim, Capton Argan, Switzerland, on July 13,
1828. He was the son of an industrious and well-to-do farmer. His mother
was a woman of rare natural talents and goodness of heart. His parents in
their spare moments from the busy cares of life early incalculated on the
mind of the boy those characteristics which marked his career in after life.
The boy learned to work and make himself useful as soon as he was capable
and learned to be a practical farmer, a knowledge which stood him in good
stead on his arrival in the land of his adoption. He attended the district
school in his neighborhood and displayed such aptitude for imbibing
knowledge that his teacher and minister of the parish prevailed upon his
parents to give him the necessary tuition for admission to the State normal
school. This preparation was given him by his kind pastor who refused
recompense. In 1847 he passed the examination for admission into the normal
school, when out of seventy-five applicants forty were rejected. In this
place of learning young Wernli was under the direct tuition of Dr. Augustin
Keller, one of the foremost teachers of his day and received most careful
instruction and training for a teacher. In the spring of 1850 he graduated
with high honors and was chosen teacher in his native place. In the fall of
1851 he was called to the principalship of the schools in a large
manufacturing town in an adjoining county. In 1853 he caught the
“emigration fever” from glowing accounts he heard of the land of the brave
and the home of the free. Although with bright prospects and future honors
almost within his grasp and with every tie to hold him in his native land he
determined to emigrate and see adventure and perchance fortune in the
western El Dorado.

HIS ARRIVAL IN AMERICA

With his young wife, whom he had recently married, he set sail for the
Occident and on the first of May, 1855, after a perilous voyage lasting two
months, he set foot on the western hemisphere. His first home in the new
land was in Wisconsin at that time the paradise of all emigrants. Mr. and
Mrs. Wernli took up their abode at Oshkosh. The small stock of money they
had brought with them was nearly exhausted by the expenses of the voyage and
journey. Eighty-eight dollars in gold represented their entire fortune. The
two labored at anything and everything that was honest. Mr. Wernli did not
divulge his profession. His early training as a farmer was utilized. He
was by turns, a day laborer, farm hand and teamster while his good wife used
her deft fingers in sewing and at times in the harder work of washing and
ironing. They bought a small house while living here and later sold at a
profit investing the money in Waupeca county where they began farming on a
raw eighty acres of land. Mr. Wernli devoted all his spare moments to the
mastery of the English language and being already a linguist, soon mastered
the intricacies of the foreign tongue. In 1858 he was elected clerk of his
school district. His duties in this position brought him in contact with
schools, teachers and scholars. He found school houses without apparatus,
teachers without knowledge, methods, system, purpose and life. His heart
and brain were stirred and the natural bent of is mind, his innate love of
learning and his ability to teach all urged him to return to his profession.
He did this and in 1859 commenced teaching a country school at a meager
salary and taught until 1861. His reputation became known and his
attainments respected and he was elected county superintendent of schools in
1861 and re-elected in 1863. From this time on his way was upward. His
methods and his work of reform became known far and wide. In 1864 he was
chose principal of the schools of Milwaukee; in 1866 to the position of
assistant principal of the First State normal at Platteville and in 1868 as
principal of the Northwestern German and English Normal school in Galena,
Illinois. Assiduous work in his profession impaired his health and after
five years toil in Galena he was forced to resign. He then went into
business in Chicago as a partner of H. Enderis, who had a flourishing book
and stationery business. The turmoil of a large city and the incessant
pursuit of the almighty dollar were not congenial to the man and he longed
to return to his chose profession. During his residence in Galena he made
several trips to northwestern Iowa and realized that this was a garden spot
with unlimited resources and boundless possibilities.

HE COMES TO LE MARS

In 1875 Mr. Wernli came to Le Mars and for more than a quarter of century
his life has been an open book to the denizens of Le Mars and Plymouth
county. Here many of his ambitions were realized, his projects fulfilled
and the impress of his work carved in the annals of the northwest. Here he
found peace and comfort and passed his declining years in the knowledge of
duty well done and life well spent in the midst of his large family, many of
whom are grown men and women, bearing their burdens and taking their part
nobly in the strife of life.

On his arrival in Le mars, Mrs. Wernli with his sons engaged in the book and
stationery business which was later disposed of to A. B. Steiner. Mr.
Wernli was elected principal of the Le Mars schools which position he
resigned in 1877. On resigning this position he devoted his time mainly to
conducting teachers’ institutes, receiving applications from all over Iowa
and Dakota. In the fall of 1881 he was appointed superintendent of schools
in Plymouth county by the board of supervisors to fill the vacancy caused by
the resignation of F. W. Guernsey. He was elected that fall to the office
and held it for four years, refusing to visit his aged mother in
Switzerland, whom he had only seen once, in 1870, when he made her a brief
visit, since coming to America. In 1887 he established the Northwestern
Normal school and Business college in this city, with the purpose and hope
that it would be converted by the Iowa legislature into a State Normal and
thus train teachers for the northwest. Here he spent the strength of his
manhood and the greater part of his private means in purchasing and
furnishing a fine building and maintaining a school after the best ideas.
Too much cannot be said of the loftiness of his aims and the value of the
institution he inaugurated. The institution grew and prospered and acquired
renown through adjoining states. The professor’s whole hears and soul was in
this prospect. The foundation of the college had been his dream for years
and alone and unaided he found its inception and aided its growth and
standing. After several years of ceaseless labor and incessant toil he
began to realize that the weight of age was pressing on his frame and brow
and he cast about him for a successor to carry on his work so well begun.
Prof. J. F. Hirsch, now of Charles City and Prof. A. W. Rich now of Cedar
Falls were the men who succeeded him in carrying out the work which he had
begun and the further history of the normal college is too recent to bear
recapitulation in this sketch.

Prof. Wernli was not permitted to remain in the retirement which he had
fairly earned for again in 1893, he was offered the nomination for the
office of county superintendent and elected by a large majority and
re-elected in the fall of 1895.

Mr. Wernli’s name was offered twice in state conventions for the important
office of state superintendent of education and for a number of years he was
a member of the educational council.

He was a member of the Masonic order and had attained high rank, having
acquired the Thirty-second degree and was also a Knight’s Templar.

He was twice elected delegate to the general conference of the M. E. church.
Once to go to Brooklyn and once to Philadelphia.

In politics he was a staunch republican. Early in life he joined the German
Methodist church of which he was a devout and consistent member and for two
years was superintendent of the Sunday school of that church. In social
life he was quiet, modest, retiring and unassuming. Gifted with versatile
talents, and more than ordinary ability he was withal one of the pleasantest
and kindest men to meet. He was equally at home in the mansion of the
titled or the wealthy as in the sod house of the horny-handed son of toil
who earns his bread by the sweat of the brow. He had a sincerity of soul
and steadfastness of purpose which gained him friends wherever he went. He
was single hearted, generous and possessed of a mind singularly broad and
expansive. Like great men he was simple in his tastes. His home life was
beautiful and pastoral. He took interest in and understood the fruits and
flowers of the field. He considered the lilies of the field and knew how
they grew. His heart was near to nature and many of his happiest days were
spent on his beautiful fruit farm south of town, surrounded by his large
family of children and solaced by his wife, his faithful companion and ready
helpmate for years. His path in life was without reverces and he tasted of
the bitterness of misfortune but on the other hand he enjoyed the sweets,
and in living and working for other he lived for himself and in so doing
found his need of joy and recompense.

Mr. Wernli was twice married. In 1853 he espoused Annie M. Steiner who died
at Milwaukee, December 16, 1866. Four children survive this union, William,
of Grand Encampment, Gottlieb L., cashier of the First National bank, Chas.
A. manager of the Plymouth Roller Mill company and Mrs. C. E. Haas. In 1867
he was united in marriage with Miss Christina Kehres at Platteville, Wis.,
who with nine children survives him. They are George, Hermann, Louis,
Annie, Frank, Ot, Clara, Minnie and Elsie. Herman and Louis reside in
Minneapolis.

All the members of the family were present at the funeral except William,
who unfortunately arrived in Omaha three hours too late to make connections
to enable him to arrive at Le Mars in time for the funeral. He arrived on
the midnight train.

THE LAST RITES

The obsequies of the Jacob Wernli were held yesterday afternoon at the
German Methodist church which was crowded to its utmost capacity, people
coming from all over the county to pay honor and respect to the memory of
the deceased.

The serviced were conducted by Rev. H. Kaste, pastor of the church and Rev.
T. McDonald of the Methodist church and were simple but impressive.

The chancel was heaped high with floral offerings and the coffin covered
with beautiful wreathes, the last tributes of loving hands. The choir
rendered several selections, favorite hymns of the deceased. Rev. W. T.
McDonald read the scripture lesson, taking for his theme the beautiful words
from the second epistle of Paul to the Timothy, “I have fought a good fight,
have finished my course, I have kept the faith.”

Rev. H. Kaste preached the funeral sermon in the German language and gave a
brief sketch of the life of the deceased and eulogized his good work and
deeds. Rev. McDonald spoke in English and in his remarks dwelt largely on
the religious side of the deceased’s character, of his abiding faith in a
higher life, and of his great intellectual and moral attainments. At the
conclusion of the services at the church, the remains were conveyed to the
city cemetery followed by a very large concourse of mourners and consigned
to their last resting place with a few brief words of hope and prayer. Six
of the stalwart young sons acted as pall bearers.

Among the out of town friends at the funeral were Edward Kerby, Rev.
Schuldt, H. Velsch, of Sioux City, and Mrs. Arnold Steiner of Sibley.

The First National bank of which the deceased was formerly a director, the
office at the court house and a number of business places were closed during
the afternoon out of respect to the memory of the man, who has been an
honored and revered citizen of this community for nearly thirty years.