Iowa Old Press
Maurice Review, dated
March 1900
William Mieras
On the evening of March 10, 1900, William Mieras, whose portrait
is herewith presented, was nominated for the office of mayor and can be said
to have been the unanimous choice of our people, as no other nomination was
made, and at the election held on Monday, March 26, he received the entire
vote polled. Mayor Mieras is very popular with the people, is well educated,
has had a practical business experience of several years, and will no doubt
administer the duties of the office in a manner satisfactory to all. He is a
young man of unsullied character, straight-forward and business like in all
his dealings with the public, and he will no doubt be guided by his well
known sense of justice and right in the administration of the affairs of his
office.
John E. Mieras
John E. Mieras was born on a farm near Racine, Wisconsin, in
1872. His boyhood days were spent there, where he commenced his public
school education. He removed with his parents to Maurice while yet a boy,
where he continued to attend public school. In 1890 he entered the employ of
Van Beynum & Mensink, in their large general store in Maurice, and followed
this avocation for six years. Mr. Mieras graduated from Casterton Commercial
College at Racine, Wisconsin, and he also attended the LeMars, fitting
himself for a business career. In April 1897, he engaged in the general
merchandise business in Maurice, closing out his business one year later.
The confidence and esteem in which Mr. Mieras is held in the community was
demonstrated in 1898, when by the endorsement of the people here, he was
appointed and commissioned postmaster of Maurice, entering upon his duties
on January 16 of that year. In connection with his duties as postmaster, Mr.
Mieras handles a line of stationery, school supplies, cigars, etc. He also
makes a specialty of bicycles and bicycle supplies.
Mr. Mieras is a young man in whom the people have confidence and
his strict integrity, coupled with his capabilities and training, guarantee
for him a successful and prosperous future in whatever vocation he may see
fit to engage.
Mieras Brothers
It is essential to the success of any town that it contain
merchants in every line of trade, who are reliable and who achieve and
retain the confidence of the farmers. One of the most important business
institutions of a town is its hardware store, and Maurice is fortunate in
possessing a firm of hardware dealers that are awake to their own and to the
interests of their patrons. There are very few hardware dealers who are more
reliable and trustworthy than Mieras Bros.
Jacob S. Mieras, senior member of the firm, was born in Kenosha
County, Wisconsin, January 6, 1858, and is now in his forty-second year. He
attended public school while a boy and assisted in attending to duties and
labors on his father's farm. The most of his life, prior to engaging in the
hardware business in Maurice, was devoted to farm work, with the exception
of one year, 1879-1880, when he was employed at teaming for a stone quarry
in Milwaukee. Mr. Mieras came to Sioux County in the fall of 1880, and
purchased 120 acres of land two miles east of Maurice. In 1884, he sold this
place and bought a quarter section adjoining Maurice on the east, which land
he still owns, and on which he erected in 1890 one of the most modern farm
houses in the county, a view of which appears in these pages. Mr. Mieras, in
company with his brother William purchased the hardware and implement
business form D.N. Kaufman in 1892. He was united in marriage to Miss Amelia
Schriever on September 6, 1879. Mr. Mieras was township assessor for four
years, is a member of the board of education of Maurice and is held in high
esteem in the community as a citizen of worth.
William Mieras is the junior partner of the firm of Mieras
Bros., and is also a native of Kenosha County, Wisconsin, having been born
on May 14, 1867. He followed farming with his father until his removal to
Maurice in 1880, and followed the same occupation here until 1892, when, as
stated above, he engaged as a hardware merchant with his brother in Maurice.
Mr. Mieras obtained a good common school education, having attended the
public schools in Wisconsin and in those of Sioux County, for a time after
he arrived here. He was united in marriage in Maurice, June 6, 1897, to Miss
Edna G. Radabaugh of Cass County, this state. William Mieras is a young man
of good business ability, and his pleasant and affable disposition, coupled
with his thorough integrity, make him exceedingly popular with the public,
and account for his unanimous election to the office of mayor, reference to
which is made on another page. There is nothing of that clannishness in his
make-up which often marks descendants of a common race. An American by
birth, instincts and manners, we hazard nothing when we say that a bright
future awaits William Mieras.
Mieras Bros. have one of the most complete hardware stores in
northwestern Iowa and have been successful in securing a splendid patronage.
And there is no firm in Sioux County more deserving of success and
patronage.
Alton Democrat, March 31, 1900
Clerk John Meyer informs us that several changes are to be made at the
public school for the spring term in order to accommodate the expected
influx of first term youngsters. Miss Nellie Weeks of Rhodes, a sister of
Mrs. Prof. Vertz, has already been engaged as assistant to Miss Vance in the
primary department. It is probable that from fifteen to twenty extra seats
will be put into the room and barely possible that further changes in the
way of a partition across the room may be made. It is only a question of a
year or so, from all indications, till our school population will have
outgrown its present quarters and an addition must be built.
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The following pupils were neither absent nor tardy the last month: First
primary--Susie Douma, Bertie De Bruin, Louie Otkin, Earnest Eason, and Henry
Uttermerk. Second primary----Lizzie Otkins, Mitchel Noteboom, Milo Gibbs,
Jennie Roelfson, Lizzie Ekelmans, Seney Smith, Myrtle De Kraay, John Eason
and Dick Richards. Intermediate--- Ary Talsma, Jakie Reuvers, Hattie Van
Hull, Eva Pitts, Mary Bowers, Willie Ekelmans, Dick Reuvers, Bennie Jansen,
John Reuvers, Virginia Slagle, Johanna Van Nimwegen, Katie Houwers, Florence
Boersma, Dena Klein Bekman, Margery Pluim and Harry Vander Pol. High
School---Chauncey Pitts, Mary Eason, Jake Douma, Cecilia Lieb, Willie
Bowers, Joe Lieb, Gideon Pitts, Jennie Rensink, Mary Van Nimwegen, Abbie
Kamber, Josie Houwers, Jessie Campbelll, Willie Stronks, Henry Jansen, Josie
Frederiks, Ed Schmidt, Otto Broskamp, Bennie Braskamp, Mary Houwers, Minko
Mulder, Ida Bomgaars, Steven Eason, Mamie Van Mimwegen and Helen Slagle.