For
Muscatine County Iowa
1911
| Biographies For Muscatine County Iowa 1911 | |
Source: History of Muscatine County Iowa, Volume II, Biographical, 1911, page 413
JOHN G. KAMMERER....John G. Kammerer, filling the position of city attorney, is numbered among Iowa's native sons, his birth having occurred at Port Louisa, Louisa county, on the 2d of October, 1871. He comes of a family of German origin. His paternal grandfather , John Kammerer, was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, where he passed away at the age of seventy-two years. He was quite well-to-do, owning several small tracts of land. Unto him and his wife were born the following children : John, Jacob, George, Catherine, Mary and Louis.The eldest of the family, John Kammerer, was born in Baden-Baden, Germany, on the 19th of January, 1831, and remained in that country until eighteen years of age, during which period he acquired a common-school education and followed teaming there but the tales which he heard concerning the business opportunities in the new world aroused his ambition and with a desire to benefit by the conditions here to be found he crossed the Atlantic to the United States. For two years he lived in the state of New York and then came to the middle west, following boating on the Mississippi river. He also conducted a store in Port Louisa before the days of railroads and engaged in buying grain there, his trade covering territory many miles in extent. He shipped his grain by boat to St. Louis and for a long period was closely, actively and prominently associated with the commercial and trade interests of Louisa county but has now put aside business cares and is there living retired. After coming to the new world he wedded Miss Caroline Charles, a native of Pennsylvania, and a daughter of Michael and Christina Charles. Her father was a native of Germany and on coming to the new world settled in the Keystone state. He died at the very advanced age of eighty-five years, while his wife reached the age of seventy-three years. They had a large family, including Caroline, Mary, Kate, Ann, Ida, Maggie and Joseph. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Kammerer there were born six children, five sons and a daughter : John G., of this review ; Mollie D., the wife of Frank Beik ; Harry J.; Albert L.; Charles Joseph ; and Aut. All reside in Louisa county with the exception of John G., of this review. The mother passed away in September, 1886, at the age of thirty-six years. She was reared in the faith of the Catholic church, while John Kammerer was reared in the Lutheran church. He has held various township offices and is numbered among the valued and representative citizens of Louisa county, where he has made his home from pioneer days down to the present time.
John G. Kammerer, whose name introduces this record, was reared in Louisa county upon his father's farm, early becoming familiar with all the duties and labors that fall to the lot of the agriculturist. The country schools afforded him his early educational privileges and he afterward had the benefit of the instructionin the Northern Indiana Normal School at Valparaiso. He then engaged in teaching for three years and the summer seasons were devoted to farm work but thinking to find a professional career more congenial, he became a student in the law department of the Iowa University at Iowa City, on the 1st of January, 1899. He was graduated on the 8th of June, 1900, and at the same time was admitted to the bar. For a brief period he lived in Davenport and then removed to Muscatine, where for the past decade he has practiced his profession. He has been accorded a good clientage and on the 17th of June, 1910, was elected city attorney, which office he is now capably filling, faithfully defending the interests of the city as counselor and advocate. He has ever recognized the fact that unabating industry is as essential to success at the bar as in the trades or in commercial life. He has therefore applied himself with unfaltering energy to his work, has carefully prepared his cases and is gaining a well merited success.
On the 20th of May, 1902, Mr. Kammerer was married to Miss Ida M. Raymond, a native of Valparaiso, and a daughter of Louis and Artemus Raymond, the former a native of Canada and the latter of Kankakee county, Illinois. They are now residents of Valparaiso, Indiana, where they reared their family of seven children, of whom six are yet living, namely :Nelda, Ida M., Rudolph, Laura, Mabel and Leona.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Kammerer has been blessed with four children, Raymond J., Melvin A., De Vere H., and Leona. The parents are members of the Catholic church and Mr. Kammerer gives his political allegiance to the republican party. Theirs is a hospitable home and its good cheer is greatly enjoyed by the many friends whom they have won during the period of their residence in Muscatine.
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