Mr. Koester'S record is that of a self-made man. He is a native of Soast, Prussia, where he was born on November 13, 1813, being the son of Ernest Koester, who was a lawyer. The subject of this sketch came to America with his parents in 1846, and the latter died in the City of St. Louis of cholera in 1848. Mr. Koester, Sr., not only brought his family over from Germany, but he brought also a lad named Schulen burg, who has since become a millionaire, and, perhaps, the best known business man in the City of St. Louis. The sudden death of Mr. and Mrs. Koester left four orphan children to depend mainly upon them selves for support. In 1849 they were taken charge of by an uncle, Conrad Reiss, who was a minister in the Lutheran Church and a resident of Muscatine, Iowa.
In Mr. Koester's family there were several children, the oldest in the family, Otto, remaining in Germany, where he has been burgomaster for thirty-seven years. He was appointed by Kaiser Wilhelm as ober-burgo master a position for life. Three sisters came to this country with their Parents; one of them is Mrs. Mary Welch, whose husband is dead; another is Mrs. Amelia Phillips, who is also a widow. Both are residing in the City of Chicago. The third sister, Natalie, is the wife of George H. Schaeffer of Fort Madison.
In 1849 young Gustav Koester took up his residence in Muscatine, where he was under the guardianship of the minister whose name was mentioned above. He remained there until 1857 and obtained the most of his school education in that city. In the year above mentioned he went to St. Louis, where he had a cousin by the name of Henry Kuntz, and in Mr. Kuntz billiard parlors Gustav did his first manual labor. During this time he went to school four half-days out of every week. He attended for a time the German Institute in which General Franz Sigel of the United States Army was head teacher, and left his cousin's establishment some time in 1859. He had before him the solemn realization that he must depend upon his own unaided efforts for his success in life, and, as a result, he was ready to do any kind of work and engaged in a variety of employments until 1861, at the time of the breaking out of the war, when he left the City of St. Louis with the Twelfth and Thirteenth Missouri regiments as cook. He remained with the regiments a short time only, and then began a business as newsboy. This he kept up with considerable success, carrying his papers through the ranks and making very fair wages. Then for a year or so he ran the ferry across the Mississippi at Helena, Arkansas, and acted as a scout for the Government. Soon after this he took a contract with the Govern ment for chopping wood and making shingles. This latter work he undertook at Little Rock, Arkansas, and continued with a great deal of success until the latter part of the year 1863 when he had twenty-one thousand dollars in gold. With this money he went to the City of St. Louis, where he remained a few weeks, then to Davenport where he sold his gold at the rate of two dollars and seventeen cents for every dollar. With something more than forty thousand dollars he com menced the purchase of potatoes and the manufacture of sauerkraut for the Government. This was in 1864, and he continued that business during that year and until the close of the war. After that he decided to remain in this city, and accordingly went into the grain business. This venture proved a total failure, and in 1867 he had lost everything he had and found himself nine thousand eight hundred and sixty dollars in debt. He had not a piece of bread in the house nor a penny in his pocket and he worked on the streets for several days. He then began the purchase of grain at the rate of one cent commission per bushel for the other grain dealers in the city. He kept this up for several years, dividing his earnings among his creditors so that each and every one of them got a proper share of money. This Mr. Koester continued until 1870, when his creditors were all paid "dollar for dollar."
Just about this time Mr. James Thompson, who was in the livery business in this city and who is now a retired, wealthy citizen , offered Mr. Koester one thousand dollars with which to again engage in business, and asked for the loan of the same absolutely no security. This Mr. Koester took advantage of, and started into the grain business for himself some time in the latter part of 1870, and continued with very good success until the winter of 1879 and 1880, when he sold out and went to Durant, Cedar County, Iowa, twenty miles west of this city, where he bought out an elevator, continuing in the grain business on a slightly different basis until 1886.
Previous to the time he gave up the elevator - in 1886 — he had invested in Southern Minnesota and Northwestern Iowa lands, purchas ing the ground at very low figures. He proceeded to block out a town, which he called Lake Park, said town being located in this State.
The country round about is beautifully laid out, and in every manner is Very suitable for agricultural purposes. Mr. Koester improved twenty five farms himself, afterward selling them in such a way that he made a handsome profit, and established a general store, out of which he made considerable money. He loaned money and in other ways assisted people who desired to build homes, and as a result, Lake Park, Iowa, is one of the most prosperous communities of its kind in the Northwest. Mr. Koester sold a great deal of land for the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad, and, altogether in his various transactions, he was able to accumulate quite a large sum of money.
It became absolutely necessary for him to give up either his business at Durant, where he had purchased the grain elevator, or drop the real estate business, so he continued in the land business until the fall of 1893, when he sold out everything at Lake Park except his store, making arrangements that that institution should become the property of the men who are now managing it, when the profits should have amounted to enough to pay Mr. Koester for it.
Mr. Koester began business as a real estate agent in Davenport in 1890 and has been very successful. He has sold more land and conducted more deals of different kinds thau any other man, or any other number of men who are engaged in the same business in the entire County. He has a natural talent for this particular class of business. In 1892 he took in with him Charles D. Martin as a partner. Mr. Martin is a good salesman, and a gentleman who thoroughly understands the real estate business.
On September 3, 1866, Mr. Koester married Miss Mary Smith of Davenport, formerly a resident of Zanesville, Ohio. Mr. and Mrs. Koester have three children: Katie, born July 22, 1867; Gustav Adolph, born November 16, 1869, and Tony, born April 3, 1879.
BIOGRAPHIES