LOUIS E. TRAMP.
Among the families of Audubon county, whose members have worthily discharged their duties to their fellows and to their community, no family takes higher rank than that of the Tramps, who are today prominently identified with the business and social life of Audubon and the county at large. For many years the members of this family have stood for all that is best in business, educational, moral and social life. They have wielded an influence that has been potential in the development and welfare of Audubon county, and the various members are numbered among the enterprising and progressive citizens of this county. Because of the prominence which the family has enjoyed in manufacturing circles and in the business life of this county--the close relations which they have sustained to the welfare and prosperity of this community--they are eminently entitled to representation in a work of this character.
Louis E. Tramp, a worthy representative of the second generation of the family in this county and the successor to the flourishing business established by his father, Charles L. Tramp, was born on March 22, 1880, in Bloomington, Illinois, son of Charles L. and Augusta D. (Damaska) Tramp. Louis E. Tramp was not yet a year old when the family moved to Audubon in 1881. He was educated in the Audubon schools, completing the high-school course, and worked for his father at making brick from the time he was a small boy. When twenty-one years of age, he and his brother purchased their father's brick plant and have since been engaged in operating that business.
On October 12, 1905, Louis E. Tramp was married to Anna L. McGinnis, daughter of Lewis A. and Lavenia (Hoak) McGinnis, to wdiich union four children have been born, Worth W., Paul E., Harold M., who died at the age of three years, and William D. Louis E. Tramp is a Mason, having attained to the chapter in that order. He also is an Odd Fellow and has attained to the encampment of that order, and is likewise a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Eastern Star. In his political views he is in conformance with the policies of the Republican party and gives a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of the county.
Lewis A. McGinnis, father of Mrs. Tramp, who is now living retired in Audubon, this county, was born on a farm in Champaign county, Ohio, November 8, 1845, a son of William Lewis and Sarah (Harbor) McGinnis, natives of Kentucky and Ohio, respectively, the former of whom was born in 1802, and died in 1882, and the latter of whom was born in 1807 and died in 1875. William Lewis McGinnis was the son of William McGinnis, a native of Kentucky, and a soldier of the War of 1812, whose parents migrated to that state from Pennsylvania. William Lewis and Sarah (Harbor) McGinnis were married in Ohio and spent the rest of their lives in that state, having been sixteen years old when the family settled in Champaign county in 1818. The father of William McGinnis settled in Kentucky before the Revolutionary War, and a brother of Simon Kenton, the famous pioneer and Indian fighter, was his brother-in-law. To William Lewis and Sarah (Harbor) McGinnis the following children were born: Anna, deceased; William Henry, who died in infancy; Susanna, deceased; Samuel H., who removed to California in 1858; John N. who lives in Illinois; Thomas J., who died in Kansas, and Lewis A., the father of Mrs. Louis E. Tramp.
On April 2, 1862, at the age of sixteen years, four months and twenty-four days, Lewis A. McGinnis enlisted at Columbus, Ohio, in Company A, Sixty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years during the Civil War, being discharged at Goldsboro, North Carolina, on April 3, 1865. He fought in the second battle of Bull Run, at Chancellorsville and at Gettysburg. For eighteen months he was attached to the Army of the Potomac and fought at Freeman's Ford, White Sulphur Springs, Waterloo Bridge and Fairfax Court House. He also was engaged in the battle of Wahatchie, Mission Ridge, Burnt Hickory, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Peachtree Creek and in the siege of Atlanta. From May 10 to September 1, 1864, he was under fire constantly. He was at Montietti Swamp, Georgia; Averysboro, North Carolina, and Bentonville, North Carolina. His captain was Fred S. Wallace and his regimental commanders were Colonel Schleich and Col. Stephen J. McGroarty. The generals in charge of the brigade in which Mr. McGinnis served were General Bohlen, who was killed at Freeman's Ford; General Schimmelpfennig, General Tindale and Colonel Robinson. The division commanders were Gen. Carl Schurz, Gen. A. S. Williams and Gen. Ward. During the battle of Bull Run, Mr. McGinnis was under General Sigel and also served under Gen. Joe Hooker, Gen. O. O. Howard and Gen. H. W. Slocum. While in the Army of the Potomac he was under Gen. John Pope, General McClellan, General Burnside and Gen. George Gordon Meade. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Army of the West and served under General Thomas. Returning home after the war he farmed for some time and in 1877 moved to Illinois, residing for some time in Vermilion county, that state. In 1901 he sold out his holdings there and came to Audubon county, locating in Audubon, the county seat, where he is living a retired life. Mr. McGinnis served as deputy county clerk of Audubon county and was elected county clerk in 1908 on the Republican ticket, and was re-elected in 1910, serving altogether four years, retiring on January 1, 1913. Mr. McGinnis is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and. fraternally, is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Order of the Eastern Star.
On September 13, 1870, Lewis A. McGinnis was married to Lavenia Hoak, of Champaign county, Ohio, who was born on August 27, 1849, daughter of Lemuel and Lucretia Hoak, to which union the following children were born: Gilbert, who died in 1876; Oron C, who lives in Los Angeles, California; Mrs. May Gray, of Greenville, Texas; Mr. Cora L. Barnett, who lives in Rush county, Indiana, southeast of Indianapolis; Mrs. Anna L. Tramp, and Lewis L., who lives at Waseca, Minnesota.
The Audubon Brick Company was started by Charles L. Tramp in the spring of 1882. He continued to operate the plant until in March, 1901, when it was taken charge of by Louis E. and Charles A. Tramp, his sons, who operated it until July, 1902, when Charles A. sold out to his brother, Benjamin F., who, with Louis E., has continued to operate the plant since that time. In November, 1909, a new and greatly enlarged plant was erected on the east side of the Nishnebotna, comprising four kilns, each with a capacity of fifty thousand bricks, the factory and drying-shed covering an area of fifty-two by a hundred and two feet, two floors. The steam dryer has a capacity of a hundred and sixty thousand three-inch drain tile, and there is a dryer, fifty-three by one hundred and thirty feet, with a capacity of ninety thousand three-inch drain tile. The third dryer, fifty-two by a hundred feet, has a capacity of forty-five thousand bricks. The operating department is run by a seventy-five horse-power engine with two boilers having a capacity of one hundred and thirty horse power, the equipment being modern in every respect and practically new. An average of twenty men are employed. The output is shipped over Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and surrounding states. The firm manufactures building brick, drain tile and building tile, and manufactures one million five hundred thousand bricks annually, Louis E. Tramp occupying the position of general manager.
Charles L. Tramp, who established the above business, and who is now retired, was born on February 20, 1846, in the city of Waren, in Germany, the son of Frederick and Fredericka Tramp. Frederick Tramp was born in 1817 and died in 1879. He was a brickmaker by trade and also learned the trade of a hand-loom linen weaver in Germany. He came to America in the spring of 1855, landing in New York city on May 28, and reached Chicago on June 7. From Chicago he went to Long Grove, Lake county, Illinois, and on June 14 settled in Halfday, six miles south of Libertyville, and lived there until 1856, in which year the moved to Bloomington, Illinois, remaining there until 1868, when he moved to Atlanta, Illinois, where he started a small brick yard. There he resided and manufactured brick until 1874, in which year he moved to Lincoln, Logan county, Illinois, and manufactured brick for seven years, or until his death, in 1880. Frederick and Fredericka Tramp were the parents of six children, as follows: Mrs. Louisa Siebert, who lives at Bloomington, Illinois; Charles I., who is referred to here variously; Mrs. Henrietta Hecker, who lives at Audubon, this county; Harmon, who lives in Louisiana, Missouri; Mrs. Helen Dixon, who lives at Hastings, Nebraska, and L. W., who lives at Kansas City, Missouri.
Charles L. Tramp moved to Audubon, this county, with his family in December, 1880, and as soon as possible engaged in the manufacture of building brick, manufacturing practically all of the brick used in the building of Audubon. He also manufactured the first tile in Audubon county, and brought the first tile machinery to this county. He was actively engaged in the manufacture of brick until 1901.
On November 3, 1870, Charles L. Tramp was married to Augusta Damaska, a native of Germany, born in 1847, who came to America in 1855 with her parents. She died on November 4, 1883, leaving seven children, namely: William and Harry, who live at Creston, Iowa; Lillie, the wife of Charles Poulson, of Seattle, Washington; Charles, a commercial traveler, who lives at Creston, Iowa; Louis E. and Benjamin F., who live at Audubon, and Virgil, who lives at Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On September 11, 1909, Charles L. Tramp married, secondly, Mrs. Jennie (Howard) Wilson, widow of Milo C. Wilson, of Nebraska, who was born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, in 1850, the daughter of William and Adeline (Bennett) Howard, natives of Kentucky and Indiana, respectively. William Howard died in Wisconsin and his widow thereafter lived with a daughter in Nebraska, where her last days were spent.
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Transcribed by Cheryl Siebrass, September, 2019 from History of Audubon County, Iowa Its People, Industries and Institutions With Biographical Sketches of Representative Citizens and Genealogical Records of Many of the Old Families, by H. F. Andrews, editor, Indianapolis: B. F. Bowen & Company, 1915, pp. 531-535.
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