|
History of Clayton County,
Iowa:... K Unless otherwise noted, biographies submitted by Dick Barton. Edward
W. Kregel is a scion of the third generation of one of the well known and highly
honored pioneer families of Clayton county and through his character and
achievement has marked as his own a place of distinctive prominence and
influence in connection with civic, industrial and social activities in his
native county, where he has substantial and important interests by way of joint
ownership with his brother Herman D., in the fine landed estates of Garnavillo
township - the Black Diamond Stock Farm, which comprises one hundred and
ninety-seven and one-half acres and which is eligibly situated in Sections 13
and 14. On this splendid homestead he maintains his residence and there he is
giving special attention to the breeding and raising of pure-blood Aberdeen
Angus cattle, in connection with which department of his farm enterprise he has
gained a reputation that far transcends local limitations. Mr. Kregel was born
in Garnavillo township, this county, on the 1st of May, 1863, and is one of the
five surviving children of John D. and Helena A. (Kaiser) Kregel. The parents
were born in the Kingdom of Hanover, Germany, and both were children at the time
of the immigration of the respective families to America, Mr. Kregel having been
a lad of six years and his wife having come with her parents in the year 1845.
Both families settled in Ohio, whence they later came to Iowa, in the early
pioneer days, and John D. Kregel became one of the early settlers in Garnavillo
township, Clayton county, where he attained to secure status and high honor as a
prosperous farmer and influential citizen and where he and his wife passed the
remainder of their lives. The boyhood and youth of Edward W. Kregel were marked
by his assisting in the work of the home farm and making good use of the
advantages offered by the public schools of the locality, his studies having
eventually included the curriculum of the Garnavillo high school. after his
marriage, which occurred in the year 1887, he purchased the fine farm which he
now owns and which has been brought up to its present model status through his
individual efforts and progressive policies. He has been a leader in advancing
the agricultural and live-stock industries in this section of the state and his
influence in these directions has added materially to his unqualified personal
popularity. He was secretary of the Clayton County Agricultural Society in 1892,
and in the following year he became secretary of the Farmers' Creamery Company
of Garnavillo, at the time of its organization, this office having been held by
him for a period of nine years, at the expiration of which he declined further
retention of the position, though he has continued to serve as a member of the
board of directors of the company. He was likewise one of the organizers of the
Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company at Garnavillo, and has been continuously an
officer of the same save for an interim of three years. For many years he has
been a director of the West Side School of Garnavillo; during his three years of
service as township trustee he was the staunch advocate of liberal and
progressive policies and instrumental in the effecting of the building of
several fine bridges in the township; and the year 1916 finds him serving his
first term, with characteristic loyalty and efficiency, in the important office
of county commissioner. His political allegiance is given to the Republican
party and he and his family are communicants of the Lutheran church. In the year
1887 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Kregel to Miss Sophia M. Bruns, who was
born and reared in Garnavillo township, and whose parents, Frederick H.,
deceased, and Anna M. (Moellering) Bruns, resided in Monona; the father was a
representative farmer of Garnavillo township, he having been six years of age at
the time of his parents' immigration from Germany to America, and his wife
having been born in Clayton county, a member of a well-known pioneer family. Of
the children of Mr. and Mrs. Kregel the eldest is Arthur J., who is married and
who has the active charge of the old homestead farm of his father; Laura M. is
the wife of Elmer H. Brandt, who is individually mentioned on other pages of
this work; Irene E. and Edna P. M. remain at the parental home, the former being
a graduate of the Garnavillo high school, where Edna is attending, being now
(1916) in the tenth grade. Herman
D. Kregel is one of the five surviving children of John D. and Helena S.
(Kaiser) Kregel and is a popular representative of one of the well known pioneer
families of Clayton county, which has been his home from the time of his birth
and in which he has won secure status as one of the prominent and successful
exponents of agricultural and live-stock industry in his native township. He was
born in Garnavillo township on the 15th of August, 1865, and he may well take
pride in being a representative of that fine German element of citizenship that
has played a splendid part in connection with the civic and industrial
development and progress of Clayton county. His parents were born in the Kingdom
of Hanover, Germany, and were children at the time of the immigration of the
respective families to the United States, the home of each family having first
been established in the state of Ohio. John D. Kregel became one of the early
settlers of Garnavillo township, where he won distinct prosperity and prestige
through his association with agricultural industry and where he became a
substantial farmer and honored and influential citizen. Both he and his wife
remained on their old homestead farm until their death, and both were earnest
and lifelong members of the Lutheran church. Herman D. Kregel was reared to the
sturdy discipline of the old homestead farm, gained his early education in the
public schools of the county and continued to assist his father in the work of
the farm until he had attained to his legal majority. He then became interested
in the Black Diamond Stock Farm, which consists of one hundred and ninety-seven
and one-half acres of the old homestead, which is situated in Sections 13 and
14, Garnavillo township. This place is owned jointly by himself and his brother
Edward W. and is notable for the fine improvements, including good buildings,
and in connection with his operations in the domain of diversified agriculture
Mr. Kregel gives special and successful attention to the breeding and raising of
the Black Polled Angus cattle. He is a member of the directorate of the
Garnavillo Savings Bank, of which he was one of the organizers, and is known as
one of the substantial and upright citizens of his native county. He has further
shown his progressiveness by identifying himself with the Garnavillo Commission
Company and the Garnavillo Creamery Company, in each of which important
corporations he is a director. He has served with characteristic loyalty and
efficiency in the office of township trustee, is Republican in politics and he
and his wife are zealous communicants of the German Lutheran church at
Garnavillo. April 24, 1890, recorded the marriage of Mr. Kregel to Miss Minnie
Meyer, who likewise was born and reared in this county, and whose parents, Louis
and Eliza (Moellering) Meyer, natives of Germany, are now venerable and honored
pioneer citizens of Farmersburg township. Mr. and Mrs. Kregel have four children
- Adelia, Arnold W., Elmer J. and Ivanelle. The three elder children have been
given the advantages of the public schools, including the high school at
Garnavillo, in which Adelia and Elmer J. were graduated. |