Fred Mehmken, a son of Gerhard and Fredericka (Schreiter) Mehmken, was born in Oldenburg, Germany, July 10, 1869. He there pursued his education in the public schools and in a business college, and being thus well equipped for the duties that come when one enters business life, he turned his attention to the task of acquiring a competence. He was first employed in a wholesale dry-goods store in Bremen, and later, in accordance with the laws of his native land, he spent three years in the German army, acting as both corporal and bookkeeper. Following his military service he worked for seven months in a dry-goods store ; and then, ambitious to enjoy the better business privileges of the New World, he came to America in the spring of 1894, landing at Baltimore. From that city he made his way to Des Moines county, Iowa, where he was employed on a farm for about one year : after which he spent three years in Henry county, this State, working by the month.
In 1901, through his industry and frugality, he had accumulated a capital sufficient to enable him to purchase a farm of his own, and he bought one hundred and sixty acres of Samuel B. Tucker, on Section 28, Yellow Springs township. In the meantime, however, he had followed farming on his own account for four years, as a renter.
His present home is pleasantly and conveniently located about two and one-half miles west of Mediapolis, where he is engaged in raising forty-five head of cattle, mostly of the Hereford breed, and about seventy-five head of Poland China hogs. He is a general farmer and stock-raiser, and while there has been nothing sensational or exciting in his career, it shows the force of consecutive endeavor and laudable ambition as active factors in business life. These qualities have brought him success.
Jan. 1, 1898, Mr. Mehmken was united in marriage to Lizzie Vollmer Tackenberg, a daughter of Henry and Louisa (Kipp) Vollmer. She was twice married, her first husband being Charles Tackenberg, who died April 15, 1896, at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving one son, Wesley, born Nov. 16, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Mehmken now have two children : Henry, born April 25, 1902: and Mark, born Jan. 21, 1904.
Mr. Melimken holds membership in the German Lutheran church, and in politics is a Republican where State and national issues are involved, but at local elections, where the capability of a candidate is the essential factor, he votes independently. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America, for here he has found the business opportunities he sought, which, by the way, are always open to ambitious, resolute young men. Through his unfaltering labor he has made for himself a creditable place in agricultural circles in Yellow Springs township.
Source: Biographical Review of Des Moines County, Iowa, Hobart Publishing Company, Chicago, 1905, pp. 805-6
OBITUARY
Fred Mehmken, Mediapolis farmer, died Aug. 31 in Mercy hospital. Death terminated a long illness.
A native of Germany, Mehmken was born July 10, 1879. [Other sources suggest 1869 would be correct.] He was married to Elizabeth Vollmer Tackenberg on New Year's day, 1898. She survives, as do 2 sons: Mark Mehmken, Sperry, and Henry Mehmken, at home.
Also surviving are a brother, William Mehmken, Yarmouth; 2 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Two brothers and a sister are dead.
Last rites will be held at the Fry chapel at 2 p. m. Sunday. The Rev. H. W. Munster, Waukegan, Ill., a former pastor of the Mediapolis Methodist church, will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park cemetery, at Burlington.
Source: Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, Saturday, Sept. 1, 1951, p. 9.
In 1901, through his industry and frugality, he had accumulated a capital sufficient to enable him to purchase a farm of his own, and he bought one hundred and sixty acres of Samuel B. Tucker, on Section 28, Yellow Springs township. In the meantime, however, he had followed farming on his own account for four years, as a renter.
His present home is pleasantly and conveniently located about two and one-half miles west of Mediapolis, where he is engaged in raising forty-five head of cattle, mostly of the Hereford breed, and about seventy-five head of Poland China hogs. He is a general farmer and stock-raiser, and while there has been nothing sensational or exciting in his career, it shows the force of consecutive endeavor and laudable ambition as active factors in business life. These qualities have brought him success.
Jan. 1, 1898, Mr. Mehmken was united in marriage to Lizzie Vollmer Tackenberg, a daughter of Henry and Louisa (Kipp) Vollmer. She was twice married, her first husband being Charles Tackenberg, who died April 15, 1896, at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving one son, Wesley, born Nov. 16, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Mehmken now have two children : Henry, born April 25, 1902: and Mark, born Jan. 21, 1904.
Mr. Melimken holds membership in the German Lutheran church, and in politics is a Republican where State and national issues are involved, but at local elections, where the capability of a candidate is the essential factor, he votes independently. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America, for here he has found the business opportunities he sought, which, by the way, are always open to ambitious, resolute young men. Through his unfaltering labor he has made for himself a creditable place in agricultural circles in Yellow Springs township.
Source: Biographical Review of Des Moines County, Iowa, Hobart Publishing Company, Chicago, 1905, pp. 805-6
OBITUARY
Fred Mehmken, Mediapolis farmer, died Aug. 31 in Mercy hospital. Death terminated a long illness.
A native of Germany, Mehmken was born July 10, 1879. [Other sources suggest 1869 would be correct.] He was married to Elizabeth Vollmer Tackenberg on New Year's day, 1898. She survives, as do 2 sons: Mark Mehmken, Sperry, and Henry Mehmken, at home.
Also surviving are a brother, William Mehmken, Yarmouth; 2 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Two brothers and a sister are dead.
Last rites will be held at the Fry chapel at 2 p. m. Sunday. The Rev. H. W. Munster, Waukegan, Ill., a former pastor of the Mediapolis Methodist church, will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park cemetery, at Burlington.
Source: Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, Saturday, Sept. 1, 1951, p. 9.
Fred Mehmken, a son of Gerhard and Fredericka (Schreiter) Mehmken, was born in Oldenburg, Germany, July 10, 1869. He there pursued his education in the public schools and in a business college, and being thus well equipped for the duties that come when one enters business life, he turned his attention to the task of acquiring a competence. He was first employed in a wholesale dry-goods store in Bremen, and later, in accordance with the laws of his native land, he spent three years in the German army, acting as both corporal and bookkeeper. Following his military service he worked for seven months in a dry-goods store ; and then, ambitious to enjoy the better business privileges of the New World, he came to America in the spring of 1894, landing at Baltimore. From that city he made his way to Des Moines county, Iowa, where he was employed on a farm for about one year : after which he spent three years in Henry county, this State, working by the month.
In 1901, through his industry and frugality, he had accumulated a capital sufficient to enable him to purchase a farm of his own, and he bought one hundred and sixty acres of Samuel B. Tucker, on Section 28, Yellow Springs township. In the meantime, however, he had followed farming on his own account for four years, as a renter.
His present home is pleasantly and conveniently located about two and one-half miles west of Mediapolis, where he is engaged in raising forty-five head of cattle, mostly of the Hereford breed, and about seventy-five head of Poland China hogs. He is a general farmer and stock-raiser, and while there has been nothing sensational or exciting in his career, it shows the force of consecutive endeavor and laudable ambition as active factors in business life. These qualities have brought him success.
Jan. 1, 1898, Mr. Mehmken was united in marriage to Lizzie Vollmer Tackenberg, a daughter of Henry and Louisa (Kipp) Vollmer. She was twice married, her first husband being Charles Tackenberg, who died April 15, 1896, at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving one son, Wesley, born Nov. 16, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Mehmken now have two children : Henry, born April 25, 1902: and Mark, born Jan. 21, 1904.
Mr. Melimken holds membership in the German Lutheran church, and in politics is a Republican where State and national issues are involved, but at local elections, where the capability of a candidate is the essential factor, he votes independently. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America, for here he has found the business opportunities he sought, which, by the way, are always open to ambitious, resolute young men. Through his unfaltering labor he has made for himself a creditable place in agricultural circles in Yellow Springs township.
Source: Biographical Review of Des Moines County, Iowa, Hobart Publishing Company, Chicago, 1905, pp. 805-6
OBITUARY
Fred Mehmken, Mediapolis farmer, died Aug. 31 in Mercy hospital. Death terminated a long illness.
A native of Germany, Mehmken was born July 10, 1879. [Other sources suggest 1869 would be correct.] He was married to Elizabeth Vollmer Tackenberg on New Year's day, 1898. She survives, as do 2 sons: Mark Mehmken, Sperry, and Henry Mehmken, at home.
Also surviving are a brother, William Mehmken, Yarmouth; 2 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Two brothers and a sister are dead.
Last rites will be held at the Fry chapel at 2 p. m. Sunday. The Rev. H. W. Munster, Waukegan, Ill., a former pastor of the Mediapolis Methodist church, will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park cemetery, at Burlington.
Source: Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, Saturday, Sept. 1, 1951, p. 9.
In 1901, through his industry and frugality, he had accumulated a capital sufficient to enable him to purchase a farm of his own, and he bought one hundred and sixty acres of Samuel B. Tucker, on Section 28, Yellow Springs township. In the meantime, however, he had followed farming on his own account for four years, as a renter.
His present home is pleasantly and conveniently located about two and one-half miles west of Mediapolis, where he is engaged in raising forty-five head of cattle, mostly of the Hereford breed, and about seventy-five head of Poland China hogs. He is a general farmer and stock-raiser, and while there has been nothing sensational or exciting in his career, it shows the force of consecutive endeavor and laudable ambition as active factors in business life. These qualities have brought him success.
Jan. 1, 1898, Mr. Mehmken was united in marriage to Lizzie Vollmer Tackenberg, a daughter of Henry and Louisa (Kipp) Vollmer. She was twice married, her first husband being Charles Tackenberg, who died April 15, 1896, at the age of twenty-nine years, leaving one son, Wesley, born Nov. 16, 1891. Mr. and Mrs. Mehmken now have two children : Henry, born April 25, 1902: and Mark, born Jan. 21, 1904.
Mr. Melimken holds membership in the German Lutheran church, and in politics is a Republican where State and national issues are involved, but at local elections, where the capability of a candidate is the essential factor, he votes independently. He has never had occasion to regret his determination to seek a home in America, for here he has found the business opportunities he sought, which, by the way, are always open to ambitious, resolute young men. Through his unfaltering labor he has made for himself a creditable place in agricultural circles in Yellow Springs township.
Source: Biographical Review of Des Moines County, Iowa, Hobart Publishing Company, Chicago, 1905, pp. 805-6
OBITUARY
Fred Mehmken, Mediapolis farmer, died Aug. 31 in Mercy hospital. Death terminated a long illness.
A native of Germany, Mehmken was born July 10, 1879. [Other sources suggest 1869 would be correct.] He was married to Elizabeth Vollmer Tackenberg on New Year's day, 1898. She survives, as do 2 sons: Mark Mehmken, Sperry, and Henry Mehmken, at home.
Also surviving are a brother, William Mehmken, Yarmouth; 2 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
Two brothers and a sister are dead.
Last rites will be held at the Fry chapel at 2 p. m. Sunday. The Rev. H. W. Munster, Waukegan, Ill., a former pastor of the Mediapolis Methodist church, will officiate. Burial will be in Memorial Park cemetery, at Burlington.
Source: Burlington Hawk-Eye Gazette, Saturday, Sept. 1, 1951, p. 9.
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