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Souvenir
History of Pella, Iowa [1847-1922] G Was born in Zwolle, Netherlands, in 1850. In 1860, when a boy of ten years, he came to America with his parents and settled in Pella. In 1869, when a young man of nineteen years, he decided that the mercantile business should be his future vocation. In 1876 he went to Keokuk, where he took charge of the business of Wm. Blom. He remained with Mr. Blom until 1880, when he was offered a position as traveling salesman for the wholesale house of Kellogg Berge & Co. He remained with this firm until 1893, when he returned to Pella and formed a partnership with A. M. Vander Linden in the retail shoe business. Seven years later he retired from active business. During his residence in Pella he has been honored to the positions of alderman and a member of the board of education. In 1883 he was elected chancellor of Central University and has served in the capacity of a member of the general board of that institution ever since and still holds the position. He is a member of the Second Reformed Church and enjoys the honor of being one of the elders of that Christian institution. Frank C. Garlick received his education. In 1865 he went to New York city, where he spent five years in clerical work. He then accepted a position as advertising agent for the Mac Eboys New Hibernican. In March, 1875, he settled in Pella and engaged in the mercantile business. He was united in marriage to Miss Henrietta Schoonmaker of New York City on July 27, 1876, and he grieved by her death on September 8, 1877. On November 26, 1879, he was united in wedlock to Miss Jennie Mortimore of Monroe, Iowa. To this union two children were born: Leo Cole of the New York Mutual Life Insurance Company at Bradentown, Fla., and Harold Lynne, deceased. Mr. Garlick died in September, 1909. His widow, Jennie M., now resides in Des Moines, Iowa. The subject of this sketch was born in Rotterdam, Holland, September 8, 1810. When a young man he served in the Cavalry of Holland through the war with Belgium. He came to America with the first colonists in 1847, worked in St. Louis at his trade of carpenter and builder until the spring of ’49, when he came to Pella. He was one of the leading contractors and builders for years, and built many of the older residence and business buildings of Pella. He was a member of the First Reformed Church, and during the early days an organization of men often met at his home for the discussion of religious subjects. The older residents of Pella remember him as a man of genial and optimistic temper who never failed to have a pleasant word or jest with which to greet his many friends. He died in September, 1887. Was born in Pella the first day of November, 1865. He received a common school education and after leaving school, clerked in Pella stores for a number of years. In 1888 he removed to Beatrice, Nebraska, where he clerked for several years and then moved to Des Moines, where he clerked in a clothing store for about four years and later had charge of the Smith Premier Typewriter business. He came back to Pella in 1900 and made a home for his mother, who was a widow, and entered the real estate business, which he has followed up to the present time. In 1909 he was elected mayor of Pella, and was re-elected in 1911. It was during that period that the water, light and sewer plants were installed and the preliminary steps taken to pave the streets. N. J. is the candidate for representative of Marion county, on the democratic ticket, for the election to be held in November, 1922. Was born in Charlois, Holland, December 17, 1835. He came to this country with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. A. G. Gesman, with the first colonists in 1847. The family remained in St. Louis until early in 1849, when they moved to Pella. At a very early age he joined his father in the carpenter shop and learned that trade. From his youth up he was a student and when his health unfitted him for the hard labor of carpenter work, he fitted himself by home study, for the profession of school teacher. He commenced teaching in 1861 and continued for four years. He taught the school near Amsterdam, later the Vos school near the Skunk river, and also in the Pella schools. In 1867 he became editor of the Pella Gazette and continued in this work for about one year. About this time he took up the study of law. At that time the family consisted of six members, and Mr. Gesman had to provide for the family while studying to qualify for the bar. It was no uncommon thing for him work all day and then study until two A. M. In this way he succeeded to qualify for that profession in a little more than six months, and became a member of the law firm of Curtis & Gesman. Later, when Mr. Gesman removed from Pella, the firm was known as Gesman & Prouty. The junior member at that time being S. F. Prouty, now of Des Moines. Mr. Gesman was an earnest and devout Christian from his early youth, and the ministry would have been his choice if it had been possible for him to obtain the schooling necessary for this calling. After having practiced law for more than twenty years, his desire to devote the remainder of his life to religious work became so strong that he took an examination and was ordained as Minister in the Reformed Church. He then accepted a call from the Reformed Congregation in Leighton, for whom he had acted as supply for several years previous, and continued as the Pastor of that congregation until his death, which occurred November 3, 1894. Mr. Gesman was one of the organizers of the Second Reformed Congregation in Pella, and for many years served as Elder and also as Superintendent of the Sunday School. He was elected mayor of Pella in 1882, and served as City Attorney for a number of years. Few men of his generation did more for the moral development of the community. Many men and women still living, will testify to his unusual ability as teacher and expounder of God’s word, during the many years that he taught a large adult class in the Sunday School of the Second Reformed Church. Was born in Maasdam, South Holland, July 26, 1836. He came to Pella in 1855, and up to a few years ago, when advancing age caused him to retire, he was engaged in farming. The home farm is located about four or five miles northeast of Pella. November 11, 1863, he married Miss Nellie Van Vliet, daughter of Jacob Van Vliet. To this marriage fourteen children were born, eleven of whom survive. Mrs. De Geus died the 26th day of April, 1920. A few years ago Mr. De Geus built a modern home on West Franklin street, where he still lives. At the advanced age of eighty-six years, he is hale and hearty, and his many friends hope that he will be spared for many years. We have been unable to obtain any data as to the time and place of Mr. Van Gorkom’s birth, or the time of his death. He came here in the early days and filled an important place in the community, as he was one of the first blacksmiths of Pella, in a time when this was one of the most important industries. He continued in this work for a long period of time and had his shop and home on Franklin street, just west of the Jacob Plender home. To a remarkable degree the history of P. H. Van Gorp’s phenomenal rise from an humble beginning to his present high place in the financial and industrial affairs of Pella and of Iowa is a concrete exemplification of the fact that opportunity is not beyond the horizon, but right here at home. He was born in Pella in 1860 and helped his father to earn a living for the family when still in his boyhood. At the age of twenty-one the best he could do, working with a team, was to make $1.50 per day. This meant starting out before daylight on cold winter mornings and working often until long after dark. At the age of twenty-four he was married to Miss Nellie Pos, the daughter of another of Pella’s pioneer settlers. Until he was thirty-five, Mr. Van Gorp’s experience was that of most young men of the time. He tried many things with but indifferent success, but he was learning, in the school of hard knocks, the lessons that later fitted him to build up and develop, from a small beginning, the chief industry of Pella, and one of the leading ones of the state. Together with some others the idea was conceived of manufacturing an automatic straw stacker for threshing machines. A small company with a capital of $3,000 was organized and Mr. Van Gorp was chosen manager of the enterprise. This did not prove a great success, but the company continued the grim struggle for three years, often threatened with complete failure by lack of sufficient capital. About that time Mr. A. C. Van Houweling, now president of the Garden City Feeder Company, invented and patented a self-feeder for threshing machines. The stacker was consequently discontinued, and the Garden City Feeder Company, of which Mr. Van Gorp was the promoter and organizer, has concentrated on these feeders, and is today the largest independent feeder manufacturer in the world, with branch houses scattered over the grain-growing states of this country and Canada, and doing a business of over a million dollars annually. Mr. Van Gorp is the secretary, treasurer, and manager of the company, and with two sons owns more than half the stock, which paid a stock dividend of fifty per cent about eight years ago, and has paid from fifteen to twenty per cent cash dividends annually on its stock since. Even in 1921, when most companies took a heavy loss, this dividend was paid, and its surplus today equals twice its capitalization. Twenty years ago Mr. Van Gorp was practically without means, but now besides his holdings in banks and other concerns, he owns over one thousand acres of good Iowa land and a dozen city properties. He is a stockholder, director and vice president of the Farmers National Bank of Pella, a stockholder and director of the Des Moines Life & Annuity Company, and is interested in a score of other enterprises. He is a public spirited man, always in the forefront of any movement for the betterment of the community, was fuel administrator during the war, has served on the city council, and is one of the leaders in the Chamber of Commerce. History of the Garden City Feeder Co. – page 319 This business was started in 1898 in a small blacksmith shop by A. C. Van Houweling and Jake H. Van Gorp, these men conceiving the idea of manufacturing an Automatic Straw Stacker. A small company was organized by A. C. Van Houweling, J. H. Van Gorp, and P. H. Van Gorp with a combined capital of about $3,000, for the manufacture of straw stackers for threshing machines. They struggled along for a couple of years and the crowning year of the stacker business was in 1900 when a production of 500 stackers was reached. Mr. Van Houweling, being an inventive genius, turned his attention to the building of a self-feeder and band cutter to replace the old method of hand feeding. In those days all threshing machines being equipped with hand feeding tables requiring the service of two men to cut the bands and one man to feed the bundles into the separator, the invention of this feeder eliminated the services of three men and naturally soon found favor among the threshing machine owners and manufacturers of threshing machinery. J. H. Van Gorp managed the factory production and P. H. Van Gorp looked after the sales and financial end of the business. Along in the fall of 1900 J. H. Van Gorp’s health failed and after several months of sickness the company suffered a severe loss in his untimely death with occurred February 9th, 1901. This left the company affairs in the hands of A. C. Van Houweling and P. H. Van Gorp, the company being later incorporated and others interested in it, among them being Arie Van Houweling, A. N. Kuyper, John G. Thomassen, L. Kruidenier and others. The business began to grow wonderfully after the feeder was put on the market, and proved a great success. Other feeder companies have since come and gone, but the Garden City Feeder Co. increased their business every year until their sales now reach over a million dollars annually and pay out in wages in Pella over $150,000 annually. The plant has been extended year after year and now covers in all, over a city block. Five thousand three hundred feeders were produced and sold in 1920. The management of the business is still in the hands of A. C. Van Houweling and P. H. Van Gorp, Mr. Van Houweling devoting his time to the improvement of the product and Mr. Van Gorp, with his two sons, Dick and Harve, associated with him, manage the sales and finances. The Company sell their feeders in all the grain growing states in the United States and Canada, operating twelve branch houses and employed at present 125 men at the plant and twenty-five salesmen. The company is at present developing an automatic grain weigher which is practically completed and will be on the market next year. Order for these weighers are already coming in before the sample machine is out as a result of the company reputation as successful builders of threshing machinery, and this weigher will no doubt add another valuable asset to the Garden City Line. Present Officers
and Directors of the Garden City Feeder Co. Was born in Schravendalen,
Province of Gelderland, Netherlands, in 1826. At the youthful age of
nineteen he emigrated to America in the spring of 1847 and was among
the very first to arrive in this community. He was a lad with ambition
and usefulness. He with Henry Hospers, assisted the surveyors in platting
the town of Pella, the name of the town meaning “The Place of
Refuge” had been decided on before they left Holland. He was united
in marriage to Miss Marie Colyn, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Leendert Colyn.
To this union were born six sons: Jellis, Anthonie, Leonard, John, Jacob
and Abraham, and three girls, Marie, Trintje and Elizabeth. The above
mentioned were intermarried into the families of Yongewaard, Van Zee,
Brant, Van Zante, Adair, Liter and Nieuwendorp, respectively. Their
descendants numbering something like one hundred and forty, who are
now residing in Marion, Mahaska and Jasper counties, some which are
residing in Minnesota. Mr. Grandia died in June, 1868.
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