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(Source: “As Time Goes By”, Odebolt, Iowa 1877-1977,
printed by The Odebolt Chronicle May, 1977)
John Emil Einspahr, son of Frederick and Anna (Clausen) Einspahr was born March 24, 1857 at Blue Island, Illinois. His parents came from Germany. The family moved to crown Point, Indiana when John was a small boy. At the age of seventeen he entered an apprenticeship with a wheelwright and cabinet maker at Brunswick, Indiana, serving three years. It is interesting to note here that about that time, Dr. Groman, a personal friend of John Einspahr back in Crown Point, Ind. had come to Odebolt to practice medicine and wrote to John to encourage him to come to Odebolt, as he noted the farmers in this area had need for Mr. Einspahr's trade. In 1878, John Einspahr came to Odebolt and established his business. At that time there was only one street in Odebolt, going north and south. He was a member of the fire department and served as mayor of the town. Mr. Einspahr was closely associated with the pioneer life of Odebolt.
John E. Einspahr married Annie Elizabeth Zimmerman on March 15, 1882 in a small three room house where they lived until after their first three children were born. Then they built a large house in 1890.
Annie Elizabeth Zimmerman worked for the Van Sands before her marriage and also at the Pennsylvania House, the hotel, which did most of the baking for the town. It was operated by the Kecks.
Seven children were born to John and Annie Einspahr; Maude (Mrs. Charles Duning); Edna (Mrs. Jason Gray); Nora (Mrs. Arthur Frevert); Fred, married Margaret Leuz; Mabel married Dr. E.L. White; Ben, married Stella McCrea; Alvin, married Jennie Haustetter; Harold, married Dorothy Thayer.
Mabel is the only living member of her family [in 1977]; she was born in 1894. She can tell many interesting things about the early days in Odebolt. She entered nurse's training in her late teens and graduated from Chicago Poly Clinic. She was on nurse duty at the Great Lakes Naval Hospital and recalls having one hundred patients in one ward ill with flu during the epidemic following World War I. She accompanied Dr. Groman on many house calls when surgery was often done on the kitchen table by the light of kerosene lamp.
[Information on more recent generations has been removed.]
(Source: “As Time Goes By”, Odebolt, Iowa 1877-1977,
printed by The Odebolt Chronicle May, 1977)
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Eli Ellinger was born in Bethlehem, Pa., in 1819. In 1849 he moved to Lockport, N.Y. where he married Miss Susan Ferry, who was born near London, England. Mr. and Mrs. Ellinger came to Clinton County, Iowa in 1856, settling on a farm near Elwood, Iowa. In 1873, they moved to Sac County residing on the Mills farm southeast of Odebolt, and later on the J.A. Davenport farm northeast of town. The family traveled by covered wagon to Norton, Kansas, but after a year of disastrous drought and the death of their youngest daughter, they decided to return to Iowa. The town of Odebolt having been laid out, they returned here in 1878 where they resided until their deaths. Both are buried in the Odebolt Cemetery.
Mr. and Mrs. Ellinger were the parents of two sons and seven daughters, all of whom are deceased.
The sons were Lewis F. Ellinger, who married Kate Peck, and James Ellinger, who married Nellie Stratton. Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Ellinger were the parents of Edna, Jesse, Hazel, Milo, and Allen. Mr. and Mrs. James Ellinger were the parents of Mabel, Edgar and Eugene.
The daughters were Susan; Millie; Ella (Mrs.. Flavius Ballou); Lena (Mrs. Joseph Mercer); Melinda (Mrs. Frank Wimber); Jane (Mrs. Otis Stratton): and Lydia (Mrs. W.K. Shaw). (See Shaw history).
Mr. and Mrs. Otis Stratton were the parents of Dr. L.J. Stratton; Earl E. Stratton; and Blanche (Mrs. Will Nellist).
Dr. L.J. Stratton married Elvira Norelius; they were the parents of Pauline.
Earl E. Stratton married Mabel Little; they were the parents of Wayne.
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(Source: “As Time Goes By”, Odebolt, Iowa 1877-1977,
printed by The Odebolt Chronicle May, 1977)
John Erickson was born 1847 at Nor Socken [parish], Sweden. He came to America and in 1872 he arrived in Amboy, Illinois. After working on a farm for a few years he returned to Sweden and brought Anna Christina Johnson back to America with him to Amboy, Illinois where they were married in 1876.
Anna Christian Johnson was born 1847 at Nora Parish, Westmanland, Sweden.
Mr. and Mrs. John Erickson lived on a farm southwest of Odebolt for eleven years. In 1889 they moved to Odebolt where Mr. Erickson bought the Furniture and Undertaking business of William Graham. This business was sold in 1892 and he went into the general merchandise business with John Larson. After this partnership dissolved he and his son Edward had a poultry, general produce, and harness business.
Children born to Mr. and Mrs. John Erickson were Edward O. married Delphine Lindskoog; Duer E. married Mabel Hanson; Anna (Mrs. F.O. Johnson); and Victoria (Mrs. Wilmer Hanson).
Mr. and Mrs. Duer E. Erickson were parents of Lorraine (Mrs. Gustaf Noyd); Donald, married to LaVerne Stitt; Elaine (Mrs. Lawrence Fahlberg); and Thelma.
Mr. and Mrs. F.O. Johnson were parents of Judith, Pearl and Gordon.
Mr. and Mrs. Wilmer Hanson were parents of Warren, married Arlene Fulton, and Dorothy (Mrs. Herman Klemesrud).
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