Mary Louise Iles

ILES, GANSERT, SCHLEGEL, MCNEVIN

Posted By: Carol Bawden (email)
Date: 5/29/2007 at 14:40:31

MARY LOUISE ILES (Mary Terrill Bawden4, Stephen and Mary Terrill3, Stephen and Elizabeth Jelbert2, Stephen and Lucretia1) was born November 25, 1871, in Davenport, Scott County, IA She married William Lewis Gansert 13 May 1895 in Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Davenport. William was born 31 July 1865 in Rock Island, Rock Island County, IL, son of Gustavus J (John G,), and Susan M. (or MS) Kliylk(sp) Gansert. He was the 4th of 4 children preceded by Emilie Sophia, Emma and Louise. Emilie Sophia married Thos. Hanbury McNevin. They had one daughter, Ernestine Francis, maternal grandmother to Anne Strahan in McLean, VA (2007).

The Schlegel-McNevin Piano Co. – “A Firm which Handles Many of the Celebrated Pianos” was located in the McCullough building at 122-124 W. 3rd St. in Davenport. While not the oldest, it was one of the most representative in the city. Mr. Christ W. Schlegel, an old newspaper man, and therefore the “fidus acitates” of the public, was its chief proprietor, with him was associated Thomas H. McNevin, a respectable and accomplished gentleman. Hence, the firm grew in favor and its future was assured.

Mr. Schlegel has been for years a resident of Davenport and associated with several newspapers in Davenport, lately with the H. Lischer Printing Co., publishers of the [Demokrat]. He was a well-known gentleman, and whose acquaintanceship was an enjoyment. Thomas H. McNevin was a Rock Islander, senior member of the confectioners firm of McNevin and Gansert. He was highly regarded successful businessman.

Gustavus paid someone to soldier for him in the Civil War. He had a grocery store and ran a “blind pig” in the basement and made a lot of money with this lottery, mostly from Rock Island Arsenal soldiers visiting this “illegal saloon”.

Until shortly after 1900, Mary and William Lewis made their home with her father, John Iles in Davenport. They moved to their own home in Rock Island.

In 1891, William founded the Gansert Candy Co. in Rock Island. The McNevin - Gansert wholesale firm advertised an odd combination of “candies, tobacco, oysters and celery” at its 18th St. store. According to Mr. Gansert’s obituary, it had developed into one of the largest candy factories in the Midwest.

The family were members of Rock Island’s Trinity Episcopal Church. Mary lived in the family home with son William until 1923 when she moved to Davenport. In 1923, Mary Iles Gansert moved to San Francisco to be with her grandson, John. She died May 26, 1964 in Napa, CA, at the age of 91. [John died in LA on May 13, 1947] She is buried XXX.

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William died 22 April 1919 of Oster sarcoma in the family home at 807 22nd St. in Rock Island, now in the Broadway Historic District. He is buried in Davenport’s Oakdale Memorial Gardens Sec 2 Lot 170 with 6 mo son George, born 25 September 1897 in Davenport who died of pneumonia 25 April 1898.