Arthur Hamann Arthur Hamann. -One of the modern and thoroughly equipped business establishments of the thriving little city of Guttenberg is that of the firm of Hamann & Staack, dealers in automobiles and owners of a substantial garage and automobile accessories business. The firm has the local agency for the standard Buick, Oldsmobile and Cadillac automobiles, and in the large garage and repair shop, a building fifty by one hundred feet in dimensions, the best of accommodations and facilities are provided for the carrying on, of the prosperous business which had its inception in the autumn of 1912. He whose name initiates this paragraph is the senior member of this popular firm of progressive young business men, and for this reason, as well as on account of his being a native son of Clayton county and a representative of a sterling pioneer family, he is specially eligible for recognition in this publication. Mr. Hamann was born on the old homestead farm of his parents, in Farmersburg township, four and one-half miles north of Garnovillo, and the date of his nativity was September 27, 1888. He is a son of Herman and Elizabeth (Koss) Hamann, the former of whom was born near Clayton Center, this county, and the latter in Garnavillo township, the respective families, of staunch German lineage, having been founded in this county in the early pioneer days. Herman Hamann was reared and educated in Clayton county and has long been a successful and influential exponent of agricultural and live-stock industry, both he and his wife still maintaining their residence on their fine old homestead farm in Farmersburg township, and both being active communicants of the German Lutheran church, the political allegiance of Mr. Hamann being given to the Democratic party. Of the children, the subject of this sketch was the second in order of birth, and the eldest is Glendor, who is a progressive farmer of Farmersburg township; Laura is the wife of Albert Schlake, of Garnavillo township; and Herman, Jr., remains at the parental home and is associated with his father in the management of the farm. Arthur Hamann continued his studies in the public schools until he had availed himself of the advantages of the high school at Garnavillo, and thereafter he took a course in mechanical engineering as a student in the great University. of Wisconsin, at Madison. The technical knowledge thus gained has splendidly equipped him for the business of which he is now a successful representative, and after leaving the university he was for some time employed in an automobile garage in the city of Omaha, Nebraska, where he also fortified himself still further by attending an automobile school. After his return to Clayton county he assisted in the work of his father's farm for a year, and then, in 1912, became associated with Arthur H. Staack in founding their present representative business enterprise, the original establishment of the firm of Hamann & Staack having been a building twenty-five by fifty feet in dimensions, and the two principals having personally handled all the repair work until the business so increased in scope and importance as to justify the employment of skilled assistants, the establishment of the firm now giving employment to six competent assistants. Mr. Hamann is a Democrat in politics, is affiliated with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, and he and his wife are communicants of the Lutheran church. Of his business associate, Mr. Staack, individual mention is made on other pages of this work. On the 15th of May, 1912, Mr.
Hamann wedded Miss Alma Schlake, who was born and reared
in this county and who is a daughter of Henry and
Elizabeth (Wilker) Schlake, of Garnavillo township. Mr.
and Mrs. Hamann have two children - Dolores, who was born
January 31, 1913, and Alo, who was born December 10,
1915. source: History of Clayton
County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical Times Down to
the Present; by Realto E. Price, Vol. II; page
158-159 |