Carl Reinecke - Among the
many men who have been potent in shaping the destiny
and the public opinion of Clayton county, few have
played a more important role than Carl Reinecke Sr.,
who for 45 years was the able editor of Der Nord
Iowa Herold. Mr Reinecke brought to his
newspaper work not only a thorough technical
knowledge of the printing craft gained by experience
both in the old world and the new, but a ripe
judgment and a wide knowledge gained as a close
student of affairs during the course of his long and
useful life.
Carl Reinecke Sr. was born
in Calbe. a.s. Saxony, on January 29, 1840, the son
of Louis and Henrietta (Stange) Reinecke, both of
whom were natives of Calbe. The thorough and
efficient schools of the little Saxon city furnished
the foundation for the broad education which
characterized him. At the age of 15 he entered the
office of the Wochenblatt published at
Hettstaedt, Prussia, 25 miles from his early home and
there he learned the printers' trade. After an
apprenticeship of five years in this city he went to
Brunswick and entered a book-printing establishment,
where he remained for a little more than a year.
Following the custom of Germany, Mr. Reinecke
perfected himself in his trade by working in
different offices and along different lines;
accordingly we find him next in South Germany, where
he worked for six months in a printing office at
Baden Baden.
In 1866 Mr. Reinecke
determined to avail himself of the wider
opportunities offered in the new world and he
emigrated to America, locating first in Freeport,
Illinois. Here he entered the office of the Anzieger,
in which he worked until the early part of 1871. The
next few months found him employed in various offices
and he then became aware of the opportunity to
purchase the Der Nord Iowa Herold from the
then owner, Mr. Papin. This paper had been
established by Joseph Eiboeck and was one of the
first newspapers in Iowa printed in the German
language.
While at Freeport, on June
21, 1870, Mr Reinecke was married to Frederika
Wagner, daughter of William Wagner, and it was with
his young bride that he came to be a part of the
social and civic life of Clayton county.
Mr Reinecke gave himself
whole-heartedly to the work of his business, both in
the mechanical and editorial departments. He was a
man of strong conviction but of kindly and genial
disposition, and his editorial utterances while
virile were tempered by a sound and considerate
judgment. Through his newspaper and through the
example of his daily life, he has been a constant
force for good in the community and he has earned the
affectionate esteem of all the people of the county.
Having thus lived a long life of untiring business
activity and feeling the desire and necessity for
cessation from his labors, Mr. Reinecke suspended the
publication of the Herold, in September,
1916, preparing to spend his remaining days in quiet
retirement surrounded by the love of his children and
the warm regard of his many friends.
To Mr. and Mrs. Carl
Reinecke Sr. were born five sons: William C.*, now a
prominent banker at Strawberry Point, Iowa;
Maximilian C., of Grand Forks, North Dakota;
Alexander C., of Cleveland, Ohio; Richard C., of St.
Paul, Minnesota, and Carl L., the present postmaster
of Elkader.
Mr. Reinecke is a splendid
example of the American of German birth, who has made
this country his own in very truth and who has
contributed largely to the upbuilding of his
community. He may well point with pride not only to
his own career as a molder of public opinion, but to
the careers of his splendid sons, each of whom has
carved his way as a successful and useful American
citizen.
Carl Reinecke Jr., who has
the honor of being known as one of the youngest
postmasters in Iowa in a city of the importance of
Elkader, was born in that city June 14, 1891. He
received his preliminary education in the grade and
high schools of which the city is so justly proud,
and added to this a four years' course in electrical
engineering at the Iowa State College at Ames, an
institution which has earned more than a nation-wide
reputation as a school of science and of agriculture.
Returning to Elkader he assisted his father in the
conduct of the Der Nord Iowa Herold, and he
took such active and effective part in the councils
of the Democratic party that he was fittingly
rewarded with the appointment as postmaster of
Elkader, which office he assumed on January 27, 1916.
To the conduct of this office he has given faithful
and efficient service and the patrons have been
highly pleased with his administration in every
respect. He is a member of the Masonic fraternity and
active in all the social and civic life of Elkader.
source: History of
Clayton County, Iowa; From The Earliest Historical
Times Down to the Present; by Realto E. Price,
Vol. II; pg. 345-347
-OCR scanned by S. Ferrall
*Note, conflict: this
biography gives the son's name as William C., but the
biography of the son, gives his middle initial as F.
