LORRAINE M. GUENTHER, county auditor of Jackson County at
Maquoketa, was born and grew up at the old Mississippi River town of Sabula. He
was in the railroad service for a number of years, is a World war veteran, and
on all counts his experience has well qualified him for the post of
responsibility he enjoys in his native county.
He was born at Sabula February 13, 1895. His father, Jacob H. Guenther, was a
native of Pennsylvania and was thirteen years of age when his parents came out
to Iowa and settled on a farm near Sabula. At the outbreak of the Civil war he
enlisted in the Union army. In 1864 he returned to Sabula and for many years
was in business in that city as a pharmacist. He passed away June 30, 1923.
Jacob H. Guenther married Francina Marikle, a native of New York State, who
resides at Sabula. There are two sons, Wade, publisher and owner of the Sabula
Gazette, and Lorraine M.
Lorraine M. Guenther was graduated from the Sabula High School in 1911. In
August of the same year he went to work for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railway, and altogether was on the payroll of that company for eleven years. He
was one of the first to join the colors and go overseas after America declared
war on Germany. He enlisted May 26, 1917, in the Thirteenth Regiment of
Engineers. After a period of training in Chicago he embarked for France, July
21, 1917, being among the first of the American Expeditionary Forces. During
most of his service he was in the Verdun sector in France. He returned home in
April, 1919, and was honorably discharged at Camp Grant, Illinois, May 14.
He then resumed his place with the Milwaukee Railway, but in 1922 resigned to
enter the insurance business. He sold insurance four years and was a bond
salesman one year. Mr. Guenther on January 1, 1927, became deputy county
auditor. In 1928 he made the successful race for election as county auditor and
has filled that office since January 1, 1929. He is a Republican, a member of
the American Legion and the Masonic fraternity.
Mr. Guenther married, November 29, 1924, Miss Lura A. Eggerstedt, daughter
of Jacob and Emma (Gray) Eggerstedt. Her father came from Germany when about
seventeen years of age, and for many years was in business with the Hurst Lime
Works. He retired in 1925. Mr. and Mrs. Guenther have one child, Marilyn, born
in 1925.
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