Polk Co. IAGenWeb

BRANDT, ISAAC - Youngest son of David Brandt and Martha nee Hamilton, was born April 7th, 1827, near Lancaster, Fairfield county, Ohio. His father was of German ancestry, and his mother of Scotch-Irish nationality. The youthful years of the subject of this sketch were devoted to farm labor and acquiring an education in the district school. At the age of sixteen he was apprenticed to learn the boot and shoemaking trade; he served the regular period of two years after the old rule of working for nothing. At the close of his apprenticeship, until he was twenty-one, he spent the most of his time at working at his trade during the summer and attending school in winter. The morning he was of age he rented a shop and began business for himself on a small scale, not having a farthing to begin with. The first day (Friday) found him in his shop, and by daylight he had it cleaned out ready for work. He soon found a job in which he made seventy-five cents; on Saturday he earned a dollar, and the next week gave him a clean profit of ten dollars. This was the commencement of his business life. He soon found that it was not good to be alone, and so he took a partner, in the person of Miss Harriet Wisely, which event was celebrated November 1, 1848. Miss Wisely was of English-Irish parentage, and was a native of the neighborhood in which her husband was born and where he lived. In May, of the following year, he emigrated with his young wife to Auburn, De Kalb county, Indiana, where he renewed his labors in the manufacture of boots and shoes. By close application and, constant work he soon built up an excellent trade, and secured all the work he could do with fair wages. In October, 1854, he was elected Sheriff, and held the office two years with credit to himself and satisfaction to his friends. In January, 1856, in company with Judge Morris, of Ft. Wayne, and T. R. Dickerson, of Waterloo, Indiana, he made a trip to Iowa, visiting Iowa City, Des Moines, and Council Bluffs, at which place Mr. Brandt made some investments that proved in after years to be very profitable. After returning to Indiana he found that the beautiful prairies of Iowa had enchanted him, and accordingly in the spring of 1858 he sold all his effects and moved with his wife and three small children to Des Moines. In the spring of 1859 he engaged in merchandising, which he continued until the fall of 1865, when he closed out his stock and engaged in the real estate business. During the rebellion he was an active worker for the support and encouragement of the men in the field, and contributed liberally to all needed funds for the successful prosecution of the war. Has always been an active advocate of temperance, and can say what can be said by but few, that he never tasted a drop of alcoholic drinks, wine, or beer, and this is an experience of fifty-three years. In the fall of 1862 he was elected G. W. C. T. of I. O. G. T.; re-elected in 1863, and again in 1870, and in the fall of 1871, and again in 1879, making five full terms in the chief office of the order. He devotes his entire moral powers to the cause of temperance, which costs him from $100 to $300 a year, without counting his time. As a politician he is a staunch Republican. In 1867 he was appointed as Deputy State Treasurer. In the fall of 1873 Mr. Brandt was elected a member of the Fifteenth General Assembly of Iowa. He was made chairman of the Committee on Ways and Means; also of the Committee on Cities and Towns. With his usual good management he succeeded in getting several important measures through the House that were of great importance to the State and the larger cities within the State. In the spring of 1877 he was elected a member of the city council of Des .Moines, and by his fellow councilmen chosen mayor, pro tem. In the spring 6f 1880 he was selected as the Republican candidate for the office of mayor of Des Moines, but owing to a sectional division of the city he was defeated by a small majority. His family circle are: Amos W., Alice J. (now Mrs. J. B. Taylor), Olive C., George W., and Willie R. Lost one, Josiah. His oldest child is thirty years of age, and none of his children have ever taken a cup of tea or coffee; neither have they tasted any alcoholic drink.