Sutter, Louis

SUTTER, ZAHEISKY, HUBLEIN

Posted By: Roseanna Zehner
Date: 7/25/2006 at 17:39:17

SUTTER, LOUIS

Louis Sutter, who is a man of years and wide experience, and who bears a deserved reputation as one of the best businessmen of Rock Rapids, but is not retired, was born in Germany, August 4, 1831, a son of John and Lucretia Sutter. Both parents died in Germany, the father when fifty-two years old, and the mother at fifty-five.

Louis Sutter received his education in the old country, and left his native land for a home in the new world, March 1, 1854, in company with a brother. At first they were settled in Ohio, where Louis worked as a blacksmith, a trade he had mastered in his German home. In August of that year he went to Louisville, Ky.,where he did not long remain, his next stopping place being New Albany, Indiana. In March, 1855, he went to Dubuque, Iowa, where he spent several months and the latter part of the year being at McGregor, where he celebrated Christmas. Returning to Dubuque, he very soon journeyed to Cedar Falls, where he followed his trade several months, then returning again to Dubuque. The same spring he went to St. Paul, where he made a brief stay, and once more put back to Dubuque. From that city he went to Chicago, and in the fall of 1857 was again in Dubuque, and then was a resident of Davenport up to the spring of 1858. The same year he went to McGregor, going from there to Elgin, Iowa, where he started his first shop, making his way out of his own savings.

Mr. Sutter was first married January 29, 1860, to Miss Anna Zaheisky, German born. She became the mother of children, the eldest of whom, a daughter, died at the age of twenty-six years; Emily is married, and is the mother of three children; Dr. Alfred, who was engaged in practice at Bristol, South Dakota, died April 19, 1904, at the age of twenty-eight years; Frank is at home, and holds a position in the Savings Bank; Nellie is a teacher in the city schools at Sioux City, Iowa. These children were educated at the best schools of the state, and Dr. Alfred Sutter was a graduate of the St. Louis Medical College. Mrs. Sutter died in 1885, at the age of forty-seven years, leaving behind sweet and gracious memories as a wife and mother, beloved by all who knew her.

Mr. Sutter was again married in 1889 to Miss Elizabeth Hublein, a native of Germany, but educated in the United States, to which she was brought as a little girl with her parents. Her mother died in Oklahoma and her father died August 2, 1904.

After his first marriage Mr. Sutter carried on his shop in Elgin until he moved to Delaware county in 1880. There he bought a farm comprising two hundred acres, mostly improved. Here he was a popular character, and was called upon to fill several local positions, and was at different times president and treasurer of the school board, town trustee, road commissioner, and held other official positions. In 1888 he sold his estate, and coming to Rock Rapids bought here a city property and retired. He still owns several hundred acres of land, including a large farm near Rock Rapids. Previous to his coming here he helped reorganize the Lyon County Bank in 1879, and was one of its special partners until 1883.

He has always been a Republican, and cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln when he first ran for President.

Source: Compendium of History Reminiscence and Biography of Lyon County, Iowa. Published under the Auspices of the Pioneer Association of Lyon County. Geo. Monlun, Pres.; Hon. E. C. Roach Sec’y; and Col. F. M. Thompson, Historian. Geo. A. Ogle & CO., Published, Engravers and Book Manufacturers. Chicago, 1904-1905

Transcribed by Roseanna Zehner, Darlene Jacoby and Diane Johnson