Caspar Fries Biography >From "History of Davenport and Scott County" Vol. II by Harry E. Downer-S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1910 Chicago. Surnames: Fries, Bartmeier, Zweihoff, Conklin, Lock, Brumm, Sutton, Conklin, Harman, Fulcher, Ellinghouse. Among the business men whose years of well directed activity and enterprise have brought them success, enabling them now to live retired, is numbered Caspar Fries, and his record is an interesting one inasmuch as it is that of a self-made man who owes his success entirely to his own labors. As the architect of his fortunes he has builded wisely and well and has always enjoyed the full confidence and esteem of those with whom business and social relations have brought him in contact. Mr. Fries was born in Prussia, January 1, 1833, and is a son of Peter and Savilla Fries, who spent their entire lives in that land. The father was a blacksmith and wagon maker in Prussia and served for three years in the army. Spending his youthful days in his parents home, Caspar Fries attended the public schools of Prussia and afterward learned the trade of wagon making and blacksmithing under the direction of his father in the village of Bevengen. Comparison of the business opportunities of the new and the old world led him to the belief that he would more readily win success on the western side of the Atlantic and so he made preparations to leave his native country and in 1862 landed at New York. From the metropolis he proceeded direct to Buffalo, New York, where he remained for seven months, working for one month at his trade and then for six months as a farm hand. On the expiration of that period he removed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he was employed for three months, after which he went to St. Louis, where he worked at his trade, continuing in the employ of others for a year, after which he started in business on his own account on Fifteenth street, at the corner of Harrison, and there re! mained for four years. He then came to his present place at the corner of Locust and Harrison, intervening years. As a wagon maker and blacksmith he has done a good business. His workmanship has been characterized by thoroughness, his business dealings by honesty, and as the years have passed he has enjoyed a liberal patronage that enables him now in his later years to largely live retired. While in St. Louis Mr. Fries was married on the 28th of July, 1864, to Miss Elizabeth Bartmeier, the wedding ceremony being performed by Father Liborius Zweihoff. Mrs. Fries was born in Prussia, November 20, 1843, a daughter of Frederick and Elizabeth Bartmeier. She came to the United States with her mother in 1860, her father having previously crossed the Atlantic. They landed at New Orleans in October, 1861, and lived for a time in the south but afterward made their way northward to St. Louis. Subsequently they became residents of Davenport, where both Mr. and Mrs. Bartmeier continued to make their home until called to their final rest. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Fries have been born eleven children: Elizabeth, the eldest, is the wife of John Conklin, of Davenport, and they have eight children-George, Caspar, Joseph, Eva, Antoinette, Leo, Bernice, and Bernard; Mary is the wife of Rufus Lock, of Arkansas, and they have one child, Bessie, Sophia is at home; John, who with his brothe! r Peter carries on their father's shop, married Anna Brumm and they have three children-Elsie, Raymond and Edward; Lucy is the wife of Charles Sutton of Davenport and they have one daughter, Lillian; Joseph, now of Chicago, married Loretta Conklin; Peter wedded Katherine Harman and they have five children-Dorothy, Harold, Lester, Helen and Lucile; Anthony, living in Davenport, married Mabel Fulcher and they have three children-Evelyn, Ruby and Althea; Theresa is the wife of George Ellinghouse, of Bellevue, Iowa, and they have one child, Margaret; Frederick and Theodore both died in childhood. Mr. Fries and his family are members of the German Catholic church. He is thoroughly a self-made man, for whatever of success he has achieved is attributable to his own efforts and he has won his prosperity by diligence, unremitting industry and honorable dealings. ~~~~~~*~~~~~~ Elaine Rathmann ACC Scott Co, IA USGenWeb Project List Adm: *IA-CIVIL-WAR *IA-DANES