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from Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa by Manoah Hedge The S. J. Clarke Publishing Co. 1906
Frederick Blattner, who for many years has been identified with manufacturing interests in Oskaloosa, was born in this city June 22, 1861. His father, Charles F. Blattner, was a native of Germany, born in Biron on the River Rhine, March 6, 1829. He came to the United States about 1849, locating in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he was engaged in the butchering business. After some time there spent he removed to Xenia, Ohio, where he conducted a meat market for about three years. In March, 1855, he came to Oskaloosa, Iowa, where he engaged in the butchering and pork-packing business, his packing house being the old building afterward known as Johnson's foundry and machine shop on South First street. He conducted the enterprise alone until 1856, when he added a stock of groceries and admitted Mr. Rodgers to a partnership. They carried on business in an old building that stood on Market street on the west side of the square, where the Smith jewelry store is now located. In 1857 Mr. Blattner formed a partnership with Lewis Greutz and David Newbrand and built a brewery on the corner of C avenue and L street, calling the new enterprise the Oskaloosa Brewery. It was successful from the start and was probably the first brewing plant in the state. The meat and pork-packing business was also continued until 1859. In 1860 Lewis Greutz died and Mr. Blattner purchased his interest in the brewery, at which time the firm name of Blattner & Newbrand was then assumed, the senior partner continued actively in business up to the time of his death. The brewery was then continued under the management of a nephew, Charles Blattner, Mr. Newbrand retaining his interest in the business until his death in June, 1877. Charles Blattner remained as manager until the passage of the prohibition law, after which, in the fall of 1888, the concern had to close its doors. In the meantime, in 1881, the firm of Blattner & Newbrand embarked in the wholesale and retail ice business, continuing under the same management until the death of Charles Blattner on the 21st of April, 1891. In that year the management was placed in the hands of Frederick Blattner of this review by the purchase of the original proprietors, and he continued the business from the spring of 1891 until the fall of 1893, when he purchased the interest of Mrs. David Newbrand. The business was then conducted under the style of the Blattner Ice Company until August, 1894, when Frederick Blattner purchased the interest of his mother and also the undivided interest of his sisters and brothers, which made him sole proprietor of the ice business. In the meantime the firm had been acting as agents for the Annheuser-Busch Brewing Company of St. Louis, which agency Mr. Blattner continued under the mulct law of the state. On the 1st of Decemher, 1903, he discontinued the ice business, turning it over for a consideration in stock to the Oskaloosa Artificial Ice & Cold Storage Company. Charles F. Blattner, father of our subject, was a public-spirited and enterprising citizen, who enjoyed the thorough respect of his neighbors and many friends and the confidence of the business community, for in all of his dealings he was thoroughly reliable and straightforward. He held membership with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, becoming a charter member of Mahaska lodge. His political allegiance was given to the democracy. He was married in Cincinnati to Elizabeth Miller, who was born in Biron, Germany, and came to the United States with her parents when ten years of age, the family home being established in Cincinnati. She has a brother yet living in Ohio and one in Kentucky but the death of Mrs. Blattner occurred on the 23d of August, 1895, when she was sixty-nine years of age. By her marriage she had become the mother of six children: Louisa, now the wife of Charles Blattner, and a resident of Oskaloosa; Caroline, the wife of Edward Parks, who is living retired in this city; Laura, the widow of Thomas W. Dougherty, who was a blacksmith; Mary, who died in infancy; Frederick; and Charles H., who was a railroad man and died in July, 1905, at the age of forty-two years. Frederick Blattner attended the common schools and Oskaloosa College and after putting aside his text-books became connected with his present business, receiving practical training under the direction of his cousin, Charles Blattner. As the above record indicates he became thoroughly acquainted with the trade both in the line of manufacture and sales and eventually was chosen manager of the business and gradually became sole possessor of the stock of the Blattner Ice Company, which, however, be sold, becoming a stockholder in the Oskaloasa Artificial Ice & Cold Storage Company. In 1888 Mr. Blattuer was married to Miss Margaret J. Cavanaugh, who was born in Ottumwa, Iowa, in 1866, a daughter of Martin and Anna Cavanaugh. Her father was a stonemason by trade and operated a quarry. Mr. and Mrs. Blattner now have one child, Anna Helene, born December 31, 1897. The mother is a member of the Catholic church. Mr. Blattncr is an Odd Fellow, having been identified with the lodge from the age of twenty-one years, and he has filled nearly all of the chairs of the uniformed rank. He likewise is connected with the Elks and the Order of Eagles. In politics he is a democrat and has represented the fifth ward in the city council. The family name has long been closely and intimately associated with business enterprises and manufacturing interests in Oskaloosa and success has attended untiring efforts so that the family have become substantial citizens of Mahaska county.
Past and Present of Mahaska County, Iowa
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy