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biography from Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
ERNEST A. HORNBOSTEL is a native of Germany, where he was born in the Grand Duchy of Oldenburg, May 9, 1839. He is the son of George and Louisa (Britzius) Hornbostel, who were the parents of eleven children, eight sons and three daughters: Ernest A. lives at Oskaloosa; Gustave died in Germany; Doris married George King, of Utica, N. Y.; Charlie came to America, and died in 1862; William, a resident of Michigan, enlisted at the first call for troops in the late war: Sophia lives in Rome, N. Y.; Julius and Edward served in the navy during the late war; Albert lives in the Province of Ontario; Charlotte, in New York; Ferdinand is now deceased. Mr. Hornbostel's mother died in Germany, but his father came to America in 1862 and died in 1883. They were members of the Lutheran Church. The subject of this sketch was apprenticed to and learned the trade of a machinist. He was educated in the University of Heidelburg, and afterward spent two years at Goettingen. From 1860 to 1862 he served in the French army in Africa, under the command of the celebrated Marshal Pellissieur, participating in several skirmishes with the Arabs, in which he was twice severely wounded by sabre strokes, receiving one on the head and another on the arm. He crossed the Atlas Mountains, making a march of seventeen days without rest. Returning to Germany, he remained there a short time, and in 1862 went to BeIlville, Province of Ontario, Canada. There he was married to Miss Mary M. Goergen, by whom he has had seven children, three livingÄErnest A., Mary A. and Edward A. In 1877 he came to Iowa, settling in Dubuque, where he was employed in the Novelty Iron Works of that city for a short time. From there he went to Galena, Ill., and thence to Des Moines, Iowa, at which latter place he was employed in the manufacture and setting up of machines for the manufacture of barbed wire. The machines in operation at Manchester, Iowa, are specimens of his skill in this regard. In 1884 he came to Oskaloosa and put up the machines now in use by the Oskaloosa Fence Company. He is the patentee and is manufactnring the Mahaska Company coal drill, a machine for boring into the coal. He is also the patentee of the Hornbostel Billiard Table Leveler, which he is manufacturing. He also mannfactured for the Oskaloosa Oat Mill Company a set of machinery for cutting oatmeal. He makes a specialty of making all kinds of models and experimental machines. His shop is in the Power & Land Company's building, Oskaloosa. Mr. Hornbostel is a member of the Roman Catholic Chnrch, and politically is a Republican. He is a man of acknowledged skill and ability in his profession, and is industrious and hard-working, and a good citizen in all respects.
Portrait & Biographical Album of Mahaska Co., Iowa, 1887
Mahaska County, Iowa Genealogy