A few weeks ago I noticed a very historically rare Manning booklet on E-bay. I contacted the seller to see if she knew any background information such as was it purchased
at an estate sale and if so what was the family name.
I received a response and it was the first time any seller who responded to me actually took the time to document the history/background
about an item they were selling...she then told me that she also purchased a
number of pictures from that family estate and had them for sale on e-bay.
Once I saw the last name of Sweger that she sent to me, I
immediately recognized it and remembered a Sweger descendant had contacted me about
5 years earlier. So I was hopeful that he would be able to help me with IDs for some of the pictures.
Now the asking price was much higher than I normally want to pay and I noticed a collector had already put in a bid on several of the pictures.
I don't have deep pockets that collectors do but because of the very rare booklet and the pictures of the very old Manning family and I had a contact with a family relative I decided to
bid on them and got them.
The booklet is very historically important because it lists both first and last names of very early Manning citizens.
It also is important because this has been a very active club in Manning that has raised money for lots of community projects. I'll show that information at the bottom of this feature.
Sadly, from my understanding, this is another Manning group that has disbanded over the last several years.
Manning has had hundreds of different organizations over the history of the town and they were very important to the advancement of the Manning community.
When but ten years of age, he lost his mother, and when fourteen, his father died also. After this the boy was thrown out on the world to struggle for himself. At this tender age he of necessity encountered many difficulties and endured much adversity, but triumphed over all. At the age of seventeen, he went to Thornton, Illinois. Being an industrious young man he readily found employment on a farm. Here he remained until the age of twenty-four, when he enlisted in the army. He belonged to Company F. Fifty Second Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He enlisted in 1861.
As a soldier he made a noble record and was engaged in the battle of Vicksburg, Shilo, Ft. Donelson, Siege of Corinth, Bay's Ferry, Resaca, Iuka, Snake Creek Gap, Altoona, and Atlanta, besides being with Sherman on his famous march to the sea.
He endured many hardships incident to military life and was honorably discharged, November 18, 1864. Upon his return from the army, he again settled at Thornton, where he engaged in business for himself. On August 16, 1868, he was married to Miss Emeline Williams of that city. To this union were born five children, three daughters and two sons. One son died at the age of four and a half years, and the other in infancy. In the year 1875, the deceased moved his family to Shelby County, Iowa, settling near Irwin. Here they lived some fifteen years, enduring the privation and hardships incident to pioneer days. By means of thrift and good management he struggled to a good degree of affluence. He was a man who was always in the forefront of every noble project for the uplift of the community whether material, educational or religious. But he had given his best strength to the flag of his country, and was handicapped by ailments contracted in army service. It was therefore necessary for him to abandon farming at a comparatively early age. He came to Manning in 1890 where he spent the rest of his days.
Now I'll show you some pictures from the E-bay collection of Sweger family members.
I'll provide more detailed information about them below the pictures.
Much of the information for the pictures came from a relative of this family who found my web page in 2015 and we shared some information back then.
Harvey Austin Sweger (1870-1946)
Mae Edith (Stanley) Sweger wife (1872-1964)
Opal Sweger (1898-1980)
Eula Sweger (1902-1968)
Opal Sweger - graduated from MHS in 1919
I don't have an adult picture of Eula but she graduated from MHS in 1916.
Harvey Sweger 1896
Mae Sweger
1981 Manning Centennial history book
The Manning Creamery was built in 1883 by G.W. Coe, who operated it
a number of years, then sold it to a Mr. Wilson. The creamery stood idle for
some time, then purchased by Hoelker Bros. of Halbur.
A.T. Bennett bought it in the summer of 1898; his manager, F.W. Miller, a
professional dairyman and buttermaker, purchased the
business in February, 1899. The following March, Miller sold it to Wiese Bros.
and Sweger, who had also purchased creameries in Irwin, Aspinwall and Botna,
and were making plans to build one at Manilla. Adam Wiese and Sweger ran the creamery,
while Charles Wiese ran the merchandising business.
The Manning Creamery was incorporated February 17, 1912, and began
manufacturing butter and ice cream in early April. The original facilities were
purchased from the Fairmont Creamery of Omaha, Nebraska. About 70 local
business men and farmers were stockholders and the first officers were: C.H.
Reinholdt, president; H.C. Darger, secretary; D.W. Sutherland, treasurer; H.A. Sweger, vice president and general manager.
During early years all cream was gravity separated on farms, and was brought to
the creamery in two, three, and five gallon cans by individual farmers or
shipped by rail in the baggage cars which were a part of every passenger train.
The only method of cooling cream on the farm was by placing the cans in a water
tank. The first cream haulers were J.H. Schleeter and Peter Lohmeier; by 1917,
the delivery fleet consisted of one small truck and one horse.
Later, truck routes were established and the cream was separated by mechanical
separators and picked up at the farms and at cream buying stations in other
towns. There was at least one cream station in nearly every town. Finally, only
grade A milk was gathered by tank trucks from
refrigerated stainless steel tanks owned by individual milk producers.
Distilled water block ice was manufactured from 1914 until 1946, when
mechanical refrigerators had pretty well replaced the ice box. Ice was used
along with rock salt to pack ice cream for delivery; it also was delivered to
local homes by horse and wagon and later by truck. Ice was also supplied to
railroads and several neighboring towns as time passed.
In 1919, two new coal burning, hand fired steam
boilers and one Corliss steam engine were purchased from Murray Iron Works,
Burlington for $4761.00. This required the building of the first of many
additions to the original building. The steam engine was used to drive one
large ammonia compressor, which produced the refrigeration for the ice plant,
and one generator which supplied electricity to the entire operation. When the
engine was not in use, electricity was purchased. These boilers were later
converted to coal stokers, were later replaced by oil burning boilers, and
finally natural gas was the primary fuel used.
J.A. (Jake) Bruck became general manager in 1917 and
served in this capacity until his death in 1942.
It was during this period that the business volume and trade territory grew
until Manning butter, ice cream, cottage cheese and milk were sold in most
towns within 50 miles of Manning. The company truck fleet in later years numbered about 20.
Bulk butter was shipped by rail and later by truck to markets in Chicago and
New York. During the 1930's, up to one and a half million pounds of butter were
produced annually. The manufacture of butter was discontinued in 1958 and
thereafter Manning butter was custom manufactured and packaged by Crystal Springs Creamery at Kimballton.
Originally, bulk butter was packed in wooden tubs which were replaced by
cardboard boxes holding 64 pounds each. For many years, each stick of packaged
butter was wrapped and placed in one pound cartons by hand.
During early years, ice cream was packaged only in bulk, in five gallon metal
cans. The cans were in turn packed in crushed ice and rock salt in wooden tubs.
The retail stores employed wood chests, refrigerated in the same manner, into
which the cans were inserted through the top into metal sleeves. The only
"packaged" ice cream was hand packed in the retail stores and soda fountains.
The first ice cream bars were "Eskimo Pies" which were cut by hand
with a large knife from quart blocks or "bricks" of ice cream, hand
dipped into a pot of melted "Hershey's" milk chocolate, then hand
wrapped in their familiar foil wrappers.
Over a period of years, Jake Bruck purchased three farms and in the mid-1920s began stocking them with
Holstein-Friesian cattle. The primary purpose of this venture was to ensure a
supply of milk for the manufacture of ice cream and cottage cheese. For some
years there was no mechanical method of cooling this milk on the farms so it
was brought to the plant in ten gallon cans after each milking.
Through many years of selective breeding, this herd, numbering about 200 head,
became one of the leading Holstein dairy herds in this section of the country.
The herd, known as ManCryCo Farms, was sold intact in
1963 to Lester Dammann, who was then herdsman. He continued development of his
breeding program until a dispersal sale was held in 1974, attracting buyers from seven states besides Iowa.
Leo Bruck was general manager of the creamery from
1942 until the company was sold late in 1971 to Wells' Dairy Co., Le Mars.
In 1947, the Manning Creamery became the first dairy in Iowa west of Iowa City to package milk in paper cartons.
Employees numbered about 35 year-round and with several others, usually
students, hired during summer months. Many high school students had their first
jobs at the creamery during summer vacations.
During the last full year of business, the company purchased nearly 8,000,000
pounds of milk and cream from nearby dairy farmers and sold 65,000 gallons of
ice cream, 40,000 dozen frozen novelties, 165,000 pounds of butter, 142,000
pounds of cottage cheese and the equivalent of over 3,000,000 quarts of fluid milk products.
Manning Woman's Club
2006 Manning Quasquicentennial history book.
The Manning Woman's Club observed its 100th anniversary on May 20, 2001.
The original By-Laws of the club stated: "The purpose of the club shall be
to promote a spirit of comradeship and to assist in developing a higher type of
womanhood." The words "to be of service to the community" were later added.
The club currently has twenty members and five honorary members. Meetings are
held once a month September through May. A program of current interest is given
at each meeting and occasionally a special meal or tour is enjoyed.
Major fund raising events are the publication of the Fall Sports Program and
the annual Tour of Homes. Money raised is all given back to the community.
On-going projects supported by the club are New Hope Village, Quakerdale,
After-Prom Party, Weihnachtsfest, and Kinderfest. Donations for special
projects have been given to West Central Iowa Healthcare Foundation, Manning
Rec Center, Manning Heritage Foundation, Great Western Park, Manning Police
Department, Manning Fire Department, Veterans' Memorial Wall, Habitat for
Humanity, Manning City Library, and others. Events sponsored for Kinderfest
include an egg toss, Omaha Children's Museum presentation, and Butterfliz of Iowa exhibit.
The group has enhanced the Christmas "Walk Through the Park" with its luminary exhibit.
The Manning Woman's Club is proud to support the community with its time, energy, and monetary gifts.
Note how I edited this top picture from the original shown below.
Original condition
Mae Stanley is Mae Edith Stanley (born August 22, 1872 place of birth unknown & died 1964 in Marshalltown, Iowa) who married Harvey Austin Sweger (born February 30, 1870 place of birth unknown & died 1946 in Marshalltown, Iowa). Sometime after they were married Harvey & Mae moved to Iowa.
I have over 10,000 scans of pictures with NO IDs or any information, so it is fun when I can just scan a picture and NOT have to take time trying to find out who they are.