January 1, 1881, Frank Schnitter purchased 160 acres of farmland south of Manning from William Fullerton. Fullerton, the first private owner, had purchased the land from the U.S. Government November 23, 1858.

The first house built on the farm was replaced in 1928 with additions and improvements made since then. Electricity became available through the REA in February, 1946, and a hookup with the West Central Iowa Rural Water Association was made in August, 1977, during a very dry summer; a plentiful supply of good water had been a problem for many years.

Mr. Schnitter was a general contractor and ran a hardware and implement business in Templeton, so he did not live on his farm very long. Three of his daughters lived on the farm at some time, Mr. and Mrs. Louis (Blanch) Miller, Mr. and Mrs. William (Mayme) Reiman, and Mr. and Mrs. Ed (Cecelia) Lechtenberg. Among others who lived on the farm were Joseph Lohmeier and Mr. and Mrs. John Lohmeier, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Stratman, Mr. and Mrs. Albert Genzen, Mr. and Mrs. Weinbrant, Mr. and Mrs. Herman Hargens, and Mr. and Mrs. Clem Balk.

For a number of years in the early 1900's, a well known character, "Potato John", made his dwelling in a cave he dug out on a hillside on the farm and he raised several acres of potatoes every year.

When Frank Schnitter died in 1943, the farm was purchased by another daughter, Mrs. Bernard (Rose) Heithoff. Clarus Heithoff, a grandson of Mr. Schnitter, moved to the farm in October, 1945, and still resides there. Clarus purchased the farm in 1963.

For the past 100 years, a C.F. Stammer has lived on an Iowa Township farm in Crawford County, five miles northwest of Maiming.

The 160-acre farm was purchased December 13, 1881, by Claus Frederich Stammer. Claus immigrated to this country from Erfde, Germany, in 1869, and his wife Catherina Schroeder arrived in 1872 from Thielen, Germany. They lived in Lyons, Iowa (now Clinton) until 1879.

Their children John, Claus Frederich, Albert, Louie, Ed, Frank and Emma (Mrs. Henry Anthony) became farmers in the Manning area; Alvina died as a young girl. In 1906, the elder Stammers retired to Manning, and son Claus, better known as "Fred", moved to the home place.

Fred and his wife Emma Dockweiler added a new home to the property in 1921. It featured its own generating facilities for electricity.

Their daughter Goldie married John Meeves and settled on an area farm. Son Clarence Frederick and his wife Iola Mae Taylor took over the family farm when his parents moved to Manning in 1940.

Clarence, Iola, and sons Clifford Frederick and Calvin Fletcher were one of the first farm families featured on an Omaha television show. Clarence served nine years as a Crawford County Super

visor; he was a charter member of the Crawford County Fair board, completing 31 years as a director in 1978; and was a township trustee for several years. Iola works parttime at the Manning Monitor.

A 180-acre farm adjacent to the original farmstead was added in 1969. Clifford, his wife Nancy Dobson, and their children, Crystal, Craig, Cory and Scott, now live there.

Calvin and his wife Nancy Stoberl have lived at the home place since 1977, when Clarence and Iola moved to an acreage near Manning. Calvin's sons, Clinton Forrest and Chad Franklin, are the fifth generation C.F. Stammer on the farm.

The southeast quarter or 160 acres located in Section 17, Washington Township was purchased by George Stribe from E.F. and Lily J. Wickersham, Clinton, Iowa, and recorded on March 11, 1884 for $3500.

George and Alvina Ohrt were married March 20, 1883, and moved to the family home on this land, which was located a quarter mile north of the road intersection. A north and south road was plotted in the early history of Carroll County and was later abandoned when the railroad decided to follow the route of the road, taking 13 acres off of the east edge of the farm. The family home was then moved on the knoll west of the road intersection where it now stands.

The plans of The Great South Western Railroad from Carroll to Harlan began in 1880. The grade of The Great Western was built in the early 1900's. George told of furnishing teams of horses, scrapers and labor to build up the grade for the tracks. In fact, all the farmers in the area furnished labor and horses.

The present home was built in 1900. Seven Stribe children were born here. All but two remained in the Manning area.

In 1922 George and wife Alvina moved to Manning. Their son Herbert, or Bert as he is better known, took over the operation. A new hog house and chicken house were built. Electricity became available in 1940.

The present home was modernized in the 1940's. Three sons were born here. In 1952 Bert and wife Regilda moved to Manning and their son Dean and wife Marjorie took over the operation, and became owners in 1972. A new cattle shed, corn crib and machine shed were built. Two sons Curtis and Keith were born to them, making them the fourth generation to live here.

The farming operation was basically general crop farming, raising and feeding hogs and cattle.

The Struve farm, three miles east of Manning, is currently operated by Mr. and Mrs. Curtis Struve. Curt is the fourth generation of the family :o own :he farm, which will become a century farm in 1983.

Claus Struve, born in Holstein, Germany and his wife, the former Dorothea Wunderlich of Delve, Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, married in February of 1883, came :o America in March of he same year and set: led on :his farm at that time They were the parents of three sons -John, George, and Herman. A daughter died in infancy.

George, born November 22, 1885, took over ownership of the farm in 1918. He and Dora Gruhn were married May 27, 1914 and were the parents of four children -- Ralph, Irene (Mrs. Clarence Doane), Glen and Fern (Mrs. Kenneth Jensen). Mr. S:ruve passed away on November 8, 1973. Mrs. Dora Struve is now residing in Manning.

Glen and Lois (Bolds) Struve bought the farm in 1969 and sold it to their son Curtis and wife, the former Dr. Rexanne Miller in 1978. Dr. Struve is the owner of a veterinary practice in Manning. Other children of the Glen Struves are Linda (Mrs. Tom Bromert), teacher; Mrs. Rhonda K. Beyer, L.P.N.; Kevin, attorney; and Cory. Glen and Lois presently own and operate L and M Bowl in Manning.

Other grandchildren of Mr. and Mrs. George Struve are Galen Struve, Glenda Baker, and Janene Berry; Steven, David and Allan Doane; Lonnie, Mark, Scott, Kyle, Becky and Jodi Jensen.

A purebred Shorthorn cattle herd was first established by Claus Struve and his sons in 1901 and Shorthorn cattle are still an important part of the farming operation. Many honors have been won at state fairs and leading cattle shows throughout the Midwest.

Larry Handlos Chester Whites

The Tank Farm is located north of Manning.

Christien Fredwick Tank, Sr., and his wife Franke came from Rendsburg, Germany in 1868. They settled in Scott County near Davenport. They farmed there for four years. Then they moved to Benton County and lived there for three years.

They came west in 1875 and homesteaded 80 acres, six miles north of Manning in Washington Township, Carroll County. Chris F. Tank, Jr. purchased the farm in April of 1897, and it was passed on to his only son, Louie Tank. It is now owned by Louie's oldest son Clifford L. Tank.

The farm has grown to 240 acres and many improvements have been made since it was homesteaded.

Clifford married Helena (Gerdes) Tank of Wall Lake and their main interest is raising cattle and hogs. They have four daughters: Dian Schons, Gretchen Rowedder, Gwen Detlefsen and Becky Venner.

Earl S. Weems, son of Charles and Rosa Millet Weems, was born April 2, 1896, in Greene County. He was united in marriage November 5, 1919, to Mabel A. Crouch, who was born August 9, 1900, to Frank and Elizabeth French Crouch of Shelby County.

To this union six children were born: Eldis, who is married to Norma Nissen; Evelyn (Mrs. Harold Borkowski); Leona (Mrs. Lewis Hemminger); Lois (Mrs. George Wegner); Opal (Mrs. Dale Christensen); and LaRae (Mrs. Richard Heller).

The couple farmed one year southwest of Botna, where Eldis was born; they then moved south of Botna to what is now known as the

Charles Wooster farm, where the other five children were born. They lived here until illness of Earl caused them to move to 616 Fourth Street, Manning, in December, 1946.

Earl and Mabel worked after moving to town; then, April 25, 1958, Earl passed away. Mabel continued living in their home until 1977, at which time she moved to her present home at 820 12th Street, Apt. 14, Elm Crest Apartments.

Earl and Mabel have 30 grandchildren and 28 great-grandchildren.

The Wooster farm they lived on was honored as a Century Farm in 1979; Charles Wooster and Mabel were cousins.

All of the Weems children live in the Manning area except Mrs. Opal Christensen, who is at Humboldt.

Mabel and Earl Weems.

A word about the 2 images below.
The top one is a scan I made in 2000 when we still had dial-up Internet, so files had to be kept small.
Also, back then we had 640x480 resolution monitors, so these images looked much bigger...but on today's high resolution monitors those images look more like thumbnails.
Even though I can improve upon this image, there are limits to the quality because they are scanned from a mat type print, which is basically a bunch of dots...the larger you blow up the image the more you see the dots.
Anyone who knows my work and helps me on Manning history will know that I ALWAYS want to scan ORIGINAL photos to get the best quality and that I make high resolution scans. Most of the "junk" scans you find on the Internet are low resolution, although more people are finally understanding the importance of making high resolutions cans now.

Hinrich "Henry" Wegner was born August 18, 1837, in Schwarlback Gut Panker, Germany. He came to eastern Iowa as a young man and was a cobbler. In 1869 he married Margaretha Hilbert from Dewitt. Here their first three children, Anna (Mrs. Fritz Ehlers), William, and Oval (Mrs. Herman Sinow), were born.

In 1876 they came to Westside. February 6, 1879, they purchased 80 acres, four miles southwest of Manning. It was purchased from the Iowa Railroad Land Company for $6.60 per acre. In succeeding years another 400 acres adjacent to the 80 was purchased, which was later resold to some of the children.

The rest of Henry's children, Emma (Mrs. William Sander), George, Augusta (Mrs. Charles Ehlers), Margaret (Mrs. Hugo Kuhl), Frank, Ella (Mrs. Emil Ehlers), Hannah and Emil, were born in the original house, which was located south of the present house. The present house was built in 1891. All the children remained in the Manning area except Augusta and Frank, who moved out of state, Margaret moved to a different part of Iowa, and Hannah died as a baby.

Emil's wife, Margret Vehrs Wegner, is the only surviving child or spouse of the Wegner children.

In March, 1910, son George and his wife Bertha Kuhl moved onto the farm, purchasing it in 1913 at $150 an acre. They raised three sons, Edwin "Brownie", Carl "Kelly" and George Jr. Edwin and George remained in the Manning area, and Carl moved to Montana, where he was a forest ranger.

George and Bertha retired to Manning in 1947, and bought what is now the Harold Sporrer home. George Jr. and his wife Lois Weems then took over the farming. Their daughters, Donna (Mrs. James Venteicher), Kathy Johnson, and Janice (Mrs. Russell Johnson) grew up on the home place.

In 1969, George and Lois bought the farm. George died in 1971, but Lois continues to live there. In 1979 she was recognized for living on a Century Farm, and was presented with a plaque and certificate at the State Fair.

Manning Municipal Light Plant