Fremont County IA Archives Biographies.....Metelman, A. F. 1833 - 
************************************************
Copyright.  All rights reserved.
http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm
http://www.usgwarchives.net/ia/iafiles.htm
************************************************

File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Joy Fisher http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00001.html#0000031 November 29, 2011, 2:39 am

Source: See below
Author: Lewis Publishing Co. (1896)

A. F. METELMAN.—-"The affairs of life hinge upon confidence." The truth of this
adage of experience is more forcibly demonstrated in the business of banking
than in any other occupation, and is directly applicable to the subject of this
sketch, who is the president of the Metelman & Frazer Bank, at Sidney, Fremont
county, Iowa. He is a. man of known integrity, of ample means and might most
congruously be designated as the father of the banking and commercial industries
in Sidney, by reason of his long connection with these lines of enterprise and
his intimate identification with the progress and material interests of the
locality. It has been said that he has, within his four decades of consecutive
devotion to business here, supplied some want of a large proportion of the
population of Fremont county, and it is a significant fact that he has never yet
suffered embarrassment by reason of reflection upon a single business or social
act of his as being of questionable character or of doubtful wisdom. It is with
a marked satisfaction that the biographist reverts to the life history of one
who has attained the maximum of success in any vocation in which he has directed
his thought and effort; and such a life, whether it be one of calm but
consecutive endeavor or of meteoric accomplishment, must ever serve as both
lesson and incentive. One whose intelligence, energy and discernment prove
sufficiently potent to carry him from a position of obscurity to one of high
order in the estimation of those who direct the material industries of any land
or any nation, and to insure his advancement by individual effort from a point
where is represented practically no financial resources to that which defines
large accumulations and indubitable influence, is certainly deserving of that
honorable, but often misapplied title, "a self-made man." Such an one is the
subject of this review.

   Mr. Metelman's advent in Fremont county dates back to 1856, and his financial
status was such as might have been expected of a wandering young German who had
been for some years clerking on a small salary, in various sections of the
Union. At the time of his arrival in Sidney the firm of Tootle & Armstrong
conducted the leading-mercantile enterprise here—the senior member having
subsequently established himself in St. Joseph, Missouri, where he was
instrumental in building up the extensive business of the firm of Tootle, Hosea
& Company. With this representative firm in Sidney our subject secured
employment in a clerical position and remained with that company as long as it
continued in business, his fidelity and earnest and indefatigable efforts
gaining to him the confidence and esteem of his employers. In 1862 Mr. Metelman
was enabled to begin operations in the mercantile line upon his own
responsibility, becoming the silent member of the firm of Reed, Armstrong, Jr.,
& Company. Just after the close of the war—or about 1867—he purchased the
interests of his partners and continued the business alone until the centennial
year, 1876, when John T. Hodges was admitted to partnership, incidental to which
the firm name became A. F. Metelman & Company. This association continued until
1882, when our subject disposed of his interests in the business to the firm of
Hodges & Goy, and thereafter retained no association with merchandising, in
which line he had been very successful and had gained very satisfactory profits,
of which he made judicious investments. Prior to his retirement from the
mercantile business Mr. Metelman had become a partner in the banking house of
Brown, Metelman & Company, and to his interests in this line he has ever since
given his undivided attention.

   The Metelman & Frazer Bank has prestige as the oldest institution of the sort
in Sidney, its organization having been effected in 1875, by Messrs. Henry
Brown, A. F. Metelman and W. T. Frazer, and business operations having been
instituted soon after upon a capitalistic basis of $25,000. In 1882 occurred the
death of Mr. Brown, after which the present title was adopted. The bank is now
capitalized for $60,000, and the individual estate of each member of the firm is
made, responsible for the liabilities of the bank. Such is the confidence of the
public in the integrity and honor of the interested principals that depositors
feel that they have absolute inmunity from loss with such security.

   By reason of his long career in business here Mr. Metelman may almost be
considered a public man. Few men who fill public places by popular suffrage are
better known than he, and yet he has never been an active participant in a
political conflict or competition of any sort, and is a stranger to the schemes,
intrigues and machinations of politicians. He votes the Republican ticket, and
in thus exercising his franchise he feels that he fulfills his whole political
duty. He is a member of no fraternity or social organization, and in his
religious views is most nearly in accord with the doctrines and teachings 6*f
the Presbyterian Church. He is a man of strong individuality and vital force,.
as is evident in the success which he has attained by his own efforts. He has a
broad mental grasp and an unerring judgment in regard to men. Tenacious of his
ideas, he has them thoroughly fortified and can defend his position when there
is need, but he is ever ready to accord a courteous reception to the opinions of
others, and his genuine humanitarianism is shown in the popularity in which he
is held in the community where he has so long resided. He started out for
himself empty-handed, and in his career has met with many obstacles and
disadvantages such as would have caused many a man of less resolute spirit to
falter and perhaps to fail, but through all he has pressed steadily forward to
the goal and has achieved the fortune for which he was striving. Through all he
has been honorable and upright, never swerving from the narrow path of strict
duty and rectitude, and by his systematic business methods and attention to all
details he has become one of the most prominent and prosperous citizens of
Sidney. For nearly forty years he has lived in this city, and no man is held in
higher regard—a fact which indicates a most honorable career.

   In conclusion we will offer a brief outline of the earlier history of our
subject. Mr. Metelman was born in the duchy of Mecklenburg, Germany, on the 30th
of June, 1833, being the son of J. C. Metelman, the father having been an
industrious farmer. Our subject was one of eight children, and is the only one
of the number who came to America. He received his educational discipline in his
native land, and when he had attained the age of nineteen years he determined to
seek his fortunes in America, setting sail from Hamburg on the ship Washington,
and arriving in New York city on the 1st of September, 1852. From the national
metropolis he soon made his way to Cleveland, Ohio, where he secured a clerkship
in a dry-goods establishment. He retained this position eighteen months and then
went to Detroit, Michigan, and from there to Louisville, Kentucky, where he
remained until he finally took up his permanent abode in Sidney. Due reference
has already been made to his subsequent career.

   In 1868, at Prairie City, Illinois, Mr. Metelman was united in marriage to
Miss Mary D. Brown, daughter of Martin Brown, a prominent farmer of that
locality. The children of this union are: Ella, born in 1869, is the wife of
Albert Wildberger, of Nebraska City; and Charles A., born in 1878, is still an
inmate of the parental home.


Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A MEMORIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL RECORD OF IOWA

ILLUSTRATED

CHICAGO: THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
1896


File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ia/fremont/bios/metelman221nbs.txt

This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.net/iafiles/

File size: 8.3 Kb