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Kinyon Digital Library

History of Adair
County, Iowa, 1915.

Biographical.  Volume 2.

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Samuel Kreps.

Samuel Kreps, president of the Lincoln Mutual Telephone Company, of Greenfield, was born in Northumberland county, Pennsylvania, on the 29th of March, 1850, a son of David and Martha (Kluck) Kreps, who were also natives of Northumberland county and came of Pennsylvania-Dutch descent, the ancestors on both sides of the family being among the pioneer settlers of Northumberland county.  The Kreps family was among the most numerous of the county and name is attached to many of the old landmarks and legal documents in the county.  It is perpetuated in the Kreps church and the Kreps school and also in other ways.  The parents of our subject were married in the Keystone state and four children were born to them ere their removal to the west.  On leaving Pennsylvania they became residents of Indiana and subsequently Illinois, while later they removed to Iowa, spending their last days in Tama and Benton counties.

After acquiring his education in the district schools Samuel Kreps was married on the 22d of December, 1870, to Miss Mary E. Taylor, of Freeport, Illinois, although she was not yet twenty-one.  The spring following his marriage he began farming for himself as a renter in Stephenson county, Illinois, and in 1873 he came to Iowa, establishing his home in Adair county, where he carried on farming for two years as a renter.  During that period, however, he bought eighty acres in Grand River township, making a cash payment on the property of fifty dollars.  The tract was then raw prairie and it became necessary to break the first furrows and otherwise do the pioneer work in the development of the farm.  He built thereon a little frame dwelling, fourteen by eighteen feet, which cost him sixty dollars.  He sold his corn for nine cents a bushel and other crops brought prices comparatively low.  However, he carefully managed his business affairs and continued the work of the farm and as the years passed he prospered.  After living in Grand River township for seven years he removed to Harrison township, where he resided for an extended period and where he still owns the home place of two hundred and eighty acres, beside a small tract of timber land.  In the fall of 1883 he removed into Stuart, where he was engaged in merchandising for twenty-two months but indoor work did not agree with him and he returned to the farm, where he resided until the fall of 1912.  He then came to Greenfield, where he has since lived.  He has been associated with the Lincoln Mutual Telephone Company for the past twelve years as a member of its board of directors and for the past six years has filled the position of president of the company, which was organized fourteen years ago and which has since grown to be the largest local telephone system in the state of Iowa.  Mr. Kreps is also a stockholder and member of the board of directors and a member of the executive committee of the First National Bank of Greenfield.  While he was an Adair county farmer there were many business enterprises with which he was associated and his sound judgment and enterprise proved factors in their growing success.  He also served as administrator of many estates and is one of the very able business men of Adair county.  His connection with any project practically spells success for the enterprise, for it is his habit to carry to completion whatever he undertakes and in notable degree he secures maximum results with minimum effort, which is the secret of all business success.

To Mr. and Mrs. Kreps have been born seven children, five of whom are yet living:  Alda T., now the wife of Albert Beeman, of Oakland, California;  Myrtle, the wife of T. W. Burns, of Macon, Georgia;  Edna M., the wife of Ernest Smith, of Toledo, Ohio;  Bessie, the wife of Harry Wentz, of Knoxville, Iowa;  and Jesse J., who is engaged in the practice of veterinary surgery at Wallace, Idaho.

Mr. Kreps is a member of Crusade Lodge, No. 386, A. F. & A. M., and belongs also to St. John's Chapter, No. 76, R. A. M.  In politics he is a republican and for many years filled various township offices.  He and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church, with which they have been identified for thirty-eight years.  They have contributed generously to its support, taken an active interest in its work and in this and other ways have done much to further the welfare of the community.  Mr. Kreps is a most progressive business man, systematic in all that he undertakes.  His labors have been a strong and potent force in the development of the telephone company of which he is now the chief executive and his life is a practical demonstration of the fact that industry and reliability are a sure foundation upon which to build prosperity.

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