Otto Reinke (1876 - 1945)

Born 8 Aug 1876 in Fairfax, Minnesota

Husband of Mary Paulina Maurer — married [date unknown] in Fairfax, Renville Co., Minnesota

Died 6 Sep 1945 at age 69 in Faribault, Rice County, Minnesota

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Ellen Jennings [send private message]

This person was created through the import of Jenkins Family File w:sources 9.ged on 04 October 2010. The following data was included in the gedcom. You may wish to edit it for readability.

Name

Name: Otto /Reinke/

Source: #S421

Birth

Birth:

Date: 8 AUG 1876

Place: Fairfax, Minnesota

Source: #S421

Burial

Burial:

Date: 8 SEP 1945

Place: Bethel Cemetary, Cairo Twp., Renville Co. MN

Occupation

Occupation: proprietor of a general store

Religion

Religion: Methodist

Note

Note: @N187@

@N187@ NOTE

Death certificate lists his usual residence as Northwood, Worth County, Iowa.

In the 1900 census, Otto was a boarder in the Rudolph Maurer household in Fairfax, MN and working as a furniture dealer.

Marion Webster told me that Otto wasn’t given a middle name because he was the “puny” twin and they didn’t expect him to live, so they just gave him a first name.

This is a column I wrote in 2002. Last week, I reviewed and revised it, and submitted it to the Des Moines Register. The OpEd editor liked it, and it was printed today in the "Further Reflections" space. Janet

MY GRANDFATHER OTTO REINKE was an employee in small-town Fairfax, Minnesota, where he worked as clerk and undertaker at one of those furniture store/funeral parlor combinations. In mid-life, he changed course, bought a variety store, and moved to Northwood, Iowa.

His niece Esther left her school library job and moved to Northwood to help him. As I remember, Esther did most of the clerking; Grandpa Otto usually sat at his desk in the back of the store.

When my sister Gretchen and I were pre- and early teens, we were allowed to "help out" at the store. After Grandpa Otto set me straight about helping myself from the candy bins - I was especially fond of Guess Whats and glazed red gumdrops - I gathered some other valuable life lessons.

Reinke's Variety wasn't a large business, only one store front wide. Extra stock was kept in a back storeroom, or in a dank, dark basement. I learned to rotate stock, adding new merchandise behind or below stuff already on the counters. These days, I try to rotate dishes, towels, clothing, or anything else that could wear out unevenly.

Some of the merchandise in that store are now only nostalgia items: Lady Esther cosmetics, Fitch Dandruff Remover and Halo shampoos (removed every last drop of oil from hair), Ipana toothpaste. Boxes of sanitary napkins were wrapped in plain paper, shelved in the back of the store; customers had to ask (whisper) for them. The store carried a wide selection of ladies' handkerchiefs.

The old cash register merely totaled sales; we clerks had to figure out change. Gretchen and I were instructed to leave the customer's money on the register's ledge until change was counted out and the sale was complete. (That was to prevent some unscrupulous shopper from demanding change from a $5 or $10 bill, when in fact she'd handed over only one dollar.) I'm still a whiz at making change.

Much of my variety store experience took place during the Second World War. Esther often helped customers wrap packages to mail to "the boys overseas." I helped out, and in the process, learned how to wrap.

Small town, summer Saturday nights are also only nostalgia. People flocked to the movie theater, which advertised "bank night" drawing for cash and gave away Fiesta dishes. "Air conditioning" was a fan blowing across a block of ice. Grocery shoppers filled out their lists, then sat in chairs in the front of the store, exchanging news and gossip while watching the rest of the world stroll past.

During my time at Reinke's Variety store, I encountered some grumpy, hard-to-please shoppers. If I've learned anything at all from my time in Northwood, I'll never be one of them. (Written by Janet Reinke Jenkins; Des Moines Register, August 2, 2009)

Source: #S351

Source: #S422

@S351@ SOUR

Type: Census

Title: U.S. Population Census

Place: Fairfax, Renville County, Minnesota

Date: 1900

Source Locality: Heritage Quest online via Cook Memorial Library

DATV 9/4/04

@S422@ SOUR

Type: Letter

Title: Letter from Marion Reinke

Date: April 11, 2006

Source Locality: in Ellen’s Reinke notebook

User ID

User ID: A6D81FB22D47468BA87A87CB1997024701B7

While processing relationships in the gedcom some additional information was found which may be relevant.

Could not parse date out of ABT 1901.

@F242@ FAM

Husband: @I453@

Wife: @I326@

Marriage:

Date: ABT 1901

Place: Fairfax, Renville Co., Minnesota

Source: #S350

User ID: AF26C75B70AD4BABA72009BD854536EB8284

Child: @I82@

Child Status: @C121@

Sources

Source S350

Type: Census

Title: U.S. Population Census

Place: Fairfax, Renville County, Minnesota

Date: 1910

Source Locality: Ancestry.com via Cook Memorial Library

DATV 9/4/04

Source S421

Type: E-Mail Message

Author: Arletta Webster

Title: Reinke relatives email

Date: 4/9/06

Biography

Otto was born in 1876. Otto Reinke ... He passed away in 1945.^[1]

Sources

1. ↑ A source for this information is needed.