Notizen zu dieser Person
AKA: Foske Dänekas, Foske Dennekas.
SOURCE: Ortssippenbuch (OSB) Critzum, Datensätze der Nummern 210 und 1198.
SOURCE: Ortsfamilienbuch (OFB) Weener ev.-ref. Datensatz Nummer 14365.
BIOGRAPHY of Foske's son Joe Swalve, transfered from
http://vampirefreaks.com/journal_comment.php?entry=7049954 :
wrote on May 23, 2011, 11:59am.
nonfiction (article 1919).
Joe’s Grotto June 10, 1976.
404 east green street Clarksville Iowa 50619.
Joe Swalve: Blacksmith and Artist.
Joe Swalve, one of Clarksville’s blacksmiths in the early part of the century came to the United States in 1903 from Weenermore (that means Weenermoor), Germany, at the age of 24 with his father, Reinhardt (that is wrong; Reinhard Swalve died in the year 1900 in Germany; obviously Joe was accompanied by his uncle Johann (John) Gerhard Swalve, who lived from 1856 to 1942. Reinhard and Johann were cousins), an older brother Otto, an older sister, Tillie and a younger brother, John, their mother being deceased (the mother deceased was Foske Dänekas). The family settled in Ledyard, Iowa. When Joe was a boy in Germany the family lived near the border and Jod (that means Joe) had his schooling in the Netherlands. He went to a trade school and learned blacksmithing and woodworking.
Coming to Clarksville in 1904 Joe purchased a home for himself and his dog, Shep, in the northwest part of town west side of Hilton at the west end of Prospect Street. The same year Joe started a blacksmith shop on Main street where Pete and Shorty’s tavern now stands. Many people will remember Joe as wearing wooden shoes for the first few years after moving to Clarksville.
In 1914 Jo Married Hattie Wilhelm, niece of Frank Wilhelm with whom Hattie came to the United States from Germany. Frank Wilhelm was the town Marshall for several years. Hattie had been making her home in Greene with Dr. Wiliam Patterson and wife. Same year Joe and his bride move and purchased home at 404 east Greene street.
In Joe’s spare time he started enlarging the house. With the help of his wife he put the finishing touches on their new home by brick veneering the whole outside of the house. Joe laid all the brick. In 1918 he moved his blacksmith shop to his property where built a new building for this purpose.
1921 he put up another building beside the blacksmith shop in which he put up ice and sold it to any person or ice wagon who came after it. A few years later he decided blacksmithing was going out and decided had better get another trade. He discontinued the ice business, used the bulding to stock up on plumbing supplies and became a plumber. The city sewer had been laid in 1922 people were putting in city water, sewers and new bathrooms. This became his main job untill he retired in 1948.
In 1929 Joe had times when he wasn’t busy (remember the depression?) decided make goldfish pools in his yard. He had saved a lot of pretty rocks and stones that he found in the past and wanted to use them. After making three pools he started making two cement statues, One Adam and the other Eve. He made them looking as though they were fishing from the pool. He made a Dutch windmill, a covered wagon drawn by oxen, a cave on top which he had a church, church steeple, a stone named Mount Nebo and many more subjects, all being made of cement and rocks. He made a cement ship, modled afte the ship on which he came to America, and called it the “IOWA” On the other side he bult a light house and a sundial.
Next Joe built a large rock arch over the entrance into this area. A few days after he had finished the arch, Alfred Price, a retired Clarksville merchant, came to Joes home; he too was interested in rock work and wanted see what Joe had made. Mr. Price asked Joe if he could make a metal form designed so that park benches could be made with ends of cement. Joe made the form, poured the cement took out the castings set up the two ends and put wooden slats through the cement slots for the seat and back of the bench. Mr Price ordered several and gave them to the town. Making these benches gave Joe more ideas for making all kinds of yard things out of cement. He made bird baths, cement tables, cement stools to go with the tables and cement slab benches.
From time to time Mr. ice would come and order some of Joe’s benches and bird baths. One day he noticed that Joe had not been doing any more work on his rock grotto. He asked, “why?” Joe said don’t have the money for the cement and it isn’t anything I can sell. Mr Price told Joe he would send him a sack of cement once in a while.
In 1932 Iowa State Senator John Ramsey, told the Des Moines Register about the rock grotto his neighbor in Clarksville was building. They came to Clarksville, took some airplane pictures and these were put into the Sunday issue of the Register. The Waverly Democrat got a copy and also put a write up in their paper dated September 8, 1932. People started to come and see his work and visit him. Many people returned with more rocks sent to him. Some even dropped change in the little bank in the hands of one of the cement men, which helped pay for more cement.
The rock house is beautiful, In side he had one of his cement tables four cement stools around the table and a cement old time couch he had made. There were a lot of antiques displayed on the walls such as firearms, a powder horn, an old army bugle and two swords. On the roof of the rock house he made several figures; a model of the Little Brown Church, birds, an owl, a stork standing on its nest, bird houses, dwarfs, castles, and many more. Some the rocks that were given an old millstone from Moyer’s mill was given. Also a piece of a fallen meteor, quartz of all colors and kinds, pieces of formations of crystals from caves, a mammoth’s tooth and a sea shell that was self-hinged. He also had a lot of fossils, iron ore, petrified wood and many more.
During the years of 1931 and 1932 Joe served as Justice of the Peace and performed a marriage ceremony during his tenure. Joe was always interested in his town, a feat person at election time to campaign for people he felt should be elected.
In 1936 the grotto was finished by Joe making a row of joined arches of stone and c3ement across the front of the property and a large arch across the driveway entrance. On top of the arch at each end he made large standing rooster of red cement. It was so high the state inspector came to check for safety. It was excellent work of art and very strong.
Joe’s last cement work was a large monument on his cemetery plot. In 1958 it had be replace with a granite stone. He had too much iron reinforcing in it the iron was causing hair line cracks Joe died in July, 1955, leaving many happy memories around the Clarksville area.
Theodor
Bloem
