Dr. W.C. Schultz

Dr. W. C. (William Chambers) Schultz embraced the community of Marengo after his arrival sometime in 1873. He served as the community’s physician, and he served as a charter member of St. James Episcopal Church.[1] In 1903, he was appointed to the Board of Trustees of the Marengo Public Library.

Dr. W. C. Schultz was native to Scotland.[2] Born in 1838, Schultz immigrated to America in 1873 at age 35 aboard the ship Hammonia, traveling from Hamburg to New York City. His profession was listed as doctor on the Hamburg Passenger List travel document. After having practiced in Marengo for about eighteen years, Schultz received his medical degree from the Bellevue Hospital of Medicine, New York on December 23rd, 1886. (Interestingly, Andrew Carnegie donated a large sum of money to Bellevue during the 1880s.[3])

Dr. W. C. Schultz married Marie A. Sherman, a housekeeper of Iowa County, (who was about eighteen years younger) shortly after arriving in Marengo.[4] Their first-born son, William S., was born in 1875, and they had three subsequent children: Bessie C., Frederick P., and Marie I. Dr. W. C. Schultz eventually moved to the Portland, Oregon area with his wife, and he died on June 28, 1923.[5]

-Cristin Noonan

[1] James C. Dinwiddie, History of Iowa County, Iowa, and Its People, vol. 1, (Chicago: S.J. Clarke Publishing, 1915), p. 231. The church was organized in 1872, but no longer exists today.

[2] Ancestry.com. 1873 Hamburg Passenger List, 1873 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc., 2018. The Port of Arrival is listed as New York City, New York, which would have been in reference to Ellis Island.

[3] Pauline Lillie, Marengo the County Seat Marengo the Town: A History, (Marceline: Walsworth Publishing, 1984), p. 100.

[4]Ancestry.com. Iowa, State Census Collection 1880 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2012.

[5] Ancestry.com, Oregon State Library Death Index 1921-1930 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2018. It’s not clear when the couple moved west, but it appears to be sometime after 1900 as census data indicates that they were still living in Marengo that year.