Joannes Andreas Dols (1854 - 1935)

Born 5 Sep 1854 in Nattenhoven-Obbicht, Limburg, Nederland

Ancestors

Husband of Catharina Elisabeth (Van Sloun) Dols — married 7 May 1878 in Chaska, Carver, Minnesota, United States

Died 26 Dec 1935 at age 81 in Chaska, Carver, Minnesota, USA

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Pat Quinn [send private message]

Biography

Joannes Andreas Dols, (known as John Andrew), was born in Nattenhoven-Obbicht, Limburg Province, NL in 1854. Son of Jan Lambert Dols (aka Lambert) and Anna Catharina Vandeireijken. His father was a farmer. In the early years in America, their last name was often spelled Doltz.

The Dols family immigrated to Minnesota in 1862. "The land records in Carver County show that on May 31, 1962 Jan Lambert Dols paid $800.00 cash for 80 acres of land in Section 6, Dahlgren Township, Carver County from John O'Brien. ...must have seemed like a lot of land to immigrants who owned 7 to 10 acres in Holland, as this was the usual purchase. Within a few years, they would buy additional acres..."^[1] By 1870 his father's land was valued at $3000.

As early as 1874, John (age 20) had left the family farm to become co-owner of a furniture and variety store in Chaska, Carver, MN, in partnership with Martin Van Sloun. In May 1875, John lived with Martin & his wife in the Village of Chaska.

Business Ad for Furniture & Variety Store. Ads like this ran weekly in the Weekly Valley Herald 9/23/1874 through 1/28/1875.

• “NEW FURNITURE AND VARIETY STORE! BY Van Sloan & Doltz at Young's Old Stand, 2d St. New Furniture of every description, CHEAP FOR CASH Repairing of chairs tables &c., done neatly and promptly. Pictures framed on short notice.”[21]

In February 1875, the store name changed to "Van Sloun & Dols" & moved next door to National Hotel on Chestnut St. Their partnership must have dissolved after June, 1875 because there were no more ads for "Van Sloun & Dols" after the 24th. The following month, the building was being sold.

Weekly Valley Herald 07/29/1875 & 8/26/1875

• “FOR SALE OR TRADE. One large building occupied by Sloan and Doltz as furniture store Chaska. Said property for sale cheap, or for trade for farm property. Call for terms. Peter Iltis”[22] Iltis owned the National Hotel next door & must have owned this building too.

Shortly thereafter, John opened his own store back at the original location in Young's building on 2nd St. A year later he built a new store.

• 08/17/1876: “New Store Building. Messrs. Baxter & Du Toit sold a fraction of lot 10, block 43, adjoining the Herald building, fronting on 2nd street, to John Dolz, who will immediately commence the erection of a brick building thereon 20 by 43 feet, to be used as a furniture store. Mr. Dolz is a young man of good business ability, and has within a year built up a very extensive trade. We wish him success.” ^[2] (The previous owner was Ferdinand Thies. Baxter & Du Toit only had Thies' POA.)
• 08/24/1876: “Mr. John Dols has moved his furniture into Mr. Thies building, adjoining Mrs. Salters millinery shop, on 2nd street.”
• “...commenced excavating for the basement of his new store building...will have the building up in a month or so.”^[3]
• “Fire. – The old store building of Mr. Young, occupied by Mr. Dols as a furniture store, caught fire last Friday night, but was discovered before it had obtained very great headway. The hook and ladder company was promptly on the ground and with the help of our citizens, soon had the fire under complete control. The damage to the building is considerable and without insurance. – Mr. Dols damage is fully $250, and covered by insurance. The cause of the fire is attributed to a defective chimney.”^[4] (The first of many fires that will plague his stores.)
• 12/07/1876: “REPORTED – John Dols has moved his stock of goods into his new store room next door to the Herald Block...”^[5]

Over the years John took on other partners whose names appeared for a year or so, then disappear, leaving only John's name on the store again. (Tracking his business through the ads is a little tricky because at least one brother & a cousin also had furniture stores in the area named "Dols & Somebody". - pq)

John was already an established merchant when he married Lizzie Van Sloun (1850-1930) on 05/07/1878 in Chaska, MN. Lizzie was the sister of his old partner, Martin Van Sloun, and the daughter of William Van Sloun and Dorothea Frenken. They married at Guardian Angels Catholic Church in Chaska. It was a double wedding, shared with Lizzie's younger sister, Elisabeth, and her fiance' Leonard Jaspers.

Double Wedding Announcement

Weekly Valley Herald 05/23/1878

• “MARRIED. John Dols to Miss. Libbie [Lizzie] Van Sloun, and Leonard Jaspers to Miss Lizzie [Elisabeth] Van Sloun. The two young couples were married by Rev. Father Wendlin at the Catholic Church in this city, on Tuesday, May 7th, and the ceremony was witnessed by a large number of persons, friends of both parties. The young couple start in life with the best wishes of a host of friends, who wish them success in all their undertakings.”^[6]

They had 7 children, 5 sons and 2 daughters. A son died at age three. (See Lizzie's biography for children's details.)

John and Lizzie lived in Chaska City and it seems that their door was always open because there was hardly a census taken that didn't show one extended family member or another living with them.

In the census John's various occupations were "Cabinet Maker", "Carpenter" , "Furniture D.", "Merchant in Retail Furniture", & "Carpenter Undertaker". (Undertaker wasn't the same as Mortician. Although his ads often said "Undertaking a Specialty", it's doubtful he handled the bodies. Back then family members did the laying out (washing & dressing the body), then went to the furniture store to buy the coffin. Furniture stores commonly carried coffins and other undertaking materials. In 1898 he also offered a hearse.) Other news articles revealed that he was also a successful Building Contractor, Land Developer, and Landlord. The paper routinely reported building renovations & new building construction in the area (residential & commercial) in which John was named as the builder. The building projects were sometimes so plentiful, one wonders who was running the store. It's likely the entire family helped out although the censuses rarely gave them credit. The 1900 census shows that his oldest daughter, Dora, was a bookkeeper, & his son, Willie, was a carpenter. In 1905 his wife"s occupation was "furniture store" while Willie continued as a "carpenter".

John's wife passed away in 1930.

John died at age 81 in Chaska in 1935 of a Hypertrophied (enlarged) Prostate.^[7][8]

A piece of property

A curious series of articles followed the history of a piece of property that John was involved with.

• 08/17/1876: “Another Sale. – H. Brinkhaus, has purchased the Delsing property adjoining the store of Fred Henning, on the corner of Chestnut and Fourth street, paying therefor, the sum of $1,100. There are two small buildings on the lot, one a blacksmith shop and the other a small one-story saloon. The price paid is considered good. From this we judge that real estate is still held at old figures in Chaska.”^[9]

• 04/18/1878: “NEW BLACKSMITH SHOP. Joseph Delsing has leased Herman Brinkhaus Blacksmith shop, and is now prepared to do all work in this line...” ^[10]

• 11/21/1878: “John Dols, has recently fixed up the “Delsing shop” and converted it into a first class dwelling. He has moved into the same and is now snugly fixed for the winter.”^[11] This happened a few months after he married Lizzie.

• 01/15/1880: "A Purchase. Joseph Schindler, Sr., has purchased the old Delsing place, consisting of house and 5 lots of Phillip Henk for $600. The place is situated on the Chaska Creek in the western part of town and is considered very cheap at those figures. Mr. S., will move into town in the spring and will occupy the place as a family homestead hereafter." (Schindler was related by marriage to John's wife's family.)^[12]

• 02/19/1880: “Jos. Schindler, Esq., who recently purchased a lot of Mr. Henk, will re-build the house, improving it in all respects, as soon as the weather permits, then move into it with his family. Mrs. S., will be a valuable acquisition to Chaska.”^[13]

• 03/29/1883: “Another Residence. John Dols, of this village, will erect a neat one and a half story frame residence on his lot near Mr. Schindler's residence. The lumber is already ordered for the building and work will be commenced on the foundation the latter part of this week. The building must be completed by the 16th day of May and has already been rented to Matt Logelin for a series of years at a good annual rental.”^[14] (Mr. Schindler's residence was near Chaska Creek, on the west side of town.)

• 09/13/1883: “A Good Purchase. John Dols and wife of this village, have bargained and sold to Fred Pracht & wife, the house and lot recently erected near Mr. Schindlers residence and at first intended for Mr. Longelin. The consideration in the deed is stated at $475, and Mr Dols is to do some additional work on said building.”^[15]

• 05/07/1896: H. M. Young, leasing John Dols house & will proceed to put up a frame building next to the creek for a commercial steam laundry.^[16]

OTHER REAL ESTATE INVESTMENTS:

• 04/26/1883: “Mr. John Dols, has commenced work on the foundation for two frame tenement houses, which he will have completed ready for occupancy by the 15th of May.”^[17]

• 04/03/1884: “John Dols, has purchased the one story frame residence lately used by Etzel & Degen, as a feed store. He will move it on to the lot adjoining Peter Winkler's residence.”^[18]

• 11/27/1890: John Dols & Peter Schmitz bought block 61 in Chaska.^[19]

• 01/04/1894: Chaska has a feather renovating factory, in the Dols bldg.^[20]

• 01/25/1894: John Dols sold a lot to Jacob Joressen and he will build residence on the lot.^[21]

In 1894 & '95 there was a series of suspicious fires at Dols Furniture Store in Chaska (either owned or run by John's cousin, Gus). After the first one, John collected the insurance & repaired "his store". A month later he "enlarged & greatly improved his brick building". In 1895 a "2nd fire caused $200 damage to his building & up to $700 for stock & tools. Everything insured but the building; family was visiting elsewhere - possible arson." (Gus' family?) Two months later "An incipient fire (3rd fire detected; this one found at the rear of store was quickly extinquised)" At that point Gus sold his stock & moved out of town. Two months later John opened a new store where Gus A. Dols had had his.^[22]

^[23]

Sources

1. ↑ Excerpt from book; "Dols Family History 1689-1989" by Betty Dols
2. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 08/17/1876: [1]
3. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 08/24/1876: [2]
4. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 08/24/1876: [3]
5. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 12/07/1876 [4]
6. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 05/23/1878:[5]
7. ↑ "Minnesota, Deaths and Burials, 1835-1990," index, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/pal:/MM9.1.1/FDDP-314 : accessed 02 Dec 2013), John Andrew Dols, 26 Dec 1935.
8. ↑ FindAGrave.com [6]
9. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 08/17/1876: [7]
10. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 04/18/1878:[8]
11. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 11/21/1878: [9]
12. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 01/15/1880: [10]
13. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 02/19/1880: [11]
14. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 03/29/1883: [12]
15. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 09/13/1883: [13]
16. ↑ Carver County Historical Society newspaper index: [14]
17. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 04/26/1883: [15]
18. ↑ Weekly Valley Herald 04/03/1884 [16]
19. ↑ Carver County Historical Society newspaper index: [17]
20. ↑ Carver County Historical Society newspaper index: [18]
21. ↑ Carver County Historical Society newspaper index: [19]
22. ↑ Carver County Historical Society newspaper index: [20]
23. ↑ MN & US Census records

Acknowledgments

Thanks to Pat Quinn for starting this profile.