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Harvey W. Flenniken
Born February 7, 1859
Harvey W. Flenniken, the cashier of the Citizens Savings Bank of Olin, which be established in 1899, was born in Millsville, Clayton county, Iowa, on the 7th of February, 1859, his parents being Wallace W. and Gertrude (Harvey) Flenniken. The paternal grandfather, John Calvin Flenniken, was a brother of the mother of United States Senator Cummins. Wallace W. Flenniken, the father of our subject, was a native of Greene county, Pennsylvania, and a millwright by trade. He was a man of much mechanical skill and ingenuity and was the inventor of the Flenniken water wheel. His demise occurred at Colesburg, Iowa, in 1863, when he was only about thirty years of age. His widow still survives and makes her home with her son, Harvey W. She also has another son, John Calvin, who is a resident of Strawberry
Harvey W. Flenniken spent the first nineteen or twenty years of his life on a farm in his native county, obtaining his preliminary education in the district schools, while subsequently he attended a graded school at Elkader. On leaving Clayton county he went to Rockford, Illinois, where he learned the machinist's trade, with which he was actively identified for twelve years. He remained in Rockford for but two years, however, and then removed to Springfield, where he secured employment in a watch factory as a builder of machinery. Later he made his way to Aurora, Illinois, and assisted in the installation of machinery in the watch factory there.
Afterward he worked at his trade in Chicago for two years and then went to Delmar, Clinton county, Iowa, there establishing the Bank of Delmar. After conducting the same for seven years he sold out to his partner and came to Olin, Jones county, in 1899, here establishing the Citizens Savings Bank, a state institution, to which he has since devoted his entire attention. He is thoroughly informed concerning the banking business and while he promotes a progressive policy he also holds to such conservative methods as merit the trust of the general public.
In 1898 Mr. Flenniken was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Donley, a native of Jackson county, Iowa, and a daughter of J. C. Donley. They are now the parents of two children, John Calvin and Donald Arthur.
In his political views Mr. Flenniken is a stanch republican and while living in Delmar served as mayor for five years and also as justice of the peace for one term. He is a member of Ancient Landmark Lodge, No. 200, A.F.&A.M., at Olin, likewise of the chapter at Aurora and of Olive Lodge of the Eastern Star. He is interested in all that pertains to the general welfare, and his cooperation is given to many measures calculated to promote the material, political and moral interests of the community.

Source: History of Jones County, Iowa, Past and Present, R. M. Corbitt, S. J. Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, 1910, p. 100.

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