KIMBEL, Richard

Family History: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=museum_quilts&id=I3313

Richard Kimbel's father.

KIMBEL, Richard. (Saxony, Germany, May 20, 1840--Kimbel Park, WI, June 18, 1910). Richard grandfather, Johann Valentin Kumpel, was born in Wernshausen, Samein, Thuringer on December 30, 1759. His son, Richard's father, George, was born on November 5, 1796 and changed the spelling of his last name to Kuempel. After arriving in the United States in the early 1880's, the name had again been changed to Kuembel. The great grandson's kept up the tradition and changed the spelling of their last name to Kimbel. (1)

At a very early age, Richard started a delivery service in town using horses and wagons. (2) He also married his first wife, name unknown, and began his family. (3) 1879 History of Jackson County, Iowa listed him as a livery and feed stable operator, a proprietor of a river ferry and a dealer in fine stock. He operated the only dray in the community. Although elected constable, he did not accept the position. He was listed as a contractor of the river road and distributed the ties from Gordon's Ferry to Sabula. (4) While living in Bellevue, Kimbel owned 220 acres in Illinois.

Richard Kimbel's Ferry. Photo courtesy: http://www.genealogywise.com/group/kimbel

After moving to Dubuque, Kimbel operated the last HORSE FERRY in this part of the Mississippi using a team of two horses to turn a treadmill. Although the boat could not be operated in reverse, careful handling could slow one horse allowing the boat to be gradually turned. He later purchased the steamer "Eagle Point" and used it to transport goods and people between Dubuque and Dunleith (later East Dubuque), Illinois. For several years after the "Eagle Point" was no longer in operation, he also operated two tow boats. (5) In 1898 he petitioned the city council for $400.00 to assist him in operating the Eagle Point ferry. (6)

Kimbel purchased land north of the present EAGLE POINT PARK and across the river. (7) Once the owner, he began the construction of a dock, a building for his business, a 13-room home for his family, a large dance hall and a saloon that offered food. (8) On Wednesday, weekends, and holidays free fish was served to bar patrons with their order. The oldest child, Adolph, was nineteen at the time and helped establish the business after Richard purchased his first steamboat. (9)

Richard's first wife died and he remarried. Some of the older children worked in the dance hall and tavern. Younger children as early as five-years-of-age were assigned jobs. Boys worked on the boats by day and ran the tavern at night. (10) All the boys learned how to pilot boats at an early age and did not stay around long after they were able to find work elsewhere. The girls kept up the family house, cared for the younger children, and cooked in the tavern at night. Kimbel's steamboat business increased so fast he purchased a second boat.

As KIMBEL PARK developed, Richard Kimbel began referring to the site as "Kimbel Island." (11) It featured many free attractions including two white diving horses, hypnotists, a band shell, bowling alley, and dances. Couples paid five cents per dance, the same price charged for a 20-ounce mug of beer or the fare from EAGLE POINT to the "island." The park had a cell-like structure in which intoxicated people were placed temporarily to regain their senses. (11)

Kimbel had seventeen children by his first two wives. The names of all the children were not recorded. The third wife, Francis, died in 1895. Married four times and outliving all but his fourth wife, Elizabeth, Kimbel was the father of twenty-three children. He received a personal letter and gift of $100 from the President of the United States, Theodore Roosevelt, to recognize the birth of his 23rd child. (12) In 1902 upon the birth of his fourth grand-daughter, the Bellevue Leader reported:

              Adolph Kimbel is feeling more than proud 
              today. He is the father of twin girl babies. 
              A day or two later Mrs. George Fengler presented 
              her husband with twin girl babies also; and now 
              Capt. Kimbel, who is father of Adolph and Mrs. 
              Fengler, says he doesn't care whether the ferry
              boat runs or not next summer. He is the grandpa
              of four girls. (13)

Family burial site in Bellevue.

Tombstone of Richard Kimbel.

Kimbel's death was attributed to asthma and heart failure. His body was brought to Bellevue on the steamer "Potosi" with internment in the north cemetery. (14)

The creation of Eagle Point Park, UNION PARK, and the ability to travel outside of Dubuque across the HIGH BRIDGE proved too much competition to keep Kimbel Park in operation. Five years after Kimbel's death, the park was sold. Later the land was purchased by the federal government prior to the construction of the ZEBULON PIKE LOCK AND DAM. (15)

See: Albert L. KIMBEL, Roy KIMBEL, Adolph KIMBEL

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Source:

1. "Captain (Grandpa) Richard Adam Kimbel. Unpublished family history.

2. "Captain Kimbel, Pioneer River Man," Dubuque Telegraph-Herald, June 19, 1910. Online: http://p8080-10.30.40.140.ezproxy.dubuque.lib.ia.us/ResCarta-Web/jsp/RcWebImageViewer.jsp?doc_id=76d75574-3467-4ecf-9df4-c2b7da149f1e/ResCarta/00000005/00000506

3. family history

2. Jungblut, Lyn Klavitter. "Captain Richard Adam Kimbel," Unpublished family history

3. The History of Jackson County, Iowa, Chicago, Western Historical Company, 1879, p. 667

4. "Captain Kimbel, Pioneer River Man"

5. Tigges, John. "Richard Kimbel's Park Big Draw in Late 1890s," Telegraph Herald, July 19, 2005, p. 1C

6. "City Council," Dubuque Daily Herald, April 13, 1898, p. 2

7. Jungblut

8. Ibid.

9. family history

10. Ibid.

11. family history

11. "Action Line," Telegraph Herald, March 21, 1977

12. Dahlinger, Mark. "Shoot-Em-Up Shell Games in the Mid-Mississippi," Telegraph Herald, July 15, 1956, p. 19

13. Tigges

14. "Adolph Kimbel Proud Father," Bellevue Leader, February 27, 1902 Online: http://wc.rootsweb.ancestry.com/cgi-bin/igm.cgi?op=GET&db=museum_quilts&id=I3902

15. Dahlinger