John S. "Boss"
Entler was a Bonaparte, Van Buren Co. IA tinsmith,
operating the "Boss Tin Shop" for many years. Born in
Harrisburg township Jan. 17, 1852, he died in 1917. "Boss"
Entler had many interests, among them bicycling, boxing and baseball. Scrapbooks
devoted to his many hobbies and interests totaled 28 volumes which he
meticulously constructed over a period dating from the early 1890's to
around 1913.   The "jewels" of this collection
from a genealogical standpoint are concentrated in 6 volumes containing
nearly 2,000 Van Buren County obituaries, marriage
announcements and birth announcements, most of which were concerning
residents, or former residents of Bonaparte and Van Buren County. They
are housed in the Special Collections department at the Iowa Historical
Library, Iowa City. Due to their poor condition, access is restricted.
The Bonaparte newspaper office was destroyed by fire in 1910. Thus, the contents of these scrapbooks may be the only record of the vast majority of these articles. The scrapbooks have not been microfilmed and are in such fragile condition that they cannot be photocopied. Over a period of time I was able to video tape record each and every page of the scrapbooks containing genealogical records and a Surname Index linked to actual transcriptions has been completed. See below. - - Rich Lowe, Van Buren Co. IAGenWeb |