Ran a grocery store in Marshalltown for more than 46 years and was totally blind for the last 33+ years.
Oscar was born in Sweden in 1873. He was born with a bad eye and lost his vision in that eye at just 6 months old. At age 7, he traveled with an uncle to the US to join his parents who had immigrated 3 years earlier. In school in the US, he had to start in the 1st grade since he knew no English, but in 2 years he learned the language and completed 4 grades. He excelled at math. But at age 11 and in 7th grade, his impaired vision led him to leave school and go to work at various jobs. He drove a horse-drawn cart making deliveries for a laundry service, worked in "the first maple sugar factory" in Marshalltown, and worked in a grocery store. He formed a partnership with his father to build and operate a grocery store. Unfortunately, Oscar's father died as soon as the store was up and running, and Oscar was left to run it on his own. He'd been careful with his remaining good eye, but misfortune struck yet again when Oscar was accidentally zapped with 1,500 volts of electricity. The retina in his good eye detached, causing optic nerve damage. Oscar was permanently and completely blinded.
Despite that tragic accident, Oscar continued to run his store with a helper. He was able to find almost any item in his shop, weigh items accurately, make change, and dial a telephone. A typical way visitors to his store would sometimes attempt to cheat him was to ask for change for a $5 bill. Oscar had a solution. He would hold the $5 bill the customer had given him along with $1 bills in change that he pulled from his cash drawer, and ask the customer to read the denominations of the bills. If the customer read off only the $1 bills, Oscar knew the customer was cheating him.
In 1938, Oscar received attention all across the county when he was a guest on Robert L. Ripley's "Believe it or Not" program (presumably on the radio). Afterwards he received telegrams and letters from people all over the country, some of them having been childhood customers in Oscar's store.
Oscar married Emma Wolf in 1904. They lived next door to his store. It's not clear how many children they had, but one child came down with diphtheria in 1910 and the house was quarantined. In 1920, Oscar had yet another accident when he lost a finger to a cheese slicer, developed gangrene, and was hospitalized. Emma died in 1931 of tuberculosis. Oscar died of pneumonia in 1940. He and Emma are buried beside each other.
Contributor: Robert Fahey (47289555) • [email protected])
View Memorial
Oscar was born in Sweden in 1873. He was born with a bad eye and lost his vision in that eye at just 6 months old. At age 7, he traveled with an uncle to the US to join his parents who had immigrated 3 years earlier. In school in the US, he had to start in the 1st grade since he knew no English, but in 2 years he learned the language and completed 4 grades. He excelled at math. But at age 11 and in 7th grade, his impaired vision led him to leave school and go to work at various jobs. He drove a horse-drawn cart making deliveries for a laundry service, worked in "the first maple sugar factory" in Marshalltown, and worked in a grocery store. He formed a partnership with his father to build and operate a grocery store. Unfortunately, Oscar's father died as soon as the store was up and running, and Oscar was left to run it on his own. He'd been careful with his remaining good eye, but misfortune struck yet again when Oscar was accidentally zapped with 1,500 volts of electricity. The retina in his good eye detached, causing optic nerve damage. Oscar was permanently and completely blinded.
Despite that tragic accident, Oscar continued to run his store with a helper. He was able to find almost any item in his shop, weigh items accurately, make change, and dial a telephone. A typical way visitors to his store would sometimes attempt to cheat him was to ask for change for a $5 bill. Oscar had a solution. He would hold the $5 bill the customer had given him along with $1 bills in change that he pulled from his cash drawer, and ask the customer to read the denominations of the bills. If the customer read off only the $1 bills, Oscar knew the customer was cheating him.
In 1938, Oscar received attention all across the county when he was a guest on Robert L. Ripley's "Believe it or Not" program (presumably on the radio). Afterwards he received telegrams and letters from people all over the country, some of them having been childhood customers in Oscar's store.
Oscar married Emma Wolf in 1904. They lived next door to his store. It's not clear how many children they had, but one child came down with diphtheria in 1910 and the house was quarantined. In 1920, Oscar had yet another accident when he lost a finger to a cheese slicer, developed gangrene, and was hospitalized. Emma died in 1931 of tuberculosis. Oscar died of pneumonia in 1940. He and Emma are buried beside each other.
Contributor: Robert Fahey (47289555) • [email protected])
View Memorial
Ran a grocery store in Marshalltown for more than 46 years and was totally blind for the last 33+ years.
Oscar was born in Sweden in 1873. He was born with a bad eye and lost his vision in that eye at just 6 months old. At age 7, he traveled with an uncle to the US to join his parents who had immigrated 3 years earlier. In school in the US, he had to start in the 1st grade since he knew no English, but in 2 years he learned the language and completed 4 grades. He excelled at math. But at age 11 and in 7th grade, his impaired vision led him to leave school and go to work at various jobs. He drove a horse-drawn cart making deliveries for a laundry service, worked in "the first maple sugar factory" in Marshalltown, and worked in a grocery store. He formed a partnership with his father to build and operate a grocery store. Unfortunately, Oscar's father died as soon as the store was up and running, and Oscar was left to run it on his own. He'd been careful with his remaining good eye, but misfortune struck yet again when Oscar was accidentally zapped with 1,500 volts of electricity. The retina in his good eye detached, causing optic nerve damage. Oscar was permanently and completely blinded.
Despite that tragic accident, Oscar continued to run his store with a helper. He was able to find almost any item in his shop, weigh items accurately, make change, and dial a telephone. A typical way visitors to his store would sometimes attempt to cheat him was to ask for change for a $5 bill. Oscar had a solution. He would hold the $5 bill the customer had given him along with $1 bills in change that he pulled from his cash drawer, and ask the customer to read the denominations of the bills. If the customer read off only the $1 bills, Oscar knew the customer was cheating him.
In 1938, Oscar received attention all across the county when he was a guest on Robert L. Ripley's "Believe it or Not" program (presumably on the radio). Afterwards he received telegrams and letters from people all over the country, some of them having been childhood customers in Oscar's store.
Oscar married Emma Wolf in 1904. They lived next door to his store. It's not clear how many children they had, but one child came down with diphtheria in 1910 and the house was quarantined. In 1920, Oscar had yet another accident when he lost a finger to a cheese slicer, developed gangrene, and was hospitalized. Emma died in 1931 of tuberculosis. Oscar died of pneumonia in 1940. He and Emma are buried beside each other.
Contributor: Robert Fahey (47289555) • [email protected])
View Memorial
Oscar was born in Sweden in 1873. He was born with a bad eye and lost his vision in that eye at just 6 months old. At age 7, he traveled with an uncle to the US to join his parents who had immigrated 3 years earlier. In school in the US, he had to start in the 1st grade since he knew no English, but in 2 years he learned the language and completed 4 grades. He excelled at math. But at age 11 and in 7th grade, his impaired vision led him to leave school and go to work at various jobs. He drove a horse-drawn cart making deliveries for a laundry service, worked in "the first maple sugar factory" in Marshalltown, and worked in a grocery store. He formed a partnership with his father to build and operate a grocery store. Unfortunately, Oscar's father died as soon as the store was up and running, and Oscar was left to run it on his own. He'd been careful with his remaining good eye, but misfortune struck yet again when Oscar was accidentally zapped with 1,500 volts of electricity. The retina in his good eye detached, causing optic nerve damage. Oscar was permanently and completely blinded.
Despite that tragic accident, Oscar continued to run his store with a helper. He was able to find almost any item in his shop, weigh items accurately, make change, and dial a telephone. A typical way visitors to his store would sometimes attempt to cheat him was to ask for change for a $5 bill. Oscar had a solution. He would hold the $5 bill the customer had given him along with $1 bills in change that he pulled from his cash drawer, and ask the customer to read the denominations of the bills. If the customer read off only the $1 bills, Oscar knew the customer was cheating him.
In 1938, Oscar received attention all across the county when he was a guest on Robert L. Ripley's "Believe it or Not" program (presumably on the radio). Afterwards he received telegrams and letters from people all over the country, some of them having been childhood customers in Oscar's store.
Oscar married Emma Wolf in 1904. They lived next door to his store. It's not clear how many children they had, but one child came down with diphtheria in 1910 and the house was quarantined. In 1920, Oscar had yet another accident when he lost a finger to a cheese slicer, developed gangrene, and was hospitalized. Emma died in 1931 of tuberculosis. Oscar died of pneumonia in 1940. He and Emma are buried beside each other.
Contributor: Robert Fahey (47289555) • [email protected])
View Memorial
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Advertisement
