Family File for David Saul MITTMAN - Person Sheet
Family File for David Saul MITTMAN - Person Sheet
NameBlanche Wilhemina MERKELBACH [3412], [3930]
Birth17 Jan 1892, Iowa City, IA [3933], [808], [7]
Death4 Mar 1985, Moline, IL [3933], [7] Age: 93
Burialaft 4 Mar 1985, 1814 Lucas St, Muscatine, IA [3933]
MemoGreenwood Cemetery
OccupationCanvas Room, John Deere Harvester Works [3934]
OccupationMachine Operator, Farm Implement Factory (1950) [3935]
OccupationCanvas Worker, Implement Factory (1940) [3936]
FlagsMITTMAN-7, STUB-END
Obituaries
From Mar 5, 1985, page 6 - Quad-City Times at Newspapers.com: [3934]

Blanche Mittman

Services for Blanche W. Mittman, 93, of 3905 5th Ave., Moline, will be 1:30 p.m. Wednesday at Moline Gospel Temple. Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery.

Visitation is 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 p.m. today at Trimble Funeral Home, Moline.

Memorials may be made to the temple, of which she was a member.

Mrs. Mittman died Monday at her home.

She retired in 1958 from the canvas room at John Deere Harvester Works, East Moline, where she had been employed for 29 years.

Blanche Merkelbach married Ernest Mittman in 1915 in Muscatine, Iowa. He died in 1922.

Survivors include sons, Paul E. and Jack J., both of Moline, and J. George, St. Petersburg, Fla.; five grandchildren; 10 great-grandchildren; and a sister, Nettie L. Merkelbach, Moline.

From Mar 06, 1985, page 1 - The Dispatch at Newspapers.com: [3937]

Sisters were inseparable, even in death.

They were known as the Merkelbach sisters, and for 90 years, Blanche and Nettie were practically inseparable.

Today, their friends and relatives said goodbye to the two Moline sisters, who, even in death, couldn’t be parted, at a joint funeral service at the Moline Gospel Temple.

Relatives don’t believe the death of Blanche W. Merkelback Mittman, 93, on Monday after a brief illness, precipitated the death of her sister, Nettie Merkelback, 90, a day later from a heart attack.

But those close to the pair say the coincidence was right for the sisters. They had lived together most of their lives, worked in the same department of the same factory for almost 30 years, belonged to the same church, and arranged their schedules so they could accompany one another on outings.

“Someone was saying at the house. ‘We realized they did everything together, but we didn’t think they’d take it quite this far,’” said Blanche Mittman’s daughter-in-law, Bessie Mittman.

Nettie “was just feeling very sad,” after Blanche’s death, Bessie Mittman said, but she wasn’t despondent.

The two were a common sight at church functions, she said. They were both charter members of the Gospel Temple and were active there.

From so many years of togetherness, the two developed a real rapport. “They would know how the other would react to something. They would get together and you could ask one a question, and they would talk about the answer. Nettle was the leader, but she always depended on what Blanche said,” she said.

The sisters also planned their outings together. “If one wasn’t feeling well, they’d both stay home,” Mittman said. “They seemed to depend on each other so much.”

“Yet they were individual personalities,” she said. “Blanche was more the ladylike type; she liked lace and fancy things. Nettie, her tastes were more strict, yet feminine. She had simpler tastes.”

They were “good-humored people,” she said. “They would get a lot of fun out of life.”

The sisters were born in Oskaloosa and later lived in Muscatine, where their father ran a sheet metal shop. Nettie worked in a hat shop there. Blanche studied to be a concert pianist, but gave up those ambitions when she met the man who would split up the sisters for a few years.

Blanche left her sister and her parents when she married Ernie Mittman, an employee in her father’s shop, in 1915. They had four children before Mr. Mittman died in 1922.

Blanche moved back in with her parents, but the two sisters soon moved to Moline to find work and make a home together with Blanche’s children.

“They moved to Moline 60 years ago. They came down to work at John Deere,” Mittman said.

They both got jobs in the canvas room at John Deere Harvester Works, East Moline, where Blanche sewed canvas and Nettie made buckles. Blanche worked there for 29 years, and her younger sister for 32 years.

In 1954, Blanche’s son Paul Mittman and his wife, Bessie, moved in with the sisters at their two-story four-bedroom house at 3905 5th Ave., and the extended family enjoyed the arrangement.

“We’d become very close,” Bessie Mittman said.

Both sisters were active until their deaths. Blanche was sick in bed for about a week before her death from congestive heart failure Monday morning, she said. “Blanche had been up and around until then,” she said. “She was alert up until minutes before she died.”

Nettie was in charge of cooking supper for the household, and she enjoyed the task. “At 90, she was doing the cooking of the evening meal for five adults,” she said.

They shared a hobby — needlework. “They used to do lots of embroidery work, making quilt blocks for the mission group at the Temple,” she said.

They made pillow slips for the group, the Mabel Watts Circle of United Foursquare Women, of which they were charter members.

Among the survivors are a niece, Alberta Engels, Big Island, Milan, and a nephew, Paul Hinsberger, Moline.
Spouses
Birth26 Aug 1890, Muscatine, IA [3412], [1842]
Death18 Mar 1922, 317 Cherry St, Muscatine, IA [3412], [1842] Age: 31
Burial21 Mar 1922, 1814 Lucas St, Muscatine, IA [3412]
MemoGreenwood Cemetery
OccupationPresident, Sheet Metal Works (1920) [3931]
OccupationLaborer, Home Farm (1910) [3932]
FlagsMITTMAN-7, Military
FatherGeorge A MITTMAN (1853-1926)
MotherErnestine RIEK (1859-1931)
Obituaries
From Mar 20, 1922, page 7 - The Muscatine Journal at Newspapers.com: [3412]

POISONING FATAL TO FACTORY HEAD

ERNEST H. MITTMAN DIES AFTER SIX WEEKS’ ILLNESS

President of Iowa Sheet Metal Products Company Succumbs to Infection of Right Arm.

Ernest H. Mittman, of 317 Cherry Street, president of the Iowa Sheet Metal Products company, and prominent young manufacturer, died at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the Bellevue hospital. Death came as a result of blood poisoning from an infection starting in a finger on his right hand. He was 31 years old.

The infection resulted from an accident about six weeks ago when a small steel splinter became lodged in his hand. An unsuccessful effort was made to remove it at home. The injury was not considered serious until two weeks later, when Mr. Mittman was removed to the hospital and a consultation of three physicians was called. He underwent an operation four weeks ago, but at the outset, little hope was entertained for his recovery.

Native of Muscatine.

He was born on August 26, 1890, on Muscatine Island and lived his entire life in and around Muscatine. He married Miss Blanche Merkelbach on June 21, 1916, to which union three children were born, all of whom survive. They are Paul, 3 years old, and Junior and Jack, 11-month-old twins.

Besides his widow and three sons, Mr. Mittman is survived by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. George Mittman of Muscatine; three sisters, Mrs. Harold Oetzel of Chicago, Mrs. Vincent Eppel of Washington, Ia., and Miss Freda Mittman, at home; and four brothers, Oscar, Carl, Ben and William Mittman, all of this city.

Rises To Head of Company.

He became connected with the Iowa Sheet Metal Products company about ten years ago, starting as a bookkeeper for the concern. Several years later, he became a member of the firm and rapidly rose to its presidency. It was mainly through his efforts that the plant has developed into one of the most essential sheet metal plants in the West.

Mr. Mittman took an active interest in church affairs, being a member of the First Baptist church and president of the Baraca class. He was also secretary of the Muscatine Manufacturers’ Association.

Funeral services will be held at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday at the First Baptist Church. The Rev. W. H. Rogers will officiate. Burial will be made in Greenwood Cemetery.
Marriage21 Jun 1916 [3412], [2678]
ChildrenPaul Ernest (1918-2004)
 Jack John (Twin) (1921-1991)
 Junior George (Twin) (1921-2001)
Last Modified 28 Aug 2025Created 5 Apr 2026 using Reunion for Macintosh
Created on Sun, Apr 5, 2026 AM by David Saul Mittman.
Copyright © 2026 David Saul Mittman. This information is provided for the free use of those engaged in non-commercial genealogical research. Any commercial use is prohibited.