| Notes |
- U.S., World War I Draft Registration Cards, completed June 4, 1917:
Name: Gustave Albert Strobel
Age: 25
Home Address: Plainview, Minnesota
Date of Birth: July 20, 1891
Natural Born Citizen
Birthplace: Mankato, Minnesota
Occupation: Agriculture instructor, Plainview HIgh School, Plainview, Minnesota
No dependents
Single
Caucasion
No prior military service
Does not claim exemption from the draft.
1930 Federal Census: Minnesota, Blue Earth Cty, Rapidan, Dist. 32:
Strobel, Gustave A., head, rents, $25, age 38, first married at age 31, born in MN, father born in Germany, mother born in MN, occupation: superintendent, public;
Elsie, his wife, age 29, first married at age 22, born in SD, father born in Germany, mother born in SD;
Claire, their son, age 11/12, born in MN, father born in MN, mother born in SD.
1940 U.S. Federal Census: Minnesota, Steele, Owatonna:
Strobel, Gustave A., head, 48, married, born in Minnesota, lived in same place 5 years earlier, county agent, Steele County;
Elsie V., wife, 39, married, born in South Dakota, lived in same place 5 years earlier;
Claire J., son, 11, single, born in Minnesota, lived in same place 5 years earlier.
From the Star Tribune (Minneapolis, Minnesota) 29 Aug 1961, Tue.
“Mankato Man’s Fruit Wins Honors
G. A. Strobel, Mankato, Minn., won 34 firsts with entries in the amateur fruit class at the Minnesota State fair Monday and received the sweepstakes cup and prizes.”
From the Star Tribune (Mnneapolis, Minnesota) 12 Aug 1962, Sun.
“Amateur Fruit Expert Foresees Minnesota Peaches, Apricots
The time is not far off when peach and apricot trees will be grown in abundance in Minnesota. There also may be seedless apples, pears with small cores and oranges sans much of their bitter pulp.
A fruit gourmet’s pipe dream? No, because these opinions were voiced by the state’s foremost amateur orchardist, G. A. Strobel of Mankato, Minn. He thinks hybridization can accomplish these and many other improvements in the field of horticulture.
Strobel, who has won the Minnesota State Fair fruit sweepstakes five times during the past six fairs, has long worked on the theory of cross-breeding fruits to gain better quality.
He does not cross entirely different fruits - like pears and apples - although this can be done, “mainly for the novelty of it,” he says. Strobel’s long suit is the hybridization of different breeds of the same type of fruit to improve the quality. Thus he has crossed a Minnesota pear with a Manchurian pear to get a superior combination of hardiness and taste.
Such experiments, attained by crossing the flower of one tree with the flower of another, have given Strobel a three-acre orchard in the heart of Mankato which has produced more than 50 different breeds of apples, plums, pears and grapes.
And the hardiness is illustrated by the fact that even in last year’s severe winter, Strobel didn’t lose a single one of his 250 trees. “The biggest problem was rabbits,” he said. “The snow piled up so high they could get at the trees with ease.”
His backyard orchard is strictly a vocation for the 70-year-old Strobel who has “liked almost every kind of fruit since I was 12. My favorite is a pear we developed here.”
Fortunately, his wife, Elsie, says he is an “ardent fruit lover,” too “She is my connoisseur,” says her husband, “and helps me select fruit to show at the State Fair.”
The 1962 Minnesota exposition is scheduled from Aug. 25 through Sept. 3, and while Strobel plans to show at least 50 entries, he won’t predict another sweepstakes. “I’m pretty conservative that way,” says the perennial winner.
Strobel has taught agriculture in various Minnesota high schools and has also managed his father’s farms in the Mankato area. He emphasizes his status as a non-commercial fruit grower. “I give away a lot of it and only sell enough to pay for my sprays.”
But for an amateur the hybridization pioneer does all right.”
Obituary: The Free Press, Mankato: August 11, 1995:
G. Albert “Al” Strobel
“Mankato--Retired educator G. Albert “Al” Strobel, 104, of Mankato, died Wednesday, August 9, 1995, at Mankato House Health Care Center.
Services are 10:30 a.m. Monday at Centenary United Methodist Church in the Multi Church
Center’s south sanctuary, the Rev. Nancy Wheeler Handlon officiating. Burial with military honors is at Glenwood Cemetery.
Visitation is 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at Landkamer’s Johnson-Boman Funeral Home and continues one hour before services at the church.
Memorials are preferred to Hilltop Neighbors.
Mr. Strobel was born July 29, 1891, to John and Mary (Schostag) Strobel in Jackson. He received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from the University of Minnesota in agriculture and education administration. He married Elsie Miller in 1923 in Fairmont.
He taught agriculture at Stevens and Mankato. He served as drill sergeant during World War I in Spartenburg, S.C., France and Germany. He returned to the Mankato area to farm and teach before becoming an assistant county agent in Fairmont in 1920.
He was a superintendent of the Rapidan school system for 10 years. He served as county agriculture agent in Nobles and Steele counties until retiring to Mankato in 1940.
He was a member of VFW Post 950, American Legion Post 11 and Centenary United Methodist Church and was a charter member of the local Farmers Union. He enjoyed fruit-growing and experimenting and won Minnesota State Fair amateur fair grand championship awards 10 consecutive years.
Mr. Strobel is survived by a son and his wife, Dr. Claire and Janet of rural Mapleton; six grandchildren; 11 great-grandchildren; one sister, Helen Johnson of Mankato, and nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his wife, two sisters and three brothers.”
SSDI: #472 40 7025; Born 29 Jul 1891; died 9 Aug 1995; Res. 56065, Mapleton, Blue Earth, MN.
Minnesota Historical Society: Online database of Minnesota death records:
Strobel, Gustav Albert
Date of birth: 07/29/1891
Mother’s maiden name: Schostag
Date of death: 08/09/1995
County of death: Blue Earth
Name also spelled: Stroebel.
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Connected Bloodlines
1891 - 1995 (104 years)
