Frederick August Seemann, son of Hans and Maria Seemann of Clinton county, Iowa, was born 01 Apr 1866. He left the farm to pursue his dream of becoming a physician. He spent a number of years practicing in Dubuque, Iowa, and later Sioux City. He married Alta Shepherd, a Kansas native, in Wisconsin, and they were the parents of four children: Ember, Frederick, Howard and Helen.
During his years of professional practice, he worked with brothers Carl, Henry and Will as they also became physicians.
The following advertisement, from The Dubuque Herald issue of Saturday, September 22, 1900, refers to him as “The Renowned German Doctor.” The advertisement also mentions that he “has had years of training in the great hospitals of the east.”
Between 1903 and 1906, he moved his family and his practice from Dubuque to Sioux City, Iowa, specializing in diseases of the eyes, ears, nose and throat. His wife, Alta, died in 1908, at the age of 37, probably from consumption; he married Ruth Trumhauer, a nurse, about 1910. By 1930, they had moved to National City, California, where Ruth died in 1937. She was buried at Mt. Hope Cemetery in San Diego. Dr. Fred died in California in 1939 from cancer of the esophagus. His body was returned to Sioux City for burial at Logan Park Cemetery, with his first wife, Alta.
