M.C
GENEALOGY COLLECTIOH
PUBLIC LIBRARY
imm
3 1833 01077 3296
HISTORY
SIE.
Cerro Gordo County
IOWA
M.
A
From Materials in the Public Archives, the Iowa
Historical Society's Collection, the Newspapers and Data of
Personal Interviews; also containing Sketches of
Representative Citizens.
COMPILED AND EDITED
BY
J. H. WHEELER
Assisted by an Advisory and Editorial Board of
representative citizens.
ILLUSTRATED
VOL. II.
THE LEWIS PUBLISHING COMPANY
CHICAGO-NEW YORK
1455568
OWEN T. DENISON.
There is no need for conjecture or imcertainty in determining
as to the value and success of the life of the late Owen T. Denison,
who died at his home in Mason City on the morning of Thursday,
April 7, 1910, for he realized in most significant sense that true
success is not that gained through commercial pre-eminence or
personal aggrandizement, but rather that which lies in the eternal
verities of human sympathy and helpfulness. It was given him
to attain large success in connection with the material activities of
life, and none but worthy means contribijted to this success, above
which he left the gracious heritage of noble thoughts and noble
deeds. He was a man of broad intellectuality and viewed life
and its responsibilities in their true proportions. He was not
given to half views or rash inferences, but was a man of strength
and judgment and lofty motives. He was essentially the foremost
citizen of Mason City and none has done as mixch to further the
development and upbuilding of the city and of Cerro Gordo county
along civic, industrial and commercial lines. Measured by its
beneficence, its rectitude, its productiveness and its insistent
altniism, his life counted for much in the city and county that so
long represented his home, and it is most consonant that in this
publication be paid a tribute of honor to one so worthy of the
confidence and esteem that were uniformly accorded him. His
death was the result of an attack of pneumonia, and a pathetic and
yet consistent incident in connection with his passing to the "land
o' the leal" was that his cherished and devoted wife, overpowered
by her grief and loss, sui-vived him by only a few hours, so that in
death they were not divided.
Owen T. Denison was born at Brookfield, Madison county. New
York, on the 28th of August, 1847, and was a son of Tracy and
Mary (Randall) Denison, both of whom were likewise natives of
Madison county, New York, where their marriage was solemnized
on the 31st of January, 1836. The family finally moved to
Clarksville, Albany county, New York, where they remained until
1857, when they emigrated to the west and settled as pioneers in
Eau Claire county, Wisconsin, where the father secured a tract of
377
378 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
government land and reclaimed a farm from the wilderness. There
he continued to reside until his death, which occurred on the 25th
of June, 1877. In 1881 his ^^adow removed to Mason City, Iowa,
to be near her children and other relatives, and here her death
occurred on the 16th of February, 1884. She was a sister of
Elisha Randall, one of the honored and influential pioneers of
Cerro Gordo county and one to whom a special memoir is dedicated
on other pages of this publication.
Owen T. Denison gained his rudimentary education in the
common schools of his native state and was a lad of about ten years
at the time of the family removal to Wisconsin, where he was
reared to maturity under the sturdy discipline of the pioneer farm
and where he availed himself of such educational advantages as
were afforded in the locality and period. His was a mind par-
ticularly alert and receptive and in the broad school of experience
and through wide reading and study in a private way he effectively
supplemented his early training, thus becoming a man of strong
intellectuality and broad and exact information.
In 1867, when but twenty years of age, Mr. Denison came to
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and cast in his lot with others of its
sterling pioneers. He established his home in Mason City, and
here he continued to raside until the close of his long and useful life.
In offering an estimate of his life and labors no more consistent
expression can be given than to perpetuate the statements made
at the time of his demise by those familiar with his career, and
thus the following extracts are made, vnfh slight elimination and
paraphrase, from an appreciative tribute paid by Hon. John
Cliggitt, of Mason City, a lifetime acquaintance and friend.
"Owen T. Denison is dead. The people of Cerro Gordo
county and many others throughout the state mourn his loss.
From the time of his first residence here he took a serious and
practical interest and was very prominent in all that related to
the growth, improvement and advancement of Mason City and
Cerro Gordo county. In official capacity he served the county
as deputy recorder in 1869-70 and from January, 1871, to January,
1876, as recorder. From March, 1881, to March, 1882, he served
as a member of the city council, and from March, 1885, to JIarch,
1887, he was ma.yor of the city, and later he was a member of the
board of county supervisors. These represent his share in the
official life of the city and county. In all these positions he was
active, diligent and faithful in discharge of the trust repo.sed in
him — with him official station was not merely a matter of con-
venience, advantage or source of gain to the official, but a place of
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 379
trust, requiring intelligent, faithful, honest and diligent attention
to public duty. No man has held office in the citj- or county who
had a higher or more exalted conception of the obligation and
responsibility of the public official than he had, and no one has
more seriously put into active practice those ideals of duty than he
did in all the official positions he held. The most important
public improvement that has yet been accomplished in Mason City
was the construction of our fine system of waterworks. During
the .year 1885, the first year of his term as mayor, the waterworks
system became a successfully accomplished fact. During the
entire time of the construction of these works Mr. Denison faith-
fully devoted his time and his intelligant and active energies in
bringing the work to a successful conclusion. In conjunction
with this work he brought together a company of active young men,
who, under the inspiration of his zeal and interest in the public
welfare, organized themselves into a volunteer fire company, and
in honor of and as a compliment to the mayor the organization was
named the Denison Hose Company. It continued to serve as a
fire company until the recent organization of a regularly paid fire
department. All of Mr. Denison 's services as councilman and as
mayor, including his many days and nights of thought, study and
labor in the constuction of the waterworks, were done ivithout
pay or finanaial reward. The construction of the waterworks
involved an expenditure of about forty thousand dollars, and to
use this money to the best public advantage required much knowl-
edge of materials and their value, and of the theory and practice
of water systems and their construction, and he possessed himself
of the necessary information. The public money was in this
instance economically expended with the greatest resulting bene-
fits reaching down to the present time.
"But while not so well known, Mr. Denison 's thought, studies
and labors as an enterprising, active citizen in private life have
resulted in great advantage and benefit to the people of this city
and county. Very much of the improvement and advancement
that have been made in agricultural, manufacturing and educa-
tional lines have been due to his zeal, energy and industrial activity
in inspiring, encouraging and supporting them.
"For many years he was engaged in the banking business.
In the winter of 1884-5 he went with a number of workmen to the
quarries north of town and got out the stone of which the city
bank building was constructed and personally superintended the
construction of the building from the beginning to the completion
thereof. While engaged in the banking business, he superintended
380 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
the fonstnietion and operation of a ereamery. He operated a
farm on which he erected and put into use a silo.
"He had from early days studied the subject of grasses suit-
able for this locality and urged the sowing of clover and bluegrass
in order to increase and improve the pastorage and feeding capacity
of much of our fertile land that seemed to be neglected, or not
turned to so profitable use as it might be.. In later years he ha.s
been active and energetic in encouraging and promoting improve
ments in crop raising, and as necessary thereto the matter of
drainage, giving premiums to help stimulate the activity and am-
bitions of the younger generation of farmers to better and more
careful and advanced methods. He had great interest in the
matter of drainage, both of farm lands and of our public roads. In
all this he was more concerned for the general public welfare
that must result from such improvements than for any personal
interest or gain that might result to him as a manufacturer of
drainage material. He had studied very thoroughly the geological
structure of northern Iowa and analyzed the soil, clay and rock
formations of the country and so became familiar with their prop-
erties and learned their industrial value and the practical and
profitable uses which they might be made to serve. He learned
that brick and tile might be manufactured to an advantage here
and an industry organized and carried on that would furnish
employment to many workmen and add much to the general jjros-
perity of the city, and as the result of his foresight and enter-
prise we have the present prosperous Mason City Brick and Tile
Factory and three othei"s in which he was very largely interested.
All of these works were constructed and their machinery purchased
and installed under his immediate care and supervision. These
works were the inspiration of and pointed the way for others to
engage in the manufacture of brick and tile, with the result that
several of these factories besides those with which i\Ir. Denison
was connected are now in sviccessful operation and ilason City
now holds prestige as being the largest manufacturing center of
these products in the entire world. To Mr. Denison belongs the
credit of being the pioneer in establishing this important industry
in Cerro Gordo county.
"Several years ago ^Ir. Denison studied and experimented
■with our rock and sand formations and found that they were
suitable for the manufacture of high grade cement. He had so
informed many of our people and had given prominence to the
fact through newspapers and other vehicles of public information.
His work along this line had very much to do in starting the move-
ment which finally resulted in our large cement plant.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 381
"He believed in a system of education that will make good,
upright, useful and accomplished men and women of the boys and
girls of the present and coming generations, and so had great faith
and interest in our common schools for the poor children of the
land as well as for those of the rich. He believed in higher educa-
tion and culture, but as the common schools are and will be the limit
of opportunity for the large majority of cliildren, he desired and
used his influence so far as he could to have provided in them
courses of instruction in some of the works and arts that make
up so much of the means of livelihood and add so much to the sup-
port and comfort of the people. He was interested in manual
training and looked to it as a great means of developing the tal-
ents that often lie dormant in the young, but which, with some
early stimulous, may be made to work out very useful and beneficial
results. He encouraged and, so far as he covild, aided all business,
educational and charitable enterprises and was liberal in contribu-
tions to promote and sustain them. The Memorial University, the
public library, all of our churches, have been liberally aided by him.
In the cement and other public buildings or enterprises he was a
liberal investor and in a business and financial way his life has been
a great success."
Concerning Mr. Denison, Col. James H. McConologue, of
Mason City, gave an estimate of his character, from which the
following quotations are made: "Of all the noble characters who
have had a hand in shaping the destinies of Mason City from its
earliest days no one has left his individual efforts, along moral and
industrial lines, so permanently attached to the life of the city as
Mr. Denison. Possessing a mind intensely active and well bal-
anced by an exceptional judgment he forged his way, in an early
day, through the unkno\\n realms of industrial efforts and emerged
from the darkness and unknown results into the broad sunlight of
phenomenal success. Mr. Denison was possessed with a genius of
a high order. In every problem he took up he sought the underly-
ing philosophy and by indefatigable effort and energy he brushed
aside the mists and haze that surround great problems and found
the kernel and meat of such questions, after which he successfully
worked out the solution. Not only was he great in the accomplish-
ing of industrial and business enterprises but he was a leader in
the moral affairs that make up our social life. He loved sobriety,
he loved honesty, he loved purity in the home and individual life
and all of these manfully practiced during his whole career.
A dominant trait of his character was the beautiful virtue of
charity; and his was the purest charity. It sought not the lime-
382 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
light, it never paraded gaudily to receive applause and commenda-
tion, but quietly, innocently and timidly, the angel of Jlr. Deni-
son's charity went to all, aiding and assisting where it could,
encouraging by good advice and often materially aiding wherever
it was possible so to do. The years to come will bring to light
the great good that was done along these lines by this great citizen
of Mason City. He loved his fellow men of every creed and of
every opinion and was glad when the individual advanced along
the road of prosperity to the goal of well doing and well being . . .
He was without ostentation or parade and was religious in thought,
purpose and mode of living. In many ways and often and at
different places he gave liberally to the aid of persons in distress
or trouble. No one will ever know how much he has done in
this way because his many acts of kindness and beneficence were
done quietly and privately. ' '
In politics Mr. Denison gave his support in a generic way to
the Republican party but in this, as in all other relations of life,
he maintained an independent attitude and never lacked the
courage of his convictions, giving his siipport to all men and meas-
ures meeting the approval of his .judgment. He was a member
of the Congregational church, as was also his devoted wife, and
signal purity and fidelity characterized his life in all its relations.
His devotion to principle was inflexible and better than this cannot
be said of any man. It has become a trite saying to pronounce the
death of a prominent citizen an irreparable loss to the community,
but there is no impropriety in the utilizing of the expression in
connection vsdth this honored citizen of Cerro Gordo county, for
the people of the community have given definite recognition of
their appreciation of the fact.
The home life of Mr. Denison was ideal in character and in a
review of this order there can be no desire to lift the gracious veil
that guarded the sacred precincts of the home. It has been noted
that Mr. Denison died on the morning of April 7. 1910, and on the
following Saturday night his wife likewise passed to the eternal
life. She had been in precarious health for some time and her
extreme grief over the death of her husband undoubtedly caused
her death. On the 19th of December, 1871, at Waterford, Wiscon-
sin, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Denison to I\Iiss Orpha
A. Willard, who was born in that place on the 24th of April, 1848,
and was a daughter of George and Mary (Ransome) Willard, who
later established their home in Mason City, Iowa, where they passed
the residue of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Denison became the par-
ents of three children : Mary, who is now the wife of Frederick
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 383
E. Keeler, of Mason City; Lynn W., who is associated with his
brother-in-law in the continuing of the various enterprises with
which his father had been identified ; and Willard, who died in in-
fancy. Mr. Denison is also survived by three sisters, all of whom
reside in Mason City — Mre. Selah Allen, Mrs. Ella Stevens and Miss
Libby Denison. Concerning Mrs. Denison the following state-
ments are taken from the Mason City Globe-Gazette, of April 11,
1910.
"Broken like a frail flower in the face of the storm of grief
which came to her in the death of her husband but a few hours
before, Mrs. Owen T. Denison pased away at 11:15 o'clock Satur-
day night, after lingering since the first physical collapse wlien she
saw the lines of death stamped upon the beloved face whose heart 's
devotion for a lifetime had been hers.
"At no time in its history has Mason City been so stirred up
as at this time. Sorrow struck deep when its foremost citizen was
called, biit today it comes with a force with all the proportions of a
tragedy when the wife, whose share in the life work of Owen
Denison counted for so much, passed beyond. Though the disease
had made its inroads, of late the chances were for complete re-
covery and a long lease of life, till cruel disease struck down her
husband; but from the first moment that hope fled the hope of
living became nothing. 'A broken heart,' said the physicians
and attendants, 'did its work.'
"Distinctively a lover of the home-life, Mrs. Denison had a
heart full of sympathy and love for others, and scores of friends,
who knew her best and have been close to her in life, tell of the
kindly ministry to the sick and unfortunate in scores of Mason
City homes. Whatever is due to the memory of 0. T. Denison
as a man whose sympathies were broader than the daily routine of
business ife, is as much due his wife, for her charities were sweet
and were just as manifold and came with the tenderness of a loving
woman.
"Their home was an ideal one. Love abounded, was nurtured
and grew strong from the beginning. Married after a romantic
courtship, their hearts were happily linked with a bond of mutual
sympathy that went outside the four walls of their home. Through
a mutual friend their first acquaintance was through a letter writ-
ten by the husband, then a young man and a county official. This
first letter resulted in a correspondence, later a visit to her home in
Wisconsin and finally their marriage. With every recurrence of
that date a wedding journey has been taken that years only in-
creased in pleasures. The tie which was cemented by years of
devotion could not remain broken long without being reunited."
384 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
JAMES RULE.
A strong and Jioble character was that of the late General
James Rule, who died at his home in Mason City on the 28th
of November, 1907, and measured by its beneficence, its rectitude,
its productiveness, its optimism and its material success, his life,
counted for good in its every relation. He played a large part in
the civic and material development and upbuilding of Cerro Gordo
county, where he took up his abode when a young man and where
he rose through his own forces and ability to a position of promi-
nence and influence, the while he ever commanded secure vantage
place in the unqualified confidence and high regard of all who knew
him. A life guided by high ideals and regulated by the strictest
adherence to principle was that of the honored subject of this
memoir, and no man could be more essentially human, more free
from asceticism, more altruistic and more ready to find good in "all
sorts and conditions of men." He meant much to Llason City and
Cerro Gordo county, and the.v meant much to him. so that in every
publication purporting to take cognizance of the lives and labors
of the representative citizens of this county, must, if consistency is
to be conserved, accord a tribute to the one whose name initiates
this article. It is gratifying to be able to present such tribute in
this volume largely by recourse to words of appreciation uttered
by those familiar with his career and bound to him by ties of
friendship. The following extracts are well worthy of reproduc-
tion in this connection:
"As the years relentlessly mark the milestones on this path-
way of time, the older generation slowly gives way to the new. and
gradually there pass from our midst the men who made our country
what it is and who built up this western empire for the men of
now. In every generation and every community some few men
leave an indelible imprint upon the history of that community and
upon the memories of those who have known them by their ability
to fight and win, even against great odds, and by that kind of
character which wins lasting friends because of that innate quality
which people know as loyalty. James Rule, who passed into the
great beyond, was one of those.
"The life story of James Rule is one which is inseparably con-
nected with the history of our community and interwoven with all
the important events in our development. As a youns man he was
strong, vigorous and self-reliant. He trusted in his own ability
and did things single handed and alone. His intellect was keen,
his personality was strong and forceful, he stood by his friends
^^^^^^^^^^^
^'^>C^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 387
with all Ills might and to the last extremity. He was an infallible
judge of human nature and the deserving always received help
from him. Many young men in this county got their start to
prosperity through him, many a young farmer now owns a farm
because James Rule helped him to get started. He was an active
and intense worker and it was finally his terribly close application
to his duties that brought about his illness which has afflicted him
for the last few years.
"James Rule was a noble illustration of what independence,
self-faith, self-reliance and lofty ideals can accomplish in America.
He was absolutely self-made. No one helped him in a financial
way and he was self-educated. His early education was gleaned
from the district schools in Wisconsin in the winter time. He
worked in the summer always to help the family exchequer. At
fourteen he had to give up his educational facilities and yet his
intellect was so keen and his pui'pose to become educated so per-
sistent that he mastered the German language with other studies
and became so proficient in it that he taught it to others as a tutor.
He loved literature and oratory and though not an orator himself
he was a superior judge of the divine gift. He was as strong too,
in body as in mind up till the day when he fell on the sidewalk of
Mason City, the culmination of overwork, and during his active
life in his young manhood and middle age, it can be said that there
was no more forceful or more resourceful character in the country.
He was a typical knight in his active days, entering all lists, deal-
ing and taking forceful blows with good nature, gallant in every
political contest, chivalrous to the one who needed help, fighting
their battles for them and never asking self -preferment. In the
strenuous politics of this county he was always endeavoring to
help someone else and when he became a financial factor he followed
the same trait and man.v owe their start in material prosperity to
to him. Defeat was not in his dictionary, but optimism and cour-
age were written large therein. He mingled freely with all
classes, he was an aristocrat in intellect and the larger world of real
culture.
' ' General Rule devoted much time to serious thought. Especi-
ally was this true of the later days of his life. He was a splendid
scholar, much of it secured, as we term it, from the universe of
nature. He knew men and he knew methods. He was resoi;rce-
ful. possessing patience, courage, business sagacity and remarkable
foresight. He did not jump into the prominence he held in the
community and in the state. He came to it by slow growth. lie
was loyal to his friends and was not severe with those who politi-
388 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
cally or in any way disagreed with him. He was liberal-minded,
yet with a conviction settled, he was unfaltering in defense. He
believed in humanity and he believed in a just and true God. In
life General Rule was an unassuming man. He gave largely to
public affairs. To everything that had a tendency to help along
benevolent or philanthropic enterprises he was able and he willingly
contributed. As a public-spirited man. Mason City owes more to
the work of General Rule than to any other of its residents. His
money he invested largely in city property, and at the time of his
death there were a number of monuments standing in honor of his
faith in this city. We have said that he did not come into promi-
nence by leaps and bounds. As Bishop Fowler says: 'Greatness
is of slow growth.' General Rule grew slowly yet surely. In
early days he was a stone mason, and a good one he was, for that
was one of the early principles he adopted: 'Whatever is worth
doing is worth doing well.' He was popular and he stepped into
official position in the county and he kept on stepping, until he
finally was made president of the City National Bank, one of the
leading financial institutions of this section of the state. He was
born with a military spirit deeply imbedded in him, and from a
private he rose to the rank of captain of the local company. And
still he was ambitious and finall.y he climbed to the highest office
in the Iowa National Guard — that of General. General Rule
possessed a big, warm heart. He was a friend to a friend and a
friend of the helpless. No one ever turned toward that big warm
heart in times of need but that he found a cordial response. He
will be missed. The bells have tolled his departing, but in the
hearts of very many people he will live on and on."
General James Rule was born in Green Lake county, Wiscon-
sin, on the 11th of June, 1846, and was the son of James and Mary
(Cameron) Rule, who were born and reared in Scotland, where
their marriage was solemnized and whence they emigrated to
America in 1844. In his native county, the subject of this memoir
was reared to maturity and his early educational facilities were
limited to a somewhat desultory attendance in the county schools
of the pioneer days. When sixteen years of age, he went to the
city of St. Louis, Missouri, for the purpose of volunteering his ser-
vices in the Union army, but on account of his youth he was rejected.
He was determined, however, that he would in some manner show
his distinctive loyality and through his pertinacity he was finally
assigned to a position in the ordnance department of the Second
Division of the Army of the Frontier, under General Herron. He
served in this capacity the last six months and came home with his
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 389
company. After receiving his honorable discharge he returned to
Wisconsin, where he followed farm work and other occupations
until the spring of 1865, when he accompanied his parents on their
removal to Cerro Gordo county; Iowa, where they located on a
farm in Lincoln township. Concerning his advancement from
that time forward the following succinct statements have been
made: "He worked on the farm during the summer and taught
school during the winter, by way of getting a start. In 1868 he
became a resident of Mason City, commencing to work as a mason
and contractor, forming a partnership with D. Farrell and later
with his father-in-law, Thomas K. Gale. In 1870 he was appointed
deputy county treasurer under H. I. Smith, working at his trade
in the summer and in the treasurer's office in the winter. In 1872
he was, himself, elected to the office of county treasurer, in which
he succeeded himself by re-election in 1874 and again in 1876,
thus serving for a total period of eight years. In 1880, General
Rule became interested with T. G. Emsley and 0. T. Denison in
the City National Bank, which was an evolution from a private
bank, and he served as vice president of this institution until 1890,
when he was made president, an office of which he continued incum-
bent until 1899, when he retired from active connection with the
bank on account of ill health and for the purpose of giving his
attention to his private interests.
In politics General Rule was a staunch supporter of the cause
of the Republican party, but was not a member of any church.
He was affiliated with the Masonic fraternity and in the same was
at one time eminent commander of the commandery of the Knights
Templars in Mason City, where he also held membership in the
lodges of the Knights of P.vthias and the Benevolent and Protective
Order of Elks.
On September 27. 1871, was solemnized the marriage of General
Rule to Miss Jennie A. Gale, a daughter of Thomas K. Gale, who
was long one of the representative and influential citizens of Mason
City. Mrs. Rule was born April 4, 1853, in Portland, England,
and was four years old when she- 'came to America, the family
locating in Iowa Falls in 1857, where she was educated in the high
school and in Elsworth College of Iowa Falls. In 1870 she came
to Mason City and was an active worker in the Methodist church.
During this time she was president of the Marshalltown district
for five years of the Woman's Home Missionary Society of the
Methodist Episcopal church. She was one of the charter members
and officers of Unity Chapter, No. 58, Eastern Star of Mason City
and in 1895-6 was Grand Matron of the state. She served as
390 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
grand treasurer of the state for eight years, and in 1902 was made
secretary of the Board of Trustees to locate and build an Eastern
Star home, which was dedicated October 18, 1905, at Boone, Iowa.
The edifice costing about $40,000, was built and maintained by
the Eastern Star and is the only one in the world. Mrs. Rule and
Mrs. Jennie E. Mathews solicited the first $3,000. Mrs. Rule
has been very active in the building and maintaining of the above,
she having devoted a great deal of time to the work.
Mrs. Rule survives her honored husband and of their three
children, the one daughter died in infancy. Two sons, Arthur L.
and Harold V., still reside in Mason City, and concerning them
individual mention is made on other pages of this work. The
parents of General Rule continued to reside in this county until
their death, and of their children there are now living: Dimcan,
who is an attorney and a resident of Mason City ; Mary, who is the
wife of Lyman Leach, of Mason City; and Belle, who is the wife
of George D. Ta.vlor, of Minneapolis, Minnesota. At the time of
the death of General Rule the following general orders were issued
from the office of the adjutant general of the state under date of
November 29, 1907, by order of the governor :
"The death of the late Brigadier General James Rule at his
home in Mason City, Iowa, at nine o'clock p. m., November 28, 1907,
is announced with sorrow. General Rule has an honorable record
as a soldier in the Civil war and in the Iowa National Guard, and
his comrades mourn his death.
' ' The military record of General Rule was as follows : Driver
of ordnance train. Second Division Frontier Missouri and Arlcansas
from November, 1863, to May, 1864; Sergeant Company A, Sixth
Regiment, Iowa National Guard, July, 1873; second lieutenant,
November 9, 1873; captain, July 11, 1884; major, September 21,
1891 ; lieutenant colonel. Fourth Regiment, April 30, 1892 ; briga-
dier general. Second Brigade, November 23, 1894; term expired
November 23. 1899."
In conclusion of this brief memoir an extract is made from a
long appreciated estimate of life and services of General Rule, the
same having been written by his life-long and intimate friend,
Hon. John C. Sherwin :
"I need but say little about Mr. Rule's place in this community
for his place and position are manifest and speak for themselves.
Time can never efface the impress his ability, character and citizen-
ship has left. Until his physical power was weakened by a serious
illness some years ago he was easily the foremost in ever^'thing
touching the advancement and welfare of this city. His strength.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 391
courage and influence were manifest in all matters of public interest,
and no man gave more of his time or gave it more unselfishly for
the public good than he did. But however great his achievements
in other matters, they are not to be compared with the wealth,
strength and beauty of his friendships. James Rule was a true
friend in the fullest sense of the word. No road was too long,
no night was too dark, no weather too inclement to deter him from
needed service. His friend's cause was his own, and he cham-
pioned it with the same vigor and determination that he brought
to the conduct of his own affairs. He was one of the compara-
tively few men whose friendship was so deep and true that he
never found it a burden. The loyalty of such friendship is second
only to loyalty to one's country.
"General Rule's acute illness began a little over a year ago,
and during all of the weary intervening months there were fre-
quent periods of the most intense pain and suffering, yet through
it all he displayed the same bravery and force of character which
were so characteristic of his active life. His great and tender
love for his devoted wife and children made him tenacious of life,
and, even after he knew that recovery was impossible, he battled
on for the life that had been intrusted to him, as only brave men
battle. But the conflict had been an uneven one from its incep-
tion, and a few days before the end came he fully realized that he
could stay ^dth his loved ones but a little longer. The end finally
came as he had anticipated, and in the silence of the quiet and
beautiful Thanksgiving evening he heard the great waves break-
ing on the farther shore and felt already upon his wasted brow
the breath of the eternal morning. ' '
HAROLD V. RULE.
In view of the nomadic spirit which is growing to
animate all classes of American citizens to move restlessly
about from place to place, it is most pleasing to the publishers of
this work to be able to incorporate within its pages a sketch of
the career of one who has passed practically his entire life in the
place of his nativity and who commands the confidence and esteem
of those who have been familiar with his career from the time of
his birth. Harold V. Rule was bom in Mason City, Cerro Gordo
county, Iowa, on the 4th of February, 1879, and is a son of General
James and Jennie (Gale) Riile, to the memory of the former of
whom a sketch is dedicated on other pages of this work so that
further reference to the family history is not deemed necessary
392 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
at this point. Harold V. Rule reoeived his preliminary educa-
tional training in the public and high schools of his native city
and this discipline was later eflfeetively supplemented by a course
of study in the Shattuek Military Academy, at Faribault, Minne-
sota, in which excellent institution he was captain of his company
at the time of his graduation in 1898. In 1899 he was matriculated
in Columbia University, in the city of New York, where he spent
one year in the electrical and mining department. While home
on his vacation he contracted typhoid fever and he never returned
to complete his college course. Prior to his father's death he was
employed in the City National Bank for a time and in 1909 he
engaged in bookkeeping as expert accountant, being at the present
time (1910) employed by the order of the Modern Woodmen of
America, at Mason City.
In politics Mr. Rule has ever adhered to the principles and
policies of the Republican party and though he has never mani-
fested aught of desire for political honors he has done all in his
power to further the civic and material progress of his home city
and county. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and both he and his wife are devout
members of the Episcopal church, in whose faith they were reared.
In 1904 was recorded the marriage of Mr. Rule to Miss Corry
Bowman, who wa.s born and reared at Waverly, Iowa, where her
birth occurred in 1880, and who is a daughter of W. R. and Emma
(Winne) Bowman. Mr. Bowman is a representative citizen of
Waverly, Iowa, where he is engaged in the sugar beet industry, Mrs.
Bowman is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Rule have no children.
ANDREW JACKSON BARKER.
Andrew Jackson Barker was born in Packwaukec, .Marciuette
county, Wisconsin, January 20, 1857. His parents were Charles
Grandison Barker and Alice Doyle Barker.
Charles Grandison Barker was a son of John Barker, of Cairo,
Green county, New York, who was a soldier in the Revolutionary
war, and whose father, known as Patroon Barker, was the owner
of four thousand acres of land held under a grant from Queen
Anne. In the early days of Wisconsin, Charles Grandison Barker
had a farm on the borders of Fond du Lac and Dodge counties,
near the present site of Waupun. Nine years before the birth of
the subject of this sketch, he bought land from the government in
what had been an Indian reservation, further west, at Paekwaukee.
and, removing thither with his family in a covered wagon, made a
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 393
new home in the wilderness and helped to extend the borders of
civilization. He served two years in the volunteer army of the
Union, diiring the Civil war, his knowledge of mechanies, recog-
nized by the officers, leading to his employment in the construction
of hospitals at Chattanooga and on Lookout Mountain.
The early childhood of Andrew Jackson Barker, passed amid
rural scenes, familiarized him with the pursuits of the farm. He
attended the vilkge school at Packwaukee, and at the age of fif-
teen was sent to St. Louis University, then at the corner of Ninth
Street and Washington Avenue, St. Louis, Missouri, where he
was a student in the Commercial Department in 1872-3 and 1873-4.
After leaving the university, he married Mary Price, daughter of
L. T. and Mary A. Price, who also was a native of Wisconsin, born
at Ceresco, now Ripon, in Fond du Lac eoiinty. Together with
his bride, he went to work in the woods of Northern Wisconsin,
and worked hard. The measure of success which has come to him
in later years has been due in no small part to his indisposition to
shirk the necessity of labor.
In June, 1876, accompanied by his sister, Mr. Barker paid his
first visit to Mason City, then a small but prosperous and promis-
ing town. He was farm-hunting, and the place which most at-
tracted his attention was the Miller and Brownell farm of 220
acres, with fine improvements, now the property of the Chicago &
Northwestern Railroad Company. Having been brought up in a
wooded country, he could not at first accustom himself to the wav-
ing, treeless prairie, which impressed him as very lonesome. He
returned to Wisconsin, but made subsequent trips to Iowa in 1877
and again in 1878, and in the latter year purchased from William
Newbauer a tract of 136 acres, three and one-half miles east of
Mason City and two miles northwest of Poi-tland, in the township
of that name. The only building upon the place was a small
shack, 16 feet by 20, used as bachelor cjuarters by two lads who
were cultivating the land. Subsequently, he purchased from
Alonzo Felt 90 acres, a portion of the well known Felt farm.
The winter of 1878-9 was spent by Mr. Barker, with one hired
man, in hauling from Mason City quarries 140 cords of stone for
buildings which he intended to erect. Curiosity was aroused by
the huge stone piles that he accumulated, and the general belief
was that he meant to raise building.s of that material. Eventually,
however, it appeared that these were to be only the foundations
of .structures which were to make "Rock Rest" the show farm of
Cerro Gordo county. The following spring and summer there
were shipped from Jlilwaukee fitted timbers and lumber for the
Vol. n— 2
394 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
superstructure of the house, barns and sheds, which were con-
structed by masons and carpenters brought from Milwaukee.
While the work was going on, Mr. and Mrs. Barker boarded from
fifteen to thirty-six carpenters and masons, who lived in a camp
on the hill. After the buildings were completed an orchard was
planted, and spruce, Norway pines, elms and other trees were set
out to embellish the groimds about the house.
On this farm, which he still owns, Mr. Barker was soon em-
barked in entei-prises which, by reason of the contribution they
made to the raising of the grade of farm animals in this section of
the state, have a place in the agricultural bistort' of Iowa. In the
spring after the buildings were finished he purchased from Gover-
nor Harrison Ludington of "Wisconsin the thoroughbred Short-
horn bull, "The Governor." and the registered fuU-blooded Clydes-
dale stallion. "Ben Lomond." Next year found him established
in stock and dairy farming, his dairy herd including thirty-three
cows. A year later he purchased a full-blooded first-prize heifer
at the Wisconsin State Fair, but suffered the misfortune of losing
her a week after her arrival, her death probably being due to
careless feeding while she was at the fair. His next purchase was
made from the Charles T. Bradley farm, near Milwaukee — a two-
year old Hambletonian colt, "Knickerbocker,"' which he renamed
"Cerro Gordo Bay," the first thoroughbred road horse owned in
Cerro Gordo county. This horse was numbered 6.752 in Wallace's
Record. He lived to the age of twenty-two. and was in use at
"Rock Rest" farm until a year before his death. Many of his
get are still in existence and much prized by their owners.
Later Mr. Barker gave his attention to improved dair>' cattle
and also became a raiser of Poland China hogs for breeding.
From Rust Brothers, of Greenfield, near Milwaukee, he bought a
two-year old Holstein bull which was the head of his herd for three
years, but which later, even after dehorning, proved so vicioiis. im-
periling the lives of his keepers, that he was killed. This tragic
end, however, did not come to the strenuous animal till after he
had performed valuable service in introducing the Holstein strain
in Cerro Gordo county, which previously had been given over
almost exclusively to Shorthorns.
On one of his \'isits to the Wisconsin State Fair. Mr. Barker
bought from Weight & Sons, of Whitewater, a pig of the Tecumseh
breed which had carried off the firet prize at the fair offered for
the best male pig over six months old. It was the first of its breed
ever shipped west of the Mississippi river, but for some reason
failed to please Mr. Barker, who sold it to a neighbor. In the
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 395
hands of the latter it proved very profitable, "building a bam
and raising a mortgage."
While engaged in his stock improvement enterprises, Mr.
Barker attended to the daily delivery of the products of his dairy
farm to a creamery at Portland. After nineteen years of assiduous
labor on his farm, having no children to assist him in his work,
and having by his own and his wife's economy acquired siifficient
means to justify him in dispensing with the drudgery essential
to successful farming, he concluded to re-arrange his mode of life.
In 1893 he had built a house and barn at the comer of Eleventh
street and Adams avenue. Mason City. In 1897 he moved to
Mason City, occupying this house. In 1901 he purchased the
beautiful residence, 322 "West Eleventh street, where h.e iio;w
resides.
There are people unacquainted with the life of the farmer
as exemplified by progressive Americans, who suppose that those
committed to it are shut out from the elegancies and amenities
of existence. I\Iany instances might be adduced to demonstrate
the error of this assumption. Mr. Barker's home at "Rock Rest"
was tastefully and artistically furnished, containing pictures and
books, and in it from time to time he hospitably entertained;
among his guests who heartily appreciated the practical signifi-
cance of the work which he was accomplishing for the improve-
ment of agriculture being his brother-in-law, the late "William E.
Cramer of Milwaukee, the veteran editor of The Evening Wiscon-
sin, who himself had been early impressed with the importance of
progressive farming while a boy at "Waterford, New York. Not-
withstanding his devotion to his vocation while at "Rock Rest,"
Mr. Barker found time for avocations of a public character, and
served two terms as one of the trustees of Portland township. He
has also served as under-sheriff of Cerro Gordo county. In
politics he is a Republican. In fraternal association, he is identi-
fied with the Modern Brotherhood of America, the Modern "Wood-
men of America and the Court of Honor. '
JOHN CLIGGITT.
Numbered among the most distinguished members of
the bar of Cerro Gordo county and where he has been en-
gaged in the practice of his profession for nearly forty years,
Mr. Cliggitt has not only attained to marked precedence in his
profession but he has also been an influential factor in public
affairs in his county and state. He has given the full force of
396 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
his influence to advancing the civil and material development and
progress of his home city and county, and no citizen has a more
secure vantage place in the popular confidence and esteem of the
community. His career has been one of close and consecutive
application to the work of his profession and he has ever stood
the exponent of liberal aud public-spirited practice.
John Cliggitt was born in I\Iontgomery county, New York,
on the 25th of August, 1840. When he was one year old his parents
moved to Burlington, Vermont, where he secured his rudimentary
education in the public school, which he there continued to attend
until I\Iay, 1850, when the family removed to the west and located
in Madison, the capital of the state of Wisconsin, where they re-
mained until the following autumn, when they removed to Naper-
ville, Du Page county. Hlinois. where they remained until Decem-
ber, 1851. They next removed to Kendall county, that state.
John Cliggitt. the immediate subject of this review, contrib-
uted his quota to the work of the home farming and continued
his residence in Kendall county, Illinois, until his removal to Iowa
in 1871. He duly availed himself of the advantages of the com-
mon schools in Illinois, attending the same during the ^vinter
terms and as.sisting in the work of the farm diiring the summer
months. He applied himself diligently and finally was able to
complete the prescribed course in the high school at Oswego. Illi-
nois. He taught several terms of school and in 1865 he began the
study of law, to which he devoted his attention at all spare times
during his pedagogic and other work. In the autumn of 1868
he entered the Chicago Law School, in which institution he finished
his work in 1869. In February of that year he was admitted to
practice in the supreme court of Illinois and in June. 1871. shortly
after his arrival in Mason City, Iowa, he was admitted to practice
in the disti'iet court of Cerro Gordo county. Here he has con-
tinued to devote his attention to the work of his profession dur-
ing the long intervening years. In 1873 he was admitted to the
supreme court of the state nt its term held in April of that year in
the city of Dubuque, and he later was admitted to the Ignited States
district and circuit courts for Iowa.
In September. 1871, I\rr. Cliggitt entered into a partnership
alliance with Charles Husted. and the firm of Husted & Cliggitt
continued in practice in ]\Tnson City until the spring of 1875. when
Mr. Husted moved elsewhere. Mr. Cliggitt thereupon became a
member of the law firm nf IMiller & Cliggitt. the senior member of
which wns Captain George R. Miller who had been for several
years previously a member of the firm of Card & 'Miller. The
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 397
partnership alliance between Miller and Cliggitt proved most
grateful and successful and was severed only by the death of Mr.
Miller in October, 1886. In 1889 the firm of Cliggitt & Rule was
formed, composed of the subject of this sketch and Duncan Rule,
and both are now members of the strong and well known firm of
Cliggitt, Rule, Keeler & Smith. B. C. Keeler entered the firm in
1898 and Earl Smith became a member thereof in April, 1908.
Mr. Cliggitt 's life and labors in Iowa have been devoted to the
study and practice of law. For a short time each he held the
offices of justice of the peace, recorder of the incorporated town
of Masou City, and secretary of the independent school district of
Mason City. In March, 1880, he assumed the office of mayor of
his home city and he continued as the chief executive of the muni-
cipal government until j\Iarch, 1884. During his incumbency of
the office of mayor, in 1882, he directed the work of changing the
municipal organization of Mason City from that of an incorporated
town to that of a city of the second class, in which position it has
since been assigned.
In politics Mr. Cliggitt has been and is a Democrat, believing
in the great generic and fundamental principles of the Democratic
party as taught by its great leaders from Jefferson to Cleveland
and Carlisle. He was a delegate to the national convention which
in 1884 met in Chicago and nominated Grover Cleveland as candi-
date for the presidency and he supported the policies of Mr. Cleve-
land through his two presidential terms. He much regretted what
he judged to be a great and serious error of the party in pledg-
ing itself to the unlimited coinage of silver at the ratio of sixteen
to one. This he believed to have been historically and logically
a doctrine of the Republican party, and he maintained that that
party should have been left to cherish and support it or abandon
it as the case might be. On account of the radical silver issue
wrongfully imposed on the party, as he believed, Mr. Cliggitt re-
fused to give his support to William J. Bryan as the presidential
candidate of the Democratic party and he therefore gave Uis sup-
port to Palmer and Buckner, commonly designated as the Gold
Democratic ticket. Circumstances called him from his home
state at election time and consequently he was unable to exercise
his franchise in support of the ticket mentioned. Since 1896
he has voted for the presidential nominees of the party as the
issues advocated by the party since that time have in most respects
been acceptable to him and met the approval of his judgment.
Mr. Cliggitt has been nominee of his party as candidate for
representative in congress, district judge and judge of the supreme
398 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
court of his state, but on each occasion he has met defeat with the
party ticket in general, under the heavy, normal majority of Re-
publican votes. In 1897 the convention of gold-standard Demo-
crats, desiring to restore the party in Iowa to "sane and safe"
Democratic policies and doctrines, nominated a full state ticket
and Mr. Cliggitt was named as its candidate for governor. The
nominees for this ticket received but a small vote at the election
but they still believed that their efforts toward the restoration of
the "party in great measure to proper principles have borne good
results.
Mr. Cliggitt has ever had great interest and faith in our
common school sy.stem and its great and beneficent influence and
calling. He strongly believes in keeping and supporting it for
the education and uplifting of the many, — the children of the poor
as well as those of the wealthy. He is not affiliated with any of
the church denominations but has been a free contributer and at-
tendant most of them. He believes in a supreme being, the
immortality of the soul and the ba.sic doctrines of Christianity and
he has a deep reverence for the spiritual verities. Besides his
law studies he has kept in line a course of general reading and
study so far as his time and strength have permitted and this has
been directed along historical, literary and scientific channels.
He has taken great pride in the growth and progress of IMason
City, where he fully intends to pass the residue of his life and
which has for so many years represented the scene of his trials
and labors as well as that of his generous measure of success.
On the 1st of September. 1879, Mr. Cliggitt was united in
marriage to Miss Ella C. Brightman, who was born and reared
in the state of New York, and in their attractive home, at 216 East
Ninth street, they delight in dispensing hospitality to their wide
circle of friends.
GEORGE W. BRETT.
There is all of consistency in designating Mr. Brett
as one of the most progressive and public spirited citi-
zens of Cerro Gordo county, where he is associated with his father
in the ownership of the largest landed estate in the county and
where he. has had the active management of the same for many
years. He also makes a specialty of the real estate and loan busi-
ness and maintains his offices in the old postoffice building in
Mason City. He has been actively identified with the promotion
of many enterprises that have admirably conserved the industrial
HISTORY OP CBRRO GORDO COUNTY 399
and civic development and upbuilding of the coimty, and no
citizen commands a fuller measure of popular confidence and
esteem in the community. He has served as mayor of Mason City
and has at all times given his influence and co-operation in the
promotion of measures projected for the general welfare of his
home city and county.
Mr. Brett is a native of Boone county, Illinois, where he was
born on the 13th of October, 1849, and he is a son of William and
Ellen (Brett) Brett, both of whom were born and reared in Eng-
land, where their marriage was solemnized.
The parents came to the United States in 1843 and numbered
themselves among the pioneer settlers of Boone county, Illinois,
where the father secured a tract of government land and instituted
the development of a farm, — the old homestead on which George
W. Brett was born. In 1866 William Brett came with his family
to Iowa and settled at Waverly, Bremer county, in which locality
he made investments in land, which with the passing years greatly
increased in value. He bought and sold much land in various
sections of the state and he is today one of the most extensive
land holders in northern Iowa. In the '70s he purchased large
tracts of land in Cerro Gordo county, and under the dii'ection of
his son, George W., who assumed the supervision of the estate in
1878, these properties have been splendidly improved and now
constitute the largest landed estate in the county, the father and
son each being large land owners in the county. Of the three
children the subject of this review and one brother, Albert, are the
only children of William and Ellen Brett now living, the one
daughter having died in 1904.
William Brett established his residence in Mason City about
the year 1888, and here he continued to pass the summers for a
number of years, sojourning for the winter seasons in California.
In 1904 he established his permanent home in Los Angeles, that
state, where he is the owoier of a considerable amount of valuable
property. Though now (1910) eighty-eight years of age, he is
well preserved in both his mental and physical powers, as is also
his cherished and devoted wife, who has attained to the age of
eighty-four years. William Brett has been a man of great busi-
ness capacity and in his extensive operations his course has ever
been guided and governed by the highest principles of integrity
and honor, so that he has not been denied the uniform confidence
and regard of those with whom he has come in conti'act in the
various relations of life. He is the owner of real estate in Michi-
gan, Wisconsin, Minnesota and North and South Dakota, as well
400 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
as in Iowa and California, and lie lias long been recognized as a
substantial capitalist. His political allegiance has been given to
the Republican party from the time of its organization to the
present and both he and has wife have long been zealous members
of the Congregational church.
George W. Brett passed his boyhood days on the old home-
stead farm which was the place of his nativity, and after avail-
ing himself of the advantages of the district schools of Boone
county, Illinois, he continued his studies in the high school at
Belvidere, that state. He accompanied his parents on their re-
moval to Bremer county, Iowa, in 1866, and here he completed a
preparatory course under private instruction, with the intention
of entering college. However, he finally decided that it would
be more expedient to discontinue higher academic studies, and un-
der these conditions he went to the city of Chicago, where he com-
pleted a course in the Bryant & Stratton Business College, thus
admirably fitting himself for the active duties and responsibilities
of his exceptionally successful business career. After his return
to Iowa he became associated with Lewis Case in the opening of a
carefully prepared set of abstract books of Bremer county, and he
there continued in the abstract business for the ensuing four years,
at the expiration of which, in 1878, he disposed of his interest in
the entei'prise and came to Mason City, where he assumed the
active supervision of his father's real estate and general business
interests, which he has continued to manage during the long inter-
vening years. He has thus been most prominently identified with
the development of the agricultural resources of this section, and
has purchased and sold large amounts of land. When he assumed
control of the estate it comprised about four thousand acres, and
at the present time the joint holdings of himself and his father in
northern Iowa aggregate thousands of acres, the greater part of
the property being well improved and under ei¥ective cultivation.
As has already been noted the Brett landed estate is the largest in
Cerro Gordo county, and its development and great appreciation
in value have been admirably conserved under the able adminis-
tration of him whose name initiates this article.
Mr. Brett was one of the organizers of the Iowa State Banlc
of Mason City and was its first president. He has since disposed
of his interests in this institution. His father, William Brett,
is one of the principal stockholders of the First National Bank.
George W. Brett has given tangible aid also in the fostering and
upbuiliiing of a number of manufacturing and business enter-
prises in Mason City, and his loyalty and public spirit have been
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 401
of the most insistent and beneficent order. In polities he is
found arrayed under the banner of the Republican party, and he
served Ironi 1902 to 1905, inclusive, as mayor of Mason City, giv-
ing a most effective administration and one that did much to ad-
vance the best interests of the city. He had previously served two
terms as a member of the city council. He is affiliated with the
local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks, and Mrs. Brett holds membership
in the Pythian Sisters and in the Christian Science church. She
is a prominent and popular factor in the social activities of the
community and presides most graciously over the attractive home,
which is a center of generous hospitality.
In the year 1872, at Brandon, Wisconsin, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Brett to Miss Alice A. Sheldon, who was born and
reared in Syracuse, New York, and who is a daughter of the late
Ezra Sheldon, who died in early life on the old homestead, leav-
ing a good wife and four children to mourn his loss. Mr. and Mrs.
Brett have two children, — Bert H., who is associated with his father
in the latter 's varied business operations, and Harriet M., who is
the vvife of Frank L. Michael, of Mason City.
WILLIAM C. STANBERY, M. D.
Numbered among those who have lent dignity and
honor to the medical profession in the state of Iowa,
where he initiated his humane endeavors in the pioneer days, was
Dr. William C. Stanbery, who was long numbered among the
representative physicians and surgeons, as well as the active and
influential citizens of Cerro Gordo county, where he continued to
reside until his death, which occurred at Mason City on the 21st
of April, 1874. His memory is revered by all those who came with-
in the sphere of his kindly influence and it is most consonant that
in this publication be incorporated at least a brief tribute to his
memory.
Dr. Stanbery was born at Waynesburg, Green county, June
29, 1824, where he was reared to manhood and where his early
educational advantages were those afforded in the common schools
of the period. In preparation for the work of his chosen pro-
fession, he finally entered the Cincinnati Medical College in the
city of Cincinnati, Ohio, in which institution he was graduated as
a member of the class of 1842 and from which he received his well
earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. For several years there-
after he was engaged in the practice of his profession in Mercer
402 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
county, Ohio, and in January, 1846, was solemnized his marriage
to Miss Elizabeth Stettler, of St. Marys, Ohio. Soon afterward
they moved to La Porte, Indiana, where he continued in the work
of his profession until 1851, when he removed to Vinton, Benton
county, Iowa, where he established himself in practice. To fortify
himself more fully for his chosen vocation, he completed an effec-
tive post-graduate course in the Keokuk Medical College, from
which he received the supplemental degree of Doctor of Medicine
in the autumn of 1857. In May, 1858, he located at Clear Lake,
Cerro Gordo county, which represented his place of residence and
professional headquarters until 1860. In the meanwhile Dr.
Stanbery had taken up the study of law and commenced to prac-
tice, having been admitted to the bar in 1859, by Judge Samuel
Murdock, who was then presiding on the bench of the circuit court
for Cerro Gordo county. In 1860 Dr. Stanbery formed a law
partnership with Irving W. Card, who later became postmaster of
Mason City. Here they were associated in practice until 1861,
when, shortly after the outbreak of the Civil war. Dr. Stanbery
gave distinctive evidence of his intrinsic loyalty and patriotism by
tendering his services in defense of the Union. He enlisted in
Company B, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which
he was commissioned first lieutenant. After his arrival with his
command in Tennessee he was appointed to the office of provost
marshal. In this capacity he afterward did service at New ]VLad-
rid, Missouri, and there he received his honorable discharge in
1863, on account of physical disability. After his return to Iowa
he resumed the practice of law in Mason City, where he continued
to reside until his death.
In polities Dr. Stanbery gave staunch allegiance to the Demo-
cratic party, of whose principles and policies he was an effective
advocate. He was a delegate to the national convention in the
city of Baltimore that nominated Stephen A. Douglas as the
Democratic candidate for the presidency. Shortly before his
death he was the candidate of his party for the office of .judge of
the circuit court of the twelfth judicial district and he had the
distinction of serving as the first mayor of Mason City. Under
the administration of President Andrew Johnson he was appointed
collector of internal revenues for the district that at that time
comprised about half of the state of Iowa. In 1860 he was a
candidate for the lower house of the Iowa legislature as representa-
tive of the district now comprised in the Tenth congressional dis-
trict.
Tie was a man of fine intellectual attainments and sreat prac-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 405
tical ability and he wielded potent influence in connection with
civic, professional and public affairs in the early days of the his-
tory of Iowa, upon the roster of whose honored pioneers his name
merits an enduring place. His religious faith was that of the
Methodist Episcopal church, of which his devoted wife was like-
wise a member. The death of the latter occurred at her home
in Mason City on the 7th of March, 1910. She was one of the most
venerable pioneer women of Cerro Gordo county at the time of her
demise and was held in affectionate regard by all who had come
within the sphere of her gentle influence. Dr. Stanbery was
especially appreciated and valued in the Masonic fraternity in
which he attained the maximum, thirty-third degree, of the
Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite. He was the founder of Benevo-
lence Lodge, No. 145, Free and Accepted Masons of Mason City
and was its first master. He also organized Forest City and
Belmond Lodges and was similarly identified with several other
Masonic lodges in this section of the state.
In conclusion of this brief memoir is entered the following
record concerning the children of Dr. and Mrs. Stanbery: John
S., who is individually mentioned on other pages of this work;
Sarah J., who became the wife of James Elder of IMason City, and
died in 1903 ; Margaret is the wife of Horton E. Francisco of
Mason City; Thomas P., is engaged in the coal business in this
city: Recompense is one of the prominent and infiuential citizens
of Mason City, where he founded both of the principal early news-
papers and where he is owner of a large amount of valuable realty ;
William C. D. A., is a prominent merchant of Clarion, this state;
Harry E., is identified with the newspaper business in Mason City
and has attained prominence as an author and correspondent;
Jessie M., is the wife of George N. Elder of Mason City; Flora
May is the wife of William E. Farman of Monrovia, California;
Eliza Belle is the wife of Frank A. Van Vleek of Minot, North
Dakota; Henry S. is engaged in the printing business in Mason
City ; Francis L., died at Clear Lake, Iowa, in 1859.
JOHN S. STANBERY.
The senior member of the well known law firm of
Stanbery & Stanbery, in which his associate is his son
Ralph S., the sub.ject of this review holds a place of prominence as
one of the leading members of the bar of Iowa and is also an in-
fluential factor in civic and business affairs. The major portion
of his life has been passed at IMason City and here he commands
406 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
unqualified confidence and esteem as a citizen of sterling worth and
as a leading member of the bar of Cerro Gordo county. On other
pages of this work is given a memoir concerning his distinguished
and honorable father, Dr. William C. Stanbery. As ready refer-
ence may be made to the article in question it is unnecessary to
repeat the data in the present sketch.
John S. Stanbery was born in Mercer county, Ohio, on Septem-
ber 28, 1846, and he was about five years of age at the time of the
family removal to Iowa. The home was maintained at Vinton,
this state, until 1858, when the parents removed to Clear Lake,
Cerro Gordo county, where they resided until 1860, when perman-
ent location was made in Mason City where the subject of this
review has continuously maintained his home since he was about
twelve years of age. He was afforded the advantages of the public
schools aud he began his independent career by engaging in
teaching in the district school in Cerro Gordo and Hancock coun-
ties. In the meanwhile he began reading law under effective
preceptorship and finally he entered the law department of the
University of Iowa, in which he completed the prescribed course
and in which he was graduated as a member of the class of 1870,
with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He was simultaneously ad-
mitted to the bar of the state and he began the practice of his
profession in Mason City, where he was associated with D. T.
Gibson until 1873, when the partnership was dissolved. Mr. Gib-
son is now living retired at Waverly, this state. In 1874 Mr.
Stanbery entered into partnership alliance with Hon. Joseph J.
Clark now district judge, and they continued to be coadjutors for
thirty years, within which they built up and controlled a large
and representative professional business. After the dissolution
of this firm ]\Ir. Stanbery was a member of the finn of Stanbery,
Hill & Eulette for a period of two years, at the expiration of which,
in 1906, he admitted his son Ralph, to partnership imder the
present firm name of Stanbery & Stanbery. He has been attorney
and counsel for various important corporations aud representa-
tive business men of Cerro Gordo county and is an able trial
lawyer who has appeared in connection with a large amount of
important litigation in the various courts.
In politics Mr. Stanbery has ever accorded staunch allegiance
to the Republican party and he has rendered yeoman service in
behalf of its cause as one of the leaders of its local ranks. He
served six years in the office of justice of the peace and for an
equal period was a valued member of the board of education of
Mason City. In 1904 he was elected to represent his county in
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 407
the lower house of the state legislature, where he served through
two sessions and proved a valuable conservator of the interests of
his constituency and of those of the state at large. In the Masonic
fraternity he has attained ehivalric degrees and his maximum
affiliation is with the Antioch Commandery, No. 43, Kniehts Temp-
lars. He also holds membership in the Knights of Pythias and
the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, though he does not now
maintain any active affiliation with the same. For the past thirty
years he has been an officer in the Methodist Episcopal church of
his home city and he is one of its most influential and vahied
members. His personal popularity has its basis in his sterling
integrity of character and his generous-fmicLJ^diwittitude in his
association with his fellow men. J.4i»I>c>Ot>C>
On the 29th of June, 1873, was solemnized the marriage of
Mr. Stanbery to Miss Laura J. Ives, who was born at IMount Holly,
Rutland county, Vermont, and who died on the 21st of August,
1875, leaving no children. In October, 1876, Mr. Stanbery wedded
Miss Martha A. "Waldo, who was born in Rock county, Wisconsin,
and who was graduated in Milton Academy, Wisconsin. She
was summoned to the life eternal on the 11th of March, 1906, and
is survived by two children, — Anna W., who remains with her
father a graduate of Cornell and Latin teacher in the high school
for the past five years, and Ralph S.. who is his father's associate
in the practice of law.
Ralph S. Stanbery was born in Mason City on the 15th of
January, 1881, and he completed the curriculum of the public school
of this cit.v, in whose high school he was graduated as a member of
the class of 1898. Thereafter he continued his studies in Cornell
College at Mt. Vernon, Iowa, after leaving which he entered the
literary department of the University of Minnesota, from which
he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1903 and in the law
department of which he was graduated as a member of the class
of 1905 with the degree of Bachelor of Laws. For one year after
his graduation he was employed in the farm-loan department of
the Northern Trust Company of Chicago and he then returned to
Mason City, where he has since been associated with his father in
the practice of his profession, in which he is well upholding the
prestige of the honored name which he bears.
Mr. Ralph S. Stanbery is staunchly arrayed under the banner
of the Republican party and as a citizen he is essentially progres-
sive and public spirited. He is now serving as secretary of the
JL-ison City Commercial Club, to which position he was elected in
January, 1910. He and his wife are members of the IMethodi.st
408 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Episcopal church and he is affiliated with the local lodge of the
Knights of Pythias, in the Sigma Nu college fraternity and the
Phi Delta Phi legal fraternity. He married Jessie BQemme on
June 8, 1909. She was born at Klemme, Hancock county, Iowa,
a daughter of Harmon J., and Effie (Hoyt) Klemme. the father a
native of Indiana and the mother of Iowa. Mr. Klemme home-
steaded land in Hancock county, Iowa and followed farming for
a time, later engaging in the lumber and grain business and now
o^vanng large tracts of land. He is a wealthy man and he makes
his home at Belmond.
FREDERICK A. KIRSCHMAN.
When it is stated that the sub.iect of this review
is at the present time (1910) incumbent of the office
of mayor of Mason City, it will at once be understood that he
maintains a strong hold \;pon public confidence and esteem in his
thriving and attractive home city. Here he is engaged in the
practice of law and he holds precedence as one of the most able and
successful members of the bar of Cerro Gordo county. In later
years he has also devoted special attention to the real estate busi-
ness, in which his operations are now of important order and wide
scope.
Mr. Kirschman finds a due mede of satisfaction in reverting
to the fine old HaAvkeye state as the place of his nativity and he is
a member of a family whose name has long been identified with the
annals of this commonwealth. He was born on his father's farm
near New Hampton, Chickasaw county, Iowa, on the 21st of Sep-
tember, 1863, and is a son of Andrew and Christina (Markle)
Kirschman, both of whom were born in Germany, whence they
came to America when young folk. Their marriage was solemnized
in the state of New York. The father had served an apprentice-
ship to the shoemaker's trade in his native land, but after com-
ing to America he identified himself with the great basic industry
of agriculture, through liis association with which he achieved
independence and definite prosperity. He first came to Iowa in
1856, and his marriage was celebrated some time later, so that his
wife did not arrive in this state until 1858. He became one of
the representative farmers of Chickasaw county, where he de-
veloped a valuable farm and where he continued to reside until
his death, which occurred in 1880. His widow, who is now seventy-
four years of age (1910), now maintains her home in the village
of New Hampton and is one of the highly esteemed pioneer women
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 409
of that section of the state. She is a devout member of the
German Evangelical church, as was also her husband, and the latter
was a Democrat in his political proclivities. Of the six children
all are living except one, and the subject of this review was the
oldest in order of birth.
Frederick A. Kirschman was reared to the sturdy discipline
of the old homestead farm, which was the place of his birth, and
after completing the curriculum of the common schools he con-
tinued his studies in the Upper Iowa University at Fayette. After
leaving this institution he was a student for some time in the
Valder Business College at Decorah, this state, and in preparing
himself for the work of his chosen profession he attended for two
years the law department of the celebrated University of Wiscon-
sin, at Madison, in which he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1891 and from which he received his well earned degree of
Bachelor of Laws. There he was admitted to practice in the
United States circuit and district courts in June, 1891, at the
time of his graduation. He then returned to Iowa and located in
Mason City, where he has since maintained his home. Here he
was admitted to practice before the Iowa supreme court and later
in the United States circuit and district courts in this state. He
gave virtually his undivided attention to the work of his profession
for a period of fifteen years, within which he gained marked suc-
cess and high reputation as a versatile trial lawyer and admirably
fortified counselor. He served as city attorney for Mason City
from 1901 to 1905, and since his retirement from this ofSce he has
devoted himself more especiall.y to his real estate business, though
he still gives more or less attention to the work of his profession.
He is one of the interested principals in the F. A. Kirschman Land
Company, in which his associates are Frank E. Nelson and Thomas
C. Pierce. This company, of which he is president, has a attained
a position of distinctive priority in the handling of improved and
unimproved property in Mason Cit.y as well as farming lands in
Cerro Gordo county. Mr. Kirschman has been the architect of
his own fortimes and thus his distinctive success is the more grati-
fying to contemplate.
His genial personality and sterling character have gained to
him the high regard of the community in which he has elected to
make his home, and as a citizen he has always shown the highest
order of public spirit and progressive loyaltv. In politics he was
formerly aligned with the Democratic party but he now gives his
allegiance to the Republican party. In the spring of 1909 Mr.
Kirschman was elected mayor of Mason City, on the People's
410 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ticket, and he is giving a most able and satisfactory administration
of municipal government. He is affiliated \vith the Masonic frater-
nity, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Modern
Woodmen of America, the Modem Brotherhood of America and
the Tribe of Ben Hnr.
On the 21st of September, 1892, IMr. Kirschman was united in
marriage to Miss Nellie Meader, who was born and reared in Win-
neshiek county, where her paternal grandfather took up his resi-
dence prior to 1850. thus founding one of the old and influential
families of that section of the state. Mr. and ^Mrs. Kirschman
became the parents of five children, all of whom are living except
one son who died in infancy. All the children were born in Mason
City and here the four surviving children are attending school,—
Cecil F., Orton A., Esther L. and Roy M.
JAMES B. DAKIN, M. D.
Engaged in the active practice of his exacting pro-
fession in Cerro Gordo county for more than a quarter
of a century. Dr. James B. Dakin gained prestige as one of the
leading physicians and .surgeons of this section of the state, and his
success was tantamount to his fine abilit.v. He continued in the
harness until the time of his death, which occurred at his home in
Mason City on the 1st of March, 1896. and both by reason of his
high standing in his profession and as a citizen of utmost pro-
gressiveness and public spirit he is well entitled to a tribute of
honor in this publication. He labored with all of zeal and devo-
tion in the alle^^ation of human suffering and he also found time
to manifest especial civic loyalty, having been called upon to
serve in various offices of public trust, including that of mayor of
his home city. He commanded the utmost confidence and esteem
and proved himself worthy in all the relations of life.
Dr. James Briggs Dakin was one of the pioneer physicians of
Cerro Gordo county, where he took up his abode in 1869 and where
he continued to live and labor to goodly ends until the close of his
long and useful life. He was born in Clinton county, Ohio, on
the 5th of January, 1836. and was a son of Perry and Phoebe
(McMannis) Dakin, whose marriage was solemnized in the ,vear
1820. The father was a native of Dutchess county. New York,
and the mother of Kentucky, and both families were founded in
Ohio in the pioneer epocli of the history of that fine old common-
wealth. Perry Dakin w;is reared to maturity in his native state,
whence he removed to Ohio when a young man, and he numbered
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 411
himself among the early settlers of Clinton county, where he re-
claimed a productive farm from the forest wilds and where he
died, secure in the high regard of all who knew him. Mrs. Dakin
died in Princeton. Illinois, at the age of ninety-seven years. They
became the parents of five sons and five daughters.
Like many another sterling citizen who has attained distinc-
tive success as one of the world's noble army of workers, Dr. Dakin
was reared to the sturdy discipline of the farm, and he early began
to assist in the various departments of its work, so that he grew
vigorous in mind and body and gained a due appreciation of the
value and dignit.y of honest toil and endeavor. After availing
himself of the pioneer schools he was enabled to continiie higher
studies in a well conducted academic institution in his native state.
In 1855 he went to La Porte, Indiana, where he began reading medi-
cine in the office and under the preceptor.ship of his elder brother.
Dr. George M. Dakin. In 1860-61 he attended a course of lectures
in the Eclectic Medical College in the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, but
he soon subordinated all other interests to tender his services in
defense of the Union, whose integrity was in jeopardy through
armed rebellion on the part of the southern states. He enlisted
as a private in the Seventy-second Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
which gained reputation as the "Board of Trade Regiment," owing
to the fact that a large percentage of its members had been con-
nected with the Board of Trade in Chicago. Dr. Dakin was with
his regiment at the seige of Vicksburg and participated in other
engagements. He was finally assigned to detached duty in the
hospital at Benton Barracks, in the city of St. Louis, where he
remained until the expiration of his term of enlistment, when he
received his honorable discharge. After the close of the war he
again took up his medical studies, and during the spring of 1866
was again a student in the Cincinnati college previously mentioned.
From this institution he duly received his degree of Doctor of
Medicine, and he initiated the active work of his profession at La
Porte, Indiana, where he remained until 1868, when he went to
Bloomington, Illinois, and in 1869, he came to Iowa and established
himself in practice at Mason City, where he passed the residue of
his life and where he laid aside his humane work only a short time
prior to his demise. His sympathy passed beyond sentiment to
be an actuating motive for human helpfulness, and his gracious
personality as well as his able ministrations in his profession made
him one of the most popular citizens of the county in which he so
long lived and labored. He was a member of various profes-
sional organizations of representative order and he ever continued
Vol. n— 3
412 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
an enthusiastic stndent of medicine and surgery, so that he was
able to avail himself of the best methods and facilities represented
therein.
In politics Dr. Dakin was found aligned as a stalwart in the
camp of the Republican party, and he ever took a lively and in-
telligent interest in the questions and issues of the hour. What-
ever tended to advance the general welfare of his home city and
county was assured of his zealous support, and his elegibility and
civic loyalty marked him for public ofiSce. Thus he served, with
all of acceptability, in the office of mayor of Mason City and also
as a member of the board of county supervisors. He was a promi-
nent figure in various fraternal organizations and had the distinc-
tion of being the first man in ilason City to attain the thirty-
second degree in the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite of the Masonic
fraternity. He was the founder of the local lodge of the Knights
of Pythias and was called to various official chairs in this and other
organizations with which he was identified. He was a member of
the Grand Army of the Republic and ever showed a deep interest
in his old comrades of the Civil war. His religious faith was in-
dicated by his membership in the Disciple church.
In the year 1867 was solemnized the marriage of Dr. Dakin
to Miss Julia May Church, a daughter of the late Rev. Jesse Church
who was an elder in the Christian church and who passed the clos-
ing years of his life and died in Mason City while on a ^dsit. Mrs.
Dakin's brother, Judge Jarvis S. Church, was a pioneer of Mason
City and one of the prominent members of the bar of Cerro Gordo
county, where he presided for a number of years on the bench of
the county court. Mrs. Dakin received excellent educational ad-
vantages and was graduated in Antioch College, at Yellow Springs,
Ohio, as a member of the class of 1863. She is a woman of gracious
presence and fine intellectual attainments, and she was twice elected
to the responsible office of superintendent of public schools for
Cerro Gordo county, where she gave a most careful and progres-
sive administration during her two terms. She still maintains
her home in Mason City, where she is held in affectionate regard
by all who know her and where she has long been a popular figure
in church and social circles. Dr. and Mrs. Daldn became the
parents of six children, of whom only two are living — Dr. Channing,
E., of whom specific mention is made on other pages of this volume,
and Amy Dorothy, who is the wife of Dr. Hardy P. Pool, of Mason
City.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 415
WILLIAM E. BRICE.
There can be naught of inconsistency in referring to Mr.
Brice as one of the most progressive and liberal business men of
Cerro (xordo county and he has been most prominently identified
with the promotion of public utilities that have greatly tended to
conserve the advancement of the state of Iowa, where his interests
are now of broad scope and importance. He is one of the popular
and influential citizens of Mason City and is especially entitled
to consideration in this publication.
William E. Brice was born at Rochelle, Ogle county, Illinois,
on the 26th of July, 1861. His father, James Brice, was bom in
Washington county, Pennsylvania, where he was reared to maturity
and whence he removed to Illinois when a young man. He estab-
lished himself in the mercantile business at Rochelle, that state,
where he continued to reside until 1865, when he removed with
his family to Iowa and located at Tama. There he built up a
prosperous mercantile business, which he continued until his death,
in 1888, at the age of forty-nine years. His \rife, whose maiden
name was Sarah Hill, was born at Waverly, Tioga county, New
York, and she likewise passed the closing years of her life at Tama,
Iowa, where she died when about forty-nine years of age.
William E. Brice was about four years of age at the time of
the family removal to Iowa and he is indebted to the public schools
of Tama for his early educational discipline, which was supple-
mented by a course in Cornell College, at Mount Vernon. Iowa.
When eighteen years of age he became associated with his father's
mercantile business, which he individually conducted after the
death of his father until 1896, when he disposed of the stock and
business. He became one of the pro.i'ectors and stockholders of
the Tama & Toledo Electric Railway and Light Company and he is
still vice president of the company operating the same. The line
of this road extends between Toledo and Tama and is about two
and one-half miles in length. It is in successful operation and
provides facilities and accomodations that are of great value. After
disposing of his mercantile establishment in Tama in 1896 Mr.
Brice came to Mason City and in the same year he secured fran-
chises for and projected the construction of the electric interurban
line between Mason City and Clear Lake and the street car line in
Mason City, a distance of eighteen and a half miles. The line was
completed on the 3rd of July, 1897. and is one of the best interur-
ban roads in the state. Mr. Brice is virtually the entire owner of
the line. In August, 1898, he organized the Iowa & Minnesota
416 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Northwestern Railway Company and he assumed the practical
management of making its survey, securing the right of way and
constructing its line from Belle Plaine, Iowa, to Fox Lake, Minne-
sota, a distance of one hundred and ninety-nine miles. In 1899
he sold the line to the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company,
though he continued as president of the original company until the
road was completed and became a part of the great Chicago &
Northwestern system. He and his associates retain twenty-two
townsites along the line of this road and these properties they have
effectively developed under the corporate title of the Iowa & Minne-
sota Town Site Company. Of this corporation Mr. Brice is presi-
dent. He also platted and has developed what is known as the
street railway addition to Mason City, the same comprising a tract
of one hundred and fifty acres and having been platted into five
hundred and sixty lots. He and his associates have sold a ma.jority
of these attractive lots. Mr. Brice is also a director and the
principal stockholder in the Iowa State Bank of Mason City and
is a stockholder in twelve other banking institutions. In 1900 he
effected the purchase of the gas, electric light and heating plant
in Mason City and in 1904 this was entirely rebuilt, being brought
up to the best modern standard and thus furnishing most effec-
tively gas and electric service for light, power and heat, the plant
being adequate to meet the demands placed upon it for many
years to come. The power plant of the electric railway owned by
Mr. Brice was enlarged and modernized in 1910 and its machinery,
rolling stock and all incidental eqiiipments are of the best type.
In view of the brief statements already incorporated it may be
well understood that Mr. Brice is a valuable man to have in any
community and his enterprising and progressive activities have not
lacked for popular appreciation, giving his prestige as one of the
leading business men of this section of the state. He is a citizen
well worthy of the confidence and esteem in which he is held.
Though he has never had any desire to enter the arena of practical
politics he accords a staunch allegiance to the Republican party
and he is afiiliated with the Mason City Lodge of the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 22nd of -Tune. 1884, Mr. Brice was imited in marriage
to Miss Minnie H, Tallon, who was born and reared at 1\Iontrose,
Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, and she is a popular factor
in connection with the leading social activities of Mason City, being
a woman of much charm and most gracious personality.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 417
THOMAS G. EMSLEY.
Thomas G. Emsley, deceased, was a resident of Cerro Gordo
county, Iowa, from 1858 until his death, June 7, 1886, and was
prominently identified with its interests. A review of his life
and that of his helpmate is appropriately presented in this work.
Thomas G. Emsley was born in Carroll county, Ohio, Decem-
ber 23, 1843, son of W. W. and Beatrice H. (Donaldson) Emsley,
the former a native of Yorkshire, England, the latter of Vermont
and of Scotch descent. The death of his father in 1849 left Thomas
G. an orphan at the age of six years, and from his early boyhood
he made his o^vn way in the world. When he was fifteen he came
to Iowa. Here at the outbreak of the Civil war his sympatljies
were aroused in favor of the north, and in 1864, on reaching his
majority, he showed his loyalty to his country by offering his ser-
vice to help defend it. He enlisted in Company I, Second Iowa
Cavalry, the fortunes of which he shared until the war was over
and he was honorably discharged.
Returning to Mason City, Iowa, in 1865, Mr. Emsley was that
year elected treasurer of Cerro Gordo county, and on December
19th of the same year he was united in marriage with Miss Mary
Church, daughter of Rev. Jesse E. Church. She was born and
lived at Spring, Pennsylvania, until she came to Mason City, Iowa,
in the summer of 1864 to spend a year as a visitor with her brother,
J. S. Church, who then resided here. While on this visit she began
to work in the postoffice for her brother. The attractions of a
new country for a boy or girl who were willing to take advantage
of the opportunity for self reliance appealed so strongly to her
independent nature that she gained her father's consent to remain
longer than she had at first expected, and from working in the
office she turned her attention to teaching, and taught a few terms
at twenty-five dollars a month. Living with her brother, her ex-
penses were comparatively nothing, and she saved her earnings
and made investment. Her first venture in speculation was buying
tax title land, and in this way a hundred and sixty acres of wild
prairie land came into her possession. At the time of their mar-
riage the young couple had this land and four hundred dollars in
money. They went to housekeeping in a two-room rented house,
and every year thereafter found their assets somewhat increased.
Mr. Emsley held the office of treasurer for four years. This gave
him familiarity with all the land in Cerro Gordo county, also in
ad.ioining counties, and for ten years he bought and sold land to
advantage, until, for this country, they found themselves in reason-
418 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ably good circumstances. In connection with his real estate, in
1873 Mr. Emsley, seeing an opening for a banking business at
ilason City, established the City Bank. Both he and his enter-
prising wife worked hard to make this a success, he as president,
she as cashier. The City National Bank is the outcome of their
efforts. After the death of Mr. Emsley, which occurred in 1886,
Mrs. Emsley showed her superior ability by the manner in which
she managed the business and estate. She succeeded him as presi
dent of the bank, and eontiniied as such until its re-organization
and the formation of the City National Bank. In all that pertains
to the welfare of Mason City, both educational and otherwise, she
has contributed according to her means. For many years she gave
her best efforts toward the establishment of a free public library.
Her creed is that of the Unitarian church, and she is an outspoken
equal suffragist.
On March 9, 1905, Mrs. Emsley became the wife of Charles A.
Adams, ex-county recorder and court reporter of Cerro Gordo
county, having served in the last named capacity for over thirty
years. Mr. Adams was born at Worcester, Massachusetts, in 1844,
and when about nine years old came west with his parents. They
stopped for a time in Illinois, and from there came to Iowa and set-
tled at Mason City. Here Mr. Adams grew to manhood. During
the Civil war he was a member of Company B, Thirty-second In-
fantry, and most of his service was as a clerk at headquarters. He
is a member of Huntly Post, G. A. R., and is also identified with
the Masons and the Elks. Mrs. Adams has membership in the
0. E. S. at Mason City, and also in Maria Mitchell Club, the oldest
woman's club in the town.
By her first marriage Mrs. Adams has two daughters, ^Mrs.
Mabel Emsley Gale and Mi-s. Lillie Emsley Markley.
JOHN H. McEWEN.
The present efficient and popular city elerk of Mason City is
a member of one of the well known and highly honored pioneer
families of Iowa, which has represented his home from his infancy
to the present time, and he is not only one of the valued executive
officers of the municipal government of Mason City but is also
known as an essentially loyal and progressive citizen and as a
man well worthy of the unqualified esteem in which he is held in
the community.
Mr. I\IcEwen was born in IHster county. New York, on the
6th of October, 1855, and is a son of William L. and Harriet
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 419
(Rhinehart) McEwen, both of whom were likewise natives of the
old Empire state of the Union, where the respective families were
early founded. In 1856 William L. McEwen came with his family
to Iowa and cast in his lot with the pioneers of Floyd county,
where he purchased a tract of government land and turned his
attention to agricultural pursuits. He was a man of excellent
educational attainments and during the winter months he found
appreciative requisition for his services as a teacher in the pioneer
schools. About 1885 he sold hs farm and removed to Rockwell,
Cerro Gordo county, where he purchased the plant and business of
the Rockwell Phonograph, a weekly paper that had been founded
several years previously. He made this one of the best coimtry
papers in this section of the state and continued as its editor and
publisher until his death, in 1904, at the venerable age of seventy-
four years. He was a staunch Republican in his political adherency
and he made his newspaper an effective exponent of the party
cause in Cerro Gordo county. While a resident of Floyd county
Mr. McEwen served as a member of the county board of supervi-
sors and also held other township offices. He was a man of
ability and sterling character, and his personal popularity was
determined by the effective metewand of public respect and appro-
bation. His cherished and devoted wife was summoned to the
life eternal in November, 1909, at the age of seventy-six years, and
both were zealous members of the Congregational church. Of the
children the subject of this review is the eldest; Charles E. is
identified with the United States mail service in Mason City ; Mary
Ida died in infancy; Elmer E. continues to be associated with the
publication of the Rockwell Phonograph ; and Florence became the
wife of William A. Grummon, of Rockwell, Iowa, and her death
occurred in October, 1903.
As already intimated, John H. McEwen was an infant at the
time of the family removal to Iowa, in the year succeeding that
of his birth, and his earliest recollections touch the conditions and
influences of the home farm in Floyd county, where he gained his
rudimentary education in the district schools. His business career
was initiated by his assumption of a clerical position in a general
store in his home village, and later he was engaged in the hotel
business at Rockwell for several years. More than a score of years
ago, in 1889, Mr. ilcEwen took up Ms abode in ^lason City, where
he was associated with William E. Ensign in the clothing business
for the ensuing six years, at the expiration of which he was elected
to the office of county recorder, of which he continued incumbent
for three terms of two years each, having first been elected in 1895
i20 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
and having retired from the position in 1901. His administra-
tion was careful and effective and gained unqualified public ap-
proval. After his retirement he was employed in the clothing
establishment of Mr. Ensign for about one year, at the expiration
of which, in April, 1902, he was elected city clerk, of which re-
sponsible office he has since remained in tenure by successive re-
elections.
Mr. McEwen has never lacked in civic loyalty or in fealty
to the cause of the Republican party, in whose local ranks he has
been an active worker. He is affiliated with the Mason City organ-
izations of the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Brotherhood of
America and the Knights of the Maccabees, and both he and his
wife are members of the Congregational church in their home city.
Mr. McEwen has been twice married. On the 24th of Feb-
ruary, 1878, he wedded Miss I\Iary E. Rugg, who was bom in
Winnebago county, Illinois, whence her parents removed to Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, when she was a child. She died on the
22d of November, 1898, and is survived by one son — William R.,
who is now an employe of the J. G. Cherry Company, engaged in
the creamery supply business in the city of Cedar Rapids, this state.
and who had previously been employed for two years in the sales
department of the National Creamery Supply Company of Chicago.
On the 18th of June, 1902, Mr. McEwen married Miss Ida :\r.
HartweU, of Mason City, who was born at Ingham, Franklin coun-
ty, Iowa, and who is a daughter of William Hartwell, an honored
citizen and business man of ]\Iason City. No children have been
born of the second union.
FRED A. ONTJES.
The senior member of the well known law firm of Ontjes &
Law, engaged in the practice of law in JIason City, the .subject
of this brief sketch, is known as one of the able and representative
younger members of the bar of this section of the state and he has
been associated in practice with Harvey E. Law since the autumn
of 1907, under the title already designated. A sketch of the career
of his coadjutor appears on other pages of this volume.
Like his partner Mr. Ontjes is a native son of the state of
Iowa. He was born in Butler county, on the 12th of October,
1884, and is a son of Andrew and Caroline (Myer) Ontjos. who
took up their residence in this state in the pioneer days. Andrew
Ontjes made the overland trip from Illinois to Iowa in 1876,
driving with a team and wagon to Dubuque and thence onward to
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 421
Butler coimty, where he secured a tract of land and developed a
valuable farm. He became one of the substantial capitalists
and thoroughly representative and influential citizens of that coun-
ty and for a number of years he was president of the bank at
Aplington, Butler county, where he is now living virtually retired.
He has been an active factor in connection with public affairs
in this county but the honors and emoluments have had no allure-
ment for him and he has invariably refused to become a candidate
for office. He is a staunch Republican in politics, and both he
and his wife hold membership in the Baptist church.
Of their seven children five sons and one daughter are living,
one daughter, Jennie, having died at the age of twenty-five years.
Three of the sons are prominently identified with the banking busi-
ness, "William is vice president of the State Exchange Bank at
Sioux Falls, South Dakota ; 0. A. is cashier of the Farmer's Savings
Bank at Holland, Iowa ; and John is an executive of the bank at
Sioux Palls, South Dakota. The other son, Andrew, is engaged
in the grain business at Aplington, Iowa. The daughter, Lena,
is now Mrs. De Buhr.
Fred A. Ontjes, the immediate subject of this sketch, passed
his boyhood youth in Butler county, this state, where he early
began to assist in the work of the home farm and after duly avail-
ing himself of the advantages of the public schools he was matri-
culated in the law department of the University of Iowa, at Iowa
City, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1907 and from which he received the degree of Bachelor
of Laws. Prior to his entrance in the University he had taken a
preparatory course in Ellsworth College, at Iowa Falls, and had
likewise pursued academic studies in the city of Des Moines. After
his graduation Mr. Ontjes made a trip through the west for rest
and recreation and he then took up his residence in Mason City.
where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession since
the fall of 1907, and his coadjutor, Mr. Law, was a fellow student
in the law department of the state universit.y. Mr. Ontjes has
proved an able trial law.ver and conservative counselor and his firm
has built up a substantial business in the work of the profession. In
politics he is a staunch adherent of the Republican party and his
religious views are in harmony with the tenets of the Bapti.st
church, of which his parents are members. He is affiliated with
the Masonic fraternit.v, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent
and Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Ontjes is a bachelor.
422 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
HARVEY E. LAW.
One of the representative younger members of the bar of Cerro
Gordo count}', Harvej' Edward Law, has chosen a profession singu-
larly in consonance with the name that he bears, and he is proving
himself admirably equipped for the vocation to which he is gi^^ng
himself with all of zeal and loyalty, realizing that in the law the
rewards come only to those who are willing to work and to subordi-
nate other interests to its demands.
Mr. Law is a native of the Hawkeye state and finds himself
bound to the same by claims of affection and loyalty. He was
born in Black Hawk to^Tiship, Black Hawk county, Iowa, on the
old homestead farm, about four miles west of the village of Hudson,
and the date of his nativity was November 24, 1884. He is a son
of William il. and Eliza Jessie Law, the former of whom was born
in the province of Ontario, Canada, and the latter in the city of
Chicago, where she was reared and educated and where her mar-
riage was solemnized. Soon after their life destinies had been
thus united, William M. Law and his wife came to Iowa and took
up their residence on the homestead farm which he had previously
secured, in 1875. They continued to reside on this homestead,
the birthplace of the sub.ject of this sketch, until 1887, when they
removed to the village of Hudson, and in 1894 they removed to the
city of Waterloo, this state, where the father still resides and
where the devoted wife and mother died on the 28th of ^lay. 1907,
at the age of fifty years. She was a woman of most gentle and
gracious character and held the affectionate regard of all who came
\dthin the sphere of her influence. She was a devout member of
the Presbyterian church, in which her husband also holds member-
ship. Her parents immigrated from Yorkshire, England, and
became pioneers of the city of Chicago, where they took up their
residence when the great western metropolis was a place of minor
importance and where both he and his wife continued to reside
until their death. As already stated, William ;\L Law was born
in the province of Ontario, Canada, and he is a son of Captain
William Law. who served as an officer in the English army and who
immigrated to Canada when a young man. There his marriage
was solemnized and there he was identified with agricultural pur-
suits until shortly after the close of the Civil war in the United
States, when he came to Iowa and established his home in Black
Hawk county, where he secured a tract of wild land and reclaimed
the same into a productive farm. After his retirement from active
labors he took up his abode at Cedar Falls, this state, where he con-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 423
tinued to reside until his death, which occurred about the year
1888. His widow, whose maiden name was Harriette Bradley
passed the residue of her life at Cedar Falls and attained to the
venerable age of eighty-nine years; she was summoned to the life
eternal in 1908. "William M. Law took up his residence in Waterloo
in 1894, when he assumed the office of sheriff of Black Hawk
county, in which he served for a period of ten years. He still
owns his valuable farm and is one of the well known and highly
esteemed citizens of Black Hawk county, with whose civic and
material development and upbuilding he has been closely identi-
fied. For a number of years he was secretary, treasurer and
manager of the Waterloo Cement Machinery Company, of which he
was one of the organizers, and he has been an influential factor in
business and public affairs in his county. William M. and Eliza
J. Law became the parents of five children, of whom the subject
of this review was the third in order of birth. Concerning the
other children the following brief data are given: Ralph A. is
cashier of the Central Savings Bank of Waterloo; William R. is
incumbent of the office of postmaster of that city; Nellie is the
wife of Robert W. Parrott, of Waterloo ; and Harriet is the wife of
Fredrick A. Penton, of Huron, South Dakota. All of the chil-
dren were born and reared in Black Hawk county.
Harvey E. Law was about four years of age at the time of the
family removal from the farm to the village of Hudson, where he
gained his rudimentary education in the public schools. He was
ten years of age when his father took up his residence in the city
of Waterloo, and, continuing his studies in the public schools, the
subject of this review completed the curriculum of the high school
in East Waterloo, in which he was graduated as a member of the
class of 1901. He was matriculated in the University of Iowa, at
Iowa City, in the autumn of 1903 and there pursued his studies in
both the academic and law departments, in the latter of which he
was graduated as a member of the class of 1907, with the degree
of Bachelor of Laws. After his graduation he made a trip through
the \¥est in company with his classmate and present law pai'tner,
Fredrick A. Ontjes, concerning whom specific mention is made on
other pages of this work. In September, 1907, the firm of Ontjes
& Law was formed and instituted practice at Mason City, and the
two young men have well proved the wisdom of their choice of
profession, as both are strong, aggressive and well fortified repre-
sentatives of the legal profession in Cerro Gordo county and are
meeting with unec[uivocal success in the work of their profession.
In politics Mr. Law is aligned under the banner of the Republi-
424 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
can party and is well fortified in his opinions as to matters of
public polity. He is affiliated with the local organizations of the'
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows, the Modem Brotherhood of America, the Wood-
men of the World and the Tribe of Ben Hur. His religious
\'iews are in harmony with the tenets of the Presbyterian church,
in whose faith he was reared. He is a member of the Phi Kappa
Psi college fraternity. Mr. Law is loyal and liberal in his atti-
tude as a citizen, and he enjoys marked popularity in professional,
business and social circles in his home city and county. He was
married September 7th, 1910, at Waterloo, Iowa, to Miss Esther
Jackson, who is the daughter of IMr. and Mrs. Alvan Jackson of
that place, Mr. Jackson being in the wholesale lumber business
there.
ROBERT M. WITWER.
The present city attorney of Mason City merits recognition
in this publication as one of the fairly representative and distinc-
tively able members of the bar of Cerro Gordo county, where the
success in the work of his profession has been of unequivocal type,
showing conclusively that his equipment for his chosen vocation
is excellent, both from natural predilection and technical training.
Mr. Witwer is a native son of the Hawkeye state, as he was born
in the city of Cedar Rapids, on the 4th of April, 1870. He is
a son of John J. and Sarah (Harroun) Witwer, who still retain
their residence in that city. John Jay Witwer was born at Wil-
liamsville, Erie county. New York, where he was reared and edu-
cated, and in 1860 he made his way across the plains and over
the mountains to California, where he remained about seven years,
at the expiration of which he took up his residence in Cedar Rapids,
Iowa, where he has maintained his abode since 1867. He has long
been numbered among the leading business men of that city and
through his honorable and progressive efforts has contributed his
quota to its commercial and industrial precedeni'e. He has been
engaged in the grocery business and also in the manufacturing of
coffee and spices. He still has interests in Cedar Rapids but is
now living virtually retired. The lineage of the Witwer family
is traced back to the staunch Swiss stock, but the name early be-
came identified with civic and industrial affairs in Holland, whence
came the original progenitors to America about the year 1627.
The family was founded in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and
from the old Keystone state John Witwer, grandfather of the sub-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 425
ject of this sketch, moved to Erie county. New York, where he be-
came a successful miller and an influential citizen and business
man. The mother of him whose name initiates this review was
doubly orphaned when an infant and she was reared to maturity
in the home of her maternal uncle, Robert Millar, in Batavia, New
York. She is of Scotch descent in the paternal line and on the
maternal side the ance.stry is traced back to English origin. John
J. and Sarah (Harroun) Witwer became the parents of four chil-
dren of whom the subject of this review is the only son ; E.sther C.
is the wife of Van Dyke Port, who is general freight agent for the
Illinois Central Railroad Company at Cedar Rapids, Iowa; and
Rachel E. and Bertha H. remain at the parental home.
Robert iM. Witwer gained his early education in the public
schools of his native city, where he prosecuted a higher academic
course in Coe College. After leaving this institution he began
reading law in the office and under the preceptorship of Judge N.
M. Hubbard of Cedar Rapids, who had presided on the bench of
the circiut court and who was one of the old members of the bar
of Linn county. Mr. Witwer was admitted to the bar in Cedar
Rapids fifteen years ago, and in his native city he initiated the
practice of his profession, besides which he was identified with
surveying and other civil engineering work in that section for some
time. At the inception of the Spanish- American war Mr. Witwer
enlisted in June, 1898, as a member of the Fifth Iowa Battery.
He was mustered out and received his honorable discharge in
November, 1898, and he then returned to his home city of Cedar
Rapids, where he remained until the opening of the following year,
when he removed to Mason Citj^ Here he has been actively and
successfully engaged in the practice of his profession since the 31st
of January of that year and he has gained an excellent reputation
as a resourceful and versatile trial lawyer and as a counselor well
informed in the minutia of the law and as one of exceptionally
mature judgment. He has finely equipped offices in the Cliggitt
building. He has taken an active interest in public afi'airs of a
legal order since coming to Mason City and here is one of the in-
fluential factors in the council of the Republican party. On the
2.5th of March, 1908. he was appointed county attorney to fill out
an unexpired term and he retired from this office in January of
the following year. He was appointed city attorney in December,
1908, and the public estimate made of his services in this connec-
tion was indicated by his election to the office in the spring of
1909.
On the 24th of June, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of
■426 HISTORY OF CBRRO GORDO COUNTY
Mr. Witwer to Miss Anna Dickinson Fay, who was born and reared
in Ohio, and who is a woman of culture and gracious personality.
For several years prior to her marriage she was the principal of
the Mason City high school. She is a daughter of Nathaniel and
Roxann (Woodburg) Fay, both descendants of families founded in
New England in the early colonial epoch. The father was born
in the state of Maine and died in West Virginia, at the patriarchal
age of ninety-five years ; the mother died at the age of thirty-seven
years. Mr. and IMrs. Witwer have one son, John J., who was born
on the 21st of May, 1906.
JAMES W. DAWSON.
James W. Dawson has for years conducted a general black-
smith shop at Clear Lake, Iowa, and there are few men — if any — in
the town who are better known or more highly respected than he.
Mr. Dawson dates his identity with Cerro Gordo county from
1870, when, a youth of fifteen years, he came here with his parents
from Wisconsin. He was born in Racine county, Wisconsin,
October 27, 1855, son of Robert and Susanna (Everson) Dawson,
natives of England. In 1853, just two weeks after their marriage,
his father and mother left their old home on the British Isle and
came t« America. They spent two years in New York, then came
west to Wisconsin, and fifteen years later came over into the neigh-
boring state of Iowa and settled on a farm in Grant to\vnship,
Cerro Gordo county. Robert Dawson was engaged in agricultural
pursuits all his life. He improved a fine farm in Grant township
where he lived to the ripe age of eighty-one years. He died here
November 8, 1907. His wife died in 1888, at the age of fifty-six
years. Both were worthy members of the Methodist Episcopal
church. They were the parents of fifteen children, of which
number four died in infancy and two in early youth. Those now
living are: James W., the subject of this sketch; Joseph H., a
farmer of Grant township; Loren E., engaged in farming near
Clear Lake; Fred, also engaged in farming in Gfant township;
Lillie, wife of J. H. Miller, living near Clear Lake; Amelia, wife of
J. H. Chadbourne, living near Vandalia, Illinois ; Charles, employed
in a store at Los Angeles, California; Lewis B., a California farm-
er; Che-ster, of Lisbon, North Dakota, engaged in farming; and
Carter of Heckla, South Dakota, employed as a mechanic.
After receiving a good common school education James W.
Dawson showed his prefei-ence for a mechanical rather than an
agricultural life by going to Roekford, Floyd county, and entering
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 427
upon an apprenticeship to the blacksmith's trade. He spent three
years there and then came to Clear Lake and opened a shop. That
was in 1879. Here he soon had a firstclass, well equipped shop,
which he has conducted for thirty years, \nih the exception of about
three years when, on account of an accident, he was disabled for
work at his trade and gave his attention to other matters. At
one time he owned a half interest in the Clear Lake Mirror and was
its business manager. Later he was interested in a hardware
store at Garner. Iowa, which he conducted and which he sold in
order to resume work in his shop. Of recent years he has employed
an assistant most of the time.
In 1881 Mr. Dawson married, in Butler county, Iowa. Miss
Ermina Heritage. She was born in New Jersey and was reared
in Illinois, to which latter state she moved with her parents when a
small child and from whence, in the early '70s, she came to Iowa.
Her mother, a resident of Greene, Iowa, and a well preserved
woman, celebrated her eighty-fifth birthday on the 1st of February,
1910. Her father died when a little past forty. In the Heritage
family were seven children, of whom two died in infancy and five
are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Dawson have an adopted daughter,
Daisy Dawson, now the wife of Harold L. Lake, of Clear Lake.
Politically Mr. Dawson has always been a Republican. He
served as a member of the City Council and at this writing is one
of the school board. He is a Mason and an Odd Fellow and fills
the office of secretary in both lodges, his incumbency of this office
in the Masonic lodge dating back five years and in the I. O. 0. F.
lodge, fifteen years. He and his wife attend worship at the Con-
gregational church.
FREBORN E. STEWART.
F. E. Stewart, of Clear Lake, Iowa, belongs to the fast thinning
ranks of Civil war veterans. As such and as a representative
citizen of Cerro Gordo county, a sketch of his life is of interest in
this work, and, briefly, is as follows:
F, E. Stewart was bom in St. Marion, Ogle county, Illinois,
August 15, 1841, son of Samuel F. and Mary (Sweet) Stewart.
Samuel F. Stewart, born September 1, 1803, was a native of Massa-
chusetts, and his father, Jonathan, was born in Scotland and spent
the first sixteen years of his life there. He traced his genealogy
back to King James Stuart and to Mary Queen of Scots, In
Massachusetts S. F. Stewart grew to manhood and married, April
11, 1837, and he made Illinois his home until 1842, when he moved
428 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
to Dane county, Wisconsin, where he was engaged in farming the
rest of his life. He died there in 1876, at the age of sevent.v-two
yeai-s. His wife, born November 5. 1807. in Oneida county, New
York, died about 1872. In their family were three sons and two
daughters, of whom two are deceased, those living being James
and Charlotte, of Milton Junction, Wisconsin, and P. E., the sub-
ject of this sketch.
F. E. Stewart was reared in Dane county, Wisconsin, and was
.just emerging from his teens when Civil war was inaugurated.
In answer to the ninety da,v call he enlisted his services and at the
end of that time re-enlisted for three .vears, as a member of Com-
pany P. Thirteenth Wisconsin Infantry, with w'hich command he
participated in numerou.s engagements, including those of Frank-
lin. Decatur, Nashville and Lookout Mountain, at first with the
Twentieth Arm.y Corps and later with the Fourth. He was
mustered out December 19, 1865. at San A-ntonio, Texas, following
a seige of t.vphoid fever in a field hospital.
Returning to Wisconsin at the close of his army service, he
made his home there until about 1877, when he came to Iowa am'
settled in Cerro Gordo count.y. He owned and operated a farm
in Lincoln township, subsequently selling it and buying another
there; and after selling the second one came to Clear Lake town-
ship and invested in land near the county line. This last farm he
also sold and has since lived retired.
Mr. Stewart married, in Wisconsin, March 27, 1866, Miss
Lucinda A. Sprague, a native of Milton, Rock county, that state,
born July 19, 1846, a daughter of Orrin and Amelia (Cady)
Sprague. the former boru in Otsego county. New York, and the lat-
ter in Penns.vlvania. They went to Rock county, Wisconsin in an
early day, and came to Howard eount.v, Iowa, in 1852. ]\Ir. Sprague
was a blacksmith, and he died at Clear Lake, July 12. 1887. his
wife dying February 25, 1878.
]\Ir. Sprague was one of the pioneers of Wisconsin, and he
came to Iowa in 1852, as above stated. To him belongs the dis-
tinction of having built the first sawmill in Chickasaw county,
Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Stewart are the parents of three sons and
one daughter; John II., Ira E. and David L., all of Clear Lake,
the last two being partners in the transfer and ice business; and
Nelia May. wife of W. F. Collins, also of Clear Lake.
In his political views Mr. Stewart is independent, and frater-
nally lie is identified with the Masonic Order. Mrs. Stewart is a
member of the Eastern Star and Relief Corps and attends the
Methodist Episcopal church.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 431
PETER KNUTSON.
Peter Knutson, for the past thirty years a dealer in general
hardware at Clear Lake, Iowa, owns the two-story-and-basement
building his store occupies and does business under his own name,
furnishing employment for four men. Also he owns the com-
fortable and attractive home on West Fifth street which he built
and in which he and his family live.
Mr. Knutson is a Scandinavian. He was born in Norway July
15, 1844, and was a young man of twenty when in 1864 he left his
native land and came to America. Here he landed with practically
no capital. Like the majority of his countrymen, however, he had
learned a trade and he was not afraid to work, and his experience
here is interesting as showing what may be accomplished by an
enterprising young man. He went direct to Minnesota and in
Austin began in a small way in the boot and shoe business, shoe-
making being his trade. Later he tiirned his attention to deal-
ing in general merchandise, and in 1876 confined his business to
hardware. Four years later he came to Iowa and settled at Clear
Lake, and here since 1880, for a period of thirty years, he has eon-
ducted a prosperous business, handling a general line of hardware.
After coming to this country Mr. Knutson married a young
woman of his own nationality, a Miss Olson who had emigrated
from Norway to America in 1862. Of tlie children born to them,
six are living, all natives of Cerro Gordo county, namely: Charles,
engaged in the hardware business at Ventura, Iowa; George and
Clarence, in the store with their father; Mrs. S. M. Stimby, Mrs.
Dunsmore and Mrs. A. A. Prestholt, all of Clear Lake. One
daughter, Mrs. Christianson, died at Clear Lake at the age of
thirty-six years; and some others died in infancy.
Politically Mr. Knutson is a staunch Prohibitionist. He has
served in various local offices, and at one time was the candidate
of his party for the office of state treasurer. He belongs to the
Gospel Missions, in which he is an elder.
FRANCIS M. ROGERS.
In an individual chain the memory of this honored citizen
and representative business man of Clear Lake links the pioneer
epoch in the history of Cerro Gordo county with the present
opulent and progressive twentieth century, and he has played well
his part in connection with the material and social development
and upbuilding of tliis now favored section of the Hawkeye state.
Vol. n— 4
432 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
which has been his home since his early youth. He is one of com-
paratively few of the pioneers of the county who came here at as
early a period and who still retain their residence within its
borders, so that special interest attaches to his career not only by
reason of this fact but also because he has ever stood exemplar of
the highest order of citizenship and played well his part as a man
of productive energy and sterling character. It was his to go
forth as a valiant soldier of the Union in the Civil war, and in
the "Piping times of peace" his loyalty has been of equally im-
pregnable character.
Francis M. Rogers, president of the First National Bank of
Clear Lake, was bom at Newstead, Erie county. New York, on the
20th of May, 1838, and is a son of Jarvis and Nancy (Green)
Rogers, both of whom were born on Long Island, New York, both
families having been founded in that. commonwealth in an early
day. The parents of Jarvis J. Rogers were natives of Long Island
and there he himself was reared to maturity under the sturdy dis-
cipline of the farm. "When he was a young man he accompanied
his parents on their removal to Erie county, New York, where his
marriage was solemnized and where he continued to be engaged in
agricultural pursuits until 1851, when he removed to the city of
Buffalo, where he conducted a market until 1855, in which year he
disposed of his interests there and set forth to cast in his lot with
the pioneers of Iowa. The long and weary journey was made with
a team and wagon and by this primitive means of transportation
the parents and their six children made their way to Cerro Gordo
county. Of the children only one other than the subject of this
review is living — Mary E., who is the widow of Elihu Brown and
who resides in Mason City. Upon coming to Cerro Gordo county
Jarvis J. Rogers secured a tract of land upon which the town of
Rockwell now stands, that section having been at that time called
Linn Grove. He sold the property prior to the construction of the
railroad to this point and before any village had been there estab-
lished. He was one of the prominent and influential pioneers of the
county and held at all times the inviolable confidence and esteem of
the community in which he continued to reside until his death. He
was a man of strong mentality and well equipped for leadership
in the pioneer days. He was a member of the first board of
supervisors of Cerro Gordo county and was called upon to serve
in various other positions of public trust, including that of post-
master at Rockwell. He was originally a Whig in polities but
transferred his allegiance to the Republican party at the time of its
organization and ever afterward remained a stanch advocate of
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 433
its principles and policies. He was the owner of a well improved
landed estate of three Imndred and twenty acres adjoining the
town of Rockwell at the time of his death, which occurred in
September, 1871, when he was sixty years of age. His widow, a
woman of noble and gracious character, long survived him and
she attained to the extreme age of ninety-five years, passing the
closing days of her life in the village of Rockwell and having been
held in reverent affection by all who had come within the sphere
of her gentle influence.
Concerning the journey from the old Empire state to the wilds
of Iowa it may be stated that the Rogers family made the trip
from Buffalo, New York, to Warren, Illinois, by rail. At the
terminus of the Illinois Central Railroad they purchased two ox
teams \^dth wagons and with this primitive equipment continued
their journey to their destination. This trip was made in the
spring of the year when the sloughs were soft and miry and in
many places it was found necessary to double the teams in order
to pull through. When the family had arrived mthin about four
miles of the present village of Rockwell their heavy wagon mired
and the oxen were unable to pull it out of the mud. To add to
the discomforts and obstacles encountered a heavy rain set in, the
wind grew tempestuous and darkness came on, so that the whole
party of nine persons was compelled to remain in the wagon
throughout the night. When morning dawned the sky cleared
and the outlook brightened in even* particular. Members of the
family went to Linn Grove and secured wood with which to kindle
a fire for the preparation of the morning meal. The father and
son then constructed a conveyance called a "wizard," made of the
forks of a tree, and with this primitive outfit drawn by the oxen
the family and household goods were finally brought to their desti-
nation, though several trips were made necessary to accomplish
the desired end. The father selected his claim and in the first
season broke twenty-five acres of sod, planting the tract with corn,
potatoes and buckwlieat. The closest neighbors were eight miles
distant and there was no other settlement within fifteen or twenty
miles. The nearest postoffice and mill was at Cedar Palls, fifty
miles distant.
On the 1st of July, 1855. Francis M, Rogers and his father
set forth for Cedar Palls with their two yoke of oxen, the pui-pose
being to sell one yoke and thereby secure funds for the purchase
of needed provisions. Palling to make a sale at Cedar Palls they
drove on to Cedar Rapids, where they succeeded in disposing of
one yoke of oxen, though they were compelled to take in exchange
434 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
two cows, in addition to which they received a small amount of
money. A portion of this little fund was devoted to the purchase
of the needed provisions and before the father and son returned
home the family larder had been depleted to such an extent that
the other members of the household had had nothing to eat for
several days except wild game. The first summer in Iowa was a
memorable one to the Rogers family. Until September they con-
tinued to live in their covered wagon, and they then took posses-
sion of their log house, which was twelve by eighteen feet in dimen-
sion and which proved very comfortable during the cold months
which followed. In a reminiscent way Mr. Rogers stated to the
writer that throughout that entire winter the family subsisted
almost entirely on hulled corn, wild game and potatoes. The
coming summer brought forth gracious crops and the family
realized a considerable sum of money by lodging and boarding land
seekers, who were courteously shown the section corners and given
desired information in regard to land values. The winter of
1857-8 was severe in the extreme, snow falling to a depth of four
feet and becoming heavily incrusted, so that it would uphold a
man and sled. Under these conditions it was by the use of a
hand sled that most of the family provisions were hauled during
that winter from Mason City. In 1858 Jarvis J. Rogers, with the
assistance of Lyman Hunt, who had settled about six miles south
of Linn Grove, and John Whitesell, who with his family was li\ing
temporarily two miles southwest, built a log school house, which
they pointed with mud and which they equipped with puncheon-
floor and roof of shakes. This rude structure was the first school
house in the southern part of Cerro Gordo county.
Francis M. Rogers, who had received his early educational
training in the common schools of his native county, was seventeen
years of age at the time of the family removal to Cerro Gordo
county and it was his to live up to the full tension of the pioneer
epoch of this section of the state. He assisted in the reclaiming of
the home farm and here continued to be actively identified with
agricultural pursuit.s until he felt the call of higher duty when the
integrity of the Union was thrown into jeopardy through armed
rebellion. In August, 1862, he enlisted as a private in Company
B, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and with this valiant
command he continued in service until the close of the war. having
received his honorable discharge at ^Montgomery, Alabama, in July,
1865. He participated in a number of severe engagements, in-
eluding the battles of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana; Nash%-ille and
Tupelo, Tennessee ; and the siege and capture of Port Blakely and
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 435
the city of Jlobile, Alabama, besides which he took part in a num-
ber of minor engagements with the enemy.
After the close of his long and meritorious service as a soldier
of the republic Mr. Rogers returned to Cerro Gordo county and he
was thereafter activeh' engaged in farming in Linn Grove township
until the autumn of 1868, when he was elected clerk of the district
court. His service in this capacity was most acceptable, as was
shown by the fact that he was chosen his own successor in 1870 and
again in 1872, thus serving for six consecutive years. Upon his
retirement from office Mr. Rogers located in Mason City, where
he entered into partnership with. William E. Ensign and engaged
in the clothing business. This alliance continued until 1886 and
the firm built up a most prosperous enterprise, establishing a high
reputation for fair and honorable dealing. After the dissolution
of the partnership, in 1886, Mr. Rogers continued his residence
in Mason City until the spring of 1889, when he removed to Clear
Lake, where he purchased the Clear Lake Bank. This institution
he conducted as a private banking house for a number of years
and upon its re-organization as the First National Bank he became
one of the largest of the original stockholders and the first presi-
dent. He has since been executive head of this solid financial
institution, and the other officers of the bank at the present time
are here noted, Charles R. Hamstreet, vice president; Francis L.
Rogers, cashier; and Ross R. Rogers, assistant cashier. Besides
the president, vice president and cashier, the directorate of the
bank includes John B. Heath, "William H. Kimball, Albert Roenfanz
and Elijah Tomkins. At the time of this writing (1910) the
capital and surplus of the bank aggregate fully forty thousand dol-
lars. Mr. Rogers is known as one of the substantial capitalists
and progressive business men that has represented his home for
more than half a century and in all relations of life he has so
ordered his course as to merit and receive the implicit confidence
and esteem of his fellow men. In politics Mr. Rogers has ever
accorded an uncompromising allegiance to the cause of the Repub-
lican party and he has given his aid and influence in support of all
measures and enterprises tending to further the social and material
welfare of the community. While a resident of Mason City he
served six years as a member of the board of education and in
1877-8 he was a member of the city council. Since his removal
to Clear Lake he has served nine years as a member of the board of
education and in 1895-6 he was mayor of Clear Lake, in whose city
council he later served for some time. Mr. Rogers has ever main-
tained a lively interest in his old comrades in arms and signifies
436 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
the same by his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic.
In this organization he is past (•ommander of the C. H. Huntley
Post, at Mason City, and also of Tom Howard Post, at Clear
Lake, with which latter he has been affiliated since his removal to
his present home city. He is also identified with the Masonic
fraternity and its adjunct organization, the Order of the Eastern
Star.
On October 4, 1865, Mr. Rogers married Miss Phoebe L. Rich-
ardson, daughter of S. M. Richardson. Of the seven children
born to this union only three are now living, namely: Francis L.
and Ross R., above mentioned as being in the bank, and Merle S.,
employed as clerk in a grocery store at Clear Lake.
A. B. PHILLIPS, M. D.
A. B. Phillips, M. D., one of the prominent young physicians
of Clear Lake, Iowa, was born on a farm in Lincoln township,
Cerro Gordo county, this state, March 25, 1877, a member of the
Phillips family that settled here in pioneer days and of whom men-
tion is made elsewhere in this volume.
Doctor Phillips passed his boyhood days on his father's farm
and received his early education at Nora Springs Seminary, where
he graduated in 1896. He then entered the State L'^niversity of
Iowa, from which in 1900 he received the degree of B. S. During
this time his studies had been selected with the medical profession
in view, and he then went to Chicago and pursued his medical
studies at the Northwestern University Medical School, where he
graduated in 1902. Six months later he opened an office at Clear
Lake, where he soon proved his natural ability and acquired skill
in the line of work he had chosen, and where he has established a
successful practice.
He has membership in the Cerro Gordo County, Austin Flint,
Cedar Valley, American Medical and the State :Medical Societies,
and by constant research and study keeps himself informed in
regard to every advancement made in the science and practice of
medicine. Politically he is identified with the Republicans and
he takes an active interest in local affairs and has served as a school
director. Fraternally he maintains membership in the A. P. & A.
M, the K. of P. and the B. P. 0. E. He and his wife attend wor-
ship at the Congregational church.
Mrs. Phillips, formerly Miss Agnes Allen, is a native of Ames,
Iowa, and a member of one of the old families of that place. She
and the doctor are the parents of two children, Robert A. and
Albin B.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 437
DAVID L. SPRAGUE.
David L. Spragiie, who has a jewelry and general repair shop
at Clear Lake, Iowa, dates his birth at Milton, Rock county, Wiscon-
sin, April 23, 1840, and to him belongs the distinction of being the
first white child born in the township. In his veins is a mixture
of Scotch-Irish, German and Welsh blood. His ancestors figured
as pioneer settlers of New York and Pennsylvania, the Spragues
having come here from Scotland, from whence they wei'e banished
on account of their religion, they being of Quaker persuasion.
Orrin and Amelia (Cady) Sprague, the parents of David L., were
natives respectively of Otsego county, New York, and Tioga coiinty,
Pennsjdvania, the former born in 1803, the latter in 1810. In 1838
they moved to Wisconsin, where they remained until 1853, when
they came to Iowa and he entered land in Howard county, his
entry being the first made in that county. Two years later he
returned to Wisconsin, but finally he came back to Iowa, and at
Clear Lake passed the closing years of his life and died at a ripe
old age. By trade he was a blacksmith, but he owned land and
spent some 3'ears engaged in agricultural pursuits. His wife died
in Wisconsin. She was a devoted member of the Methodist Epis-
copal church. Of their thirteen children who grew to maturity
seven are now living, scattered in different states, two being at
Clear Lake, Iowa — David L. Sprague and Mrs. F. E. Stewart.
David L. Sprague was reared in Rock county, Wisconsin, and
in his young manhood was variously employed, blacksmithing,
carpentering, dentistry, etc. He soon settled down to the jewelry
business, however, and for forty years has conducted a repair shop
in this line of work. He accompanied his parents to Iowa in 1853,
and remained with them two years. Then he went to Boone
county, this state, and in 1869 returned to Wisconsin. On Feb-
ruary 14, 1883, he came back to Iowa, this time to Cerro Gordo
county, where he has since lived. After farming in this county
one year he moved to Clear Lake which has since been his home.
In 1864, at Delevan, Wisconsin, Mr. Sprague married Mrs.
Wood, nee Lovinia C. Campbell, a native of Tioga county, Pennsyl-
vania, who as a child had gone with her parents to Wisconsin, where
she was reared. To them have been given four children, of whom
three are living, namely : George L., of Severana, Idaho, where he
is engaged in farming; Herman E., engaged in railroad work at
Hilliard, near Spokane, Washington; and Frank, employed in the
power house of the electric railroad at Clear Lake. A daughter
died at the age of five months.
438 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
During the Civil war Mr. Sprague was a member of Company
E, Twenty-second Wisconsin Volunteers, having enlisted at Janes-
ville, Wisconsin, August 11, 1862, and served until September,
1863, when he was discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, on account
of disability, he having been ill and in the hospital. For years he
has been a member of Thomas Howard Post, G. A. R., and his
identity with the Odd Fellows organization covers a period of
twenty years. Mrs. Sprague belongs to both the Woman's Relief
Corps and the Rebekahs. Politically Mr. Spfague has alwaj's cast
his franchise with the Republican party, and at different times
has filled local ofSces.
WILLIAM A. HOLDREN.
A man of integrity and worth, William A. Holdren, of JIason
City, holds a position of prominence among the county ofiScials,
as sheriff of Cerro Gordo county performing the duties devolving
upon him with credit to himself and most acceptably to the people.
A son of the late David Holdren, he was born March 1, 1868, in
Lee county, Illinois. David Holdren was bom and reared in
Pennsylvania, and there learned the cabinet maker's trade.
Migrating to Illinois in early manhood, he worked for awhile in
Chicago, from there going in 1861 to Compton, Lee county, Illinois,
where he remained until his death, in 1889, at the age of sixty-two
years. His wife, whose maiden name was Lucretia McCoy, was
born in Michigan seventy-nine years ago, and is now living in
Princeton, Illinois. Six children were bom to them, five of whom
survive, as follows: Margaret, wife of Jesse Wilder, of Aurora,
Illinois; Alice, wife of T. L. King, of Clear Lake, Iowa; Hattie,
wife of Thomas Trimble, of Princeton, Illinois; William A., the
subject of this sketch ; and Caroline M., of Mason City.
Brought up in Compton, Illinois, William A. Holdren received
a practical high school education iu that village. Coming to Iowa
after his marriage, he located in Pleasant Valley township, Cerro
Gordo county, where for two years he had charge of his father's
farm. Retiring from agricultural labors, he was subsequently
engaged in the grain and coal business at Thornton for six .years.
Selling out, Mr. Holdren conducted a restaurant there for a short
time, after which he embarked in the furniture and undertaking
business, which he continued until 1903. Elected sheriff of Cerro
Gordo county in that year, Mr. Holdren has served continuously
since, having been twice re-elected to this office. Previously, while
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 439
living in Thornton, he filled various public offices, having served as
marshal, constable and as a justice of the peace.
Identified ^\nth various beneficial organizations, Mr. Holdren's
name is well known in lodge rooms, where he is ever a welcome
guest. He is a member of A. F. & A. M., Granite Lodge, No. 557
of Thornton. Iowa ; No. 224, I. 0. 0. F. ; of Mason City Lodge, No.
375, B. P. O. B.; of Midland Lodge, No. 226, M. B. A.; and of
Wilcox Camp No. 709, M. "W. A.
Mr. Holdren married, May 25, 1887, Etta R. Stevens, who was
born in Lee county, Illinois, in September, 1864, a daughter of
Henry and Mary J. (Sivey) Stevens. Her father died in Lee
county, Illinois, in 1892, aged sixty-five years, and her mother, now
seventy years old, makes her home with Mr. and Mrs. Holdren.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Holdren has been blessed by the
birth of four children, namely: Virgil L., of Sheffield, Iowa;
Homer H. ; Wilbur and Ada M. Mrs. Holdren is a most estimable
woman, highly esteemed as a neighbor and a friend, and is a con-
sistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
JAMES E. McDonald, m. d.
A man of aclmowledged professional skill and ability, James
E. McDonald. M. D., of Mason City, has here gained a large and
lucrative practice, his natural talents and industry classing him
among the most successful physicians and surgeons^ of this part of
Cerro Gordo county. A son of the late William McDonald, he was
bom, September 10, 1868, in Buchanan county, Iowa, of thrifty
Scotch ancestry.
Born in 1826 in Scotland, William McDonald worked at the
carpenter's trade as a boy, and in 1840, at the age of fourteen years,
came to the United States, the land of golden opportimities.
Locating in Alban.y, New York, he was soon employed in building
canal boats and locl<s along the Erie Canal, working his away across
the state to Buffalo. Going from there to Chicago, he entered the
employ of the Illinois Central Railroad Company and built all the
railroad bridges between Dubuque, Iowa, and Dyersville, Iowa.
He v/as forced to take eighty acres of land in Buchanan county,
Iowa, as part payment for his services, and assuming possession
of his land he erected a small house, hauling the lumber from which
it was made a distance of sixty miles. Improving a good farm,
he lived on it until 1900, when he removed to Independence, Iowa,
where his death occurred a few months later, in 1900. He married
UO HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Ann McGary, who was born in ]\Iontreal, Canada, in 1836, and died
in Iowa in 1904.
The oldest of a family of ten children, James E. McDonald was
brought up on the parental farm in common with his brothers and
sisters acquiring his rudimentary education in the district schools.
In June, 1888, he was graduated from Tilford Academy at Vinton,
Iowa, and three years later, in 1891, he was graduated from the
Chicago School of Pharmacy. The following two years Mr. Mc-
Donald was engaged in the drug business at Independence, Iowa,
during which time he began the study of medicine, making such
progress that on March 7, 1893, he was graduated from the Keokuk
Medical School with the degree of M. D. Immediately locating in
Rowley, Buchanan county, Iowa. Dr. McDonald conducted a suc-
cessful business as a druggist and built up a large practice as a
physician in that place, continuing there six years. Selling out in
1899, the Doctor came direct to Mason City, where he has devoted
his entire time and attention to the practice of medicine and sur-
gery, being now one of the leading physicians and surgeons of the
city. He is a close student, keeping abreast of the times in regard
to all new discoveries and improvements used in his profession,
and in 1898 he took a post graduate course at the Chicago West
Side Clinical School.
Dr. McDonald married, September 10, 1902, Millie Hamlin,
who was born in Lyle, Minnesota, December 16, 1874, and they have
one child, Jeanne C.
The Doctor is connected with various professional organiza-
tions, belonging to the Cerro Gordo County Medical Association;
to the Iowa State Medical School; and to the American Medical
Association. He is active and prominent in fraternal orders,
being a member of JIason City Lodge, No. 375, B. P. 0. E. ; of
Mason City Council, No. 1006, K. of C. ; Jiason City Aerie, No. 1655
F. 0. of E.; of Saint Joseph's Court, No. 1051, Catholic Order of
Foresters ; of Wilcox Camp, No. 709, M. W. A. ; of Midland Lodge,
No. 226, M. B. A. ; and both Dr. and Mrs. McDonald are members
of Tirzah Court, No. 3, Tribe of Ben Hur. Religiously the Doctor
and his wife belong to the Holy Family Catholic church. In his
political affiliations the Doctor is a sound Republican.
BLYTHE, MARKLEY, RULE & SMITH.
In entering consistent record concerning the representative
members of the bar of Cerro Gordo county there is all of pro-
priety is making special mention of the well known and important
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 441
firm whose title initiates this sketch. In its personnel are found
lawyers well trained and of pronounced ability in their exact-
ing profession, and their individual and co-ordinate success
and prestige stand in significant evidence of their personal integrity
and admirable equipment of technical order. As direct succes-
sors of a firm founded in Mason City more than thirty years ago,
Blythe, Markley, Rule & Smith stand in a place of marked priority,
and they control a large and representative business, involving
identification with much of the important litigation in the courts
of this section of the state. The members of the original firm were
Prank M. Goodykoontz and Richard Wilber, both of whom died a
number of years ago. This partnership was dissolved in the late
'70s and Mr. Goodykoontz then formed a partnership alliance with
James E. Blythe. Later Edward S. Wheeler was admitted to the
firm, the title of which was thereupon changed to Goodykoontz,
Blythe & Wheeler. In the autumn of 1881 James E. E. Markley
purchased the interests of Messrs. Goodykoontz and Wheeler, and
for several years thereafter the business was successfully continued
under the title of Blythe & Markley. Judge Clifl'ord Smith was a
member of the firm about five years and retired therefrom in 1900,
to assume his position on the bench of the district court. In 1903
Arthur L. Rule was admitted to partnership and in 1905 Clarence
H. Smith also became a member of the firm, whose present title
was then adopted. The law business controlled by this important
firm is one of the largest in the state, and under the various changes
in partnership the concern has maintained the highest professional
standard through the fine character and distinctive ability of its
interested principals. A. S. Rinard, former county attorney, was
a member of the firm about one .year, having succeeded Judge
Smith and having retired at the time of his election to the office
mentioned. For a long period the firm had its offices in the City
National Bank Building, and it is conceded that the present offices
of the concern, in the fine new Park Inn Hotel building, erected by
Messrs. Blythe and Markley, of the firm, are not excelled by any
utilized for similar purposes in the entire state. The hotel build-
ing, essentially modern in architecture and all appointments, is
located on State street, and is one of the finest business structures
in Mason City. The bar of Cerro Gordo county has ever held to
a high standard, and in the maintenance of this gratifying prestige
the firm here noted has contributed in generous measure.
442 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ABSALOM H. GALE.
A seion of one of the honored pioneer families of Iowa, it has
been given Mr. Gale to achieve prominence and influence as one of
the representative business men and influential citizens of Cerro
Gordo county, where he is now vice president of the City National
Bank of Mason City and where he has other important capitalistic
interests. He has been a valued factor in public affairs in his
city and county and is a former member of the Iowa state senate,
in which he made an admirable record.
Absalom H. Gale was born at Iowa Palls, Hardin county, Iowa,
on the 28th of February, 1863, and is a son of Thomas K. and Ann
(Attwool) Gale, both of whom were born and reared in England,
where their marriage was solemnized. They had maintained their
home at Portland, England, for some time prior to their removal
to America, and they took up their residence in Iowa Falls, Iowa,
in 1858. Thomas K. Gale was a mason contractor and in England
had been associated with his brother in the handling of large and
important contracts of this order. They constructed the fine break
water in the harbor of Portland, England, and the brother had
charge of the building of a portion of the extensive breakwater
constructed by the British government on the Nile, in Egypt.
Thomas K. Gale became one of the leading contractors in the line
of mason work in Iowa, where he erected a large number of public
buildings, including the old court house at Hampton. Franklin
county. In 1870 he removed with his family to JNIason City, where
both he and his wiie passed the residue of their lives. Here he
constructed the bridge of the Iowa Central Railroad and he also
carried to successful completion many other important contracts
here and in other sections of the state. He was a man of fiiie
business and technical ability and his sterling integrity in all the
relations of life gained to him the implicit confidence and high
regard of all with whom he came in contact. He was a stanch
adherent of the Republican party and both he and his wife were
devout and zealous members of the ]\rethodist Episcopal church.
In the church of this denomination in Mason City he held the office
of class leader for a period of about thirty two years.. Here he
died in 1905. at the venerable age of seventy-four years, and his
chei-ished and devoted wife attainetl to the same age; she was sum
moned to the life eternal in 1907. Concerning their children the
following brief data are entered : Jennie is the widow of James
Rule of Mason City, of whom mention is made on other pages of
this volume; Harriet became the wife of M. M. Bradley and she
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 443
died in this city in 1909 ; Absalom H., subject of this review, was
the next in order of birth; George is a resident of Mason City;
Rev. Thomas K. is a member of the clergy of the Methodist Episco-
pal church and is a resident of the city of Chicago at the time of
this writing, in 1910; and B. A. is engaged in looking after rentals,
buildings, etc., for his brother A. H., to whom this sketch is
dedicated.
A. H. Gale was a lad of about five years at the time of the
family removal from Iowa Falls to Mason City, and here he was
duly accorded the advantages of the excellent public schools,
after leaving which he entered the University of Iowa at Iowa
City, where he completed the course in civil engineering and was
duly graduated. For the ensuing two years he devoted his
attention to his profession in the employ of the Union Pacific Rail-
road Company, and in this connection he had charge of the erec-
tion of the fine union passenger station at Ogden, Utah. After
severing his connection with the railroad company he returned to
Mason City, and here, in 1886, he assumed a clerical position in
the City Bank, which was later reorganized as the City National
Bank and which is one of the substantial and popular financial
institutions of this part of the state. He has been consecutively
identified with the affairs of this bank and ha.s been its vice-presi-
dent since 1905. Mr. Gale is also an interested principal in corpor-
ations engaged in the lime and cement business in Mason City,
and is the owner of a large amount of valuable realty in this city
and also in other parts of the county. He is one of the broad-
minded, progressive and lo.val citizens of the county and is ever
ready to extend his influence and co-operation in the furtherance of
all measures tending to advance the material and civic prosperity
of the community.
In politics ]\Ir. Gale is found arrayed as a stalwart in the
camp of the Republican party, and he has been active as a worker
in its cause. He has held the offices of city clerk and treasurer of
the board of education, and in 1904 he was elected to represent
his district in the state senate, in which he was a valued worker
during four sessions and in which he was influential in the deliber-
ations of the body and those of the committee room. He is
affiliated with the local organizations of the Masonic fraternity,
Knights of Pythias. Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
Modem Woodmen of America and ]\Iodern Brotherhood of Amer-
ica, in which last organization he has been supreme treasurer of
the Iowa state body since 1903. He is a member of the ]\Ietliodist
Episcopal church, as was also his wife.
444 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COL^TY
On the 8th of October. 1893. :\rr. Gale was united in marriage
to ^liss Jlabel Emsley. who was born and reared at ]Ma.son City.
Iowa, and who was a daughter of the late Thomas G- Em.sley. an
honored and influential citizen of ]\rason Citj' at the time of his
death. His biography is found on another page of this work,
llrs. Gale was summoned to the life eternal on the 26th of July.
1904. and is .survived by one son. Cecil, who was born on the 21,st
of July. 1895.
WIXRLOW CASSIDAY TO^MPKINS.
"Winslow Cassiday Tompkins, a retired citizen of Clear Lake,
Iowa, has been a resident of this place since 1862 (with the excep-
tion of three years spent in the army), and during this time he
has been actively identified with business interests here.
Mr. Tompkins was born in Lockport, New York, January .31.
1836. a son of Enoch and Deborah fWestbrooke) Tompkins, natives
of the Empire state and representatives of families long resident
there. Originally the Tompldns family were Quakers. Enoch
Tompkins was by trade a tanner and currier. He died in Canada
about 1847. where he had resided for some years. His «-idow sur-
vived him until 1868. when she died at Clear Lake, Iowa, at the
age of sixty. They were the parents of nine children, of whom
three sons and two daughters are now living.
About 1845, when a small boy, Winslow C. Tompkins came
west as far as Stephenson county. Illinois, where for several \ears
he made his home with relatives, working on a farm and attending
school. In 1854 he came over into Iowa and in Hardin county
hired to work for a man \Tith whom he remained until the spring
of 1856. Then he went to Iowa Falls, sent for hLs mother and
other members of the family to .join him, and in the following year
they all moved to Clear Lake. Here the mother spent the rest of
her life. Winslow C however, went back to Iowa Falls, where
during the winter of 1858-9 he attended school. In the .spring
he set out on foot for Leavenworth. Kansas, and covered the whole
distance in ten days and a half. In the spring of 1860 he left
Leavenworth en route to Denver. Colorado, employed as driver of
an ox team, and he worked for one man a year. In the spring of
1861 Jlr. Tompkins went to New :Mexico and tried his hand at
mining. He was at Leadville. Colorado, then called California
Gulch, when the first battle of Bull Run was fought. In October.
1861, he came back to Iowa and spent the following winter with
his mother at Clear Lake. The war continued and more soldiers
/r: 6( !>^7^^^A>7U^j^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 447
were needed, and on March 22, 1862, youns: Tompkins enlisted as
a member of Company C, Twelfth U. S. Infantiy. with which
company in May he left for Fort Hamilton, New York, where he
spent a year on detached service. After the battle of Gettysburg
he joined his company in the field, and remained with that com-
mand until 1865. In April of that year he was honorably dis-
charged at Fort Hamilton, after which he returned home. During
his service he took part in the following nine battles : Rappahan-
nock Station, Mine Run, the Wilderness, Spottsylvania, North
Anna, Bethesda Church, Cold Harbor, Petersburg and Weldon
Railroad, where he was taken prisoner. He was seven months a
prisoner of war, being in Belle Isle, Salisbury and Libby Prisons.
He had some close calls but came out of the army with no serious
injury.
After the war Mr. Tompkins engaged in farming. In 1879
he was elected county treasurer, taking the office in 1880, and he
served eight years, foiir terms. In 1889, he engaged in a whole-
sale business, which he continued for two years, also ha\'ing other
business interests in both Clear Lake and Mason City, at the latter
place being with the wholesale grocery firm of Francisceo Dyer &
Company. He then came to Clear Lake and engaged in the
retail lumber business, being a member of the firm of Woodford.
Wheeler & Tompkins, lumber dealers, who operated seven yards in
different towns and for fifteen years up to 1905 he was in this
From his early identity with Clear Lake, Mr. Tompkins al-
ways took a deep interest in its welfare and also in that of the
county. As .stated, he served four terms as county treasurer and
was the nominee of his party for a fifth term, and also served two
terms as mayor of Clear Lake. As his father died when he was
but eleven years of age and he helped to support his mother and
younger brothers and sisters, it is very evident that Mr. Tompkins
is a self-made man. He now owns three hundred and twenty
acres (two farms) in the county.
In April, 1868, Mr. Tompkins married Miss Jean Duncan,
who was born of Scotch parentage in Canada but reared in Illinois.
Her father owned a farm near Clear Lake, Iowa, and for a time
resided there. Two children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Tomp-
Idns: Earl Duncan, a practicing physician at Clarion, Iowa, and
Bertha, who died at the age of thirteen months. Mr. Tompkins
and his wife attend worship at the Methodist Episcopal church.
They reside in the pleasant home which he built in the north part
of Clear Lake. Fraternally he is identified with the Masonic
448 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Order and the Grand Army of the Republic. In 1904 he was one
of five commissioners appointed by Governor Cummins on the An-
dersonville Committee to erect a monument at Andersonville.
JOHN GREGORY LINDON.
For forty years John Gregory Lindon has maintained his
residence at Clear Lake. Iowa, where his efforts to win success have
been splendidly rewarded. Today he is the owner of about three
thousand acres of fine land in Union and Lake to^vnships, Cerro
Gordo county, the bulk of it being in Union township. His home
place, comprising two hundred acres, is within the corporate
limits of Clear Lake, and his beautiful home on East Main street
is on the trolley line.
Mr. Lindon was born in Warwickshire. England. February 15,
1850. a son of English parents who lived and died in "Warwickshire.
His father and forefathers were stock men. and it was in the stock
business that he had his early training. Soon after the death of
liis father, which occurred when John G. was seventeen, he came to
America. In the fall of 1869 he landed in "Wisconsin, where he
remained until April. 1871, when he came to Iowa and took up his
residence at Clear Lake. At that time he purchased a small farm,
to which from time to time he added until he became the possessor
of the fine estate he now owns, the greater portion of his land
having been purchased in 1885. This land is practically all
operated by him and his son, John G. Jr., and is utilized largely
for stock purposes. Annually they handle large numbers of hogs,
cattle and horses, at times grazing a thousand head, which they
sell and ship to eastern markets. This stock business Mr. Lindon
began when he first settled here, and to him belongs the distinction
of being the first to ship stock from Cerro Gordo county. Former-
ly he bought dressed hogs, and in this business covered a te'rritory
within a radius of forty miles from Clear Lake. Both as a
farmer and business man his standing is in the front rank in Cerro
Gordo county.
]\Irs. Lindon, formerly Miss Quick, was bom in Ohio, from
whence, in 1871, with her parents. James and Mary E. Quick, she
removed to Cerro Gordo county. Iowa, and settled on a farm. She
and Mr. Lindon have one son, John G. Jr., already referred to as
being associated in business with his father, and two daughters,
Mrs. F. E. Hill and Mrs. F. G. IMurphy, the latter of Clear Lake
and mentioned on another page of this work. Mr. Hill 's residence
is in Clear Lake, and he is a member of the Mason City Lime &
Cement Company. They have one daughter, Miriam E.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 449
Politically Mr. Lindon is a Republican, and has always taken a
commendable interest in public affairs. He has rendered efficient
service as a member of the City Council and School Board of Clear
Lake, and is one of the substantial members of the Clear Lake
Commercial Club. The whole family are identified with the
Methodist Episcopal church, and the son has membership in numer-
ous social organizations of the town.
JA5IES S. MOTT.
Standing prominent among the many well-to-do residents of
Cerro Gordo county who came here from the British Isles poor in
purse, but possessing an unlimited stock of energy and persever-
ance, is James S. Mott, a prosperous coal dealer of Mason City,
Iowa. Mr. Mott is a man of initiative, and through his own
well directed efforts he has made of success not an accident but a
logical result. He is strictly a self-made man.
James S. Mott M^as born on the 1st of May, 1850, in county
Cork, Ireland, and he is a son of James and Elizabeth (Sherlock)
Mott, the former of whom was born and reared in Maldon, England,
and the latter of whom was a native of the Fair Emerald Isle, her
birth having occurred in county Antrim, Ireland. James Mott
served twenty-three years in the British army when a young man.
In this connection he was stationed in Ireland, where his marriage
was solemnized and where he resided until 1856, when he removed
with his family' to Colchester, England. There he was employed
as a farm laborer until his death, which occurred in 1875, at the
age of sixt.v-five years. His wife preceded him to the life eternal
and her death occurred in 1852, at forty years of age. At the
time of his parents' removal to England James S. Mott was a child
of but five years and when he had attained his ninth year he began
working in a silk factory. His very limited educational privileges
were supplemented by such knowledge of books as a bright and
observing lad could pick up at odd moments. When in his
twentieth year he resolved to sever the ties which bound him to
home and native land and seek his fortune in the new world. Ac-
cordingly, in the spring of 1871, he bade good-bye to the scenes of
his youth and immigrated to the United States, locating at Waverly,
Iowa, a few months later moving to Mason City. In this vicinity
he worked as a farm hand for a period of four years, at the expira-
tion of which he invested his earnings in farm land, purchasing
eighty acres in section 34, Mason township, and he was there identi-
fied with agricultural pursuits for three years. In 1885, however,
Vol. n— 5
450 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
he removed to Mason City, Cerro Gordo county, where he con-
tracted to sprinkle the streets. In this connection he ^ave most
satisfactory and valuable service for four years, oftentimes sprink-
ling the streets with seven or eight loads of water which he had
dipped with a bucket from Willow creek before breakfast. He
labored diligently in the interests of the people and won the repu-
tation of giving the best service in that department ever before
enjoyed. Selling out that industry he was thereafter engaged in
draying until 1895. when he opened his present coal .vard, which
he has conducted with strict adherence to principles of honesty and
integrity. Mr. Mott has acquired property of much value, includ-
ing a tract of twenty acres of land within the corporate limits of
the city.
In polities James S. Mott accords a staunch allegiance to the
Democratic party, in whose local councils he has been an active
factor. He is alert and enthusiastically in sj-mpathy with all
measures and enterprises pro.jected for the welfare of humanit.v.
There are but few who will dare to take sides against him in an
argument. He is a frequent contributor to the local papers and
had the distinction of being the first "Henry George" man in the
county. As a citizen he is lo.val and public-spirited, and none is
held in higher confidence and esteem in the community. Fra-
ternally he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
of which order he is a past grand. He is frequently called for in
the lodge room, where his read.v wit and extensive knowledge
render him an entertaining speaker.
On the 4th of Jul.v, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr.
Mott to Miss Emma ]\I. Eady, who was born in Essex count.y,
England, on the 1st of June. 1851, and who came to Mason City
in 1875. Mr. and Mrs. Mott have five children, namely : Leonard
W., Oliver J., Olive M., Daisy, and Clinton. ■ Mattie, the second
daughter, died at the age of three months. L. W. Mott of Mason
City is in the coal business with his father ; O. J. Mott is the owner
of the South Side Feed Store and other propert.v on South Main
street ; Olive is the bookkeeper for the coal firm ; Dais.v, the .voungest
daughter, is the wife of J. E. Donnelly, of Clinton, Iowa; and
Clinton is the youngest of the children.
JAMES RYBURN.
As does the center of everv prosperous agricultural district,
Rockwell has a large number of retired farmers as residents, and
prominent among them is James Ryburn, an Illinois pioneer and
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 451
for over a quarter of a century a citizen of Cerro Gordo eountv.
He was born in Argyleshire, Scotland, August 22, 1833, his parents
being William and Ann (Mitchell) Ryburn, both of whom lived
and died in their native country. Before his eleventh birthday
Mr. Ryburn was left an orphan, and he went to live with an aunt,
with whom he remained until his nineteenth year. He was one
of eight children, five boys and three girls. Only two of them
are alive at the present day, the subject of this biography and his
sister, Mrs. Jane Cameron, of New Milford. Illinois.
Mr. Ryburn worked out for a number of years and in 1854 he
made a radical change by taking passage on a sailing vessel which
landed him at Quebec, Canada, after a seven weeks voyage. Al-
most immediately he came on to Belvedere, Boone county, Illinois,
where he had relatives. That fall he stayed with an uncle and
the following spring hired out to farmers by the month. In the
matter of vocation he was following in the paternal footsteps, for
his father had been a farmer. He continued to work out for the
next five or six years and then made a more independent venture,
renting a farm west near Rockford in Barrett township. Winnebago
county, Illinois. About the time of the Civil war Mr. Ryburn
bought a farm nearby, with the intention of paying for it on the
installment plan, but his crops were a failure owing to the depre-
dations of the chinch bugs and he had to give it up. He again
rented land in Winnebago county and operated it until 1883. when
he came to Bath township. Hei'e he rented land for a year. In
the late summer, however, he bought two hundred and forty acres
in Bath township, paying twenty-five dollars an acre for it. This
was an improved farm, partially fenced and with fairly good build-
ings. Mr. Ryburn proceeded to make many improvements, adding
to the house and building a large barn, and here he lived until the
fall of 1900, when he bought two lots in Rockwell and built a
residence in which he has ever since made his home. His farm
is at present operated by his son Neil.
In October, 1860, Mr. Ryburn espoused one of his own country-
women. Miss IMary Flemming. who was born in Argyleshire and
came to Canada in 1855 and to the United States in 1855. Mrs.
Ryburn died January 9, 1905. To Mr. Ryburn and his vnte were
born seven children, four of whom survive, as follows: William,
who lives on his own farm in Bath town.ship ; Neil, who has charge
of the old home place ; Flora, who is the wife of Harley E. Brown
of Rockwell ; and Mary, wife of Ed Piersol of Rockwell a traveling
man. Mrs. Piersol is her father's housekeeper. Annie, James
and Marion are deceased.
452 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Mr. Ryburn gives his allegiance to the Republican party and
for two terms was a member of the school board of Bath township.
He is a member of the Congregational church, as was his \viie
before her demise. Since coming to Cerro Gordo county he has
seen its marvelous growth, and conducing to this has been the
building of three railroads through its extent — the Great Western,
the Short Line and the Northwestern. It is a mistake, he says,
to marvel at the low price of land in Iowa and Illinois in the early
days, for it was harder to pay for it then than now.
BYRON BATE.
B^Ton Bate, a pioneer grocer and senior member of the Bate
& Vroom Company, ]Mason City. Iowa, has been a prominent factor
in the business activities of this place for more than thirty years.
Mr. Bate was born in North\imberland county Ontario.
Canada. Jamiary 2, 1848, son of James and Clarasia (IMarsh)
Bate. James Bate, a native of Devonshire, England, came to
Canada when sixteen years of age, and there passed his life as a
farmer. He died in the fall of 1907, at the age of eighty-eight
years. The mother, a native of Canada, died that same fall, her
age at death being eighty-three. They were the parents of three
children, only one of whom, the sub.ject of this sketch, is living.
On his father's farm Byron Bate in his youth became familiar
with every detail of farm work, including grubbing, and he at-
tended school only until he was sixteen. He continued work on
the farm until the fall of 1871, when he came to Mason City, Iowa.
That was just previous to the memorable Chicago tire. His
mother was in Chicago at the time on a visit. He hastened to
the burning city and took his mother home. Then he returned
to Mason City and for two years was employed as clerk there
by D. J. Purdy. In the meantime he made several trips home,
and on Christmas day, 1876, while in Canada, married Miss Lo\'ina
Morse, like himself a native of Canada, she ha^nng been born in
Elgin county, Ontario, December 25, 1856. In order to induce
him to remain at home his father deeded the young man half
the farm. He remained two years, but he eould not convince
himself that he was ever intended for a farmer, and at the end
of the two years he gladly released his interest, turning it back to
his father and again came to Iowa. That was in the autumn of
1878. lie clerked for D. J. Purdy two years, and then was en-
gaged in the grocery business for himself in Spencer. Iowa, for
three years. Returning then to Mason City, he formed a partner-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 453
ship %vith his former employer, but after four years sold and he
and Mr. Ray purchased ]\Ir. Parker's interest in the firm of Parker
& Vroom. i\Ir. Bate has since been connected with the firm.
Business was conducted under the firm name of Bate, Vroom &
Ray, but after three years Mr. Ray sold to the other two, and the
business was continued under the style of Bate & Vroom until
four years ago, when they took in another partner and changed
the name of Bate, Vroom & Company. Mr. Bate began life with
no capital and with practically little education, but has been able
to meet the problems and obstacles that have presented themselves
and has won his way to a comfortable success. He and his wife
are the parents of five daughters, Nellie, Alice, Clara, Lois and
Gladys, the three eldest having finished their education at Cornell
College.
Politically Mr. Bate is a stanch Republican. He is a member
of the I. 0. 0. F., and both he and his wife are identified as mem-
bers with the Methodist Episcopal church.
JULIUS F. SIEWERTSEN.
Among the young and enterprising farmers of Cerro Gordo
county, Iowa, is Julius F. Siewertsen, who lives on the farm in
section 33, Falls township, where he was born on February 24,
1880. He is a son of Godber A. and Catherine (Johanusen)
Siewertsen, both natives of Schleswig-Holstein, Germany. In
his native country Godber Siewertsen was a roof-weaver or thatch-
maker, and all his sons were taught the same trade. At the time
he emigrated to the United States, in 1876, he had but just enough
money to reach his destination. He spent the first summer with
a brother, then purchased eighty acres of land with no improve-
ments, where his son Julius now lives. He kept adding to his
land as his success warranted until the place now contains two
hundred and ninety-five acres of land, with two sets of buildings
to accommodate two families. Mr. Siewertsen, who was born
December 25, 1841, died June 4, 1910, at sixty nine years of age.
His wife died in 1906, at the age of sixty-seven years. They
were the parents of seven children, namely: Annie, wife of Paul
Thompson of Blooming Prairie, Minnesota ; Hattie, wife of Jurgen
Jensen, of South Dakota; Johannah, wife of Thomas Caspei-son
of Portland township; Augusta, wife of Cornelius Casperson, of
Butterfield, Minnesota; Dora, wife of Christian Thomson, of Port-
land township; Julius; Matilda, wife of William Brakel, of
Portland township.
454 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Julius F. Siewertse'n was reared on his father's farm and
received a common school education. When he married he took
charge of one hundred and eighty-seven acres of the home place,
and he purchased the estate in the fall of 1910. He Ls a .success-
ful farmer and raises a good many cattle and hogs. He stands
well in the community and in his business dealings is upright and
honest. He pays close attention to all the details of his work and
follows up-to-date methods. In politics he is a Republican, and
he and his wife attend the German Lutheran church of Jlason City,
of which they are members.
On February 13, 1907, Mr. Siewertsen married Johannah
Witt, who was born in Germany, JIarch 30. 1885, and came to the
United States in September. 1905. One daughter and one son
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Siewertsen, the former, deceased,
and the latter. Herbert, bom November 20, 1909.
SACRED HEART ACADEMY.
The Sacred Heart Academy, situated in Rockwell, is one of
the most important educational institutions in this part of Iowa.
It was erected in 1900, during the pastorate of Rev. Father Law-
rence H. Burns, who is at the head of its management, Rev.
Father J. J. Clune assisting. The location of the academy is
ideal, for it is upon the highest elevation in the town, this being
toward the northern boundary. Its construction is extremely
substantial, the walls being built of brick, a tier of solid ones out-
side and backed by hollow ones, which insures its being very warm
and dry. It is three stories high and has a basement besides, and
is one hundred and ten feet long by sixty feet wide.. In the
center of the main building towards the back is a wing thirty-three
by thirty-eight feet, with an eighteen foot ceiling, which is to be
used as a chapel. Toward the extreme outer ends are two stair-
ways, each seventeen by fifteen feet.
The height of the basement is eight feet ; the firet story twelve
feet ; the second story eleven feet ; and the third story ten feet.
The basement is used for fuel, boiler and storage rooms and also
for the kitchen, dining room, laundry, pantry and so forth. The
first floor is used exclusively for school purposes, here being found
the school and music rooms and the living rooms for the sisters.
Upon the second floor are to be found the quarters of the sisters,
the dormitories and the like. The third story is a large hall,
supplied with numerous dormer windows and suitable for entertain-
ments and exercises of various sorts and also as dormitories for
c<-,>/r/0^u^^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 457
pupils. In frout of the building is a tower surmounted by a
cross, from the top of which to the ground is a distance of eight}'
feet.
The academy was built at a cost of twenty-five thousand dol-
lars and presents a handsome and imposing appearance and will
be an enduring monument to the courage and persistent energy
of Rev. Father Lawrence H. Burns and to the self-sacrificing devo-
tion of the many members of the parish who contributed so liberally
towards the funds which made it possible.
The Sacred Heart Academy enjoys a wide reputation and
students are enrolled from various sections of the United States.
The curriculum qualifies a graduate to enter the freshman class
of the state university. The sisters who constitute the teaching
force are exceptionally well versed in their respective branches
and the whole community has been elevated by the influence of the
institution.
REV. FATHER LAWRENCE II. BURNS.
Rev. Father Lawrence H. Burns, pastor of the Church of the
Sacred Heart and at the head of the Sacred Heart Academy, is a
man of well-deserved consequence in the community, whose respect
he enjoys not only as an ecclesiastic of fine parts, but also as a man
of broad views and common sense. Father Burns was born in
county Tipperary, Ireland, in 1847, his parents being John and
Mary (Ryan) Burns. They were married in their native country
and there their children were born. In 1862 they decided to seek
the greater opportunity offered by the new world and accordingly
set sail, locating soon after their arrival in Philadelphia. The
parents made the Quaker City their home for the rest of their lives,
and not only they, but their children, with the exception of
Father Burns, have ever since resided there.
Father Burns acquired his early education in the public
schools of Ireland and soon after arriving in America he became
enrolled among the students in St. Charles Academy, situated
about fifteen miles from Baltimore, Maryland. After four years
attendance there he was sent to Allegany, Cattaragus county.
New York, where he entered an ecclesiastical seminary. He was
graduated from this institution and in 1878 was ordained to the
Catholic priesthood. His first charge was Key West, Iowa, to
which he was sent almost immediately after receiving orders. His
ministry was of two years duration there and he was then trans-
ferred to West Union, Fayette county, Iowa, where he remained
458 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
for four years and a half, those in authority sending him at the
end of this time to Ackley. Iowa, where his pastorate lasted three
years.
The ministry of Father Burns in Rockwell began in October,
1887, and the succeeding years have witnessed great advance in the
growth of church and academy. When he arrived the church
building was a small frame edifice forty-five by thirty feet, and he
added forty-five feet to its length, with the intention of making a
school room out of it. By the year 1890 he had been successful in
the realization of his ambition to have a new church, which was a
substantial affair of veneered brick. Unfortunately, however,
this building was not long to endure, for in 1905 it was vLsited by
a conflagration. In 1907 a beautiful new church was built to
take its place, this being superior in many respects to its prede-
cessor. The parochial residence, a comfortable and commodious
house where many members of the Catholic clergj' have found
shelter and entertainment, has been built since Father Burns'
arrival. He is essentially a builder, the Academy of the Sacred
Heart having been erected in 1900. It is one of the largest
parochial school buildings in this part of Iowa. It is one hundred
and ten feet long and sixty feet wide, has a basement and is three
stories above ground. The attendance at Sacred Heart Academy
is not restricted to the youth in this part of Iowa, for there are
pupils enrolled from various parts of the United States. The
Dominican Sisters or Sisters of the Order of St. Dominick have
charge of the school.
THEODORE B. MORSE.
One of the most extensive farmers of Falls township, Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, is T. B. Morse, who has conducted a farm on
his own account since he was twenty years old. He was born on
the farm in section 21 which he now owns, June 8. 1868, son of
George 0. and Eliza A. (Williams) Morse. The father was born
in Pittstown, Rensselaer county. New York, November 24, 1826,
and died May 17, 1904, and the mother, who was born in Saratoga
county. New York, died October 10, 1906, at the age of seventy-
four years. They were parents of five children, of whom three
are living, namely : Fred, of St. Paul ; Theodore B. ; and Oscar,
of Rock Falls, Iowa.
George 0. Morse was reared on a farm, being a farmer's son,
and received a fair education. He began to earn his own way in
the world at the age of sixteen years and began working on a farm
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 459
for five dollars and fifty cents a month. In 1855 he emigrated to
the west, with a view to establishing himself for life. He entered
land in sections 26 and 27, Palls township, Ceri-o Gordo county,
remained one night with Elijah Wiltfong, the first settler at Rock
Falls, and, after securing the entry of his land, went to Illinois and
rented land. He purchased a large flock of sheep and carried on
farming there until 1860, when he returned to Iowa and settled
on his land. He erected a log house and occupied it the first two
years, then bought a farm from Elijah Wiltfong on section 21 of
the same township, to which he transferred his residence. He
erected a second log house on the place in 1865 and lived in it until
1871, then built a comfortable frame house. He became one of the
largest land holders in the township, having at one time eight
hundred acres.
In 1858 George 0. Morse was married and he and his wife
spent their life farming until 1885, when they retired from the
farm to live in Rock Falls. They came back to the farm in 1891,
but a few years later returned to Rock Falls, where Mr. Morse
died. He was active in public aifairs and held various township
oiSces. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal
church for many years.
The boyhood of Theodore B. Morse was passed where he now
lives. He attended the public school and spent a short time at
school in Osage, Iowa. He early began to farm on his own ac-
count and has shown ability of a high order in carrying on his farm.
He now owns three hundred and eighty-five acres and has his land
well improved. For a number of years he has been extensively
engaged in raising horses and keeps from forty to fifty Percheron
and Norman horses on his farm all the time, being a firm believer
in the policy of keeping high grade stock. In polities he is a
Prohibitionist. He and his wife are members of the Methodist
church and are interested in every good cause. Mr. Morse repre-
sents the best interests of his community and is regarded with
esteem by all.
On March 16, 1905, Mr. Morse married Elizabeth L. Hill, who
was born in Rensselaer county, New York, September 7, 1870.
They have one daughter, Elizabeth M., and had one son who is
deceased.
WILLIAM S. WILCOX.
One of the progressive captians of industry in Cerro Gordo
county is William S. Wilcox, who is vice-president of the E. B.
460 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Higley Company of Mason City, one of the important concerns of
the city and one that furnishes the best of facilities and service
through its functions in the conducting of a modernly equipped
creamery and cold storage plant and the handling of butter, eggs
and poultry, as well as in the manufacturing of Higley's "Luxus"
ice cream. Mr. Wilcox has been a resident of Mason City the
greater portion of the time since 1893, and his entire career in a
business way has been one of close identification with the produce
trade and allied enterprises. In the year following his arrival in
Mason City he connected himself with the company of which he is
now an executive officer and in the promotion of whose business he
has given most effective aid, as an able executive and as a man of
progressive ideas and policies. The business of the E. B. Iligley
Company dates its inception back to the year 1880 and Edward B.
Higley has been identified with the enterprise from the time of its
foundation. Upon the incorporation of the company in 1901 he
became its president and he is still incumbent of this office, being
recognized as one of the substantial business men of Cerro Gordo
county and having ever held a secure place in the esteem of the
community. As already noted Mr. Wilcox is vice-president of
the company and the secretary and treasurer is Cornelius O 'Keef e.
As may be naturally supposed the enterprise was one of modest
order in its incipient stages but with the passing of years the
reliable and excellent management brought to bear in the connec-
tion have been potent in the development of a splendid industrial
and commercial enterprise and one that contributes materially to
the prestige of the city in which its headcjuarters are maintained.
In the earlier years a specialty was made of handling large
amounts of dairy butter produced in the northwest and finally was
instituted the manufacturing of creamery butter. This depart-
ment of the business has expanded to wide scope and importance
and has necessitated enlargement of the plant from time to time
with the final addition of a large cold-storage building and another
building which is utilized for the egg and poultry department.
Branches are maintained at various points in northern Iowa and
several buyers are engaged in traveling through Iowa and the
surrounding states. The plant at Mason City affords employment
to about thirty men.
William S. Wilcox is thus to be recognized in this publication
as one of the essentially representative business men in Cerro
Gordo county. He was born at Preeport, Illinois, on the 9th of
January, 1873, and is a son of William and Barbara (Alward)
Wilcox, both of whom were born in the state of New York. His
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 461
father died when the son was a child and when the latter was bui
four years of age, in 1877, his mother removed to Floyd county,
Iowa. In this section of the state JMr. Wilcox received a good
education in the public schools and he has been dependent upon his
own resources since early youth, thus being the more worthy of
honor and credit for the splendid success he has achieved through
his earnest endeavors. Prior to initiating his independent busi-
ness career he completed a course in a business college in Mason
City. For some time after identifying himself with the business
with which he is now connected as an officer, he had charge of
branch houses for the original firm and finally he assumed general
supervision of the fifteen branch establishments, with headquarters
at Emmetsburg for about three years, since which time he has been
actively concerned in the administration of the aflEairs of the
concern at its headquarters in Mason City. It has been found
expedient to reduce the number of branch establishments and the
business is now conducted largely through the main headquarters
in Mason City.
In politics Mr. "Wilcox is a stanch adherent of the Republican
party and in the spring of 1909 he was elected to represent the
second ward in the city board of aldermen, where he is proving
a most valued and loyal supporter of good mimieipal government
and stands exponent of the most progressive civic policies. Mr.
Wilcox is affiliated with Cerro Gordo Lodge, No. 70, Knights of
Pythias, of which he was Chancellor Commander for two terms,
and he is also a member of the Masonic Orders. He is a member
of the Methodist Episcopal church and its official board and is an
active and popular figure in both business and social circles in his
home city.
JOHN FROMM.
John Fromm, one of the most extensive farmers and stock
raisers of Lime Creek township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, was
born in Mecklenburg, Germany, January 27, 1847, a son of John
and Hannah (lOudt) Fromm. John Fromm Sr. was born in
1816 and died in 1892, and his wife, who was born in 1818, died
in 1901. They were parents of seven children, all of whom sur-
vive, namely: Sophia, wife of John Nieman, of Wisconsin; John;
Charles, of Lime Creek to\niship; Henry, of Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin; and Fred, William and Andrew, all of Wisconsin. Mr.
Fromm and his family left Germany in the fall of 1851, and after
a voyage of seven weeks landed at New York. They proceeded at
462 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
once to Milwaukee, and a week later located in "Washington county,
Wisconsin, where he purchased timber land and began clearing a
place to erect a house and cultivate a farm, where he remained
until his death. In his native country he had been a shepherd.
At the time his parents located in the wilds of Wisconsin
John Fromm Jr. was but four years old. He was reared on a
farm and received but a limited education. He ran away from
home and enlisted, January- 4, 1865, in Company K, Fourteenth
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry. He served until the end of the
war, then returned home and remained there until the fall of 1870,
when he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Cerro
Gordo county, a part of his present farm. There were but forty
acres of this under cultivation, and at first Mr. Fromm worked for
others. He erected a small house twelve by sixteen feet, where
he lived alone until his marriage. He now owns two hundred and
forty acres of well improved land, on which he has made all possible
improvements and has planted trees. He is one of the most suc-
cessful and enterprising farmers of that region and stands high in
the community. He served as school officer and road super-
intendent and in politics is independent. He is public spirited
and actively interested in local affairs and has always contributed
his share to the progress and welfare of the community.
Mr. Fromm married, December 25, 1876, Anna Kinney, born
in Warren county. New Jersey, July 2. 1860, daughter of John and
Aurora (Butze) Kinney, the former a native of Pike county,
Pennsylvania, born August 2, 1829, and the mother, also born in
Pike count}', October 22, 1829. They now live in Mason City,
Iowa. They were parents of six children, of whom the following
five survive: Charles, of Mason City; Sarah, widow of Harding
Hart, of Plymouth, Iowa; John, of Spirit Lake, Iowa; Mrs.
Fromm ; and Elizabeth, wife of John Stanton, of Mason City. Mr.
and Mrs. Kinney moved to Cerro Gordo county in September, 1866,
and located near Rock Falls, where they purchased a farm. Later
they moved to Worth county, Iowa, and for the last few years have
lived with their children.
Eight children blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Fromm, of
whom seven survive, namely: Aurora, wife of Delbert Pryor, of
Minnesota ; Kate, at home ; Clara, wife of John Harry, of Plymouth.
Iowa; May, wife of Robert McClintock, of Mason City: Bertha,
Charles and John, at home ; Elizabeth, deceased.
4'iirt3-
7
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 465
JAMES H. BROWN.
It would be difficult to think of any citizen in the locality
whose loss would be more severely felt and more sincerely re-
gretted than that of James H. Brown, whose death occurred April
5, 1910, at his home in Bath township, one mile north of Rockwell,
following a one week's illness with pneiimonia and heart trouble.
He was a man of varied abilit.v ; a stock-raiser and agriculturist of
the most scientific and advanced methods; a man of marked
political infliiencc: and associated in some high capacity with most
of the important organizations of town and county, as well as state.
He valued the best interests of the whole community above those
of the individual, giving most generously of time and energy to
the public service, and he is mourned by hosts of friends. Truly,
"To live in hearts we leave behind is not to die.''
James H. Brown was born in Boone county, Illinois, July 9,
1855, his parents being David and Agness (Hamilton) Brown.
He was of Scotch descent and as one of his biographers adds, "Of
Scotch thrift and of Scotch integrity." Soon after the attain-
ment of his ma,jority he went to Winnebago county, Illinois, where
he engaged in farming and from there removed to Bath township,
Cerro Gordo county, where he ever afterward made his home. He
had all of the secrets of successful farming at his finger tips and
at the time of his death was the owner of five hundred acres, all
highly improved and highly productive. He was associated with
numerous enterprises, being at the time of his death chairman of
the board of si;pervisors of Cerro Gordo county; president of the
Farmers' Cooperative Brick & Tile Company at Mason City;
president of the Rockwell Farmers' Cooperative Society; president
of Rockwell Farmers' Telephone Company; president of the State
Farmers' Cooperative Grain Dealers Association; president of the
Cerro Gordo Muti:al Insurance Association ; and director of the
Farmers' State Bank of Rockwell, For twelve years he was
president of the Rockwell Farmers' Cooperative Society and
assisted in the organization of the state association ; was president
of the Farmers' State Cooperative Mutual Elevator Insurance
Company, and was a director and stockholder in the Peoples' State
Bank of ]Mason City.
Mr. Brown was united in marriage to Miss Janet IMcMillan,
their union being celebrated at Mason City, Iowa, April 18, 1884.
Besides his widow he is survived by one son and four daughters, by
name, Howard, Maud, Agnes, Eppie and Merval, at home. He is
also survived by his aged mother, Mrs. David Brown, bv five
466 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
brothers, John, William, Hugh, Edward and Robert, and two sis-
ters, Mrs. Charles Brown and Mrs. Robert Colville, all living at the
old home in Illinois. He was an excellent husband and father, his
home life being ideal.
Mr. Brown was a stanch and enthusiastic Republican and was
eminently well fitted for the political field. Six years ago he was
nominated for supervisor without opposition, twice thereafter re-
nominated and at the time of his death was chairman of the board.
The social and fraternal side of his nature was well developed and
he took great enjoyment in his associations in this line, having
membership in Fraternity Lodge No. 344, I. O. 0. F., of Rockwell.
The funeral of Mr. Browoi was held in the Congregational
church. Rev. L. D. Blanford conducting the services and preaching
the sermon. There was a verv large attendance, friends having
come from every part of the county and from the farthest corners
of the state. There were many magnificent floral offerings. The
county officials attended the funeral in a body, as did the officials
of the Farmers' Society, the Brick & Tile Company and the Inde-
pendent Order of Odd Fellows, the latter conducting the services
at the grave. Some of Rockwell's most prominent citizens acted
as pall bearers. As a mark of respect the business houses closed
during the funeral hour.
To quote from the Rockwell Phoiwr/raph. which has given an
adequate account of his life and services, "As one of the pioneers
of Bath township James H. Brown has been identified with its
material improvements, its educational interests and its political
history. No man in Bath township has ever contributed more to
its history and its upbuilding, ha.s had a firmer hold upon the
hearts of its people, or will be more sadly missed from all its
councils than James IJ. Brown. * * In all the positions of
trust and honor Mr. Brown's sole aim seemed to be to "make good'
and hundreds of friends today mourn his untimely departure from
the sphere of earthly activities.''
Mrs. Bro^^Ti is a native of Boone countv. Illinois, born April
5, 1860. to Neil and Margarette (McArthur) McMillan, both natives
of Scotland. They came to America as young man and woman
and married in the T'^nited States. The mother died in Illinois
when Mrs. Brown was young and the father came to Cerro Oordo
countv in 1870 with our subject where he was farming. Here his
death occurred, at sixty-eight years of age. He was a Republican
in politics. Mrs. Brown was reared and educated in Boone
county, and since her husband's death she has rented the most of
her farm.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 467
HERBERT E. PALMETER.
A man of considerable importance in the manifold affairs of
Clear Lake is H. E. Palmeter, cashier of the Cerro Gordo State
Bank. He has owned this bank since 1892 and particular credit
is due to him for his success, for he is essentially a self-made man.
It was his good fortune, however, to be the son of a father whose
ideals were high and who gained the respect of any community in
which he resided. Mr. Palmeter was born in Chautaucjua county.
New York, May 21, 1849, his parents being Theron and Ulrica
(Bentley) Palmeter. The Palmeter 's residence in this part of
New York dated almost from the first of the nineteenth century,
the father's birth having occurred there March 31, 1817. He
lived to a great age, his death taking place on January 20, 1910,
while he was visiting in Sioux City, Iowa. The father came west
to Illinois in 1856 and lived in Ogle and McHenry counties until
1863, in which year he came to Cerro Gordo county and located
in Lake township, where he purchased land. He was a man of
admirable character, a deep reader and always deeply interested
in all matters of public importance and remarkably active and
virile almost to the time of his death. In the early days he served
on the county board of supervisors. He was a radical temperance
man and from boyhood an earnest member of the Congregational
church. His wife died in 1887. There were three children: D.
H. Palmeter, of Clear Lake, of whom mention is made on other
pages of this vohime ; Mr. Palmeter of this review ; and Mary, wife
of E. I. McGraw, of Sioux City, Iowa.
Mr. Palmeter 's boyhood days were spent upon his father's
farm in New York state and his education was obtained in the
schools afforded by the district- In 1863, after a few years'
residence in Illinois, the family came on to Cerro Gordo county, and
he came with them and for some time devoted his energies to clear-
ing the large tract of new land which his father had bought. In
1874 he and his brother, D. H. Palmeter, purchased a hardware
store in Clear Lake from J. H. Sweney, which they continue to
owTi and manage to the present day. It was in 1887 that H. E.
Palmeter became connected with the banking business. The bank
of which he is now cashier was first organized in 1885 by Bu.sh and
Hum. It was a private bank and was known as the Cerro Gordo
County Bank. In 1892 it was purchased by Mr. Palmeter and
others, reorganized with a capital of twenty-five thousand dollars,
and given its present name of the Cerro Gordo State Banlc. His
start in the banking business was made almost without capital and
468 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COl^^TY
his substantial success is an eloquent comment on his ability. I\Ir.
Palmeter was elected conncilman of Clear Lake in 1876. and since
then he has served continuously with the exception of two yearS'
In his fraternal associations he is connected with the ^Masonic
order and the Knights of Pythias.
Mr. Palmeter was married March 10. 1874. to ]\Iiss Emily
Fletcher, who was born December 5, 1851. in Rock county. Wiscon-
sin. This union was blessed by the birth of two children. John F.,
of Spokane. Washington, and Lora, wife of Willis T. Carpenter,
of East Orange, New Jersey. The ^vife's death occurred May 22,
1882. On January 9, 1884. Mr. Palmeter was a second time
married, the lady to become his wife being Miss Janetta Coleman,
born in Lexington, IMichigan, September 25. 1861. Her parents
were Charles and Rosabelle (Dimond) Coleman, the father a
native of Canada, the mother of Vermont. The father came to
Michigan as a young man and married. In 1862 he enlisted in the
Sixth Michigan Cavalrv and in April, 1863, was wounded and
taken prisoner at Trevillion Station, Virginia, that being the last
that was ever heard of him. At the close of the war the widow
and her young daughter removed to Areola, Douglas counts*,
Illinois, and in 1882 took up their residence in Clear Lake. Here
the mother's death occurred in December, 1896, her age being
fifty-seven years. Mr. Palmeter has had two children by his
second marriage, these being Charles C. and Cecil, both of whom
are at home.
CLARENCE II. BURNHAM.
For a period of forty years has the honored subject of this
review^ been connected with the business of the L. A. Page Lumber
Company, of Mason City, representing the most important enter-
prise of its kind in Cerro Gordo county. The business of the
Wilson Lumber Company was purchased by L. A. Page about the
.year 1870, and from the initiation of the new regime to the present
time Mr. Burnham has been connected with the enterprise. He
is a skilled artisan as a carpenter and this fact has contributed
materially to his success in his present position, as he is an able
judge of the qualities and values of the various grades of lumber,
with thorough knowledge of the quantity of stock required in
connection mth all kinds of building operations, so that he has
been able to give to the many patrons of his company the most
eflfective ser\'ice. He has been a resident of Cerro Gordn countv
since 1867, and here followed tlic work of his trade until his
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 469
assumption of his present position. The L. A. Page Lumber
Company has large and well equipped yards and warehouses and
handles all kinds of lumber and builders' supplies with the ex-
ception of hardware.
Mr. Burnham finds satisfaction in adverting to the old Empire
state of the Union as the place of his nativity, as well as to the
fact that he is a member of one of the honored pioneer families
of Iowa. The family lineage is traced back to stanch English
stock and the name has been identified with the annals of American
history from the pre-Revolutionary epoch. Mr. Burnham was
born at Ticonderoga, New York, on the 24th of September, 1852,
and the house in which he "first op'ed wondering eyes" stood not
far distant from the walls of historic old Fort Ticonderoga. He is
a son of Rev. J. D. and Clara (Spink) Burnham, both of whom
were likewise natives of the state of New York. The father was
one of the pioneer clergymen of the Methodist Episcopal church in
Iowa, and prior to coming to this state he had labored zealously
as a circuit-rider in New York state, where his service was princi-
pally as a member of the Troy conference. In 1867 he came with
his family to Iowa and here he continued in the active work of his
high calling, a worthy servant in the vineyard of the divine
Master, iintil the close of his life. He had pastoral charges at
Clear Lake and other points in the state and was unremitting in
his ministrations to the pioneers in the widely separated settle-
ments. He died at Plymouth, Cerro Gordo county, in the late
'80s, at the age of about sixty-six years, and his loved and devoted
wife preceded him to eternal rest by about three .vears. At the
time when Rev. J. D. Burnham came to Cerro Gordo county the
site of Mason City was practically unbroken prairie, and at one
time he owned one hundred and sixty acres of land, all of which is
included within the present city limits — property lying east of
Main street and south of Fourth street and now very valuable.
Rev. J. D. Burnham was a man of strong intellectuality and fervid
zeal and consecration in his chosen work, and his name merits a
place of prominence on the roll of the honored pioneers of the
Hawkeye state. Of the six children only three are now living,
Clarence H., who is the immediate sub.ject of this sketch ; Mary E.,
who is the wife of Leroy A. Page and resides in Mason City ; and
Anna A., who is the vnie of John H. Wolfe, of Kimball, South
Dakota.
Clarence H. Burnham gained his early educational discipline
in the public schools of the state of New York and was about fifteen
years of age at the time of the family removal to Iowa, where he
Vol. n— 6
470 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
pontinued to attend school for a time and where also he served his
apprenticeship to the carpenter's trade, to which he gave his at-
tention until he became associated wdth his brother-in-law, Mr.
Page, in the latter 's lumber business, concerning which adequate
mention is made in the opening paragraph of this article. Mr.
Burnham has not hedged himself in with the affairs of business
but has stood exponent of civic loyalty and public spirit. His
political allegiance has ever been given to the Republican party and
he is now representing the Fourth ward as a member of the board
of aldermen of Mason City, an office to which he was elected in the
spring of 1909 for a term of two years. He and his wife are
zealous members of the First IMethodist Episcopal church of ^lason
City, in which he is incumbent of the office of steward and he is
affiliated with ilason City Lodge, No. 224, Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, with whose ad.junct organization. Queen Lodge,
Daughters of Rebekah. his wife is actively identified.
Wlien about twenty-one years of age Mr. Burnham married
Miss Ida L Colby, a native of Canada, where she was reared and
her death occurred in Mason City, Iowa, at about thirty years of
age. She left two children, LeRoy D., merchant at Portland, this
county, and Harvey C. agent for the Great Western Railroad
Company.
At Charles City. Iowa, was solemnized the mari'iaire of Jlr.
Burnham to Miss Charlotte M. Berlin, who was born in New York
city and who is a daughter of Christian L. and Sofia Berlin, who
settled in Cerro Gordo county in the pioneer days. The father
now resides at Rock Falls, but the mother died in 1909. Jlr.
Berlin was long numbered among the successful farmers of this
county and is now li\ang virtually retired, being still vigorous in
mind and body, though he has passed the psalmist's span of three
score years and ten. Mr. and Mrs. Burnham became the parents
of one child Dwellie L.. who graduated in the Mason City high
school as a member of the class of 1910 and is now attending college
at Ames, where he is taking up a course of civil engineering. He
is one of the popular young men of his native city.
DWIGHT II. PALMETER.
T^on the roll of sub.stantial and representative citizens of
Clear Lake may well be inscribed the name of Dwight II. Palmeter.
senior member of the Palmeter Hardware Company, which is the
oldest business existing in Clear Lake today. It has a capital
stock of twelve thousand dollars and comprises everything neces-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 471
sary to complete a first class store of its kind, the Palmeter brothers
being thoroughly progressive in their ideas. They are also large
land holders, owning four hundred and forty choice acres of land
in Lake township.
Dwight H. Palmeter was born in Chautauqua county. New
York, June 21, 1845. He is the son of Theron and Ulrica
(Bentley) Palmeter. The father, who was a man of strong
character and a successful farmer, was a native of Chautauqua
county, New York, his birth having occurred there March 31, 1817.
It was his lot to almost complete the century, his death taking
place January 20, 1910, while on a visit at Sioux City, Iowa. Mr.
Palmeter spent his boyhood and young manhood upon his fathers'
farm and received but little schooling after the twelfth year of
his age. Realizing the fuller opportunities of the newly opened
west, the family decided to come to Iowa, young Dwight coming
in February, 1863, ahead of the rest, who followed in Jiuie of the
same year. The father purchased four hundred and eighty acres
of raw land, and he and his son^ at once set to work to improve it.
They were successful and in the course of a few years Mr. Pal-
meter had accumulated a snug little capital. In 1875 he decided
upon a radical change and came to Clear Lake, where he engaged
for eight months in the drug business. He sold this and he and
his brother in 1876 bought out a hardware house, and several
years afterward, when the brother. H. E.. entered the bank, Dmght
H. assumed the management. His brother's attention has since been
devoted to the Cerro Gordo State Bank, of which he is cashier.
Mr. Palmeter 's management of the Palmeter Hardware Company
is thus of nearly thirty-five years duration.
He has always played a prominent part in the civic life of
Clear Lake and in the affairs of the county. He served on the
school board for twelve years, held the office of county supervisor
for three years, and before his removal to Clear Lake was clerk of
Lake township. Tie assisted in the organization of the Clear Lake
Independent Telephone Companv, of which he is now president.
He has given a life-long allegiance to the Republican party and
gives an intelligent attention to all affairs of a public nature. He
IS a member of the Knights of Pythias and his wife of the Congre-
gational church.
Mr. Palmeter married. October 7, 1875, Miss Ada S. Arm-
strong, who was born at Potosi. Wisconsin, April 15. 184fl. They
are the parents of four children as follows: Roy A., of Fessenden,
South Dakota; Maud, wife of W. "W. Choate, of Clear Lake: and
Glad.vs and Paul at home.
472 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
CLARK W. HARRIS.
Clark W. Harris, a pioneer merchant of Rockwell, is one of
the most prominent and best known citizens of the community.
Reserved and modest personally, he has, nevertheless, always
played a leading role in its life, and he assisted in organizing
Dougherty township in Cerro Gordo county and acted as secretary
of the meeting. He has been twelve years mayor, nearly thirty
years fl justice of the peace, and is conducting one of the largest
and most up-to-date business houses in the town. He was born in
the province of Toronto (then Imown as Canada West). December
9, 1846. His father, Thomas IL Harris, was born in Maine and
died in llason City, Iowa, October 9, 1902. being about eighty-
eight years of age at the time of his death. Ohio was the birth-
place of the mother, whose maiden name was Matilda Waggoner.
She died in Wyoming. Iowa, in June. 1867. Soon after their
marriage in the Buckeye state they bought land in the province of
Toronto and there made their home for the following fourteen
years. They then sold out and went to Three Rivers, ^Michigan,
where for three years the father ran a grist mill. Their next step
was to go to Schoolcraft. Michigan, where Thomas Harris took up
'arming. About this time the Civil war cloud broke and he en-
listed and was sent to various posts, among them St. Louis and
Lookout Mountain. He returned to Schoolcraft, where he re-
mained for a year, then taking his family to Wyoming. Iowa,
where he engaged in farming. In 1870 he came to Dougherty
to\\Tiship, Cerro Gordo county, where he bought \vild land and
improved it. and he assisted in the organization of the township.
Later he went to Sheffield and devoted his energies to the restaurant
business. His last years were spent in Mason City, where as pre-
viously mentioned his death occurred. Mr. Harris was the third
of eight children, of whom four are living- The father was a
Republican, ser^^ed as trustee of Dougherty township, and was
once a candidate for sheriff, coming within a few votes of being
nominated. He and his wife were Free Will Baptists in Canada,
but while in Michigan affiliated with the IMethodist Episcopal
church and at Mason City belonged to the Christian church.
Mr. Harris enjoyed a good education, attending the common
schools in the localities in which he happened to be staying. He
attended a private school at Hazel Knoll conducted by a retired
^Methodist minister and his family, and was then a pupil in the
high school at Anamosa in Jones county. In his boyhood Mr.
Harris learned the carpenter's trade frt)ni liis father and in his
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 473
young manhood engaged in contracting and building in Cerro
Gordo county. He abandoned this to take up the furniture busi-
ness at Rockwell in 1877, having previously for several years made
his home in this town. He began in a small way, but today car-
ries a much larger stock than is usually carried in a town of this
size. He has taken up the undertaking business in conjunction
and has no competitor in the town. He has the distinction of be-
ing Rockwell's pioneer merchant, having been longer in the same
line of business than any other man in Rockwell. He has held
various public offices, having served as a member of the school
board, as mayor for twelve years, and as justice of the peace for
twenty-eight. He was a candidate for nomination for reprasenta-
tive, but was defeated by Jolm S. Stanbery in the convention by a
fraction. He was one of the organizers of the city of Rockwell.
• He is an Odd Fellow and has many times filled the several chairs
of the order. He is a Republican and he and his wife are com-
municants of the Methodist church-
Mr. Harris was married November 21, 1876, at the home of the
bride's parents in Geneseo township, the bride's uncle, Rev. G.
C. Lyman, officiating, to Miss Mary E. Lyman, born in Wyoming
county, Pennsylvania, July 6, 1856, a daughter of George E. and
Sara E. Lyman, both natives of Pennsylvania and now residents of
Rockwell, of whom mention is made en other pages of this volume.
Mr. and Mrs. Harris are the parents of three children: Maude L.,
is at home ; Ada E., is the wife of Frederick A. Green, of Seattle,
Washington, and the mother of two children ; and George Lyman
is at home. Both of the daughters are graduates of Mt. Vernon
College and the elder daughter was a teacher of English in the
Hampton School in the year 1909.
SAMUEL J. CLAUSEN.
Progressive, energetic, and public spirited, there are few if
any who play a more vital role in the affairs of the municipality
than Samuel J. Clausen, grain and coal dealer of Clear Lake and
former mayor of the place. Absolutely by his own efforts he has
established himself securely, building up a fine business and en-
joying the consideration of the community. He was born on the
Isle of Fano off the coast of Denmark, August 22, 1852, and the
record of his earlier years has many of the elements of romance.
He is a son of J. P. and Dorothea (Gregersen) Clausen, and one of
nine children, six of whom are li\dng. They are Mrs. Karen
Nelsen, of Denmark; Henry, living in Wisconsin; Jens J., a citizen
474 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
of Denmark; Mr. Clausen and his twin brother. Peter J., who
resides in Germany, and Mrs. Maria ilartinsen of Wisconsin.
When Mr- Clausen was fourteen years of age he left the parental
roof and went to sea as a cabin boy, following that calling for the
next seven years. The first two years were spent on the Baltic
and North Seas and after that he was on the greater oceans. Three
times he doubled Cape Horn and once Cape of Good Hope. When
the seven years were up he returned home, where he remained a
few months. In 187-4 he and a friend left for America, with the
intention of finding employment on the boats plying the Great
Lakes. When Mr. Clausen arrived in New York he found himself
without a penny and was under the necessity of borrowing twenty
dollars from his companion. He suddenly changed his mind
and decided to join the ranks of the "land lubbers." He pur-
chased a ticket to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he remained about
one month, then going to Fox Lake, that state, where he found work
with his brother Henry, who was engaged in the grain business.
Two years later the brothers went into partnership, and in 1882,
having been successful, they concluded to broaden out and Mr.
Clausen purchased from H. M. Messer the Clear Lake elevator.
In 1893 they dissolved partnei-ship, Jlr. Clausen retaining the
Clear Lake business. The present buildings were erected by him,
the elevator having a capacity of 25,000 bushels. On an average
of 100,000 bushels of grain are handled a year, not to mention
quantities of coal, feed and seeds. During his business career
Mr. Clausen has bought out five competitors, who have started up
at different times. He also owns an elevator on the Mason City
and Clear Lake Electric Road.
Mr. Clausen has served in several of the most important offices
in the bestowal of the people of the community. He served on
the council nine years, on the school board for twelve and was
mayor of Clear Lake for two years. He was one of the organizers
of the Cerro Gordo State Bank in 1892, has been a director since
that time and vice president since 1906. He owns two hundred
and thirty acres in Clear Lake township on the lake shore, which
he has nicely improved and he has bought and sold numerous other
farms and to^vn property. He is interested in the Western Lakes
Resort and since 1893 has been secretary of the organization which
controls it. When the Clear Lake Congregational church was
erected at Clear Lake he was one of a committee of three in whose
hands lay the responsibility. Mr. Clausen and John Ilolversen
built the Clear Lake opera house in 1890. l)nt the former afterward
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 475
sold his interest in the same. The first strictly modern dwelling
iu Clear Lake was built by this enterprising gentleman in 1891.
In his political conviction Mr. Clausen was formerly a stanch
Democrat but is now independent, believing in the infallibility
of neither party. He belongs to Verity Lodge, No. 250, A. P. &
A. M., and also to Chivalrie Lodge, No. 82, Knights of Pythias.
On August 11, 1879, at Madison, Wisconsin, Mr. Clausen was
united in marriage to Miss Carrie W. Suckow, who was born in
Pennsylvania, November 24, 1853. Five children are growing up
beneath their roof, Dora E., Henry W., Bertie J., Samuel J., Jr.,
in the School of Mines in Golden, Colorado, and C. Louise, attend-
ing the state university at Madison, Wisconsin.
ZENAS C. BURDICK.
There are few among Cerro Gordo county's Civil war veterans
who have had a more interesting military record, whose reminis-
cences of the days of the saving of the union are more thrilling,
and whose patriotism shines more brightly than Zenas C. Burdick,
now living in retirement in Rockwell. Mr. Burdick was born in
Erie county. New York, December 17, 1836. His father, Harris
C. Biirdick, was born in New York in 1811, and died in Grand
Junction, Green county, Iowa, April 1, 1897. The mother, Sally
Churchill Burdick, was bom in 1810 in the Isle of Mott, Vermont,
and died in Boone county, Iowa, four or five years previous to the
death of her husband. Two years after the birth of Zenas C.
Burdick his parents moved to Dekalb county, Illinois, where the
father practiced medicine. This state was the home of the family
for many years, it being in the eighties that the father and mother
came to Grand Junction, Iowa, the father's demise occurring in
that place.
Mr. Burdick was educated in the common schools of Illinois
and for two years after his marriage in 1860 made his livelihood by
farming. On August 12, 1862, he enlisted in Company G, of the
One Hundred and Sixteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, being
mustered in as a sergeant September 6, 1862. Soon the regiment
was sent to Memphis, Tennessee, and put into Sherman's Division,
later becoming a part of the First Brigade, Second Division of the
Fifteenth Army Corps. It was 'Mr. Burdick 's lot to see very
active service and to be in some of the most decisive conflicts. He
took part in numerous engagements, such as Black Bayou, Missis-
sippi, and Arkansas Post, Arkansas, (where more prisoners were
captured than had been taken up to that time). Sergeant Burdick
was for a time detached from the regiment and put on special duty
476 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
in the quartermaster's department at Young's Point. Louisiana.
On Jul3' 1, 1863, he rejoined the regiment, whieh was taking part
in the siege of Vieksburg. Subsequently the regiment was en-
gaged in the Atlanta campaign and accompanied Sherman on his
march to the sea. It saw action at Fort IMcAllister, Georgia, and
was later conveyed by boat from Savannah to Hatteras Inlet, South
Carolina. Then followed the battles of Pocotaligo. South Carolina,
Columbia, South Carolina, and Bentonville, North Carolina. The
regiment was sent from the latter town to Raleigh, North Carolina,
where they were located at the time of the surrender of Lee. It
marched to Washington, D. C, and took part in the grand review,
being mustered out in the national capitol June 7, 1865, and paid
otf at Springfield, Illinois, being discharged on the 28th of the
month. The One Hundred and Sixteenth was engaged in a
number of skirmishes and minor engagements not mentioned.
After the war Mr. Burdick returned to Dekalb, Illinois, and
in 1872 he removed to Clinton, Iowa, where he worked in a saw
mill for twelve or thirteen years. His next place of residence was
in Story county, Iowa, where he engaged in agriculture for a
time. Returning to Clinton he made his residence in that place
for the next four years and then came back to Story county, where
the Story City branch of the Iowa Central Railwa.y was being
constructed to Zearing, Iowa. He spent part of his time mean-
while working in Marshalltown, Iowa. He was assistant superin-
tendent of the building of the Soldiers Home at Marshalltown,
and had the honor of raising the first flag over that institution.
It was on Easter Sunday, 1900, that Mr. Burdick took up his resi-
dence in Rockwell, he having come to take charge of his daughter's
farm for the sununer. At the present time, on account of poor
eyesight, he has practically retired from labor, although he de-
votes considerable attention to his garden and to the raising of
chickens.
Mr. Burdick was married September' 1, 19()(). to Mrs. Emma
Dickson, widow of Robert H- Dickson, a native of Pennsylvania,
who came to Cerro Gordo county in 1854 and in 1856 took up
government land in Bath township. Mrs. Burdick was born in
Potter county, Pennsylvania, and in 1874 came to Iowa with her
parents, Joseph and Phoebe (Loucks) Smith. In the home state
the father had been a miller, but followed farming after coming
to Cerro Gordo county. The father was born September 1, 1810,
and died February 7, 1890, and the mother was born March 30,
1826, and died January 19, 1909, the demise of both taking place
at Rockwell. Mrs. Burdick i.s the mother of four children bv
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 479
her first marriage, and of these two are living, Benjamin R. Dick-
son of Waterloo, and Olive May Dickson who makes her home with
her mother. Mr. Burdiek was previously married, November 11,
1860, and of the ten children of this union four survive. Cora
Electa is the wife of Oscar Limdin, of Marshalltown, Iowa ; Harris
E., is a resident of Chicago; Leona May is the wife of Chauncey B.
Gustafson of Rose Creek, Minnesota; Zenas Elza lives in Dekalb,
Illinois.
Zenas C. Burdiek is a Republican and very active in politics.
In Story county he served for several years as justice of the peace.
He is an enthusiastic Grand Army man and has every reason to be
proud of his military record. He is at present commander of
Atlanta Post, No. 389 at Rockwell. He is also affiliated with the
I. 0. O. F. Mr. Burdiek is a member of the Christian church
and his wife of the Congregational.
AMASA A. CROSSLEY.
A man of intelligence and ability, Amasa A. Crossley, of
Mason City, has always been the encourager and supporter of
everything calculated to advance the welfare of his community,
intellectually, socially and morally, and is held in high respect as
a man and as a citizen. A son 'of A. A. Crossley, he was born
January 29, 1848, in Crawford county, Pennsylvania. His father
died four months previous to that event, in September, 1847, at
the age of twenty-two years. Mv. Crossley 's mother, whose
maiden name was Delila Curtis, married for her second husband
Ansel Harron, and in 1855 the family came westward to Wiscon-
sin, where they lived three years. Coming to Cerro Gordo county,
Iowa, in 1868, Mr. Harron bought wild land in Lime Creek town-
ship, and on the farm which he improved both he and his wife spent
their remaining days, Mrs. Harron passing away in November,
1887. at tlie age of sixty-five years, while Mr. Harron died in 1895,
aged eighty-three years. By her second marriage Mrs. Harron
had three children, as follows: Fred, living in Washington; L. C,
of North Dakota ; and Minnie, wife of Willard Pense, of Minnesota.
The only child of his parents, Amasa A. Crossley was reared
to agricultural pursuits, after the age of eight years attending
school but two terms. At the age of twelve years he was forced
to shift for himself, being sent out to work among strangers. Be-
coming skilled in the various branches of agriculture, he began
farming on his own account after his marriage, renting land in
480 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Olmstead eount.y, jrinnesota, for four years. Settling then in
Lyon county, Minnesota, he took up a claim, but after battling
\vith the grasshoppers for four years he gave up in despair and in
the fall of 1876 came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in search of a
favorable location. Mr. Crossley here bought one hundred and
sixty acres of land in section one, Bath township, a part of the
land being broken but no further improvements on it. After carry-
ing on general farming there for seven years he rented his property
and took up his residence in Mason City, where he dealt exten-
sively and profitably in live stock until 1898. Since that time
Mr. Crossley has been actively interested in the real estate and
insurance business. A man of good business judgment, he has
been uniformly successful in his operations, and is quite an ex-
tensive landholder, owoiing three hvmdred and twenty acres of land
in Bath township and three hundred and twenty acres in Mason
township.
Taking a warm interest in local affairs, Jlr. Crossley was
elected county supervisor in 1900, and served in that capacity seven
years, during which time much money was wisely expended. The
present county court house and county jail was erected at that
time, with a record of expenditure probably unequaled. as under
the direct supervision of Mr. Crossley ten thousand dollars less
than the appropriation was expended on the two buildings, and not
one dollar was given for extras in either. The concrete bridge
on East State street was also built under his supervision, it being
the third bridge of its kind erected in Iowa, Mr. Crossley having
been the first to advocate the use of that material for country work
in Cerro Gordo county. Mr. Crossley has also served as a mem-
ber of the City Council.
Fraternally he is a member of Mason City Lodge, No. 224,
I. O. 0. F., of which he has been treasurer for twenty years, and of
Anchor Encampment, No. 102. He is very prominent in the
order, and as a trustee of the Odd Fellows' and Orphans' Home
had the supervision of the erection of the present building, which
was erected in 1904 to replace the one destroyed in that year by
fire.
Mr. Crossley married, July 12, 1869, Gertrude T. Van Fleet,
who was bom in Auburn, New York, April 7, 1850. Their only
child, Prankie M., is the wife of Harry E. Evans, of Callaway,
Nebraska.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 481
REVEREND MICHAEL CAROLAN.
Father Michael Carolan, dean of the St. Joseph's church at
Mason City, is one of the influential and honored representatives
of the priesthood of the Catholic church in Iowa, where he has
labored with all of consecrated zeal and devotion for a period of
more than thirt.y-three years and where his efforts have been potent
in the upbuilding of a parish that is specially prosperous both in
spiritual and temporal affairs. The original church of this parish
was erected in 1871, by Rev. Father Feeley, of Charles City,
Iowa, and occupied the site of the present substantial and beauti-
ful edifice, which was erected in 1901 and which stands as one of
the concrete results of the effective efforts of the present pastor.
The first priest to assume regular charge of the parish was Rev.
Father Daniel Flannery, who assumed the pastorate in 1873 and
who was finally succeeded by Rev. Father Thomas 'Reilly. The
latter was succeeded by the present incumbent, Dean Carolan,
in October, 1877, and during the long intervening years the latter
has continued his zealous labors in this field, proving a faithful
servant in the vineyard of the divine Master. At the time of
Dean Carolan 's assumption of the pastorate of this parish the mem-
bersliip comprised not more than sevehty-five families and the
splendid growth of the parish is shown in the fact that it now has
a membership of more than three hundred families.
Dean Carolan was born in county Longford, Ireland, on the
2ncl of December, 1844, and his parents Patrick and Mary (Werd)
Carolan, passed their entire lives in the Emerald Isle. He was
reared to maturity in his native land and there received his educa-
tional discipline, which included the classical and ecclesiastical
courses in Carlow College, where he was ordained to the priesthood
on the 26th of May, 1877. Immediately after his ordination
Father Carolan came to America and made Iowa his destination.
In October of the same year he assumed the pastoral charge of his
present parish and here he has since remained, one of the valued
and honored members of the priesthood of his church in this
state. His zeal and self-abnegation have been equaled by his
genial and courteous bearing in his associations with his fellow
men and he holds the unqualified esteem of the community in
which he has so long lived and labored as well as the affectionate
regard of the members of his flock. In the early days the services
of the church were attended to by none too many priests and thus
Father Carolan found it incumbent upon him to administer, in
addition to the work of his Mason City parish, to the church people
482 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
at Rockwell, Sheffield, Dougherty, Plymouth, Grafton. Manly
Junction, Kensett, Northwood, Bristow, Lake Mills, Forest City,
Clear Lake and Garner. He thus found ample scope for his labors
in holding services and attending to the spiritual needs of the
settlers throughout a wide area of country. The first parochial
school of his home parish was erected in 1878 and was in charge
of the Sisters of St. Francis from the convent schools at Clinton.
The parochial school building was destroyed by fire on February
28, 1898, and on the same site was erected the present substantial
and commodious modern building, representing an invastment of
thirty thousand dollars. This building has been in practical use
since the 1st of September, 1910. The present fine parochial
residence was erected in 1896. The original parish of St. Joseph's
church was divided in 1908 and Rev. Edward Dougherty, a native
of Cerro Gordo county, is now pastor of the adjunct parish.
Father Carolan has held the distinguished position of dean of the
archdiocese of Dubuque since 1890, and he is one of the influential
factors in the generic work of this state and is now an irremovable
rector.
JOHN KEW.
The late John Kew, for many years a prominent resident of
Cerro Gordo county, was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 18-10,
and died in Rockwell, February 28, 1910. He was the son of
William and Jane (Smith) Kew. The family concluded to seek
new fortunes across the seas and came to the United States on a
sailing vessel, the voyage taking nine weeks. They went to
Cherry Valley, Illinois, and John Kew secured work by the month
upon farms in Boone county. The father died and the mother and
the children removed to Winneshiek county, Iowa. Here John Kew
remained for about a year with a brother-in-law and then returned
to Illinois. Meantime the mother and her son George moved again
to Clay count.y Iowa, where they took up a claim. After proving
it up they were beseiged b.v grasshoppers which continued in such
numbers that they sold out and came to Geneseo township. Cerro
Gordo county, where the mother remained until her death. Mr.
Kew was one of eight children as follows: Mrs. ]\Iary Casterton,
(deceased) formerly of Decorah, Iowa; Mrs. Fannie Darrington, of
Hester, Iowa; Mrs. Jane Casterton, (deceased), formerly of Can-
ton, Minnesota ; ]\Irs. Ann Moorehead, of Rockwell ; John, the sub-
ject of this biography; George, living in Rockwell; Mrs. Emma
Young, of Canton, Minnesota; and Edward, who died in England.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY , 483
To the lot of John Kew fell in full measure the experiences
of the pioneer in a new country. During the progress of the Civil
war he pulled up stakes in Illinois and located near Rockwell, or
as it was called in those days Linn Grove. He came in company
with his future mother-in-law and her family and remained with
them for a number of years assisting them in their agricultural
ventures. In the late '60s he bought land, this being a tract of
eighty acres of wild prairie land. He hauled logs from Mason
City and with the aid of a lumber saw constructed his first house
and built a log stable. With his own hands he broke the sod and
made all the improvements on the place. From time to time he
added to his first purchase until he was the owner of four hundred
acres, all but sixty acres of which he improved himself. He later
built a frame house and barn and in various ways made his place
up-to-date. Mr. Kew and his wife were among the first members
of the Christian church at Rockwell and afterward when its ser-
vices were discontinued they affiliated with the Congregational
church. Politically Mr. Kew was a Democrat and held the office
of road commissioner.
On January 1, 1868, John Kew took as his wife Margaret
Dillingham, born in 1853. She was the daughter of Sidney and
Catherine (Sweet) Dillingham, the former a resident of Troy,
New York, and the latter born in New York. The Dillinghams
were eai-ly settlers in Boone county, Illinois, and came to Cerro
Gordo county at the same time as Mr. Kew. Mrs. Dillingham and
her son William bought considerable land in Geneseo township.
Mr. and Mrs. Kew became the parents of four children, these be-
ing: William H. ; Lellia, wife of A. C. Campbell, who resides upon
the old homestead; Edward, living in Rockwell; and Katherine
E., who died when about two years of age.
William H., the eldest son of John Kew and a substantial
merchant, was born June 19, 1860, in Geneseo township and re-
ceived his education in the public schools, finishing with a course
in the Rockwell high school. His first agricultural activity was
upon his father's farm, which he made his home until 1892, when
he commenced farming on land rented from his father. Mr. Kew
married in 1893 and continued to rent and operate his father's
farm until 1907 in which year he bought a home in the town of
Rockwell and removed to it. In the winter of that same year he
and his bi'other-in-law, A. C. Diestlemier, formed a partnership
and bought their present general merchandise business. Thej'
enlarged the stock and in 1908 Mr. Kew bought the store building
in which thev are now located. Mr. Kew was successful as a
484 HISTORY OF CERRO CiORDO COUNTY
farmer, employing progressive methods, and his principal object
in coming to Rockwell was to give his children an opportunity to
attend school. He is a stanch Republican and for four yeai-s was
township assessor. He is an advocate of the cause of good educa-
tion and is at present a member of the school board. Fraternally
he enjoys membership in the I. 0. O. F-, and the Modern Woodmen
of America, and he and his wife are active members of the Con-
gregational church.
William H. Kew was married July 20, 1893, the lady to become
his wife being Miss Louise M. Amendt, who was born in Stephen-
son county, Illinois, and came to Hardin county, Iowa, with her
parents, Sebastian and Wilhelmina (Kottman) Amendt. There
the father owned and operated a farm for a time, but later he
sold it and removed to Geneseo to\\iiship, where he bought the
farm upon which he lived until his death. His wife survives
and makes her residence upon the old homestead. She was a
native of Stephenson count.v, Illinois, and the father was born in
German.v. Mr. and Mi*s. Kew are the parents of five children, as
follows : Eugene E., Jlillie R., Lellia A.. Luella and Ros.s W. All
of them are at home and in attendance at the public schools.
IVER HODNEPIELD.
Iver Hodnefield, a native of Norway and one of Lake town-
ship's enterprising agriculturists and good citizens, belongs to the
ranks of the self-made men, having been left an orphan at the age
of fifteen yeai-s in a comparatively strange country. He was born
in Stavanger. Norwa.v. January 9, 1864. his parents being John
and Gunnild (Olson) Hodnefield. He came to Cerro Gordo in
June, 1875, with his elders who located in section 33, Lake town-
ship. The mother died that same year, at the age of forty-one
years, and four years later seven children were left alone in the
world by the death of the father, he being at the time fort.v-eight
years of age. The family had emigrated to the United States in
1873 and had spent two years in Story county. LTpon his coming
to Cerro Gordo county the father had purchased some wild land
and had improved it to some extent. After his death the home
place was sold and the estate settled, the children being left with
practically nothing. The helpless little band made their home
for a few years with an uncle in Hardin county and then made
their own wa.v in the world. The seven children are as follows:
Carrie died twenty years ago as a young woman ; Chri.stina is the
wife of Dr. Charles Flynn of Postville, Iowa; Iver is the third
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 485
child ; Olive for the past seventeen years has been a missionary in
China under the auspices of the Norwegian Lutheran church;
Julia is the wife of J. William Brown of Colorado ; John is a farmer
in Lincoln township; and Cornelius is a train despatcher on the
Chicago & Northwestern Railway.
Iver Hodnefield went forth in the world as a self supporting
member of society at the age of sixteen years, and he has been
thoroughly successful. In 1887 he made his first purchase of land,
which was the nucleus of his present homestead. He now owns
and operates two hundred and forty acres of finely improved land
in section 34, Lake township, and raises stock in addition to his
general farming. He has some registered sheep. Politically Mr.
Hodnefield is an adherent of the Republican party, and in evidence
of the confidence in which he is held by his neighbors the offices
of trustee, school director and other public duties have been be-
stowed upon him. He and his family are members of Bethlehem
church (Lutheran) of Clear Lake.
In the fall of 1888 Mr. Hodnefield was married in Lake town-
ship to Miss Eliza Colby, born in Dane county, Wisconsin, in
October, 1871. She is the daughter of Colburn and Ann (Oscars)
Colby, who located in Cerro Gordo covmty in 1876, their land be-
ing situated in section 27, Lake township. Afterward the parents
removed to Mason City where they resided until their demise, the
father's death occurring in 1903, at the age of sixty-six years,
and the mother's, in 1907, at the age of sixty-six years. Mrs.
Hodnefield is a sister of William M. Colby of Mason City, the pro-
moter mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Pour children have
been bom to Mr. and Mrs. Hodnefield : Clara Jessie, aged nineteen,
is a student at Jewell College ; Ella Ann died in 1898, at the age of
four years ; Elmer Iver is aged eleven ; arid Lillian Eliza is aged
HENRY BRODRICK.
For nearly three decades Henry Brodriek has been identified
with the farming interests of Falls township, Cerro Gordo county,
Iowa, he having landed here in March, 1883. As a young man
he started out in life here with practically no capital, but he was
energetic and persevering, and in 1894 he purchased his present
farm. All the improvements on this place were made by him.
Mr. Brodriek was born near Pairstock, province of Ontario,
Canada, January 4, 1861, son of Henry and Margaret (Gearhart)
Brodriek, natives of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, who came to
486 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
this continent in early life and were married in Canada. In 1885
they followed their son to Iowa, and settled in Falls township,
Cerro Gordo county. Here the mother died April 7. 1887. at the
age of about fifty-six years. The father died in the fall of 1908,
at the age of eighty-nine years. He was a farmer and stock raiser
all his life. Of his family one son, Jacob R., and six daughters
are still residents of Canada, and besides Henry two other mem-
bers of the family came to Iowa — Mrs. Mary Sehurtz. of Palls
township, and Jlrs. Maggie Numirler, of Porest City. Henr\- was
the first of the family to come to Iowa with the exception of an
uncle, Henry Brodrick, now deceased, who made settlement here
among the early pioneers.
Henry Brodrick, the direct subject of this sketch, married in
Palls township, January 4, 1885, Miss Nettie Gildner, who was
oorn in this county, in June, 1868, daughter of Conrad Gildner,
t/ersonal mention of whom appears on another page of this work.
Mr. and Mrs. Brodrick have three daughters: Clara M., born
August 23, 1889 ; Pearl M., March 14, 1892, and Lilla M., July 23,
1898.
Mr. Brodrick was reared in the Lutheran church, and natural-
ly gives it his preference, though he is not a member of any church.
Socially he affiliates with the M. W. A., of Rock Palls, and politi-
cally he usually gives the Democratic party the benefit of his vote.
His postoffice address is Rock Palls. Iowa.
WILLIAM KNAAK.
A self-made man and one of the most progressive of his com-
munity is found in the person of William Knaak, who owns and
occupies a fine farm in section 6, Lake township, Cerro Gordo
county, Iowa.
Mr. Knaak was born June 14, 1850, fifty miles from Berlin,
Germany, son of Christian and Charlotta (Tech) Knaak. both of
whom came to this country and pas.sed their later years in the home
of William Knaak, where they died, the father in 1884, at the age
of sixty-four years ; the mother, Pebruary 15, 1899, at the age of
seventy-seven years. In their family was one other child, a daugh-
ter, Amelia, now the wife of Pred Schmidt, of Clear Lake, Iowa.
In his native land Mr. Knaak received a common school educa-
tion, and after the removal of the family to this country and their
settlement in Detroit, he began working at the carpenter's trade.
That was in 1870. He soon mastered the trade and engaged in
contracting and building, and was thus occupied when the panic
(J^^
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 489
of 1873-4 came on. Tliis brought about a change in his plans and
operations. In April, 1874, he eame to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa,
and bought forty acres of land in section 8, Lake township, on
which he settled down to farming. This land he improyed from
its wild state and cultivated until 1884, when he sold it, and with
the proceeds purchased eighty acres of his present farm, then un-
touched by the plough. Subsequently he made other purchases of
land until he now owns two himdred and eighty acres in Lake
township and one hundred and sixty acres in Lincoln township,
the former being the home farm, which is improved with two sets of
buildfngs. He has a large, modem home; a barn, thirty-six by
one hundred and twelve feet in dimensions; a double crib, thirty-
two by sixty-four feet, with solid concrete floors and foundation,
besides feed sheds, hog houses and m;merous other farm build-
ings — all his own work. Since 1883 he has been feeding and ship-
ping cattle and hogs, handling annually about one hundred head,
which he ships to the Chicago market, always going himself with
the shipment to Chicago.
And while llr. Knaak has for years carried on extensive opera-
tions in farming and stock raising, he has not confined himself to
the.se. From time to time he has identified himself with other
enterprises. He is a director, and adjuster for eight counties, of
both the Iowa Mutual Tornado Insurance Company and the Town
Mutual Fire Insurance Company, and is a director of the Cerro
Gordo Farm Co-operative Creamery Company at Clear Lake, of
which, for seven years, he was president. In 1904 he erected the
postoffice building in Clear Lake, a modern, two-story, brick stnic-
ture; the only fireproof building in the toAvn. For years he has
been prominently identified with the Cerro Gordo Fair Association,
in which he is a director and superintendent of cattle.
Fraternally Mr. Knaak has membership in various organiza-
tions in Clear Lake, including the F. and A. M., the K. of P., the
M. W. A., Yeomen and JL B. A. Politically he has been a life-
long Republican, active and enthusiastic in the work for the party,
serving as committeeman and as delegate to varioi:is conventions.
For ten years he has served as school treasurer. All this is
especially worthy of note in a man who landed in this country
without a knowledge of its language, and who by his ovvti efforts,
beginning with the first reader, without a teacher, acquired a usage
of English. In the summer of 1910 he and his wife made a visit
to his old home in Germany.
BIr. Knaak married, August 18, 1872, Miss Wilhemina Tre-
besch, who was bom in Germany, November 28, 1849, a daughter
Vol. n— 7
490 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
of Frederick and Christiana (Zone) Trebest-h. The Trebesi-h fam-
ily uame to the United States in 1872 and settled at Detroit, Jlichi-
gan. where her parents died, her father in 188-1, at the age of sixty
years ; her mother in 1890, at the age of seventy. To Mr. and Jlrs.
Knaak have been given six children, namely: Herman, at home;
Annie, wife of Herman Buss, of Clear Lake, Iowa; Matilda, wife
of Prank Tesene. of Lake township ; Hulda, at home ; Flora, wife
of William Sehmoll. of Lake township; and Frances, at home.
GEORGE B. ROCKWELL.
Although in the quiet capacity of a private citizen the life and
influence of George B. Rockwell was of great weight in the towTi in
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, which he founded and which bore his
name. To quote from a tribute paid him by the local press at the
time of his demise and which seems to voice the very ususual esteem
in which he was held : "From the day he first set foot upon the vir-
gin soil of this goodly land, George Byron Rockwell has been a
potent, virile factor in the material, spiritual and educational
growth of the community. For many years the impress of his
master hand was felt on matters of public import throughout the
county, district and state. It may be said of a truth that Cerro
Gordo county never possessed a citizen of higher ideals or keener
intellect than Mr. Rockwell.
Mr. Rockwell was born at West Milton. Saratoga county, New
York, December 6, 1828, and died at Rockwell, January 7, 1908.
thus being nearly eighty years of age when he passed to the great
beyond. His parents were David Judd and Ruth (Keeler) Rock-
well, the former a native of Bethel, Connecticut, and the latter
of West ^Milton, New York, in which latter place they were mar-
ried. The.v lived out nearly all of the remainder of their long
lives in Akron, New York, where the father engaged in farming.
The founder of the family of Rockwell in America was John Rock-
well, who was born in the vicinity of Dorchester, England, and
came to America only a score of .years after the landing of the
Mayflower Pilgrims, first putting foot upon the Atlantic coast in
1641. The mother's family, the Keelers, came to America about
the same time, their first representative, Ralph Keeler, emigrating
from his native England. His descendants were some of them
soldiers in the Revolutionary war.
George B. Rockwell was the eldest of seven children. He
was able, however, to seciire a good public school and academic edu-
cation and for a number of years taught school in his native state.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 491
During moments of leisure he studied law, and althousrh not ad-
mitted to the bar he praetieed his profession, and was predisposed
to the independent, wholesome life of an agriculturist. In 1850,
when a young man about twenty-two years of age. he became im-
bued -ndth the pioneer spirit and pushed westward, locating in
"Walworth county, Wisconsin. Upon the frontier he again took up
the life of a school master, his residence and activities there being
of about a year's duration. He then came on to Allamakee coun-
ty, Iowa, the date of his first identification with the state which
was to prove his permanent home being February, 1851. He
seciired a position in the Iowa district schools, and invested his
earnings in a tract of wild land. In 1853 he returned to New
York state to be married and within a week after assuming marital
relations started back with his bride for Allamakee coiinty. Mrs.
Rockwell was a delicate woman and she found the pioneer life both
rigorous and lonely, and in consideration for her Mr. Rockwell
sold his property and, after a residence of only four years in Iowa,
removed to a farm of two hundred acres which he had purchased
near Geneva, Kane county, Illinois, where he remained for the
following eleven years.
In 1864 Mr. Rockwell sold his Kane county farm, and having
for many years remembered Iowa as a desirable location he now
returned there with his family, buying land in Geneseo township,
Cerro Gordo county, from J. J. Rogers, one of the earliest settlers.
Upon a portion of this property the city of Rockwell is now located.
He did not bring his family to the new home until December of
that year, and they were then installed in a building used for a
school house, the fact that there was only one pupil at that time
making its utilization as a dwelling practicable. As soon as he
was able to do so, Mr. Rockwell hauled lumber from Clear Lake
and Iowa Falls and built a frame house, a part of which is still,
standing and incorporated in the house standing upon the family
homestead. With typical pioneer pluck he began upon the
numerous monumental tasks which confronted him, breaking the
sod, fencing the land and finally bringing the estate to a condi-
tion of high improvement. As an agriculturist and stock breeder
he was e.xtremely successful. In the latter capacity his specialty
was Short Horn cattle, his Grasdale herd having the reputation
during the '80s of being one of the finest in Iowa. Finally, how-
ever, he decided to give up the active life of a farmer and to this
end sold his farms, aggregating about six hundred splendid acres,
closed out his herds, built the fine residence in Rockwell now oc-
cupied by his daughter, Mrs. McClelland, and removed to it. the
492 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
year being 1887. .Not suited to a life of inaetivity. althonsli of
advancing years, he went to Sonth Dalcota in 1891 and purchased
a large tract of land in Lincoln county, ultimately selling that and
becoming the possessor of fourteen hundred acres in Moody coun-
ty, South Dakota, upon which for a number of years he conducted
extensive farming operations. He maintained his home in Rock-
well, going to South Dakota in the summer to look after his affairs.
He left a large and valuable estate.
He was always intensely loyal to the town which bore his name
and energetic in his efforts to bring about its advancement. It
was through his instrumentality that Rockwell became an incor-
porated town when it did, in order that drunkenness and kindred
vices might be suppressed. It was largely through his influence
that the route of the Iowa Central Railway was brought through
the town, this proving of incalculable benefit. Mr. Rockwell was
one of the directors of the above mentioned road.
George B. Rockwell was a man not only of untiring energy,
but one of versatile attainments. For several years during the
early '80s he conducted an agricultural department in the Rock-
well Phonograph, the same being widely approved for the wis-
dom and practically of its views. He gave strenuous battle to
intemperance and as some one has vividly put it; "For many
years he was a veritable 'enforcement league' unto himself" A
nian of .strong spiritual nature he found great pleasure in his
church relations and was active, often initiative in the good causes
of the church. When on April 26. 1873, the Congregational church
of Rockwell was organized with a charter membership of twelve,
Jlr. Rockwell was one of that number. He was elected one of the
trustees and later for many years served as one of the deacons,
his heart, mind and means being devoted to its upbiiilding and also
.to that of the Sunday school, in which he was the beloved Bible
class teacher. He was captain of the organized endeavor, which
brought about the building of the church edifice in 1879. Al-
though he never sought office he was very influential politically,
being at times a leader in this field.
Mr. Roclvwell was married August 31, 1853, as previously
mentioned, the lady to become his wife being Elizabeth Peninah
Jackson, daughter of William and Mary Ann (Havens) Jackson.
Mrs. Rockwell was born Augiist 26, 1829, at Clarence, New York,
where she was the loved daughter in a home of refinement. To this
union were born four children, only one of whom. Grace R.. now
Mrs. William F. McClelland of Rockwell, survives. A son, named
David W., died in infancy. Mary E., wife of J. A. Felthous, died
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 493
January 30, 1905, aged fifty; and Julia R., wife of A. A. Moore,
died September 14, 1888, at twenty-six .years of age. There are
three grandchildren : George R., Edith G. and Chester C. Felthous,
of St. Paul, Minnesota.
The death of Mr. Rockwell followed a stroke of paralysis, the
first affliction of this nature having come about three years pre-
viously. The funeral was held in the Congregational church, the
services being conducted by Dr. L. F. Parker of Grinnell, Iowa.
As a token of respect to the memory of the departed the business
houses of the town were closed and the public schools dismissed
during the funeral hour.
Mr. Rockwell was survived only a few months by his devoted
wife, whose death occurred October 20, 1908. Never a woman of
much endurance, she had been for nearly thirty years in a state
bordering on invalidism, and for seven years was a helpless charge
of the daughter who had given her best years to her constant care.
She was a charter member of the Congregational church of Rock-
well, and the last save one, Mrs. Caroline Felthous, to remain on
the roster. To quote from a well deserved tribute published bj'
one who knew and loved her best, "Elizabeth P. Rockwell was a
woman of supei'ior intelligence and native refinement. In the
home, which was her sphere, her judgment was not questioned.
Here, her influence for true character and upright living was a
most potent factor. She was a woman not swayed by every shift-
ing wind, and was usually able to discern correctly the false ring
of the counterfeit. In an early day she actively participated in
the affairs of the community, which will be remembered by the few
remaining pioneer citizens, although she may never have been
seen outside of her own home by many of the younger ones of the
present generation." The last rites were conducted by Rev. L. D.
Blandford, assisted by Mrs. Blandford, and she was interred in
the Rockwell cemetery beside her husband, and her memory and
example like his will long be one of the dearest heritages of the
younger generation of the town. Mr. Rockwell is survived by a
brother, Henry T. Rockwell, of St. Charles, Illinois; and a sister,
Mrs. Ruth Churchill, of Akron, New York.
JLTDGE GEORGE VERMILYA.
One of the oldest and most respected citizens of Mason City,
Judge George Vermilya is wadely and favorably known throughout
this section of Cerro Gordo county as an upright, honest man, of
sterling worth and as a fine representative of those courageous
494 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
pioneers who settled in the county in the days of its infancy. He
has witnessed wonderful changes during the past half century,
flourishing to\\-iis and thriving cities having spi-ung up as if by
magic, while magnifieent agricultural regions have usurped the
place of the raw prairie land which obtained when he made his
first appearance on Iowa soil. In this grand transformation he
has taken an active part, redeeming from its original wildness a
part of this beautiful country, in the meantime accumulating for
himself a handsome property.
Judge Vermilya was born, January 17, 1822, in Westerlo,
Albany county, New York, a son of Joseph and Susan (Pinkney)
Vermilya. His father, a man of brains, was a Radical in the full
sense of the term, intensely interested in needed reforms, being a
zealous advocate of the temperance cause and one of the leaders
in the organization of the first anti-slavery societies in his native
town. They reared eleven children, six sons and five daughters,
all of whom lived to become industrious and respected men and
women, the world being the better for their having lived and
labored in it.
Brought up on the farm in Albany eount.y, George Vermilya
in common with his brothers and sisters received a practical com-
mon school education, but unlike some of the other school children,
never outgrew the difSdence and bashfulness which handicapped
him as a child and has since been many times a detriment to him.
When he was eighteen years old his home nest was broken up by
the death of his parents, and the family became scattered. George
found work among the neighboring farmers, and in partnership
with his brother John, carried on the parental acres until 1844.
Lured westward then by the golden reports of the country on the
frontier, he started for Illinois alone, going by packet boat on the
Erie Canal to Lockport, New York, thence to Niagara Falls and
Buffalo. Taking a steamboat at the latter city, ]\Ir. Vermilya
went by way of the Great Lakes to Chicago, arriving there when
the people were shouting for their presidential candidates, either
Henry Clay or James K. Polk. After paying his bill at the stage
house or hotel on Lake street, the principal thoroughfare in Chicago
at that date, he had the munificent sum of ten dollars in his pockets,
his only available assets with the possible exception of one hundred
dollars or so interest in the old homestead in Albany county.
Tramping westward on the old stage road towards Galena for
about twenty-four miles, Mr. Vermilya found himself in a nice
little village called Bloomingdale. A line of four-horse coaches
owned by Frink & "Walker passed through the village daily, and
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 495
the principal hotel was kept by Colonel Hoyt. After spending
two years in the village, the directors of the district school urged
Mr. Vermilya to take charge of the winter term of the school, and
he accepted the position, having twenty-five pupils. In the sum-
mer of 1847 Mr. Vermilya paid fifty dollars for forty acres of good
prairie land in that vicinity, near Meacham's Grove. Leaving
a little money with a fellow at the Grove, he started for his old
home in the east, and that was the last he ever saw of the money or
of the fellow, although, as he says, "the fellow claimed to be of
refined and purified clay, and the money was untainted. ' '
From Chicago Mr. Vermilya went by boat to Saint Joseph,
thence by coach to Marshall, by rail to Detroit, thence on the
Canadian side by English steamer to Buffalo, from there to Albany
by rail, thence by four-horse coach to Westerlo. At the old
homestead he found his brother John and family, and soon after
they were joined by his brother Gilbert, who gave ]Mr. Vermilya a
horse and a trap for his interest in the old home estate. Becom-
ing interested then in the work of establishing public libraries in
each school district, an act having passed the state legislature
authorizing the directors of each school district to expend a stated
sum of money for that purpose, Mr. Vermilya started on that mis-
sion, going to New York city to make arrangements in regard to
books.
After working in soi^thern New York a few months he started
south, passing through New Jersey, and at Christmas time was in
Philadelphia. He found Chestnut street very nice, was enter-
tained at the theatres; saw Girard College; viewed the Schuylkill
Water "Works ; visited Brandywine battlefield, saw where Washing-
ton crossed the Delaware; and trod the ground at Valley Forge.
Subsequently, while in Carbondale, Pennsylvania, a gentleman
said to him, "I should think you would rather spend the winter in
our school house than out in the cold. ' ' He accepted the proposi-
tion and taught school in that place until the spring of 1848. The
following summer Mr. Vermilya spent at the old homestead in
Westerlo, after which he crossed the Catskill Moi;ntains and the
Delaware river into Pennsylvania, visiting the coal mining regions
at Scranton, the Wyoming Valley, Wilkes-Barre, and Mauch
Chunk. Stopping at Pottsville long enough to recover from a
slight illness, he made his way into Maryland. There he had
several uniciue experiences. On one occasion he relates, while
sitting at a table spread with a clean white cloth, twenty able-
bodied negro slaves quietly filed in to the table, were waited upon
by a white woman, and having eaten their dinner quietly filed out.
496 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
At night he could plainly hear a company of slaves, men and girls,
merrily laughing and talking. One Sunday while in JIaryland he
spent at a large plantation, a beautiful place, its fine buildings
surrounded b.y handsome shade trees. The proprietor himself
was away, but the mistress sat at the head of the table, at the
commencement of each meal making the sign of the cross.
During the winter of 1848 and 1849 Mr. Vermilya had charge
of the school which he had taught in Carbondale, Pennsylvania,
the previous winter, and in the spring of 1849 was urged by the
directors to accept the superintendeney of the schools. Declining
the offer, he made still another visit to the scenes of his childhood
days. Prom there he started for Chicago by the overland route,
going with a horse and buggy through southern New York. Penn-
sylvania, Ohio, Indiana and IMichigan, arriving in Chicago in
January, 1850, ere the days of railways or trolleys. Going then
to a town lying twenty-five miles northwest of that city, where he
had a cousin, he resided there five .years, being engaged to some
extent in farming on the one hundred and forty acres of land which
he purchased, the greater part of the time, however, traveling in
and about Chicago for insurance companies.
Having an attack of western fever in June, 1855, Mr. Vermilya
came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, locating on Shell Rock, F'alls
township, M'here he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land for
one hundred and sixty dollars and five acres of timber for fifty
dollars. He returned to Illinois, married, and four months later,
on May 20, 1856, started westward with his bride, having in his
outfit three yoke of oxen attached to a lumber wagon, a span of
mares attached to a light spring wagon, twent,v-five head of cattle
and ten colts. Camping and cooking b.y the wa.vside, and sleeping
in the covered wagon at night, he arrived in Palls township June
15, 1856, and for awhile camped in their wagon. Buying one
hundred and twenty acres of ad.joining land, Mr. Vermil.va erected
a house, eleven feet b.y eighteen feet, eight feet in height, trving
first a slab roof, then a hay roof, after awhile having a shingled
roof, and a stone and mortar chimney. Breaking up ten acres of
the prairie the first season, he sowed buckwheat and planted a few
potatoes, and that summer cut fifty tons of ha.v with a sc.ythe. He
added a shed one hundred feet long to his stable of fift.v feet,
covering it with slough grass, and having gathered his buckwheat
and potatoes was read.y for the long winter, which began that year
on November 15 and lasted until April 10, being very snowy and
severely cold. The next season Mr. Vermil.ya broke up another
fifty acres of land, raised three colts, some calves and pigs, a little
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 497
wheat and corn, and sold some butter and cheese, making a little
more than living expenses. Continuing his residence in Palls
township for five years, prosperity smiled on all of his undertak-
ings, and he became prominent and popular in public affairs, serv-
ing as road supervisor, inspector of school teachers, president of
the local school board, township assessor, and, in 1859, much to his
surprise, being elected judge of Cerro Gordo county. Removing
to Mason City in 1860, he filled the office to which he had been
chosen to the best of his ability, and at the end of his term of two
years was elected county treasurer and county recorder, receiving
a salary of three hundred dollars a year, at the end of the term
being honored with a re-election for another two years.
From 1865 until 1870 Mr. Vermilya invested in real estate to
a considerable extent, buying, for the sum of fourteen hundred
dollars, the one hundred acres of land comprised in his home
property on East State street; a quarter of a section of land in
Mount Vernon township for one thousand dollars; lands in
Dougherty, Geneseo and Falls townships; considerable land at tax
sales ; and erected the house which he now occupies, having removed
there from Fourth street.
From 1869 until 1872, inclusive, Mr. Vermilya was engaged in
the lumber business at Mason City, buying his lumber principally
in Minneapolis, Minnesota, although he bought some in Oshkosh
and other Wisconsin towns, and hauling a large part of it from
Austin, the nearest railroad point, to Mason City. There being no
lumber yard west of this place, a good deal of his lumber was
sold in Hancock and Winnebago counties.
Judge Vermilya was for several years master of the Mason
City Grange and secretary of the Cerro Gordo County Grange.
In the early '70s he was a member of the City Council, which met
in his office, then located at the corner of Fourth and Main streets,
but was afterwards removed to the corner of State and Main
streets. He was afterwards elected justice of the peace, and presi-
dent of the County Agricultural Society, both of which offices he
resigned. For sometime he was a member of the Board of
Trustees of the Methodist Episcopal church, biit took little part in
the affairs of the board with the exception of furnishing the lum-
ber when, in 1870 and 1871, the church edifice was built.
Mr. Vermilya married. January 6, 1856, in Illinois, Helen
Miller, who was born in Tioga county, New York, August 29, 1831,
and died in July, 1898, in Mason City, Iowa. Her father, Alva
Miller, came with his family westward from New York state to
Illinois in 1837, locating in Cook county. Of the five children born
498 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
to ]Mr. and ]\Irs. Vermilya four are living, namely: Jessie, wife of
F. H. Decker, of Superior, Wisconsin; Theron, in the restaurant
business. Mason City; Grace, who married W. H. Dilts, makes her
home with Mr. Vermilya ; Lydia, who died in 1893 ; Girden M., in
Holtville, California. Judge Vermilya is now past eighty-eight
years of age but as active as most men at seventy. He has all his
faculties and enjoys good health. He is one of the few pioneers
left that came to this county at the early date he did. and he is
honored and revered in the community which has so long repre-
sented his home.
VALENTINE BLIEN.
Among the successful mechants in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa,
is Valentine Blien, who carries a good stock of general merchan-
dise in his establishment at Rock Falls. ]\Ir. Blien was born in
New York city July 1, 1858, son of John and Clara (Claus) Blien,
both natives of Germany, the father born, October 28, 1831, died
January 3, 1903, and the mother born August 8, 1837, is yet living.
They were the parents of twelve children, of whom five survive,
namely: Valentine; Elizabeth, widow of William Roebuck, living
with her brother Valentine; John, of Plymouth, Iowa; Caroline,
wife of Fred Lippert, of Mason City; and Leonard, of Rock Falls.
The father of this family was a shoemaker and followed his trade
in Germany. He came to the United Stated about 1856, h"kving
barely his passage money, and he spent fort.y-five days on the
ocean voyage. He worked at his trade in New York city until
1867, then located at Plymouth, Iowa, where he followed his
trade one year, then followed the same occupation at Rock Falls
until 1880, when he established a general merchandise store, which
he conducted until he sold out to his sons.
At the time the family located at Rock Falls, Iowa, Valentine
Blien was but a child. He grew up there and received his educa-
tion in the district schools. He remained at home until he was
twenty-two years of age, then began working at the trade of
plasterer. In 1873 he moved to Mason City and followed his trade
until 1885, then bought his father's business at Rock Falls. In
1895 he took his brother L. C, into partnership and in 1905 they
took in another brother, John, establishing the store at Plymouth,
and of which John has charge. The Rock Falls store carries a
stock of general merchandise valued at six thoiisand dollars and the
one at Plymouth has a stock worth six thousand dollars. Valentine
and L. C. Blien together owned three hundred and twenty acres of
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY -499
land in Palls township, and the two, Valentine and L. C, own six
hundred and forty acres in Oliver connty, North Dakota.
On June 1. 1887, Mr. Blien married Hattie Kidder, a native
of Pennsylvania, who died in 1888. He married in 1891 Anna
Kirk, a native of Virginia. They have no children. Mr. and
Mrs. Blien are members of the Lutheran church. He belongs
to the Masonic fraternity, being affiliated with Benevolence Lodge,
No. 145, A. P. and A. M. ; Benevolence Chapter, No. 46, R. A. M. ;
and Antioch Commandery, No. 43, Knights Templars, of ilason
City. He is also a member of the K. of P., of Mason City, and of
the M. W. A., No. 5064, of Rock Palls. He is a popular and
public spirited citizen of Rock Palls and is highly esteemed by his
fellows. Por the past thirteen years he has served as postmaster
of Rock Palls. He and his brothers are industrioiis and ambitious
and have displayed good .judgment in the conduct of their affairs.
MARIUS P. PLOY.
Marius P. Plo.y, a prosperous farmer and cattle raiser owning
some seven hundred acres of well improved land in Cerro Gordo
county, was originally a subject of the Kaiser, his birth having
occurred in Schleswig-Holstein, Pebruary 17, 1853. His parents
were Peter P. and Marie (Heningson) Ploy. The father died in
Germany in 1890 and the following year the mother and her family
came to America and took up their residence in Cerro Gordo coun-
ty. Here the mother resided until her demise in 1902, at the age
of seventy-nine years. There is a large family of children, the
following being the enumeration: Senek P., of Grimes township;
Karl P., of Grimes township; Maria (Hansen), of Thornton, now
a widow ; Peter P., of Grimes township ; Matz P., of Grimes town-
ship ; Martin P., of Grimes township ; Antonia P., of Grimes town-
ship ; Ingeborg (Neve) of Pranklin county.
Mr. Ploy's father was a fur dealer, but a man of small means.
Nevertheless the son received a good education in his native land
and began his career as a wage earner, working upon farms. "When
he came to America his earthly possessions consisted of nothing
but a ticket from New York to Chicago. He arrived in Chicago
just after the fire of 1871 and work was scarce, so he went on to
Kankakee county, where he was gratified to get work with a farmer
who paid him sixteen dollars a month. After three years he came
on to Sheffield and for two years worked for farmers in its
vicinity. He was employed by John T. Richards and later he and
Jacob Nissen rented land of him and operated it in partnership.
500 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
The two in course of time bought two hundred acres of land. They
broke the land and attempted to cultivate it and kept bachelors
hall or "batched," as life without a female hoiisekeeper is termed.
Mr. Ploy also hunted extensively. But though they worked hard
they lost the farm, only retaining their horses and machinery.
Mr. Ploy changed from wheat to cattle raising, purchased cows and
calves and two hundred and forty acres on time at seven dollars an
acre, paying eight per cent interest. This land forms a part of
the present Ploy homestead. The cattle raising proved finan-
cially successful and Mr. Ploy has stuck to the business. Mr.
Ploy's large farm is highly improved, all of the improvements
having been made by him. He handles a good grade of Polled
Angus cattle, which he believes to be superior. He also raises
many hogs. A part of his land is situated near Thornton. Mr.
Ploy was reared in the Lutheran church and has very liberal
religious views. Por many years he has given loyal allegiance
to the Republican party and for the past sixteen years has served
as school treasurer.
Mr. Ploy was married, February 9, 1882, the lady to become
his wife being Miss Caroline Blumenstein, born July 27, I860, in
Jo Daviess county, Illinois. She is the daughter of Christian and
Predericka (Demmer) Blumenstein, natives of Germany, who came
to the United States in 1854. The father died in Illinois in 1865,
at the age of forty years, and the mother survived until July,
1905, her demise occurring in Cerro Gordo county at the age of
seventy-five years. Mrs. Ploy came to the county in the spring
of 1876 and she has ever since resided here. This couple are the
parents of eight children, six of whom -are living and at home.
They are Maria ; Christian ; Josephine, who died in 1909 at the age
of twenty-two; Katherine, who is a teacher in the county schools;
Wilhelm; Marcus and Henry (twins); and Elmer. The post-
office address is Thornton.
JACOB W. STEIL.
Jacob W. Steil, a prominent farmer and stock raiser of Palls
township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, where he owns and operates
eighty acres of land in section 33, is a native of the state, born in
Chickasaw county December 1, 1865. He is a son of Peter Steil,
a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this work. His parents
are natives of Germany.
Until he was eleven years old Jacob "W. Steil lived in Chicka-
saw county, and since 1876 has been a resident of Cerro Gordo
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 501
county. He received a common school education and then turned
his attention to farming, which he has since followed. He is an
up-to-date farmer and follows modern methods. He appreciates
the advantages of raising high grade stock and has brought his
farm to a high state of cultivation. He has been a resident of
Falls township since 1895 and has a large number of friends in
the neighborhood. Politically he is a Republican and has served
in several minor offices. He is a member of the Mystic Toilers
of Mason City, and he and his wife are members of the Christian
church of Mason City, which is his postoffice address.
On February 25, 1891, Mr. Steil married Miss Jennie Sauer-
berg, born in Clinton county, Iowa, November 5, 1874, daughter of
George and Katie (Hansen) Sauerberg, who located in ilason
City about 1880. Mr. Sauerberg conducted a blacksmith shop and
they lived on a farm in Mason township a few years, then moved to
Mason City, where they owned a ten acre tract of laud. Mr.
Sauerberg died March 15, 1910, in his sixty-third year. Mr. and
Mrs. Steil have four sons and one daughter, namely: Irvin, aged
sixteen years ; Miss La Bonna, aged eleven ; Milton, seven ; Leonard,
three, and Verne, one.
CHAUNCEY II. SMITH.
Dr. Smith lent dignity and honor to his profession through his
able and active service as physician and surgeon and he was
numbered among the pioneer members of his profession in Mason
City, where he was engaged in active practice from 1878 until his
death, which occurred on the 25th of February, 1909. He was
in a most significant sense humanity's friend and he labored with
all of zeal and earnestness for the alleviation of sutfering and
distress, ministering to the afflicted with the utmost self-abnegation
and showing an abiding sympathy that transcended mere senti-
ment to become an actuating motive for helpfulness. The Doctor
held a secure place in the affection and esteem of the people of
Cerro Gordo county and his memory will long be revered in the
community which represented the scene of his devoted labors
through so long a period of time.
Dr. Chauncey H. Smith was born in Chautauqua county. New
York, on the 26th of March, 1837, and was a son of Walter W. and
Lyda (Rice) Smith' both of whom are likewise natives of the old
Empire state of the union, where the respective families were
founded in the early Colonial days. The Doctor was one of a
family of eight children and seven of the number attained to years
502 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
of maturity. Dr. Smith was afforded the advantages of the
common sehools of his native county and made the best possible
utilization of the same. At the age of eighteen years he began
the study of medicine under the preeeptorship of Dr. H. IT. Glad-
den of Panama, where he continued his studies for three years,
except during a period passed in attending one course of lectures
in the medical department in the University of Jlichigan at Ann
Arbor. He pursued his tecluiical studies under difficulties, as his
financial resources were very limited, but he grounded himself
thoroughly in the learning of his profession and was finally granted
his diploma as Doctor of Medicine. In the autumn of 1870 he
again attended medical lectures and in IMarch of the following year
he received a second diploma. Dr. Smith followed the work of
his profession at Sugar Grove, Pennsylvania, until 1878, when he
came to Iowa and, as already stated, he was continuously and suc-
cessfully engaged in the practice of his chosen profession at Mason
City from 1878 until he was summoned to the life eternal, in the
fullness of years and well earned honors.
With the passing of time Dr. Smith did not permit himself to
lapse in the study of the best in medical literature, through re-
course to which he kept well informed in connection with the ad-
vances made in both medicine and surgery. He was a member of
the American Medical Association, the Iowa State Medical Society,
the Cei-ro Gordo County Medical Society and the Austin Flint-
Cedar Valley Medical Society. Though he found it impossible
to withdraw entirely from the exacting work of his profession,
owing to the insistent demands of his loyal clients, including many
of the representative families of Cerro Gordo county. Dr. Smith
gradually reduced his labors in his profession from the year 1900
and thus found surcease from so constant toil and endeavor during
the last years of his life. He was a Republican in his political
proclivities and was a member of the Masonic fraternity, in which
he passed capitulary degrees, having been affiliated with the lodge,
chapter and Knights Templars order in Mason City for many
years, and was also a member of the Mystic Shrine. He had a
deep reverence for the spiritual verities, but was not formally
identified with any church organization. His wife was a devout
member of the ^lethodist Episcopal church.
In the year 1862 was celebrated the marriage of Dr. Smith
to Miss Martha J. Allen of Warren county. Pennsylvania. They
are survived by two children — George, who is manager of a whole-
sale grocery at Dubuqiie, Iowa, and Harriet who is the wife of Dr.
William J. Egloff, concerning whom specific mention is made
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 505
elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Smith was summoned to the life
eternal on the 23rcl of January, 1904, at the age of sixty-five years.
NATHAN C. KOTCHELL.
In 1905 President Roosevelt conferred upon Nathan C. Koti-hell
appointment to the office of postmaster of Mason City, and of this
position he has since been ineumbeut. The commission thus
granted in connection with public service was a fitting recognition
of the high character and distinctive personal popularity of this
pioneer business man and influential and honored citizen of Cerro
Gordo coimty. He has maintained his home in Mason City since
the 13th of March. 1878, and he was about nineteen years of age
at the time when he thus identified himself with the interests of the
city and coiinty in which he was destined to gain marked success
and prestige through well directed effort along normal lines of
enterprise. Though Mr. Kothcell well merits the title of pioneer
he is in the very prime of his strong and useful manhood and con-
tinues to mark the passing years with definite and worthy accom-
plishment as one of the world's gallant army of workers. He is
president of the Iowa State Bank of Mason City and has other local
interests of important order, including those represented in the
Mason City Loan & Trust Company, of which he is vice-president.
Nathan C. Kotchell claims the Badger state as the place of his
nativity, as he was born in Jackson county, "Wisconsin, on the -ith
of November, 1858. He is a son of Amos and Susan (Cadwell)
Kotchell, who were numbered among the sterling pioneers of that
state and both of whom were of stanch German lineage. The.v
continued to reside in Sparta, Wisconsin, until their death, and
there the father followed the vocation of farming. The subject
of this review was reared to maturity at Sparta, Monroe county,
Wisconsin, to whose public schools he is indebted for his early
educational training. His independent career had its inception
through his identifying himself with railroad work, and for some
time after his establishing his home in Mason City he continued to
be employed as brakeman for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad. Effective service brought promotion, as he was given
the position of conductor in 1880. He thereafter served a.s freight
and extra -passenger conductor for the road mentioned until 1887,
when his impaired health compelled his retirement from this line
of work. In that year he became associated vnth. L. P. Cadwell in
the conducting of a livery, omnibus, dra.ying and general transfer
business in Mason City, under the firm name of Cadwell & Kotchell
506 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
The firm built up an enterprise of most prosperous order and one
that took precedence of all other of similar character in the city.
With this business IVIr. Kotchell continued to be actively identified
until the 15th of March. 1899. when he sold his interests and gave
about a year to rest and recreation, for the purpose of reeniiting hi.s
health. Throuorh his connection with the enterprise noted Mr.
Kotchell laid the foundations of his very substantial success, and he
is now recognized as one of the influential capitalists and business
men of the city, to which he came when a young man, with but little
in the way of financial resources.
In AugiLst. 1900. Mr. Kotchell became associated with other
representative citizens in the organization of the Iowa State Bank
of Mason City, which was duly incorporated under the laws of the
state, with a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars. He was the
vice-president of this institution during the first two years of its
existence, and was then, in 1902, elected its president, of which
chief executive office he has since continued the able and valued
incumbent. He began his service in the office of postmaster on the
18th of February, 1905. and he has administered the service with all
of discrimination and ability. The force of employes in connection
with the various details of the work of the Mason City postoffice
now aggregates more than thirty persons, including the deputy
postmaster, fourteen clerks, eight city carriers and eight carriers
on the rural delivery roiiteii. The business of the office has shown
a splendid expansion under the regime of INIr. Kotchell, and its
aggregate annual transactions have reached the noteworthy average
of nearly sixty thousand dollars. The present fine government
building in ]\Iason City was completed in 1909, and the postoffice
has been in operation therein since the 15th of February of that
year. The Mason City Loan & Trust Company was incorporated
in August. 1908. with a capital of fifty thousand dollars, and of
this institution, which exerci.ses most beneficent functions. ]\Ir.
Kotchell has been vice-president from the time of organization.
Mason City has no citizen who exemplifies greater loyalty, pro-
gressiveness and public spirit than does Mr. Kotchell, and his aid
and influence are ever to be counted upon in connection with
measures and enterprises tending to subserve the best interests of
the eoiiununity. He is a wheel-horse of the local contingent of
the Republican party and has long been a valued factor in its
councils and work in Cerro Gordo county. He is affiliated with
the local organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks and the National Union, and his genial personalitv has gained
and retained to him warm fi-ieiuls in both business and social
circles.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 507
At Decorah, this state, on the 9th of August, 1899, was solemn-
ized the marriage of Mr. Kotchell to Miss Cora M. Hicks, who was
born in Preston, Minnesota, where her father, the late Benjamin
G. Hicks, was an honored pioneer and influential citizen. Mrs.
Kotchell received excellent educational advantages and is a woman
of gracious presence and distinctive culture. For several years
prior to her marriage she was a popular teacher in the public schools
of Mason City, and she has since been a prominent figure in the best
social activities of her home city. She is a member of the Sorosis
Club and a former president of the Women's Federated Clubs of
Mason City. She is a member of the board of trustees of the
Mason City public library and was a member of the building com-
mittee that had supervision of the erection of the fine new library
building. She has much literary ability and takes a special
interest in educational work.
CHARLES HARMS.
Among those citizens who contribute in full measure to the high
standing which Mt. Vernon township enjoys as a progressive and
altruistic community must be numbered Charles Harms, who is one
of the fellowship pursuing the honorable vocation of agriculture.
He is a native of Wisconsin, having first seen the light of day on
the fii-st of January, 1867. As is the case with a large percentage
of America's finest and stanehest stock, Mr. Harms is of Teutonic
extraction, his father, Henry Harms, having been born in Hanover,
Germany, in 1830. The elder man answered the beckoning finger
of opportunity from the shores of the new world and crossed
the Atlantic about the year 1860. He located in Illinois and at
the outbreak of the Civil war enlisted from Lee county in Company
■ A of the Eighteenth Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He saw exten-
sive service, his regiment being frequently in the thickest of the
fight and in the battle of Gettysburg he was unfortunate enough
to be wounded. At the time of his honorable discharge he had
served for a period covering three years and three months. Shortly
afterward he went to Lafayette county, Wisconsin, where he laid
the foundations of a home, buying a small farm of ten acres and
marrying. He remained there for something like a .score of years,
gaining in worldly goods, and in 1886 sold out his holdings and
came to Cerro Gordo county, where he purchased one hundred and
sixty acres of wild land at twelve dollars an acre. This was situ-
ated in section 16, Mt. Vernon township. It requires some stretch
of imagination to realize that even at that time there were only
- Vol. II— 8
508 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
about a dozen settlers in the township. Mr. Harms, the father,
cleared his land and successfnlly cultivated it up to the time of his
demise, which occurred on January 19. 1903. Mr. Harms' mother,
whose maiden name was Catherine Tipp, was born in Hanover,
Germany, in September, 1842, and died November 4, 1899. There
were three children in the family, two daughters and one son. Mrs.
Martha (Harms) Latham, born October 9, 1865, died April 21,
1897, and Miss Pauline Harms, died July 25, 1895. Mr. Harms
is the only one of the children living at the present time. He was
only about eighteen at the time of his father's removal to Cerro
Gordo county, and has always made his home upon the farm.
He attended the graded schools and under the paternal tutelage
became soundly grounded in the best agricultural methods. He
now owns the old homestead of one hundred and sixty fertile acres,
has erected the substantial buildings which grace it, has set out
groves of trees, and improved it in every way, making it not only
abundant in fruitage but also attractive in aspect. He stands
well among his neighbors as a public spirited citizen and is now
giving a faithful service as constable of the township. Both he
and his wife are members of the German Lutheran church at Rock-
well, to which they give not only spiritual but material support.
Mr. Harms is an earnest supporter of the principles and policies
inaugurated by the Republican party and takes a keen pleasure in
studying public affairs and the best interests of the community.
On December 16, 1896, Mr. Harms took as his bride Miss Mary
Johnson, who is a native of Cerro Gordo county, having been born
in Mason township, December 7, 1878. She is a daughter of Peter
and Augusta (Groluf) Johnson, both natives of Germany and now
residing in Bath township. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have been
residents of Cerro Gordo county for over thirty years. Two
children are growing up under the roof of Mr. and Mrs. Harms,
these being a daughter and a son, Selena and Lyle H.
LAVINIUS ALEXANDER PRESCOTT.
Lavinius Alexander Prescott, a farmer and property owner of
Cerro Gordo county, has spent the greater part of his life within
its boundaries, having come in 1876 with his father. He owns one
hundred and sixty acres in sections 10 and 15 in Grimes township,
and rents the northeast quarter of section 9. thus having under
operation three hiindred and twenty acres, not to mention fifty-five
elsewhere located. In addition to his general farming he raises
stock. Mr. Prescott was born in Clinton township, DeKalb county,
HISTORY OP CBRRO GORDO COUNTY 509
Illinois, in 1857, and is the son of Henry and Esther (McNish)
Prescott. Upon coming here in 1876 they secured land in section
35, Grimes towmship. They were very isolated, the nearest town
and market being Sheffield, Franklin county, and the nearest neigh-
bor five miles away. The father ploughed the unbroken prairie
and generally improved his land and there made his home until the
fall of 1884, when he removed to another eighty acres, the north
half of the northeast quarter of section 35. He paid three hundred
dollars for it and it is now worth six thousand dollars. The father,
a native of Vermont, lived previous to his coming to the county in
Illinois, and then in Marble Rock, Floyd county, Iowa, securing
near the latter place a two hundred acre farm. He died August
22, 1894, on the Cerro Gordo county homestead, at the age of sixty-
five years. He was a member of the Masonic fraternity, a stanch
Republican, serving as assessor, and he and his family were members
of the Baptist church at Marble Rock, Floyd county. The mother
is now aged seventy-four and makes her home in Lake Andes,
Charles Mix county. South Dakota. There were four children
besides Mr. Prescott. Ashel H. resides in South Dakota ; Jesse D.
is in Cerro Gordo county; Henrietta Jane married Oscar Rickard,
and died October 14, 1893, in Boone county, Iowa; Owen Melvin
died March 15, 1885, at the age of nineteen years.
Since the age of three Mr. Prescott has been an lowan. He
received a common school education and early decided to follow the
vocation of his father. In addition to his general farming he has
been an extensive stock-raiser. He subscribes to the policies and
principles of the Republican party and gives an intelligent con-
sideration to affairs of public moment. He served as constable at
one time.
On May 13, 1878, in the Methodist church of Mason City, Mr.
Prescott was imited in marriage to Inez Mary, daughter of Abra-
ham Rickard, who came to Iowa about 1850. He lived in Daven-
port and at Cedar Rapids, and it was in Harrison county that Mrs.
Prescott was born. Her first husband was William Medley, an
early resident of Iowa, and who now resides in Oregon, and there
are two children by this former union, Ida May and Mary Estella
Medley.
GEORGE STEINER.
George Steiner, who owns a well-cultivated farm in .section 17,
Portland township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, carries on his work
according to modern methods and has up-to-date equipment for
510 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
doing his work. Mr. Steiner was born in Dane county, Wisconsin,
December 18, 1857, son of Nicholas and Dorothea (Schultheis)
Steiner, both natives of Germany. Nicholas Steiner was born in
1823 and died in 1869, and his wife, who was born February 15,
1827, died at Mason City, February 24, 1898. Of their three
children two are living, namely: Lydia, who married F. Uphoff
and is living in Wisconsin, and George. After the death of
Nicholas Steiner his widow married Albert Schlosser, who was born
April 28, 1824, and died August 12, 1900, at Mason City, Iowa.
She had no children by her second marriage. In 1884 Mr.
Schlosser and his wife moved to Cerro Gordo county, locating on a
farm in section 18, Portland to\vnship, where they lived until 1890,
and then removed to Mason City.
George Steiner was reared on a farm and received a good
i-ommon school education. He helped with the work on the farm
as soon as old enough. He came to Iowa with the family in 1884
and located at Nora Springs, where for one year he conducted a
meat market. In the spring of 1886 Mr. Steiner purchased the
farm where he now lives. He has one hundred and sixt.y acres and
has devoted himself to developing a fine farm. At the time of
its purchase this land was unimproved and he has set out the trees
on his property. He takes great pride in his achievements and is
considered a representative, useful citizen. In politics he is a
Republican, and he and his wife are members of the Evangelical
church at Nora Springs.
On IMarch 3, 1877, Mr. Steiner married Lydia Schlosser, who
was born in Marquette coiiaty, Wisconsin, October 8, 1854, daugh-
ter of Albert and Catherine (Niess) Schlosser, the father born in
Wurtemberg, Germany, April 28, 1824, and came to the United
States in 1846, locating in Wisconsin, where his first wife died in
1861. He married for his second wife Mr. Steiner 's mother, as
already mentioned. Mr. Steiner and his wife have no children of
their owd, but are fond of children, and have reared two : Mary,
wife of Guy Rader. of Nora Springs, and Raymond Cooley. still
living with his foster parents. Mv. Steiner and his wife stand well
in their neighborhood and have many friends.
DANIEL BRINK.
Daniel Brink, n well known farmer of Pleasant Valley town-
ship, was born in Columbia county, Pennsylvania, in 1850. His
parents were William and Leah (Poust) Brink, both natives of
Pennsylvania, where the maternal grandfather had also been born.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 511
The paternal grandfather was a native of Delaware. Mr. Brink's
father was a farmer and lived all his life in his native state, his
demise occurring in 1906, when he was about eighty-six years of
age. The mother died in 1880, aged about fifty-seven years.
There are two sisters also, both of them making their home in
Pennsylvania.
Daniel Brink received his education in the public schools of
Pennsylvania and upon his father's farm gained much practical
experience in the various departments of agriculture. His first
independent venture at farming was in Pennsylvania, and he after-
ward removed to DeKalb county, Illinois, locating near Genoa,
where he purchased land. He was fortunate enough to sell it at
an advance and invested in his present farm in Pleasant Valley
township in the year 1891. He owns one hundred and sixty acres
of well improved land, and the house occupied by him he rebuilt
after coming here. Mr. Brink is interested in the trend of public
events and gives his political allegiance to the Democratic party.
He holds membership in the Modem Woodmen of America and his
wife was a member of the Baptist church.
Mr. Brink was married in Pennsylvania in 1880 to Miss Mora
Parks, a native of Pennsylvania. Her parents were of the agri-
cultural class and were old residents of the state. Several brothers
are now living in Iowa. Mrs. Brink died in 1895, at the age of
thirty-seven years, leaving six children, namely : Frank, of Sioux
City, chief clerk in the engineering department of the Chicago &
Northwestern Railway; Charles, of Pierre, South Dakota, fireman
on the Chicago & Northwestern Railway; Jasper, at home; Delia,
wife of Theodore Eddy, residing in Mt. Vernon township, this
county ; Ira, living in California and in the employ of the Diamond
Match Company; and Mary, at home. Mr. Brink's postoffice is
Swaledale, R. F. D. No. 1.
J. L. JAMBS.
J. L. James, cashier of the First National Bank of Thornton
and owner of one of the model farms of Cerro Gordo county, was
born in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, March 8, 1859. HLs parents,
Richard T. and Mary (Combellick) James, are both natives of
England. The father emigrated to the "land of promise" when
a young man and secured employment in the lead mines in Jo
Daviess county. After his marriage he farmed for a time in that
section and in April, 1881, he removed to Franklin county, Iowa,
where he purchased land near Sheffield and engaged in its improve-
512 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ment and cultivation. He died on the homestead in 1882, at the
age of fifty-seven years, and the mother, who was born October 25,
1833, is still living in Sheffield. Mr. James is one of a family of
nine children, the following seven of whom are living: Henrietta,
wife of Reuben Atkinson of Sheffield; Mr. James, of this review;
Clara, wife of C. B. Wilt, of Savannah, Illinois; May, wife of
Harvey Bowen, of Brookhaven, Mississippi; Eva, wife of George
Benzler of Britt, Iowa ; Ella, who is at home ; and Edgar, a resident
of Franklin county, Iowa.
J. L. James passed his boyhood days upon the farm in Jo
Daviess county owned by his father. He spent the usual number
of hours in the school room, and when his parents came to Franklin
county he came with them. In 1886 he rented a farm and started
in as the author of his own fortiuies. In 1891 he removed to
Cerro Gordo county and purchased the east half of section 36,
which at that time was raw prairie. He broke the land, erected
commodious buildings, set out trees and otherwise improved it
until today he possesses one of the most attractive, productive and
valuable farms in all the extent of Cerro Gordo county. His
property consists of about four hundred and eighty acres.
On August 28, 1906, the First National Bank of Thornton
came into existence and in the following month Mr. James began
his duties as cashier. He still holds this position, while at the same
time operating his farm, in which latter he is ably assisted by his
sons. He votes the Republican ticket and has given efficient public
service — fifteen years as secretary of the school board ; ten years as
township clerk ; and two terms as assessor. He is a valuable mem-
ber of the Methodist church at Thornton and acts as its steward
and trustee.
On February 10, 1886, Miss Martha Farnham became the
wife of Mr. James. Mrs. James is a native of Lafayette county,
Wisconsin, where she was born December 15, 1864. To this union
have been born eight children: Raymond L. and Stella reside at
Mason City; Paul is at Sioux City, Iowa; and Richard, John W.,
Esther, Ruth and David are at home.
WILLIAM F. HENKEL.
William F. Henkel, of the firm of Henkel & Bruns, general
contractors and builders. Mason City, Iowa, has been identified
with this place for a period of twenty years and has contributed
materially to its growth and development.
Mr. Henkel was born in Germany in 1871, and was reared and
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 513
educated and learned the trade of mason there. In 1889, at the
age of eighteen, he left his home in the old country to try his for-
tunes in America, and on landing in this country went to Wisconsin,
where he spent one year. Then he came to Mason City, Iowa,
which has since been his home and where he has established himself
in a prosperous business and accumulated some valuable property.
His own handsome residence is at 703 East Huntley street. For
seven years he has been associated in business with George Bruns,
under the name of Henkel & Bruns, Mr. Bruns having worked with
him for five years previous to the formation of this partnership.
Besides many fine homes in the city they built the Decker Packing
plant, the St. Joseph's Catholic church, the E. B. Higley block, and
the Harding & Farrell building, the last named now being occupied
by the Cobb Furniture Company. Also as cement sidewalk con-
tractors they do a large business. They furnish employment to
from fifteen to twenty men, many of them skilled mechanics.
Mr. Henkel is married and has two children, Carl and Leona,
aged fifteen and fourteen years respectively. Mrs. Henkel, form-
erly Miss Ida Lehmann, was born and reared in Mason City,
daughter of E. Lehmann, one of the old residents of the town.
Politically Mr. Henkel has always maintained an independent
attitude, preferring to vote for men and measures rather than
confine himself to any one party. Socially he is identified with
the M. W. A. and B. P. 0. E. He and his family are members of
the German Lutheran church.
JOHN SHANKS.
John Shanks, an enterprising and industrious farmer of Port-
land township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, has put all modem
improvements on his three hundred and twenty acre farm and has
brought his land to a high state of cultivation. Mr. Shanks was
bom in Chicago, Illinois, August 29, 1852, a son of John and Helen
(Sharp) Shanks, both natives of Scotland. John Shanks Sr. was
bom near Glasgow, March 28, 1828, and is now living in California.
He came to the United States in 1849, at the age of twenty-one
years, and located in Chicago, where he lived some time after hi&
marriage. In 1862 he moved to Elgin, Illinois, where he engaged
in mercantile business, conducting a store there and at Dundee until
1869, when he sold out and moved to Iowa, crossing the Mississippi
at Dubuque and being taken over the ice in an old stage. He
located in Waterloo and conducted a general store there for three
years, then purchased a farm in Black Hawk county, where he lived
514 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
many years. Helen Sharp was born in 1S38 and died in 1860,
having borne her husband children as follows: John; Jennie,
wife of James Thompson, of Nora Springs, Iowa; Joseph K., of
Nora Springs; R. S. and George P., of California. IMrs. Shanks
came to the United States at the age of nineteen years. After
her death Mr. Shanks married Mary Creighton, also a native of
Scotland, and to this marriage nine children were born, of whom
six survive, namely: "William and James, of California; Mrs.
Nettie Coleman, of Chicago; Joseph, of Idaho; Grace and Ethel,
of California. In 1893 ]Mr. Shanks and his wife moved to Pomona,
California, where he owns land and has an orange grove.
The boyhood of John Shanks Jr. was spent in Chicago and
Elgin. Illinois, and Waterloo. Iowa, and he received a common
school education, working in his father's store when old enough
to be of assistance. When the family moved to Black Hawk
county, Iowa, he helped on the farm until his marriage, then rented
a farm and began on his own account. In 1880 he moved to Cerro
Gordo county, where he rented land fifteen years, then purchased
his present farm, which he has improved in many ways. He has
erected modern buildings and is successful in his operations. He
has made a specialty of raising and feeding stock and is considered
one of the leading farmers of the community. He is actively
interested in public affairs, is a Republican in politics and served
four 3'ears as school director. He and his wife have many friends
and stand high in the estimation of their neighbors.
On March 5, 1879, Mr. Shanks married Mary O. Whitney,
born in Ogle county. Illinois, May 14. 1861. daughter of Alanson
and Delinay (Young) Whitney. Mr. Whitney was born in
Prescott, Canada, and his wife was also a native of Canada, he born
November 13, 1830, and she March 14. Ig38. She died September
22, 1909, and he now lives at Shell Rock. Iowa. They moved from
Canada to Ogle county, Illinois, in 1858 and about seven years later
moved to Black Hawk county. Iowa. Mrs. Shanks is the oldest
of their nine children, all of whom are living, namely : Mrs. Shanks ,
Mrs. Elizabeth Harmon, of Joplin, Missouri; C. A., of Quinby.
Iowa ; Mrs. Bertha Schohner. of Glenwood Springs. Colorado ; Mrs.
Cynthia Richards, of Shell Rock, Iowa; S. B. and C. N.. of
Waverly Iowa ; Rosco, of Janesville, Iowa ; and Buren, of El Paso.
Texas. Children as follows have blessed the union of Mr. Shanks
and his wife: John A., of Portland towTiship; Mabel H.. wife of
Carroll Chapman, of Nora Springs, Iowa; Arthur I., of Nora
Springs; Olive May , at home; Charles R.. of Nora Springs; and
Ray W. and Kenneth S.. at home.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 515
ARCHIE W. HARROUN.
Archie W. Harroun, of 314 West Eighth Street, Mason City,
Iowa, has for eighteen years been engaged in the railway mail
service on the line between Dubuque and Sanborn, with head-
quarters at Dubuque.
While a native of Minnesota, born in 1869, Mr. Harroun has
made Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, his home since 1875, when he came
here with his parents, John and Lydia (Greenlee) Harroun, na-
tives of Crawford county, Pennsylvania. Early in life John
Harroun and wife left the "Keystone state" and came west to
Minnesota, settling near Rochester long before that city was started.
There for a number of years and later in Portland township, Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, he successfully carried on farming operations,
and he died at his home in the last named place in 1899, at the
age of seventy-one years. He served in various local offices, such
as justice of the peace, school director, etc., and was an officer in
a creamery company. Both he and his wife were members of the
Christadelphian church. She died in 1902, at the age of sixty-
seven years. In their family of five children, Archie W. was the
fourth born, the others being Park B., of Austin, Minnesota; Miss
Alma E., bookkeeper for the Damon-Igou Company, in which she
is a stockholder; L. Laville, wife of Frank Miller, a merchant and
one of the aldermen of ilason City; and Miss Carrie.
Archie W. Harroun previous to his entering the railway mail
service attended normal school at Algona, Iowa, and taught one
term of country school. He is married and has one child, Mar-
garet, born February 1, 1910- Mrs. Harroun, formerly Miss
Jessie Stevens, is a daughter of Charles J. Stevens, a resident of
Mason City and an engineer on the C. M. & St. P. Railroad.
Politically Mr. Harroun is what may be termed an Independ-
ent Republican. In religion he firmly maintains the views held by
his parents and is a member of the same church. Mrs. Harroun
is a Methodist.
THOMAS PERRETT.
Thomas Perrett, whose death oceured in Rock Falls, Iowa,
May 13, 1889, is still well remembered by those who knew and cared
for him, and his presence has been sadly missed from many circles.
Mr. Perrett was born in Stogursey Parish, Somersetshire, England.
May 27, 1827, the fourth child and oldest son of Thomas Perrett
and his wife, Ann Rawlings Perrett. ' When the boy was eighteen
516 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
years of age his father died- His parents were well-to-do and
sent him to school at Jlinehead, where he received a liberal edu-
cation. On November 1, 1854, he sailed from Liverpool for New
York, where he landed on November 10, the boat making one of
the swiftest voyages of the times. He proceeded directly to Chi-
cago, where he met a younger brother, J. C. Perrett, who was a
sailor on the great lakes and had been a resident of Chicago two
years. Thomas had left his youngest brother, William to manage
the farm and care for his mother and sisters. His cousin,
Joseph Perrett, was also a sailor on the great lakes, having come to
the United States in the spring of 1854. These three young men
moved to Iowa, spending the winter in Delaware and Dubuque
counties and a.ssisting in the survey in the town of Manchester.
In the spring of 1855 J. C. and Joseph Perrett returned to the
lakes and Thomas went to Falls township, Cerro Gordo county,
Iowa, walking a good part of the way and making part of the
journey by stage. He was looking for a location near a stream
where timber could be easily obtained, as wood and water were
then very essential for a farm, and found what he considered a
suitable place to settle, along the Shell Rock river in Falls township.
He entered three eighty acre tracts in section 27, one of these being
for his brother J. C. and one for his cousin Joseph. He also pur-
chased eighty acres of timber land in section 16. He made the
trip to Des Moines on foot to make these entries of land. The first
summer he worked for A. J. Glover and helped erect a saw-mill.
During the winter of 1855-56 he was joined by his brother and
cousin and they spent the winter in a little log cabin built on the
edge of the timber in section 16. As all were unmarried this
home was called "Bachelor's Retreat," and the next winter they
spent in a similar manner.
In the spring of 1857 Thomas Perrett erected a log house on
his own eighty acres of land, on the banks of Shell Rock river,
in section 27, where John Cortes and his wife lived with him and
kept house for him until his marriage. At Christmas time, in
1858, Thomas Perrett met his brother and a cousin in Chicago and
together they visited cousins in Grass Lake, Illinois, and Thomas
and his cousin there met their future wives. Thomas Perrett was
married on March 25, 1859, to Mary Jane Brown, second daughter
of Thomas and Harriet (Newell-Jewett) Brown. They met and
were married at Bradford, Iowa, Miss Brown coming %vith her
sister and brother-in-law (Joseph Perrett) in a wagon. Thomas
Perrett and his wife lived in the log house until 1871, when he
erected a handsome stone house. Three daughters and one son
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 517
blessed their union, namely: Elizabeth; Harriet A.; Laura J.,
who died November 16, 1892; and Thomas Rawlings. Joseph
Perrett and his wife also located on their farm, but in the fall of
1883 they moved to Rock Palls, and in 1897 moved to Mason City,
where he died December 3, 1902. He spent the years of 1864-65-
66 in Chicago, where he again engaged in sailing on the lakes, then
settled on his farm. His wife, who was Sarah Hanford Brown,
died March 4, 1905.
Thomas Perrett was a man of large, strong frame, also large
hearted and broad minded, honest, upright, true and genuinely
charitable. He held many township offices, and served many
years as county supervisor. His health failed him in the spring
of 1885, at which time he left his farm and built a house in the
village of Rock Palls, where he remained until his death. May 13,
1889, living these few years retired from active life. His wife,
who was born April 23, 1840, at Hampden, Ohio, died April 22,
1905. His youngest daughter, Laura J., who was born January
24, 1870, died November 16, 1892. The two older daughters,
Elizabeth and Harriet, live in the village of Rock Palls in the old
home. Both are graduates of Ames, class 1882, and both have
taught for several years. Thomas R. also lives in Rock Palls, a
stock dealer. He married Chloe M. Cochonour, and they have a
daughter, Doris C.
The present generation have but a dim perception of the hard-
ships and trials of pioneer life — what it meant to walk to Des
Moines and enter land, after having settled upon same to be
obliged to go with an ox team to Dyersville for the winter supply
of provisions, thinly clad, the weather at zero, and with the fear of
encountering one of the severe blizzards. Thomas Perrett
never shirked his duty, whether public or private, and contributed
his share to developing the country. He was a charter member of
the Masonic lodge organized at Mason City, also of Benevolence
Chapter. At the time of his death he owned four hundred and
fifty acres of land in Palls township.
0. B. THOMPSON.
0. B. Thompson, a resident of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa,
since 1855, and for the past nine years of Mason City, occupies
the pleasant and commodious home he built on West First street.
Recently he sold his fine farm of two hundred acres in Mason town-
ship, which was the family home from 1861 for a period of forty
years. The orchard he planted on this farm was the first one
518 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
planted in the vicinity, and he has always maintained a deep in-
terest in horticulture in connection with his agricultural pursuits,
in both of which he has been very successful.
Mr. Thompson was born in Cheshire county, New Hampshire,
June 11, 1839, son of Benjamin and Lucina (Gibbs) Thompson,
both born and reared there, as were their parents before them,
both families being of English origin. His father died in the
prime of early manhood ; his mother lived to a i-ipe old age. After
the death of his father Mr. Thompson, acting on the advice of an
uncle, Silas Card, a pioneer of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, came
west, accompanied by his two brothers, Orrin and Adelbert M.
That was in 1855. All three entered land here, at the rate of
one dollar and twenty-five cents per acre, and all engaged in farm-
ing. Adelbert M. died about six years ago in California. Orrin
died in 1908 in Mason City. 0. B. Thompson after spending a
few years in Mason City and Nora Springs, where he worked in a
store, married and settled down on his farm, beginning with prac-
tically no capital but soon winning his way to a comfortable
competency.
Mrs. Thompson, formerly Miss Emma Adams, was bom Octo-
ber 6, 1839, in Worcester, Massachusetts. In 1851 she came as
far west as Rockford, Illinois, and four years later she came to
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, which has since been her home. Here
she met and in 1861 became the wife of 0- B. Thompson. She is a
.sister of Mr. Charles M. Adams, of whom personal mention is
made elsewhere in this work. To Mr. and Mrs. Thompson have
been given two sons and two daughters, namely: Ella I., wife of
D. M. Dean, of Harlan, Iowa, died in January, 1910, at the age of
forty-seven, leaving a little daughter, Shirley ; Charles B., a fanner
residing in Mason City, married Miss Nettie Gillett, and has ten
children ; Jennie E. died on the home farm in 1892, at the age of
twenty years; and Shirley C, of Ames, Iowa, is engaged in the
theatrical business.
Politically Mr. Thompson has always been a Republican and
at different times has filled various local offices. In their church
relation Mrs. Thompson belongs to the Congregational and the
children of the Christian church.
ROBERT B. McCUMBER.
On the roll of Cerro Gordo county's substantial and respected
citizens must be placed the name of Robert B. McCumber, a fruit
gardener, who has brought to his vocation a particularly enlightened
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 519
and up-to-date knowledge of its possibilities. He has achieved
results which have brought him into gratifying prominence among
his brethren in this line and has added his quota to the sum of the
county's prosperity. Mr. McCumber is a native of Illinois, his
birth having occurred in Crete in that state April 2, 1846. His
parents were Orlin McCumber and Annie (Puller) McCumber, the
father being a native of Cattaraugus county. New York. He went
to Illinois and later to Minnesota. In 1856 he moved to Rochester,
Minnesota, where he lived out the greater part of his life and died
June 12, 1888, at the age of seventy-two years. The mother was a
Pennsylvania, the date of her birth being September 20, 1828,
and that of her death, April 2, 1900. Mr. McCumber was one of
eleven children, six of whom survive. A prominent member of
the family is the brother J. P. IMcCumber, who is at the present
time and for the past twelve years has been United States senator
of North Dakota, his home being in Wahpeton in that state.
There fell to the lot of Mr. McCumber that which is often the
wonder and envy of the younger generation, a taste of pioneer life.
In 1856, when he was about ten years of age, his father, who was
then living in Illinois, loaded the family and certain household
effects into a covered wagon drawn by oxen and set forth for
Olmstead count.y, Minnesota, the trip requiring about thirty da.vs.
Rochester, near which the father set his stakes, consisted then of
three log houses, and the country about was wild and uncultivated
in the extreme. The father purchased government land, pa.ying
for it at the rate of a dollar and a quarter an acre, and here he lived
until his death, partaking in full measure of the terrors and
adventures of the border settler, among the most unpleasant being
a bloody Indian massacre when the Little Crow Indians went on
the war path.
In Minnesota Mr. McCumber grew to young manhood, lend-
ing a shoulder wherever it was needed, attending the district
school when he could find the time, and gaining an all-round
education in the practical school of the American pioneer. Too
young to enlist at the beginning of the Civil war, he was unable to
content himself with peaceful pursuits at this time of conflict, and
February 18, 1864, he enlisted in Company C of the Ninth Minne-
sota Regiment. He was discharged at the close of the war and
returned home. Prom his boyhood he had been interested in
stock buying and for a number of years he engaged in this pur-
suit. In 1880 he left Minnesota and came on to Clear Lake,
where he became the proprietor of a meat market and engaged in
stock buying. In 1888, on account of ill health, he sold out this
520 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
business and for the following twelve years was care taker at
Dodge's Point. In 1900 he purchased the tract of ten acres which
is the present scene of his activities. This he cleared of timber
and brush and set it out with fruit, his success having been gratify-
ing in the extreme. In addition to his fruit growing he makes a
wholesale business of the raising of Rhode Island Red chickens.
Mr. McCumber is an enthusiastic Grand Army man, being a
member of the Tom Howard post at Clear Lake, which he assisted
in organizing a number of years ago. Because of certain dis-
abilities dating from his Civil war experience, Mr. McCumber
draws a special pension of fifty dollars a month. He gives an
unwavering allegiance to the tenets of Republicanism and has that
interest in public affairs which characterizes ever\^ broad-minded
man. His wife is a member of the Lutheran church and gives an
active support to its good causes.
On October 8, 1868, Mr. McCumber laid the foundations of a
happy home by his marriage to Miss Caroline Thompsen, who was
born in Bergen, Norway, November 6, 1839. Five children were
born to this marriage, two daughters surviving, Media, wife of
Cyrus Brayton of Union township, and Effie, wife of Fred Barnes
of "Wahpeton, North Dakota. Three daughters are buried at
Clear Lake, Iowa: Mrs. Julia Calanan, Mrs. Annie Sprague and
Mrs. Elsie Collins, who died of tuberculosis.
WILLIAM H. HATHORN.
Cerro Gordo has represented the home of William H. Hathorn
from the time of his infancy and he is a member of one of the well
known and highly esteemed families of this county, where his
father took up his abode in the year 1879, and during the interven-
ing years the name has stood not less significant of loyal and
worthy citizensliip than it has of splendid mechanical ability. He
whose name initiates this article is secretary and treasurer of the
Hathorn Automobile Company, of Mason City, and his elder
brother, Charles E., is president of the company, of which they also
constitute the board of directors. A brief sketch of the concern
appears on other pages of this work, as does also a review of the
career of the president of the company.
William Henry Hathorn was born in Rock county, Wisconsin,
on the 30th of January, 1881, and was an infant at the time of the
family removal to the former home in Cerro Gordo county. Iowa.
He is a son of Henry W. and Emma L. (Jones) Hathorn, the
former of whom was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, in 1856, and
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 521
the latter in Ohio, their marriage having been solemnized in Wis-
consin, to which state the parents of Mrs. Hathorn removed when
she was a child. Henry W. Hathora was reared and educated in
his native state, and there he learned the trades of both carpenter
and blacksmith. In 1879 he removed with his family to Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, making the overland trip with a team and
covered wagon, and he located a short distance north of Clear Lake,
where he erected a blacksmith shop, which served as the family
abiding place until the completion of the regular dwelling house.
Henry W. Hathorn successfully conducted his shop and also
operated his farm, but finally he returned to Janesville, Wisconsin,
in which city the subject of this sketch was born. In 1882 the
family returned from Wisconsin to the home farm near Clear Lake,
and there the father continued to reside until 1890, when he took
up his residence in Mason City, where he founded and conducted
a successful business, under the title of the Hathorn Foundry &
Machine Company. With this substantial enterprise he continued
to be actively identified until 1904, and it is now conducted under
the title of the Vulcan Iron Works. In the year last mentioned
Mr. Hathorn disposed of the business and removed to Grinnell,
this state, whence he later went to the city of Chicago, and finally
he removed from the great western metropolis to Rochester, New
York, where he and his wife now maintain their home. There he
is engaged in the manufacturing of a trip-hammer that was in-
vented and patented by him and that has found a ready demand
not only throughout the United States but also in foreign countries,
owing to its superiority over the types formerly used. He has
fine mechanical and inventive ability, and among a number of his
valuable inventions may be mentioned a loop and strap for felt
boots and the "Jumbo" windmill. His present industrial enter-
prise is conducted upon an extensive scale and is proving a splendid
success. Henry W. Hathorn is a Repviblican in his political
allegiance, is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, and
both he and his wife are zealous members of the Baptist church, in
which he was, for a number of years, superintendent of the Sunday
school at Clear Lake, this county. Besides the two sons individual-
ly mentioned in this work there are two other sons and two daugh-
ters — Oliver L., who is identified with business interests in Mason
City; Frank O., who is associated with his father's business in
Rochester, New York; Cora G., who is a student in Rochester
University; and Rose H., who is attending the public schools in
Rochester.
William H. Hathorn gained his early education in the public
522 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
schools of Cerro Gordo county, and his special aptitude as a youth
is shown in that when but fourteen years of age he learned stenog-
raphy and bookkeeping, in both of which lines he became pro-
ficient. Prom 1895 to 1897. inclusive, he was employed as stenog-
rapher and clerk in the law office of Cliggitt & Rule, of Mason
City, after which he attended school here for a period of eight
months, within which he covered two and one-half years of high
school work. After leaving school he secured a position in the
office of the construction engineer of the Chicago & Northwestern
Railroad, in which connection he was employed about eight months,
during the construction of the line from Belle Plaine, Iowa, to
Blue Earth, IMinnesota. He next assumed charge of the office
business of the Hathorn Foundry & Machine Company, in Mason
City, and he continued to serve in this capacity until his father
sold the business in 1904. Thereafter he was assistant manager
of the Bickel Produce Company, of Mason City, until the spring
of the following year, when he returned to the law office of Cliggitt,
Rule & Keeler. where he remained until September. 1906, when he
became associated with his brother Charles E. in the organization
and incorporation of the Hathorn Automobile Company, con-
cerning which adequate mention is made elsewhere in this volume.
Mr. Hathorn is known as one of the wide-awake and progressive
young business men of Mason City, and in his character and activi-
ties he is well upholding the high prestige of the name which he
bears. He is a Republican in his political proclivities, is affiliated
with the local organizations of the Knights of Pythias and Modern
Woodmen of America, and both he and his wife hold membership in
the Baptist church.
On the 16th of June, 1903, Mr. Hathorn was iinited in marriage
to Miss Daisy I. Brown, who was born and reared in Cerro Gordo
county and who is a daughter of Andrew C. Brown, a representa-
tive horse dealer of this county, where his father, the late John G.
Brown, took up his residence in the early pioneer epoch. Mr.
and ]\Irs. Hathorn have one son, William Brown Hathorn. who was
bom on the 1st of January, 1910, and who thus proved a royal
and welcome New Year's guest in the pleasant home.
CHARLES E. HATHORN.
The president of the Hathorn Automobile Company, of
Cit.v, is recognized as one of the representative business men and
stcrlinir citizens of his native county, and his technical ability, fine
initiative, constructive powers and progressive ideas have been the
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 523
agencies through which he has pushed forward to the goal of
worthy success. Concerning the company of which he is executive
head specific description is given on other pages of this work, and
in the sketch of the career of his brother, William H. Hathorn, who
is secretary and treasurer of the company mentioned, is given
due record concerning their parents, so that it is not necessary to
repeat the data in the present connection.
Charles Edward Hathorn was born on the home farm near
Clear Lake. Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, on the 6th of December,
1879, and in this county he has since maintained his home save for
a period of about three years, during which the family resided at
his father's old home in Rock county, Wisconsin. Mr. Hathorn
duly availed himself of the advantages of the public schools and
his inherent mechanical talent was fostered from his boyhood days,
as he early began to assist in the work of his father's blacksmith
shop, where he gained much facility in mechanical work, having
been literally reared in the biisiness. When his father established
the Hathorn Foundry Machine Company in Mason City he identi-
fied himself with the practical work and also the executive manage-
ment of the business, and he was superintendent of the shops for
several years. When about twenty-two years of age, for the
purpose of gaining further experience, he was employed for a time
as a locomotive fireman on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad.
After quitting railroad service he was engaged as superintendent
of construction for the Invincible Bank Protection Company for
a period of about two and one-half years. The headquarters of
the concern were later removed from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, to
Wisconsin. ]Mr. Hathorn 's next position was that of superinten-
dent of the repair shop of the Mason Carriage Works, at Davenport,
Iowa, and here he gained most thorough experience in automobile
repair work — a knowledge that has proved of inestimable value
to him in connection with the business of the company of which he
is now president. He is a careful and conservative business man
and a citizen well worthy of the high regard in which he is held
in his native county. His political views are indicated by the
sturdy way in which he marches under the banner of the Republican
party, and in his home city he is affiliated with the Knights of
Pythias and the Modern Brotherhood of America. Mr. Hathorn
is a bachelor.
THE HATHORN AUTOIMOBILE COMPANY.
Under this title is conducted in Mason City an enterprise that
is one of the most important of its kind in northern Iowa, and the
Vol. n— 9
52-i HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
shops of the company have the best of modern equipment for the
executing of all kinds of repairs on automobiles. The establish-
ment includes the repair department, a well eciuipped garage and
automobile livery, and also storage facilities of adequate order.
The headquarters of the company are located at the corner of Fifth
and Washington streets. The company was incorporated on the
loth of September, 1906, and its officers are Charles E. Hathorn.
president, and William 11. Hathorn. secretary and treasurer.
These two executives also comprise the board of directors. The
company represent a number of the leading automobile concerns of
the country, and are agents for the sale of the Stevens-Duryea,
the E. M. P., the Flanders, and the Chalmers cars. In the summer
season employment is given to a corps of about ten men, and the
business is of substantial order throughout the entire year. The
two brothers who are the interested principals are numbered among
the valued and representative business men of Mason City, and
concerning them individual mention is made on other pages of this
work.
HENRY KEERL.
Worthy of a high tribute of honor ah one of the sterling
pioneers, successful business men and efficient public officials of
Cerro Gordo county is Henry Keerl. who died at his home in JIason
City on the 27th of December. 1906. He maintained his home in
this state for nearly half a century, and honored it by his services
as a leal and loyal soldier of the Union in the Civil war as well as
by his worthy endeavors as a citizen of prominence and influence.
He was incumbent of the office of postmaster of Mason City for a
period of seven years and he also served one term as county re-
corder. He made his life count for good in all its relations and no
citizen was held in higher confidence and esteem in the community
than he.
Henry Keerl was born in Franklin county. Pennsylvania, on
the 14th of December. 1836, and two years later his parents moved
to Charleston, West Virginia, which state was then an integral
portion of Virginia. At Charleston he was afforded the advan-
tages of the public schools and there was reared to years of matu-
rity. In 1858 Mr. Keerl came to Cerro Gordo county. Iowa, where
he became a.ssociated in the operation of a saw mill conducted by his
uncle. Samuel Douglas, and Elisha Randall. He continued to be
actively identified with local interests until August, 1862. when he
enlisted as a private in Company B. Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer
< .
V
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 527
Infantry, with which he continued in service until the close of the
war. For the first eighteen months his service was mostly that in
connection with garrison duty, and after having served six months
he was granted a furlough on account of impaired health. Within
this period his marriage was solemnized. He finally rejoined his
regiment at Fort Pillow, Tennessee, and in November, 1863, his
young wife, in company with Mrs. Ella L. Huntley, visited the
regiment at Columbus, Kentucky, where they remained until the
following February, when the regiment proceeded down the river.
The Thirty-second Iowa saw much arduous service and endured to
the full the hardships incidental to a vigorous campaign.
The command traveled a distance of nine thousand miles and
covered five thousand miles on foot. Mr. Keerl participated in
nine important battles besides several skirmi.shes and other minor
engagements. He advanced to the office of first lieutenant and
after the battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, he was the only officer
of his company left to respond to the roll, his life having been
saved by his water canteen, which deflected a bullet. He received
his honorable discharge at the close of the war, after having made a
record for gallant and faithful service as a soldier of the Republic.
Upon his return to Cerro Gordo county he turned his attention to
agricultural pursuits, with which he was actively identified until
his election to the office of county recorder, when he established
his home in Mason City, where he passed the residue of his life.
He held the office mentioned for one term and thereafter conducted
a successful enterprise for several years as buyer and shipper of
grain. Later he served two terms as postmaster of Mason City,
three years under the administration of President Arthur and four
years under that of President Harrison. He was a stanch sup-
porter of the policies and principles of the Republican party, was
affiliated with the Grand Army of the Republic and as a citizen
he wielded much influence in public affairs of a local order. In the
matter of religious faith he was a member of the Methodist Epis-
copal church.
On the 28th of May, 1863, Mr. Keerl was united in marriage to
Miss Luxena Randall of Mason Cit.v, the third daughter of Elisha
Randall, a review of whose life follows this. IMrs. Keerl was born
Januarv^ 17, 1847. She was reared in Edmeson. in the state of
New York, and was about eight years of age at the time of the
family removal to Iowa. This worthy lady is still living, hale
and hearty, and is a member of the Methodist church. To Mr.
and Mrs. Keerl were born three children. Irving is represented on
other pages of this work. Letty Ellen is a graduate of the State
528 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Normal School of Iowa, and she was formerly an instructor of
music in the National ilemorial University of Mason City, Iowa.
She has .iiist finished a special course in the American Institute ot
Normal Methods of Mu>sic and Voice Culture in the Northwestern
University of Chicago and she has supervision of work in the public
.schools of Twin Falls. Idaho. Harry Douglas is a civil engineer,
his home being in Clear Lake. He was educated at Madison, Wis-
consin, and married Miss Maude Dieken of Shell Rock, Iowa. He
is a self educated man and very successful in his line.
IRVING W. KEERL.
A scion of one of the pioneer families of Cerro Gordo. Irving
W. Keerl, able and popular cashier of Iowa State Bank of
Mason City, has passed his entire life thus far in this county, where
it has been his to gain a position of prominence and influence in con-
nection with business and civic affairs and where he holds a .secure
place in the esteem and confidence of the community. He was born
on a farm in Mason township, about one mile south of Mason City,
on the 2nd of December. 1866, and as a memoir to his father, the
late Henry Keerl, appears on other pages of this work it will not
be necessary to repeat the data in the present sketch.
Irving W. Keerl was reared to maturity in Jlason City, to
whose public schools he is indebted for his early educational train-
ing. He left the high school when sixteen years of age and he
forthwith initiated his as.sociations with active business affairs, hav-
ing held various positions, including that of clerk in the local
post office under the administration of his father, who long served
as postmaster of this city. In 1894 he became clerk of the courts
of Cerro Gordo county, and in this responsible office he continued
to serve for three consecutive terms of two years each. At the con-
clusion of this period, in 1900. he became associated with Nathan
C. Kotchell. George W. Brett, D. W. Telford and William E. Brice
in the organization of the Iowa State Bank of Mason City, which
was duly incorporated with a capital of fifty thoTisand dollars.
Of this institution he has been cashier since the beginning and
concerning the bank special mention is made on other pages of this
publication. Mr. Keerl has shown much discrimination and ad-
ministrative ability as a financier and his influence has been potent
in connection with the upbuilding of the position of the substantial
and popular business with which he is thus identified. He is also
an interested principal in other business enterprises, of local order
and is one of the aggressive business men and public spirited citizens
^%/^^^^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 529
of his home city and county, where he ever lends his influence and
co-operation in support of all measures taken for the general wel-
fare of the community. He has been one of the most active mem-
bers of the Mason City Commercial Club, of which he was the first
secretary and of which he has also served as treasurer and president,
of which latter office he was incumbent about two years.
The political allegiance of Mr. Keerl is given without reserva-
tion to the Republican party and he has been active and loyal as
a worker in the local camp of the same. He was chairman of the
Republican committee of Cerro Gordo county for several years and
he is now a member of the state drainage board to which position
he was appointed in 1909 by Governor Carroll. He is affiliated
with the local organization of Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, Modern Woodmen of America, Knights of Pythias, the
Modern Brotherhood of America and others. On the 14th of June,
1893, Mr. Keerl was united to Miss Grace B. Matthews, who was
born in Richland, Wisconsin, and came to Mason City in 1901.
She is a daughter of J. C. and Delia Bancroft, who are now de-
ceased. Mr. and Mrs. Keerl have two children : Winston and
Robert.
ELISHA RANDALL.
Eli.sha Randall was born in Brookfield, Madison county. New
York, on the 22nd of September, 1818, and was a son of Elisha and
Betsy (Brown) Randall, the latter of whom was a descendant of
Captain Daniel Brown, a member of the Society of Friends, who
settled at Stonington, Connecticut, whence, in 1792. at the age of
sixty-six years, he removed to Brookfield, New York, where he
passed the residue of his life. Betsy Randall died on the 20th
of April, 1839. Her husband was born at Petersburg, Rensselaer
county. New York, and there their marriage was solemnized. He
was a son of Joshua Randall. The latter 's father was Benjamin
Randall, the grandson of Matthew Randall. He was an influential
citizen of Stonington, Connecticut.
Elisha Randall Jr., was reared and educated in the state of
New York and there was employed in his father's mills until about
1840. On the 31st of October, 1838, he was united in marriage to
Lucy M. York, daughter of John and Nancy York of Brookfield.
New York. The wife was born on the 7th of December, 1821, and
she is still living in Jlason City, hale and hearty, at eighty-nine
years of age. Of their ten children eight are still living. In 1844
they removed to Edmeston. Otsego county. New York, where Mr.
530 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Randall conducted a grist mill and also manufactured hardware for
the New York market until 1850, when he removed to Belmont,
Allegany county. New York, where he was associated with his
brother Adin in the conducting of a sash, door and blind factory
until November, 1854, when he removed wdth his family to Iowa and
located at Waterloo. In June of the following year he established
his permanent residence at Mason City where, in association with
Samuel Douglass of Benton county, this state, he erected a circular
saw mill on Lime Creek, which was put into operation on the 31st
of October of that year. Two years later they erected a grist
mill with two runs of stones. In 1872 Mr. Randall obtained a
patent for the Randall Lime Kiln, representing an improved pro-
cess of manufacturing lime. In 1876 he sold his interest in the
mill property to John T. Elder and in part payment for the same
he took a farm two miles north of Mason City. He was originally
a Whig in his political adherence and his first presidential vote was
cast for General William Henry Harrison. He was a member of
the first Republican convention held in Cerro Gordo county and
was a very prominent factor in the local councils of the party. He
served for a number of years as justice of the peace and after the
formal organization of the county he served one term as county
judge and one term as county recorder, besides which he was one
of the first board of county supervisors, in which office he also served
one term. He held various other offices of minor public trust
was a director of the Central Iowa Railroad Company for two years
and was otherwise prominently identified with the development and
progress of his county and state. He and his wife were charter
membei-s of the First Methodist church of ]Mason City and he was
the first superintendent of the Methodist Sunday School of Mason
City.
IOWA STATE BANK OF MASON CITY.
Among the monetary institutions that have emphasized and
held note-worthy influence in the financial stability and conserva-
tism of Cerro Gordo county, a conspicuous place is occupied by the
Iowa State Bank of Mason City, which conducts a general banking
business and which is fortified by the able management and by the
interposition of citizens of the highest reputation. This bank
was organized under the laws of the state of Iowa in 1900, and
those concerned in its founding were Irving W. Keerl. N. C.
Kotchell, George W. Brett, Daniel W. Telford and William E.
Brice. The bank was incorporated with a capital stock of fifty
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 531
thousand dollars and the personnel of its first executive corps was
as here noted: George W. Brett, president; N. C. Kotehell, vice
president; and Irving W. Keerl, cashier. The board of directors
included these officers and also Messrs. Brice and Telford. The
history of the bank has been one of consecutive growth and its
business now is of the most substantial order. The present officers
are as follows: N. C. Kotehell, president; Irving W. Keerl,
cashier; and L. Oliver Stone, assistant cashier. Besides the
president and cashier, the board of directors includes William E.
Brice, M. J. Fitzpatrick, Earl Smith, Dr. William E. Long and
W. H. Smith.
EDWARD J. SCHERF.
Notwithstanding the fact that he experienced the somewhat
uuusual fortune of birth, on June 24, 1847, in mid ocean, Edward J.
Scherf cannot be called a man without a country. He may indeed
be regarded as a representative of America and it has been given
to him to serve the country in war and in peace. Mr.* Scherf is
of that stanch German stock whose, assimilation is beneficial to any
new country. His parents. Christian and Menia (Dingle) Scherf,
were both natives of Saxony, and in 1847 they followed the example
of so many of their friends and neighbors and decided to seek a new
home beyond the seas. They were already the parents of three
children and, as previously mentioned. Mr. Scherf 's birth occurred
en voyage on June 24.
The elder Scherf, who had been a woolen worker in his native
land, soon after landing on American shores, went to Milwaukee,
where he found a means of livlihood in railroad construction. The
early days in the new countrj' was saddened by the death of the
mother, Edward Scherf being at the time of her demise but four
months old. Of the four children of this first marriage two are still
living, Mr. Scherf and Caroline, widow of Peter Adams of Ventura,
Iowa. The father married again, the second wife being Mary
Jacobs, who survived until 1900, her age at the time of her death
being seventy-two years. This union also was blessed by the birth
of four children, all of whom are living.
In 1856. when Mr. Scherf was about nine years of age, his
father decided to remove to the country which he believed to possess
greater and more wholesome opportunities for a family of growing
children. To this end he purchased eighty acres of timber and
rough land in Sauk county. Wisconsin, the tract being known as
Baraboo Bluffs. This land was cleared and grubbed out and
532 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
brought to a state where cultivation became possible at the expendi-
ture of great time and labor and like ipost boys similarly situated
youug Edward was called upon to take his share of the struggle
with the wild country when he was yet a mere lad. Ten years
later, in November, 1866, the father again resolved upon a new scene
of endeavor, this time removing to Floyd county, Iowa. The
journey from Wisconsin was made by wagon and the usual adven-
tures of the pioneer were experienced. Again the father pur-
chased an eighty acre tract of wild land, four miles west of Charles
City, and again began the task of clearing and subduing the hitherto
unbroken country. This he accomplished with the assistance of
his sons and here he engaged successfully in the pursuit of agricul-
ture until some little time previous to his death, when he removed
to Ventura.
To Mr. Scherf's lot fell a full share of those hardships and
privations which are ever the heritage of the pioneer. In Sauk
county, when it was not yet necessary to use two figures in writing
his age, the clearing of the rough land was left to him and his step-
mother while the father eked out a by no means abundant living
by hiring out by the day. The toil entrusted to him was so far
beyond his years and strength that often at night time he found
himself too tired to sleep and the dfvwn of a new day would find
the "ravelled sleeve of care" still frayed and worn. But however
hard this discipline may have seemed at the time it is doubtless
true that it had its beneficial mission and that it assisted in build-
ing up a character which ultimately came to be distinguished for its
strength and fearlessness. It is needless to say that there was
little time left for the acquisition of an education, and Mr. Scherf
enjoyed the advantages of but two winter terms of school. But
all learning is by no means secured at a desk in a school room and
Mr. Scherf, being naturally ambitious, has since by his own efforts
done much to remedy this defect. When only thirteen years old
he took up the work of teaming and hauled flour for sixteen months
with three yoke of cattle from Baraboo to Kilbourne, Wisconsin,
himself handling his ponderous commodity. In these journeys
he drove a three and four yoke team of oxen.
Meanwhile the Civil war cloud which had been gathering for
so many years burst in all its fury, and in February, 1863. Mr.
Scherf enlisted in Company L of the Third Wiscon.sin Cavalry,
lie was but .sixteen years of age and in order to be accepted forged
the papers giving his father's consent. It is an almost pathetic
commentary on the toilsome and rigorous life hitherto led by thi.s
youtli that he looked upon the dangers and hardships of war with
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 533
positive eagerness, preferring them to his hard lot at home. He
had intently observed the soldiers at Baraboo and he looked with
envious eyes upon their leisure and the good times they seemed to
be having. However, when he got into active service and heard the
bullets whizzing about his head, and saw his comrades falling about
him, he confesses that he many times wished that he was back in
Wisconsin hauling flour. As soon as his father discovered the fact
of his enlistment he made efforts to have him released on account
of his being under age, but he was advised by a lawyer that on
account of the papers having been forged it would doubtless be
expedient to let the matter rest. And so it came to pass that Mr.
Seherf served in the defense of the Union until the close of the war,
being discharged at Ft. Leavenworth, Kansas, November 15, 1865.
It has been given to few of our country's brave to have a more
thrilling Civil war experience than to Mr. Seherf. Sixteen months
of his service was spent on the frontier among the Indians. He by
no means escaped unscathed, but was wounded three times, still
bearing the sear of a saber cut across his head and on his hand
and still carrying as a vivid memento a bullet which lodged between
the thumb and fore-finger of his right hand.
Immediately after his discharge Mr. Seherf returned to Wis-
consin, where he engaged for awhile in farming. In 1869 he mar-
ried and the following year went to Floyd county. Iowa, whither
his father had preceded him. For a year he made his livelihood as
an employe of the Milwaukee railroad and from time to time as-
sisted a brother-in-law and an uncle in their farming. In 1872
Mr. Seherf decided to try a hazard of new fortunes and with his
wife set out in a wagon to Osceola county, Iowa. They had pro-
gressed as far on their journey as Mason City when the horse fell
in trying to ford the stream and they were very nearly drowned.
Discouraged by this serious mishap they returned to Floyd county,
where they remained until the spring of 1873, when they removed to
Cerro Gordo county. On December 19, Mr. and Mrs. Seherf
located in Clear Lake township, where eighty acres of wild land
had been purchased at a cost of three hundred and eighty dollars.
The lumber for their first house, which was sixteen by twenty by
eighteen feet in dimension, was purchased from Mr. W. C. Tomp-
kins of Clear Lake at a cost of one hundred dollars. Mr. Seherf.
who had no ready money at hand, was obliged to ask for credit and
at that hauled the hunber from Clear Lake with a team of oxen.
For nearly a year the little family lived in the unplastered barn
but made of their humble abode as much of a home as a more
magnificent dwelling could have been.- In 1873 the resources be-
534 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ing low, Mr. Scherf found it wise to secure employment upon the
Milwaukee railroad in order to earn enough monej- to meet living
expenses. Happily his fortunes steadily improved and in course
of time he found himself in a position to purchase eighty addi-
tional acres at a cost of five hundred dollars. Prosperity, attracted
by our subject's industry and good management, smiled upon him
and he is now the possessor of much valuable land, two hundred
and fifty acres in Clear Lake township and one hundred aud eight
acres in Grant township. His land is all highly improved and he
has set out many trees. He is now retired and since 1900 has been
enjoying at Ventura the fruits of his former industry. He enjoys
several affiliations, among them membership in the Tom Howard
Post of the G. A. R., at Clear Lake, and with his brother veterans
lives over the exciting days of the war. He has given a life long
allegiance to the Republican party. Mr. Scherf has always been
a skillful and enthusiastic hunter and during his life has owned pro-
bably one hundred shot guns. When he becomes the possessor of
a new gun he at once removes the stock and barrel lock and pro-
ceeds to make one to suit himself, carving the new part out of a
walnut strip. Among his collection he has some very beautiful
ones inlaid with mother-of-pearl and bone. For years he hunted
for the market and has Idlled three hundred and fifty Mallard ducks
in twenty-seven days. In his time he has killed and shipped many
car loads of prairie chickens and still enjoys the sport.
On December 26, 1869. Mr. Scherf was united in marriage to
Mary Hayes, who was born in Ohio in 1849. To this union has
been born a family of nine children, as follows : William, of Clear
Lake township ; John, of Grant township ; Frank, of Grant town-
ship ; James, of Clear Lake township ; Nellie, wife of Clarence Pal-
mer of Lake township ; Bert, of Clear Lake township ; Edward, at
home ; Sadie, wife of George Harthan of Clear Lake towTiship ; and
Milo, at home.
CHANNING E. DAKIN, M. D.
One of the leading physicians of Mason City, Iowa, is Dr.
Channing E. Dakin, one of her native sons, his birth having occurred
here July 8, 1876, his parents being Dr. James B. and Julia May
(Church) Dakin, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively.
He laid the foundation of an excellent education in Mason City's
public schools, being graduated from the high school with the class
of 1891. He subsequently entered the University of Iowa, at Iowa
City, finishing there in 1896 with the degree of Bachelor of Science.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 535
Early in life he came to a decision to follow in the paternal foot-
steps in the matter of a vocation, and with this end in view he en-
tered the Bennett Medical College in Chicago and obtained his de-
gree with the class of 1899. After his graduation he further forti-
fied himself for the work of his chosen profession bj' the position
of interne in the Cook County Hospital in Chicago, in which insti-
tution he remained for about two years and in which he gained most
valuable clinical experience. He then returned to his home in
Mason City, and here he has been engaged in the active practice of
his profession since January, 1901. He has won the confidence of
all who have sought his professional services and he is generally
recognized as one of the most reliable and enlightened of the local
medical fraternity. He has successfully maintained the same
high prestige gained by his honored father, the late Dr. James B.
Dakin, to whom a memoir is dedicated on other pages of this work.
Dr. Dakin is affiliated with numerous of the organizations
which have as their prime object the elevation and unification of the
profession, among these being the American Medical Association;
the Iowa State Medical Society; The Austin Flint-Cedar Valley
Medical Society ; and the Cerro Gordo County Medical Society. He
is a particularly close student of his profession and keeps in touch
with the advances made in both medicine and surgery. He
served as health officer of Mason City in 1901-1906.
Politically Dr. Dakin gives his heart and hand to the principles
of the Republican party and like all good citizens is interested in
those matters which pertain to the general good of the community.
He is a member of the board of trustees of the Carnegie Public
Library of Mason City and fraternally he is identified with the local
order of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks.
On the 6th of May, 1903, was solemnized the marriage of Dr.
Dakin to Miss Norra Allin, daughter of T. B. Allin, a prominent
citizen of Iowa City, and three children have blessed their union,
named Allin, Shirley and Katherine. Mrs. Dakin is a member of
the Twentieth Century Club.
WILLIAM BOHN.
The sub.ject of this sketch is a fine type of the sturdy German-
American farmer. Without financial backing, unacquainted with
the language of the country, he landed here when a young man. and
by his own hard work and perseverance made a home, earned a
competency, and gained a place among the representative citizens
of the community. Mr. Bohn has three hundred and twenty acres
of fine land in Grant township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, where
he has resided since the early '70s.
536 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
He was born in Prussia, Germany. October 26, 1839, son of
Christopher and Christena (Marks) Bohn, and the only one now
living of their family of three children. He was reared on a farm
in his native country and received a common school education in
his native tongue. Ambitious to see something of the world and
better his condition, he decided to try his fortune in Amei-iea, and
on April 27, 1864, landed in New York city, with only fifteen dollars
in his pocket. He spent some time at farm work in Jlinnesota,
"Wisconsin and McHenry county, Illinois, beginning with wages at
sixteen dollars a month. In 1866 he came to Iowa and worked
north out of Cedar Rapids, on the B. C. R. & N. Railroad. In 1869.
employed on the Milwaukee road, he followed it to Mason City,
Iowa, which point was reached in the fall of that year. The
following year his parents joined him here. His father purchased
one hundred and twenty acres in section 19, thirty acres of which
had been broken and planted, and there was a log house on the
place. For this farm he paid thirteen dollars and fifty cents an
acre, including the crop. Here the paz-ents passed the rest of their
lives and died, the father dying at the age of eight.v-two years, the
mother at sixty-nine. When the farm was divided, William came
into possession of eighty acres of it, to which he subsequently added
until he now has three hundred and twenty acres. A snowball
bush in his front yard is the only thing now growing here that had
been planted before he came. All the other plantings and im-
provements on the place have been made by him, and, with the as-
sistance of his sons, he continues to operate the farm.
In 1873 Mr. Bohn married Miss Augusta Bohn, like himself a
native of Germany. She died in 1900, at the age of forty-eight
years. Of the seven children born to them, we record that Clara,
the eldest, is the wife of Albert Roenfanz, of Hancock county,
Iowa; Helena wife of Albert Jass, also lives in Hancock county;
Julius is a resident of Grant township, Cerro Gordo county, and
Edward, Emma, Bertha and Herman are at home. The family
are members of the German Lutheran church.
ANDREW W. STORER.
Cerro Gordo coxinty is fortunate in having been settled by a
remarkably industrious, enterprising, intelligent and prosperous
class of people, prominent among the number having been the late
Andrew W. Storer, for many years one of the foremost agricul-
turists of Pleasant Valley town.ship. He was born January 15,
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 539
1851. in Dane county, Wisconsin, and died November 29, 1904, at
Mason City, his death being regarded as a public loss to the com-
munity.
He was the son of Daniel and Eunice (Palmer) Storer. the
former of whom, a venerable man of eighty-five years, is living in
Dane county, Wisconsin, while the latter died in May, 1908, at the
age of seventy-nine years. They were the parents of five children,
as follows : Andrew W., the subject of this brief biographical sketch ;
Prescott; E. R., of Mitchell, South Dakota; Dr. W. D., of Chicago,
Illinois ; and Nettie, living with her aged father.
His parents settling near Madison, Wisconsin, when he was but
four years old, Andrew W. Storer acquired his first knowledge of
books in the district schools, subsequently attending the State
University in Madison one year. In 1873, having previously taught
school one term in Wisconsin, he came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa,
and having purchased one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in
Pleasant Valley township began the improvement of a farm, for
six years teaching school during the winter months. He met with
good success in his labors, from time to time buying more land and
acquiring title to seven hundred and twenty acres of rich and pro-
ductive land in Cerro Gordo county and to a well improved farm
near Brookings, South Dakota. Retiring from active pursuits
in 1903, IMr. Storer removed with his family to Mason City, and was
here a resident until his death. He was a steadfast Republican
in politics, and had the distinction of being the first man to serve as
road master in Pleasant Valley township, where he also held all
other to^^Tiship offices.
Mr. Storer married, December 5, 1878, Etta Cannon, who was
born in Columbia county, Wisconsin, March 9, 1858. Her father,
Amaziah Cannon, was born in Chautauqua county, New York,
September 21, 1819, moved with his family to Wisconsin in 1858,
came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in 1865, and here resided until
his death, in February, 1881, in Mason township. Mrs. Cannon,
whose maiden name was Cornelia Waite, was born in Chautauqua
county. New York, January 16, 1823, and is now living in Mason
town.ship. To her and her husband three children were born, two
of whom are living, as follows: Emeline, wife of Willis Dent, of
Mason township; and Mrs. Storer. Although a child of seven
years when she made the overland trip from Wisconsin to Iowa,
Mrs. Storer remembers Mason City as a small hamlet containing
one general store, a blacksmith's shop, no hotel, with Austin, Minne-
sota, as the nearest railway station. Mr. and Mrs. Storer became
the parents of five children, namely: Willis A., of Plea.sant Valley
540 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
township; Eimice. wife of Prank II. Hosmer, of ]\Iinneapolis,
Minnesota, and the mother of one child. Hope, born September 11,
1909; Daisy A., studying music at Oberlin College, Oberlin. Ohio;
Ruth W. ; and ]\Iyra E., at home. Mrs. Storer is a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, and belongs to the C. II. Huntley Post,
No. 72 W. R. C.
CHARLES E. LIGHTER.
Charles E. Lighter, an employe of the C. M. & St. P. Railroad
for nearly thirty years and since 1886 a locomotive engineer, has
been a resident of IMason City, Iowa, nearly all this time. He was
born near :Marietta. Ohio, in 1860. son of Henry and Elizabeth
(Getzenganner) Lighter, and traces his ancestry on the paternal
side to Germany and on the maternal side to Switzerland. Henry
Lighter went from Maryland to Ohio, later to Illinois and finally
to Kansas, where he died in the summer of 1885. By occupation
he was a farmer. His widow died in Chicago in 1908. They were
faithful members of the German Lutheran church, in which faith
they reared their family, and of their eleven children three .sons
are now living.
At the time the Lighter family left Ohio and moved to Illinois.
Charles E. was five years of age. He grew to manhood on a farm
near Champaign, Illinois, where he received a fair education, and
when he started out on his own responsibility he engaged in rail-
roading, which he has since followed.
On March 4, 1885, Mr. Lighter married Miss Nellie H. Toffla-
mire. a native of Illinois and of German descent, her parents having
been early settlers and farmers of Boone county, Illinois. While
not a member of any church Mrs. Lighter attends worship at the
Presbyterian church. Politically Mr. Lighter is a Republican,
well posted on party affairs and always at the polls to cast his
franchise on election day, but never active in politics. He has
long been a member of the B. of L. B. at Mason City, and for fif-
teen years local committeeman.
OSCAR STEVENS.
More than half a century ago when there were only a few white
men at Clear Lake. Iowa, Oscar Stevens .joined the little settlement
here, and southwest of the lake set up a steam sawmill which he had
brought with him. That was in 1854. He has ever since been
identified with the business interests of the place and has eon-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 541
tributed his part toward its substantial growth and development.
Among the pioneers he found here were James Dickirson. James
Sirrine, Michael Callen and J. B. Wood. Young Stevens at once
went to work in his sawmill, and condiicted it for several years,
until 1869, when he built a grist mill. The latter he operated
until 1887. In the meantime he engaged in the hotel, boat and
livery business, with which he was identified for a period of twenty-
five .years, after which he sold out. Of recent years he has been
engaged in the mani;facture of concrete blocks and buildings.
Mr. Stevens is a native of the "Keystone State.'' He was
born in Wayne county, Pennsylvania, in 1833, a son of Alfred and
Esther (Kellogg) Stevens, and with them in 1836 moved to Mc-
Henry county, Illinois, where he was reared, his father having
settled on a farm in that county and having been engaged in agri-
cultural pursuits there for a number of years. The parents died
in Wisconsin, the father at Racine and the mother some years later
at Lodi. An uncle, R. 0. Sirrine, had taken up his residence at
Clear Lake, Iowa, and it was through his influence that in 1854
Oscar Stevens left Illinois and came hither, as above stated.
In 1857, at Clear Lake, Mr. Stevens married Miss Mary Govro,
a native of Lake county, Illinois, and four years his junior. Pour
children were born to them, of whom one, Mrs. Mabel Hover, died
in 1902. Those living are: Hubert, of Dubuque, Iowa; Guy, of
Clear Lake ; and Minnie, wife of C. A. Stratton, also of Clear
Lake.
In political matters Mr. Stevens has always maintained an
independent attitude, keeping himself well posted and voting for
men and measures rather than adhering strictly to party lines. He
served one term as a county commissioner. Socially he has long
been connected with numerous organizations. In Masonry he has
advanced to the higher degrees and has membership in the Mystic
Shrine at Cedar Rapids and the Commandery at IMason City. His
identity with Odd Fellowship dates back over fifty years, he has
been a Knight of Pythias since 1875, and he has membership in
several insurance organizations.
JESSE S. HANSON.
Jesse S. Hanson, a representative citizen of Clear Lake, Iowa,
has for years been a prominent factor in the real estate activities of
this place. lie was born in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, Novem-
ber 11, 1870, a son of Nelson Hanson, a retired resident of Clear
Lake.
542 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Nelson Hanson was born in the town of Laholm. Sweden,
January 8, 1836. son of Hans Peterson and his wife, nee Petervnella
Alhberg, who lived and died in Sweden. His father was a land
owner and by trade was a shoemaker. In their family of seven
children. Nelson Hanson is the only one now living. In 1854, at
the age of eighteen, with a limited edncation and enough borrowed
mone.v with which to pay his passage to this country, he left the
old home in Sweden and embarked for America. Hls first work
here was as a farm hand in Lafayette county, Wisconsin. After-
ward for four or five years he followed the stonemason 's trade, later
was employed with a lumber firm, spending several years in Mil
waukee and Chicago, and from that turned his attention to farming.
He came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in 1880. and settled on a
farm in Clear Lake township, five miles and a half south of Clear
Lake. At the end of three years he traded his farm for a nursery
at Clear Lake, which he conducted for ten years, after which he sold
out and moved to St. Paul. At St. Paul for twelve years, \rith
the assistance of his wife and daughter, he conducted the "St.
Paul Commons," on the corner of Jackson and Eighth streets,
this being a home for clerks and laborers, where good, comfortable
rooms were furnished at nominal cost. During the past year he
and his wife have traveled through the east and south, visiting
relatives. Nelson Hanson married in "Wisconsin in 1863 Jliss
Jennie Moody, a native of Bradford county, Pennsylvania, and a
distant relative of Rev. D. L. Moody. Of their family of eight
children five are living, namely: Bertha, wife of Frank Boeye, a
Methodi.st Episcopal minister of Forth Worth, Texas; Joseph M.,
secretary of the Associated Charities, Youngstown, Ohio; Eleanor,
of Pitt.sburg, Pennsylvania, is a lecturer, engaged in charity work;
Jesse S., whose name introduces this sketch; and Rev. Harry O.,
for the past seven or eight years in China missionary field, under
the auspices of the Methodist Episcopal church. Of the three
children deceased, one son. Ben.jamin M., died at the age of twenty-
four years, a daughter, Chene, at twenty-two, and a son, Ira, in
infancy. Politically Nelson Hanson has in the main supported
the Republican ticket, voting first for John C. Fremont, but he has
always maintained a certain independence in the matter of his
franchise. He voted for St. John, the prohibitionist. He has
membership in the People's church of St. Paul.
Jesse S. Hanson passed the first ten years of his life in his
native county. Then he accompanied his parents and other mem-
bers of the family to Iowa, and in Cerro Gordo county he grew to
manhood and received a public school education. For some years
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 543
he was interested in trotting horses, and handled in 1892 sixty-tlve
head. Later, with his father, he was interested in the nursery
business, and for the past fifteen years he has been engaged in the
real estate business, in compan_y with others owning considerable
land. Also he is interested in automobiles.
Mr. Hanson has been twice married. His first wife, formerly
Mrs. Hattie Hubbard, died in the fall of 1903. His present \vife
was Miss Zeta Hubbard, she being a daughter of the late 0. R.
Hubbard of Clear Lake. They have one daughter, Mary, born in
1908. Like his father Mr. Hanson is an independent Republican.
He and his wife worship at the Congregational church.
HENRY DAKER.
Henry Daker, a farmer in section 32, Lake township, Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, ploughed the first furrow ever turned on
the land he now owoas, and has lived and labored here ever since,
contributing his part toward the development of agricultural in-
terests in this locality. He was born in Delhi, Delaware county,
Iowa. November 26, 1856, son of John and Mary (Pemberton)
Daker, both natives of Yorkshire, England, the former born Feb-
ruary 6, 1820, the latter, April 21, 1821. Both died in Iowa, on
the farm on which their son Henry now lives, the father, August
5, 1895 ; the mother, January 22, 1892. They were the parents of
three children, two of whom are living, Henry and Ben.jamin, both
of Lake township. At the age of fourteen the father was appren-
ticed to the trade of a shoemaker in England, and worked at that
trade there until 1855, when, accompanied by his wife, he came to
this country, landing in New York after a voyage of seven weeks.
They spent one year in New York and the following year, 1856,
came west to Iowa and settled at Delhi in Delaware count.y,
where he worked at his trade until June, 1874. During that time
the leather he used was brought by stage from Dubuque. Coming
to Cerro Gordo county in June, 1874, he purchased the north half
of section 32, then all wild land, for which he paid eight dollars
and fifty cents an acre. With the assistance of his sons he im-
proved the farm, and here he and his good wife made their home
until their death, as above noted.
At the time of their removal to the farm Henry was about eigh-
teen years of age. He had received a fair education in the graded
schools of Delhi, and from the time of their settlement in Lake
to\\Tiship up to the present time his energies have been devoted to
agricultural pursuits. He now owns two hundred and forty acres
Vol. n— 10
544 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
all utilized for general farming purposes and being successfully
operated. All the present buildings here were erected by him.
After he had ploughed the first furrow on this land he stuck into
it two Cottonwood sprouts. That was on the northeast corner of
the farm. These today are large trees. In speaking of his early
experience here Mr. Daker says the first night he spent at Mason
City he slept ou the floor of the only hotel in the town, wrapped in
a blanket. Clear Lake at that time was nothing but a small settle-
ment on the lake shore.
On February 20, 1879, Mr. Daker married Miss Emma L.
Brown, who was born in Livingston county, Illinois, March 12,
1857, daughter of Jonathan and Clarissa (Clark) Brown. Her
father, a native of New York, born May 28, 1828, is now a resident
of St. Paul, Minnesota. Her mother, born in Pennsylvania March
27, 1832, died in 1874. They were the parents of three children :
Frank, of St. Paul, Minnesota; Mrs. Daker; and Mead, of Shell
Lake, Wisconsin. I\Irs. Daker 's father settled in Livingston coun-
ty, Illinois, in 1855, in 1868 moved to McHenry eoimty, that state,
and in 1872 came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and purchased a
tract of wild land in Mt. Vernon township, where he lived until
1900, when he retired from the farm. For thirty-eight years Mrs.
Daker has lived on the same road. She and Mr. Daker have had
three children, namely: Frank, at home, married Nina Parker, of
Clear Lake, Iowa, and they have one daughter; Clara, wife of
Walten Atkinson, of Lake township, Cerro Gordo county, and they
have one daughter ; and Charles, deceased.
Politically Mr. Daker has been a life long Republican. He has
always taken an active interest in local affairs, and has filled the
of township treasurer and school director, having served a
years in each, and still being the incumbent of the former
office.
HANS WOHLER.
Among the useful and progressive citizens of Grimes township
must be mentioned Hans Wohler. who owns and operates within its
limits a homestead of eighty acres, all highly improved, together
with two hundred and seventy-six acres elsewhere in Cerro Gordo
and in Franklin counties. Mr. Wohler was born in Holstein.
Germany, July 7, 1856, his parents being Jerry and Fredericka
(Meier) Wohler. farming people who lived and died in their native
country. There were five children besides himself, one brother,
Julius, now deceased, having resided in Iowa.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 545
Mr. Wohler enjoyed the advantages of training in the excel-
lent German schools and was sixteen when he came to America
with his brother Julius. He had vers^ little capital ^vith which to
start when he made his initial venture at independence in 1872.
He worked several years in Jackson county, Iowa, and one year in
Elgin, Illinois, and he bovight his first land in Cerro Gordo county,
locating in Pleasant Valley township in 1879. He now owns a
good sized property and an interest in land in another locality. He
formerly handled considerable cattle, but has abandoned this in
later years. He is independent in politics, always supporting the
measures he believes will be conducive to the whole good of the
community. He was reared a Lutheran.
Mr. Wohler was married in Cerro Gordo county in 1894 to
Miss Christine Wolleson, also a native of Schleswig-Holstein, who
came to this country when a girl. Her parents died in the old
country and her emigration to America was in the early nineties.
The union of Mr. and Mrs. Wohler has been blessed by the birth
of the following seven children : George, who died at seven years of
age; and Peter, Freda. Hannah, Aleck, Jerry and Amelia, all at
home.
P. H. CAHALAN.
One of Dougherty township's good citizens and a man who has
attained to a substantial competence through his own intelligent
effort is P. H. Cahalan, a farmer whose productive acres are situated
in section 2. He was born in Washington county, New York,
March 2, 1852, and is of Irish extraction. He was eleven years of
age when his parents moved westward from New York and took up
their residence in Fayette county, Iowa. There he received a good
common school education and grew to young manhood, receiving
a very practical training in agriculture upon his father's farm.
In 1875, when he was about twenty-three years of age, he believed
himself to be sufficientl.v well versed to make an independent ven-
ture and accordingly rented land of ex-Governor Larrabee. He
afterward purchased a small farm but lost it on account of the bad
wheat failure of 1878. He soon rallied from his discouragement
and borrowed five hundred dollars, with which he went to buying
calves and cattle and from that time on things came his way and he
found it easy to make money.
Mr. Cahalan married in 1889 and he brought his wife to Cerro
Gordo county, where he bought about one hundred and sixty acres
in section 2 of Dougherty township. This was wild land and there
546 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
were no buildings upon it, but he set to work diligently to improve
it and soon had the soil in very productive condition. He has
added to his holdings from time to time until he has twelve hundred
acres in Dougherty township, all of which he operates with the ex-
ception of one hundred and sixty acres which he has rented. He
keeps two hundred head of cattle and two hundred head of hogs on
the place and is one of the most extensive stock men in the county.
Mr. Cahalan has given a life-long allegiance to the principles of
Democracy and enjoys the confidence of his neighbors. He is now
ser\ang his third term as township trustee, has been township asses-
sor and held various school offices. He and his family are members
of St. Patrick's Catholic church at Dougherty. He is a stock-
holder in the Cartersville Supply Company and has connection
with the Farmers' Co-operative Society.
Mr. Cahalan was married, April 3, 1877, in Fayette county
Iowa, to Bridget McGaheran, born April 4, 1847, in county Cavan,
Ireland. She is the daughter of Michael and Rose (Sherdin)
McGaheran, who came to the United States in 1848, their voyage
across being of six weeks duration. They first located at Galena,
Illinois, the father securing employment in the lead mines, and in
1855 came to Fayette county, Iowa, where for the remainder of their
lives they engaged in farming. The father died in February,
1893, aged eighty years, and the mother survived until August,
1907, her age at the time of her death being eighty-eight years. Mr.
and Mrs. Cahalan have five children, Sarah, James, William, Harry
and Fred, all of whom are still sheltered beneath the home roof
tree.
Mr, Cahalan is especially to be congratulated upon his .success
when it is remembered that he started oiit in life not only without
a competence but five hundred dollars in del)t.
WILLIAM B. STILSON.
William B. Stilson, a retired resident of Mason City, Iowa,
li\'ing at 223 East Fifth street, first came to this part of Iowa in the
winter of 1856-57. and is familiar with its early history, its growth
and its development. He was born in Preble count.v, Ohio, Feb-
ruary 25, 1832, son of Sylvanus S. and Eleanor (Bishop) Stilson.
Sylvanus S. Stilson was a native of New York state, from
whence when a youth" he accompanied his parents and other mem-
bers of the family to Hamilton county, Ohio, and later to Preble
county. At the latter place when a young man he taught school
and subsequently went to Cincinnati and w^orked in a packing house.
M/:?.^tii^^.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 549
His father was born in Connecticut, and died at Elkhart, Indiana,
to which place he had gone with his son Sylvanus S. From
Indiana the latter moved over into Illinois and settled in McHenry
county. That was in 1837. There he entered a claim, and for a
number of years successfully carried on farming. He and his
wife spent their last years at Mason City, Iowa, at the home of
their son Abner. Of their eight children, James M., a veteran of
the Civil war, died several years since at the home of a son in Han-
cock county, Iowa ; William B., the subject of this sketch, was the
second born ; Leonard P., a member of the Seventh Wisconsin In-
fantry, died during the war, at Madison, Wisconsin, leaving a wife
and son; Abner R. and Oliver H., both veterans of the Civil war,
are deceased, the former having died in 1908, at Mason City, Iowa,
leaving a widow and two children, the latter having died in 1909,
at Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He had been a resident of Cerro
Gordo county two years, and Abner R. had lived here since the
later '60s. Horace died in Illinois, at the age of twenty years.
Of the daughters, Laura and Eleanor, the former is the widow of
J. G. Bailey, an early resident of Mason City, who died here in 1908,
and the latter and her husband, John McMillan, are both deceased.
William B. Stilson, in referring to early days in Cerro Gordo
county, said that his brother, James M., came here with an Indian
trapper and hunter in 1855, before Mason City was laid out. He
afterward acquired title to land in Owen township, now Portland
township, which he subsequently sold to William B. The two
brothers made a trip to Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, in the winter
of 1857-8, William B. taking several yoke of oxen and produce,
which he traded as part payment for his brother's land in Cerro
Gordo county, the purchase price being five dollars an acre. James
M. married and settled at Chippewa Palls. The summer previous
to this William B., in company with A. J. Churchill, did consider-
able breaking of prairie. They put up a comfortable shanty in
which they kept "bachelor's hall," and two years later, when Mr.
Stilson returned to Iowa, bringing with him his ^vife, he settled on
this land and here carried on farming succ,e.ssfully for a number of
years. He made his home on the fann until 1871, when he moved
into Mason City. The last few years he has been practically re-
tired from active work, having sold the farm. During the Civil
war Mr. Stilson served one term as sheriff of Cerro Gordo county,
and again, in 1871, he was elected to this office anci served a second
term. Also at different times he filled various other offices. He
was one of the first county commissioners of Cerro Gordo county,
and later he was street commissioner of Mason City, an office he
550 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
filled for fifteen years. It was during that time that most of
the pavings and crossing of the city were built.
On February- 9, 1859. Mr. Stilson married in McHenry county
Illinois, Miss Mary Stevens, who was born in Wayne county, Penn-
sylvania, February 2, 1834, daughter of Silas Molby and Juliette
(Kellogg) Stevens, natives of Vermont and Pennsylvania respec-
tively. Her grandfather Kellogg was an aide of General Wash-
ington in the Revoluntionary war. Mrs. Stilson was one of a
family of seven children, the others being as follows: Homer, who
died in Vermont; Asher M., of Oregon, but for many years a resi-
dent of Cerro Gordo count3' ; Marcus, a veteran of the Civil war,
who lost an arm at Gettysburg, and some years since died in Illi-
nois; James, a Civil war veteran, died in Dakota several years
ago; Esther, wife of John Pearson, died in Pennsylvania, leaving
two daughters ; Harriet, wife of N. P. Jensen of Portland township,
Cerro Gordo county. To Mr. and Mrs. Stilson have been given
two daughters, Ida A. and Julia Eleanor. The latter was the
wife of Willard H. Skiff and died a number of years ago. On
February 9, 1909, 'Sir. and ]Mrs. Stilson celebrated their golden
wedding.
Politically ilr. Stilson has always affiliated with the Republi-
can party, fraternally, with the F. and A. JI. and the B. P. 0. E..
and both he and his wife are members of Chapter No. 58, 0. E. S.
IMrs. StiLson is also identified with the Fidelity Club and has long
been an active member of the Baptist church. Miss Stilson is a
member of the Sorosis Club.
JACOB E. DECKER.
The business community of Cerro Gordo county has a valued
acquisition in the person of Jacob E. Decker, who is the executive
head of the well known corporation of Jacob E. Decker & Sons,
owners and operators of the well equipped plant at Mason City.
This corporation succeeded to the business of the ]\Iason City Pack-
ing Company, of which John T. Richards was president and which
initiated the business about the year 1897, when operations were
instituted upon a modest scale. The present plant was largely
erected and equipped by the present owners, who have found it
necessary to augment their facilities from time to time to meet the
constantly increasing demands placed upon the establishment. The
plant now has a capacity for the handling of one thousand hogs
daily, besides about fifty head of cattle and a relative number of
sheep and calves. The firm represents one of the most important
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 551
industrial enterprises in Cerro Gordo county and it affords employ-
ment to an average of more than one hundred men in addition to
the regular office force and corps of traveling representatives, of
which latter the number is usually about twelve. Branch hoiLses
are maintained in Minneapolis and Duluth, Minnesota. In the
earlier stages of the business its functions were confined to the
slaughtering and handling of hogs only, but with the development
of the facilities for the handling of cattle, sheep and calves, the
enterprise has inured greatly to the benefit of the stock growers of
this section, as well as to those engaged in the retail meat trade.
All of the buildings of the plant, as at present constructed, were
erected by Jacob E. Decker and they afford an aggregate floor space
of nearly 100,000 sc^uare feet. The corporation is absolutely inde-
pendent in its operations and its products are sold directly to re-
tailers in Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, North and South Dakota and
Montana, besides which carload shipments are made to nearly all
of the large cities in the United States, with especially large trade
in Texas. The export business of the corporation is likewise ex-
panding in scope. The company manufactures the celebrated Elk
brand of ham and bacon. The ofificials of this important concern
are as here noted: Jacob E. Decker, president; Jay E. Decker,
vice president; Ralph W. B. Decker, secretary and treasurer; and
Edmund R. Dunlap, sales manager.
Jacob E. Decker, president of the corporation of Jacob E.
Decker & Sons, was born at Neuweid. Prussia, on the 1st of April,
1849, and in 1852 he came with his parents on their removal to
America. He is a son of Louis and Anna (Boecking) Decker, the
former of whom died in the city of Chicago, in 1899, at the patriar-
chal age of ninety-four years, and the latter of whom died at Buf-
falo, New York, when sixt.v-two years of age. After coming to
America, Louis Decker established his home in the city of Buffalo,
New York, where he engaged in the pork-packing and butchering
business, in which he there continued until his final retirement
from active labor. The enterprise which he established so many
years ago is still continued by his son Albert.
Jacob E. Decker gained his early education in the public
schools in the cit.v of Buffalo, but he early assumed practical re-
sponsibilities, as he began to serve as a driver on the towpath of
the Erie canal when but twelve years of age. Shortly afterward
he ran away from home and began sailing on the Great Lakes, while
later he followed sea-faring life on the ocean for a time. During
the season of closed navigation of the Lakes, he worked in pack-
ing houses and in this connection he recalled with no slight pleasure
552 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
the fat-t that when he was thus employed by the Swift & Company
of Chicago they did not handle to exceed two carloads of cattle a
day and that he was with the Armour Company when that great
concern considered the butchering of four hundred and eighty head
of cattle in a single day a large output. Mr. Decker continued
to sail on the Great Lakes during the summer seasons for a period
of seventeen years and through his identification with the packing
houses in the winter seasons he obtained a thorough knowledge of
all the details of the business. In 1873 he initiated independent
operations as a provision dealer in Chicago. He also began the
slaughter of hogs and increased the scope of his operations as his
capital justified. It should be recalled that he was superintendent
of a packing house before he had attained his legal majority and in
view of his occupation it is also interesting to recall that his ances-
tors on the maternal side largely followed the sea-faring life and
that his father's family were long identified with the butchering and
general meat business in Prussia. Mr. Decker developed his plant
in Chicago until it had a capacity for handling five hundred hogs
and one hundred head of cattle daily. He disposed of his interests
in the business in 1897 and two years later he came to Mason City.
Iowa, to establish a packing plant and thereby provide a business
opportunity for his sons. The outcome of this plan is shown in the
extensive and important business controlled by the corporation of
which he is president. In 1907, at a convention of the organization
held in the city of Chicago, Mr. Decker was made an honorary mem-
ber of the American Meat Packers Association. He is a staunch
Republican in politics, has served as a member of the city council
in Mason City from 1901 to 1905 inclusive, and in the office of water
commissioner he gave the most effective service in rehabilitating
the local water system. He is essentially liberal and public
spirited in his attitude and is held in unqualified esteem in the city
that now represents his home. He is affiliated with the Masonic
fraternity, including the commandery in the city of Chicago, where
he also holds membership in the Ancient Arabic Order of the
Mystic Shrine. He is also identified with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks and the Royal League. His wife and
daughters are members of the order of the Eastern Star and his sons
and son-in-law are all identified with the Masonic fraternity. Mrs.
Decker and her daughters are members of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
In the city of Chicago, on the 24th of September. 187:^. :\rr.
Decker was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Schram. of ^lil-
waukee, Wisconsin. Tlipy have two sons and two daughters. The
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 553
two sons are officers of the corporation of the Jacob' Decker &
Sons, as alreadj' noted ; Maude L. is the wife of Edmund R. Dunlap,
sales manager of the company, and Miss Gertrude is a cultured
musician and conservatory graduate and is now an instructor of
voice culture and music at the Normal School at Natchitoches,
Louisiana.
GEORGE E. FROST.
It would be difficult to find in the annals of Cerro Gordo coiinty
a man who made a deeper impress upon the life of the community
or touched it at more points than George E. Frost, large land owner,
newspaper proprietor, organizer of the county's first bank, post-
master, county surveyor, last county judge and first county auditor,
this by no means being a complete enumeration of his offices and
activities. Mr. Frost was a New Englander, having been born at
Bridgeport in Addison county, Vermont, April 1, 1834, and he was
at the prime of life when his death occurred in Clear Lake, June 28,
1887. When Mr. Frost was but three years of age his parents,
Levi and Mary E. (Devine) Frost, moved to Canton, St. Lawrence
county. New York, and it was there that he grew to manhood, he
being the only one of his brothers and sisters who survived to
maturity. In 1854, when he was about twenty years of age, his
father came westward to De Kalb county Illinois, bringing his
family with him. After a short residence in this state they removed
to a farm near Marble Rock, Floyd county, Iowa, here living until
they came, in I860, to Clear Lake, where they resided until the death
of the father in 1870 and that of the mother in 1871.
Soon after his arrival in Clear Lake Mr. Frost was appointed
surveyor of Cerro Gordo county, a position which he held for five
years. About this time he traded a farm which he owned in Floyd
county for one hundred and sixty acres in Grant township. This
he added to until it consisted of fourteen hundred acres and at the
time of his death he owned two thousand acres in Cerro Gordo
county, this constituting him a large land owner. In 1870 Mr.
Frost purchased the Clear Lake Observer, which he sold in 1874 to
Hon. M. P. Rosecrans, and upon the discontinuation of the paper
by the latter, he purchased a new press and renewed its publication.
In 1879 he sold it again to F. J. Bush, who gave it the name of the
Clear Lake Mirror and it is still published under that name at the
present day. In 1880 he established the Clear Lake Record, which
he sold in 1885.
Mr. Frost was essentially a versatile business man, and among
554 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
his manifold activities was the establishment of a real estate busi-
ness in 1861. From 1865 to 1873 he acted as revenue collector
and in 1874 was associated with Marcus Tuttle in the organization
of the Clear Lake bank, this making them the first bankers of the
town. At the termination of a year Mr. Frost purchased his
partner's interest. In 1877 he sold his banking interest to W. A.
Bumap and in 1880 bought it back again. In 1868-69 he served
as county judge of Cerro Gordo county and later as county auditor,
and as previously mentioned he was the last county .judge and the
first county auditor of Cerro Gordo county. lie added to his record
as a public servant the office of postmaster at Clear Lake, which
he held from 1862 to 1877, with the exception of two short intervals.
Much of the unusual success of Mr. Frost was due to his re-
markable mental activity and energetic business habits. He was
public spirited and his own advancement was never at the expense
of the common good, but rather to the contrary. He may be ac-
counted one of Clear Lake's pioneers and his memory will long be
kept green in the town which was the scene of his activities.
On September 4, 1865, Mr. Frost took as his wife. Miss Azubah
D. Duncan, who was born in Canada, January 21, 1840, and still
resides at Clear Lake, in the beautiful family residence. Mrs.
Frost was the daughter of Thomas and Almira (Thomas) Duncan,
the father being a native of Scotland and the mother of New York.
In 1863 they moved from McHenry county, Illinois, to Cerro Gordo
county, locating in Lake township. It was there that the father
died in 1871, after forty years' residence in America. The mother
died April 20, 1895, at the age of seventy-eight years. The
marriage of Mrs. Frost's parents took place in Canada in 1838.
Mr. and Mrs. Frost were the parents of three children, Agnes, wife
of C. R. Woodford, and Mary and George E.. the two latter being at
home.
WILLIAM N. WILLIAMS.
Great Britain has lost a large number of her good subjects to
Cerro Gordo county, and among these is William N. Williams, who
owns and operates a farm in section 25, Geneseo town.ship. He was
born in Cornwall, England, in November, 1859, his parents being
Peter and Priseilla (Nicholas) Williams, both of them being natives
of Cornwall. The father lives at present in Sheffield, Franklin
eount.v, and is seventy-eight years of age. The mother died in
1903, at the age of seventy-two. In 1869 Peter Williams brought
his wife and five children to the United States. They located for
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 555
a time at Hazel Green, Wisconsin, and then removed to a farm near
Jamestown, Grant county, Wisconsin, which the father had pur-
chased. This was an improved farm with good buildings and other
advantages. In 1893 it was sold and in 1894 was replaced by a
half section two miles from Sheffield, Franklin county, Iowa. Here
the family resided until 1898, when the father retired and made his
home in the town of Sheffield. William N. is the second of eight
children, five of whom are living. Harry and Thomas are in
business in Sheffield, Albert is in the west and Annie lives at home
with her father. John died when fourteen years of age, and Jessie,
at the age of six months ; Bessie, who was the wife of Edgar James
of Sheffield, is also deceased, and Laura died at the age of forty-two
years. She was the wife of Esau Webb of Aberdeen, South Dakota.
In 1883 William N. Williams located in Sioux Falls, South
Dakota and remained there eleven years. In the fall of 1894 he
removed to Pleasant Valley, where he rented a farm for a year and
in 1895 bought his present place of one hundred and sixty acres,
all improved.
Mr. Williams was united in marriage in the month of Septem-
ber, 1885, to Miss Effie M. Keesler, a daughter of J. M. and Rhena
Keesler. They were residents of Sioux Falls, later living in
Springfield, Missouri, and in 1903 came to Geneseo township to
make their home with Mr. Williams. They lived here but a short
time, the father dying the following June, the mother's demise
occurring in 1904 while upon a visit to her old home in Pennsyl-
vania. Mr. and Mrs. Williams have three sons : Albert J., Walter
L. and Leslie P., all of them at home. Mr. Williams is a loyal
Republican and has served as secretary of the school board for
fourteen years and as township trustee for twelve, his term in the
latter office expiring in 1910. Both he and his wife are members
of the Fraternal Order of the Mystic Toilers.
WILLIAM GRAY.
William Gray, postmaster of Clear Lake and who for the past
fifteen years has been a prominent citizen of the place, was born
near Glasgow, Scotland, June 24, 1856. His parents, Thomas and
Agnes (Fraser) Gray, also natives of Scotland, came to the TTnited
States in 1873. bringing their children with them.
Mr. Gray en.joyed the advantages of a good education, attending
the common schools of his native country and supplementing this
with a course in the T'l'niversity of Glasgow. It was while he was
in attendance at this famous institution of learning that his
556 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
parents eame to their decision to try their fortunes in America.
Although Mr. Gray was only about seventeen years of age at the
time he began almost immediately to teach school in Grundy
county, and from 1873 to 1878 he held the position of deputy
county auditor of Grund.y county. In the latter year he pur-
chased a 'one-half interest in the Grundy County Republican and
for four years he edited and published this sheet, or until his
removal to Washington, D. C. He spent ten years in the national
capitol in his capacity of special examiner in the pension depart-
ment. In 1892 he returned to Iowa, and after three years of un-
settled residence he decided to locate in Clear Lake where he pur-
chased a one-half interest in the Clear Lake Mirror. Two years
later he purchased the entire plant and conducted the same about
fifteen years. He was actively interested in this newspaper until
October 1, 1909, when failing health compelled him to give up an
occupation of such strenuous nature, particularly as he held at the
same time the position of postmaster. His appointment a.s post-
master came in 1906 and he now devotes his time to its duties.
Since the attainment of his ma.]'ority Mr. Gray has taken an
active interest in politics and has given a stanch and unfailing
support to the Republican party, although he is not personally
attracted by the lure of office holding. He has given public
service, however, acting as secretary of the school board for seven
years and having the appointment of chairman of the Republican
Central Committee. He is a past secretary of the Commercial
Club and president of the Hawkeye Club, Clear Lake, Iowa. He
is past chancellor commander of Chivalric Lodge No. 82. Knights
of Pythias. He is progressive and well read and made an enviable
reputation for himself in this section of the state as a newspaper
editor.
]\Ir. Gray was united in marriage July 7. 1880. to Miss Emma
S. Elliott, who was born in Canada, in 1861. They have two
children. Mabel and Walter C. both of whom are at home. The
latter is deputy county trea.surer of Cerro Gordo county.
NORMAN DENSMORE.
The subject of this review took up his residence in Cerro
Gordo county in the pioneer days and was prominently identified
with the civic and material development and progress of this
section of the state, so that he is well entitled to consideration in
this publication. Though he now maintains his residence in tht:
city of Des Moines, where he is president of the Iowa State Mutual
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 557
Tornado Insurance Company, to whose executive affairs he is now-
giving virtually his undivided attention, he long held a position of
prominence and influence in Cerro Gordo county, where he is
remembered with all of confidence and esteem by those with whom
he was associated and by all familiar with his earnest and pro-
ductive career.
Mr. Densmore was bom at Riga, New York, on the 19th of
September, 1829, and is a son of Orrin and Elizabeth (Fowler)
Densmore. The Densmore family was founded in America in the
early Colonial epoch and the records indicate that in 1720 represen-
tatives of the name established their home in the state of Maine,
whither they came from county Antrim, Ireland, to which section
the family had immigrated from Scotland. John Densmore was
the founder of the family in America and from the old pine-tree
.state his descendents later located in New Hampshire, New York
and other sections of the Union. Daniel Densmore, grandfather
of the subject of this review, moved from New Hampshire to the
state of New York, where he passed the remainder of his life.
When sixteen years of age the Hon. Norman Densmore, to whom
this sketch is dedicated, moved to the state of Wisconsin and he
made the ma.jor part of the journey with a team and wagon. By
attending Beloit College of that state he effectually rounded out
his earlier educational discipline. He achieved prominence as a
surveyor and ran a line for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad
out of Chicago. He then turned his attention to agricultural
pursviits, with which he continued to be identified at Rock count.y,
Wisconsin, until 1877. when he removed with his family to Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, and secured a tract of land in Bath township,
where he reclaimed a productive farm and became one of the repre-
sentative agriculturists of this section of the state. He accumu-
lated a landed estate of about two hundred and twenty acres and
he continued to reside upon this fine homestead until 1891, when
he removed to IMa-son City. Here he became an interested princi-
pal in the Cerro Gordo County Farmer's Mutual Insurance Com-
pany, of which he was secretary until 1905, when he removed to
Des Moines, where he has since been incumbent of the office of
president of the Iowa State Mutual Tornado Insurance Company.
While still residing on his farm, Mr. Densmore represented Cerro
Gordo county in the state legislature for two terms. He was one
of the prime factors in the organization of the Farmer's Co-opera-
tive Association of Rockwell, Cerro Gordo county, and served as
its president for about a decade, and he was otherwise influential
in public affairs. In politics he is a stanch adherent of the
558 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Republican party and he attends the Congregational church, of
which his devoted wife was a member. She died in Mason City
in 1898, at the age of sixty-five years.
In the year 1854, in the city of Chicago, Mr. Densmore was
united in marriage to Miss Delia Webster, of Palestine, Illinois.
She was left an orphan at an early age and was reared and edu-
cated in Illinois. Concerning the five children of this family the
following brief data are incorporated: Ellis, who died at the age
of thirty-one .vears, at Bingham, Alabama, was at the time identified
with one of the leading iron manufacturing concerns of that state ;
Elsie is the wife of A. E. Joiner of St. Paul. Minnesota ; Ray is an
employe of the American Bridge Company of Chicago ; Dr. Ora
of IMason City is individually mentioned in this work ; and Webb is
a senior lieutenant in the United States navy, being now assigned
to recruiting duty with headquarters at Cedar Rapids and with a
branch office at Mason City. He was graduated as an electrical
engineer in Highland Park College and for several years thereafter
held a position in the shops of the Pullman Car Company, biit has
been a member of the United States navy since 1897.
ORA DENSMORE, M. D. '
It is a matter of no slight significance to have achieved suc-
cess in so exacting and so representative a profession as that of
the physician and surgeon, and thus it is gratif%'ing to the pub-
lishers of this work to be able to incorporate within its pages special
mention of those who stand essentially prominent in the medical
profession of Cerro Gordo county. Among this number is Dr.
Densmore, who is engaged in the successful practice of his pro-
fession in Mason City and who, in addition to thorough training in
the regular lines of medicine and surgery, is also a graduate in
o.steopathy. He has a finely appointed suite of offices in the
Commercial block and has been engaged in the work of his pro-
fession in Mason City since 1904. He is a son of the Hon. Norman
Densmore, concerning whom more definite mention is made else-
where in this volume.
Dr. Densmore was born at Emerald Grove. Wisconsin, on the
13th of September. 1872. and in 1877, when he was five years of
age, his parents moved to Cerro Gordo county, where he was
reared to maturity and where his early educational advantages
were those afforded in the public schools, after leaving which he
completed a commercial course under the direction of Professor
C. P. Headington of Mason City. He then entered Highland
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 559
Park College, at Des Moines, Iowa, where he completed the scientific
course and was graduated as a member of the class of 1895, with
the degree of Bachelor of Science. Soon afterward he went to
Kirksville, Missouri, the headquarters of the osteopathic cult and
there entered the well-equipped college of this school of practice,
in which he was graduated in 1898 and from which he received
the degree of Doctor of Osteopathy. In 1901 he was graduated in
the National Medical College, in the city of Chicago, from which
he received the degree of Doctor of Medicine. After leaving this
institution he was for two years a member of the faculty of the
school of osteopathy at Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania. The Doctor
has been very successful in the work of his chosen profession, es-
pecially in the field of osteopathic work. He is secretary of the
Fourth District Association of Osteopathic Physicians and is one
of the leading representatives of this effective school of practice n
northern Iowa. In politics he is a stanch Republican. He is
affiliated with the Mason City organization of Homestead No. 162.
Brotherhood of American Yeomen, in which fraternity he is treas-
urer of the Iowa state conclave. His wife is a member of the
Congregational chiirch.
On the 21st of December, 1901, Dr. Densmore was united in
marriage to Miss Ella Perry of Storm Lake. Iowa, where she held
for several years a position in the First National Bank. Dr. and
Mrs. Densmore have one daughter, Claire, who was born on the 25th
of June. 1903.
CYRENTTS G. DAYTON.
A prominent business man of Mason City, Iowa, and one of
its most highly esteemed and respected citizens, Cyrenus G. Dayton,
is widely known as proprietor of the Mason City Marble and
Granite Works. A son of Isaac and Mary A. (Patehen) Dayton,
he was born August 1, 1851, in Delaware county. New York. His
parents migrated from that county to Wisconsin in 1865, locating
on a farm in Cohimbia county, where both spent the remainder of
their lives, the father dying at the age of seventy-six years, in
1891, and the mother in 1893, aged seventy-five years. Of their
ten children six are living, as follows: N. B., of Mason City:
Cyrenus G. ; Charles M., of Los Angeles, California ; Emory S., of
Randolph, Wisconsin ; E. H., of Fall River, Wisconsin : and Am-
brose, of Wisconsin.
Having acquired a practical education in the district schools.
Cyrenus G. Dayton left the home farm when fifteen years old and
560 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
served an apprenticeship at the trade of a plasterer and mason,
which he followed several years. He was passenger in the fall of
1869 on the first work train that entered Mason City, and he sub-
sequently worked at his trade here summers, during the winter
season being employed in a marble-cutter's shop. In 1872 Mr.
Dayton bought Mr. T. B. Gale's marble shop, and not only con-
ducted that but was a contractor for mason and plaster work for a
number of years. He has the finest and most modernly-equipped
marble shop in northern Iowa and manufactures all of his monu-
ments from the rough material, being an especially skillful and
artistic marble worker. He has acquired considerable property in
the city, in 1893 having erected his present building. He is inde-
pendent in politics, voting regardless of party restrictions, and
fraternally belongs to the Knights of Pythias.
On February 9, 1876, Mr. Dayton was united in marriage with
Mary A. Elam, who was born in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, November
17, 1853. and they had four children, but Beatrice Da^-fon is the
only one li^^ng. Ruth E. married A. J. Kilmer, a druggi.st here,
and she died at the age of twenty-seven years, leaving two children.
Jerald died at the age of two years, and Edgar died at the age of
fifteen years.
JAMES E. TRESTON.
James E. Treston, cashier of the Farmers' State Bank of Rock-
well and a former agriculturist of ability, is of Irish descent and
shares in some of the most pleasing characteristics of his ancestors.
He was born in Kenosha. "Wisconsin. April 23, 1862, his parents
being Edward and Eliza (Dillon) Treston, both of whom were
natives of county Mayo, Ireland. They were married in their
native country and in 1850. shortly afterward, they came with two
of their children to the United States and located in Wisconsin.
The father engaged as a farm hand, chopped wood, and in various
ways of like nature made his livelihood and at the time of the
Rebellion served his newly adopted country in railroad building
in the south. In 1865 the family moved to Pennsylvania and
located near Hazleton. in Luzerne county, where the father took up
the occupation of mining, his particular duties being the charge
of the slate pickers. ALso for .several years he had charge of
highway construction, repairing the roads in existence' and opening
up new ones in the township of Hazle.
In 1884 the father came with his family to Dougherty town-
ship, Cerro Gordo county, where he had been previously and pur-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 561
phased one hundred and sixty aeres of improved land. He bnilt
an addition to the house and a barn and oiitbuilding's, and a little
later bought eighty acres more and continued to make his home
there until his death. He and his family held membership in the
church of the Sacred Heart. In politics he was a Democrat and
for some time served as school treasurer of the towTiship. There
was a family of ten children, seven of whom are living, as follows :
Susan E., of Rockwell ; Mrs. Kate Gallagher, of Dougherty town-
ship ; Mrs. Mary Bonner, of Utah ; Mrs. Margaret Rader, of Rock-
well; Mr. Treston^ Mrs. Budger Barragy, of Dougherty township;
and Mrs. Jennie Gaffney, of Rockwell. Eliza, who died in 1887,
John and a daughter who died in infancy are the three who have
passed on.
James E. Treston received his education in the public schools
of Hazle township, Pennsylvania. He came with his father to
Iowa and worked upon the homestead until July, 1902, when he was
elected cashier of the Farmers' State Bank of Rockwell, which
position he holds to the present time, his competency being of a high
order. He gives an unfaltering support to the Democratic party
and for several terms held the office of township clerk. He and
his wife are members of the Sacred Heart Catholic church.
Mr. Treston 's wife before her marriage was Miss Julia Burke,
of Dougherty township, their union being celebrated in November,
1891. Her parents, Michael and Julia Burke, came to Cerro
Gordo county in 1878. The father acquired four hundred acres
of land, most of which he improved himself. He died in 1902 and
his wife in 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Treston are the parents of eight
children : Edward, Mary. Martin, James, Elizabeth, Julia and
Catherine (both deceased), and Julia.
ALBERT F. SHOTTS.
Albert F. Shotts has for many years been prominently identi-
fied with the advancement and growth of the industrial prosperity
of Mason City, and now, as president of the Mason City Realty
Company, is carrving on a successful real estate, loan and insurance
business. A son of J. J. Shotts, he was born, February 17, 1855.
in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. Born in Germany in the
early part of the nineteenth century, J. J. Shotts remained in the
Fatherland until twenty-two years of age. Coming then to the
United States he was variously employed, during the last few
years of his residence in the East being manager of extensive salt
works. Locating with his family in Iowa in 1859, he bought land
Vol. n— 11
562 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
in Keokuk county, and from that time made farrainio: his principal
occupation, living in that county until his death, in 1906, at the
venerable asre of ninety-two years. He married Anna B. Hunker,
who came from Germany to PittsbTirgr. Pennsylvania, when eigh-
teen years old. She passed to the life be.vond in 1882. at the age
of three score and ten years. They became the parents of seven
children, of whom five are lining, namely: John, of Rock Island,
Illinois; J. F.. of La Crosse, Kansas; J. W.. of Keota. Iowa; Albert
P., the subject of this sketch; and Emma, wife of ]\I. Pleveka, of
Do\\-ner's Grove, Illinois.
While li\ang on the home farm Albert P. Shotts was well
trained in the mysteries of farming, and after leaving the district
schools further advanced his knowledge by attendance at the
Iowa State University for a year. Beginning the battle of life
for himself, he served for a .vear as clerk and second mate on a
Mississippi river passenger packet plying between Vicksburg and
Memphis. Entering then the employ of 0. P. Perguson, a rail-
road construction contractor connected with an Evansville, Indiana,
compan.v, he was purchasing agent, time-keeper, and pay master
for two years, working all through the middle west. The follow-
ing three years Mr. Shotts traveled on the road as general agent
for the "Western Pviblishing Company of Chicago, selling school
supplies, covering most of the states and territories and Canada.
He probabl.v spent twent.v years as a salesman in different lines.
He was afterwards in the drug business in Iowa and Kansas for
three .vears, the ensuing eighteen months being department manager
of the Historical Publishing Compan.v of Philadelphia.
Locating then at Williamsburg, Iowa, Mr. Shotts was there en-
gaged in the hardware and implement business for five years, one
year of that time serving as mayor of the town. Going from there
to Keota, Iowa, he embarked in the lumber, grain and coal business,
continuing three years, and he was a member of the council and
was chief of the fire department while there. On December 26.
1900, Mr, Shotts came to Mason City to help organize the American
Brick and Tile Company, of which he was subsequently the busi-
ness manager for six years. In 1906 he was one of the promoters
of the Wardrobe Company of IMason City, in which he is a stock-
holder and is now the president. lie is a stockholder in the
Martin IManufacturing Company, which he was influential in
having located in ]\Iasou Cit.v. and, as above mentioned, is president
of the JIason City Realty Company, which was here established
January 1, 1908.
Mr. Shotts married. January 1, 1891, Ruth Anna Dugdale,
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 563
who was born at Mount Pleasant. Iowa. May 17. 1866. Mr. Shotts
i.s active and prominent in fraternal organizations, belonging to
the Knights of Pythias, the Benevolent and Protective Order of
Elks, and as a Mason being a member of the lodge, the chapter,
the council, the commandery, and the shrine. Politically he is a
cheerful supporter of the principles of the Republican party. Mrs.
Shotts is a member of the Congregational church, towards the sup-
port of which he is a liberal contributor.
WILLIAM H. :\IOORE.
Occup.ving one of the most attractive homesteads of Portland
township, William H. Moore has here been protitably engaged in
general agriculture for many years, his farm of four hundred
acres being advantageously located on sections 23 and 24. A son
of James K. Moore, he was born, in 1858, in Dodge county, Wis-
consin, where the first few years of his life were spent.
Born in Oswego, New York, June 7, 1822, James K. Moore
was taken by his parents in 1823 to Lysander, Onondaga county.
New York, and was there reared and educated. After attaining
his majority he spent two years in Wisconsin, but did not at that
time settle there. Going back to Lysander, he staid there until
1849, when he returned to Wisconsin, locating in Dodge county,
where he redeemed a farm from the wilderness and continued
his residence for upwards of a score of years. Coming to Iowa in
1873, he resided in Flo.yd count.v, at Marble Rock, until 1879.
Locating in that year in Cerro Gordo county, he bought the land
now owned and operated bv his son, William H.. and was here
prosperously engaged in general farming until December, 1892.
Removing to California at that time, he located at Summerland,
Santa Barbara county, where he lived in retirement until his death.
May 14, 1906. He was a man of much culture, a Spiritualist in
religion, and very active in ps.vchological research. He was a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, taking much
interest in the affairs of the order. He married in Wisconsin,
Jane Vokes, who was born in England and came to the United
States when a child. She died in Wisconsin many years ago.
leaving two children, namel.v: Leonora, who married Joseiph
Woloth, and died in Iowa about twent.v-five years ago ; and William
H., the .sub.ject of this sketch.
Receiving his early education in the public schools of Wiscon-
sin, William H. Moore came with his father to Iowa in 1873, and
subsecjuently assisted him in clearing and improving the farm
564 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
which he now owns and occupies in Portland township. Cerro
Gordo county. Familiar with every branch of agriculture from
his youth up. Mr. ]\Toore has met with uniform success as a general
farmer and in addition to cultivating the soil with profitable
results he has for many years carried on an extensive and lucrative
business at Nora Springs. bu.Wng, selling, feeding and shipping
cattle. His home farm is one of the best in its appointments and
improvements of any in this part of the state, gi\dng ample evi-
dence to the passer-by of his skill as a practical farmer and rural
householder.
llr. Moore married Julia Carll. who was born in Ireland and
came to Mason City with her parents when a child. Here her
father died, but her mother, brothers and sisters still reside in
Mason City. Mr. and Mrs. Jloore have two children, James E.,
aged twenty-seven years, and William W., two years younger.
Both live on the home farm. James E. married Lueinda Gaus,
and they have one daughter. Winnifred B. ]Moore. In his political
views Mr. Moore is independent. Fraternally he belongs to the
Knights of Pythias and to the Modern Woodmen of America.
FRANKLIN S. TAYLOR.
Franklin S. Taylor, for many years a respected farmer of
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, died at his home in Clear Lake, this
county, April 6, 1900. ]\Ir. Taylor was a native of the "Empire
State." He was born in St. Lawrence county. New York. Sep-
tember 5, 1845, and when a boy of nine years accompanied his
parents, Joseph and SyU-ia (Chapman) Taylor, and other mem-
bers of the family, to Iowa, their settlement being in Jackson
county, where he grew to manhood on his father's farm. He
was one of seven children, of whom three are now living. The
father died in Jackson county. The mother survived him about
fifteen years and died in Cerro Gordo county.
When the Ci\'il war was inaugurated Franklin S. Taylor, a
youth at work in his father's fields, was eager to respond to the
call for soldiers to protect the Union. On July 19, 1862, he
enlisted as a member of Company A, Nineteenth Infantry, U. S. A.,
and was with his command until he was discharged on account
of disability, after serving about eighteen months. After the
war he moved to Grant township. Cerro Gordo county, where he
carried on farming and made his home for a number of years,
finally moving to Clear Lake, where his death occurred. The
farm has since been sold.
^Ut^^^l^/foy
,^^-w-.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 567
On August 1, 1868, iu Lincoln township, Cerro Gordo county,
Iowa, Mr. Taylor married Miss Lydia Blackmore, who was born in
Allegany, New York, February 4, 1850, a daughter of Edwin and
Cynthia (Wetmore) Blackmore. When she was a girl her parents
moved west to Wisconsin, and four years later, after the death of
her father, which occurred in Wisconsin, her mother and other
members of the family came to Iowa and took up their residence
in Cerro Gordo county. That was in 1867. Her mother died at
the advanced age of ninety years. In their family were seven
children, whom five are still living.. To Mr. and Mrs. Taylor
nine children were born, namely: Orion, of Oregon; Mabel, wife
of W. J. Robinson, of Clear Lake; Miss Cynthia, a professional
hairdresser ; Fred, of Fargo, North Dakota ; Edward, also of Fargo,
married Miss Nettie Larson; Norman, of Bend, Oregon; Willett,
of Clear Lake, Iowa, married Miss Tina Beeber; Sylvia, wife of
Ernest Dunsmore, of Mountain Lake, Minnesota; and Frank, of
Anthon, Iowa. Mrs. Dunsmore has a son, Leland Diinsmore, the
only grandchild in the family.
Mr. Taylor was a stanch Republican, always maintained a
deep interest in public affairs, and at different times filled local
office, such as school director, assessor, census enumerator, etc.
He was a member of Thomas Howard Post, G. A. R., in which he
filled all the chairs except that of commander. He worshiped
at the Methodist Episcopal church, with which the family have long
been identified. Mrs. Taylor is a member of the Relief Corps.
CHARLES II. McNIDER.
Charles H. McNider, president of the First National Bank at
Mason City, Iowa, serves as an example. of what can be accomplished
by a poor boy. It would be interesting to note in detail the
various steps in the career of Mr. McNider as he has climbed to
his present position, but in this work limited space renders possible
the presentation of only a brief resume.
Charles H. McNider was born in Dubuque, Iowa, in 1860, son
of Thomas B. and Anna (Kane) McNider, both now deceased.
His father was a railroad contractor and at one time carried on an
extensive business, but in later years suffered severe financial
reverses. He and his wife spent the closing years of their lives
in Mason City, to which place they moved in 1871, when Charles
H. was a small boy. Here the lad attended school until February,
1875, when it became necessary for him to leave the school room
and enter a business life, and then it was that he began what has
568 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
proved a succ-essful t-areer. In April, 1875. he entered the employ
of the Cerro Gordo County Bank, as office boy, at a salary of one
hundred dollars a year. When this bank was reorganized and
became the First National Bank young McNider remained with it,
and so well had he ingratiated himself that in 1881 he was made
assistant cashier. In 1887 it was his good fortune to step into the
office of cashier, and in 1895 he was honored by being elected presi-
dent of the bank, the position he now fills. In the meantime he
became identified with various other enterprises. At this writing
he is president of the Mason City Loan & Trust Company, the
First National Bank of Dougherty, the Citizens' Saving Bank of
Hanlontown, the Farmers' State Bank of Joice, Iowa, and the
Carpenter Savings Bank of Carpenter, Iowa; vice president and
treasurer of the ]\Iason City & Clear Lake Railroad Company, and
treasurer of the Portland Cement Company, besides being a stock-
holder in various other business organizations.
In municipal affairs Mr. McNider has always taken an enthus-
iastic interest. He was a member of the school board, of which
he served as president for ten or twelve years, and for seventeen
years he was treasurer of Mason City. Politically he has always
affiliated with the Republican party. In 1896 he was a presiden-
tial elector and had the honor to assist in the election of President
McKinley. His interest in educational matters has extended
beyond the confines of his home town school board. He is a
member of the Board of Tnistees of the Iowa State Teachers'
College.
In fraternal circles he ha.s long been prominent and active.
He has member.ship in the M. B. A., I. O. 0. F.. M. W. A.. B. P. 0.
E.. K. of P. and F. & A. il. He was the first Exalted Ruler in the
Elks' lodge at Mason City, is a charter member of the Uniformed
Rank, K. of P., and in Masonry he has reached the top round.
For fourteen years he served as eminent commander of Com-
mandery No. 43, Mason City, and to him belongs the distinction
of being tlie only thirty-third degree Mason here.
Mr. McNider 's wife. May H., is a daughter of Frederick
Hanford and a native of Tompkins county. New York. They have
one son. Ilanford McNider, attending Harvard University.
ADONIRAM J. MILLER.
This sterling citizen of ^Mason City, where he is now living
virtually retired, has been a resident of Cerro Gordo county for a
pci-iod of forty years, within which it was given him to gain success
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 569
and independence through well directed endeavors, and he is a
member of one of the honored pioneer families of Iowa, with whose
annals the name has been identified for more than half a century.
He was in his twenty-first year at the time of the family emigration
to the Hawkeye state, and here he has found ample scope and
opportunity for productive effort along normal lines of industrial
and business enterprise, the while he has so ordered his course as
to merit and receive the high regard of his fellow men.
Mr. Mller reverts to the old Keystone state of the Union as
the place of his nativity, as he was born on a farm in Venango
township, Crawford county, Pennsylvania, on the 12th of August,
1836. He is a son of Abraham and Nancy (Ross) Miller, both of
whom were likewise natives of Pennsylvania — the former of Ger-
man lineage and the latter of Scotch-Irish extraction, she having
been a lineal descendant of the great navigator, Sir John Ross.
Both families were founded in Pennsylvania prior to the war of
the Revolution.
Abraham Miller was identified with agricultural pursuits in
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, until 1847, when he moved with
his family to Monongalia countj^. West Virginia, which state at
that time was an integral portion of the historic old commonwealth
of Virginia. There he continued to be engaged in farming until
1856, when he came to Iowa and cast in his lot with the pioneers
of Allamakee county, where he purchased a tract of land and
developed a valuable and prodvictive farm. On this old homestead
he continued to reside until his death, in 1883, at the venerable
age of seventy-five years. His loved and devoted wife was
summoned to eternal rest in 1876, when about sixty-eight years of
age, and both were zealous and consistent members of the Baptist
church, exemplifying their faith in their worthy lives and kindly
deeds. They became the parents of three sons and two daughters
who attained to years of maturity, and of the number the subject
of this review, the eldest of the three now living, was the fourth in
order of birth. Dr. Edson C. Miller is a representative physician
and surgeon at Brookings, South Dakota; Rachel is the wife of
Thomas B. Wiley, of Waukon, Allamakee county, Iowa; Captain
George R. Miller, well remembered in Cerro Gordo county, where
he died in 1885, at the age of fifty-four years, was captain of Com-
pany I, Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in the Civil war;
and Sarah, who became the wife of Joseph Curtis, died in Hancock
county, this state, in 1883.
Adoniram J. Miller, the immediate sub.ject of this sketch,
gained his rudimentary education in the common schools of his
570 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUN.TY
native t-oiinty and was about eleven years of age at the time of
the family removal to Monongalia county, West Virginia, where
he was reared to maturity and where he made good use of the
educational advantages afforded him. "When seventeen years of
age he proved himself eligible for pedagogic service, and he began
teaching in the schools of West Virginia. Later he taught in the
district schools of Allamakee county, Iowa, whither he accom-
panied his parents when he was in his twenty-first year, and he
continued to teach at intervals until he had attained to the age of
thirty-five years. He thus proved a valued factor in educational
work during a period of about seventeen years, and through self-
discipline and association with men and affairs he became a man
of broad intellectual ken and of mature judgment. In 1870 Mr.
Miller came to Mason City and engaged in the grocery business, in
which he continued for a decade, within which he built up a
prosperous enterprise and gained a secure place in the confidence
and esteem of the community. In 1880 he disposed of his grocery
business and purchased a farm in Lime Creek township. He
made excellent improvements on this property- and developed one
of the valuable farms of the county. He continued to give his
personal supervision to the homestead farm until 1895, when he
removed to Mason City, where he has since lived practically retired
and where he is the owner of an attractive home. He still owns
his farm, which comprises one hundred and sixty acres, and through
his own efforts he has gained vantage-grouud as one of the well-to-
do citizens of Cerro Gordo county, where he has ever stood ex-
emplar of progressiveness and loyal civic loyalty, giving his sup-
port to all measures tending to enhance the general welfare. In
politics he is aligned as a stanch supporter of the principles of
the Democratic party and he keeps well informed in connection
with matters of public polity and interest. He was a member of
the school board of Mason City in 1872 and in this connection he
was one of the strong advocates of the erection of the old stone
school house, which long provided ample facilities. He has
continued to take a deep interest in educational matters and has
urged a progressive policy in the work of the public schools of his
home city and county. He was a member of the city council for a
period of four years and also served as deputy sheriff for one term,
under the regime of Sheriff Rosecrantz. j\Ir. Jliller has never
identified himself with any fraternal organization. His wife was
a devoted member of the Baptist church and Mr. Miller contributes
to the .support of all the churches in Mason City.
In Allamakee countv, Iowa, on the 18th of JIarch. 1S62. was
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 571
solemnized the marriage of Mr. Miller to Miss Margaret Sence-
baugh, who was born in the state of Virginia, whence she came with
her parents to Iowa in 1850. The great loss and bereavement in
the life of Mr. Miller was that which came when his cherished and
devoted wife and helpmeet was summoned to eternal rest, on the
1st of September, 1907, at the age of sixty-seven years. She is
survived by two children : Prank A., who is engaged in the grocery
business in Mason City, and Fannie, who is the wife of A. H.
Dunn, of Plankinton, South Dakota.
ALBURTUS S. CLARK.
For more than a quarter of a century a resident of Mason
City, Alburtus S. Clark, county auditor of Cerro Gordo county,
has ever taken a warm interest in local affairs, serving his fellow
men in various capacities, in the performance of his public duties
devoting his time and attention in a generous measure. He was
born, June 4, 1846, in Madison county, New York, a son of Stephen
and Susan (Popple) Clark. His father, a native of New York
state, died in Green Lake county, Wisconsin, in 1892, aged seventy-
four years. His wife, who was born in Rhode Island, in 1822, is
now living in Wisconsin. Five children were born of their union,
as follows : Mary, widow of George Thompson, of Berlin, Wiscon-
sin ; Helen, wife of II. C. Smith, of Jamestown, North Dakota ;
Alburtus S., the sub,ject of this brief biographical sketch; George,
of Green Lake county, Wisconsin ; and Wallace, a resident of the
same county. The parents were among the early pioneers of that
county, and while busy clearing and improving their own home-
stead were important factors in advancing the material interests
of the community in which thej^ spent the best years of their lives.
Eight years of age when his parents migrated to Wisconsin,
Alburtus S. Clark grew up on the farm, attending the short
sessions of the district school, in the meantime becoming familiar
with the various branches of mixed husbandry. In February,
1864, he enlisted as a bugler in the First Wisconsin Cavalry, and
served in that position until the close of the conflict. Returning
to the parental roof-tree, he assisted in the care of the farm dur-
ing the ensuing two years, after which he was clerk in a shoe
store for a year. Becoming a traveling salesman then for a shoe
firm, Mr. Clark continued on the road nine years, in the meantime,
in 1874, purchasing a half interest in a shoe and grocery store
at Waupiui, Wisconsin. Leaving the road in 1881, he had charge
of the Waupun slioe establishment for three years.
572 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Coming to JIason City in the fall of 1884, Mr. Clark embarked
in the stock and grazing business. Opening a meat market in
1892, he managed it sucfessfully for three and one-half years,
when it burned out, and he did not rebuild. Being elected city
assessor, he served faithfully for six years, afterwards being
engaged in the real estate and insurance business as junior member
of the firm of Crossley & Clark. In the fall of 1906 Mr. Clark was
elected count.v auditor of Cerro Gordo coamty. and served so ably
and satisfactorily that in 1908 he was re-elected for another term
of two years. He was again the candidate for the third term,
without opposition, on the Republican ticket, for the November
election of 1910. While living on the home farm in Wisconsin,
when little more than a boy, he was made road master, and about
the same time was elected school treasurer. While serving in the
latter capacity Mr. Clark tells of his experience in caring for
the money entrusted to him. He carefully spread the bills over
the bottom of his trunk, covered them with a newspaper, and then
put his clothes on top of the paper's, his trunk proving a very safe
bank deposit.
Politically Mr. Clark is an unswerving Republican. Frater-
nally he belongs to C. H. Huntley Post, No. 42, G. A. R.; to
Benevolence Lodge No. 145, A. F. & A. M. to Benevolence Chapter
No. 46, R. A. M. and both he and his wife are members of Unity
Chapter No. 58, 0. E. S.
Mr. Clark married November 27, 1872, Elizabeth Stanton,
who was born in Piscataquis county, Maine, February 21, 1854, a
daughter of George W. and Hannah (Lord) Stanton, both natives
of Maine. Her parents moved from Maine to Dodge county,
Wisconsin, in 1856, and there her father was for many years suc-
cessfully engaged in farming, later, however, embarking in the
grain business at Waupun, where he resided until his death, at
the age of seventy-nine years, in 1893. His wife preceded him
to the better world, dying in 1885, when but fifty -nine years of
age. Of the six children born of the union of Mr. and Mrs.
Stanton but three survive, namely: Joseph E. Stanton, of Apple-
ton, Wisconsin; Elizabeth, now Mrs. Clark; and George W., of
Seattle, Washington. Blr. and Mrs. Clark are the parents of four
children, namely: Edith L., wife of Frank Kirsh, of Everett,
Washington; George J., teller in the First National Bank of Los
Angeles, California; Willinm B. : and S. Beatrice.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 573
LAMBERT W. PHILLIPS.
An eminently useful and highful esteemed citizen of Mason
City, Lambert W. Phillips is a man of undisputed integrity, and
during his long residence in this vicinity has won the confidence of
his fellow townsmen, whom he is now serving acceptably as county
treasurer of Cerro Gordo county. A son of the late Charles H.
Phillips, he was born April 16, 1855, in Cattaraugus county, New
York, coming on the paternal side of good old New England stock.
A native of Massachusetts, Charles H. Phillips spent a part
of his earlier life in New York state. In the summer of 1865 he
moved with his family to Ripon, Wisconsin, where he remained just
about a year. In June, 1866, again taking up the line of march,
he made an overland trip to Iowa, making the journe.y, accord-
ing to the custom of that day, with teams of horses and oxen, one
of which, loaded with household goods, was driven up Main street,
Mason City, by his son, Lambert W., a lad of eleven years. Locat-
ing on section nine, Lincoln township, he purchased one hundred
acres of land that was still for the most part in its virgin \vildness
and began the arduous task of establishing a home in a new and
undeveloped country. He succeeded well in his efforts, bought
additional land, and was there prosperously emplo.yed in agricul-
tural pursuits until his death, in 1898. His wife, whose maiden
name was Almira Blackmore, was born in 1836, in New York state,
and is now living in Clear Lake, Iowa. To them nine children
were born, seven of whom survive, as follows: Lambert W., the
special subject of this brief personal notice; Lester E., residing in
Michigan ; Norman W., a successful physician in Clear Lake, Iowa ;
Cora, wife of W. H. Heniman, of Clear Lake ; Nina, wife of I. L.
Paulson, of Clear Lake; Edwin, of Lincoln township; and A. B.,
one of the leading physicians of Clear Lake.
After coming with his parents to Cerro Gordo county, Lambert
"W. Phillips attended the winter terms of the district schools, in
the summer time assisting in the improvement of the parental
homestead. He subsequentl.y taught school a few winter terms,
farming for himself the remainder of the year. Not at all caring
to make farming his life work, he accepted a pasition in the Clear
Lake Bank, where he was employed several years. In 1893 Mr.
Phillips was made deputy county treasurer, and in 1897 was elected
county treasurer of Cerro Gordo county, a position of responsi-
bility to which he was re-elected in 1899, holding the office four
years or two terms. He subsequently established himself in the
real estate and insurance business in Mason City, and in April,
574 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
1909, on account of the death of the county treasurer, was ap-
pointed county treasurer to fill out the unexpired term.
On December 24, 1885, Mr. Phillips was united in marriage
with Alice A. Payne, who was born in Wisconsin September 15,
1863, and of the children born of their union two are living. Laura
and Clarence.
Politically Mr. Phillips has ever been a firm supporter of the
principles of the Republican party. Fraternally he is a member
of Benevolence Lodge, No. 145, A. F. & A. M.; of Benevolence
Chapter, No. 46, R. A. M. ; of Antioch Commandery, No. 43, K. T. ;
and is a charter member of Cerro Gordo Lodge, No. 70, K. of P.
Mr. and Mrs. Phillips attend the Congregational church.
WILLIAM J. EGLOFF, M. D.
Cerro Gordo county has reason to find satisfaction in the sterl-
ing personnel and marked technical ability of those who represen.
the medical profession within her borders, and numbered among
the leading physicians and surgeons of the county is Dr. Eglofif,
who is engaged in the active practice of his profession in Mason
City, with offices in his fine building at 121 East State street. He
is one of the loyal and public spirited citizens of his native state,
commands a secure place in popular esteem and confidence, and
his success in his chosen vocation has been of unequivocal order.
Dr. Egloff was born at Cedar Falls, Black Hawk county, Iowa,
on the 25th of January, 1863, and is a son of William and Marie
A. (Brandle) Egloff, both of whom are now deceased. The father
was born in Alsace-Lorraine, which was at that time still a pro-
vince of France, from which country it was wrested at the time of
the France-Prussian war. William Egloff was reared and adu-
cated in his native land and there became a citizen of prominence
and influence, in which connection it may be noted that he held the
office of .iudge, through appointment by the government. In
1856 he immigrated to America, and within the same year he took
up his residence at Manchester, Delaware county, Iowa. He was
a lawyer by profession, but after coming to Iowa he turned his
attention to agricultural pursuits, with which he was actively iden-
tified for a number of years. He moved from Delaware county
to Black Ilawk county, where he remained until 1871, when he
came to Mason City and entered the employ of the Iowa Central
Railroad, with whose local service he continued to be identified until
his death, in 1881, at the age of sixty -seven years. His wife was
born at Passau, in the kingdom of Bavaria, Germany, where their
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 575
marriage was solemnized. After he had established his home in
America his wife joined him, and she passed the closing years of
her life in Mason City, where she died in 1895, at the age of
seventy-two years. The parents of Dr. Bgloff were devont com-
municants of the Catholic chnrch and in politics the father gave
his allegiance to the Republican party. He was a man of fine in-
tellectnality and he ever commanded the implicit confidence and
esteem of all with whom he came in contact. Of the children Dr.
Bgloff was the tenth in order of birth, two died in infancy, and
concerning the others the following brief data are entered : Marie
E., is the widow of Samnel J. Hnnt and is a popular teacher in
the schools of Salt Lake City, Utah ; Leontine. is the wife of Lncins
M. Bassett, who is principal of one of the public schools in the city
of Chicago; Minnie, is the wife of John B. Long, of Kimball,
South Dakota ; Pauline, is the wife of Albert A. DuBois and they
reside in the state of Oregon; Eugene C, was freight agent for
the Illinois Central Railroad at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, at the time
of his death ; Joseph was the owner and operator of a flour mill
at Mound City, Kansas, at the time of his death ; and Max G.,
a retired railroad man, resides at Cedar Palls. Iowa.
Dr. Egloflf was eight years of age at the time of the family
removal to Mason City, to whose schools he is indebted for his pre-
liminary educational discipline. In preparation for the work of
his chosen profession he went to the great western metropolis and
entered the Chicago Medical College, which is now the medical
department of Northwestern University. He completed the pre-
scribed course in this well ordered institution, in which he was
graduated ^dth the degree of Doctor of Medicine in 1887, as presi-
dent of his class. In May of the pre-^eding year he had success-
fully passed the required examination before the Illinois state
board of health and he had initiated the practice of his profession
prior to his graduation. During 1886-7 he was engasred in the
dispensary of the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company in
Chicago, and he then returned to JIason City, where he became
associated in practice with Dr. Chauncey H. Smith, to whom a
memorial tribute is given on other pages of this work.
Dr. EgloflF has given him.self with all of zeal and earnestness
to the work of his noble and exacting profession and he has not
been denied a generous measure of success and prestige. He is
recognized as a skilled and resourceful physician and surgeon and
he keeps in close touch with the advances made in both departments
of his profession. He is a valued member of the Cerro Gordo
County Medical Society, the Austin Flint-Cedar Vallev Medical
576 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Society, the Iowa State IMedit-al Sooiety, and the American Medical
Association. From 1004 to 1908 he was councilor of the Iowa
State Medical Society for the Fourth congressional district of Iowa,
and during the last year of his incumbency he was chairman of the
state board of councilors. In 1910 Dr. Egloff \vas elected first
vice president of the Iowa State Medical Society and in the same
year he was appointed one of the five members representing the
state society at the second national conservation congress held in
the city of St. Paul, ^Minnesota, in October of that .vear. He is also
identified with the American Association of Raihvay Surgeons,
being district siirgeon for the C. & N. W. Railroad and local sur-
geon for the C. INI. & St. P. Railroad. In polities the Doctor is
found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republi-
can part.y, and he is identified with various social organizations of
representative order.
On the 12th of February, 1889, was solemnized the marriage
of Dr, Eglofif to Miss Harriet E. Smith, who was born and reared
in Cerro Gordo county and who is the daughter of the late Dr.
Chaunce.v H. Smith, who is the subject of an individual memoir
elsewhere in this volume and with whom Dr. Egloff was formerly
associated in practice. Dr. and IMrs. Egloff became the parents
of four children: Marie Agatha, who was born January 12, 1896,
died in infancy; Max Allen, who was born on the 21st of March,
1898, is attending the public schools, as is also William Chauncey,
who was born on the 16th of March, 1901 ; and Martha Janet was
born March 16, 1910. The family is one of prominence and dis-
tinctive popularity in connection with social affairs in Mason City,
and as a citizen Dr. Egloff is liberal and progressive, giving his
support to the measures and enterprises tending to advance the
general welfare of the conuuunity.
ARTHUR R. SALE.
If for no other reason than that implied in his splendid ser-
vices in behalf of the cause of popular education in Cerro Gordo
county this well known citizen of Mason City merits recognition
in this historical compilation, but further than this he has been
active and influential in connection with public and business affairs
and is now secretary and treiisurer of the Iowa Retail Hardware
Association and secretary of the Iowa HardwMre ^Mutual, an in-
surance organization of unique order.
]Mr. Sale was ])orn at Wokingham, Berkshire. England, on the
20th of October. 18;')?, and it may be noted that the initial "R" in
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 579
liis name was assumed by him for the salve of eTiphony. As foiiud
on the register in which his birth is recorded his second name is
given as Swineherd, the family name of his maternal great-grand
father, to whom reference will be made in a later paragraph.
Arthur R. Sale is a son of Rev. Stephen and Mabel M. (Knott)
Sale, the former of whom was born at Wokingham, England, and
the latter at Dover. Their marriage was .solemnized in 1856 and
Mrs. Sale's paternal grandfather was a warden of the Cinque Ports,
in which capacity he had the distinction of piloting the Engli.sh
man-of-war " Bellerophon' ' at the time that this vessel had the
great Napoleon on board as a prisoner. The gold snuff box
presented to him by Napoleon is one of the valued heirlooms of
the family.
In 1865 Rev. Stephen Sale removed with his wife and three
sons — Arthur, Harry and Herbert- — to the United States and set-
tled at Belvidere, Illinois. He was graduated in Spurgeon's
College, in the city of London, and in his native land was ordained
a clergyman of the Baptist church. He held various pastoral
charges after coming to America, including those of Waterloo and
Waupaca, Wisconsin, and Mason City and Glenwood, Iowa. lie
was the first regular pastor of the First Baptist church of ]\Iason
City, Iowa, an incumbency which he assumed in 1870, and he passed
the closing years of his life at Mason City, where he died in Feb-
ruary, 1904, at the venerable age of sixty-five years. The mother
survives and resides at Mason City, but his brothers are deceased.
Arthur R. Sale was afforded exceptional educational advan-
tages, as he attended in turn Cedar Valley Seminary, at Osage.
Iowa ; Wayland University, at Beaver Dam. Wisconsin ; Des Moines
University, at Des Moines, Iowa; and the Iowa State University, at
Iowa City. He attained distinctive success and prestige in the
pedagogic profession and in 1878 he became a teacher of the high
school at Mason City. From 1880 to 1885 he taught school at
Portland, this state; from 1887 to 1890 he had charge of the gram-
mar schools in ]\Iason City; from 1890 to 1893 he was county
superintendent of schools for Cerro Gordo county; and from 1893
to 1901 he was city superintendent of schools of Mason City. In
each of these positions he proved himself well equipped as an exe-
cutive and educator and his services as county superintendent of
public schools of Cerro Gordo county proved of inestimable bene-
fit in systematizing their work and bringing them up to the high
standard which they have since maintained. It was during his
incumbency of this office that the first steps were taken in classify-
ing and grading the work of the county schools, and during his
580 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
work as superintendent of the public schools of I\Iason City the first
hi^h school building was here erected, besides which the Grant
school was founded and its building erected. He also organized
the manual training department, introduced the physical and
natural science laboratories in the high school and he also effected
the organization of the departments of physical culture, drawing
and voice culture in the graded departments of the city schools.
In politics jMr. Sale is found aligned as a staunch supporter
of the cause of the Republican party and he is admirably fortitied
in his opinions as to matters of public polity as he is a man of fine
intellectuality and board mental ken. He served as city clerk of
Mason City from 1880 to 1887 and within his incumbency of this
position he had charge of the construction accoiuits during the in-
stallation of the "Water Works System. In 1885 he organized the
Denison Hose Company, which became a valuable adjunct of the
city fire department. In 1903, upon the organization of the Iowa
Hardware Mutual, he became its secretary, of which office
he has since been incumbent, besides which he is secretary and
treasurer of the Iowa Retail Hardware Association, which is affi-
liated with the National Retail Hardware Association. The Iowa
Hardware Mutual building is a fine structure and is one of the
best buildings in Mason City. This was completed in 1910, is
of stone and pressed brick construction, two stories in height and
twent.v-four by one hundred and twenty feet in dimensions. This
is the home office building of the insurance company and also of
the Iowa Retail Hardware As.sociation. It has the distinction of
being the first building of this character erected in the west. Mr.
Sale is an official of the Jla.son City Building & Loan Association of
Ma.son City, the Cemetery Association and the Masonic Building
Company of this city. He is affiliated with the lodge, chapter and
eommandery of the Masonic fraternity and is deeply interested in
the work and teachings of this time-honored organization.
On the 4tli of September. 1901, at Boscobel, Wisconsin, was
solemnized the marriage of I\rr. Sale to Miss Jennie Graham
Murphy, who was born and reared in the Badger state and who is
a daughter of John B. Murphy, who served with distinction for
four years in the Civil war, having been a member of the Seventh
Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, which gained renown with the
Iron Brigade and which was attached to the Army of the Potomac.
]\rrs. Sale wa.s educated at the Platteville Normal School, at Platte-
ville, Wisconsin, and prior to her marriage she was principal of
the Washington school in IMa.son Cit\-. Towa. ]\rr. and Mrs. Sale
have one daughter. Marjorie Helen, who was born on the 7th of
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 581
November, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Sale are prominent and popular
factors in connection with the best social activities of Jlason City,
where their circle of friends is coincident with that of their ac-
quaintances.
DANIEL DOUGHERTY.
It is a conservative statement to say that no one is more closely
and prominently identified with the history of Dougherty town-
ship, Cerro Gordo county, than is Daniel Dougherty, pioneer and
retired farmer now residing in the town of Dougherty. When it is
known that he was the first permanent settler within this tract of
country it will be easy to see how Dougherty township received its
name. During the early days he was the best posted man concern-
ing land in the southern part of the covinty. He acted as land
agent for years and was instrumental in getting many settlers to
take up land here. He employed no half-way methods, and to
secure the first family to locate in the township he went one hun-
dred miles to Cla.yton county and moved them. He brought a
great many people from Pennsylvania and Wisconsin and often
helped them to get started after they came. Daniel Dougherty is
a self-made man, and his interesting life should be an inspiration
to every youth whose ambitions to get on in the world are not
matched by his worldly fortunes. As he graphically puts it, he
landed on American shores with nothing but a pair of hands, good
health, and the determination to win. And he has succeeded in
every way. Before he partially divided with his sons he owned all
of section 36. He enjoys the consideration of his fellow citizens
and he has held various offices.
Daniel Dougherty was born in county Donegal. Ireland. Feb-
ruary 18, 1829. He is the son of Hugh and Mary (Maloy)
Dougherty. His father died in his native land, but in 1884, when
Mr. Dougherty was in Ireland on a visit, he persuaded his aged
mother to return with him and she made her home with him until
her death. Thei-e were eight children, two of whom are living.
Mr. Dougherty and James also a resident of Dougherty township.
The subject of the biography was reared on a farm in the Emerald
Isle and received only a meagre education. Although circum-
stances were adverse the spark of ambition burned in his breast and
in 1851 he severed home ties and came to the United States, landing
at Philadelphia after a voyage which had been of six weeks and
three days duration. He probably did not foresee even in his
wildest flights of imagination that when he went back on a \dsit
Vol. n— 12
582 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
in 1884 he would make the voyage in six days. For a short time
after arriving Mr. Dougherty made his livelihood by working in a
foundry, and in 1853 he moved to IMontgomery county, Pennsyl-
vania, and found employment in the iron works at that place. In
1856 he came to Decorah, Iowa, where the United States land office
was located, and surveyed the northern tier of counties to Hancock
and southeast to Cerro Gordo county and located one hundred and
sixty acres in section 36, in what is now Dougherty towTiship. He
returned to Decorah and entered it and then went back to Mont-
gomery, Pennsylvania, where he resumed his old work. In the
fall of 1858 he returned to Cla^■ton county, Iowa, where he farmed
and while there he was elected county supervisor and served two
terras
In the spring of 1863 Llr. Dougherty took up his residence
upon his own farm in Cerro Gordo county. He began at once
upon the work of improving the wild land and put up a log house,
in which he lived until 1869. In the latter year he erected a frame
house, hauling the lumber from Charles City. He prospered stead-
ily and as said before at one time owned all of section 36. Al-
though he had been warned that apples could not be raised in
Iowa, in 1872 he set out an orchard of one thousand trees and has
demonstrated that this lucious fruit can be raised here, for he has
sold from twelve hundred to thirteen hundred dollars worth of
applas in a season. He has also been successful in the raising and
feeding of stock.
ilr. Dougherty brought all his influence to bear to have a rail-
road built through the township, and when the Chicago & North
Western came through he sold the company the town site for a
mere song. The first school house was built in 1864 near Mr.
Doughertj^'s old homestead and in 1869 was moved to its present
location. All his life Mr. Dougherty has held aloft the Democratic
standard and has taken an active interest in the affairs of town-
ship and county. lie ha.s held numerous offices, and upon the
corporation of Dougherty as a to^^•n he was elected mayor and
served in this capacity for two terms. From 1868 to 1871 he was
a member of the county board of supervisors, was school director
for twenty-five years, justice of the peace for an extended period
and served at different times as township trustee and assessor. He
takes great interest in the affairs and projects of the Rockwell and
Dougherty Farmers' Co-operative Society. He is affiliated with
the Knights of Columbus in their organization at Mason City, and
he and his family are faithful members of St. Patrick's Catholic
church.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 583
Mr. Dougherty was married in Ireland May 9, 1848, to Miss
Mary Gallagher, born jMarch 29, 1829, (as her husband puts it)
"just across the fence from him." About three years later they
came to America. They have outdone even the usual pioneer
record in the matter of large families, their union having been
blessed by the birth of sixteen children. They are : Hugh, living
in North Dakota ; Margaret, who died in infancy ; Charles, who
makes his home in Dougherty; as do the four following, Patrick,
Daniel J., James and Bernard; Edward J., pastor of the Holy
Family church at Mason City; "William and "William M., both of
whom died in infancy; Joseph and John who live at home; Mary,
wire of John H. "Wade, of DeslMoines; Margaret, at home; Annie,
deceased; and Theresa, at home.
In 1898 Mr. Dougherty purchased eighty acres of land near
Rockwell, and here built a home and moved to it, this step being
made for the benefit of the younger children that they might be
nearer the Rockwell schools. In 1902 he removed to his home in
Dougherty, where he now resides and enjoys the blessings of a fine
old age.
PETER P. STEIL.
Peter P. Steil, whose post office address is Mason City, Iowa,
has lived on his present farm near this place since 1876, when he
came here with his father and family from Illinois. Mr. Steil is
a native of Stephenson county, Illinois, born September 12, 1863,
son of Peter and IMagdalena (Kehm) Steil, natives of Hessen-
Darmstadt. Germany. Peter Steil was born January 20, 1821 ;
was married in the old country, and a few years later, with his
wife and two children, George and Elizabeth, came to America,
landing in Stephenson county, Illinois, in 1850. For thirteen years
he carried on farming in Illinois, then he sold out and came over
into Iowa, settling first in Chickasaw county, where he bought
eighty acres. This farm he subsequently sold, and in the spring
of 1876 came to Portland township, Cerro Gordo county, and
bought the farm of one hundred and twenty acres which is now
owned by his .son. Peter P. Here the senior Mr. Steil was suc-
cessfully engaged in farming until his death, January 31, 1890. at
the age of sixty-nine years. His widow survived him until Decem-
ber 12, 1909, when she died at about the age of eight.v-three years.
Both were members of the German Evangelical church. The two
children they brought with them to this country died in Illinois,
and four other children, two sons and two daughters, were added
584 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
to their family in Amerit-a, namely: Eva, wife of Adrian I\Iills, of
Fresno, California; Lena, wife of A. D. Krusenmark, of St. Paul
Park, Minnesota; Peter P., the subject of this sketch; and Jacob,
a farmer of Falls township, Cerro Gordo county.
At the time of the removal of the Steil family to Cerro Gordo
county. Peter P. was a boy of fourteen years, and here he has since
been engaged in farming, having contributed his part to the de-
velopment of the land and now having one of the best improved
farms in the vicinity.
On July 13, 1892, Mr. Steil married Miss Amanda Nopschall,
a native of Valparaiso, Indiana, born in 1876, daughter of Gastave
and Pauline (Yabu) Nopschall, both natives of Germany, born in
Prussia and Holstein respectively, from whence, when children,
they came with their parents to America, the mother's people set-
tling in New York state and later moving to Valparaiso. Indiana,
the father's people going direct to Valparaiso. In 1887 Mrs.
Steil 's parents came to Iowa and took up their residence in Port-
land township, Cerro Gordo county, where they made their home
until the mother's death, in the fall of 1903, at the age of forty-
eight years. The father, now retired, is a resident of California.
To Mr. and Mrs. Steil three children have been given: Alma,
Clarence and Delia, the last named having died in infancy.
Politically Mr. Steil is a Republican, and has served efficiently
in several local offices. Fraternally he is identified with the M. "W.
A., the Yeomen and the Mystic Toilers, the last two in Mason City
and the first in Portland. Mrs. Steil also belongs to the Mystic
Toilers, and both are members of the Methodist Episcopal church,
in which Mrs. Steil was reared, her parents having been worthily
identified with that denomination.
CAPTAIN HENRY IRVING SailTH.
Captain Henry Irving Smith, an honored veteran of the Civil
war now retired from active life and residing at Mason City, Iowa,
is a native of Nottingham, England, born May -4. 1840. He is a
son of William and Mary Ann (Moore) Smith, the former a native
of Dumfrieshire. Scotland, and the latter of Nottingham. William
Smith was a traveling man and died when his son Henry I. was
small. In 1849 the mother, who was well educated and a woman
of unusual ability, brought her four children to the United States,
stopping a few months in Canada on the way. She spent a year
at Bufl'alo. New Yoi-k, and then located at Geneva, Illinois, where
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 585
she supported her family by needle work, in which line she was very
proficient. Henry was the oldest son and was soon able to work
and help support the family, the others working as soon as they
were able. At the death of the father's brother in Scotland, the
children were left an inheritance of about five hundred dollars
apiece and on April 1, 1855, the family started west, arriving at
Shell Rock river, Falls township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in the
latter part of the month. They bought one hundred and twenty
acres of land, which they began improving. They erected a log
house, in which they lived two years with nothing but a dirt floor,
and at first were able to break and cultivate but a few acres at a
time. Henry, as the oldest son, worked for others a great deal,
and the younger children, including the daughters, raised the crops
and assisted with the other farm work. They endured the usual
hardships and privations incident to pioneer life, but all were am-
bitious and energetic, and saw a bright future before them.
Besides Henry I. Smith, the other children were: Peter, who
served in the same regiment as Henry, was wounded at Shiloh,
from the effects of which he died in 1862; Maggie Jane married
Captain F. M. Gregory, who served in the Eighth Illinois Cavalry,
and they now reside at Mason City; Marj' Anetta, married Ben A.
Brown, who died in 1908, and she now lives in Wisconsin.
As a young man Captain Smith worked considerably at team-
ing between McGregor and Charles City. He helped with the work
on the home farm when he was not employed elsewhere, and the
second year they planted three acres of wheat, as the seasons went
by increasing their operations and in a few years were able to sell
some. The saw and grist mills were then some distance away, in
Chickasaw county, and at first their nearest market was at Man-
chester, later being at Cedar Falls, Janesville, and finally at
Charles City, the last named being thirty miles from their farm.
Besides the hard work and privations in the early days they suf-
fered much from ague. At the beginning of the Civil war, when
the two sons enlisted, the mother leased the farm and lived some
years in Rock Falls. Later the farm was sold and another farm
purchased with the proceeds. The mother spent her later years
with her children, and died at the home of a daughter at Clear
Lake, Iowa, in 1900. She was greatly loved and honored by her
children, to whom her life had been an inspiration, and her memory
is very dear to them. In religious belief she was a Unitarian.
Captain Smith was the first man to enlist from Cerro Gordo
county, the date of his enrollment being July 8, 1861. He took
six men from the neighborhood with him and they joined Company
586 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
B, Seventh Iowa Infantry, the nearest reeruiting station being in
Cliiekasaw eount.y. They were mustered into service at Burling-
ton, Iowa, July 24, and with the Fifth and Sixth regiments went
at once to St. Louis and to the front. They served under General
Grant at Shiloh and later in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth army
corps, being mainly in the Army of Tennessee. Captain Smith
participated in many important engagements, being present at the
first battle of Belmont, Grant's first battle in the war. He was
wounded in that battle and again slightly so at Corinth, in the fall
of 1862. While recuperating at Belmont he did recruiting for a
time at Port Madison, Iowa, but was after that always with his
regiment and on the fighting line. Besides many skirmishes, he
took part in twenty -six important engagements. At the time of
his enlistment he was chosen corporal and served in all the offices
up to and including the rank of captain, which he received during
the latter part of his ser\ace. During the famous "March to the
Sea" he commanded his company. After two and a half years of
service, with most of his regiment Captain Smith accepted a veteran
furlough, visited home with his company, then returned to the field
and served to the end of the war, being mustered out July 14, 1865,
at Louisville, Kentucky.
Upon his return home Captain Smith spent a year in farming,
but was not in a physical condition that would enable him to stand
hard manual labor, and accepted the office of deputy county
treasurer in the fall of 1866. He served two years, in 1869 was
elected treasurer and served four years — two terms. In 1873. in
company with J. B. W. Montague, Captain Smith engaged in the
insurance business and they purchased the Cerro Gordo Bank,
which they conducted several years. Later they organized the
First National Bank, of which Captain Smith served as president
during the twenty years of the first charter. The success of this
bank was phenominal from the start, and with it were identified
some of the most substantial business men of the county. Captain
Smith resigned from the presidency some eight years ago, since
which he has been retired from business. He organized the Mason
City Wholesale Grocery Company and served for years as presi-
dent of the same. He served six years as director of the State
Agricultural Society and served some time as councilman and
member of the school board at Mason City. In politics he has
always been a stanch Republican.
Since his marriage in 1868, Captain Smith ha.s been a resident
of Mason City, where he erected two or more residences and now
owns a fine home at the corner of Adams and State streets. For
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 587
years he owned a fine stock in Falls township, making a specialty
of Short-horn cattle and other high-grade stock, but a few years
since sold this property and for some time has been in poor health.
On May 1-t, 1868, Captain Smith married at Mason City Miss
Delight E. Bogardus, who was born in Westerlo, New York, May
24, 1845, daughter of Robert B. and Maria (Vermilyea) Bogardus
and sister of E. R. Bogardus, mentioned elsewhere in this work.
Five children have blessed this union, namely: William Irving,
born in April, 1869, engaged in the lumber business and now in
British Columbia, married Edith G. Hicks and they have two
children, Gladys, born in 1897, and Irving G., born in 1900; Jliss
Lou D., born in September, 1872, is at home ; H. Carl, born in April,
1877, has been in the banking biLsiness several years, was conduct-
ing a ranch in Dakota some years, and is now a resident of Mason
City, married to Adelaide Stannard ; Robert Percy, born November
1, 1879, assistant cashier in the First National Bank, of Mason
City, where he has been employed ten years, married Mildred Beebe,
and they have two children, Alice Elizabeth, aged four, and Robert
Henry, aged two; Warren B., born in April, 1881, married Miss
Helen Atkins, and they have one daughter, Marian, aged two years.
Robert Percy Smith was a member of the Iowa National Guard.
He was at school in Minnesota when the Spanish-American war
began, and served one year in the Philippines, his entire regiment
receiving medals for meritorious conduct from President McKinley.
Warren B. Smith is now residing in Pollock. South Dakota, where
he is manager of a branch of the North Star Lumber Company and
handles lumber, furniture and hardware supplies.
Captain and Mrs. Smith are members of the Methodist Episco-
pal church. He is affiliated with the G. A. R., C. H. Huntley Post,
No. 42, Army of the Tennessee, and she is a member of the Women 's
Relief Corps. Both are well known and have a large circle of
friends. Captain Smith has been one of the most prominent men
in Mason City since he has been living there and has been identi-
fied \\dth its best interests. No man is more highly esteemed in the
community, not only for his service in the war, but for his stead-
fast good citizenship and high character. He has a medal of
Honor Legion, dated June. 1897.
DANIEL J. DOUGHERTY.
Daniel J. Dougherty, son and namesake of the stalwart Iowa
pioneer, Daniel Dougherty, is one of the county's progressive agri-
culturists, owning a well improved farm of three hundred and sixty
588 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
acres located in section 36 of the township which bears the family
name. He was born in ]\Iontgomery county. Pennsylvania, ilay
3, 1858, and was a lad five years of age when his parents came to
Cerro Gordo county. Here he grew to manhood and received a
good graded school education. He remained at home until his
marriage in 1896, assisting in the affairs of his father's estate and
he also engaged in the cultivation of land of his own which he had
purchased when about twenty years of age. His home is situated
upon a farm of two hundred and forty acres, all of which he has im-
proved himself, and the place is very modern and attractive. He
owns a hundred and twenty acres elsewhere and engages in general
farming and the raising and feeding of cattle and hogs.
Daniel Dougherty like his father, gives an unfaltering support
to the Democratic party. He has served as school director and
has been secretary of the school board for twenty-five years. At
the present day he holds the office of township trustee. He is a
progressive agriculturist and belongs to the Farmers' Co-operative
Society of Dougherty. He and his family are communicants of
St. Patrick's Catholic church.
On September 23, 1896, Mr. Dougherty took as his wife Miss
Mary M. Mullen, born in Franklin county, Iowa, February 28,
1872. A fine family of six children is growing to young manhood
and womanhood beneath the home roof. They are by names,
Cecelia, John L., Lewella, Robert, Edward and Daniel J. Mrs.
Dougherty's parents were Robert and Ellen (Monoghan) Mullen,
the former born in Stephenson county, Illinois, August 13. 1841,
and the latter in Ireland, in 1846. Their marriage date was Feb-
ruary 20, 1870.
Mrs. Dougherty is the eldest in a family of eight children,
the others being, Ellen, wife of Barney Dougherty of Dougherty
township ; John, residing in Dougherty ; Margaret, wife of Michael
McGee, a resident of Floyd county, Iowa ; Walter living in Aredale,
Iowa ; Sarah, at home ; Charles, living in Kentucky ; and Daniel, at
home. In 1845 Mr. Mullen came to Green county, Wisconsin, two
yoke of oxen constituting the means of transporation. He was
educated in the graded schools and left home in 1869, coming to
Franklin county, Iowa. He purchased one hundred and sixty
acres of wild land, and not being in the least afraid of hard work
soon had it in a productive condition. He is a man of high exe-
cutive ability and a farmer who recognizes the value of employing
scientific methods and he has come to be one of the large land
owners of Cerro Gordo county, where he owns nine hundred and
twenty acres. He also possesses one hundred and sixty acres in
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 589
Bullen coimty and one lumdred and sixty acres in Floyd county.
In 1892 Mr. Mullen retired and came to reside in Dougherty. He
is vice president of the First National Bank and devotes much of
his time to looking after his land.
JAMES E. E. MARKLEY.
On other pages of this work is made brief mention of the repre-
sentative law firm of Blythe, Markley, Rule & Smith, of which the
subject of this sketch is a member, and he is known as one of the
able and distinguished members of the bar of Iowa as well as one
of the progressive and influential citizens of Mason City, the thriv-
ing and attractive capital city of Cerro Gordo county.
]Mr. Marklej' finds pleasure in reverting to the fine old Buckeye
commonwealth as the place of his nativity, and is fully appreciative
of the amusing paraphrase once made by Senator Chauncey M.
Depew in connection with a familiar epigram. His statement was
to this effect: "Some men are born great, some achieve greatness,
and some are born in the state of Ohio. ' ' Under this last element
Mr. Markley finds classification, as he was bom on a farm in Knox
county, Ohio, on the 12th of April, 1857. He is a son of James M.
and Catherine (Ankeny) Markley, representatives of honored
pioneer families of that state, where the father accumulated a very
considerable fortune before he decided to cast in his lot with the
pioneers of Iowa. He moved with his family to this state in the
autumn of 1866 and established his home at Cedar Falls, in Black
Hawk county. There he invested a large amount of capital in
land and various industrial and commercial enterprises, and he also
made a specialty of extending loans on approved real estate se-
curity. James M. Markley was a man of great business acumen
and his life was guided and governed by the highest principles of
integrity and honor, so that he was never denied the full measure
of popular confidence and esteem. He continued his residence at
Cedar Falls until his death, which occurred in the year 1872. He
was a Republican in his political proclivities, and his wife a zealous
member of the Dunkard church. Of their children three sons and
four daughters are now living.
James B. E. Markley, the immediate subject of this review,
was a lad of nine years at the time of the family removal to Iowa,
and he was reared to maturity at Cedar Falls, where he gained his
preliminary educational discipline in the public schools. At the
age of seventeen years he was matriculated in Cornell College, at
Mount Vernon, this state, in which he prosecuted his higher
academic studies for a period of three years. His alma mater
590 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
later conferred upon him the degree of blaster of Arts. lu 1878
Ut. Markley was graduated in the law department of the State
University of Iowa, from whieh he received the degree of Bachelor
of Laws, and in the followdng year, to fortify himself more
thoroughly for the work of his exacting profession, he took an ad-
vanced post-graduate course. He was admitted to the Iowa bar
in 1878, and in the fall of 1879 he initiated the active practice of
his profession at Marshalltown, where he remained until September,
1881, when he located in Mason City, where he became associated
in practice with James E. Blythe, who has since been his able and
honored coadjutor. The various changes in the tirm are noted
in the article dedicated thereto elsewhere in this volume. He has
a secure vantage place as one of the versatile and successful ad-
vocates and well fortified counselors engaged in practice in Cerro
Gordo county, and he has appeared in much of the important liti-
gation in the courts of this section of the state. He was associated
with his professional confrere, Mr. Bhi:he, in the erection of the
Park Inn, a fine modern brick and stone structure that has added
materially to the attractioas and business precedence of Mason
City, and in this building his firm has elegantly appointed offices.
In politics Mr. Markley was formerly aligned as a staunch
supporter of the cause of the Democratic party, and he was an
etfective worker in behalf of its principles, having appeared a.s a
speaker in various campaigns and having been twice chairman of its
state conventions in Iowa. Of later years he has maintained an
independent political attitude and has given his support to the men
and measures meeting the approval of his judgment, but he is still
a firm believer in the fundamental principles of Democracy. He
is affiliated with Cerro Gordo Lodge, No. 70, Knights of Pythias,
and both he and his wife hold membership in the First Church of
Christ, Scientist.
In Mason City, on the 1st of Slay, 1888, was solemnized the
marriage of Mr. Markley to Miss Lily Emsley, daughter of the late
Thomas G. Emsley, an honored pioneer and long an influential
citizen of Mason City, of whom mention is made on other pages of
this work. Mr. and Mrs. Markley have two daughters. JLarion E.,
who is a graduate of Wellesley College, and Doris, who is attending
school at Walnut Hill, Natick, Massachusetts.
CHARLES H. O'NEIL.
For many years an important factor in developing and advanc-
ing the agricultural interests of Cerro Gordo county, Charles H.
O'Neil, residing at No. 1131 Fourth avenue. South. Mason City
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 591
is now somewhat retired from active business and is enjoying the
comforts and pleasures of modern life. He was born March 11,
1844, in Clinton county, New York, a son of Charles and Jane
(Blair) O'Neil, coming of Scotch-Irish stock. Born in Ireland,
Charles 'Neil lived there until after his marriage with the bonnie
Scotch lass, Jane Blair. Emigrating to the United States, he
lived for a while in New York state, from there moving in 1851
to Wisconsin, where he bought land and improved the fine home-
stead property on which both he and his faithful wife spent their
remaining days. They were people of worth and faithful members
of the Methodist Episcopal church. They reared six sons and six
daughters, all of whom married and had families, and of whom
five daughters and three sons are still living.
Reared to agricultural pursuits, Charles H. O'Neil bought land
in Wisconsin when a young man and there began life for himself
as a farmer. Selling out in 1869, he came across the country
from Pond du Lac with a team to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa,
locating in Lime Creek township in October of that year, in
pioneer times, when the buildings were few and far between, but
little evidence of the present prosperous condition being then
visible. He invested his money in raw land in Lime Creek town-
ship, and in the following of the occupation of his choice has since
met with eminent success, having handled varioiis farms in that
locality. He now owns valuable farming property in Lincoln
township and a valuable farm in Worth county. One farm of
four hundred acres Mr. 'Neil rents, but the remainder of his land
is operated by himself and his sons.
Mr. O'Neil married in 1866 in Minnesota Marcella Beidleman,
who was born at Janesville, Rock county, Wisconsin, in 1848, a
daughter of Isaac and Eliza (Simkins) Beidleman, who moved
from Chemimg county. New York, to Wisconsin in the early '30s.
Her parents moved to Dodge county, Minnesota, in 1864, and there
her mother died. Her father subsequently i-eturned to New York
state, and there spent his last years. Mrs. 'Neil is one of a family
of five children, three daughters and two sons, of whom two daugh-
ters and one son are living. Mr. and Mrs. O'Neil are the parents
of five children, namely. Melville I., Ella, Leslie D., Guy Victor and
Chester Rollo. Melville I., who was nine months old when the
family came to Iowa, was graduated from the medical department
of Drake University and is now a successful physician in San Fran-
cisco, California. He is married and has one daughter. Ella,
wife of Eugene Van Note, a prosperous farmer of Lime Creek
township, owning five hundred and thirty-two acres of land, has
592 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
five children. Leslie D., prosperously engaged in farming at
Freeman station, is married and has two children. Guy V., en-
gaged in farming in Lincoln to\\Tiship, is married and has one
child. Chester R., living at home, is associated in farming with
his father. An adherent of the Republican party in politics, Mr.
O'Neil served twenty years as trustee of Lime Creek township, and
held all of the other local offices, including that of school director.
He attends the Methodist Episcopal church, and is a liberal con-
tributor towards its support.
IRA IRVING NICOL, M. D.
One of the prominent physicians of Mason City. Iowa, is Dr.
Ira Irving Nicol, who has identified himself wnth many financial
enterprises in the vicinity and has given his support to many move-
ments for the promotion of the general welfare of Mason City and
the surrounding country. Dr. Nicol was born February 13, 1864,
of Scotch-Teutonic parentage, and for the first ten years of his
life he lived on a stock farm. He attended district school and then
worked his way through high school while an apprentice for an
apothecary. Upon his graduation from school he received a
teacher's certificate in Iowa. , He completed his course in phar-
macy, and upon passing the examination which was then required
before the Iowa State Medical Examining Board he was compli-
mented as being the youngest apothecary who had been examined in
Iowa at that time. He accepted a position in the manufacturing
department of the Western Chemical Company at Kansas City,
Missouri, putting up their preparations. He also held similar
positions with stores in various cities until he took up the regular
study of medicine, under the supervision of Dr. Calvin Blythe, a
graduate of the University of Pennsylvania. While living in
Woodburn Dr. Nicol was elected and served two years as mayor and
two years as township clerk.
Dr. Nicol graduated from the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons at Keokuk. Iowa, which was at one time the medical depart-
ment of the State University, but is now consolidated with Drake
University, at Des Moines, Iowa. Soon after the first railroad
went through North English, Iowa, Dr. Nicol and his wife settled
in that town, where he purchased property and contributed his
share to the growtli and development of local resources. At his
own expense he circulated the first petition for election that re-
sulted in the incorporation of the town and he was instrumental
in having the township divided into two voting precincts, with
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 595
North English as one of them. He donated one of the finest lots
in the town as a building site for the Methodist parsonage, served
several years as a member of the board of education, and assisted
in the establishment of a high school and the erection of the splen-
did high school building that is used at present. At one time he
owned the North English Record, still published in the town. He
erected a frame building for the post office, and when that burned
he erected a fine brick building for the town and the government,
which was also destroyed by fire in 1905. He furnished the money
with which the Masons erected their present lodge building, and was
interested in many other organizations. At the time Dr. Nicol
first located in North English there was no bank there and the
Commercial National Bank of Chicago gave him the privilege of
selling drafts on them for the convenience of merchants and other
business men, which was greatly appreciated by the community.
He soon assisted in establishing a bank there, known as The North
English Savings Bank, and he is still one of the principal owners
of this sound financial institution. Upon leaving North English
Dr. Nicol located in Ottumwa, where he was associated with Dr.
D. C. Brockman in the practice of medicine and surgery. For
thirteen years he was a special surgeon for the Chicago, Milwaukee
& St. Paul Railway Company from Chicago to Omaha and from
Omaha to Kansas City. On account of the nature of his work he
found it necessary to be legally qualified to practice in Iowa,
Illinois and IMissouri. He received his certificate for Missouri
March 8, 1895, and for Illinois August 12, 1895. At the time the
Spanish-American war broke out he and his office associates sub-
scribed to the war fund and offered their services to go to the front
as surgeons. He and three other physicians examined, free of
charge, all of Company G, of Ottumwa, and all other volunteers as
requested bj' the recruiting officers of Ottumwa.
On September 1, 1898, Dr. Nicol and his family moved to
Mason City, Iowa, and the following year he opened an office in
the Odd Fellows building on State street. For two years he was
local surgeon for the Chicago & Northwestern Railway Company.
In 1900, with five othere, he organized the present American Brick
& Tile Company, of Mason City, an Iowa corporation, with a paid
up capital of $200,000, and having an annual output of 3,600 car-
loads of clay material, this being perhaps the largest plant of its
kind in the state. Dr. Nicol is president of this company and
secretary and treasurer of the Mattson Glove Works of ]\Iason City,
also an Iowa corporation. lie is secretary and treasurer of the
Mason City Hospital Company,' which expects some time soon to be
able to erect a suitable building to present to the deaconesses, the
596 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Salvation Army or some other charitable organization that provides
for the wants of the poor of JIason City and vicinity.
Dr. Nieol married, April 8, 1885, Ida Coppock, daughter of
Benjamin and Caroline (Bnffington) Coppoek, early settlers of
Clarke county. Mr. Coppoek was a cousin of the two Coppoek
boys who attended John Brown on his raid in Virginia at the be-
ginning of the war, one of whom was executed with Brown, while
the brother escaped to Iowa and Governor Kirkwood refused to
give him up to the Virginia authoritiels. Dr. Nieol and his wife
were married at Woodburn and soon after located at North English.
They became the parents of two daughters, namely : Bertha C. and
Mabel M. Miss Bertha Nieol is a graduate of the Mason City
high school and of Northwestern University of Illinois, and took
a year of post-graduate work in Europe. She is fitting herself
for a teacher of English and elocution of the State University of
Iowa at this time. Miss Mabel graduated from the Mason City
high school with the class of 1909 and is now a student of the State
University at Iowa City, where she is preparing for a teacher of
Latin and German. Dr. Nieol and his wife also claim an adopted
daughter, Mrs. Louva (Boyee) Edwards, wife of Dr. Edwards, of
Mt. Pleasant, Iowa.
Dr. Nieol is a man of strong convictions, slow and deliberate in
forming his opinions and always open to plausible argument.
Though not a fluent .speaker, he can express himself with emphasis,
in a plain, terse manner when occasion demands. Those who do
not know him well would be surprised to Imow what a strong sense
of humor he possesses, and to know how well he enjoys a joke, being
able to tell one himself when it pleases him to do so. In religious
belief he is an orthodox Quaker, and he is a member of a family that
have always espoused the cause of justice. Both of his grand-
fathers fought on the American side in the war of 1812. Dr.
Nieol served six years as coroner of Cerro Gordo county and is a
member of the State Medical and Cerro Gordo County Medical
Societies. He is a member of the Blue Lodge of Masons, a Royal
Arch Mason, a Knight Templar, a life member of Kaaba Shrine, of
Davenport, and a member of the Eastern Star. He is also affiliated
with the Odd Fellows.
JOHN CIIILSON.
John Chilson. manager of the livery, dray and bus line of the
Cadwell & Cadwell Company, Mason City, Iowa, has been connected
with this business during the past thirty-four years, his identity
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 597
with the company dating from 1876. Mr. Chilson resides with his
family at 221 North Michigan street, and is recognized as one of the
representative men of the town. Briefly, a review of his life is
as follows:
John Chilson was born in Schoharie eoi^nty, New York, Decem-
ber 4, 1850, son of John and Matilda (Rector) Chilson. Early in
the '50s the Chilson family moved west to "Walworth county, Wis-
consin, and in 1859 came from there to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa,
and settled near Mason City, where the father acquired title to
some land. At that time Mason City was a small village contain-
ing onl3' two stores. About ten years later the father, having im-
proved his land to some extent, sold it and purchased a farm near
Clear Lake. To this farm he added until he had three hundred and
twenty acres, and here he made his home until shortly before his
death, which occurred in 1893, at the age of eighty years. Pre-
vioiLs to his coming west he had resided at different times in three
counties of his native state, New York. The closing years of his
life were spent at the home of a son in Mason township, Cerro Gordo
county. His wife died in 1902, also at the age of eighty years.
During his early life here John Chilson Sr. was a great hunter and
trapper. He voted for Abraham Lincoln, and maintained his
allegiance with the Republican part.y all the rest of his days, at
times filling local office, such as townshin trustee, etc. In his
family were six sons and one daughter, of whom two are deceased.
Mrs. J. A. Baumgardner is a widow residing at Mason City Amos
died in December, 1909, at hLs home in Minnesota, at the age of
seventy-two years. Jerome is a farmer and stock dealer at Lake
Mills, Iowa. Lawson, a veteran of the Civil wai-, with an exper-
ience of nine months in Andersonville and Libby prisons, died
shortly after the close of the war, in 1869. Albert went to the far
west in 1865 and his exact whereabouts are not known. John was
next to the youngest, and the youngest, Delfonzo, is a farmer of
Mason City, Iowa.
John Chilson married Miss Eliza Jesanore, a native of Marble
Rock, Iowa, where her parents resided for many yeai's. Mr. and
Mrs. Chilson have one daughter, Mrs. George 0. Haugh, of Minne-
apolis, Mr. Haugh being connected with the Palace Clothing store
of that place. They have one son and one daughter.
Politically Mr. Chilson casts his franchise with the same party
his father supported for .so many years. Fraternally he is identi-
fied with the I. 0. 0. F., and the K. of P., and both he and his wife
belong to the Yeomen. She is also a member of the Rebekahs and
the Pythian Sisters, and she and her daughter have membership in
the Congregational church.
598 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
FRED E. MARSH.
Fred E. Marsh, a well known citizen of Mason City, Iowa, was
born here February 17, 1866, a son of Henry A. and Charlotte
(Trevett) Marsh. Henry A. Marsh was a native of Rutland, Ver-
mont. When a young man he came from the "Green Mountain
State" to Iowa and took up his residence in Cerro Gordo county,
where for a time he worked at his trade, that of carpenter and eon-
tractor, and later for nineteen years was engaged in the ice busi-
ness. He was a party worker in Republican ranks, and, being
recognized as the right man for the office of sheriff, his name was
placed on the ticket and he made a successful race. As sheriff of
Cerro Gordo county, so faithful and efficiently did he serve that
he was twice re-elected to succeed himself, and filled the office three
terms. He died in IMason City in JIarch, 1907, at the age of sixty-
five years. Mr. Jlarsh's mother, Charlotte (Trevett) Marsh, was
born in Jlanchester, England, from whence when eleven years of
age she was brought by her parents to this country, their settle-
ment being in Wisconsin. That was late in the '40s. In the early
'50s the family moved to Iowa and took up their residence in the
eastern part of Cerro Gordo county. Here she met and subse-
qiaently married Henr\' A. Marsh, who likewise had come to Cerro
Gordo county in the '50s. The grandparents, both paternal and
maternal, were farmers.
Fred E. Marsh is one of a family of three children, the other
two being Mrs. C. A. Cure of St. Paul, Minnesota, and E. W. Marsh,
of Austin. Minnesota, engaged in a brick and tile business. The
widowed mother, now sixty-eight years of age, resides with her
daughter in St. Paul.
In his early manhood Fred E. Marsh engaged in the ice busi-
ness, which he conducted for a period of twenty-nine years, until
December. 1909, when he sold out. Also at times he was interestea'
in the stock and butcher business. His handsome home at 63*
East Ninth street. Mason City, he built some years ago.
In 1886, he married ]\Iiss Ada Burkett, who was born in
Germany and came to the United States with her parents when one
year old. She was reared at Eldora, Iowa, where her parents had
settled on coming to the United States. Mr. and Mrs. Marsh have
two children. Vern L. and Harold.
Mr. Marsh was reared a Baptist, and he and his family are
identified with the Baptist church. Politically he is a Republiean
and fraternally, an I. O. 0. F. and a M. W. A., of the latter being a
charter nicinlier at .Mason City, as was also his father.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 599
S. N. BERTELSEN.
S. N. Bertelsen has tlie distinction of having been one of the
first five Danish settlers in this part of the state. He is a progres-
sive agriculturist and stock raiser and has made his way by his
own unaided efforts, his father having died when he was only five
years old, which necessitated his being put out to work at the early
age of eight years. Mr. Bertelsen was born in Denmark, Schles-
wig province, November 7, 1854, his parents being Nicoli and
Cecelia (Christiansen) Bertelsen, both of whom lived out their
lives in their native country. The father was a laboring man and
served in the war of 1812. His death left the mother with a young
family of four children. Christopher lives in Eugene, Oregon, and
is in the dairy business, a fine herd of Jersey cattle being in his
possession. The two sisters are married and live in Germany.
Mr. Bertelsen came to Cerro Gordo county in 1878 and located
in the southern part, on one of the farms of John T. Richards. In
the course of two years he went to Swaledale, where for five years
he rented a farm and engaged in its operation. In 1885 he bought
one hundred and sixty acres of his present homestead, later adding
eighty acres to this tract. The land was then raw prairie and Mr.
Bertelsen bought the original one hundred and sixty acres from
Eastern parties for nine dollars and fifty cents per acre. He paid
fifteen dollars per acre for the remainder. Although he had prac-
tically no capital to begin with he now owns and operates two
hundred and forty acres of finelj' improved land in sections 30 and
31, in Pleasant Valley township.
Mr. Bertelsen was married December 1, 1884, to Miss Matilda
Raun, who was born in Denmark and came to America in 1882.
Their union has been blessed by the birth of nine children, eight of
whom are living. They are : ]Mary, wife of Christ Utzen, residing
in Grimes township ; Lena, a dressmaker by profession ; Christine ;
Cecelia; Hans; Bolitda; Edward, and Nicholas. All but Cecelia
are at home. The second child, a daughter died of diptheria in
infancy. Mr. Bertelsen gives his support to the Republican party
and he and his family are members of the Lutheran church. He
has made his home in the land of the stars and stripes since 1872,
and spent his first six .years in Jackson county, Iowa, working on
farms. It was at that time that he learned to speak German and
English. He received a good common school education in his
native land.
Vol. 11—13
600 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
CORNELIUS E. SOMERS.
Among the able representatives of the great basic industry of
agriculture in Cerro Gordo county is numl)ered Mr. Somers, who
is the owner of a finely improved farm of three hundred and
twenty acres in Owen township, but who is now living virtually
retired in Mason City, where he has an attractive and modern resi-
dence at 747 East State street. He has been a resident of this
county for nearly thirty years, has contributed his quota to in-
dustrial and civic progress and has gained and retained the confi-
dence and esteem of the community, as is evidenced bv the fact that
he is now serving as a valued member of the board of county
supervisors. Mr. Somers came to Cerro Gordo county in 1881
and purchased a tract of land in Owen town.ship, where he engaged
in diversified agriculture and stock raising, to which he continued
to give his attention until 1904, when he removed from his fine farm
to Mason City, where he has since maintained his home. Through
his own industry and progressive methods he was able to add
to his landed holdings and to develop the well improved and pro-
ductive farm of three hundred and twenty acres, to the general
supervision of which he still gives attention. He has shown at all
times a loyal interest in everything that has tended to promote the
material and social welfare of his county and state and as a staunch
Republican he has been active in the local councils of the party, to
which his allegiance is of the most unequivocal type. He served
in various local offices of public trust in Owen to^\Tiship, and since
1908 he has represented Mason City as a member of the board of
supervisors. In this body his influence has been cast in support
of progressive policies, though he has never failed to advocate due
conservatism in the handling of the business and material atfairs of
the county.
Cornelius E. Somers was born in Ogle county, Illinois, on the
16th of January, 1862, and is a son of William and Harriet (Ham-
lin) Somers, who were sterling pioneers of that section of the state.
There the father secured in the early days a tract of land for which
he paid only two and one-half dollars an acre, land that is today
worth fully one hundred per cent more than is represented in the
figure designated. There has never been a transfer of the propert.v,
which is \\athin seventy miles of the great western metroplis,
Chicago, and it is still lield intact by the heirs. On this fine old
homestead the parents of Mr. Somers continued to reside until their
death, secure in the high regard of all who knew them. The father
died in May, 1887, at the venerable age of seventy-eight years, and
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 601
his cherished and devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest in
1905, when ninety years of age. Both were zealous and consistent
members of the Methodist Episcopal church and in politics the
father gave his support to the cause of the Republican party. He
was a successful farmer and was a citizen essentially loyal and pro-
gressive. Both he and his wife were natives of the province of
Ontario, Canada, and were of staunch English lineage. Their
marriage was solemnized in their native province and they became
the parents of eight children, five sons and three daughters, seven
of whom are living. The subject of this sketch is the youngest
of the number and is the only representative of the familj^ in
Cerro Gordo county. All of the other children reside at Rock-
ford, Illinois, with the exception of one brother, who remains on the
old homestead farm secured by the honored father so many years
ago.
Cornelius E. Sommers gained his initial experiences in con-
nection with life's activities through his association with the work
of the home farm, and he was afforded the advantages of the excel-
lent public schools of the city of Rockford, Illinois, where he also
completed a course in the Becker Business College. He was about
twenty years of age at the time of coming to Iowa and his principal
motive in taking up his residence in this state was because he could
secure high grade land at a more reasonable figure than he could
in his native state. He bent his energies to the operation and im-
provement of his farm, and there are unmistakable evidences of his
good management in the appearance of the finely improved estate
at the present time. His measure of success has been sufficiently
large to justify him, while still in the very prime of life, to retire
from the arduous labors of the firm and enjoy the gracious re-
wards of former years of earnest toil and endeavor.
In politics Mr. Somers is aligned as a stalwart supporter of
the principles of the Republican party, as has already been noted
in this context, and he is affiliated with Sirius Lodge, No. 323,
Free and Accepted Masons; and Benevolence Chapter No. 106,
Royal Arch Masons, besides which he holds membership in the
local organization of the Jlodern Brotherhood of America.
In the city of Rockford, Illinois, on the 18th of April, 1883,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Somers to Miss Jennie Borden,
who was born and reared in that state and whose father, Isaac
Borden, was one of the pioneer hotel men of Rockford. He is
now living at Ft. Pierre, South Dakota, retired from active busi-
ness, and is seventy-six years of age. His wife died a number of
years ago, aged sixty. Mr. and Mrs. Somers have two daughters.
602 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Harriet Ethel, who was born in Lindenwood. Illinois, and who Ls
now the wife of Claude Weed, of Jlason City ; and Eva June, who
remains at the parental home. She completed her education in
Memorial University in Mason City, and is a specially accomplished
musician. The family is one that enjoys utmost popularity in
connection with the social life of the community and the attractive
home is one in which a most gracious hospitality is extended to the
wide circle of valued and appreciative friends.
JAMES S. RENSHAW.
James S. Renshaw, who operates his farm of ninet.v-five acres
in section 31, Portland township. Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, has
been a resident of the county since 1881. He located first in
Doughert.v township, where he remained one year, spent two years
in Bath township, four years in Owen township, another year in
Bath township, then located on his present farm, where he has
■made all improvements. He carries on general farming with ex-
cellent success and handles considerable stock.
Wr. Renshaw was born in what is now West Virginia, in
Monongalia county, May 21, 1835, son of G. S. and Martha
(Evans) Renshaw, both natives of the Old Dominion, he a son of
James Renshaw, who was born and reared at Harper's Ferry, where
he ensraged in farming. G. S. Ren.shaw was also a farmer, ana
was, too a merchant and engaged in handling cattle. He moved
with his family to Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1840, and in
the spring of 1852 located in Clayton county, Iowa, where he died
about 1870, at the age of sixty-four years. His widow died about
1876. over sixty years of age. She was a devout IMethodist.
James S. was the third of nine children, and has three sisters and
two brothers now living.
James S. Renshaw lived until he was seventeen years old at
Brownsville, Pennsylvania — the home of James G. Blaine. He had
but limited educational advantages and was reared to farming
and .stock raising, which he has followed most of his life. He came
with the rest of the family by boat on the Ohio and Mississippi
rivers to Iowa in 1852. Later he engaged in farming in Cla^-ton
county on his own account and also engaged in mercantile business
at National and later at Lnana. Iowa, conducting a store fifteen
years altogether. He then sold out his mercantile interests and
moved to Cerro Gordo county, where he has since carried on
farming.
^Ir. Renshaw married, in Clavton countv. Iowa. Miss Eu-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 603
phemia D. Clark, who was born in Alburg, Vermont, in July, 1840,
a daughter of Jedediah P. L. and Lura Clark, both of old New
England families. She came with her parents to Iowa in 1853.
Her father was a farmer and blacksmith and both he and his wife
died in Clayton county. Eight children were born to ilr. Ren-
shaw and his wife, namely: Minnie A., wife of A. W. Blanchard,
of Minneapolis; 0. W., also of Minneapolis, chief dispatcher on
the Hastings & Dakota division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railroad; George S., a farmer of Owen township; E. S., of
Minneapolis, where he is a merchant; Jessie Adeline, wife of
Marcellus A. Ball, of Minneapolis; Marvin J., of Minneapolis,
where he is secretary of a business firm; Prank, who has a claim
in Dakota, is in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad Compan.y; Hattie M., a stenographer of ]\Iinneapolis.
Politically Mr. Renshaw is a Republican and he has held
township offices. He is a member of the Ma.sonic fraternity and he
and his wife are members of the Congregational church at Owen's
Grove. Both are well known in the community and they have a
host of friends. ]\Ir. Renshaw is an enterprising, ambitious far-
mer, and has won success through his own efforts.
CLARENCE II. SMITH.
On other pages of this work is entered a brief record concern-
ing the representative law firm of Blythe, JMarkley, Rule & Smith
of which the youngest member is he whose name initiates this para-
graph. Mr. Smith is recognized as one of the representative
younger members of the l^ar of his native county and has been en-
gaged in the practice of his profession in Mason City since 1905.
His success has been on a parity with his technical ability and his
devotion to the work of his chosen profession, the while he is held
in high esteem in the county that has represented his liome since
the time of his nativity.
Mr. Smith was born at Mason City, this county, on the 13th of
April. 1878, and is a son of Jerome and Jennie (Knox) Smith, tht
former of whom died in this city in 1904 at the age of sixty-nine
years and the latter of whom still maintains her home here. The
parents came from Massachusetts to Iowa and took up their resi-
dence in Mason City in 1870. The father became one of the
leading and successful contractors and builders of this city and
was a skilled artisan at the carpenter trade so that he was well
equipped for the vocation to which he long devoted his attention.
He was born at Pittsfield, Massachusetts, and was a member of a
604 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
family that was fouuded iu that historical commonwealth in the
Colonial days. He served with marked fidelity and gallantry as
a soldier in the Massachusetts regiment in the Civil war, and was
a stanch supporter of the cause of the Republican party. His
widow, who was reared at Pittsfield, irassachusetts is a member of
the First Congregational church of this city. She is now sixty-
five years of age (1910). Of the three children the sub.ject of
this sketch is the yoimgest; Jessie the eldest is the wife of John
H. Sheriffs of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Lucille B., is at home
with her brother and widowed mother. Clarence H. Smith is
indebted to the public schools of Mason City for his educational
discipline, which was supplemented by a course of one year at a
Business College. Shortly after leaving this school Mr. Smith
assumed the position of clerk and stenographer in the office of the
law firm of which he is now a valued member and he finally began
reading law under effective preceptorship, with the result that
when he appeared for examination before the state board of bar
examiners in the city of Des Moines in 1905, he was successful and
was admitted to practice by the supreme court of Iowa. He was
forthwith admitted to the firm of which he is now a member and he
has since given close attention to the work of his chosen profession
in which his success has been of an unequivocal order. He is a
stockholder and director in the Commercial Savings Bank, also in
the Mason City Building and Loan Association. He is a Republi-
can in his political proclivities, is a member of the Congregational
church and is affiliated with the local lodge of the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks. Mr. Smith is a bachelor and resides
with his mother and sister in their pleasant home in Mason City.
JOHN C. ROBINSON.
The present incumbent of the office of county attorney of
Cerro Gordo coiinty is recognized as one of the representative
members of the bar of this section of the state and in his present
office he has added materially to his prestige as an able trial lawyei
and as a citizen of the utmost loyalty and public spirit. He has
maintained his residence in Jfa-son City since January, 1902. and
was elected to the office of county attorney in 1908, assuming the
duties of the office in January of the following year.
John C. Robinson was born in McDonough county, Illinois, on
the 24th of December. 1874, and thus came a welcome Christmas
guest in the home of his parents, Benjamin E. and Sarah (Schnat-
terly) Robinson, who took up their residence in that county in the
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 605
pioneer days and who still maintain their home there. The
father gave the major part of his active career to farming and is
now living virtually retired, enjoying the rewards of former years
of earnest toil and endeavor. He is Republican in his political
proclivities and a member of the Presbyterian church. His wife
is a member of the Baptist church. They became the parents of
three sons and one daughter, of whom the subject of this sketch was
the third in order of birth. Robert D. is engaged in the practice
of law at Galesburg, Illinois; Michael E. is likewise a lawyer by
profession but is now engaged in the banking business at Hartford,
Iowa ; and Miss Blanche, who remains at the parental home, has
been successful and popular as a teacher in the public schools.
John C. Robinson learned the lessons of practical industry in
connection with the work of the home farm and his preliminary
educational discipline was that afforded in the public schools of his
native county. Later he was for one year a student at Hedding
College, at Abingdon, Illinois, and for a similar period he continued
his studies in the Bushnell Normal School at Bushnell, Illinois, a
well-ordered private institution. Since that time he has made his
own way in the world and his success stands not only in evidence
of his sterling personal characteristics but also of his energy and
well directed endeavors. He was employed as a teacher in the
public school of McDonough, Illinois, for a period of one year and
for a time he also conducted independent farming operations.
Through his own endeavors he secured the funds which enabled
him to continue his educational work. After deciding to prepare
himself for the legal profession Mr. Robinson began reading in the
office and under the able preeeptorship of his brother, Robert D., at
Galesburg, Illinois, where he devoted himself assiduously to his
technical reading for one and one-half years. He then entered
the law department of Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa,
where he completed the entire course in one year and was graduated
as a member of the class of 1901, with the degree of Bachelor of
Laws. In the meantime he paid his expenses largely by work
incidentally handled while he was a student in the University. He
was admitted to the bar of Iowa at the time of his graduation, and,
as already stated, he came to Mason City in January, 1902. He
gave himself with all of zeal and devotion to the work of his pro-
fession and soon gained recognition as an effective and versatile
advocate and well-fortified counselor, so that there came to him a
clientage of representative order. For a time he was as.sociated
in practice with S. A. Koch and later he had as his professional
coadjutor the Honorable Fred A. Kirschman. In 1904 he was
606 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
elected to the office of city attorney, of which he continued incum-
bent until November, 1908, when he resigned to become a candidate
for county attorney, to which he was elected by a gratifying
majority and in which he is giving a most able and effective
administration, besides which he continues in the active practice of
his profession, in which he directs a substantial and important
business. Mr. Robinson gives a stanch support to the principles
and policies for which the Republican party stands sponsor and he
has given effective service in behalf of the party cause. He is
aggressive and liberal in his civic attitude and his genial personal-
ity has made him uniformly popular in tlie city and county in
which he has elected to establish his home.
In a retrospective way it may be stated that Mr. Robinson's
lineage on the paternal side is traced back to stanch Scotch-Irish
origin. His grandparents emigrated from the north of Ireland to
America and settled in the state of Pennsylvania, where his grand-
father was for many years the stage-driver and mail carrier.
Benjamin E. Robinson, father of the subject of this review, was
born in Payette county. Pennsylvania, and as a young man he there
enlisted as a member of a regiment recruited for services in the
Civil war, in which he served in the command of General Sheridan
as well as under the other notable leaders of the great, internecine
conflict. He participated in sixty-seven engagements, including
a number of the more important battles marking the progress of
the war, and though he had many narrow escapes he was never
seriously wounded. His wife likewise was born in Pennsylvania
and is of stanch German lineage. John C. Robinson is a member
of the Sons of Veterans and ' is also affiliated with the ilodern
Woodmen of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America, in
the latter of which he has been especially active and influential,
having served as secretary of the organization in Mason City for
.several years and having been a delegate therefrom to the state
conventions of the order. He is not formally identified with any
religious organizations but his wife is a member of the Baptist
church.
At Mason City, on the 8th of August, 1907, Mr. Robinson was
united in marriage to Miss Matilda E. Stock, who was born and
reared in this city and who is a daughter of Louis and Loize
(Schmidt) Stock, both of whom were born in Germany and both of
whom died in Mason City, where they took up their residence many
vears ago.
o^^n^i^W^ ^/e^^-cx^«^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 609
JAMES P. McGUIRE.
Among the able and popular officials of Cerro Gordo county
none holds a position of greater worth and importance and follows
the same with more devotion and ability than does Mr. McGuire,
who is the able and popular superintendent of the county hospital
and the county farm. It is a matter that may be viewed with pride
by the people of this county that they have made such effective
provisions for their indigent and unfortunate wards, and the insti-
tution over which the subject of this review presides is one that
may well be taken as a model, both in equipment aud in service
afforded. The hospital building is two stories in height, with
basement, and is of substantial brick construction. It was built
in January, 1897, and is fifty-eight feet in lateral dimensions. The
county home building proper was built many years ago and has
proved adequate to meet the demands placed upon it at the present
time. Mr. McGuire has been superintendent of the institution'
since 1903 and has been identified with its affairs for the past
twelve j'cars. At the present time the hospital has seventeen
inmates and the average number of inmates in the ward is fifteen.
The farm in connection with the home comprises two hundred and
three acres and in addition to this, three hundred and twenty
acres located about one-half mile north are also utilized and are
conducted under the general supervision of Mr. McGuire. The
institution is practically self-supporting and this can be claimed
for only two or three other institutions of the same kind in the
state. Through his effective management Mr. McGuire has gained
the confidence and esteem of the county and the good will of the
inmates of the home, as he treats them with all of sympathy and
James P. McGuire was born in Buchanan county, Iowa, near
the village of Jesup, on the 29th of March, 1874, and is a son
of James L. and Helen (Ferguson) McGuire, who took up their
residence in this state about the year 1869. The father was
long numbered among the successful farmers and honored citizens
of Buchanan county, where he continued to reside until his death
and the vadow now maintains her home in the village of Jesup.
The subject of this review was reared under the invigorating
training of the home farm and his early educational discipline
included a course in the high school at Jesup, as well as in the
Catholic school at Independence, this state. He was but nine
years of age at the time of the death of his father and he has been
dependent upon his own resources from his boyhood days, having
610 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
personally provided for the expense of his education. In 1890
Mr. MeGuire became an employe of the Iowa State Hospital for
the Insane at Independence, Iowa, and a few years later gained
distinctive mark of the appreciation of his services in that he was
placed in charge of the epileptic ward of the institution, in which
department he had supervision for many years. At the outbreak
of the Spanish-American war he tendered his services as a soldier
and enlisted as a member of Company B, Porty-niuth Iowa Volun-
teer Infantry. He was with his command at Havana, Cuba, for
four months and prior to this had been in the reserve camps in
Florida and Georgia. He was a non-commissioned officer at the
time of receiving his honorable discharge and a few months later,
in September, 1898, he became an employe of the institution of
which he is now superintendent and with the affairs of which he has
been identified since that time. Mr. McGuire is a stanch adherent
of the Republican party and he is affiliated with the Mason City
organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks,
the Knights of Pythias, the Knights of Columbus and the Jlodern
Brotherhood of America. Both he and his wife are communicants
of St. Joseph's Catholic church in Mason City.
In the year 1892 Mr. McGuire was united in marriage to Miss
Edith Gilmore, who was born and reared in Guthrie county, this
state, and who was formerly a successful and popular teacher in
the public schools. Mr. and Mrs. McGuire have no children.
WILLIAM NETTLETON.
There are many points of interest in the career of this sterling
citizen and honored pioneer of Iowa, whither he came soon after
the close of the Civil war, in which he had rendered gallant ser\'ice
as a loyal soldier of the Union, and here continued to be identified
with agricultural pursuits for manj^ years. He has been a resident
of Cerro Gordo county for the pa.st twenty-eight years and in addi-
tion to his connection with farming he has also conducted e.xtensive
operations in the handling of real estate and the extending of
financial loans in this connection. He has maintained his home
in Mason City since 1892, and since that time has given practically
his entire attention to his real estate and loan business, in which
he is associated with David Smith, a resident of Lee county. Illinois.
His operations in the buying and selling of farm property in Iowa
have been of an extensive and important order and through the
same the industrial and civic development of the state has been
fostered in a significant way. He is the owner of a finely improved
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 611
farm of three hundred and eighty acres in Geneseo township and is
one of the substantial business men and highly honored citizens
of Cerro Gordo county.
Back to the stanchest of Scottish stock does William Nettleton
trace his ancestral line, though he is himself a native of the fair
Emerald Isle. He was born in county Antrim, Ireland, on the
8th of November, 1836, and is a son of Benjamin and Maria
(English) Nettleton, both of whom were born and reared in Scot-
land, where their marriage was solemnized, whence they finally
removed to county Antrim, Ireland. Benjamin Nettleton was a
man of strong intellectuality and of excellent attainments as an
architect. He followed his profession in Scotland and Ireland
and in the latter country he had the supervision of the erection
of one of the fine castles that lend attractiveness to the Emerald
Isle. He emigrated with his family to America in 1840 and
numbered himself among the pioneers of Lee county, Illinois,
which was at that time very sparsely settled. He secured a large
tract of land from the government, for which he paid one dollar
and a quarter per acre. The well-known Smith family of Paw
Paw, Lee county, came to America a short time before the Nettle-
tons and the two families have been closely associated from that
time to the present. Benjamin Nettleton died in 1851, at fifty
years of age, and his devoted and noble wife lived to attain the
venerable age of seventy-six years. Both were strict members of
the Scotch Presbyterian church and they reared their children
according to the tenets of their somewhat rigorous Christian faith.
They became the parents of six sons and three daughters, and of
that number only one other than the subject of this sketch is now
living, Daniel M. Nettleton, who is a prominent farmer and an
influential citizen of Clay county, Nebraska, and he represented
that county in the state legislature and in which he had the dis-
tinction of serving as speaker of the house. Three of the brothers
served in the Civil war; two of them having been members of the
Fifteenth Illinois Infantry and the other a member of the Fourth
Illinois Cavalry.
"William Nettleton, the immediate subject of this sketch, was
a child of about four years of age at the time of the family emigra-
tion to America and he was reared to maturity upon the pioneer
farm in Lee county, Illinois, where his early educational advantages
were those afforded in the common schools of the period. There
he continued to be actively associated with agricultural pursuits
until the dark cloud of the Civil war cast its pall over the National
horizon, when he gave evidence of his intrinsic lovalty and
612 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
patriotism by tendering his services in defense of the nation. On
the 8th of August, 1862, he enlisted as a member of Company K.
Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, which command was
assigned to the Army of the Cumberland. Mr. Nettleton proved
himself a faithful and valiant soldier and the record of his services
is practically that of the regiment of which he was a member
He participated in many of the important battles marking the
progress of the great conflict between the north and the south, in-
cluding those of Perrj'ville, Stone River, Chickamauga. Lookout
Mountain, Missionary Ridge, the campaign of one hundred and
twenty days from Chattanooga to Atlanta and the sanguinary en-
gagements at Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee. In the battle of
Pine Mountain, Georgia, June 16, 1862, he was severely wounded,
but did not leave his command and was in the regimental hospital
ten days. He continued in active service until the close of the
war, having received his honorable discharge on the 12th of August,
1865, at Nashville, Tennessee. lie was promoted from the ranks
to the office of corporal and later became sergeant. For gallant
and meritorious service he was given the brevet rank of lieutenant
and he was mustered out as such. He has ever retained a lively
interest in his old comrades of the dark days of the Civil war and
indicates the same by his membership in the C. H. Huntley Post
of the Grand Army of the Republic, and is a past post commander.
In the autumn of 1866 Mr. Nettleton came to Iowa and took up
his residence in FYanklin county, where he purchased a farm and
where he remained until 1869, when he removed to Cherokee
eoimty, this state, where he likewise purchased land and where he
was also engaged in the meat market business at the time of the
building of the railroad through that section. It was at this time
that he initiated his operations in the handling of real estate and
he has since continued to be actively engaged in this line of enter-
prise, in which from the start he has been associated with David
Smith, who has been a resident of Lee county, Illinois, from his
childhood days. Mr. Nettleton maintained his home in Cherokee
county for fourteen years, at the expiration of which he removed
to Cerro Gordo county and purchased a tract of land in Geneseo
township. This property he has continuously held and his landed
estate now aggregates three hundred and eighty acres. He devel-
oped his farm into one of the well-improved and valuable places of
the county and there continued to be actively engaged in diversified
agriculture and raising of high grade stock until the fall of 1891,
when he leased his farm and removed to Ma.son City, where he has
since maintained his home.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 613
Mv. Nettleton has ever stood the exponent of the highest
civic loyalty and progressiveness and his political allegiance has
been given without reservation to the Republican party. His first
presidential vote was cast in support of Abraham Lincoln and he has
kept in close touch with the cjuestions and issues of the hour, so
that in politics, as in other matters, he is strongly fortified in his
opinions and is able to give a "reason for the faith that is in him."
He was a member of the board of supervisors of Cherokee county,
but since coming to Cerro Gordo county he has invariably refvised
to accept candidacy for public office. Among other positions for
which he was urged to become a nominee was that of mayor of
Mason City. He has been affiliated with the time-honored Masonic
fraternity for many years, having been initiated as an entered
apprentice in Friendship Lodge at Dixon, Illinois, prior to his
enlistment as a soldier in the Civil war and having been duly raised
to the master's degree in this lodge. He is past master of Pearl
Lodge, No. 246, Free and Accepted Masons, of Sheffield, Franklin
county, Iowa; and his present Masonic affiliations in Mason City
are as here noted : Benevolence Lodge, No. 145, Free and Accepted
Masons, Benevolence Chapter, No. 46, Royal Arch Masons, of which
he is now high priest, and Antioch Comraandery, No. 43, Knights
Templars, of which he is past eminent commander, besides which he
holds membership in Za. Ga. Zag Temple, Ancient Arabic Order
of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Des Moines, Iowa. He is
past chancellor comiuander of Cerro Gordo Lodge No. 70, Knights
of Pythias, and has been identified with the Independent Order of
Odd Fellows, at Cherokee, Iowa. His wife is identified with the
adjunct Masonic organization, the Order of the Eastern Star, and
is also a zealous member of the Methodist Episcopal church in
Mason City.
At Dixon, Illinois, on the 3d of December, 1857, Mr. Nettleton
was united in marriage to Miss Maria Miller, who was born in
Crawford county, Pennsylvania, and whose father, Charles Miller,
was numbered among the pioneer farmers of Lee county, Illinois,
where he and his wife continued to reside until their deaths. Mrs.
Nettleton was reared to maturity in Lee county and on the 21st
of June, 1910, she celebrated her seventieth birthda.y. Mr. and
Mrs. Nettleton have .iourneyed down the pathway of life together,
satisfied and comforted by mutual love and devotion for a period of
fifty-two .years, and their golden wedding anniversary was duly
observed in 1907. Concerning their three children the following
brief record is entered in conclusion of this sketch : Charles, who
is a resident of Portland, Oregon, and a bridge-builder by vocation,
614 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
married Miss Mary Hoflfman and they have five children : William,
Mary, Ray, Hope and John ; Ernest E. died at Los Angeles. Cali-
fornia, in February, 1902, and is survived by one son, Richard,
whose mother died some time prior to the death of his father, and
he is being reared in the home of his grandparents; Guy E.,
youngest of the children of Mr. and Mrs. Nettleton, is a resident
of Mason City and is identified with railroad interests. He was
united in marriage to Miss Carrie Christianson and they reside
with the William Nettleton family in Mason City.
DUNCAN MILLOY.
Duncan Milloy, a prominent agriculturist and stock raiser,
may be numbered among those, who, by the employment of the most
modern and enlightened methods known in their honorable voca-
tion, assist in giving prestige to Owen township. He owns two
hundred valuable acres in the township and operates this farm in
association with his brother, Alexander Milloy, both of them re-
siding \dth their mother on the home place, which is located in
section 13. Mr. ]\Iilloy's parents were Daniel and Grace (Siveler)
Milloy, the former's birthplace having been in Canada, near
Toronto, and his parentage Scotch. He was reared and educated
in Canada and there married, his wife being also a Canadian,
whose parents were natives of Scotland. He brought his family
to Cerro Gordo eoimty in 1881 and for some years operated the
Bird farm, later purchasing the present homestead. He was a
successful farmer, always interested in new scientific discoveries in
his line and making many improvements upon his estate, in which
he took proper pride. A Rep\ablican in conviction he had mwch
party loyalty and held several local offices, A great reader and
student he not only took deep interest but was well informed upon
the sub.jects of the day. Previous to his career as a farmer he had
had some railroad experience, serving as section foreman on the
Chicago Milwaukee and St. Paul Railroad. He was a self-made
man, having had nothing to start with. Mr. Milloy, the father,
died in March, 1901, at the age of sixty-three years. His widow
and four children .survive him, the latter being: Archie, of Rock-
ford, who is in the livery business; Alexander, a farmer of Owen
township ; Katie, now Mrs. Charles Elliott, residing in Owen town-
ship, and Mr. Milloy.
Duncan ifilloy has been a resident of Cerro Gordo county since
the age of nine years. lie attended the district schools and ob-
tained his agricultural knowledge under the excellent tutelage of
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 615
his father. He is Republican in political conviction, and i.s a
member of the Modern Woodmen of America, being affiliated with
the branch at Cartersville.
JUDGE ALBERT H. CUMMINGS.
The various public offices of which this well-known citizen of
Cerro Gordo county has been incumbent indicate the sure quality
of the confidence and esteem reposed in him in the community that
has so long represented his home. He is now referee in bank-
ruptcy for six counties in northern Iowa, Cerro Gordo, Wirth,
Franklin, Butler, Hancock, and Winnebago. To this position he
was appointed in 1898 and he has proved a most efficient and
popular official. He is also engaged in the real estate business,
wdth offices in the Adams building, in Mason City, where he has
maintained his residence since 1871.
Albert H. Cummings was born in Newport, Orleans county,
Vermont, on the 17th of February, 1849, and is a scion of one of
the old and honored families of New England. The original
American progenitors settled in Massachusetts in the early colonial
epoch, being of English lineage, and from that historic, old common-
wealth representatives of the name later made settlement in New
Hampshire and Vermont. Lorenzo Cummings was born at Keene,
New Hamp.shire, and in his .vouth he learned a trade but his prin-
cipal vocation was that of farming. He died in Vermont at the
venerable age of eighty-eight years, in the highest regard of all who
knew him. He was a stanch Abolitionist in the days prior to the
Civil war and he united with the Republican party at the time of
its organization, while he was one of the first to espouse the
cause of the Prohibition party, to which he gave his allegiance until
the time of his death. Both he and his wife were devout and
zealous members of the Baptist church and in which he was a
deacon. In the state of Vermont was solemnized the marriage of
Lorenzo Cummings to Miss Seraphina Sylvester, who was born at
St. Johnsbury, Caledonia county, that state, and who likewise was
a member of a family that was founded in New England, in the
early Colonial days. Both paternal and maternal grandfathers
of the subject of this review were found enrolled as valiant and
patriotic soldiers in the Continental line in the war of the Revolu-
tion. The genealogy of the Sylvester family is traced back to
stanch Scottish origin and the greater number of its representatives
in America have been identified with the great basic art of agri-
culture. Lorenzo and Scniphina (Sylvester) Cummings became
616 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
the parents of three sons and three danerhters and of the number one
of the sons and one of the daughters are deceased. Ellen became
the wife of James M. Becker and they came to Mason City, Iowa, in
1870. Mr. Becker became one of the influential pioneers of Cerro
Gordo county and here he continued to reside until his death. His
widow still maintains her home in Mason City. Lucy L. is now the
wife of J. G. Griffith and resides at Mount Carroll, Illinois; and
T. S. Cummings still maintains his home at Newport, Vermont.
The honored subject of this review was reared to maturity in
the old Green Mountain State, to whose common schools he is
indebted for his preliminary education, which was supplemented
by attendance in the schools of New Hampshire. In the latter
state he began reading law and later he continued his technical
studies at Mason City, Iowa, where he took up his residence in 1871,
as already noted. In the autixmn of that year he was admitted to
the bar and he continued in the active practice of his profession
in Mason City until 1902, when he sold his practice and turned
his attention to the real-estate business, in which he has since been
engaged. In politics he accords stanch and intelligent support to
the Republican party and he has been called upon to serve in
various public offices of importance and responsibility. He was
made mayor of Mason City in 1893 for four years, served six years
as city solicitor, was incumbent of the office of .justice of the peace
for twenty-three years and for twelve years he was a valued member
of the board of education. He was appointed to his present impor-
tant office in 1898, as already .stated, and it is interesting to record
that he has been incumbent of some public office since 1879. He
has long been known as a representative member of the bar of his
county and his success in his profession was of an unequivocal
order. Mr. Cummings has been affiliated with the Independent
Order of Odd Fellows since 1871 and is a charter member of the
lodge of Knights of Pythias in Ma.son City, where he also holds
membership in the lodge of Benevolent and Protective Order of
EUcs. His wife is a consistent member of the Baptist church and
is active in various departments of its work.
On the 19th of April, 1873, at Newport, Vermont, was solemn-
ized the marriage of Mr. Cummings to Miss Idella C. Blake, wlio
was born and reared in that state, where the family was founded
in the pioneer days. Mr. and Mrs. Cummings have two children,
Juna, who is the wife of Dr. Charles B. Lewis, a representative
physician and dentist of Ottumwa, Iowa, and Albert B., who is a
resident of Chicago.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 619
B. P. CARPENTER.
A man well and favorably known in the community in which
he resides, is E. P. Carpenter, who owns and operates a finely im-
proved farm of two hundred and forty acres in section 36, Clear
Lake township. He came to Cerro Gordo county in 1888 and located
upon his present place. He was born in Scott county, Iowa, in 1860,
his parents being 0. P. and Mary E. (Hart) Carpenter. The father
was a native of New York state, but early in life came to Iowa, and
from that state enlisted in the Twentieth Iowa Regiment at the time
of the Civil war. He died in a hospital in the south and was buried
in the government cemetery. The mother was born in Ohio and
came to Iowa with her parents in 1845. She is now a resident of
Clear Lake, and is seventy-three years of age. Mr. Carpenter is one
of four children, all natives of Iowa, namely : Daniel, who died at
twelve years of age; S. L., residing in this county; E. P., our
subject; and Leroy, who died in infancy.
Mr. Scott was reared and educated in Scott county, Iowa,
supplementing his common-school education with a course in the
normal school at Valparaiso, Indiana. He engaged for some years
in the general mercantile business at Camanche, Iowa, but
abandoned that to take up agriculture. His experiences in this
line in Cerro Gordo county have been entirely gratifying and he
does not regret his change of vocation. He subscribes to the
policies and principles of the Republican party and takes an
interest in public affairs, without at the same time caring for
office. He has membership in the Modern Woodmen of America
and Mrs. Carpenter belongs to the Royal Neighbors. Both are
members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Clear Lake.
Mr. Carpenter was married in 1885, in Clinton county, Iowa,
to Miss Minnie Elce. Her father was a resident of Clinton
county in the early days and saw .service in the Civil war. Mr.
and Mrs. Carpenter have a family of three children, these being:
Verna M., attending Cornell College, Iowa; Charles P., a student
at Ames Agricultural College ; and Ethel E.
DAVID J. PURDY.
David J. Purdy, deceased, was bom in Canada July 7, 1836,
and died at Mason City, Iowa, June 3, 1899. He was one of a
famil.v of eleven children, and his parents, John and Margaret
(Fritz) Purdy, were born, passed their lives and died in Canada.
By occupation John Purdy was a farmer, and on the home farm
Vol. n— 14
620 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
David J. was reared, receiving his education in the common schools
and finishing with one year at Cobourg College. In 1862 he went
to British Columbia, where a younger brother was located, and he
was in the mines a short time and then in the millwright business
and remained three years. At the end of that time he returned
home, married, and engaged in business for himself at Trenton,
Canada. On July 5, 1869, he landed in Mason City, Iowa, and
established himself in the grocery business. Failing health caused
him to sell out in 1875 and make a change. He went to Spencer,
Iowa, and for a year he conducted a banking business and clothing
store there. At the end of the year, however, he came back to
Mason City, repurchased his old store, and remained in business
here until 1896, when he sold out and retired. He owned ten acres
of valuable land on North Main street. Mason City, on which he
intended to build homes and sell, but his death occurred before he
had time to carry out his plans. During his mercantile experience
he had several partners at different times, but he was always the
main stay of the business. In his later .years he was a strong
Prohibitionist, and all his life he was a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church.
On October 25, 1865, David J. Purdy and Ada G. Greenleaf
were united in marriage, and the fruits of their union were four
children, only one of whom, George H., is now living, he being a
resident of Mason Cit.v.
Mrs. Purdy was born in Oswego, New York, Ma.y 24, 1842,
daughter of James and Caroline (Marsh) Greenleaf. James
Greenleaf was a native of Vermont and by trade was a millwright.
He came to Iowa in 1857, built mills in different parts of the state,
and traveled over the state as state agent for the Fairbanks scales.
Also he had farming interests, to which he devoted his time and
attention in later life. He left Iowa in 1902 and went to "Wash-
ington, where he was accidentally killed by a train in the following
year, at the age of eighty-five years. His wife died in early life,
when about thirty, leaving two children : Mrs. Purdy, and a sister
Mary, who died at twenty-two years of age. Mrs. Purdy spent
two years attending school in Chicago, and for two years previous
to her marriage she taught school in Canada. In Mason City
for six years she kept her husband's books in the store, and since
his death has handled his estate in such a manner as to prove herself
a successful business woman. She is identified with the church of
which her husband was a worthy member.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 621
WILLIAM McADAM. •
William McAdam, an ambitious and successful farmer of
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, owns eighty acres of fertile land on
section 27, Falls township, which he has brought to a high state
of cultivation. He has always been engaged in farming since he
left school and carries on his work in an able manner, being guided
by scientific principles and modern methods. He grew up on the
farm where he now lives and purchased it from his father, who
bought it when it was wild land and lived on it until his death,
developing and improving it.
Mr. McAdam was born in Ogle county, Illinois, a son of James
and Maria (Fox) McAdam, the father born in Delaware county,
New York, October 18, 1831, and the mother born at Beaverkill,
Sullivan county. New York. They were parents of six children,
of whom those living are : Elizabeth, William and George. James
McAdam was a carpenter by trade, at which he began woi-king at
the age of fourteen years with his father. He became a master
bviilder and millwright. He was married in 1853 and the following
year moved to Polo, Illinois, where he followed his trade until 1867,
when he located in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and purchased land.
William McAdam is a representative and useful citizen,
actively interested in the i^ublic welfare, and in politics is indepen-
dent. He supports every cause he deems worthy of his attention
and is honest and upright in his dealings with his fellows. Mr.
McAdam is unmarried and his sister Elizabeth lives with him and
keeps house for him. His brother lives at Nora Springs. The
family as a whole stands high in the estimation of the community,
where they have established a reputation for high character and
integrity.
ROBERT S. YOUNG.
To Robert S. Young, three times mayor of the town, a former
agriculturist, and now engaged in the real estate and insurance
business, is due remarkable credit for making Clear Lake better
and more progressive. It would be safe to say that no one has
done a greater work in civic improvement or has encouraged the
growth and prcsperity of the town in such material fashion. The
story of Mr. Young's career is interesting and he finds much enjoy-
ment in telling of the struggles of the days before he found that
niche in the world for which nature had intended him. Mr. Young
was born at Lena, Stephenson county, Illinois, May 31, 1859. His
622 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
parents were Robert C. and Carrie D. (Vincent) Young. The
father was born in Belfast, Ireland, and came to the United States
as a yonng man. He located in Lena, Illinois, married in April,
1858, and pursued the vocation of farming. October 9, 1875, is
the date upon which he decided to cast his fortunes with Cerro
Gordo county. He purchased one hundred and thirty-eight acres
of wild land on the south shore of Clear Lake, in Clear Lake town-
ship, section 28, paying thirteen hundred dollars for the same. This
he thoroughly improved, even to trees, and farmed upon it until in
1892 he abandoned farming, sold his land, and came to Clear Lake
where he took up auctioneering. He was well fitted for this kind
of work and conducted some large stock sales. He was a very
active man and worked to within ten days of his death, which
occurred in November, 1905, his age being seventy -four years. The
mother was a native of Courtland county, New York, and died in
December. 1899, at the age of fifty-nine years. This good couple
were the parents of eight chilclren, six of whom are living, as
follows: Mr. Yoimg; James A., of Garner, Iowa; Charles W., of
Omaha, Nebraska; Homer A., of Washington; Frank S.. of Clear
Lake; and Addie, wife of T. A. Stanfield, of Omaha, Nebraska.
Mr. Young spent his boyhood days in Shannon, Illinois, and
upon his father's farm in Iowa, and received a common school
education. He was sixteen years of age at the time of the removal
of his parents to Cerro Gordo county. He remained at home until
the time of his marriage in 1880, when he rented a farm in Clear
Lake township and began its cultivation on his own account. Since
early boyhood he had evinced a predilection for trading. One
year he bought calves until he had thirty, whereupon he purchased
one hundred and sixty acres of land at six dollars and a quarter an
acre and traded his calves in for one-third payment. He was at
one time, to quote his o^^ti words, "the poorest man in Cerro Gordo
county," having to live in a one-story 12 x 16 foot shanty, where
he ate, cooked and slept. He also tells of another instance which
did not tend to make him rejoice. He had a team of heavy horses,
both of which had not been paid for. One morning he went out to
the stable and found one of the horses dead, and Mr. Young admits
that he wept. He had to have a team, and the only way he could
find to acquire one was to trade his remaining heavy horse for two
small ones. He built a house upon his place and announced his
intention of raising one hundred hogs a year, but he only succeeded
in raising twenty in two years. After several similar experiences
he came to the sad conclusion that he had not been cut out for a
farmer, so in 1893 he gave up farming and came to Clear Lake,
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 623
where he purchased the insurance business of S. G. Scott for one
thousand dollars. While thus engaged he was asked at different
times by people who knew him to negotiate the sale of farms, it
being realized that he was well posted about the value of the land
in the county. So in the most natural fashion in the world he
came to take up real estate work and it has proved congenial. In
the fii-st fifteen months he traded and sold sixty farms.
Mr. Young has held numerous public offices, this evidencing
the confidence in which his fellow townsmen hold him. He has
been school officer and president of the school board in Clear Lake
township, and for eight years was township trustee. "While still
living upon the farm he held the position of road superintendent,
and he has been three times elected to the office of mayor. llr.
Young's enthusiasm for civic betterment has previously been men-
tioned. It was he who caused the old board walks around the
city park to be torn up and replaced by cement, thus inaugurating
a general movement, with the result that today Clear Lake has more
cement walks than any other towTi of its size in Iowa.
In 1909 Mr. Young purchased sixty acres of land on the north
shore of the lake for ten thousand dollars, platted the lake front into
lots and in July of that year he conducted the largest sale of lots
ever known in Cerro Gordo county, seventeen thousand dollars
worth of them being sold. He is now engaged in platting into lots
one hundred and thirty acres of land on East State street, IMasou
Cit}% which he will sell some time mthin the present year (1910).
He has built and sold numerous houses and summer cottages in
Clear Lake and he completed in May, 1910, one of the largest and
best amusement pavillions in the west, this being known as
"Young's Idelo."
Mr. Young is active in fraternal matters, having membership
in the Elks, the Eagles, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the
Tribe of Ben Hur, all at Mason City, and the Knights of Pythias
at Clear Lake. Politically he gives his support to the policies and
principles of the Republican party.
On February 5, 1880, occurred the marriage of Jlr. Young to
Miss Alice L. Quick, born in Rock Creek, December 30, 1858. She
is the daughter of James and Mary A.. (Reed) Quick, English
people who came to the United States in 1848. They located in
New York, then removed to Ohio, and in 1870 came to Grundy
county, Iowa. In 1872 they came on to Cerro Gordo county and
took up their residence in Clear Lake township. The father died
in 1899, aged seventy-six years, and the mother, in 1901, aged
sevent.v-seven years. To ]\Tr. and ]\Trs. Young have been born
624 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
seven children, three of whom are living. They are Claude S.,
at home; Reve V., the wife of Ray Andrew of Mason City; and
Dorothy, at home.
ARTHUR L. RULE.
On other pages of this publication is entered a memoir to the
late James Rule, who was long one of the most honored and influen-
tial citizens of Mason City and who was the father of him to whom
this sketch is dedicated. As ready reference may be made to the
memorial tribute mentioned, it will not be necessary to repeat the
data in the present connection. As one of the representative mem-
bers of the bar of his native county, Arthur L. Rule is well uphold-
ing the civic prestige of the honored name which he bears and is
engaged in the practice of his profession in ]\Iason City, where he
is a member of the law firm of Blythe, Markley, Rule & Smith.
Mr. Rule was born in Mason City on the 4th of January, 1876,
and after completing the curriculum of the public schools he con-
tinued his studies in Shattuck Military Academy, at Faribault.
Minnesota, in which institution he was graduated as a member of
the class of 1895. Thereafter he was employed for one year in
the City National Bank of Mason City, of which institution his
honored father was president, and thereafter he was for a time a
student in the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois. After
leaving this institution he passed six months in traveling in Arizona
and California and soon after his return to his native city he tend-
ered his services as a volunteer for the Spanish- American war. He
became first lieutenant and ad,j\itant of the Fifty-second Iowa
Volunteer Infantry and proceeded with his command to Camp
McKinley, where he served as camp quartermaster on the staff of
General Lincoln. His command was not called into active service
in Cuba and at the close of the war he received his honorable dis-
charge. Later he was honored with the office of inspector general
of the Iowa National Guard. In the autumn of 1898 Mr. Rule
entered the law department of the University of Iowa, in which
he was graduated as a member of the class of 1900 and from which
he received the degree of Bachelor of Laws. He then went to the
city of Cedar Rapids, where he became an attache in the office of
Judge J. C. Cook, solicitor for Iowa for the Chicago. Milwaukee &
St. Paul Railroad. In October, 1901, he accepted a po.sition with
Samuel Tv, Tracy, general solicitor of the Burlington, Cedar Rapids
& Northern Railroad, with the law department, with which he cnn-
tiinicd t(i lie identified until Auijust, 1902, when he bccnnie a mem-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 625
ber of the firm of Blythe, Markley, Rule & Smith of Mason City
where he has since been engaged in the practice of his profession.
In politics Mr. Rule is a Republican and in a fraternal way he is
identified with the local organizations of the Benevolent and Pro-
tective Order of Elks, the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen
of America and the Modern Brotherhood of America. He has
served as exalted ruler of the Mason City lodge of Elks and as
chancellor commander of the Knights of Pythias.
On the 5th of June, 1901, Mr. Rule was united in marriage to
Miss Edith Brady, daughter of William P. Brady of Cedar Rapids,
one of the leading officials and executives of the Burlington, Cedar
Rapids & Northern Railroad, which is now part of the Rock Island
system. Mr. and Mrs. Rule have one daughter, Edith, who was
born on the 5th of March, 1902.
PAUL A. BRYANT.
One of the most extensive farmers of Lime Creek township,
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, is Paul A. Bryant, who owns two hun-
dred and forty acres on sections 4 and 9. Mr. Bryant is a native
of the township, born September 30, 1861, son of Ambrose and
Mary (Dennis) Bryant. Ambrose Bryant was born in Chenango
county. New York, October 2, 1833, and died on his farm January
3, 1910, and his wife died in February, 1904, at the age of sixty
years. They were the parents of ten children, of whom three sur-
vive, namely : Paul A. ; Jessie L., wife of Thomas Blain, of Jlinne-
sota; and Seth A., on the old homestead. Ambrose Bryant re-
mained in his native state until 1855, being reared on a farm. He
then came to Cerro Gordo county and pre-empted the southwest
quarter of section 9, Lime Creek township. In the early days the
only settlement in the neighborhood was along Lime Creek and for
many years his house stood alone. His selection of a location was
most excellent, as on his farm were never-failing springs of good
water. He was an extensive and .successful grain and stock farmer
and at one time owned six hundred and forty acres of land, most of
which he put under cultivation. He was energetic and active and
until a few da.vs before his death he worked on his place. He had
made many friends and had a high standing in the community,
furthering every good cause and doing his full share to promote
the welfare and development of the community. His loss was
genuinely mourned and his presence missed in many circles.
Paul A. Bryant was reared on his father's farm and received
a common school education. He was married, in 1901, to Bertha
626 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
M. Boy, who was born December 5, 1878, in Wisconsin, and brought
in infancy by her parents, Charles and Mary (Miller) Boy, to Lime
Creek, in April, 1879. Mr. and Mrs. Boy were the parents of eight
children, of whom three are living: Anna M.. wife of M. J. Tiet-
jens ; Bertha M. ; and Linda T., wife of H. D. Siewertsen, of Falls
township. Mr. Boy died in 1907, at the age of seventy-two years,
and his widow now resides in Colorado with her daughter, Mrs.
Anna Tietjens, at the age of seventy years.
Four children have blessed the union of Mr. Bryant and his
wife, namely: Marie A., Charles A., Herbert P. and Gladys M. Mr.
Bryant has shown excellent judgment in carrying on his farm and
has brought it to a high state of cultivation. Besides the farm
where he lives he owns one hundred and sixty acres in Mo\yer coun-
ty, Minnesota. In politics he is a Republican, and he has served
in school and local offices. He is a representative citizen, much in-
terested in the welfare of the community, and'is identified with the
best interests of the same.
THOMAS CONNER.
Noteworthy among the well known and much respected citizens
of Mason City is Thomas Conner, who is now serving ably and
satisfactorily as chief of the Mason City Fire Department. A son
of Timothy and Delia (O'Connel) Conner, he was born. May 11,
1862, in Trumbull county, Ohio, coming from Irish ancestry.
Timothy Conner was born, reared and married in Ireland, from
there coming with his wife to the United States in 1848. Locating
in Trumbull county, Ohio, he was there engaged in tilling the soil
until 1865, when he came to Iowa. Settling in Fayette county, he
bought land and there continued as a general farmer during the
remainder of his active career. He spent the declining years of
his long and useful life in Oelwein, Iowa, passing away in 1908,
aged ninety-one years. His wife preceded him to the better world,
dying in March, 1892, aged fift.v-six years. They reared eight
children, of whom seven are living, as follows: Michael, of Rock
Island, Illinois; Mary, wife of John Kennedy, of Boone, Iowa;
Mrs. Catherine Sandford, of Oelwein ; Thomas, of whom we write ;
Ellen, Sister Pacoma. of the Sisters of Charity in Chicago ; Marie,
wife of William Fettkether, of Oelwein ; and Mrs. Delia Daly, of
Oelwein. Timothy Conner was living in Trumbull county. Ohio,
when the Civil war broke out. True to the interests of his adopted
eountr.v he bravely oifered his services in her defense, enlisting in
1862 in the Fourteenth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and servinir in
McKinley's company until the close of the conflict.
^^^ ^htnr-r//.-^
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY- 629
But three years old when his parents located in Fayette county,
Thomas Conner acquired a substantial common school education,
and was well drilled in the various branches of agriculture while
young. Leaving home in 1881 he came direct to Mason City in
search of employment. He subsequently taught school in Houston
county, Minnesota, two j'ears, after which he drove stage two and
one half years between Waverly, Iowa, and West Union, Iowa.
Returning then to Mason City, Mr. Conner was for a time engaged
in the well drilling and wind mill business. In 1897 he became
connected with the city fire department as a paid driver, and had
the care of the horses and machinery until 1909, when he accepted
his present position as chief of the department.
Mr. Conner married, September 19, 1886, Orissa M. Waite,
who was born in Floyd county, Iowa, October 15, 1869, and they
haj,ve one child, Kathryn. Mr. Conner is a Democrat in politics
and a member of the Masonic order.
GEORGE G. WOODFORD.
In the annals of that prosperous and enlightened portion of
Iowa, Cerro Gordo county, the name Woodford has long been
prominent and is one to which honor and admiration have ever
attached themselves, and the beneficent influence of one of the most
able members of this representative famil.v, Mr. George G. Wood-
ford, is still felt after the lapse of a score of years, his demise hav-
ing oceiirred at his home in Clear Lake on the 2nd day of March,
1890. A loyal and public spirited citizen who placed the good
of the whole community above individual preferment and personal
gain, a business man of high executive ability and sound judgment
who possessed the rare gift of succeeding without any compromise
with the tenets of the stanchest integrity, one whose personal life
bore the closest inspection, his ideals of the duties of the head of
a household being of the highest character, his identification with
Clear Lake in the eleven years in which he played an active part
in its many sided life must generally be accounted an unmixed
benefit.
George G. Woodford was a native of Tioga county, New York,
his birth having occurred there October 19, 1834. The names of
his parents were Romanta and Mary A. (Booth) Woodford, the
birthplace of both having also been Tioga county. New York.
These good people belonged to the agricultural class, the bone and
sinew of the American nation, and it was amid the wholesome sur-
roundings of a farm that the early years of Mr. Woodford were
630 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
spent, here gaining the foundation of that education which in
after years he supplemented upon his own account. Early begin-
ning upon a business career he took up the lumber trade, with which
the name is also associated in Clear Lake, and at the same time
dealt extensively in live stock. Here in his native county, on the
5th day of April, 1858, he laid the foundation of a happy and con-
genial home life by his marriage with Olive E. Wright, a daughter
of Charles S. and Mary Wright. Mrs. Woodford was also a
native of the Empire state, having first seen the light of day in
Ontario county, in the same year as her husband, 183-1. She was
an estimable woman and an ideal helpmeet, and survived Mr. Wood-
ford for a number of years, passing to the Great Beyond on Decem-
ber 15, 190-4, at her home in Clear Lake, her age being seventy
years. In New York their two children were born, Charles R.
Woodford, whose life and achievements are chronicled in the suc-
ceeding biographical sketch, alone surviving.
In 1879 Mr. Woodford, who recognized the excellent oppor-
tunity presented by the states farther west, fixed his eyes on Iowa
and in July of the year mentioned came on to look over the field.
Naturally he received a favorable impression and as an additional
attraction lay in the fact that he had an uncle living in IMilwaukee,
Wisconsin, who was interested in the lumber business at Clear Lake
that he had established in 1869, Mr. Woodford concluded to take
up his residence here, and accordingly his family followed in
October. As previously suggested the name of Woodford was one
already well known in Clear Lake. The substantial firm of Wood-
ford, Wheeler & Johnson, dealers in lumber, had been established
in 1869, the Woodford of the firm being an uncle, Truman Wood-
ford, and in the succeeding ten years it had experienced a steady
growth. It was one of the oldest concerns of the town. and. con-
ditions at the time of its establishment being somewhat primitive,
it was necessary to haul lumber from ]\Iason City b.v teams. The
good American pioneer recognizes nothing in the way of difficult.v
and in consequence the fortunes of the concern were at high tide.
Transactions were conducted by the firm as named until the retire-
ment of Mr. Johnson in 1873, when it became known as Woodford
& Wheeler. Upon the association of George G. Woodford the
name was again changed to Woodford. Wheeler & Company. The
rcf'ord of the years of Mr. Woodford's connection with the concern
i.s indeed grratifying, and his lo.ss from the purely industrial aspect
was only softened by the fact that a son so much resembling him in
abititv and principle was ready to take his place. His demise was
particularly to be regretted since at tlic time of its occurrence he
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 631
was at the fullness of his powers. He and his wife were faithful
members of the Congregational church, whose good causes they
furthered to the best of their ability and in the matter of polities
his allegiance was given to the Democratic party. He was a mem-
ber of the F. and A. M., and the K. of P. fraternities.
CHARLES R. WOODFORD.
Charles R. "Woodford, president and treasurer of the Wood-
ford-Wheeler Lumber Company of Clear Lake, Iowa, is a man
whose citizenship is of high value to the commimity, .standing as
he does as captain of one of the industrial enterprises which con-
duce in largest measure to its prosperity, and associating himself
with many progressive movements. To recount the various stages
of the growth of the Woodford- Wheeler Lumber Company is to
give the history of one of the most important concerns to be en-
countered in this part of Hawkej'e state, as well as one of the long-
est established, it having been in active operation for over forty
years, in that time furnishing employment and livelihood to many
people, assisting in greatest measure in the development of this
and the adjoining counties, and by the unimpeachable integrity of
its management constituting in itself one of the institutions to
which the state can point with pride.
To sketch briefly the history of the Woodford- Wheeler Lumber
Company: In 1869 Truman Woodford, an uncle of Mr. Charles R.
Woodford, and the Messrs. Wheeler and Johnson instituted the
lumber business which was destined to such subsequent success,
the firm name combining the names of the three gentlemen men-
tioned. The conditions of a country which not long before had
been the frontier were met dauntlessly and conquered, and the
business grew steadil.y, lumber being one of the commodities most
indespensable in the settlement of the rich, new country. There
was no change in the management of affairs until the year 1873.
when Mr. Johnson retired and the firm became known as that of
Woodford & Wheeler. In 1879 George G. Woodford of Candor,
New York, nephew of Truman Woodford and father of him whose
name initiates this sketch, moved to Clear Lake and became a mem-
ber of the firm, which was thereupon known as Woodford, Wheeler
& Company. Upon the death of George G. Woodford in 1890, W.
C. Tompkins was admitted to partnership, and another change was
made in the name of the industry, which was then knofl-n over Iowa
as the company of Woodford, Wheeler & Tompkins. In 19n,'i Mr.
Tompkins retired and in that year the present company was organ-
632 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ized and incorporated for one hundred and twenty-five thousand
dollars. Its dealings are of the most extensive character, seven
yards being operated and each one being a model in its management.
These seven yards are situated in four different counties, Clear
Lake, Thornton, and Ventura in Cerro Gordo county; Pomeroy in
Calhoun; Garner and Britt in Hancock and Algona in Kossuth.
Yards at Mason City and Fonda, Pocahontas county, were formerly
the possession of the Woodford-Wheeler Company, these having
been sold.
Charles R. Woodford is the worthy son of a worthy father and
a splendid representative of the i-espeeted name of Woodford. He
was born in Tioga county, New York, August 26, 1861, his parents
being George G. and Olive E. (Wright) Woodford. He attended
the common and high schools in his native place and was graduated
from the latter. Previous to his removal wdth his parents to Iowa
he spent six months clerking in a stor.e, which was his first practical
experience with the big world of affairs. He was eighteen when
he came to Clear Lake and he has been connected with the lumijer
business ever since (from 1879) and stepped into his father's
place at the demise of that lamented gentleman. His ability is
widely recognized ; he is very systematic in his conduct of business
and in all the country around it would well-nigh impossible to
find as well kept and up-to-date a place as his large lumber yards.
The main lumber shed is sixty-two by one hundred and sixty-four
feet in dimension, with large offices in front and in connection large
yards and neat appearing coal sheds. The whole stands in a
block of ground, all the buildings being handsomely painted, and it
has the appearance of an>i:hing rather than the average lumber
yard.
The interests of Mr. Woodford, however, are not confined to
this business. He was one of the organizers of the North Iowa
Brick & Tile Company at Mason City and is a director of the same,
belonging also to the directorate of the Cerro Gordo State Bank.
He is a director of the Clear Lake Electric Light & Power Company,
which he helped to organize some time ago, and is vice president and
director of the Clear Lake Independent Telephone Company. He
has a wide acquaintance and holds an enviable place in the com-
munity. Politically Mr. Woodford gives his heart and hand to
the policies and principles promulgated by the Republican party
and he and his family are members of the Congregational church.
His fraternal relations extend to the Knights of Pjsi^hias and his
wife belongs to the Pythian Sisters.
Jfr. Woodford was united in marriage to ]\riss Agno.s E. Frost.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 633
their union being celebrated May 29, 1889. Mrs. Woodford is a
native of Clear Lake, her birth date being January 15, 1867. She
is the daughter of George E. Frost, a sketch of whose life appears
elsewhere in this volume. They have one child, a daughter named
Esther.
HENRY J. HUBER.
America's great strength is solidly grounded in her agricul-
tural element, and serving as a worthy and progressive representa-
tive of this class is Henry J. Huber, of Union township. Not only
has Mr. Huber done his share toward furthering the cause of scien-
tiiic cultivation of the soil but he has been of additional worth to
his community as one in whom the highest ideals of eitizen.ship were
embodied. Mr. Huber was born on December 25, 1864, his parents
being Henry and Annie (Sobolek) Huber, the former a native of
Indiana. On the maternal side Mr. Huber comes of Bohemian
stock, his mother having been a native of that country. Early
in life he was deprived of his father, who died in January, 1865, at
the age of twenty-eight years. His mother survived until October
4, 1904, when, at the age of sixty-seven years, she passed on to her
reward. Mr. Huber was one of four children, of whom two are
living, himself and a brother named Tony, who also lives in Iowa.
The mother married a second time, her second husband being
Joseph Swaehla, who is still living in Payette county. Six children
were the fruit of this union and the four surviving are all of them
citizens of Iowa, George and Albert residing in Union township,
Theodore in Winnesheik county and Mrs. Julia Thies in Allamakee
county.
Mr. Huber was still a child when his step-father came to
Payette county and established himself upon a farm. He passed
the usual wholesome, busy life of the lad who is reared in the
country, assisting even at an early age in the manifold labors to be
encountered upon a farm and gaining the practical experience
which has since served him so well in the imrivaled school of
experience. When he could be spared he enjoyed the meager
educational advantages of the district school. When only fifteen
years of age he left the parental roof and set forth to make his own
fortunes in the world. Locating in Washington county he secured
emplo.vment as a farm hand and continued in various similar
capacities until 1890. when he decided upon a change of s"ene and
r-mie <n to Cerro Gk)rdo county. For two years he continued in
the emplo.vment of others, and then resolving upon a more inde-
63i HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
pendent existence, purchased a tract of one hundred acres of land
in section 5, Union township. This land, which was unbroken land,
he brought into tillable condition and two years later sold it, some-
what to his protit. He subsequently purchased one hundred and
sixty acres in section 17 of Union township, which he likewise im-
proved and operated until the fall of 1909, when he again sold out.
Shortly afterward he became the possessor of the valuable farm of
one hundred and twenty acres which at the present time has been
brought to a desirable state of improvement and where he makes his
residence. Mr. Huber not only enjoys the respect of the com-
munity as one who thoroughly understands the vocation to which he
has devoted his energies, but he likewise possesses the confidence
of his fellow men, an evidence of this being the fact that for ten
years he served as treasurer of Union county. Mr. Huber is a
man in whom the social element is not wanting and he is a valued
member of the Modern Woodmen of America in their organization
at Clear Lake, Iowa. His political con\-ictions are Democratic,
and he has given to the party a warm and loyal adherence.
Mr. Hiiber established a home for himself by his marriage,
October 30, 1893, to I\fiss Mary Stark, who was born in Union town-
ship February 17, 1875. Mrs. Huber 's father is Joseph Stark,
born in Bohemia June 5, 1826. He emigrated from the old coun-
try in 1856 and located in Iowa county. Wisconsin, where he pur-
chased a tract of wild land, and in the fashion of the day cleared
it of timber and engaged in farming. In 1871 he sold out and
drove with his family and effects to Cerro Gordo county, settling
in Union township and buying one hundred and sixty acres of wild
land. This he improved and adding to it from time to time he
came to own sis hundred and forty acres. In 1909 he gave up the
active duties of agriculture into other hands and removed to Clear
Lake, where he is now living in the en.joyment of a well earned
leisure. He has to his credit the record of sixty-five years spent in
active farming. Mr. Stark's wife was previous to her marriage
Miss Barbara Juza, whom he married in Bohemia in 1846. Mrs.
Stark, who became the mother of ten children, died in Wisconsin,
and in 1874 ilr. Stark contracted a second union. Miss Kate Tusha
becoming his wife. Five children were born, four living, of whom
Mr. Huber 's wife is one. Mr. and IMrs. Huber are the parents of
three children. Albert, Fred and Hazel, all of whom are at home.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 635
JAMES H. McCONLOGUE.
James H. McConlogue, an enterprising and prominent attor-
ney who has practiced his profession at Mason City, Iowa, for over
a quarter of a century, is a self-made man, having acquired his
legal education by his own efforts and after long struggle. lie
has achieved professional and financial success and is recognized
as one of the leading members of the bar in the county. Mr. Mc-
Conlogue was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, December 5,
1856, son of Charles and Ann (Harrity) McConlogue, both natives
of Ireland, who emigrated to the United States as children. They
were married at Philadelphia and in 1859 the family moved to
Beloit, Wisconsin, thence in a few years to Illinois, and a few years
later to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa. On this last trip James walked
most of the way and drove the cattle. They settled on a farm,
where the mother died three months later, and the father lived
there until his decease, in 1882.
The boyhood of James H. McConlogue was spent on his father's
farm, and he attended district school winters, helping with the
farm work during the summer months. As soon as he was old
enough he began working for neighboring farmers, and after leav-
ing home he became employed as a section hand for a railroad com-
pany, walking over the track nights and attending school days for
two winters. He was at that time very desirous of acquiring a good
education and managed to save enough to take a course at Notre
Dame University. He taught school and engaged in various other
work, reading law during his spare time, and when he had saved
enough entered the Iowa State University, from which he graduated
with the law class of 1882. He taught school the following winter.
He began the practice of his profession at Mason City in the fall of
1883, and soon had established himself in the confidence and esteem
of the community. After practicing on his own account for a time
he entered into partnership with R. J. Miller, under the firm name
of McConlogue & IMiller, which lasted two years, and in 1890 he
entered into partnership with John D. Glass, under the firm name
of Glass & McConlogue, which in 1898 became Glass, McConlogue
& Witwer. Mr. Witwer retired from the firm and Remley J. Glass,
son of the senior member of the firm, was taken in, the name becom-
ing Glass, McConlogue & Glass.
Mr. McConlogue is recognized as one of the leading meinbers
of his profession in his part of the state and has been called upon
at times to assist in the trial of cases in other states. One of the
most noteworthy cases in which he has appeared as counsel is that
636 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COLTNTY
of the state of Iowa vs. Lottie Hughes, in which was secured the ac-
quittal of the \rife,who had been charged with murder. This trial
lasted for a period of .seven weeks. Mr. McConlogue is a member
of the American National Bar Association and has served as presi-
dent of the Iowa State Bar Association, of which he is a member.
Although a stanch Democrat he did not support his ticket with re-
gard to the presidential nominee in 1896. He served several times
as chairman of the Democratic Central Committee.
Mr. McConlogue married, in 1885, at Rockwell, Iowa, i\Iiss
Mary C. Barrahy, who died in September, 1896. Of five children
born to them, two sons and two daughters are still living, namely :
]\Irs. Anna Mae Gram, M. Irene, Raymond B. and James H. Mc-
Conlogue Jr. In religious belief Jlr. McConlogue is a most devout
Catholic and has always taken great interest in the history of the
church. He has also taken a most active part in supporting its
good work. He is a man of broad opinions, having many warm
personal friends among all denominations, and is able to attract and
hold the affection of those who become accpiainted with his liigh
character and kindly spirit. He has the highest esteem of all who
have had dealings with him and is identified with many good causes
and movements in the community.
AARON A. NOYES, M. D.
Dr. Aaron A. Noyes, a well known medical practitioner in
Mason City, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, was born in Tunbridge.
Orange county, Vermont, November 25, 1822, second son of Enoch
and llary Ann Noyes. Dr. Noyes has passed an eventful life and
through his own efforts has attained his success in his profession.
His parents were very humble in position and felt the stress of
poverty. They had nine children, all of whom reached maturity
except one daughter. Emma, who died at the age of five years, and
as she was the favorite of her brother. Dr. Aaron, he still remembers
her tenderly and has always felt her death keenly.
After he reached the age of six years Dr. Noyes spent most of
his time away from home, in the families of the neighbors, working
for his board and sometimes receiving a peck of potatoes or a small
pittsmce in money. As at that time parents were obliged to pay
three dollars a term for each child sent to school he received a very
limited education in his early life. His father earned but about
fifty cents a day, and as at that time imprisonments were made for
del)t, lie was at one time incarcerated for owing the sum of ten dol-
lars. Tlie family often had to live on wheat bran mush, which
Jl JJirOH^ JiCt
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 639
they ate with milk. As a boy Dr. Noyes helped to raise, pull and
thrash the flax which his mother later spim, and she carded both
her flax and wool by hand. Tons of syrup were made by the
people of the region and the boy spent many days carrying two
(one on each shoulder) sixteen quart pails of sap.
At the age of ten and one-half years Dr. Noyes went to live
in the family of Solomon J. Moore, but was never bound out, as
he would never consent to this arrangement. Others of the family
went to live in other families. When he was fourteen j-ears of age
he was converted under the preaching of Rev. Parker and has
since kept his faith, striving to lead a consistent Christian life.
He remained with Mr. Moore, eleven years and found in him a very
good friend. Mr. Moore had two guns, one a small London fowling
piece, which he gave to Aaron Noyes, and the boy became an adept
in its use. This gun he recently presented to the oldest son of Dr.
Egloff, of Mason City.
At the time Dr. Noyes reached his majority he had no money,
as his parents had collected his wages, which amounted to about
one thousand dollars, but he had a lamb which had been given
him by Mr. Moore, which he sold for three dollars and with the
money purchased a trunk, which he later brought west with him.
He taught school one year after leaving Mr. ]\Iooi'e, and boarded
around. This school was considered a hard one and he was the
third teacher hired for the winter, receiving compliments from the
school board because he was able to maintain such good discipline.
Then he was ill for some time at the home of Mr. Moore, and upon
his recovery hired out for eight months with a neighboring farmer,
at a salary of eleven dollars a month, working long hours at hard
labor for his employer, until September 1, 1844, when he left,
voted for Henry Clay for president and the next day started west.
At that time the only railroad in the country M'as from New York
to Albany and Rochester. Dr. Noyes left Chelsea. Vermont, for
Burlington, taking his few effects in his little leather covered trunk
in the wagon. At Burlington he shipped on the steamer
"Saranac" for Whitehall, then took a line boat for Buffalo, stop-
ping for a time at old Fort Tieonderoga, and from there he went
by rail to Rochester, thence by packet, and overtook the line boat on
its way to Buffalo. He visited Niagara Falls, then took the steamer
"Minnesota" for Chicago, encountering a severe storm. His desti-
nation was Mineral Point, Wisconsin, where an old chum of his
boyhood was living. He reached Milwaukee, which was then a
village, and was offered some of the land which is now in the center
of the city for a price of two dollars an acre. He sent his trunk
Vol. 11—15
640 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ahead by stage and set out to walk to Mineral Point, thus saving
part of the expense, as he was able to get his meals at the scattered
farm houses. After spending one day with his friend he found
employment driving a team for the Franklin hotel. He caught a
severe cold and suffered from pneumonia, being cared for by his
friend until able to work again. He then purchased a yoke of
steers and cut and hauled timber to the village and saw mill. Soon
afterward he repaired the mill and operated it himself. In the
spring of 1845 he sold his interests in the vicinity, paid his debts
and prepared to engage in other business. At this time he shot
the first deer he ever saw.
In 1845 Dr. Noyes hired out to superintend the improving of
a large farm near Wyoming Valley, which he named Mineral Point,
made .yokes and broke the oxen to work at plowing and other work.
He broke a large amount of land that summer and in the following
winter cut rails for fences. He took up a claim of eighty acres
of land himself, built a cabin and later harvested eighty bushels of
corn to the acre, besides putting iip some hay.
In the fall of 1845 Dr. Noyes sent for his parents and brought
them from ]\Iilwaukee in a wagon, and the.v were all together again
in his log house. He made shot for a Mr. Medcalf for several
months, then went to keep books and sell lumber for M. Grossman
at the upper mills of the Baraboo Valley. He engaged in reading
medicine and also law while suffering from ague. Soon afterward
he sold his claim and with his family moved to Middleton, which
he was instrumental in naming. He secured forty acres of land
there and made another home.
In the fall of 1847 Dr. Noyes went to Madison and took an
examination for a teacher, receiving his certificate and teaching
that winter. He continued to read medicine until the fall of
1848. then accompanied Dr. Crandall to attend a course of medical
lectures at Davenport, Iowa. He was a careful student, being
much interested in both medicine and surgery, and graduated from
what later became the State University of Iowa in 1850, with the
first cla.ss from that institution.
Dr. Noyes first engaged in the practice of his profession at
Alexandria, Missouri, and continued to practice in Iowa, Missouri
and Illinois until April 20, 1851, when he was married, at Iowa
City, Iowa, to Miss Maria C. Crandall, who died in June. 1861.
She was from the state of New York. After his marriage he re-
turned to Wisconsin by stage, stopping to visit his parents at Mid-
dleton, going thence to Madison and then to Baraboo. where he
purchased a hotel which was partly furnished, going into debt for
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 641
the amount of four thousand five hundred dollars. He secured a
good practice in his profession and later traded his hotel for a farm.
At Delton, Wisconsin, he leased a flouring mill and located there in
a pleasant home, where their first daughter, Emma, was born and
later died. Dr. Noyes looked after the mill, a grocery and drug
store, and also practiced his profession. Later he returned to
Baraboo to live and in 1855 bought out the practice of Dr. Le■^^ds in
Portage City, Wisconsin. He secured mill property and pine
lands in La Crosse Valley, where he erected a hotel and other
buildings, platted a village and subsequently erected a flouring
mill. He built one mile of corduroy road to the Milwaukee &
LaCrosse Railroad, and acted as railroad agent, besides practicing
his profession and conducting a general store. He was doing well
when the financial crash of 1856-57-58 came, which caused him
much anxiety. He weathered the storm, though he had in his
employ fifty or more men, and after he had settled his debts and
paid his men he found he had lost over thirty thousand dollars,
but settled his affairs without having any suits for indebtedness
and was most fair in all his dealings. He returned to Baraboo,
where he and his wife lost another child in infancy. He con-
tinued in practice and secured a good home, but his wife's health
failed after the birth of a son, Raleigh, who also died in infancy.
At the time his wife died. June 11, 1861. they had two children
living, both of whom reached maturity, namely : Willis Alonzo, who
went to West Point as a cadet, contracted the measles, and died at
the age of twenty-one years in Delaware county, Iowa, the home of
his mother's people; and Alice IMaud, who was highly ediicated in
music and taught that art, training bands, etc., at Ma.son City,
died in Minneapolis. Both children were small at the death of
their mother, about the time of the outbreak of the war.
Dr. Noyes recruited three full companies and part of two
others, but had promised his wife not to leave the children. For
his services in recruiting he neither asked for nor received any
financial remuneration. Mrs. Noyes taught the second school in
Baraboo, and was one of the five who organized the Baptist church
there. During his early practice Dr. Noyes lived in thinly settled
districts and in the course of his work drove from twenty-five to
one hundred miles at one time to visit patients. He always per-
formed his whole duty by his patients and took a personal interest
in their welfare, winning many warm friends everywhere.
In Febniary, 1862. Dr. Noyes broke up housekeeping and with
his two small children went to Cedar Rapids. Iowa, to visit a
brother-in-law, stopping en route to visit his own parents. They
642 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
were snowed in near Meehaniesville, Iowa, on the Roek Island Rail-
road, and remained at Cedar Rapids until the spring of 1863, then
visited relatives in Dubuque, after which he proceeded to Earlville,
Delaware county, where for a time he left both children. Dr.
Noyes resumed practice in Delhi, Delaware county, and became very
successful in that and surrounding counties.
Dr. Noyes married for his second wife, at Dubuque, Iowa, Mrs.
]Martha Crozier, only daughter of Rev. D. M. Root, of New York,
and they began housekeeping at Delhi, where they remained four
years, he serving as a member of the school board at that town. In
1866 he sold out and removed to Waterloo, remaining there until
the fall of 1869, then located in Mason Cit.y, where his brother Silan
was editor and proprietor of the Cerro Gordo County Republican.
Dr. Noyes entered Mason City on the first passenger train to make
the trip, in December, 1869. He had soon established himself in
his profession and remained there until 1887, when he removed to
Minneapolis and built up a large practice, but was stricken with
blindness and for four years was thus afflicted. He was then
operated upon by Dr. Spratt, who removed the cataracts. In
Minneapolis he lost his daughter Maud, mentioned above, who
passed away September 4, 1893, and is buried at Baraboo. His son
Willis is buried at Delaware Center, Iowa.
During the financial troubles of 1893 Dr. Noyes was ruined
and left almost penniless. He and his wife were solicited to re-
turn to Mason City, where they both had hosts of friends. They
spent the winter with a niece at Clear Lake, then located in Mason
City, where Dr. Noyes has since been associated with Dr. W. J.
Egloff in practice. He and his wife have a comfortable home
there and he has been successful in a business way. Dr. Noyes was
for many years associated with Dr. C. H. Smith, mentioned else-
where in this work. He has been a member of various medical
societies since 1862, including the local, state and American. He
was requested in 1903 to share the office of Dr. W. J. Egloff, where
his old friends could find him, and he has since assisted in numerous
surgical operations. Pie has been quite prominent in his relations
with the various medical societies. In 1862 he assisted in organiz-
ing the Delaware County Society; in 1868 was one of the organizers
of the Cedar Valley Medical Society, of which he became secretary
and treasurer, and served several years in that capacity ; in 1871 he
organized the Cerro Gordo County Medical Society; in 1872
organized the Upper Cedar Valley Society, with headquarters at
Charles City, and he was one of the examining board for the medi-
cal department of the Universitv of Iowa in 1876. In 1903 he
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 643
was elected an honorary member of the Austin Flint District Medi-
cal Society, and July 15, 1904, was elected honorary member of the
Cerro Gordo County Society, without fees, and this includes mem-
bership, since 1906, in the State Medical Society.
Dr. Noyes has been a medical practitioner for over sixty-four
years, in which time he has been of inestimable service to his fellow-
men. He has borne many adversities and buffetings of fate, and
during his entire life has shown that high quality of courage given
to but few. He stands high in his profession and has many friends
in all walks of life. Though eighty-eight years of age he is re-
markably well preserved. He is a member of the Baptist church as
was his wife, and he is interested in every good cause. Mrs. Noyes
died August 17, 1910. He was for eighteen years surgeon for the
Iowa Central Railroad and was one of the organizers of the Car-
negie Library of Mason City. He was a member of the school
board when the Central school was built.
ALBERT L. HEMMING.
Albert L. Hemming, one of Pleasant Valley township's pro-
gressive farmers, is a native of the Buckeye state having been bom
in Seneca county, Ohio, December 16, 1860. His parents, George
and Lucinda (Roller) Hemming, were also Ohioans, the father
born January 5, 1821, and dying March 26, 1893, in Franklin
county, Iowa, the mother surviving until April, 1904, her age at
the time of her demise being seventy-five years. They were the
parents of eight children, the following five of whom are living:
Madison T., of Kansas; Mr. Hemming, of this review; Roller, re-
siding in Rockwell; Emily, wife of John Cannon of Colorado
Springs, Colorado ; and Addie, wife of Hugh Cadwell, of Missouri.
Mr. Hemming inherits his inclinations for farming, for his
father was reared upon a farm and followed this estimable calling
all his life. In 1861 he moved by team to Franklin county, Iowa,
being a fortnight upon the way. Locating in Richland township
he purchased forty acres of wild land upon which he erected a log
house, which was occupied by the family for about sixteen years,
or until Mr. Hemming was almost a young man. They lived the
life of the pioneer and met difficulties in the way of subduing the
new country which would nowadays be called impossible. At that
time Cedar Falls was the nearest market. The father added to
his holdings from time to time and lived there until his death.
Albert L. Hemming attended the district school and became
solidly grounded in the three R's, and has since supplemented this
(Ji-4 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
early training with study of his own. When he was twenty-one
years of age he rented land and began farming for himself. In
the year of his marriage, 1888, he bought two hundred and forty
acres of raw prairie land in section 31, Pleasant Valley township,
paying fifteen dollars an acre. He has added to this and now pos-
sesses a tract of four hundred acres, which he has improved in every
way, his home and farm being thoroughly modern and up-to-date.
He has successfully engaged in stock raising and feeding and for
a number of years has been interested in the breeding and raising
of Percheron horses. He ovms a stallion of this breed which was
imported when he was sixteen months old. He purchased him
when he was twenty months old and has now had him seventeen
years. During that time he has driven him five thousand miles.
Mr. Hemming is a life-long Republican and he has ably filled
several offices. He was school director for six years; township
secretary for six years; and school treasurer for six years. He
and his family are members of the Methodist church at Thornton.
Mr. Hemming was married, January 5, 1888, to Miss Julia
Chase, born in Wisconsin August 20, 1870. She is a daughter of
Hiram Chase, and both he and his wife are living in Thornton.
Mr. and Mrs. Hemming are the parents of four children, Roy, Cora,
James and Floyd, all of whom are at home.
JAMES PESTER.
Among Lake township's progressive agriculturists must be
mentioned James Pester, who operates a farm of two hundred and
forty acres which he rents and he owns a house and three and one-
half acres of land on East Main street. Clear Lake, Iowa. He is
British in nationality, his birth having occurred in Somersetshire,
England. September 29, 1847. His parents were Josiah and
Martha (Perry) Pester, who emigrated to America when the subject
of this biography was only a babe. They located in Jefferson
county, Wisconsin, and remained there until the time of their
death, living upon the farm which the father had entered in the
early days. This consisted of some four hundred acres, all of it
well improved, the father having been an excellent farmer. He
died in November. 190.5. having almost attained the great age of
ninety-one years. The mother died in 1897. having lived almost
to the age of seventy. She belonged to the Methodi.st church. Mr.
Pester is one of three sons and four daughters, one of his brothers
being now deceased. His brother Henry lives at Oldham. South
Dakota; :Mrs, Ha.skell Re\-nokls resides in Mason Citv; Mrs. Marv
^^^^/^^-^^^7X^
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 647
Cloes is located in California ; and Mrs. Mattie Vail makes her home
in Whitewater, Wisconsin.
Mr. Pester was reared and educated in Jefferson county, Wis-
consin, and was unmarried when he came to Iowa. He had no
heritage with which to start except his own industry. In 1870
he located in Cerro Gordo county and the following year bought
eighty acres near the town in Clear Lake township. He added
forty acres and in course of time came to own other farms. In
1902 he sold out and went to North Dakota, purchasing a farm in
Grand Porks county. He was not quite satisfied, however, and
returning to Clear Lake, bought his present homestead. He gives
his allegiance to the Republican party and lie and his wife are mem-
bers of the ilethodist church. Fraternally he is a member of the
Yeomen of Clear Lake.
In 1871 Mr. Pester was married at Clear Lake to ]\Iiss Aber-
deen Phillips, a native of St. Lawrence county, New York. She is
the daughter of Lorenzo and Dorcas (Rose) Phillips, Vermont
agricultural folk, and is the only one of her family in this part of
the United States. The father died many years ago and the
mother survived until 1905, her death occiu'ring when past her
seventieth year. Mrs. Pester is the eldest of eight children, seven
of whom are living. Her parents were both of them good Metho-
dists and her father was a stalwart Republican. Mr. and Mrs.
Pester are the parents of three children. Dorcas is the wife of
Oren Porter, of Clear Lake, and the mother of two daughters;
Mabel, is the wife of Pearley Baker, a Clear Lake township farmer ;
Flossie May, is a teacher in the county schools.
WILLIAM M. COLBY.
Pull of vim and energy, wide-awake and enterprising, William
M. Colby holds a high position among the influential citizens of
Mason City, and as a promoter is among the foremost to forward
all enterprises conducive to the general welfare and advancement.
He was born, March 14, 1875, in Dane county, Wisconsin, which
was the birthplace of his father, Colburn Colby.
Spending his early life in Wisconsin, Colburn Colby came with
his family to Iowa in 1876, locating in Lake township, Cerro Gordo
county, where he purchased land and was subsequently engaged in
general farming and stock raising until his death, in 1904, at the
age of sixty-six years. He married Annie Oscar, who died in Lake
township on the home farm in 1906, aged sixty-seven years. Four-
648 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
teen children were born to them, William M. being the third child
in succession of birth of the seven now living.
Brought up on a farm and receiving a practical common
school education, William M. Colby began his active career as agent
for the Piano Harvester Company, for which he traveled ten years.
He afterwards represented a life insurance company in the states
of North Dakota, South Dakota aud Minnesota, being first located
at Minneapolis and later at Sioux Falls. In connection with the
Cowan Company Mr. Colby located at Mason City in 1906, and here
built the Northwestern States Portland Cement Company, after
which he started in business on his own account, becoming one of
the leading promoters of northern Iowa.
Since 1907 Mr. Colby has promoted the North Iowa Brick and
Tile Company of Mason City; the Fort Dodge, Iowa, Brick and
Tile Company; has promoted and built the Lehigh Sewer Pipe
Company at Lehigh, Iowa, a two hundred thousand dollar corpora-
tion; promoted and built the Farmers' Co-operative Brick and Tile
Company of Mason City, of which he was president until resigning
the oflSce in March, 1910; was promoter, in 1909, of the Washing-
ton Brick, Tile and Sewer Pipe Company, a two million dollar cor-
poration in Spokane, Washington; and was one of the organizers
of the People 's State Bank of Mason City, and served as a director
until his resignation, in March, 1910. In 1910 he promoted and
organized the Colby Motor Company of IMason City, capitalized at
one million dollars and he is president of the same. The Colby
Motor Company manufactures automobiles, and are now at work
erecting their factory. Starting in life when married with forty
dollars worth of furniture, given him by his home people, as his
only wealth, Mr. Colby has surely made a grand success in life,
being already near the topmost rung of the ladder, and, if his life
and health be spared, will doubtless be associated with many im-
portant enterprises yet to be established in this and other states.
He has accumulated considerable property, and is the owner of
six hundred and forty acres of land in Geneseo and Dougherty
townships.
Mr. Colby married Mary Agnes Boyle, who was born in
Luzerne, Pennsylvania, June 22, 1876, a daughter of Neal and
Magdalena (Campbell) Boyle, who came to Cerro Gordo county,
Iowa, in 1877, and are now living in Rockwell. Mr. and Mrs.
Colby are the parents of six children, namely: Colbum. Jrar.jorie.
Mary, Joseph. David and William. Politically Jlr. Colby is identi-
fied with the Democratic party, and fraternally he belongs to the
Knights of Columbus : the Catholic Order of Foresters : and to the ■
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 649
Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Religiously he and his
wife are esteemed members of the Holy Family Catholic church.
ELLIS BARLOW.
Of that English stock which forms a large, useful and impor-
tant element in the citizenship of Cerro Gordo county is Ellis
Barlow, an agriculturist who has lived in the county since the
spring of 1878 and who now resides on a twelve-acre property in
the south part of the town of Clear Lake. He was born in Lan-
cashire, England, October 4, 1848, and is the son of James and
Elizabeth (Morrough) Barlow, who came to America in the spring
of 1849 and located on a farm in Dane county, Wisconsin, about
twelve miles from Madison. The father entered land and resided
upon it up to the time of his death, in 1908, at the age of eighty-
six years. The mother died some forty-four years previously.
The family was Episcopalian in denomination.
Ellis Barlow was the only child of his parents. He was
reared and educated in Dane county, Wisconsin, and received his
training as a farmer from his father and in the school of actual
experience. When he began to think of starting out in life in-
dependently he choose Cerro Gordo county for his location and al-
though he began with practically nothing but his two hands and
much enthusiasm he has been very successful. In the year of
his arrival he located on a farm of eighty acres, to which he later
added one hundred and sixty acres, and this farm of two hundred
and forty acres in Cerro Gordo county he improved and still owns.
This he operated until about six years ago, when he bought his
present home in Clear Lake. He owned at one time four hundred
and eighty acres.
On October 30, 1887, Mr. Barlow was united in marriage to
Miss Sarah Gorst, a native of Dane county, Wisconsin, born August
10, 1846. Her parents were English and she accompanied them to
this county in 1878. The birth of eight children has blessed this
union (six of whom are living), as follows: William, (deceased)
born in Wisconsin; James, born in Wisconsin and residing on his
father's farm; Cora, now Mrs. George Raw, of Clear Lake; Thomas
a farmer in this county; Ida, now Mrs. Fred Best, of Mt. Vernon
township; Edwin, deceased; Ella, now Mrs. George Best, residing
on a farm in this locality; and Eva, now Mrs. J. E. Scisinger, of
Mason City.
Mrs. Barlow was a daugliter of Thomas and Mary Ann (Apple-
ton) Gorst, residents of Liverpool, England, who came to America
650 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
in April, 18-16, and located on a farm in Dane county, Wisconsin.
The father died January 14, 1886, at the age of sixty-seven years
and the mother, March 16, 1907, at the age of eighty-eight years.
They were the parents of the following children: Martha,
(deceased) ; Mary, now Mrs. Young of Minnesota; Elizabeth, (de-
ceased) ; Fannie, now Mrs. Bonner of Clear Lake ; Robert, living
in Wisconsin; Thomas, living in Reedsburg, Wisconsin; Helen,
(Mrs. Walters), living on the old homestead; Martha (Mrs.
Brown), of Areno, Wisconsin; and James, of Areno, Wisconsin.
Mr. Barlow is a man who takes an interest in local matters and
he has served in various township offices. He has been successful
in his operations and he is a self-made man.
WILLIAM P. DODERER.
One of Bath township's most extensive farmers and one of the
county's most highly esteemed and reliable men is William F.
Doderer, now making his residence in Rockwell. He was born in
Allamakee county, Iowa, May 13, 186-4, his parents being Frederick
and Catherine (Naas) Doderer, both natives of Germany. The
former was a native of Stutgart, and died in Bath township, Cerro
Gordo county, in January, 1890. The latter, who is a native of
Ilesse-Darmstadt, still resides in Mason City. They came to the
United States in their youth and were married in Pennsylvania.
The father made his living by the practice of civil engineering and
stone cutting, which he had learned in the old country. In 1857
the family came westward to Allamakee county, making the journey
by rail and boat. Upon arrival the father bought a farm of wild
land and lived upon it until 1870, when he sold and came to Mason
City. There he conducted a grocery for six years and then re-
moved to his farm in Bath township of which he had purchased a
part in 1869. Although this was all wild at the time it was pur-
chased, a house had been built and some of the ground broken by
tenants previous to his moving upon it. It was he, however, who
made most of the improvements, built the present house and barn,
and added to the land until he was the owner of five hundred acres
in Bath to\\Tiship and a one-half interest in one hundred and sixty
acres in Mt. Vernon towTiship. There were eleven children in the
family, six of whom died young. Those surviving are: Mr.
Doderer; J. F., principal of the school in Demming; Minnie, wife
of J. H. Hardy, of Mason City; Herman J., residing with his
mother; and Elizabeth, wife of John Daum. of Buffalo Center.
Mr. Doderer's parents were originally of the German Lutheran
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 651
church, but latterly came to affiliate with the Congregational
church. The father gave loyal and effective support to the Demo-
cratic party, had held the position of town clerk and was secretary
of the school board at the time of his death.
William F. Doderer received the best public school education
to be had, attending the common school in Bath township and the
high schools of Mason Citj^ and Rockwell. He remained with his
father until that gentleman's death and then after his marriage
moved into another house on the family homestead. A short time
after he moved back to his father 's place and lived there for many
years, or until 1910, in the spring of which year he retired and
bought and moved to his present home in Rockwell.
In 1892 Mr. Doderer took as his wife Marian Ryburn, daughter
of James Ryburn, a sketch of whose career appears elsewhere in
this history. She died in October, 1893. In February, 1899, Mr.
Doderer was a second time married, this time to Isabelle Kneider,
daughter of John and Jane (Traill) Kneider. The former, a
Pennsylvanian, and the latter, a native of Scotland, were married
in Pennsylvania and came to Carroll county, Illinois, in 1873.
After five years there they came to Floyd county, and then to
Cerro Gordo county, where they bought a farm in Bath township.
The father continued to make his home there until his death in 1892,
and for seven years thereafter the mother remained in the old home,
in 1899 removing to Rockwell, where she now resides. Mrs.
Doderer was one of eight children, six of whom survive : W. H.,
lives in Carroll county, Illinois; J. J., is a citizen of Owen town-
ship; Mary J., is the wife of W. J. Grimes of Hampton; D. W.,
makes his home in Rockwell; Emma is now Mrs. Sherp; and the
youngest member of the famil.y is the wife of the subject of this
biography.
Mr. Doderer is a Republican and takes an active interest in
all matters vitally concerning the county. He has held several
public offices, having been trustee of Bath township for six years,
assessor for the same length of time, and for twenty years before
he moved to Rockwell was secretary of the school board. At the
primary caucus, June 7, 1910, he was nominated for county super-
visor. For the past twelve years he has been secretary of the
Farmers' Co-operative Society of Rockwell and previous to that
was a member of the board of directors. He belongs to the
Modern Woodmen of America and he and his wife are members of
the Rockwell Congregational church. In addition to his farm he
has other interests. For instance in 1907 the Farmers' Telephone
Company of Rockwell was organized, and Mr. Doderer was made
652 HISTOEY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
a member of the board. Later he was elected secretary and still
later mauager and now holds both offices. He is a successful stock
raiser and while on the farm each year prepared for the market
from one to three carloads of cattle. Mr. and Mrs. Doderer have
one daughter, named Ruth, who is six years of age.
JOSEPH S. TEED.
Joseph S. Teed, owner of a farm of one hundred and seventy
acres in sections 25 and 26, is an Englishman and one of those who
were not born farmers but took up the calling from choice after a
trial of other things. The methods employed by him have been to
the point and his farm is now excellently improved, an achieve-
ment entailing an immense amount of labor, for it included grub-
bing out by hand. Mr. Teed was born at "Wisbige, Cambridge-
shire, England, December 24, 1854. He remembers nothing of
his birthplace, however, for his parents, Thomas and Elizabeth
(Warner) Teed, came to America in 1856 and located in Union
Grove, Wisconsin. The father was a miller and baker by trade
and had also followed the sea to a considerable extent. In course
of time he removed to Chicago, where he owned and sailed a boat
on the lakes. He sold this and bought a mill at Libertyville,
Illinois, which he managed for two years, or until it was burned in
1862. He thereupon returned to Chicago and resumed sailing,
which he followed until his retirement, three years being spent in
Cerro Gordo county. His last years were spent in the old home,
Union Grove, Wisconsin, where he died in 1892, at the age of
seventy-two. The mother was also a native of England. After
her husband's death she made her home with her son near Clear
Lake, her death occurring there March 21, 1906, at the age of
eighty-two. She was an active member of the Methodist church.
There were four children besides Mr. Teed: Jane and Robert,
deceased; Thomas of Union Grove, Wisconsin; and Emma, de-
Mr. Teed spent his early days in Wisconsin and Illinois and
received a good common schooling. He was principally occupied
in .sailing the great lakes until 1894, when he removed to Clear Lake
township. Cerro Gordo county, where he has since made his home.
When he and his father and brother first came to Cerro Gordo
county in 1878 they brought two boats, which they operated for
three years upon Clear Lake and in the winter Mr. Teed conducted
a cooper shop. He returned to Chicago in 1881 and again sailed
the Great Lakes as he had done from boyhood. In April, 1894,
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 653
he came back to Cerro Gordo county and located in his present home
which had previously been purchased near Clear Lake. He did
not yet give up lake navigation, but was for some time associated
with Edward Green in this business. He purchased eighty acres
of land, and has added to this until he now possesses one hundred
and seventy acres.
On December 5, 1882, Mr. Teed was married in Chicago to Miss
Emma Woskie, bom in Climan, Wisconsin, February 2, 1862. She
is the daughter of Julius and Ann (Gay) Woskie, natives of
Germany and England respectively. The father, who was an
expert wagon and carriage maker, died at the time of the Civil war,
while serving as a member of a Wisconsin regiment. The mother
married again and has lived in Clear Lake since 1875. She is now
eighty-one years of age. Mrs. Teed was one of five children.
Henry, of Sleepy Bye, Minnesota, is a railroad engineer on the
Chicago and Northwestern Railroad ; George, also an engineer, was
killed on the road ; Otilla resides at Clear Lake ; and Elizabeth,
now Mrs. Scott, resides in Waseca, Minnesota.
To Mr. and Mrs. Teed have been born the following six chil-
dren: Thomas, who died in August, 1900, at the age of seventeen
years ; Artie, born June 4, 1887 ; Lizzie, born July 8, 1890, and died
in February, 1909, while a student at Memorial University; Mabel,
born in Chicago, March 26, 1894; Gae, born April 19, 1898; and
Ethel, born September 21, 1900.
Mr. Teed gives a stanch allegiance to the Republican party
and takes a lively interest in matters pertaining to the general good.
His wife has served as school treasurer. He belongs to the Modern
Woodmen of America and his wife to the Royal Neighbors. Artie
Teed is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the
Sons of Veterans.
PETER IIARTHAN.
A great part of the strength and prosperity of Cerro Gordo
county is due to her agricultural class, and standing as a repre-
sentative of this is Peter Harthan, who owns and operates a farm
of eighty acres located in section 29 of Clear Lake township. Mr.
Harthan was born in Bavaria. Germany, September 15, 1855, his
parents being Henry and Christina Harthan. He was one of
eight children, four of whom are living, as follows : Mr. Harthan ;
Henry, who is a resident of Clear Lake township; and a brother
and sister who reside in Germany. The mother died in Germany
when Mr. Harthan was a small child and he was reared hv an
654 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
uncle. He received a little education, but at the early age of ten
was forced to begin his struggle with the world, and made something
toward his livelihood by the weaving of baskets.
On July 13, 1872, when Peter Harthan was about seventeen
years of age he came to the United States and obtained employ-
ment at West Chester, New York, in a sash and blind factory. He
contin^ied there for about two years, and then came west, making
his appearance at Clear Lake, April 18, 1874. For the following
four years he obtained employment by the month as a farm laborer
and then he and his brother Henry rented a farm in Union township,
which they operated for two years. Mr. Harthan 's next move
was to come to Clear Lake township, where he rented land until
1887 and successfully engaged in its cultivation. He then pur-
chased one hundred and four acres in section 31, Clear Lake town-
ship, and for over ten years (until the fall of 1899) he gave well-
directed energy to the improvement and operation of this tract
of wild land. He then traded this farm for one at Parker in
Turner county. South Dakota, where he made his home until 1901.
In this year he sold his South Dakota property and returned to
Cerro Gordo county, where he purchased his present homestead
of eighty acres. Mr. Harthan belongs to the ranks of the self-
made men, his success being wholly attributable to his own efforts.
He is a Democrat.
Mr. Harthan 's wife was Miss Olive Thompson, born at
Dubuque, Iowa, November 17, 1855. Their union occurred in 1877
and has been blessed by the birth of the following ten children:
George, of Clear Lake township ; James, at home ; Grant, of Union
township; Emma, wife of Fred Adams of Clear Lake township;
Henry, of Clear Lake township ; Samuel and Peter at home ; Clara,
wife of Casper Zoble, residing on the paternal place; and Ethel
and Harry, at home. Mr. Harthan was preceded to America by
his father and a sister, who located in New York in 1866. The
father died at the age of sixty-eight years.
JOHN COBB.
Among the respected citizens of Clear Lake, Iowa, living re-
tired from active life, is John Cobb, a veteran of the Civil war.
He came to Cerro Gordo county in 1870 and settled on land in
Grant township, where by honest toil and good management he
improved a fine farm. Here he carried on agricultural pursuits
and made his home for a period of twenty-one years, until 1892,
when he moved to Clear Lake, where he has since lived practically
retired. In 1908 he sold his farm.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 655
Mr. Cobb is a native of Iowa. He was born in Jackson
county, near the town of Iron Hill, January 28, 1844, and is a
brother of Edward Cobb, of whom and the family history mention
is made elsewhere in this work. John was reared in Jackson
county, and made that place his home until 1870, never being absent
from home any length of time except during the Civil war. On
the 6th of August, 1862, at Maquoketa, Iowa, he enlisted as a mem-
ber of Company I, Twenty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and
served as a private and non-commissioned officer until the close
of the war. He lacked only four days of rounding out three years
of army life. He was partly disabled while in the service, but was
able to resume his farming operations on his return to Iowa.
On December 21, 1865, in Jackson county, Iowa, he married
Miss Nancy Locke, a native of Edgar county, Illinois, born Sep-
tember 24, 1847, daughter of Abram and Sarah (Skinner) Locke.
Her father and mother were natives respectively of Kentucky and
Virginia and were members of old Southern families of English
descent. Her maternal grandfather, Joseph Skinner, had to his
record a service of seven years in the war of the American Revo-
lution. In 1847 Mrs. Cobb, then a babe in arms, was brought to
Iowa. The family settled on a farm in Monmouth township,
Jackson county, where her parents passed the rest of their lives
and died, her father dying in 1852, at the age of fifty-one years;
her mother, in 1884, at the ripe age of seventy-three. Of their
family of twelve children only four are now living, namely : John,
of Mount Vernon, Iowa ; Joseph, of Kansas ; Mrs. Charlotte Loper,
of Sumner county, Kansas; and Mrs. Cobb. A daughter. Mrs.
John Bantz, now deceased, was formerly a resident of Cerro Gordo
county. Mr. and Mrs. Cobb have never had any children of
their own, but have reared three : Harry Cobb, a farmer of
Lincoln township, Cerro Gordo county, who is married and has
one child ; Mrs. Jennie Bishel, who resides near Sheffield in Frank-
lin county, Iowa; and Lyle, aged eighteen, at home.
Mr. Cobb has always maintained a deep interest in politics,
as a loyal Republican, and has served efficiently in local office,
such as clerk of Grant township and as a Clear Lake councilman,
in the former office having served twelve years. He is a member
of Tom Howard Post, No. 101, G. A. R., of Clear Lake, and Mrs.
Cobb belongs to the W. R. C. Both attend worship at the Metho-
dist Episcopal church.
656 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
DANIEL J. PARRELL.
D;inic'l J. Parrell, the' present city assessor of Mason City,
Iowa, who has for years been identified with the progress and
development of that place, is a native of Nova Scotia, bom Sep-
tember 27, 1843. He is a son of William and Catherine (Walsh)
Farrell, the father a native of Ireland, born December 4, 1798, and
died at Mason City, in 1882. and the mother, born in Newfoundland
in 1808, died in 1892. They were parents of nine children, of
whom are now living, Daniel J. ; Joseph, ex-postmaster of Mason
City; and Catherine, wife of Anthony Solon, of Sanborn, Iowa.
When he was eleven years old William Parrell went to sea as
a cabin boy, and was a sailor the remainder of his life. He sailed
out of New York fifty years as master of a merchant ship, and was
for a time a pilot on an English vessel detailed to protect the New-
foundland fisheries. He traveled over most of the world, and
after -he was too old to follow his calling any longer, spent the
remainder of his life in Mason City, retired from active labor.
Daniel J. Parrell moved to New York city in 1856, and in 1861
went with his mother to Philadelphia, from which port the father
sailed for some time. Later the young man came west and worked
some time in the vicinity of Waverly and Cedar Palls, at masonry
and brick laying. He located in Mason City in 1864, at which
time most of the main street was a corn field and he could have
purchased the land around his present home for one dollar and
twenty-five cents per acre, the nearest railroad points at that time
being Cedar Falls and Austin, Minnesota. He followed his trade
in Jlason City and there was married in 1871. In the fall of 1872
he left his wafe and .six months old babe and went to the Pacific
coa.st, where he worked at his trade for a year and then returned
home. About two years later he again made the same trip. He
has been a contractor for years and has seen Mason City develop
from a straggling village to a prosperous, thriving city, helping
not a little in promoting the progress and welfare of the place,
and has erected a number of the most .substantial buildings.
Mr. Parrell is independent in politics and has held several
offices. lie served some time as deputy county auditor, was deputy
city assessor, and is now serving his second term as assessor. He
has always been faithful in the discharge of his public duties,
giving them the same careful attention he has always bestowed
upon his private affairs. He owns considerable residence property
in l\rason City and has been .successful in a financial way. He and
his wife are members of the Holy Family Catholic church.
.0^ 7^. v^:^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 659
On June 5, 1871, Mr. Farrell married Elizabeth Powers, who
was born in Ehnira, New York, January 10, 1840, and four chil-
dren have blessed this union, namely : Mary, wife of E. A. Wick-
ham, of Council Bluffs, Iowa ; Dr. William D., of Aberdeen, South
Dakota; Daniel P., at home; and Justin, of Detroit, Michigan.
CLARENCE M. SWALE, M. D.
A man of. broad culture and high mental attainments, educated
both at home and abroad, Clarence M. Swale, M. D., of Mason
City, holds a place of distinction among the foremost physicians
and surgeons of Cerro Gordo county, and by reason of his skill and
ability is accorded a position of eminence in professional circles.
He was born July 5, 1871, in Payette county, Iowa, a son of
Thomas Swale. Born and bred in England, Thomas Swale came
to this country at the age of twenty-six years, locating first in
Wisconsin, where he was for awhile employed in ditching. Lo-
cating in 1870 in Fayette county, Iowa, he took up a tract of raw
land, and by dint of persevering industry succeeded in clearing a
homestead. Economical and thrifty, he made wise use of his
money as it accumulated, at one time having title to eight hundred
acres of land in that county. He was an excellent worker, con-
tinuing active as a farmer until his death, in 1884, at the age of
sixty-thi-ee years. He married Elizabeth Cummings, who was
born in Canada and died, in 1909, in Iowa, aged eighty-sis years.
The youngest of a family of thirteen children, nine of whom
are now living, Clarence M. Swale spent the days of his boyhood
and youth on the home farm. After leaving the district school
he attended the West Union High School, subsequently continuing
his studies for two and one-half years at the Upper Iowa University
in Payette. Beginning his career as a boy of seventeen he taught
school two years in the country. Beginning to read medicine with
Dr. S. E. Robinson, of West Union, he remained under his tuition
a few months, in the spring of 1892 taking a course of study at
Rush Medical College in Chicago. Going then to Oshkosh, Wis-
consin, he did hospital work under the direction of Dr. C. W.
Oviatt for awhile, after which he returned to Rush Medical, where
he was graduated in June, 1895, with the degree of M. D. The
remainder of that year Dr. Swale was an interne at the Alexian
Brothers Hospital in Chicago, gaining valuable experience while
there.
Locating in Mason City, Iowa, in the winter of 1896, Dr. Swale
has since built up an extensive patronage in this part of the state.
Vol. 11—16
660 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
winning an enviable reputation for skill, both as a physician and a
surgeon. A man of his mental calibre naturally keeps himself well
informed in regard to all of the modern methods used in medicine
and surgery, and he recently spent six months in Europe, visiting
the leading hospitals and taking post graduate courses in London,
Berlin, Paris and Copenhagen. Energetic and independent, he
has been largely the architect of his own fortunes, even paying
his own way through the Upper Iowa University from the pro-
ceeds obtained by giving boxing lessons, although he was not obliged
to do so.
On May 9, 1909, Dr. Swale, with other physicians of Mason
City, opened the City Park Hospital, of which he is the president.
He is a member of the Cerro Gordo County Medical Association ; of
the Iowa State Medical Association ; of the American Medical Asso-
ciation ; and of the Austin Flint Cedar Valley Medical Association.
For three years he was health officer of Mason City, and is now serv-
ing his third term as city alderman, representing the third ward.
Fraternally the Doctor is a member of Cerro Gordo Lodge No. 70,
K. of P. ; of Mason City Lodge No. 375, B. P. O. E. ; of Wilcox Camp
No. 709, M. W. A. ; of Midland Lodge No. 226, M. B. A. ; of Morean
Homestead, No. 162, Brotherhood of American Yeomen; and also
of the Eagles.
Dr. Swale married in January, 1905, Lillian Garmidge, who
was born in Mason City, Iowa, a daughter of Byron and Elizabeth
(Holliston) Garmidge, whose children are as follows: Lillian,
now Mrs. Swale, Effie and Charles. Mr. Garmidge was born
March 9, 1850, in Columbus, Wisconsin, and in 1869 located in
Mason City, where he was vario\isly emplo.yed, first as a farmer
and grain dealer; later conducting a drug store; then a livery
business; and at the time of his death, March 25, 1902, having
been a real estate dealer. His wife, who was born in Buffalo,
New York, May 26, 1851, is now a resident of Mason City. The
Doctor and Mrs. Swale have one child, Douglas G. Swale. Politi-
cally the Doctor is a liberal and progressive Republican. In the
line of his profession he makes a specialty of Surgery, Gynecology
and Consultation.
CHARLES A. MEDDATTGH.
Charles A. Meddaugh, member of a well-known family of
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and the last of that family to die,
passed away at his home at Clear Lake, May 16, 1906. Mr.
Meddaugh was bom at Slaterville, Tompkins county. New York,
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 661
November 25, 1841, son of Peter and Nancy (Hollo well) Med-
daugh, both natives of the "Empire state." Peter Meddaugh
was born at Poughkeepsie, July 4, 1795, and died September 23,
1866, at his home four miles north of Jlason City, Iowa. His
wife, a native of Dutchess county, died February 20, 1882, at the
age of seventy-five years, while on a visit at Boieeville, New York.
They were the parents of a large family, of whom three sons and
three daughters grew to adult age, and, as above noted, Charles A.
was the last. In 1855, when he was a boy in his teens, the family
moved west to Iowa and the father secured title to a tract of land
in Lime township, Cerro Gordo county, four miles north of Mason
City, where he carried on farming operations until his death. Here
Charles A. grew to manhood.
On October 21, 1866, at the home of the late Thomas G.
Emsley, in Mason City, Iowa, Charles A. Meddaugh and Miss
Margaret G. Emsley were united in marriage. After their mar-
riage they went direct to Florida, where Mr. Meddaugh and a
brother had bought a plantation, and for four years they main-
tained their residence there, but subsecjuently they frequently re-
turned and for years their winters were spent in Florida. About
1898 Mr. Meddaugh sold the Florida plantation, and afterward
owned and operated considerable land in Cerro Gordo county,
continuing this up to the time of his death. He always took an
active interest in local affairs, and at the time of his demise was a
member of the City Council of Clear Lake, his political affiliation
being with the Democratic party. He was a Knight Templar
Mason, a member of Antioch Commandery of Mason City, and both
he and his wife received the degrees of the auxiliary order, 0. E.
S. Also he had membership in the K. of P. and the M. W. A.
To Mr. and Mrs. Meddaugh were given two sons: Lofton A.,
born in Florida, August 19, 1870. died in June, 1898. at Clear Lake,
Iowa; and Karl E., born October 30, 1879, at Clear Lake, died at
same place December 26, 1898.
Mrs. Meddaugh is still a resident of Clear Lake, ocup^ing
the home her husband built about 1880. She was born in Mechan-
icstown, Ohio, February 23, 1846, daughter of William W. and
Beatrice H. (Donaldson) Emsley. Her father was a native of
Yorkshire. England. He was born March 25, 1813, and about
1818 was brought by his parents to America, the family home
being established at Mechanicstown, Ohio. Her mother was born
May 5, 1818, in Florida, New York, and February 15, 1836, was
united in marriage with Mr. Emsley. Mr. Emsley died August
25, 1849, at Mechanicstown, and Mrs. Emsley survived him until
662 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
March 16, 1907, when she died at the home of her daughter, Mrs.
Meddaugh, at Clear Lake, at the age of eighty-nine years. Mrs.
Meddaugh and the late Thomas G. Emsley, of Mason City, Iowa, of
whom mention is made on other pages of this volume, were the
only children of William W. and Beatrice PI. Emsley who grew to
maturity. On August 10, 1910, Mrs. Meddaugh married R. A.
Halt, a farmer of Cerro Gordo county.
EDWARD COBB.
Edward Cobb, a retired farmer and venerable citizen of Clear
Lake, Iowa, has resided here during the past twenty-two years.
The greater part of his active life was spent in Lincoln township,
Cerro Gordo county, where he still owns a fine farm which he im-
proved. Also he improved another farm in that township, which
he sold. His identity with this county dates from 1865, when he
came here from Jackson county, this state, he having come to Iowa
with his parents when he was a child.
Mr. Cobb is a native of the "Empire State." He was born
in Essex county. New York, August 1, 1830, eldest of a family of
nine children, all of whom are still living and enjoying good health.
In 1838 his parents moved to Illinois and the year following came
over into Iowa and settled on a farm in Monmouth township, Jack-
son county, near what was known as the Big Woods. On this
farm they reared their large family, and here the father and mother
died when well advanced in years. Both are buried in Buckhorn
cemetery, near the old home. Thus Edward was reared from his
ninth year in Iowa. Before coming to Cerro Gordo county he
spent a year and a half in Minnesota. He had married som6 years
previously, and in 1865, with wife and children, four horses and
five head of cattle, he landed in Lincoln township and took up his
residence here, having little capital at the time but possessing a
good share of pluck and energy. With borrowed money he
bought his first eighty acres of land. To this he added until at
one time he owned three-quarters of a section, the result of hard
work and good management.
On February 13. 1853, at Millrock, Jackson county, Iowa.
Edward Cobb and Lucy Taylor were united in marriage, and at
this writing, 1910, they have traveled life's pathway together for
a period of fifty-seven years. Mrs. Cobb, lilce her husband, is w
native of New York state, born Jidy 29, 1835. She accompanied
her parents to Iowa about 1851, and was reared on a farm in
Jackson county. Of the children born to Mr. and Mre. Cobb,
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY ' 663
eight in number, two died young and two when they had reached
young manhood. Those living are: Mrs. A. C. Brown, a widow of
Mason City; B. T., a farmer of Lincoln township; Mrs. Addie A.
Mason, a widow residing in Dakota, where she has a claim; and
Mrs. W. J. McGowen, whose husband is a hardware merchant of
Clear Lake. The grandchildren number nine and there is one
great-grandchild in the family — a grandson of Mrs. Brown.
Politically Mr. Cobb is a Republican. In his prime he served
in various township and school offices. He was a member of the
Sons of Temperance many years ago, but he has never allied him-
self with any of the fraternal organizations.
LUTHER R. HARDING.
Numbered among the sterling representatives of the great
basic industry of agriculture in Cerro Gordo county is this well-
known pioneer whose name initiates this paragraph and he is the
owner of a finely improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres,
eligibly located in sections 21 and 22 of Lincoln township. He
has been a resident of this county for nearly forty years, and it
has been his privilege and pleasure to contribute his measure to
the industrial and civic development and upbuilding of one of the
opulent and progressive sections of the fine old Hawkeye state.
Upon coming to this county Mr. Harding first located near Mason
City but for the past thirty-six years he has resided on his present
homestead in Lincoln township. His energy, industry and pro-
gressive methods are clearly shown in the status of his farm, which
is under a high degree of cultivation and which has permanent
improvements of the highest order.
Luther R. Harding was born in Orange county New York, ou
the 23d of April, 1832, and is a son of Harvey and Fanny (Reeves)
Harding, both of whom are likewise natives of the old Empire
state, which continued to represent their home until their death
and within which the respective families were foimded in the
pioneer days of the history of that commonwealth. The mother
died at the old home in New York and the father passed away
while making a visit to his son in Iowa. The family name has
been identified with agricultural pursuits in America since the
Colonial epoch, and its representatives have ever stood exemplar
of sterling integrity in all the relations of life. The subject of
this review was third in order of birth in a family of nine children,
of whom seven are living, including two of his brothers who are
residents of Cerro Gordo county.
664 HISTORY OF CERRO (iORDO COUNTY
Mr. Harding was reared to maturity in his native county and
his educational advantages were those afforded in the common
schools of the locality and period. There he continued to be
actively engaged in farming until he had attained the age of
forty years and he then eame to Iowa and took up his residence
in Cerro Gordo county, as has already been noted. At one time
he was the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of land in
Lincoln township but he has since reduced his homestead by sale
and by providing farms for his sons.. He has been true to the
duties of citizenship and has so demeaned himself as to retain at
all times the unqualified esteem of his fellowmen. In politics
he maintained an independent attitude.. His wife is a member of
the Congregational church.
At Otisville, New York, on the 11th of j\Iarch, 1858, Mr. Hard-
ing was united in marriage to Miss Hanna Maria Mapes, who
was born and reared in Orange county, that state. Of the five
children, three are living, — Alva and Edgar, who are successful
farmers of Lincoln township, and Harvey T., who is engaged in
the coal business in the city of Seattle, Washington. Mr. and Mrs.
Harding have ten grandchildren and six great-grandchildren.
MICHAEL J. BURKE.
Twenty-five acres of the present site of Cartersville was once
owned by Michael J. Burke, a farmer and implement dealer resid-
ing in this town. This land which was once a portion of his farm
was sold by him in 1901. Mr. Burke was born in Dane county,
Wisconsin, November 27, 1862, and like so many of the citizens of
this part of Cerro Gordo county is of Irish extraction. The
father Michael Burke was born in county Mayo, Ireland, and died
on Mr. Burke's farm in 1903, at the advanced age of ninety years.
The mother, Julia (Bannon) Burke, a native of county Galway,
Ireland, died in 1890, at the age of sixty years. Michael Burke
came to the United States when about twenty-four years of age
and married in Massachusetts. In the early '40s he came to Wis-
consin and located in Dane county, where he bought government
land at a dollar and a quarter an acre. He walked from a point
eighteen miles east of Madison to Milwaukee, where the land office
was situated, to enter his land. The land was desirable and very
cheap and he walked all in one night, getting there ahead of the
stage which carried a party also after land at that price. The
land was covered with timber, undergrowth and tamarack swamp.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUiNTY 665
He grubbed this out and cleared it and made a good farm out of
it, which he operated until 1871, when he sold out and came to
Cerro Gordo county.
Here he purchased two hundred acres of wild land in section 3,
Dougherty township, and erected thereupon a frame hovise, six-
teen by twenty-four feet. This he farmed until the death of his
wife in 1890, when he went to live at his son's home, ana there
lived until his demise. Michael Burke and his wife were the
parents of eight children, four of whom are living. The.y are
Patrick, of British Columbia; Mr. Burke, of this review; Kate,
the wife of William Conner of Mason City, Iowa ; and Julia, wife
of James Preston of Rockwell.
Michael J. Burke received his education in the district school
near his father's farm in Wisconsin, and remained iinder the home
roof until his marriage in 1886. He then purchased one hundred
and sixty acres of land in section 33, Owen township, which he
proceeded to improve. In 1901, as previously mentioned, twenty-
five acres of this was platted and became a part of Cartersville.
He still owns an excellent farm of one hundred and thirty-five
acres. In 1905, on account of poor health and to educate his
children he moved to Rockwell. In the spring of 1909 he re-
turned to his farm and in November of that year he and his eldest
son embarked in the implement and farm machiner.v business at
Cartersville.
Mr. Burke pays fealty to the Democratic party and gives an
intelligent consideration to affairs of a public nature.. He has
served as road supervisor; is a director of the Cartersville Supply
Company ; and for a number of years was connected with the Far-
mer's Co-operative Society at Rockwell. He is a member of St.
Lawrence Lodge, No. 644, Catholic Order of Foresters at Rock-
well, and he and his family are members of the Sacred Heart
Catholic church at Rockwell.
In February, 1886, Mr. Burke laid the foundation of a home
by his marriage to Miss Margaret O'Connor, born in Dubuque
county, Iowa, in 1864. Six children have been born to them, the
following five of whom are living and at home: Martin IT., Julia L.,
Edmund M., John A. and Luella M.
EUGENE IIILTS.
Eugene Hilts, a farmer and stock-raiser, is a factor in that
substantial agricultural class which has done more than anything
else to give Cerro Gordo county its strength. He is bv birth an
666 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
easterner, his birth having occurred in Gonverneiir, St. Lawrence
county, New York, February 12, 1866.. He is the son of Theodore
and Bertha (Tibbetts) Hilts, natives of New York and members
of old families. The father was of Mohawk Dutch descent, his
father having been a native of Holland. Mr. Hilts' father en-
gaged in farming during most of his active life and saw ser\'ice
during the Civil war as a member of a New York regiment. He is
now sixty-eight years of age, is retired, and is residing in East
Tawas, Michigan. The mother died in 1874, when a comparatively
young woman, and the father married again. Mr. Hilts has one
sister, Mrs. Byron Barriger, of De Kalb Junction, St. Lawrence
county, New York.
Eugene Hilts was reared in New York, received a common-
school education and is practically a self-made man. When he
came to Iowa he had no capital to speak of, but managed well and
has been successful. He now owns and operates one hundred and
sixty acres of land finely improved by himself. This is located in
Grant township. The date of his arrival in Cerro Gordo county
is February 4, 1889. During most of the years since the attain-
ment of his majority Mr. Hilts has given his support to the Re-
publican party, although he is not too much partisan to support a
measure he believes to be right if advocated by the other. He has
the interest of the county at heart and has served as trustee for the
past six years. He and his family are members of the United
Brethren church.
Mr. Hilts was married in 1881 to Miss Dora Booth, a native of
Grant township and a daughter of Mrs. Susan Booth, who still
resides here, at the age of eighty-fovir years. The father died in
1904, aged eighty and a half years. Mr. and Mrs. Hilts are the
parents of two sons: Elton C. aged eighteen years and Carroll
aged four.
RANKIN W. KIMBLE.
Rankin W. Kimble, a prominent farmer, owning and operat-
ing an excellently improved farm of two hundred and twenty acres
in section 27, Lincoln township, has been a resident of Cerro
Gordo county since 1888. He engages in general farming and for
the past twelve years has made a specialty of Holstein cattle. Mr.
Kimble was born in Rock county. Wisconsin. January 30. 1846, and
is the son of Newcomb and Eliza (Kellam) Kimble. His parents
were pioneers of Rock county and came originally from Pike county
Ivania. The father was a man of considerable prominence
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 667
and held various offices. He was justice of the peace for many
years and occupied the position of postmaster through several ad-
ministrations. He died in 1904, having attained the age of eighty-
six years, the mother's demise having occurred some fourteen years
previously, at the age of seventy years. Mr. Kimble had three
brothers and two sisters, namely: Charles, of Lincoln township,
where he has resided for the past twenty-five years; Rice Kimble,
who operates a farm in Rock county, Wisconsin; Warren, engaged
in the manufacturing business in Manchester, Michigan; Grace,
a resident of Detroit, Michigan; and Mrs. Jack Kimble, wife of a
farmer located near Manchester, Michigan.
Rankin W. Kimble was reared in Wisconsin and obtained his
education in the common schools of the state. He early chose
farming for his life work and has been successful, particularly in
the raising of high grade cattle. His ability in this line seems to
be in the nature of a heritage, for the Kimbles, who are an old
American family, have generally been farmers and stock raisers.
He takes an interest in public affairs and gives his allegiance to
the Democratic party.
On May 5, 1881, Mr. Kimble was united in marriage with
Miss Margaret Godfrey, also a native of Rock county, Wisconsin.
Mrs. Kimble's parents were Irish, having emigrated from Erin
and become Wisconsin pioneers. Both of them died in Rock
county, Wisconsin. Mr. and Mrs. Kimble are the parents of four
children, the two elder born in Wisconsin and the two younger in
Cerro Gordo county. They are: Lizzie, the wife of Howard
Harding, residing in Lincoln township with their two children,
Boyd and Garnet ; Maurice and Homer, who live at home and oper-
ate their father 's farm ; and Eunice, also at home.
ROBERT GIBSON.
Robert Gibson, a retired farmer and dealer in poultry and
cream, is a valued citizen of Rockwell and of Cerro Gordo county,
where he has lived since 1875. He is a Civil war veteran and be-
longing as he did to the Army of the Potomac, saw some of tlie
hardest service. He was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsyl-
vania, June 2, 1844, but he is Irish in extraction, both of his
parents being natives of the Emerald Isle. Their names were
Alexander and Jane (Hammond) Gibson. They came to the
United States about 1838, bringing with them three children and
the father, who was a farmer, almost at once took his family to a
farm in Pennsylvania, where he and his wife lived during the re-
668 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
mainder of their lives, he dying in 1872 and she, in 1869. Mr.
Gibson was the sixth of seven children, four of the family having
been born after the emigration to America. Of these Mrs. ilar-
garet McDowell lives in Pennsylvania ; George eame to Iowa at the
time of the war, settled in Bath township, Cerro Gordo county in
1875, and died in Rockwell in 1906, having retired some time
previously ; Joseph died at St. John while the family were en route
to the United States ; ]\Irs. Maria Austraw died in Pennsylvania, as
did William H., the fifth member; the j-oungest child is Alex-
ander D., who lives in Hansell, Franklin county, Iowa.
Robert Gibson received his education in the public schools of
Pennsylvania and gave of his youthful energies to the labor on his
father's farm. On May 28, 1863, he enlisted for three months in
the Pennsj'lvania state troop, which was stationed for a time
around Pittsburg and then sent to Ohio in pursuit of raiders. On
February 24, 1864, he enlisted in Company D, Fourth Pennsylvania
Volunteer Cavalry, the regiment being sent to Virginia and being
incorporated in the Army of the Potomac. Mr. Gibson saw much
fighting, at the Wilderness, Cold Harbor, Spottsylvania, and Peters-
burg, not to mention many skirmishes and smaller engagements.
While upon a scouting expedition in search of Mosby's Guerillas
he was wounded in the left side and the right shoulder, (^March 13,
1865). He was sent firat to the field hospital, then to City Point,
Virginia, then to Washington, and was finally transferred to
Philadelphia. He rejoined the regiment at Lynchburg, Virginia,
in the latter part of May, 1865. There on the 2d of July he was
mustered out and was discharged at Pittsburg July 13.
Upon his return to civil life Mr. Gibson engaged in farming
and teaming. He was married in 1867 and in 1869 moved to
LaMoile, Bureau county, Illinois, where he rented land and devoted
his energies to farming. In 1872 he came to Franklin county,
Iowa, and bought eighty acres of wild prairie. He broke about
half of this and built a house and there lived until 1875, when he
came to Cerro Gordo county. He located in Bath township and
bought land, ultimately coming to possess three hundred and
twenty acres. Only the first eighty acres was wild land. A
frame house and barns were constructed and here Mr. Gibson made
his home until 1895, when he came to Rockwell. He kept one
hundred and sixty acres of his holdings, giving his son eighty acres
and selling him the same amount. He bought a home in Rockwell
with the intention of making it his permanent home, an intention
which he has carried out. For two years he conducted a meat
market and has since dealt in poultry, eggs, cream and stock.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 671
Latterly he confines himself to cream and poultry. He has Repub-
lican convictions and has served as a member of the school board in
Bath township and Rockwell. He has several fraternal associa-
tions, his membership extending to the G. A. R., the I. O. O. F. and
the Mystic Toilers. He and his wife belong to the Methodist
church.
Miss Susan M. McDowell became the wife of Mr. Gibson Janu-
ary 9, 1867. She is a native of Pennsylvania, as were her parents,
Bar and Martha (Austraw) McDowell, the father being born on the
old homestead where the grandfather also had his nativity. Mr.
and Mrs. McDowell lived upon this ancestral place for many years,
the mother dying there in 1880 and the father remaining until
1895, since which time he has lived with Mr. and Mrs. Gibson, being
now ninety years of age. Robert Gibson and his wife are the
parents of nine children : William D. is a stock buyer ; Bar died at
the age of one year ; Robert Elmer died at nineteen ; Myrtie is the
wife of C. R. Saylor ; Gertrude is the wife of A. L. Savior ; "Winnie
married Frank Johnson ; Hattie died in infancy ; Jennie is the wife
of Leo Zeidler ; and Lu is a teacher at Rockwell.
FRANK G. MURPHY, M. D.
One of the essentially representative physicians and surgeons
of Iowa who is duly appreciative of the value and expediency of
concentration in the work of his profession is Dr. Murphy, who has
made a specialty of the treatment of the diseases of the eye, ear,
nose and throat and who is engaged in active practice in Mason
City, where he occupies a handsome suite of offices in the Park
Hospital, of which well ordered institution he is one of the six
owners, the property being controlled by a stock company and
known as the City Park Hospital Company. This hospital is
practically under the immediate supervision of Dr. Murphy, and
the same admirable provision for the treatment of the diseases to
which he gives his special attention, he being one of the leading
representatives of this department of practice in northern and
central Iowa.
Dr. Murphy, who has been established in the practice of his
prof&ssion in Mason City since 1894, claims the fine old Badger
state as the place of his nativity. He was born in Grant county,
Wisconsin, on the 14th of April, 1867, and is a son of John B. and
Alice (Graham) Murphy, the former of whom was born in New
York city and the latter in Pennsylvania. John B. Murphy was
twelve years of age at the time of the family removal to Wisconsin
672 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
and his wife was about eleven years old at the time of her parents'
removal to the same state, where both families thus took up their
abode in the pioneer days. Mrs. Murphy continued to reside in
Grant county, Wisconsin, until her death, at the age of fifty-six
years, and her husband now resides at Boseobel, that county, hav-
ing devoted the major portion of his active career to farming and
stock-growing, besides which he was for a number of years suc-
cessfully engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock. John
B. Murphy was one of the loyal sons of the Republic who went
forth to do valiant service in defense of the Union during the Civil
war. He responded to President Lincoln 's first call for volunteers,
in 186i, by enlisting as a member of Company H, Seventh Wis-
consin Volunteer Infantry, which gained a high reputation as a
part of the historic "Iron Brigade." He was promoted from the
rank of private to that of first sergeant and he continued in active
service with his command for three years, at the expiration of
which he received his honorable discharge. He participated in
all of the important and sanguinary engagements in which his
command was involved, including the battles of Gettysburg,
Petersburg, South Mountain, Antietam and all others that brought
so great distinction to the famous "Iron Brigade." He is affili-
ated with the Grand Army of the Republic and has long been
numbered among the honored and influential citizens of Grant
county, Wisconsin.
The boyhood and youth of Dr. Murphy were passed on the old
homestead farm in Wisconsin and his early educational advantages
were those afforded in the public schools of the locality. This
discipline was supplemented by a course in the high schools at
Bloomington and the Wisconsin Normal School at Platteville,
which institution he attended for three years. Thereafter he
passed three and a half years as a clerk in the war department in
the city of Washington, D. C. In the national capital also he
began the work of preparing himself for his chosen profession, as
he there attended for two years the medical department of Colum-
bian University, now known as the George Washington University.
Later he entered the medical department of Howard LTniversity at
Washington, D. C, in which institution he completed the pre-
scribed technical course and was graduated as a member of the
class of 1893, duly receiving his well earned degree of Doctor of
Medicine. For one year after his graduation Dr. Murphy was
identified with the work of his profession in the city of Washington,
specializing in diseases of the eye, ear, nose and throat. Then he
came to Iowa and located at Newton, Jasper county, where he re-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 673
mained a few months, at the expiration of whieh, in September,
1894, he removed to Mason City, where he has since continued in
the successful work of his profession and where he has devoted his
attention especially to the treatment of the diseases of the eye, ear,
nose and throat, as has already been indicated. He has given most
careful study and investigation to his special domain of practice,
in connection with whieh he has done effective post-graduate work
in New York city and other cities and he may well be regarded as
one of the leading specialists in his line in the state which he has
chosen as his home and field of endeavor. The Doctor is identified
with the Austin Flint-Cedar Valley Medical Society, of whieh he
has served as president, and he also holds membership in the Cerro
Gordo County Medical Society, the Iowa State IMedical Society,
the American Medical Association and the American Academy ot
Ophthalmology & Otolaryngology. For the past decade he has
been oculist for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad
Company.
While Dr. Murphy has maintained a liberal and loyal attitude
as a citizen and has given his influence and co-operation in the
furtherance of all measures projected for the general welfare of
the community he has never consented to permit the use of his
name in connection with public office, though he is numbered as
a stanch supporter of the principles and policies for which the
Republican party stands sponsor. In the Masonic fraternity he
has completed the circle of the York Rite, being affiliated with the
lodge, chapter, council and commandery and with the temple of the
Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Cedar
Rapids. He also holds membership in, the Mason City Lodge of
the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Dr. Murphy has
three cliildren : John L., Mildred and Arthur Franklin.
RICHARD D. BROWNELL.
Worthy of notice among the alive, wide-awake business men of
Mason City is Richard D. Brownell, a well-known and prosperous
stock dealer. A son of Richard G. Brownell, he was born July
15, 1854, in Genoa, Cayuga county, New York. Born in New
York state in 1801, Richard G. Brownell began his active career
as a merchant in Genoa, Cayuga county. He afterwards retired
from business and moved to Newark, New Jersey, where he resided
until his death, in 1867. He married Mary Dunning, who was
born in the Empire state in 1813, and died in 1858. They became
the parents of six children, of whom but two are now living.
674 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
namely: Amy B., wife of W. II. Haynes, of Chicago, Illinois; and
Richard D., the subject of this sketch. Another son, 0. A.
Brownell, for a long time a resident of Mason City, was for six
years county treasurer of Cerro Gordo county.
At the age of sixteen years, his parents being dead, Richard D.
Brownell left his native state, coming in 1870 to Cerro Gordo coun-
ty, Iowa. He, with his brother 0. A. Brownell. and brother-in-
law, T. N. Miller, purchased three hundred acres of land northwest
of Mason City. The farm was known as "City View Stock
Farm,'' and here they bred thoroughbred Short-horn cattle, sheep,
etc., until 1882, when the farm was sold to Sanborn & Alexander.
At the present time the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad machine
shops and round house are located on this farm. The B. and 0.
addition is located on eighty acres of the farm, a large part of this
addition being improved with houses of modern architecture and
construction.
On selling his land Mr. Brownell located at Mason City, where
he has since been profitably engaged in the stock business. He is
a firm supporter of the principles of the Republican party. Hav-
ing never married IMr. Brownell has never known the responsibili-
ties, the trials nor the happiness of domestic life.
ALANSON T. PARKER.
Public-spirited, progressive and influential, Alanson T. Parker,
of Mason City, is a worthy representative of all that constitutes an
exemplary citizen, being active and interested in the public welfare,
pleasant and genial in social circles, and in biisiness life an honored
and trusted man, one with whom it is a pleasure to deal. He was
born, May 14, 1840, in Herkimer county. New York, which was
also the birthplace of his father, Archibald Parker. Archibald
Parker spent his entire life in the Empire state, his birth occurring
in 1808, and his death seventy-seven years later. He married
Cassandra Hoxie, who was born in ]\Iadison county. New York, in
1809, and died at the age of fifty-three years. Of their seven
children but two survive, Peter, of Oswego county. New York ; and
Alanson T.
Brought up on the home farm, Alanson T. Parker was educated
in the common schools and the village academy. In 1870. follow-
ing the advice of Horace Greeley, he started westward in search of
more promising opportunities for increasing his finances and came
direct to Cerro Gordo county. Locating in Mason City, ift-.
Parker ciiibarked in the milling business with his cousin, H. G.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 675
Parker, with whom he was associated as a miller for a quarter of a
century, during which time these two enterprising gentlemen built
Parker's Opera House, a three-story building at the corner of
Sixth and Main streets, in which Mr. Parker still retains his
interest. Mr. Parker was subsequently engaged in the grocery
business here for ten years, but sold out and is now devoting his
time to his business as a real estate dealer and to the care of his
private interests, which are quite extensive. He owns property
of value in Mason City, and has also a large ranch in "Wisconsin.
When Mr. Parker came to Mason City it was a mere hamlet,
containing but six hundred souls. He foresaw its possibilities,
and bravely putting his shoulder to the wheel of progress has been
a prime mover in the inauguration of beneficial improvements,
and has watched with genuine satisfaction and pride its gradual
development into one of the most enterprising and thriving cities of
northern Iowa. He is an uncompromising Republican in his
political affiliations, and fraternally is a member of Cerro Gordo
Lodge, No. 70, K. of P., and of Mason City Lodge, No. 375, B. P.
0. E.
Mr. Parker has been twice married. He married first, in
1874, Belle L. Wilcox. She died in 1881, aged thirty-three years,
leaving one child, Belle L. Mr. Parker married for his second
wife, in 1884, Martha J. Porsythe, who was born in Watertown,
Wisconsin, in 1853. Mrs. Parker is a member of the Congrega-
tional church.
HENRY KRUG.
Among the representative farmers and stock raisers of Palls
township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, is Henry Krug, who owns
and occupies a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in section
26. Mr. Krug is a native of Canada, born near Tavistock, Novem-
ber 26, 1860, son of Conrad and Anna K. (Buchanan) Krug, both
of German birth. Conrad Krug was born at Hessen-Darmstadt,
Germany, June 18, 1833; his wife, May 31, 1830. In 1856, the
year following their marriage, they emigrated to America and took
up their residence in Canada, where they remained until the spring
of 1865, when they came to Iowa. Henry was then five years of
age. His father rented a farm in section 36, Palls township,
Cerro Gordo county, and later bought eighty acres, which he at
once improved with buildings. His labor was soon lost, however,
for in the fall of 1866 a fire swept away everything he had accumu-
lated. After this he .sold his land and for time resided in Portland
676 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
township. His next land purchase was one hundred and eighty
acres a mile and a half northeast of Rock Falls, where he lived un-
til within two years of his death. This property still belongs
to his estate. He died at his home in Rock Falls, January 13,
1899. His widow survived him until October 21, 1908, when her
death occurred at Alden, Iowa. Both were worthy members of the
Methodist Episcopal church. Conrad Krug was a man of few
words and strict integrity. He had some capital when he landed
in Iowa, which he used to good advantage, and he was soon recog-
nized as a man worthy of the confidence and respect of the com-
munity. He was elected on the Republican ticket to various town-
ship and school offices, and his record shows that he never betra.yed
a trust. He and his wife had a family of eight children, of whom
three died in infancy. Of the others we record that Mary E. is
the wife of Rev. F. C. StefiSer, pastor of the German Methodist
Episcopal church at Alden, Iowa ; Anna Katherine, mfe of August
Bartz, a farmer, resides near Rockford, Iowa; Henry, the next in
order of birth, is the subject of this review; Peter, is engaged in
farming near Plymouth, Iowa, and William M., is a resident of this
county.
Henry Krug was reared in Cerro Gordo county and has spent
his whole life here, engaged in farming and stock raising. He
married, in 1884, Miss Anna Keidle, a native of Colesburg, Cla.yton
county. Iowa, born in 1863, daughter of John Keidle, mention of
whom is made elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Krug have
two daughters, Edith A. and IMyrtle M., both employed as teachers
in the Rock Falls schools, the former as principal and the latter in
charge of the primary department. Mi.ss Edith is a graduate of
the Ma.son City high school, and Mi.ss IVIyrtle of Memorial Univer-
sity. Mason Cit.y, Iowa. Mr. Krug is a member of the M. B. A.,
the M. W. A, and the Royal Neighbors, and of the last named his
wife and daughters also are members. All belong to the Methodist
Episcopal church.
JOHN PEDELTY.
Ilavinff accomplished a satisfactory work as an agriculturist,
acquiring a competency, John Pedelty is now living retired at
Mason Citv, enjoying to the utmost the well merited reward of his
long continued, unremitting days of toil. A native of England,
his birth occurred February 14, 1841, in Durham, where the first
four years of his life were spent.
Peter Pedelty. his father, was born, reared and married in
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 677
England, where he followed mining for many years. Embark-
ing with his family on a sailing vessel in 1843, he landed in New
Orleans after a stormy voyage of sixteen weeks. Proceeding im-
mediately to Lafayette county, Wisconsin, he was for ten years
engaged in mining at New Diggings. The mine giving out, he
removed to Plattville, Grant county, Wisconsin, where he began
his career as a tiller of the soil. At the end of thirteen years ht
returned to Lafayette county and was there a resident until 1882.
Retiring then from active labor he came to Mason City, Iowa, and
here lived in comfort until his death, February 21, 1904, at the
venerable age of ninety-two years. His wife, whose maiden name
was Mary Alderson, died in 1892, aged seventy-three years. They
were the parents of nine children, of whom six are living, as fol-
lows : Simon ; John ; Joseph ; ]\Irs. Agnes Williams ; Elizabeth, wife
of David Bryson ; and Dinah, wife of David Cook. All of these
children are residents of Mason City.
Brought up in Wisconsin, John Pedelty had but meager edu-
cational advantages, much of his time as a boy and youth having
been spent in the mines and farming. After his marriage he
began farming in Wisconsin, and met with considerable success.
Having purchased one hundred and sixty acres of wild land in
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in 1868, Mr. Pedelty came here with his
family in the spring of 1870. Locating on his land in Lime Creek
township, he erected a four-room cottage, and on the homestead
which he improved was engaged in tilling the soil until 1895, in
the meantime having added to his original purchase until his farm
contained four hundred acres of rich and fertile land. Removing
then to Mason township, he bought one hundred and sixty acres
of land, and there continued his independent calling for three
vears, when, in 1898, he came to Mason City, where he has since
lived retired from active labor, devoting his attention to the care
nf his private interests. Mr. Pedelty has been very fortunate in
his investments, and has bought and sold considerable land in the
north and northwest.
On February 14. 1866, Mr. Pedelty was united in marriage
with ,Tulia Gillette, who was born in Wisconsin, September 18,
1846. and into their household nine children have been born, name-
ly : Edward, of Cherokee. Iowa; Bort, of Minnesota; Hattie, who
married Georsre Tarnish and died at thirty-four years of age; Alva,
of Mason Citv; John, of Lime Creek township; Nettie, wife of
Elmer Edmundson, of Great Falls. Montano; Eva, living at home;
Ella, wife of Arthur Knopp, of Watertown. South Dakota; and
one who died in infancy. Politically Mr. Pedelty is an adherent
Vol. n— 17
678 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
of the Democratic party, and has served a number of terms as
trustee of Lime Creek township. Both Mr. and Mrs. Pedelty
were reared in the Methodist Episcopal church, but are not mem-
bers. Mr. Pedelty is a self-made man and came to this community
quite poor in purse.
SAMUEL 0. SMITH.
Among the most prominent and substantial of Ventura 's citi-
zens is Samuel 0. Smith, manufacturer of cement block and con-
crete, with plant at Ventura, and also a buildin]» contractor. Mr.
Smith, who has proved his quality as a captain of industry, is a
man of good education and possesses no small literary ability. He
was born in Manchester, England, March 26. 1830, and is the
son of Luke Smith, a cotton manufacturer. He took up his
father's business and at one time employed three hundred people.
Business, however, suffered serious depression during the Franco-
Prussian war and though he could have continued under a receiver-
ship, he refused to do so, thus sacrificing a large property valued
at fifty-six thousand pounds sterling. After his failure he went
to France, where he taught English and corresponded with the
IManchester papers. From Havre he sailed to New Orleans, where
he spent a number of years, part of the time acting as time keeper
for the levee builders. His next step was to go to Texas and
Arkansas, engaging while in these states in the newspaper and
grocery business. In 1860 his wanderings took him to "Wisconsin,
where he remained for a decade, and after another five years spent
in Dubuque, Iowa, fhis occupation there being that of a market
gardener) he sold his farm in Wisconsin and came on to Cerro
Gordo county, investing in land in Clear Lake township.
For the past three years Mr. Smith has been engaged in his
present manufacturing business. He previously conducted a coal
business. He is a considerable property o\\Tier, among his hold-
ings being a fine tract of land of two hundred and forty acres in ex-
tent in sections 4 and 5. Clear Lake township. He himself managed
its operation until 1908, when it was assumed by his son, Walter
Smith. Another son. Homer L. Smith, operates a farm of eighty
acres in Grant to^raship.
"Mr. Smith has been twice married, first to Miss Sarah Colburn,
nf Dubuque, who died, leaving a daughter Emily; and afterwards
to Miss Elij^abeth Childs, the two sons previously mentioned being
of the latter marriage. IMr. Smith gives his heart and hand to
the principles and policies of Republicanism and in token of the
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 679
confidence he enjo.ys in the community has been entrusted with
assessorship of Clear Lake township, in which office he has served
for fifteen consecutive years, and he has also assisted in school
affairs. He was reared in the Church of England.
THOMAS J. PROCTOR.
Thomas J. Proctor is a man well known and esteemed in Union
township, where for the past twenty years he has owned and
operated a place consisting of one hundred and twenty acres in
section 25. Mr. Proctor was born in Dane county, Wisconsin,
some twelve miles east of Madison, the date of his birth being Feb-
ruary 14, 1857. He is the .son of Joseph and Mary Ann (Carney)
Proctor, who emigrated from Lancashire, England, to Wisconsin
about 1850. A colony of English people came to Wisconsin to-
gether, and Mr. Proctor's grandfather Carney bought a farm in
Dane county. A part of the relationship removed to Floyd coun-
ty, Iowa, in 1865, and Mr. Proctor came in company with an uncle.
The father engaged in business in Madison until 1878, when
he removed to Cerro Gordo county and purchased a farm, the tract
being situated near Rockwell. He was sufficiently pleased with
his new location to make it his home for a number of years. Now,
at the age of seventy-seven years, he is retired and living in
Minneapolis. The mother died March 16, 1908, at the age of sixty-
nine. Mr. Proctor is one of a good sized family. A sister and
a brother, who lived in Cerro Gordo county in the early '80s are
deceased, and he ha.s four sisters surviving; one located in Minne-
apolis, one in Chicago, one in Mitchell, South Dakota, and one in
Great Falls, Montana.
Thomas J. Proctor was reared in Wisconsin and in Iowa and
belongs to the goodly company of self-made men. The date of
his coming to Cerro Gordo county is 1878, and for five years he
rented land in Geneseo township. He started single handed and
was handicapped by the possession of very little capital. For
several years he was associated with Mr. George W. Britt, break-
ing land for him to the extent of six hundred and forty acres and
renting a tract from him upon which he engaged in farming upon
his own account. He purchased his present farm (at that time
raw prairie) from Stephen A. Horton of Oswego. New York, who
was in the county upon a visit. He has greatly improved it,
tilino: a portion of it and putting it generally in good shape.
]\rr. Proctor laid the foundation of a happy home life about
thirty years ago. the lady to become his wife being Miss Sarah
680 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Grandy. of Nora Springs, Floyd county, originally of Winneshiek
county. They have had five children, all except the eldest havin„
been bom in Cerro Gordo county. John "William, aged twenty-
three, is at home; George Earl died at the age of seventeen years
and eleven months; Gladys Mildred, aged eighteen, is at home,
as are also the younger children, Charles A., aged fourteen years,
and Ruth A., aged eleven.
Jlr. Proctor is a Republican and has served in several to-ivn-
sliip offices, such as director. He and his family attend the Con-
gregational church.
HON. CHARLES L. MARSTON. :\r. D.
Hon. Charles L. Marston, M. D., has been identified with Mason
City, Iowa, since 1893, when he came here from medical college
and engaged in the practice of his profession. He is now vice
president of the City Park Hospital, of Mason City, and is serving
his second term as representative of the Eighty-fourth district in
the Iowa state legislature.
Dr. ]\Iarston is a native of Illinois. He was born in Winne-
bago county, that state, February 6, 1870, son of George W. and
Sarah (Scott) Mar.stnn. George W. Marston, a native of Vermont,
left that state in early life and came west to Illinois, visiting
Chicago when that now great city was a village. He has been a
successful farmer, is now seventy-five years of age, and is still a
resident of Winnebago county, living on land his father entered
from the government. When the Civil war was inaugurated in
the early '60s he was among the first to answer the call. He went
to the front as a member of Companv C, Fifteenth Illinois Volun-
teer Infantry, and at the battle of Shiloh received a wound, from
the efl'ects of which he has since suffered to the extent that at times
he has been partially incapacitated for active work. His w-ife i.s
still living. Her father. Doctor Scott, was one of the prominent
pioneer physicians of Illinois, having moved there from Pennsyl-
vania. During the Civil war he was a surgeon in the army. He
died at Rockford. Illinois, at the ase of eighty-four years. Doctor
Marston is one of a famil.y of six sons and one daughter. From
their mother, a woman of imusual refinement and intellectual
attainments, they received early training that inclined them
toward higher education, and they all worked their way through
school. Of them we record that Anson I\Iarston, a graduate of
Cornell University. New York, is now dean of the Agricultural
College, Ames, Iowa ; Amos W., also a graduate of Cornell, has been
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 683
assistant United States District Attorney for several years, and
is now engaged in the practice of law in Chicago; Walter S., a
graduate of the Agricultural College, Ames, Iowa, is draftsman at
Chicago for the C. & N. W. Railroad Terminal Company; George
E., has charge of the farming operations at the old homestead in
Illinois; Robert S., is with his parents; and the daughter, Mrs.
Mary Smith, a widow, is a music teacher at Rockford, Illinois.
Dr. Marston passed his boyhood days on his father's farm in
Winnebago county, pursued a high school course at Rockford, and
prepared himself for his profession at Rush Miedical College,
where he graduated in the spring of 1893. Immediately after his
graduation he came to Mason City, Iowa, where, as already stated,
he has since practiced and been prominently identified with the
best interests of the town. From 1898 to 1901 he was in partner-
ship with Doctor C. M. Swale, of whom mention is made on other
pages of this volume.
On July 15, 1890, Dr. Marston married Miss Harriet E. Scott,
of Ogle county, Illinois, who was for several years previous to her
marriage engaged in teaching in Winnebago county. They have
two children: Evelyn and Dorothy, aged respectively sixteen and
twelve j^ears. Mrs. Marston is active in church and social work,
being a member of the 0. E. S., and the Chautauqua Club and
identified with the Baptist church. The Doctor has membership
in several fraternal insurance associations, and is a Knight Temp-
lar IMason.
EDWARD G. DUNN.
A man of rare ability, wisdom and discernment, Edward G.
Dunn is carrying on a substantial business in Mason City as a
grain buyer and shipper, but is especially noted throughout north-
ern Iowa as the originator of the Co-operative Farmers ' Companies,
over three hundred of which he has helped to organize. A son of
Michael Dunn, he was born, August 18, 1879, at Nora Springs,
Floyd county, Iowa, coming from Irish stock.
Born in Kings county, Ireland, February 2, 1843, Michael
Dunn emigrated to the United States soon after attaining his
majority, and lived the following five years in North Adams.
Massachusetts. Coming from there to Iowa in 1869, he resided
for some time in Charles Cit.v, but is now engaged in farming in
Pleasant Valley township. He married in Charles City, Iowa,
Anna Ryan, who was born in Dublin, Ireland, and as a girl of fif-
teen yeais came to this country with her parents, settling fir.st in
684 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Detroit, .Michigan, afterwards coming to Iowa. Of tlieir nine
children seven are now living, namely: Margaret, a school teacher,
living at home ; Edward G. ; Katie ; Anna, of Cedar Falls ; Martha,
also a school teacher; Bernard, of Mason City; and Patricia, a
student in the Rockwell Catholic school.
Brought up on the home farm the early life of Edward G.
Dunn was quiet and uneventful. He assisted his father during
seed time and harvest, in the winter terms of school acquiring an
excellent elementary education. He was very clever at his books,
and in 1895 was graduated from the Nora Springs Seminary.
Turning his attention, then to the study of law, he entered the
University of Iowa, but at the end of his junior year, before time
for him to be graduated he left the institution to embark in busi-
ness. Locating at Burehinal, Cerro Gordo county, Mr. Dunn
began life for himself as a grain dealer. Finding, however, that
the co-operative concerns were discriminated against by the big
line companies, he retired from that trade at the end of a year.
Since that time Mr. Dunn has devoted his time and energies to the
organization of Co-operative Farmers' Companies, a work which
has proved of more practical value and benefit to the common
people than any ever established in the state. Mr. Dunn is now a
grain buyer in Mason Cit.y, in this industry being associated with
Lloyd, Hoyt & Company, of Chicago, a well known commission
firm.
Fraternally Mr. Dunn is a member of Saint Joseph's Court.
No. 1051, C. 6. F., and of Mason City Council, No. 1006, K. of
C. Religiously, true to the faith in which he was reared, he be-
longs to the Holy Family Catholic church. Politically he is an
active and influential member of the Democratic party, and at this
time, in 1910, is being strongly urged by the Democratic State
Committee to become the Democratic candidate for governor of
Iowa. For a person of his age, Mr. Dunn has without any doubt
done more for the benefit of the industrial ela.ss than any other one
man in northern Iowa, and during his work of organization in the
various towns and counties has met and become personally ac-
quainted with thousands of people who would gladly and proudly
support him should he decide to take the nomination.
FRANK W. CHAMBERS.
One of the mo.st prominent and successful attorneys at ^Mason
City, Iowa, is Frank W. Chambers, formerly a niemlier of the la\>
firm of Clark & Chambers, who were estal)]islu'(l in liusiness for
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 685
several years and dissolved partaership in April, 1907, when J. J.
Clark was elected district judge. Since this time Mr. Chambers
has been engaged in practice alone and has built up a good clien-
tele. He stands in his profession and has won a reputation for
honesty and uprightness of purpose.
Mr. Chambers is a native of Osage, Iowa, born December 12,
1866, son of Rev. W. A. and Sarah M. (Wright) Chambers, both
now deceased. Rev. W. A. Chambers was a minister in the Metho-
dist Episcopal church for fifty-three years, having been one of the
pioneer preachers in Iowa. He located at Mason City about 1875,
having moved west in 1866. He was active in his profession un-
til his death, at Garner, Iowa, in 1890, at the age of seventy-three
years. He was a native of New York state, educated at Oberlin
College, and adopted the ministry as his life work. His wife was
born at Utica, Michigan, where her father had large holdings of
land and owned considerable property. Mr. Wright owned a
tannery in New York, which he sold and transported the money
(in gold) to Michigan for investment. He was a wealthy man for
those days. Mrs. Chambers died at Mason City in 1897, at the age
of about seventy-one years. Besides Frank W. she and her hus-
band had children as follows : H. J., an attorney of Council Bluffs,
Mrs. J. J. Clark, of Mason City, and others who died in infancy.
Frank W. Chambers was educated at Simpson and Cornell
Colleges, then became deputy clerk of the court at Council Bluffs,
Iowa. He spent two years in the law office of Stanbery & Clark,
and was admitted to the bar in 1897, since which time he has been
continuously engaged in practice at Mason City. He served as
justice of the peace from 1896 imtil 1906. He has taken an active
interest in political affairs and has supported the principles and
issues of the Republican party.
Mr. Chambers married, September 10, 1902, Miss Grace E.
Edson, of Mason City, daughter of R. P. Edson, superintendent of
the Black Hills division of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad. Two children have blessed their union: Margaret R.
Chambers and Robert B. Chambers.
Socially Mr. Chambers is a member of the Masonic order, in-
cluding the Commandery at Mason City and the Shrine at Cedar
Rapids. He also belongs to the B. P. 0. E., of Mason City, the
M. W. A., and M. B. A., and both he and his wife are members of
the O. E. S. In religious views he is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church and his wife of the Episcopal church. They re-
side at 324 West Tenth street. Both are popular socially and have
many friends.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
RICHARD PETHICK.
Cerro Gordo county's population has a good sized English
clement and among these excellent citizens may be numbered
Richard Pethiek who was born in Devonshire, England, August
16, 1847. He is also entitled to a place on the roll of self-made
men or those who have acquired property and good standing wholly
by their own efforts. Mr. Pethiek 's parents were Charles and
Mary (Glandville) Pethiek, both natives of England, where they
lived until their death. They were the parents of eight children,
five of whom are living and two of them residing in America.
William, residing in Wisconsin, is the other brother who adopted
the land of the stars and stripes for his home.
Mr. Pethiek was reared on a farm in his native country and
received a little schooling iip to the age of twelve years. However,
possessed by a wholesome thirst for knowledge he .supplemented
this with two winters' schooling after coming to America. When
a mere lad he started to work, and in April 1868, shortly after the
attainment of his majority, he resolved to try his fortimes in the
new world. He landed in Canada and remained there until fall,
when he came to Wisconsin and worked on farms by the month.
He married several years later and farmed for himself on rented
places. In 1880 Mr. Pethiek came to Cerro Gordo county and pur-
chased eighty acres of land in section 23. He purchased one hun-
dred and sixty acres adjoining and moved to it. He thus owns
two hundred and forty acres of fine land, all well improved and in
a high state of cultivation, for Mr. Pethiek is a scientific agricul-
turist. Although he devotes his energies principally to general
farming he owns Polled Angus cattle. He has given efficient ser-
vice in school offices and as township clerk and he has always been
a stanch Republican.
In December, 1872, Mr. Pethiek laid the foundation for a
happy home life by his marriage in Wi.sconsin to Miss Emma Lean,
born in the Badger state December 9. 1857. To this union have
been born five children, four of whom are living, as follows: Clinton
E.. at home ; Ethel M., wife of Fred Dawson, of Clear Lake town-
ship : Bertha E.. wife of Fred Wilson, of ilason City. Iowa ; and
Flossie, who is at home.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 687
WILLARD W. NARAMORE.
As the executive head of the firm of Naramore & Company,
which conducts a large and prosperous business in contracting for
concrete work of all kinds, Mr. Naramore holds standing as one of
the most progressive and- substantial business men of Cerro Gordo
county, and through his energy, correct methods and fine business
ability he has gained precedence in connection with the productive
activities of life, and by virtue of his success and his sterling char-
acteristics has become one of the influential citizens of his home city
and county, where to him is accorded unreserved popular esteem.
He is a native son of Illinois and a scion of one of the highly
honored pioneer families of Stephenson county. He was born at
Freeport, that county, on the 31st of August, 1854, and is a son of
Dr. Willard P. and Lucy A. (Jones) Naramore. Dr. Naramore
was one of the most revered and distinguished pioneer physicians
of Stephenson county at the time of his death, on the 2nd of Feb-
ruary, 1910, at the venerable age of eighty-six years, and he was
long one of the most prominent and influential citizens of his sec-
tion of the great state of Illinois. Dr. Naramore was born at
Junius, Seneca county, New York, on the 19th of December, 1824,
and was a representative of a family, of English origin, that was
founded in New England in the Colonial days. His father was
born in Vermont, of English descent, and his mother was of
Scotch-Irish lineage. His parents died when he was a boy and
he was reared in the home of family friends, whom he accompanied
to northern Ohio when a lad of eight years. In the Buckeye state
he was reared and educated, and there he completed his training
for his chosen profession by a course in the celebrated Sparling
Medical College, in Columbus, the capital of the state. He located
in Stephenson county, Illinois, in 1846, and there he continued in
the active practice of his profession for more than half a century,
within which he accumulated a comfortable fortune. He was
long identified with banking interests in his home county, where
he was also the owner of a valuable farm of more than two hun-
dred acres. From 1865 until his death he resided in the village
of Lena, that county, and no citizen held a more secure place in
popular confidence and regard. He was a strong supporter of the
Union during the Civil war. and served on the board of medical
examiners of the state of Illinois in the work of examining volun-
teers. He was president of the Old Settlers' Association of liis
county for a quarter of a century, was a member of the state con-
stitutional convention of 1861-2, served as a member of the state
688 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
legislature and held other offices of public trust. He united with
the Republican party at the time of its organization and was ever
afterward a stanch supporter of its cause as a citizen of great
intellectuality and marked loyalty and public spirit. His religious
faith was that of the Christian church, of which both his first and
second wives also were devout members. His first wife, the mother
of the subject of this review, passed to the life eternal in 1858, and
is survived by two sons, John, a resident of Wichita, Kansas, ana
Willard W., whose name initiates this article. In 1859 Dr. Nara-
more married Miss Mary Bower, who died in 1895, and of their
children three are living, Milton, who is a resident of the city of
Chicago; Martha, who remains at the old home in Lena, Illinois;
and George, who is the owner of a large ranch in North Dakota.
Willard Watson Naramore was reared to maturity in Step-
henson county, Illinois, and after completing the curriculum of
the public schools he was a student in Eureka College, at Eureka,
that state, for two winter terms. He had the ambition, self reli-
ance and integrity of pui-pose that ever foster definite success, and
he has reached the goal of independence and prosperity through
his own efforts. He took up his residence in Mason City, Iowa,
in the autumn of 1886, and for several years thereafter he was em-
ployed as a traveling commercial salesman. He then engaged in
his present line of enterprise, in which he has built up a large and
prosperous business, and he had in this connection the distinction
of laying the first cement walk in his home cit.y, about the year
1889. Mason City is now splendidly equipped with the best grade
of cement walks and much of the work in this line has been done
by the firm of which Mr. Naramore is the head. The concern
also does architectural concrete work of the best modern standard
and it has secured and carried to successful completion many large
and important contracts in this section of the state.
Mr. Naramore stands as a type of the most loyal and progres-
sive citizenship and he has given his influence and co-operation in
the promotion and upholding of all measures and enterprises tend-
ing to advance the civic and material welfare of the community.
He accords an unswerving allegiance to the cause of the Republi-
can party and has been called iipon to serve in various ofiiees of
public trust. He was city assessor of Mason City for four years,
was a member of the board of county supervisors in 1907-8 and was
its president in the latter year, and he takes a deep interest in all
that tends to advance the commercial, industrial and social advance-
ment of his home city and county. He is affiliated with the local
organizations of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, the
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 689
Modern Brotherhood of America, the Mystic Toilers, and was
formerly an active member of the Knights of Pythias. He is
held in unqualified esteem in the city that has been his home for
nearly a quarter of a century and his status in the community is
such as to well justify his representation in this historical work
In the city of Freeport, Illinois, on the 3rd of January, 1877,
was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Naramore to Miss Delilah
Sherman, who was born and reared in that city and who is a daugh-
ter of William and Rebecca Sherman, the former of whom died when
Mrs. Naramore was an infant. The devoted mother reared her
children with all of care and solicitude and she passed the closing
years of her life in the home of the subject of this review, in Mason
City, where she died in 1902, at the venerable age of sevent.y-eight
years. In conclusion is entered a brief record concerning the
three children of Mr. and Mrs. Naramore: Hal S., was graduated
in the celebrated Rush Medical College in the city of Chicago as
a member of the class of 1904 and he is now engaged in the practice
of his profession at Tenino, Thurston county, Washington, where
he is also serving as local surgeon for one of the principal railway
companies in that state; Floyd A., who was graduated with high
honors in the engineering department of the University of Wiscon-
sin, in the city of Madison, and also in the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology, in the city of Boston, had charge of the mam;al
training department of the public schools of Mason Cit.y for two
years, within which he brought the same to a high standard of
efficiency, and he now resides in Portland, Oregeon, where
he is engaged in the practice of his profession, being also consulting
engineer for the Northern Con.struction Company, of Portland,
Oregon; Harriet A., is the wife of George Orlo Gould, a repre-
sentative business man of Mason City.
WALTER V. CRAPSER.
One of Cerro Gordo county's substantial and well known farm-
ers is Walter V. Crapser, whose fertile acres are located in Pleasant
Valley township. . He was born in Franklin eoianty, Iowa, Decem-
ber 4, 1863, and is the son of Albert and Adaline Crapser. The
former, a native of New York, died in 1905, at the age of seventy-
three years, and the mother is now living in Thornton. They
came to Iowa from the east and located in Franklin county in
1874, later removing to Grimes township, Cerro Gordo county.
Walter V. Crapser was reared upon his father's farm and
learned in the scliool of practical experience those many lessons
690 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
which have made of him a most successful agriculturist. He
attended the common school and when nineteen years of age began
to teach school, acting for seven terms as a pedagogue in Pleasant
Valley township. After his marriage in 1886 he began farming
on rented land. Two years later he purchased one hundred and
sixty acres of his present farm. This had only a shack of a house
upon it and only fifteen acres of it was broken ground. He now
owns and operates three hundred and sixty acres, all finely im-
proved.
Mr. Crapser subscribes to the men and measures of the Repub-
lican party and has played a prominent part in the affairs of the
county. He has served as road superintendent and was assessor
for six years. He was eight years a member of the school board
and seven years a member of the county board of supervisors. He
was appointed to the latter capacity in April, 1910, to fill the
vacancy caused by the death of Superintendent J. H. Brown. He
assisted in the organization and was a director of the first Farmers '
Co-operative Society in the state of Iowa, located at Swaledale.
He is now, and has been for four years, president of the Farmers'
Co-operative Society of Thornton. The social side of Mr. Crapser 's
nature is not undeveloped, and he has several fraternal affiliations,
being a member of the Elks at Mason City ; of the I. 0. 0. F. at
Thornton and of the M. W. A. at Swaledale. This is one means
by which he has become widely known in the county.
Mr. Crapser was married, March 23, 1886, to Miss Kate I.
Updike, born in Fayette county July 8, 1868. They are the
parents of three children, Guy, Gladys and Grace, all of whom are
at home.
RUSSELL J. HEMPHILL, M. D.
Russell J. Hemphill, M. D., for eighteen years has been the
only physician and surgeon at Plymouth, Cerro Gordo county,
Iowa, and his successful practice here has endeared him to the
people of the little town and surrounding country.
Dr. Hemphill is of Irish descent. His great-grandfather
Hemphill was born on the "Emerald Isle," came to America in
early life, and for some years made his home in Ohio. About
the year 1834: or 1835, when D. C, the Doctor's father, was four
years of age, the family moved from Ohio to Will county, Illinois.
In the latter place D. C. Hemphill was reared and passed his life
as a farmer, and he died there in 1902, at the age of sevent.v-two
years. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal
Vy.d'.^^V^-
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 693
church, and reared their family in that faith. Before her mar-
riage she was Miss Hannah Russell, and had come with her family
from her native state, New York, to Illinois, their settlement being
in Will county, where she was married, and where she died in 1883,
at the age of forty-eight years. Of their six sons and three daugh-
ters all are living except one son. Two of the sons. Dr. Wilber
J., a dentist, and B. C, engaged in a grain and coal business, ari
residents of Dexter, Iowa. Charles I., is a farmer of Cerro Gordi
county, Iowa, and P. W., of Joliet Illinois, is employed in the mail
service. Two of the daughters are married, Mrs. Burgess Carr
and Mrs. Jennings, the latter being a resident of Marshall, Minne-
sota. Miss Kittie E. Hemphill lives with her sister, Mrs. Carr.
Russell J. Hemphill, the subject of this sketch, was born in
Will county, Illinois, Febriiary 26, 1862, and was reared in his
native count.y, receiving his early education there. He pursued his
medical studies at the Northwestern Medical College, Chicago,
where he graduated with the class of 1892, and immediately follow-
ing his graduation he came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and
opened an office at Plymouth, where he has since conducted a suc-
cessful practice. His comfortable and attractive home here was
built in 1905, at a cost of four thousand dollars and he has recently,
in 1910. erected on Main street the concrete office building which he
occupies. He has membership in the Cerro Gordo County. Iowa
State and American Medical Associations.
Dr. Hemphill married, in Will county, Illinois, IMiss Helen
Corbin, and to them have been given four children, all born in
Cerro Gordo county: Corbin Russell, Irma, Arthur and Arnold.
Like his parents before him. Dr. Hemphill is a Methodist. He
is fraternally identified with the I. O. 0. P., Oak Lodge, No. 168,
of Plymouth, and also a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America and Brotherhood of American Yeomen. Mrs. Hemphill
belongs to the Rebekahs and the Royal Neighbors.
WILLIAM E. LONG, M. D.
William E. Long, M. D., Mason City, Iowa, dates his liirth at
Akron. Ohio, August 29, 1870. When a child of two years he was
brought to Iowa by his parents, J. J. and Elizabeth (Klinefelter)
Long, their settlement being at Mason City, where his father be-
came a prominent and influential citizen, figuring in both political
and business circles. He was elected to the office of county auditor,
was twice re-elected to succeed himself, and served in all sis years
as auditor of Cerro Gordo county. Afterward he was lartrelv in-
694 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
terested in the Mason City Lime & Cement Company, of which for
years he was secretary, and he devoted active attention to business
up to the time of his death, on May 30, 1907, at the age of sixty-
two years. His widow is still a resident of Mason City. Of
their six children, Jesse D.. is a merchant of Boulder, Colorado;
Gertrude, is engaged in business at Cheyenne, Wyoming; Ruth, is
employed as a teacher in the schools of ilarshalltown ; Sidney, is
chief civil engineer on the Ashland division of the C. & N. W.
Railroad with headquarters at Antigo, Wisconsin; Sylvester, is a
cartoonist and engraver of Chicago.
William E., the subject of this sketch, was reared from his
second year at ]\Iason City. He spent two years at Ames, and he
graduated at the I. S. N. S. (now the State Teachers' College),
Cedar Palls. He spent two years as principal of the schools at
Marble Rock, Iowa, after teaching four years in the country schools.
In the mean time, having decided to enter the medical profession,
he occupied his leisure time with studies leading up to that end,
and at the close of his second year at ]\Iarble Rock he went to
Chicago and matriculated at the College of Physicians and Sur-
geons. Following his graduation at that institution, in 1899,
Dr. Long returned to Iowa and opened an office at Rockford, where
he practiced medicine until 1904. when he moved back to his old
home, and has since conducted a successful practice here. The
Doctor is a director of and a .stockholder in the Iowa State Bank
of Mason City, and has land interests in Canada, Minnesota and
Nebraska in addition to his interest in Mason City, all of which
represent hi.s own earnings. He is the present nominee on the
Republican ticket for the office of coroner of Cerro Gordo coixnty,
and will undoubtedly be elected. He is a member of the County,
State and American Medical Societies, and is identified with various
fraternal organizations of Mason City, including the K. of P., and
the F. and A. M. In the last named he has reached the Knight
Templar degree. :Mrs. Long is a member of the 0. E. S.. and the
family worship at the Congregational church.
Dr. Long married, at Rockford, Iowa, Miss Susie Lyon, a
daughter of one of Rockford 's pioneers. They have two children.
Eleanor and Draper.
GEORGE HELM.
George Helm, a substantial and influential farmer of section
3. Falls township. Cerro Gordo county. Iowa, was born in La-
Fayette county. Wisconsin, November 25, 1843, son of Jonathan
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 695
and Sarah (Shay) Helm. The boyhood of George Helm was spent
on a farm and he worked at farm work summers, attending school
in the winter. In 1868 he went to Illinois and spent the summer,
returning to his native state in the fall, for a brief visit, then went
back to Iowa and purchased wild land where he now lives. He
erected buildings and made all possible improvements, developing
a fine farm in time. His first buildings were destroyed by a severe
wind storm in July, 1882, and when he rebuilt he put up better
ones. In March, 1867, he married Lucretia Lewis, a native of
Coles county, Illinois, who died in April, 1885, having had two
children: Lewis C, of St. Paul, and Lillian E., wife of Clarence
Cleveland, of South Dakota.
Mr. Helm married for his second wife, March 1, 1886, Amelia
Cleveland, who was bom in Plymouth, Iowa, November 1, 1865,
daughter of George and Melissa (Redington) Cleveland. Mr.
Cleveland who was born in Albany, New York, February 19, 1834,
died August 7, 1879, and his wife, who was born in Illinois Jan-
uary 14, 1848, is now living at Plymouth, Iowa. By his second
marriage Mr. Helm has children as follows: Clarence A., born
March 1, 1887, is conducting the home farm; George F., born
September 1, 1888, lives in this county; and Gladys I., born June
3, 1893, is at home.
For the past three years Mr. Helm has been an invalid and
confined to his bed. He had previously been a very active man.
ambitious to bring his property to a fine condition and taking great
interest in the affairs of the community. Politically he is a Demo-
crat, and he has served as director and president of the school
board and as road superintendent. He and his wife are members
of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, Homestead No. 279, of
Plymouth, and so are their children. He owns one hundred and
sixty acres of fertile land, and has modern equipment and appli-
ances for carrying on his work. He has always displayed excel-
lent judgment in the conduct of his affairs and has been successful
in his operations.
WILLIAM R. MICKEY.
William R. Mickey, of the firm of W. R. Mickey & Company,
dealers in drugs, sundries and wall paper. Mason City, Iowa, is
one of the leading business men of the town. He is a native ol
Vinton, Benton county, Iowa, and was bom May 17, 1868, son of
John and Jane (Thompson) Ifickey, natives of Allegheny City,
Pennsylvania. Some time in the '50s the Miekeys left the Key-
696 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
stone state and came west to Iowa, settling in Benton county, where
John Mickey spent the rest of his life. By trade he was a stone
mason, and he assisted in the construction of many of the buildings
of Benton county, including the College for the Blind and the city
schools of Vinton. During the Civil war he was a member of
Company A, Twenty-eighth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He died
in December. 1890, at the age of fifty years, at Vinton, leaving his
wddow and their only child, the subject of this sketch. Mrs.
Mickey resides with her son in Mason City.
William R. Mickey passed his boyhood and youth at Vinton,
where he graduated in the high school in the spring of 1887. The
following winter he attended Elliott's Business College at Burling-
ton, Iowa, where he took a course in bookkeeping, after which he
was variously employed. In 1890 he went to Colorado with a
surveying party on the Denver & Rio Grande Railroad, and was
employed in work on that road for one year. Then he came back to
Iowa and settled at Mason Cit.y. His first position here was assis-
tant cashier in the Commercial Savings Bank. Later he entered into
a partnership with M. 0. Waterbury, under the firm name of
Waterbury & Mickey, and engaged in the drug business, which
they continued under that style until 1905, when the name was
changed to W. R. Mieke.v & Company.
After coming to Jfason Cit.v Mr. Mickey married here Miss
Jennie E. Lewis, who was for three years a teacher in the city
schools. She was born near Rockwell, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs.
Mickey have two children : Martha Marie, born February 13, 1907,
and Marion Gene, November 10. 1909.
Fraternally Jlr. Mickey is both a Knight of Pythias and a
Mason. In the Masonic Order he has taken the Commandery and
Shrine degrees, and is a candidate for the degrees of the Consi.story.
F. J. HANLON.
F. J. Ilanlou, secretary and general manager of the INIason
City & Clear Lake Railway Company, Mason Cit.v, Iowa, has as an
officer been identified with this road from its inception in 1897.
Mr. PTanlon is a native of Wells. Minnesota, where he was born
in 1876, and is a son of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Hanlon. The
Ilanlon family left IMinnesota and came to Iowa in 1890, taking
up their residence in Mason City, where they now reside. For
many years Thomas Hanlon was an engineer on the C. M. & St. P.
Railnvid. but is now retired from active life. In Mason City F.
J. TlauldH ((iiiipletcd his schooling, graduated here in 1892. He
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 697
beg-an life as an employe in the transporation department of the
]\Iason City & Ft. Dodge Railroad, and was occupied in that capa-
city until 1894, when he accepted a position, at Marshalltown, as
chief clerk in the superintendent's office, Iowa Central Railroad.
There he remained until 1897, when he was made an officer of the
Mason City & Clear Lake Railway Company.
Mr. Hanlon's standing among the foremost business men of
his town is evidenced by the fact that in February, 1910, he was
elected president of the Mason City Commercial Club. Politically
he is a Republican ; fraternally, a B. P. 0. E., a K. of C, and a
M. W. A., all of Mason City. He and his parents are members!
of the Holy Family Catholic church.
LEE R. BAILEY.
Devoted to the demands of his business and possessing the
ability to meet its every requirement, Lee R. Bailey is prominently
a.ssociated with the advancement of the mercantile interests of
Mason City, as president and treasurer of the Bailey Hardware
Company being officially connected with one of the foremost busi-
ness organizations of Cerro Gordo county. A son of the late
James A. Bailey, he was born, February 16, 1868, in Davis county,
Missouri, on a farm.
A native of Springfield, Illinois, James A. Bailey was born in
that city in 1833, and five years later was taken by his parents
to Green county, Wisconsin, where he grew to man's estate. Dur-
ing the Civil war he offered his services to his country, enlisting
in the Thirty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and taking part
in many engagements. After taking upon himself the cares of a
married man he moved to Davis county, Missouri, where he tilled
the soil a few years. Subsequently migrating to Kansas, he took
up a homestead claim, and on the farm which he redeemed from the
raw prairie he spent his remaining years, dying August 7, 1887.
He married Caroline Bush, who was born in LaFayette, Indiana,
in 1835, and is now living in Ipswich. South Dakota. Of the five
children born of their union four survive, namely: Mrs. Anna
Tuttle, of Hamlin, Brown county, Kansas; Arthur L., of Jewell,
Kansas ; Lee R. ; and Olive, wife of Ellsworth Baleh, of Ipswich,
South Dakota.
Brought up on the parental homestead in Kansas, Lee R.
Bailey received a practical common school education, and as a youth
learned the art of telegraphy. Starting out for himself in 1888.
ere attaining his majority, he accepted a position as telegraph
Vol. 11—18
698 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
operator on the Missouri Pacific Railroad, afterwards holding simi-
lar positions on the Iowa Central, the Northern Pacific and the Mil-
waukee railways. In 1893, while in the employ of the Iowa Central
Railroad Company, Mr. Bailey came to ]\Iason City, Cerro Gordo
county, as an operator, and continued with the company in different
capacities for nine years, at the time of his resignation, in the
spring of 1902, being connected with the traffic department of the
passenger and freight division, with office in Mason City.
In August, 1902, making a radical change in his occupation,
]\Ir. Bailey, in partnership with ilr. RajTnond, bought out the
Knopp Hardware Company and continued in business as junior
member of the firm of Raymond & Bailey for two years. Mr.
Raymond withdrawing from the firm in September, 1904. a stock
company was formed and it was incorporated as the Bailey-Down-
ing Hardware Company. Mr. Downing died in 1906. and his
share in the business was sold out, and since that time Mr. Bailey
has been president and treasurer of the company, whose name was
changed in July, 1909, to the Bailey Hardware Company.
On October 10, 1900, Mr. Bailey was united in marriage with
Fannie B. Harding, who was "born in Chautauqua county. New
York. October 29, 1870. Her father. George H. Harding was a
carpenter b.y trade, and also a bridge builder. In 1874 he located
in ^Mason City, where he followed railroad carpentry and bridge
building for many years, but is now living retired from active
pursuits. He married first Cynthia Brightman, the mother of
Mrs. Bailey, and after her death, which occurred in 1873, he mar-
ried for his second wife her sister, Anna Brightman. IMr. and
]\rrs. Bailey have no children.
Politically Mr. Bailey is a sound Republican. Fraternally he
belongs to Benevolence Lodge, No. 145, A. F. and A. M. ; to Bene-
volence Chapter, No. 46, R. A. M. ; to Antioeh Commandery, No.
43. K. T. ; and to Mason City Lodge. No. 375. B. P. 0. E. Re-
ligiously Mrs. Bailey is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
JOSEPH W. ADAMS.
Conspicuous among the leading citizens of ]\rason City is
Joseph W. Adams, vice president of the Commercial Savings Bank,
aftivelv identified with various enterprises, and is prominent in
business, social and fraternal circles. A native of Illinois, he was
born. November 8. 1862. in Rock Island county. His father, the
late E. W. Adams, was horn in Kentuckv about 1825, and there
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 699
grew to man's estate. In 1842 he migrated to Rock Island coun-
t.y, Illinois, and there spent his remaining years on the farm which
he improved, dying in Hampton, Illinois, in 1888, aged sixty-three
years. He married Ann D. Willis, who was born, July 26, 1829,
in Maryland, and is now a resident of Rock Island, Illinois. Of
the five children born of their union four are living, as follows:
Clara, widow of George B. Holland, of Rock Island, Illinois;
Joseph W. ; Myra, -irif e of R. S. Silvis, of Rock Island ; and Harry
B., of Wapato, Washington.
Brought up on the home farm, Joseph W. Adams attended the
common schools throughout his boyhood and youth, studying with
diligence. In 1880 he began working in a drug store, and finding
the employment congenial determined to fit himself for a druggist.
Going, therefore, to Chicago, Illinois, in 1881, he entered the
Chicago School of Pharmacy, from which he was graduated in
1884. In December, 1885, Mr. Adams accepted a position with
Winter & Gushing, druggists in Princeton, Illinois, with whom he
remained until September, 1887. acquiring a practical knowledge of
the business. Coming from there to Mason City, Iowa, he em-
barked in the drug business on his own account, being junior mem-
ber of the firm of Atkinson & Adams, which existed until March 1,
1896, when Mr. Adams bought out his partner. In May, 1902
having conducted the business alone for six years, he sold out his
interests in the establishment and became assistant ca.shier in the
Commercial Savings Bank. He proved himself eminently capable
and trustworthy in that capacity, and was made vice president of
this institution in 1903 and has since filled the position most satis-
factorily. He is also officially connected with other important in-
dustrial enterprises of this city, being treasurer of the North Iowa
Brick and 'Tile Company, of which he was one of the organizers;
and secretary and treasurer of the Commercial Bank Block
Company.
On IMay 26. 1886. IMr. Adams married Alice S. Vincent, who
was born, August 13. 1865. in Hampton. Illinois, being one of the
six children of Dr. George I. and Mary (Thomas) Vincent. Her
father, who located in Rock Island county. Illinois, about 1854. a.s
a pioneer phvsician. was born and bred in Vermont, and died, in
1889. in Illinois, while her mother, now residing at Rock Island,
was a native of Massachusetts. l\Ir. and IMrs. Adams are the
parents of two children, namely: Joseph W.. attending Harvard
University; and Stella B.
Fraternally IMr. Adams is a member of Benevolence Lodge.
No. 145. A. F. and A. :\r. ; of Cerro Gordo Lodge, No. 70, K. of P. :
700 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
of Mason City Lodge, No. 375, B. P. 0. E. ; of Midland Lodge, No.
226, M. B. A. ; and both he and his wife are members of Unity
Chapter, No. 58, 0. E. S. Mrs. Adams is a most estimable woman
and a eonseientious member of the Congregational church. Poli-
tically Mr. Adams is a Democrat, but has never been an aspirant
for official favors.
PHILIP H. KEHM.
Philip H. Kehm, who is engaged in the real estate and insur-
ance business at Mason City, Iowa, has offices in the City National
Bank building, and resides with his family at 303 Jackson street.
As a representative business man of the town, a sketch of his life
is of interest in this work, and is as follows :
Philip H. Kehm was born in Chicka.saw county, Iowa, in 1867,
son of Chi-ist and Hedrick (Hockspeier) Kehm, natives of Hessen-
Darmstadt. Germany, who came to this country in early life and
were among the pioneers of Chickasaw county. They had little
capital to begin with, but they were industrious and economical,
and they worked their way to success. When Philip H. was seven
years old they moved to Cerro Gordo county and settled on a farm
in Portland township, four miles east of iMason City, where the
father carried on farming and stock raising extensively, and where
he died in 1882, at the age of forty-eight years. The mother, now
seventy-four years of age, is a resident of Mason City. She is a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, though formerly they
were for years indentified with the Evangelical church. In their
family of eight children one died in infancy and the others are
scattered, two being in Lyon county, Iowa, one in South Dakota,
and the others in Cerro Gordo county.
From his seventh year Philip H. Kehm was reared in the
county in which he now lives. At the age of twenty he began
learning the harness maker's trade, and for twelve and a half
years, until the summer of 1902, conducted a harness shop at JIason
City. Since that time he has been successfully engaged in a real
estate and insurance business, representing the Des Moines Fire
and the Dubuque Fire and Marine Insurance Companies.
^Ir. Kehm is married, and he and his wife are the parents of
four children ; Edna, born April 19. 1891 ; Florence, January 1.
1894; Earl, September 3. 1896; and Lloyd. July 7. 1901. Mrs.
Kehm. formerly Miss Lizzie Young, is a daughter of John Young,
late of Charles City. Iowa, where he was for years engaged in the
nursery business.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUiNTY 701
Politically Mr. Kehm is a Republican; fraternally is atBliated
with the M. B. A. and the M. W. A., Mrs. Kehm also belonging to
the former; and the family are identified with the Metliodist
Episcopal church.
DANIEL CAHALAN.
The substantial and well-to-do citizens of Mason City have no
more worthy representative that Daniel Cahalan, a retired farmer
who was for many years actively engaged in agricultural pursuits
in Cerro Gordo county, in the prosecution of his independent call-
ing meeting with far more than average success. A .son of the
late James Cahalan, he was born, September 29, 1840, in couut\-
Kerry, Ireland, and there spent his childhood days.
Born and reared on the Emerald Isle, James Cahalan, whose
birth occurred in February, 1808, remained in the old country un-
til ISiT. Wishing then to prove for himself the truth concerning
the wonderfud advantages given the laboring man in America, he
bade farewell to his family and after a ' voyage of eight weeks
landed in New York. He spent a brief time in Vermont, from
there going to Washington county. New York, where he worked
at any honest labor. There, in 1850, he was joined by his wife and
children; four years later he removed with his family to Rhode
Island, and from there, in 1863, located in Fayette county, Iowa.
Buying a tract of raw land, he erected a log cabin, and during the
years that followed succeeded in clearing a good farm, on which
he resided until his death, at the age of sixty-eight years. His
wife, whose maiden name was Sarah Griffin, was born in Ireland
in 1816, and died in Fayette county, Iowa, at the age of sixty-nine
years. They became the parents of nine children, seven of whom
are now living, namely : Daniel, the special sub.ject of this sketch ;
M. P. H., of Dougherty township; Kate, wife of John Carr, of
Minnesota; Margaret, wife of Patrick O'Neal, of Mason City;
James H., of Minneapolis, Jfinnesota ; Mary, wife of A. Nelson, of
Devil's Lake, Minnesota; and Sarah, wife of Thomas H. Moriai-ty,
of Minnesota.
A sturdy lad of ten years when he came with his mother to
the United States, Daniel Cahalan received limited educational
advantages in the common schools of Washington county. New
York. Beginning the struggle of life for himself in 1866, he
bought one hundred acres of grub land in Fayette count.v, paying
down twent.v-five dollars in cash, his entire capital. Devoting
his energies to the improvement of his property, he met with en-
702 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
fouraging success from the start, and in course of time bought ad-
joining land until he had a farm of two hundred and twelve acres.
Selling his estate in 1891 for forty-two dollars and fifty cents an
acre, Mr. Calhalan came to Cerro Gordo county to invest his money,
buying first two hundred and eighty acres of improved land in
section thirty-three, Bath township. The land yielding profitable
harvests each year, he bought more land from time to time, his farm
in 1900 containing five lumdred and eighteen acres of rich and
fertile land, and being one of the most attractive and desirable
in the vicinity. He also owns four hundred acres of valuable
land in Minnesota.
Retiring from active labor in that year, Mr. Cahalan located
at Rockwell, Cerro Gordo county, where he resided seven years,
being one of the most active and prominent citizens of the place.
Since 1907 he has been a resident of Mason City, and has here
gained an assured position among the highly esteemed and re-
spected citizens.
Public spirited and energetic, Mr. Cahalan has never shirked
the responsibilities of public office, but while a resident of Fayette
county was township assessor twelve years and township trustee
a number of terms. He likewise served as trustee of Bath town-
ship, in Cerro Gordo county, and was township clerk four years.
He was subsequently elected mayor of Rockwell, a position that he
resigned on coming to Mason City. While living in Rockwell he was
vice president of the Farmers' Co-operative Company, and has since
assisted in the organization of a dozen such companies in different
parts of the county. Mr. Cahalan and his family are consistent
members of Saint Joseph's Catholic church.
On February 5, 1868, Mr. Cahalan married in Cla.vton coun-
ty, Iowa, Mary Ann Phelan, who was born in May, 1849, in Clayton
county, Iowa, where her parents, John and Mary , (Delaheney)
Phelan, settled on coming to this country from Ireland in the early
forties. Twelve children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Cahalan,
nine of whom are living, namely: James P., of Bath township;
Daniel Jr., of Dougherty township; Anna, wife of Thomas Flem-
ing, of Cartersville, Iowa ; Patrick P., of Blooming Prairie. Minne-
sota; Nellie; Theresa; May; Thomas II.; and George W.
JAY L. STEVENS.
Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, includes among its enterprising nnd
prosperous farmers, Jay L. Stevens, whose fine farm of two hun-
dred and eighteen acres on section 18, Falls township, is one of
the best improved ones in the locality.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 703
Mr. Stevens was born in Blue Earth county, Minnesota, near
the town of Mankato, in October, 1866, son of T. G. and Eliza
(Lathrop) Stevens. T. G. Stevens, a native of Ohio, left that
state about 1861 and made settlement in Minnesota, where he was
variously occupied, giving no little time to buying and selling
property. About 1863 he made his first visit to Iowa, and at that
time purchased the farm now owned by his son. Jay L. He im-
proved this farm, and for several years carried on agricultural
pursuits here. Later he moved to Plymouth, where his death ac-
curred in 1885, at the age of sixty-five years. Although being de-
prived of his sight through an accident which happened when he
was a young man, he was successful in his imdertakings and main-
tained an active interest in public affairs, at times serving in local
offices, such as member of the school board, etc. He married in Indi-
ana Miss Eliza Lathrop, who as a bride accompanied him to Minne-
sota. She was born in New York, reared in Indiana, and died in
Iowa, her death occurring in 1903, at about the age of seventy years.
Of their five children two are in Iowa, the subject of this sketch and
his sister Clara, wife of L. Cole of Plymouth, and three are resi-
dents of North Dakota, namely: Ella, wife of A. D. Graves, of
Tokio; H. E., of Ray, and F. T., of Merricourt.
Jay L. Stevens was reared in the county in which he now lives
and received his education in the public schools, and from his boy-
hood has been occiipied in farming and stock raising. For years
he has been interested in raising thoroughbred Short-horn cattle
and Poland China hogs.
In 1888 Mr. Stevens married Miss Anna Glassel, a native of
Wisconsin and a daughter of John Glassel and wife, both natives
of Germany. The Glassels came to Iowa in 1885 and took up
their residence in Cerro Gordo county, where Mr. Glassel engaged
in farming and later in gardening. Now, at the age of eighty-five
he is retired, and he and his wife make their home with Mr. and
Mrs. Stevens. Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have four children, Ralph,
Nellie, Ethel and Lloyd, all at home, the eldest twenty-one years of
age and the youngest ten.
Politically Mr. Stevens is a Republican; has served efficiently
in local office, and has always been keenly alive to the best interests
of the community. For six years he was township assessor, and
at this wT-iting he is president of the township school board. He
is secretary and manager of the Plymouth Co-operative Creamery
Company, and is a director in the Farmers Elevator Company, the
Farmers Mutual Insurance Company and the North Iowa Fair
Association. Both he and his wife are members of the Jlethodi.st
Episcopal church.
704 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
JOHN A. SUTTON.
Among the successful and enterprising business men of Ply-
mouth, Iowa, is John A. Sutton, manager of the Farmer's Co-
operative Elevator Company. Mr. Sutton is a native of Cerro
Gordo county, born in Falls township July 25, 1872, a son of Ben-
jamin and Clementina (Seuion) Sutton. The father was born
in. Devonshire, England, March 5, 1814, and died in Iowa, Feb-
ruai-y 7, 1899, and the mother, who was born in Yorkshire, Eng-
land, in 1827, died September 11, 1901. They were parents of
four children, John A., being the only survivor. Benjamin Sutton
emigrated to the United States in 1839 and for a time worked in
the state of New York, then drifted west, on a hunting trip. He
made his first visit to Cerro Gordo county in 1853 and hunted all
over that region, then returned to Wisconsin, where he had also
been hunting, and spent some time in the vicinity of Kenosha.
In the spring of 1854 he returned to Cerro Gordo county and en-
tered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Falls township, mak-
ing the journey on foot to the land office at Des iloines, where he
had to go to enter his land. He then went back to Wisconsin, but
in the fall of 1855 returned to his land in Iowa and spent the winter
hunting, splitting rails and getting out fencing for his one hundred
and sixty acres of land. In Jul.v, 1856, he sold out and returned
to Wisconsin, but in 1857 he started back to Iowa with a drove of
cattle, crossing the river at McGregor with one hundred head of
stock and selling ten of them. He drove the remainder to Falls
township and let them graze during the summer, providing an
ample suppl.y of prairie hay for their feed through the winter. He
kept his drove of young stock until 1861. then sold it and bought
land in section 8, where he developed a fine farm and resided on it
until his death. He retained his love of hunting and sport until
his death.
The bo.vhood of John A. Sutton was spent on his father's
farm in Falls township and he attended the graded schools of
Plymouth. When he was nineteen years of age he began carrying
on the home farm, and he remained there until 1905, when he
located in Plymouth, and three years later helped organize the
company of which he is manager. He is a man of good business
judgment and acumen, and the enterprise with which he is con-
nected has already built up a good patronage. He owns the old
homestead of three hundred and twenty acres, on which he has put
many improvements, and during the time he occupied it he was
extensively interested in raising and feeding .stork. lioth he and
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 705
his father alwa.ys took an active interest in the progress and devel-
opment of the eommunity. When the father first located in the
county there were but two houses at Mason City and two at Rock
Falls. John Sutton is a stanch Republican and a representative,
public-spirited citizen. His wife is a member of the Methodist
Episcopal church.
On May 23, 1894, Mr. Sutton married Emma Sutton, who was
born in New Jersey, May 1, 1872, a daughter of Lewis and Char-
lotta (Kirkhuss) Sutton, both living in Lime Creek township. Six
children have blessed this union, namely : Benjamin, Levi, Char-
lotta, Reuben, Ervin and Russell.
N. P. WARD.
N. P. Ward, whose postoffiee address is Plymouth, Iowa, R.
P. D., and who resides on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres
in section 1, Palls township, Cerro Gordo county, came from
Nebraska to this state in 1891. He landed in Cerro Gordo county
in March, and first settled in Portland township, from whence two
years later he moved to his present location, where he has since
been engaged in general farming and stock raising.
Mr. Ward was born in Oneida county, New York, August 12,
1850, son of Joel and I\Iary (Smith) Ward, natives of England and
New York state respectively. Early in the '50s the Ward family
left New York and came west to Illinois and not long afterward
went from there to Wisconsin, where their home was maintained
nn1il late in the '80s. Then they came to Iowa, and in Cerro
Gordo county the parents spent the closing years of their lives and
died. They left the son and three daughters, all of Cerro Gordo
county.
His father a farmer, N. P. Ward was reared to farm life, and
has continued in this line of work, meeting with success in his oper-
ations. He lived in Wisconsin until he was twent.v-seven, then
went to Butler county, Nebraska, and from Nebraska came to
Iowa, as above stated.
In Illinois Mr. Ward married Nancy E. Blarsh, a native of
Rock county. Wisconsin, and a daughter of Edward and Catherine
(Vear-h) Marsh, natives of the .same county in which she was born.
She is one of a family of three children. A sister, Mrs. Myra
Cook, resides in Nebraska. Mr. and Mrs. Ward are the parents
of three children: Grace, born in Illinois, Cora, in Wisconsin,
and Pearl, in Nebraska. Grace is the wife of Joseph Johanni. a
dealer in grain, live stock and coal at TTnion Center, Indiana. Cora
706 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
is at home and Pearl died on May 22, 1910, at twenty-two years
of age.
Politically Mr. Ward has made it a practice to east his fran-
chise with the Republican party, and at different times has served
in local office. Socially, he is identified with the Yeomen and the I.
0. 0. P. of Plymouth, and Mr. and Mrs. Ward belong to the
Rebekahs. The family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal
church.
Mr. "Ward has just recently sold his farm and expects to
remove to Plymouth, Iowa, and retire.
PHILIP W. CARMANY.
Philip W. Carmany, mayor of Plymouth, Iowa, was born in
Summit county, Ohio, December 18, 1838. His parents, John
and Rebecca (Barter) Carmany. natives of Pennsylvania and Ohio,
respectively, were married in the latter state, reared their family,
passed their lives and died there, the father d\nng in 1890, at the
age of seventy-seven years, the mother, March 2, 1906, at the age
of eighty-four. They led the quiet, honest life of farmers, and
were worthy members of the Lutheran church. Of their eleven
children nine grew to maturity and six are still living and scattered
in five states. Mrs. Catherine Powless, a widow, resides in Mich-
igan; Levi, at Massilon, Ohio; Prank, near Akron, Ohio; Mrs.
Rohanna Allen, in Nebraska ; Mrs. Emma Wertzbaugher. in Idaho ;
and Philip W. in Plymouth. Iowa.
Philip W. Carmany spent his youth and early manhood on his
father's farm in Ohio, and at the age of twenty-four years came
west as far as Plainfield, Will county, Illinois. There on the
13th of August, 1862, he enlisted as a member of Company C, One
Hundredth Illinois Volunteers. He served with this command
until the close of the war, almost three years, when he was mustered
out at Nashville, Tennessee, after which he returned to Plainfield,
landing there July 11, 1865. The following year he married and
settled down to farming in Will county, and made that place his
home until 1876, when he moved to Iowa. He purchased a farm of
one hundred and twenty acres in Lime Creek township, Cerro
Gordo county, and established his home on it, and here he lived
and carried on agricultural pursuits iintil 1892, when he removed
to Plymouth. Two years later he sold his farm. Por three or
four years after coming to Plymouth he was engaged in the coal
business, but .sold that and became a hardware dealer. After
conducting a hardware store for eleven years he was succeeded in
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 707
business by Charles Sheldon. On March 1, 1909, he was elected
mayor of Plymouth, the office he now fills, and aside from the
duties of this position he lives retired from active life.
Mrs. Carmany, formerly Miss Tina Deepe, was born at De-
fiance, Ohio, May 25, 1842, daughter of Henry Deppe. She and Mr.
Carmany are the parents of seven children: Arnold, engaged in
farming at Rice Lake, Wisconsin, is married and has nine children ;
John, of Joliet, Illinois, has a wife and four children ; Charles, of
Chicago, engaged in insurance and mercantile business, has two
children ; Mary, wife of John Montgomery, resides at Houston,
Texas; Jennie and Jesse, at home, the latter in the employ of the
Farmer's Telephone Company at Plymouth; and Daisy, wife of
W. F. Jacobs, resides at Deer Creek. Minnesota.
Reared by Lutheran parents, Mr. Carmany identified himself
with the Lutheran church and is a consistent member of the same.
SILAS G. PARKER.
Silas G. Parker, an enterprising and successful farmer of
Lime Creek township, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, where he owns
one hundred and sixty acres of well improved land in section 17,
has made all the improvements and erected the buildings on his
property. He was born in Lake county, Illinois. December 30,
1852, a son of Levi and Martha C. (Vandermark) Parker. The
father was born in Franklin county, Vermont, April 2, 1822, and
died May 15, 1907, and the mother, a native of New York, born in
1827, died in August, 1908. They were parents of seven children,
of whom five survive, namely: Martha, wife of Edward Brown,
of Rolfe, Iowa ; Silas ; Stephen, of Lime Creek township ; Alonzo,
of Mason City; John, of Minnesota.
The boyhood of Levi Parker was spent in Vermont and he
came west with his parents in 1840. They settled in Lake county.
Illinois, where he father purchased government land and placed
it under cultivation, living on it until his death.. Levi Parker also
purchased government land, erected a house and lived in it until
1860. then .sold out and moved with a wagon to Cerro Gordo county,
where he purchased school land in section 16, Lime Creek township.
For the first few years the family lived in a log house. The father
retired to live in Mason City in 1897.
Silas G. Parker worked on his father's farm summers and at-
tended the district school winters. After his marriage he engaged
in farming in Worth county, Iowa, there renting land for three
years. He purchased eighty acres of his present farm in 1876 and
70S HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COLTs^TY
settled on it, improving it as fast as he was able and adding to his
possessions as he could. He is industrious and ambitious and has
been successful through his own efforts. He is highly esteemed by
his fellow citizens and has a multitude of friends. In politics Mr.
Parker is a Jiepublican, and he is affiliated with the M. B. A., the
Yeomen, the I. 0. 0. P. and the Rebekahs. Mrs. Parker was also
a member of the order of Rebekahs during her lifetime.
On March 17, 1873, Jlr. Parker married Prances Guild, who
was born in Vermont. She died August 3, 1906, at the age of
forty-seven years, having borne two children: Clarence, of Mason
City, and Herbert, at home. She was a woman of high character,
a loving wife and mother, and had many warm personal friends.
Her loss has been felt in many circles, where her place can never
be filled.
G. WILLIAM PAGE.
The lumber business of Plymouth, Iowa, is represented by G.
William Page, a partner in the L. A. Page Lumber Company and
manager of the branch office at Plymouth, the main office of the
company being at Mason City, Iowa.
6. William Page was born near Stoughton, Wisconsin, in 1855,
son of Benjamin and Clarinda (Brown) Page. His parents,
natives of Vermont, left the "Green IMountain State" about 1850
and came west as far as Wisconsin, bringing with them their four
little children. They settled on a farm near Stoughton, and there
reared their family, five more children having been born to them
after their removal to Wisconsin. Their eldest son, Benjamin,
died in 1875, at the age of thirty years. Of the others we record
that L. A. is president of the L. A. Page Lumber Company, with
headquarters at Mason City, Iowa ; N. L., of Auburn, ]\Iaine, con-
ducts a lumber and box factory ; Annette, wife of John Douglass, is
a resident of Portland, Oregon; Edgar E. is a farmer and stock
dealer of Stoughton, Wisconsin ; George William is the subject of
this review ; Prank owns and operates the old farm in Wisconsin ;
Ida, wife of James Pratt, lives at Edgarton, Wisconsin ; and Jliss
Stella, the youngest, is a resident of Stoughton.
George William Page was reared on his father's farm, and in
his youth had good educational advantages. As a young man, in
1878, he came to Plymouth, Iowa, and became interested in the
lumber business with his brother, L. A., and since 1880 ha.s had
entire charge of the biLsiness at this point. Also he deals in coal
and fuel.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 70!)
In Wisconsin Mr. Page married Miss Charity Ayers. who was
born and reared near Stoughton, and they have two daughters:
Ethel, wife of Clint E. Cooper, of Plymouth, and Alice, attending
Payette College, Fayette, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have one
child, Lenore.
Politically Mr. Page is a Republican, and while he has never
been a politician he has always taken an interest in local affairs
and has served in township offices. Both he and his wife are
members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
MATT OLSON.
Matt Olson, of the firm of Olson, Eruston Company, Clear
Lake, Iowa, is one of the representative business men of this city.
He came here in 1894 from Hancock county, Iowa, and engaged in
the general merchandise business under the name of M. Olson &
Company, which he continued until shortly previous to the organi-
zation of the present firm, in March, 1903, to succeed Ely &
Eruston, which had been in business about two years. The Olson,
Eruston Company carries a stock of dry goods, groceries, furnish-
ing goods, etc., valued at from $20,000 to $25,000, and employs
seven clerks. This is the largest establishment of its kind in
Clear Lake.
Mr. Olson was born at Ellington, Iowa, August 6. 1875, son of
]\Iartin and Julia (Brager) Olson, early residents of Hancock
county, they having settled there in 1870. Martin Olson was a
farmer throughout his life. He died in 1901, his wife in 1900,
each at about the age of sixty-seven years. Of their children,
now grown and scattered, we record that Mrs. Olaf T. Hanson is a
resident of Clear Lake, Iowa; Mrs. S. Simonson lives in Ventura,
Iowa ; ]Mrs. J. 0. Osmundson, in Thompson, Iowa ; Mrs. A. W.
Halverson, in Jasper, ilinnesota ; 0. M. Olson, who is operating the
home farm in Hancock county, and E. M. Olson also a Hancock
county farmer. Matt Olson was reared on his father's farm,
receiving a good common-school education and, as outlined above,
has been engaged in merchandising since he reached manhood.
In 1890 Mr. Olson married Miss Helen Nelson, a native of
Cerro Gordo county, and they have one son. Maxwell, attending
school in Clear Lake. Mr. and Mrs. Olson are members of the
United Lutheran church, and politically he is a Republican.
710 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
NELSON J. GRUMMON.
Nelson J. Grummon, a pioneer and retired farmer, is one of
tliose who belong particularly to Iowa by reason of long residence
within her borders, having seen the country developed from the
raw prairie to its present high state of productiveness. Mr.
Grummon was bom in western New York, August 7, 1837, his
parents being Horace B. and Caroline (Balcom) Grummon. The
father was born in New Jersey in 1809 and died near Cherry
Valley, Illinois, in 1888. The mother died in her native state,
New York, in 1839, when Mr. Grummon was but two years of age,
and the father took for his second wife Caroline Barton. In 1841
the little family set out for Rockford. Winnebago county, Illinois,
passing through Chicago, which was then a very small town. This
was in the winter time and proved a very long, cold trip. The}'
lived near Rockford two or three years and then removed to Boone
county, near Belvidere, where the father purchased eighty acres
of unbroken prairie. He labored against the usual difficulties of
the pioneer, and managed to build a frame house, break the sod,
and here continued to live until his death. After the death of
the second wife Mr. Grummon 's father married a third time,
Sarah J. Whitmore being united to him. She survives and
resides in Alexander, South Dakota. Nelson J. Grummon was the
only child by his father's first marriage. To the second three
children were born: Sidney, who died near Cherry Valley; Lu-
rana, who married Cyrus Ewing and died near Cherry Valley ; and
George, w-ho is now- a resident of Belvidere. There was no issue
by the third marriage.
Nelson J. Grummon received his early education in the log
school house in New York state and in the subscription schools of
Boone county, Illinois. This educational opportunity was of a
limited character, but Mr. Grummon was naturall,v a student, and
he has since remedied this deficiency by well-advised reading and
research, and may now be truly accounted a man of information
and culture. He remained under the parental roof until his
twenty-second year, when he took unto himself a wife and farmed
for two years on rented land in Boone county. On October 29,
1861, he and his wife and daughter started to drive through to
Cerro Gordo county and on November 5 of that year they arrived
at Geneseo township, locating on eighty acres of wild land which
Mr. Grummon had purchased previous to their arrival. He soon
after added to the prairie holdings ten acres of timber land. He
thus had at hand material for a log house, which was erected and
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 713
moved into by March 13, 1862. The snow was at that time three
feet deep on a level and as the house was only "chinked" on the
south side and the floor laid with common rough boards, it goes
without saying that nobody was over-warm. The size of this house
was fourteen by sixteen feet. The settlers were few and far
between and there were but four families in Linn Grove, which is
now known as Rockwell. The prairie was practically uninhabited,
the houses being built in the timber along the stream, and from
eight to ten miles apart. The wolves were unpleasantly numerous
and a few deer were occasionally to be encountered. Wild geese
and ducks and prairie chickens were delicacies to be found upon the
pioneer's table. What little trading Mr. Crummon did was at the
little store in Mason City, kept by A. B. Tuttle. He had brought
fifty cents worth of sugar along and this was made to last a long
time. There were no tea and coffee. Grain was taken to Cedar
Falls, Ackley and Waverly, fifty and fifty-five miles away, and four
days were recjuired for the trip. The family went eight or ten
miles to covenant meeting, taking along a log chain with which to
pull out the wagon when it became stuck in the mud.
After taking up his abode in his new log house Mr. Grummon
began to break his ground and put up fences. He also traded a
portion of his original farm for the piece upon which his house now
stands, this bringing his property to the road. It was sometime u,
the early '70s that he built his present residence. He has also
built numerous barns and out-buildings and set out many trees.
He was not afraid of hard work and privation and chopped wood
nine hours a day and boarded himself for five shillings a day, thus
saving sufficient money to pay his first taxes. He walked twelve
miles to Mason City to make the payment. He was very active
then as now and he consumed only five hours in making the round
trip. He passed only one house on the way. In the spring after
the removal of the family into the log house there was a stretch of
three weeks when there was nothing to eat except the grain which
was ground in the coffee mill. Those were the days of the tallow
dipped candle and when there was any coffee molasses and sorghum
were used to sweeten it. The mail was received once a week and
was carried on foot from Mason City to Iowa Falls, by way of
Owens Grove. Nearly all the houses in the locality were built of
logs.
Mr. Grummon was married in Boone county, Illinois, October
23, 1859, to Miss Romelia Quackenboss, who had come to the county
with her father when a child. She died February 20, 1888. and
Mr. Grummon was a second time married, August 5, 1891, the lady
714 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
to become his wife bein<j Mrs. JIary M. Sherman. The first union
was blessed by the birth of three children: Jlyrtie. born Hay 18,
1861, and died December 16, 1882 ; Charlie, born JIarch 13. 1865,
and died in Denver, Colorado, December 29, 1889 ; and William A.,
born June 2, 1868, now postmaster at Rockwell, editor of the
Phonograph, and very active in Republican politics. Nelson J.
Grummon, like his father before him, is a stalwart Republican and
takes a keen interest in public events. He has been assessor for
six years and several terms trustee. He and his wife have long been
connected with the Baptist church, as well as the daughter who died.
Mr. Grummon is the owner of ninety well-improved acres.
WILLIAM E. GILDNER.
Throughout northern Iowa the name of Gildner is synonymous
with thrift, enterprise and prosperity, and standing in the front
rank among the leading merchants of this part of this common-
wealth is the firm of Gildner Brothers, who have mercantile estab-
lishments in Cerro Gordo, Floyd, Jones, Delaware, Hancock and
Taylor counties. William E. Gildner was born in Cerro Gordo
county, Iowa. Janiiary 6, 1877. His parents, Henry and Mary
(Brunner) Gildner, natives of Canada, were reared and married in
the United States. Settling in Cerro Gordo county. Iowa, in
1876, they resided here until 1903. when they located at their
present home in Nora Springs. They are the parents of five
children, as follows: William E., the sub.ject of this sketch; John
H.. of Anamosa, Iowa; Edward E., of ^Manchester, Iowa ; Alfred J.,
of Nora Springs ; and Lucy, living at home.
William E. Gildner was brought up on a farm, and after leav-
ing the district school took a commercial course at the Nora Springs
Academy. Beginning life for himself in 1897, he became clerk in a
clothing store at Nora Springs. At the end of six months, having
made himself familiar with the details of the business, he bought a
half interest in the establishment, for two years being .junior member
of the firm of Mitchell & Gildner. In 1902 he purchased his part-
ner's interest in the business, and soon afterward removed to Man-
chester. Iowa, where he established another clothing store. He ha.s
since, in partnership with his brothers, all of them business men, of
ability, established clothing stores in various places, under the firm
name of Gildner Brothers, their stores being located in Nora Springs
Manchester. Anamosa, Mason City, Charles City, Bedford and
Garner. :\Ir. Gildner established his present store at Mason City
in 1907. and has here built up an extensive and lucrative trade.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 715
Mr. Giklner is emphatifall.v a self-made man. He started in
life with barely a hundred dollars of his own, received but eighteen
dollars a month wages as a clerk, and when he purchased a half
interest in the Nora Springs store was forced to borrow two thou-
sand dollars. The Mason City store alone carries a stock valued at
thirty thousand dollars, while the Gildner stores as a whole repre-
sent an investment of one hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars.
Mr. Gildner married, October 6, 1903, Anna Buckman, who
was born at Nora Springs, Floyd county, Iowa, April 4, 1878, and
they have one child, Eleanor C. Mr. and Mrs. Gildner are mem-
bers of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mrs. Gildner belongs to
the Rathbone Sisters, and Mr. Gildner is a member of the Ancient
Free and Accepted Order of Masons, and Knights of Pythias.
Politically he is a Republican.
HENRY McNITT.
Henry McNitt is practically retired from active life but still
lives on his farm of thirty-five acres in Falls township, Cerro Gordo
county, Iowa, which has been his home since 1882, when he came
here from Dodge county, Wisconsin. Its good buildings and
general appearance of thrift are indicative of the success that has
attended his efforts, and here, surrounded by the comforts of life
and with the companionship of his family, he is spending his later
years.
Mr. McNitt was born in Jefferson county, New York, Septem-
ber 26, 1834, a son of J. W. and Julia (Chamberlain) McNitt, the
former a native of New York and the latter of Connecticut. In his
veins is a strain of both Scotch and German blood, his great-grand-
father having been a Scotchman and his great-grandmother a native
of Germany. J. W. McNitt came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in
1881, and died at what is now the home of his son Henry, in August
1885, at the age of seventy-nine years. In his family were six
children, of whom only two, Henry and a brother who resides at
Plymouth, Iowa, are now living.
In 1847, when Henry was thirteen years of age, the McNitts
moved to Wisconsin and settled in Dodge count.v, where he was
reared and attended public school and college, and where he made
his home until 1882. On December 31, 1865, in Ohio, he and Miss
Jane S. Ilallett were united in marriage. She is a native of Ohio,
born in Fulton county in 1837, a daughter of James and Betsey
Hallett, both natives of New York state. James Hallett died at
his home in Ohio in 1903, at the age of ninety-seven years. He
Vol. 11—19
716 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
was twice married and was the father of eight children, and of this
number four are now living. Mrs. MeNitt having two sisters and a
brother in Ohio. Her mother died in 1848, when she was eleven
.vears of age. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. JIcNitt, six
in number, all natives of Wisconsin, we record that Howard A.
died in 1884, at the age of seventeen years and five montlis; Cora
Luella died in Wisconsin in 1874, at the age of three years; Elmer
is engaged in farming in Benson county. North Dakota; John
operates the home farm ; Anna, wife of L. A. Davies, of Armoui-,
South Dakota, has seven children living, Edith, Leo, Merlin,
Dorothy. John, Lewis and Orville, and one, Anna May, deceased;
Edwin, on the home farm, married Delia Dingmen, and they have
three daughters. Dorothy. Ruby and Lucile.
Mr. McNitt has always cast his vote with the Republican party,
and at times has filled local office. The only fraternal organization
to which he ever belonged was the Good Templars. Both he and
his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church.
WARNER GHjDNER.
Warner Gildner. who for twenty-five years has carried on his
present farm on section 14. Palls to^\-nship. Cerro Gordo county.
Iowa, was born in upper Canada January 8, 1861. He is a son of
Henry and Annie (]\Ioch) Gildner, both born in Hesse-Darmstadt.
Germany, in September. 1819. The father died July 7, 1896, and
the mother in April, 1895. They were married in Germany and
in 1846 emigrated to Canada. They were parents of five children,
three of whom are living, namely : Henry, of Nora Springs. Iowa ;
Elizabeth, wife of John Festel, of Nora Springs ; and Warner.
In Germany Henry Gildxier was a brewer and distiller, but on
locating in Canada took up farming, which he continued there until
1866, then moved to Palls township and purchased eighty acres in
section 14. then wild land. He improved the land, erected build-
ings and lived on it until he retired from active life. At the time
of his arrival in Canada, after having spent eleven weeks on the
trip, he had almost nothing, but died a successful and well-to-do
man.
Warner Gildner was a small child when his parents located
in Cerro Gordo county, where he grew up and attended district
schools. After his marriage he began farming for himself in
section 24, on rented land, but in the spring of 1885 he purchased
hLs present farm, which was at that time unimproved. He carried
on this place in connection with the farm he rented until December,
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 717
1896, then erected a house and settled in it. He has brought about
all the improvements and now has a fine farm, with modern equip-
ment and appliances, and the trees it contains were planted by
him. He now owns four hundred and twenty acres of land in
Falls township, three hundred acres of which he cultivates. He
is prominent in local affairs and for fourteen years has held the
otifice of to^\^3ship trustee. He is a member of the Baptist church
at Nora Springs and in politics is a Republican. He stands high
in the estimation of his fellows and has a large circle of warm
personal friends.
On September 27, 1885, Mr. Gildner married Catherine Brun-
ner, a native of Ontario, Canada, born January 30, 1860, daughter
of Jacob and Dorothea (Walker) Brunner the father, bom in
Germany, March 9, 1831, died October 25, 1905, and the mother,
also born in Germany, July 7, 1838, is now residing in Los Angeles,
California. They were parents of fifteen children, of whom four-
teen are now living. Mrs. Brunner was brought to Canada in
1834, when three years of age. His wife was eight years old when
she was brought to the United States, and after spending one year
in New York they moved to Canada, where she grew up and mar-
ried. Mr. Brunner followed farming in Canada and in 1872
located in Floyd county, Iowa. In 1889 he retired from active
life and located in Marble Rock, Iowa, where he died, and his
widow removed to California in 1908.
Three children have been born to Mr. Gildner and his wife,
namely : Elmer J., at home ; Frank H., of Mason City, and Cleo H.,
at home.
ALMERON M. AVERY.
Widely known as a prominent and prosperous agriculturist
of Portland township, Almeron M. Avery also siiperintends the
management of his father's estate in Mason township, known as
' ' Averydale. ' ' He is one of the most extensive farmers and stock
raisers of Cerro Gordo county, and is numbered among its citizens
of good repute and high standing. A son of Myron K. Avery,
he was born June 7, 1868, in Boone county, Illinois.
A Pennsylvanian by birth, Myron K. Avery was born at Tunk-
hannock, Wyoming county, August 20, 1826. Going with his
parents to Boone county, Illinois, in 1838, he there grew to man-
hood. In 1850. following the lure of the bright and shining metal.
he crossed the plains to California, where he dug for gold for four-
teen months, using the pick and shovel to little advantage. He
718 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
subsequently made some money in ranching and teaming, remain-
ing on the Pacific coast four years in all. Returning to Illinois,
where he had previously bought forty acres of land, he continued
a resident of Boone county until the spring of 1884, when he moved
with his family to Missouri. Two years later he settled in Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, which has since been his home. Buying land
in Mason township, he began raising thoroughbred stock, includ-
ing the better grades of horses, cattle and hogs, and improved one
of the finest estates in northern Iowa. He is now living retired
from active pursuits in the village of Portland, his estate being well
managed by his son Almeron. He married Abigail Tongue, who
was born in Cortland county. New York, December 9, 1830, and
died at her home in Portland, Cerro Gordo county, December 9,
1898, at sixty-eight years of age.
Living in Boone county, Illinois, until sixteen years of agt,
Almeron M. Avery obtained his early education in the district
schools. Going with the family westward in 1884, he spent two
years in Missoiiri. in 1886 coming with his parents to Cerro Gordo
county. He ably assisted his father in the improvement of the
land he bought in Mason township, and after a few years bought
his present farm in Portland township. Since the retirement of
his father from active pursuits, in 1895, Mr. Avery has had the
entire charge of both estates, operating altogether two hundred and
sixty acres of as rich and productive land as can be found in this
part of the state. "Averydale"' is a model farm for a stock
raiser, being well supplied with pure water from Lime creek and
from an overflowing well on the place. I\Ir. Avery makes a special-
ity of raising fine stock, an industry in which he has in reality
been engaged since he was fifteen years old. At one time he was
an extensive breeder of thoroughbred Shire and Percheron horses,
but is now devoting his time to the raising of Duroe-Jersey hogs,
handling about one hundred and fifty a year; to breeding Shrop-
shire sheep, keeping about one hundred, and having also a herd of
Shorthorn cattle numbering about seventy-five. The farms superin-
tended by Mr. Avery are among the best to be found in their ap-
pointments and improvements ; the buildings being substantial and
commodious, the new barn on the Mason township estate being a
fac-simile of the original one. which was destroyed by fire in 1898.
Mr. Avery married, in November, 1890, Gertrude C. Adams, a
daughter of J. R. and Mary (Brown) Adams, pioneer residents of
Mason City. Her parents are now living in Los Angeles, Cali-
fornia, although they retain their home in Mason City. They have
three children, Mrs. Avery, and two sons, Arthur and Earl, both
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 719
of Mason City, Iowa. Six children have been bom to Mr. and
Mrs. Avery, namely: Lloyd Everett, Ruth Mary, Russ Clifton,
Merrill Kasson, Bertrand Adams and Alice, but the latter lived
only four brief years. Politically Mr. Avery is a Prohibitionist.
Socially he belongs to the Yeomen of America. Religiously he is
a member of the Baptist church.
JOHN P. ORMSBY.
John F. Ormsby, who owns and operates a fine three hundred
and twenty acre farm in section 31, Dougherty township, is a man
well known in the community in which he resides. He was born
in Cincinnati, Ohio, August 22, 1846, and like many of his neigh-
bors he is of Irish extraction, his parents being Thomas and
Catherine (Egan) Ormsby, both natives of Erin. The father was
born in county Sligo and the mother in county Mayo, both emigrat-
ing to this country, where the former died in 1887, at the age of
eighty-one years, and the latter in 1855, at the age of thirty-one
years. They were the parents of the following seven children :
John P. ; Mary, wife of Joe Weber, of Mina, Arkansas ; Thomas,
living in Hancock county, Iowa; Ellen, wife of Michael Carroll of
Omaha, Nebraska; Catherine, deceased; Robert, a citizen of Clay-
ton eountj', Iowa; and Catherine, (single) living in Minneapolis.
The father came to America in 1828, the voyage taking six weeks.
After working for a time in Vermont he eame westward to Cin-
cinnati, where he married. In 1854 he went down the Ohio river
and up the Mississippi to Cla.yton county, Iowa, where he pur-
chased two hundred and forty acres of wild land. Upon this
land was an old log school house, sixteen by twenty-four, and this
served as a home until a better one could be built. The father
spent his life improving and operating this land and was living
there at the time of his death.
Mr. Ormsby spent his early years in Cincinnati and attended
the public schools of that city for a time. He was nine years of
age when his parents moved to Clayton county and there he at-
tended the district schools and reached manhood. In 1875 he
started out for himself in the world and came to Cerro Gordo
county where he purchased eighty acres of wild land in section 31.
There was only one house between his place and Rockwell and there
were the usual difficulties to be encountered in a thinly settled
district. He made nine trips to and from the old homestead in
Clayton county before he finally took up his residence there. He
proceeded to break some of the land and put up a house, eighteen
720 HISTORY OF CBRRO GORDO COUNTY
by twenty-four feet. In 1877 he put his land into wheat and
raised a thirty bushel crop. The following year he did the same
thing and had prospects of a forty bushel crop, but in July the hot
winds swept over it and cooked it and as he expresses it he had
on his hands eighteen hundred bushels of chicken feed. This
calamity, which ruined a great many people, put an end to Mr.
Ormsby's wheat raising in Iowa. He is a philosopher and able to
take the bad with the good and his varied experiences have made
a successful farmer out of him. He has also been fortunate
in his feeding and raising of stock. He keeps informed of the
latest movements in scientific agriculture and his farm is finely
improved.
Mr. Ormsby is a loyal Democrat and his fellow citizens have
imposed upon him several public trusts. He is at present to\vn-
ship trustee ; has served as township assessor and held all the school
offices;, and has filled the office of road upervisor and .justice of the
peace. He holds membership in the Knights of Pythias of Mason
City and he and his family are members of St. Patrick's Catholic
church at Dougherty.
On the last day of the year 1878 Mr. Ormsby was united in
marriage to Miss Mary T. Blake, born in county Clare, Ireland,
August 15, 1857. She is the daughter of Michael and Hannah
(Gordon) Blake, who left their native country for America and
settled in Clinton, Canada, in 1858. In 1872 they removed to
"Winneshiek county, where five years later the father died at the
age of seventy-nine years. The mother lived for a number of
years with Mrs. Ormsby, her demise occurring in 1893, at the age
of seventy-four years. Mr. Ormsby was married in Clayton coun-
ty and then set out with his bride for Rockwell. The weather was
cold and the snow was very deep, but nevertheless Mr. Ormsby
wished to go to his farm and got a man to consent to drive them
there. Mr. and Mrs. Ormsby are the parents of the following six
children: Loretto, wife of Martin John :\rullen of Dougherty;
Mattie, who is at home; May, the wife of Dr. J. L. Fleming, of
Chicago; Robert F., living on his father's farm in Dougherty town-
ship; George who is in Cheney, Washington; and John Walter,
who is still at home.
BRUCE A. BRYANT.
For many years a prominent and successful acricultnrist and
stock raiser of Cerro Gordo county, the late Bruce A. Bryant,
home farm adjoined Mason City on the northeast, contrili-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 721
uted generously of both time and influence in the development and
advancement of the interests of his community. A man of superior
business qualifications, honest and sincere in his convictions, wise
in his judgments, he well merited the high esteem and respect so
cordially given him by all. Descended from a family of promi-
nence, he was born September 17, 1835, in Chenango county. New
York. His parents, Almon and Lydia (Haxton) Bryant, were
both born and bred in New York state, coming from honored Scotch
Irish ancestry.
Educated in the common school, Bruce A. Bryant remained
at home until twenty-two years of age, assisting his father, who was
a butcher by trade and a stock dealer. Coming to Cerro Gordo
county in 1857, he resided for four years in Mason City, after
which he purchased land just south of the place, and there lived a
few years. In 1862 he enlisted as a soldier in Company B, Thirty-
second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which he served for two years,
a large part of the time, however, being ill. Returning home, Mr.
Bryant purchased the farm now owned by his daughter, Mrs. U.
G. McGowan, just northeast of Mason City, and immediately began
its improvement. It was in its primitive wildness when he as-
sumed its possession, but under his intelligent management it
soon became one of the most attractive and best improved estates
in this part of the county. Here he continued his agricultural
labors successfully until his death, September 24, 1895, in the mean-
time adding to liis landed possessions until he had title to land in
Mason, Lime Creek and Falls townships, his farms aggregating
five hundred and seventy-one acres, all of which he personally
superintended. In addition to carrying on general farming with
great success he dealt extensively in stock, finding that branch of
industry quite profitable. Politically Mr. Bryant was a sound
Republican, and served as township trustee, while in his earlier
years he was county supervisor. He was a member of C. H.
Huntley Post, G. A. R., and in his religious views was liberal,
favoring the Universalist belief.
Mr. Bryant married, in Mason City, Iowa, May 26, 1860,
Cynthia A. Cole, who was born in Pike county, Ohio, November 11,
1839, a daughter of Edmund C. and Hannah (Kilbourn) Cole.
Her parents were both born in Massachusetts, the father being of
English lineage and the mother of Welsh ancestry. Mr. Cole,
whose father was a seafaring man, was a farmer and a painter.
Coming with his family to Iowa in 1846, he lived in Iowa City and
in other places in Iowa, finally removing, about 1860, to California,
where his death occurred some ten years later. His widow sur-
vived him many years, passing away in the winter of 1895-6.
722 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Three children were born of the union of Mr. and Mrs. Bryant,
namely : Almon C., who died in June, 1905, aged forty-four years ;
Maud, wife of U. G. McGowan ; and S. Grant. Almon C. Bryant
succeeded to the independent occupation to which he was reared,
and until his death was prosperously engaged in agricultural pur-
suits. He was twice married. He married first Hattie B. True.
She died in October, 1890, leaving one child, Elwin K., who died
in 1893, in the sixth year of his age. He married for his second
wife Matilda Eaton, and their two daughters, Ethel May and
Mildred Eveline, are living in Seattle, Washington.
U. G. McGowan, who married Miss Maud Bryant, was born
May 18, 1873, in Pike county, Missouri. At the age of twenty
years he came to Cerro Gordo county, and has since been actively
engaged in agricultural pursuits, now having charge of the Bryant
homestead. He has held various local offices of trust, and is now
president of the Pleasant Hill Telephone Compttny. Mr. and
Mrs. McGowan have three children, namely: Clarence B., aged
twelve years ; Wayne A., nine years old ; and Earl, aged six years.
S. Grant Bryant, of Seattle, Washington, is carrying on a sub-
stantial business as a real estate dealer, a lumber dealer, and in
the building of houses to sell. He married Leonora Parkhurst,
and they have one child. Pulton, two years old.
Mrs. Bryant is still living, hale and hearty, at seventy-one
years of age.
JOHN S. EDGAR.
For a nearly a quarter of a century a resident of Cerro Gordo
county, John S. Edgar, who operates an elevator and conducts a
coal business at Rock Falls, has been an important factor in the
development of this part of the state and in the advancement of its
welfare. A son of William Edgar, he was born, July 12, 1842, in
Dalkeith, Scotland, the home of his ancestors for many generations.
William Edgar was born and bred in Dumfries, Scotland, and
there married. Coming with his family to this country in 1837,
he spent about five years in Brooklyn, New York, where as a land-
scape gardner he laid out many beautiful grounds in and around
New York city, including Greenwood and Rockaway. Returning
to the old country in 1842, he remained there ten .years. In the
spring of 1852 he came again to America, bringing his wife and
children with him, and six months later located in Janesville.
Wisconsin. He engaged in farming and gardening, continuing
thus employed until after the breaking out of the Civil war. lie sub-
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 723
sequently enlisted in the Twenty-second Wisconsin Volunteer In-
fantry, in which he served until the close of the conflict. Return-
ing home, he died in the fall of 1865, from diseases contracted while
in the army, aged sixty-two years. The maiden name of his wife
was Helen Simm. She was born in Dalkeith, Scotland, October
23, 1807, and died, March 5, 1907, having almost rounded out a full
century of life. Her husband was a Scotch Presbji;erian in reli-
gion and in the later years of her life she was affiliated with the
Methodist church. Their seven children were all born in Scot-
land, and three of them are still living, namely: Archibald, of
Imperial, California; Mrs. J. G. Wray, of Janesville, Wisconsin;
and John S. One son, William Edgar, served in the Second New
York Heavy Artillery during the Civil war.
Reared in Wisconsin, John S. Edgar was educated in the
public schools, and during the Civil war was engaged as a teamster
in JMissouri and Arkansas for nine months, but had to return home
to care for his mother and the farm. In 1867, desirous of broaden-
ing his field of action, Mr. Edgar came to Iowa, locating first in
Mitchell county, where he followed farming four years. Going
to Worth county in 1871, he continued as an agriculturist until
1886. He then established an elevator at Rock Palls, and this he
has since conducted successfully, at the same time having built up
an extensive and remunerative coal business and being interested
also in quarrying.
Mr. Edgar married, in Wisconsin in 1866, Elizabeth Woollis-
croft, who was born in Staffordshire, England, December 2, 1845 ;
her father, William B. Wooliscroft, was born in England in 1816,
came with his wife and seven children to the United States in 1859,
locating in Janesville, Wisconsin, and he died in 1898 in California.
He married Hannah Buckston, who was born in England in 1819,
and was accidentally killed in July, 1868, in Iowa. Mr. and Mrs.
Woolliscroft reared nine children, seven of whom live in California,
one in Washington, while Mrs. Edgar is in Iowa. Eight children
have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Edgar, namely : Mrs. Annie Blake-
ley, of Mason City; Mrs. Vinnie Cook, of Waterloo; Mrs. May
White, of Rock Falls; William David, of Rock Falls; Thomas B.,
of California; Ray; Glen W., of Rock Falls; and John Sim, Jr.,
who lived but nine years. Politically Mr. Edgar, although he cast
his first presidential vote for John C. Fremont and afterwards
for Abraham Lincoln for president, has always been a Democrat.
724 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ADDISON M. BAKER.
A. M. Baker, farmer and dairyman, is a well known resident
of Lake township, where he owns and operates a farm of three
hundred and twenty acres finely improved by himself. This is
located in sections 9 and 4 and is a valuable piece of property.
Mr. Baker was born in Rock county, Wisconsin, August 15, 1846,
and is a son of Benjamin C. and Lydia (Case) Baker, natives of
New York who early moved to Wisconsin. The father was a
farmer and died at a comparatively age, (April 15, 1865). He
left five children, all of whom are living. They are B. P., a farmer
residing near Clear Lake ; William H., who lives in Dakota ; Mrs.
A. W. Wood, of Lake township ; Mrs. Charles Searles, of West
Union, Iowa ; and Mr. Baker. The mother survived until Novem-
ber 21, 1897, her age being seventy-eight years.
Mr. Baker acquired his education in the common schools and
upon his father's farm received his training in the various depart-
ments of agriculture. lie was very young at the beginning of
the Civil war, but in 1864, when he became eighteen, he enlisted in
Company D of the Thirty-eighth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry
and served in the Army of the Potomac until 1865. He returned
home and took up farming, marrying in 1870. In the spring of
1892 he resolved upon a change of location, and recognizing the
superior advantages of Cerro Gordo county, located there, purchas-
ing his present home farm. For the past three years he has been
engaged in dairying and sells milk and cream at Clear Lake. He
owns seventy cows, all of them of good grades, and has achieved
unqualified success in his new calling.
Mr. Baker's political convictions are Republican and he is the
friend of progress and all that tends to work towards the common
good of the community. He has served in various county and
school offices. He has several plccisant affiliations, among them
membership in the Masonic order and the Tom Howard Post, No.
101 of the Grand Army of the Republic. IMrs. Baker belongs to
the Women 's Relief Corps.
Mr. Baker was married in 1870, in Wisconsin, to Miss Melissa
Wood, who died in Eldorado, Kansas, in 1882, leaving three chil-
dren: Orin, now of California; Mrs. Oharles Hopper, of Beloit,
Wisconsin; and Arthur, a farmer living in Lake to\\-nship. He
was married a second time, in 1884, to Mrs. Hattie (Peck) Hender-
son, of Wisconsin, and the following eight children have been born
to them: Perley (married), who is living at home; Etheline, wife
of Prank Paul of Union township ; Hazel, Benjamin H., Jessie Joy,
6^d^ci>^y-i^ /M^ (^a/3-€A^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 727
A. M. Jr., Vaida and Lois. The Baker post office is Clear Lake.
Mrs. Baker had a son by her former marriage, William H. Hender-
son, a farmer in Lake township.
ARTHUR H. DEAN.
One of the most prosperous and intelligent agriculturists of
Cerro Gordo county, Arthur H. Dean owns and occupies a valuable
farm of three hundred and twenty acres in sections twenty-five
and twenty-six. Mason township, where he is carrying on general
farming after the most approved modern methods, exercising great
skill and good .judgment in his labors. A son of Richard Dean,
he was born in 1862 in Winnebago county, Illinois, and was there
brought up and educated.
A native of England, Richard Dean was born in Yorkshire,
where the days of his boyhood and youth were spent. Emigrating
to this country at the age of eighteen years, he was for some time
employed in the Rhode Island woolen factories. When ready to
start in life on his own account he migrated to Illinois, and was en-
gaged in tilling the soil in Winnebago county until 1885. Coming
in that year to Cerro Gordo county, he purchased two hundred and
forty acres of land in Mason township, and having placed the larger
part of it under culture bought eighty acres of adjoining land. Here
he continued to live and labor until his death, in 1902, at the
venerable age of four score or more years. He was an unswerving
Republican in politics. He married Ann Saunderson, who was
born in Manchester, England, their union being solemnized in
Providence, Rhode Island. She was a member of the Episcopal
church. She preceeded him to the world beyond, passing away in
1898, aged seventy-six years. They reared three children, as fol-
lows: Prank, residing at Victoria, where he has large holdings;
Arthur H. ; and Mary, who died in 1903, aged thirty-seven years.
Brought up in Illinois, Arthur H. Dean received a common
school education, and after coming with the family to Mason town-
ship, Cerro Gordo county, assisted his father in improving the large
and valuable farm which he now owns and occupies. A gentle-
man in the prime of life, active, energetic, with a clear head for
business, Mr. Dean has long been a prominent factor in the in-
dustrial interests of this part of the county and is everywhere
respected as a man of honor and worth. Politically Mr. Dean is a
stalwart Republican, and religiously he attends the Methodist
Episcopal church.
Mr. Dean married, in February. 1890, at Charles Citv, Iowa.
728 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Fidelia A. Elwell, who was born in La Salle county, Illinois, but
was brought up and educated in Floyd county, Iowa. Of this
union two children have been born, namely: Earl M., aged fifteen
years ; and Edna, aged tliirteen years.
JOHN DAWSON.
Probably no citizen in the length and breadth of Cerro Gordo
county can more truly be accounted a self made man than John
Dawson, a farmer residing in section 8 of Lake to\\Tiship. He has
proved that the best silver spoon to have in one's mouth at birth
is courage, and presistent industry and the manner in which he has
utilized the natural resources of his adopted country is a credit to
him. Mr. Dawson is British in nationality, having been born in
Lincolnshire, England, October 10, 184.3. His parents were Carter
and Charlotta (Wills) Dawson. The father died in 1848, at the
age of thirty-four years, but the mother survived for many years,
departing this life in 1874. They were the parents of three chil-
dren, Mr. Dawson being the only one of these who survived.
Deprived of his natural protector at the early age of five years,
John Dawson was as soon as possible launched forth upon his own
resources. His first occupation was picking up potatoes, for which
he received the enormous compensation of six cents a day.
Naturally his education was neglected, there being little time to
attend school. In 1866 he married and in 1872 he left his wife
and four children in England and started for America. He
landed at Quebec with three cents of his savings in his pocket and
two dollars and a half which a man had given him for looking
after some horses while on board ship. He went to Franklin
county. New York, and secured employment on a farm and in 1873
found himself in a position to send for his wife and children.
Soon afterward he came west and located in Cerro Gordo county,
working rented land in Lake township. By the exercise of great
thrift he was able in 1882 to purchase his present farm of one hun-
dred and fifty acres. He has done wonders in his improvement of
this place and whereas when he bought the farm it did not produce
over twenty bushels of corn to the acre, last year it averaged
seventy bushels to the acre. He started into the dairy business
at once and has conducted that with great profit in connection with
his farming. In 1903 he gave its management into the hands of his
daughter, Charlotta A., who has ever since successfully operated
the CUear Lake Dairy, as it is called. She understands every
detail of the work, milking the cows, delivering the milk, and
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 729
proving her competence with financial results. Mr. Dawson has
also recently rented his farm and has partially retired from hard
work. For a number of years Mr. Dawson gave his support to
the Democratic party, but recently has voted the Republican ticket.
He served at one time as school director of Lake township.
Mr. Dawson was married in England, May 15, 1866, to Eliza-
beth Daubney, who was born in England April 21, 1846. To the
union were bom twelve children, the following seven surviving:
Elizabeth A., wife of Isaac Furley, of Lake township; Robert J.
and James H., who resides in North Dakota; Charlotta A., owner of
the Clear Lake Dairy ; Charles C, of Lincoln township ; Frederick
H., of Clear Lake township; and George C, of North Dakota.
In addition to his Iowa property Mr. Dawson owns one hun-
dred and sixty acres of improved land in North Dakota.
THOMAS W. DENT.
Distinguished not only for his good citizenship, but for his
honorable record as a soldier in the Civil war, T. W. Dent, of Mason
township, is numbered among the enterprising and prosperous
agriculturists of Cerro Gordo county. A son of Joseph Dent, he
was born October 8. 1846, at Beaver Dam, Dodge county, Wiscon-
sin. Born in the Empire state, Joseph Dent accompanied his
parents to Wisconsin when he was a boy, passing enroute through
Chicago, which was then a small hamlet, while Milwaukee had but
thirteen houses within its limits. He began working for himself
as soon as old enough, continuing his residence in Wisconsin until
his death, in 1857, at the early age of thirty-five years. He mar-
ried Elizabeth Emerson, who was also born in New York state,
and was brought iip in Wisconsin. After the death of her hus-
band she lived for a number of years in Faribault county, Minne-
sota, from there coming to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, and making
her home with her son T. W. Dent until her death, at the age of
seventy-one years, in 1892. She reared four children of whom
but two are living, T. W. and Wilson M., the latter of Chamberlain,
South Dakota.
In February, 1864, at the age of seventeen years, T. W. Dent
enlisted in Company I, Thirty-first Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry,
and being assigned to the Western Army served until the close of
the conflict. He saw duty in Kentucky and Tennessee, was with
Sherman in the Atlanta campaign and marched with him to the
"Sea." At the last engagement, in Bentonville, North Carolina,
March 18, 1865, he received his first serious wound, although he
730 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
had many close calLs in other battles, and at the time of the Grand
Review in Washington was in the hospital. His record as a soldier
shows that during the entire campaign Mr. Dent was never sick
and never off duty. In 1866 he came with his mother to Minne-
sota and immediately commenced his career as a farmer. In 1873
he came to Cerro Gordo county, and subsequently purchased eighty
acres of land in section six, Mason township, and in the improve-
ment of the farm has been vers- successful. Coming here with
limited meaas. he has made the most of his opportunities, by means
of industry, perseverance and .judicious management acquiring a
competency.
Mr. Dent married, in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in 1868,
Emeline Cannon, who was born in Chautauqua, county. New York,
in 1848. Her parents, Amaziah and Cornelia (Wait) Cannon,
natives of Chautauqua county, New York, migrated with their
family to Wisconsin in 1855, and for eleven years resided in Colum-
bia county. Coming from there to Iowa in the spring of 1866,
they located in the north half of the northwest quarter of section
six. Mason township. Mr. Cannon having paid $3.00 an acre for
the land the previous fall. He subsequently bought eighty acres
of land in Lake township, giving six dollars an acre. The land in
both townships was in its original wildness, he and his descendants
having made all the improvements on the property. Mr. Cannon
died on the home farm February 9, 1881, aged sixty-one years, and
Mrs. Cannon, now a venerable woman of eighty-seven years, still
resides on the old homestead. Three children blessed the union
of Mr. and Mrs. Cannon, as follows: Sidney, a prosperous .voung
agriculturist, who died in 1891, leaving a widow; Emeline, now
Mrs. Dent; and Etta, widow of Andrew W. Storer, of whom a
brief personal .sketch may be found elsewhere in this volume.
Mr. and Mrs. Dent are the parents of four children, namely:
Elmer Joseph, a telegraph operator at St. Paul, Minnesota ; Sidney
A., of Mason City, an electrician employed in the electric plant;
Louis W. ; and Jesse Grant. Politically ]\Ir. Dent is an uncom-
promising Republican. He is a member of the Independent Order
of Odd Fellows and of the C. H. Ilmitley Post, No. 42, G. A. R.,
of Mason City. Mrs. Dent is a member of the Women's Relief
Corps.
AARON N. GRIMM.
Among those who en.joy a wide acquaintance in Cerro Gordo
county and play a prominent part in the industrial and social life
of the community is Aaron N. Grimm, co\inty supervisor and stock
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 731
buyer. Mr. Grimm was elected to the supervisorship in November,
1908, and is filling the office with great credit to himself and the
county. He was born at Hinckley, Dekalb county, Illinois, August
27, 1863, his parents, being Henry and Addie (Laudermelch)
Grimm, both of them natives of Penns.vlvania. The father was
born in 1832 and died at Hinckley. February 19, 1900. The
mother survived until November 1, 1909, her age at the time of
her demise being seventy-six years. They were the parents of
eight children, of whom the following six are alive: Charles M., of
Mason township, who for two years held the world's championship
for shot gun shooting of live birds; George W., a citizen of Clear
Lake ; Aaron N. ; Alice, wife of G. A. Raymer, of Paw Paw,
Illinois ; Elmer S., of Big Rock, Illinois ; and Eugene of Clear Lake,
Iowa. The father grew to manhood in his native state, married,
and in 1856 moved to Illinois, locating in Dekalb county and for
a while farmed on a modest scale on eighty acres of land which was
in a wild state when he acquired it. He was thrifty and indus-
trious and found success, owning a very large tract of land at the
time of his death.
Mr. Grimm was reared on a farm in Illinois and enjoyed the
advantage of a graded school education. At the age of twenty
years he started out in life for himself and farmed in Dekalb
county on rented land. He early showed ability in buying and
selling stock and eventually found himself in the position to buy
land of his own. In 1891 Mr. Grimm sold out in Illinois and the
same year came to Cerro Gordo county, where he purchased first
eighty and then one hundred and sixty acres more in section 25,
Clear Lake township. He improved this land and lived upon it
until December, 1893, when he rented it and removed to Clear Lake
to engage in the meat business. In 1898 he sold his meat market
and two years later bought it back, again disposing of it in 1905.
While actively engaged in agriculture he was an extensive stock
feeder and from boyhood to the present day he has dealt in stock,
now handling on an average of two hundred and fifty cars a year.
In November, 1908, he assumed his present office of county super-
visor.
Mr. Grimm finds much pleasure and profit in his affiliations,
these including membership in the Knights of P.Ai:hias, the Masonic
order, the Woodmen, the Modern Brotherhood of America, all of
Clear Lake, and the Elks at Mason City, Iowa. He approves of
the present policies and principles of Republicanism, but was a
supporter of Grover Cleveland.
On December 3, 1884, Mr. Grimm took as his bride Miss Isola
732 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Bartmess, born May 27, 1864, at Maple Park, Kane county, Illinois.
They have a beautiful home in Clear Lake, this having been re-
modeled with all the modem improvements. Two children have
blessed the union of Mr. and Mrs. Grimm, these being Goldbern
L., born January 19, 1886, and Myrtle, bom February 24, 1890.
The latter married Lester J. Watts.
CHARLES PROMM.
Charles Promm, who is engaged in general farming and stock
raising on his finely improved farm of one hundred and twenty
acres in section 11, Lime Creek township, Cerro Gordo county, and
whose post office address is Plymouth, Iowa, R. P. D. No. 5, took
up his residence here in the spring of 1875. At first he rented
the land, then he bought it, and here for a period of thirty-five
years he has lived and successfully labored. His plow was the
first to turn the soil of his now well cultivated fields, and he made
all the improvements on his farm.
Mr. Promm was bom in Mecklenburg, now a part of Prussia,
March 26, 1850, but his earliest recollections are of a home in "Wis-
consin, his parents, John and Johanna (Kludt) Promm, having
left the old country in the fall of 1851 and emigrated to America.
They settled on a farm in Washington county, Wisconsin, where
they passed the rest of their lives and died. They were members
of the German Lutheran church, and were highly respected citizens
of the community in which they lived. Their two sons, John and
Charles, came from the Wisconsin home to Iowa and are residents
of the same township.
After coming to this state Charles Promm married Miss Cathe-
rine Werle, who was bom in Washington county, Wisconsin,
November 18, 1860. Her parents, Jacob and Margaret (Schmidt)
Werle, both of German birth, came as young people to America,
for some years lived in Wisconsin, and subsequently came from that
state to Iowa. Both died at Manley, Worth county, this state.
To Mr. and Mrs. Promm have been given a daughter and two
sons, namely: Anna, wife of G. W. Edgar, of Rock Palls, Iowa,
and John and Edward, at home, attending school.
Politically Mr. Promm is independent. His religious creed
is that of the German Lutheran church, in which he was reared and
of which he is a worthy member.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 733
ANDREW I. SONDROL.
One of the estimable citizens of Clear Lake whose loss is still
a matter of deep regret was Andrew I. Sondrol, of the firm of
Halvorson and Sondrol, general mercantile dealers. Mr. Sondrol
was born in Norway, December 11, 1856, and died in Clear Lake,
October 22, 1906. He was the son of Iven and Mary (Hann)
Sondrol, both of whom lived and died in their native place. They
were the parents of eleven children, four of whom are living.
Three of these live in Norway, and Einor is a citizen of Esterville,
Iowa.
Mr. Sondrol was reared on a farm in the mountainous district
of Norway and received a good education, attending a college for
a time. In 1876, when he was twenty years of age, he concluded
to seek his fortunes in the land of great opportunity and resources
as yet undeveloped, where a great many of his associates had
preceded him. Upon landing he looked about him for awhile and
then came on to Iowa, locating at Decorah, where for a year he
attended the Norwegian College. He then found employment as
a clerk, and in 1881 returned home on a three mouths' visit. The
spring of 1882 found him again in the United States and located
in Esterville, Iowa, where he established himself in the general
merchandise business. In 1885 he sold out and in March of the
ensuing year went to Clear Lake, which was to prove his permanent
home. Here he entered a business partnership, forming the firm
of Halvorson & Sondrol, this continuing until 1889, when Mr.
Sondrol purchased his associate's interest and thereafter until his
death conducted the business alone. He was a successful man
and whatever success he achieved was due to his sound business
methods and integrity. Politically he gave his support to the
Republican party and denominationally M'as a Lutheran. He
held membership in the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Wood-
men of America.
On October 14, 1883, Mr. Sondrol was united in marriage to
Miss Carrie M. Palmer, born at Spirit Lake, Iowa, November 29,
1864. She was the daughter of Eben and Lydia (Denney) Pal-
mer, the former born at Canton, Pennsylvania, June 6, 1835, and
the latter in Pennsylvania, May 5, 1838. These pioneers came west
to Iowa, making the journey by wagon, and located at Spirit Lake,
where for years the father was engaged in the hardware business.
He retired from business some time ago and in 1908 came to Clear
Lake, where they reside with Mrs. Sondrol. Besides his widow,
Mr. Sondrol is survived by two children, Thorkel, who has con-
ducted the store since his father's death, and Edith.
Vol. 11—20
734 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
FRANK S. BABCOCK.
Standing high among the keen, progressive and business like
agriculturists who have so ably assisted in advancing the farming
interests of Cerro Gordo county is Prank S. Babcock, who until
within a very short time ago owned and operated a finely improved
farm of two hundred and sixty acres in sections twenty-three and
twenty-six. Mason township. This estate he has recently sold, in-
tending to become a permanent resident of Mason City. He was
born in 1853 in Cortland county, New York, which was likewise the
birthplace of his father, Ira J. Babcock.
When about eighteen years old Ira J. Babcock, zealous to try
life in a newer country, drove across the intervening states from
Cortland county. New York, to Chicago, Illinois, where he remained
a short time, although he did not then decide to locate in the west.
Making another trip to Illinois in 1856, he located in Preeport,
Stephenson county, where he was most successfully engaged in
building and contracting until 1884. Being then well advanced
in years, he retired from active pvirsuits and continued his resi-
dence in that city until 1884, when he came to this county, where
his death occurred at the age of eighty-four, in 1902. His wife,
whose girlhood name was Abigail Curtiss, was born in New York
state, where they were married, and she died in January, 1909, in
Cerro Gordo county, aged eighty-seven years. They reared four
children, as follows : Edward 0., a dry goods merchant in New York
city; Mrs. Alice Bigelow, of Chicago, Illinois; Mrs. Mary V. Good-
hue, of Chicago ; and Prank S.
Brought up and educated in Preeport. Illinois, Prank S. Bab-
cock learned the carpenter's trade when .voung, and subsequently
was associated with his father as a carpenter and builder. Coming
to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, in 1884, he bought land in sections
thirty-five and thirt.y-six, in the southern part of Mason township,
and after making many improvements on the farm sold it at an
advantage. He subsequently bought the farm of two hundred and
sixty acres referred to above, and in its management was especially
successful, carrying on general farming and stock raising with
most satisfactory pecuniary results.
On May 28, 1888, Mr. Babcock married, in Cerro Gordo coun-
ty, Mattie B. Milligan, who was born in Winnebago county, Illinois,
June 27, 1864. Her father, James Milligan, a native of Hunter-
don county. New Jersey, spent several years of his earlier life in
Winnebago county, Illinois, from there coming in 1877 to Iowa.
Buying land in Cerro Gordo county, he carried on farming for a
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 735
while. Subsequently selling his farm, he removed to Mason City,
and here lived retired until his death, March 11, 1905, at the age of
seventy-eight years. He married Jane Bull, who vi^as born in
Perry countj^, Pennsylvania, and died in Mason City, Iowa, Jan-
uary 12, 1903, aged sixty-eight years. Of the eleven children
born to Mr. and Mrs. Milligan, Mrs. Babcock is the only one now
residing in Cerro Gordo county, although nine of them are living,
six sons being engaged in railroad work in various parts of the
Union.
Mr. and Blrs. Babcock have two children, namely : Mabel, wife
of George McLaury, of Mason City, and who has one child, Ella
McLaury; and Edward 0. Politically Mr. Babcock is a steadfast
supporter of the principles of the Republican party. He has been
secretary of the local school board for the past fifteen years, and
for eight years has served as township trustee. Fraternally he is
a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. Al-
though his parents were strict Baptists and brought him up in the
same religious faith, he belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church,
of which Mrs. Babcock is also a member.
HON. JOSEPH J. CLARK.
Honorable Joseph J. Clark, judge of the district court of the
Twelfth Judicial District of Iowa and a resident of Mason City,
was born in Madison county, Kentucky, October 30, 1851, a son
of James W. and Martha (Embry) Clark.
James W. Clark was a graduate of Danville University in
Kentucky and was fir.st a lawyer, being engaged in the practice of
law at Lexington, Kentucky, for a few years, and afterward he
became a Presbyterian minister. He was twice a delegate to the
Presbyterian General Assembly. He married in Richmond, Ken-
tucky, and his wife, Martha E., was a daughter of William and
Nancy Embry. William Embry, who was an early pioneer of
Madison county, became a wealthy planter, and was an acquain-
tance and friend of Daniel Boone. James W. Clark was of Scotch-
Irish and English descent. His grandfather, James, was of a
wealthy English family which located in Albemarle county, Vir-
ginia. He was a prominent planter of the colonial period. The
subject's grandfather, John, was a native of Virginia and an attor-
ney. He married Maria Moore MeCalla, of Virginia, whose
parents were natives of the north of Ireland. Her father, Andrew,
served as purveyor-general of the medical department of Virginia
in the Revolutionary war. The subject's grand uncle, John Mc-
736 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Calla, was an attorney and marshall of the state of Kentucky for
about twenty years and was also auditor of the treasury, during
his incumbency being located in Washington, D. C. He was a
soldier and saw service at the battle of River Raisin ; was a promi-
nent member of the legal fraternity, and a member of the legisla-
ture of Kentucky. James "W. Clark and his wife moved from
Kentucky to Saline county, Missouri. In 1865 they removed to
Nebraska City, Nebraska, and the following year to Clarinda, Iowa.
The mother was born in Kentucky in 1819, her parents being
natives of the Keystone state. Her father's parents came from
Scotland and on her mother's side she was descended from the
French Huguenots. Both of Mr. Clark 's parents died at Clarinda,
his father in his sixty-fourth year and his mother in her eighty-
third.
Joseph J. was the eight in order of birth of the family of eight
sons and two daughters born to his parents. One of the number,
Honorable T. E. Clark, late of Clarinda, was at one time a member
of the Iowa state senate. Judge Clark accompanied his parents
on their several removals, as above stated ; had the advantage of a
high school education ; and afterward by farm work, teaching and
other lines of endeavor, earned the means with which he finished
his education. He is a graduate of the law department of the
State University of Iowa and was admitted to practice in the
supreme court with the class of 1873. The year following his
graduation Mr. Clark settled in Mason City, Iowa, and entered into
a partnership wath Honorable John S. Stanbery, under the firm
name of Stanbery & Clark, which association continued with a large
and successful law practice for more than a quarter of a century.
During this time I\Ir. Clark took a prominent part in all the im-
portant civil, social, political and public movements and enter-
prises of the city and county. He was elected county attorney
of Cerro Gordo county in 1886 and filled that office three successive
terms. In June. 1908, upon the resignation of Judge CliflPord P.
Smith, the Republican Judicial Convention held at Charles City
nominated Mr. Clark for the unexpired term of Judge Smith.
Governor Cummings endorsed the action by appointing ]\Ir. Clark
to fill the vacancy, and that fall he was elected and has now filled
the office for more than two years, as one of the .iudges of the
Twelfth Judicial District. He was renominated in June and re-
elected in November, 1910. He has always been a Republican in
polities, and since coming to Mason City has been a member of the
Methodist Episcopal church, filling prominent places in both polit-
ical and religious organizations.
""^^^ /r ..%f*^^^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 739
Judge Clark was twice elected to the lay electoral conference
and to the general conference and served as a lay delegate to the
general conference of the Methodist church held in Baltimore,
Maryland, in May, 1908. He has always been active in various
temperance, political, literary and philanthropical organizations.
On September 13, 1875, Mr. Clark married Miss Ida Belle
Chambers, daughter of Rev. W. A. Chambers, who for three years
was pastor of the First Methodist Episcopal church of JMason City.
To them were born three children : Edward W., now clerk of the
district court of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa; Frederick J., now a
Methodist minister ; and a daughter who died in infancy.
Edward W. Clark, the elder of Judge Clark's sons, was born
June 12, 1876 ; was reared at Mason City, Iowa ; and is a graduate
of the Mason City high school with the June class of 1895. In
1898 he enlisted with the Fifty-second Iowa Regiment and served
as its color sergeant during the Spanish war. Upon his return
he engaged in the banking business for himself and others until
in the fall of 1906 he was elected clerk of the district court of
Cerro Gordo county, the place he now occupies. He was married
April 29, 1903, to Emma H. Hansen, a native of Minnesota.
The second son. Rev. Fred J. Clark is a graduate of Cornell
College of Mt. Vernon, Iowa, and is now pursuing his final year's
study in the Boston University of Boston, Massachusetts. He was
married to Miss Prudence Weston April 25, 1906.
GEORGE W. GRIMM.
George W. Grinun, an extensive land owner in Cerro Gordo
county, residing in Clear Lake, where he follows the vocation of an
auctioneer, was born in Dekalb county, Illinois, September 25,
1858, the son of Henry and Abbie (Laudermelch) Grimm, both of
whom were natives of Pennsylvania. The father was born in
1832 and died at Hinckly, Illinois, February 19, 1900. The
mother's demise occurred November 1, 1909, at the age of seventy-
six years. They were the parents of eight children, six of whom
are living, as follows : Charles M., of Mason township ; George W. ;
Aaron N., residing in Clear Lake township ; Alice, the wife of G.
A. Raymer, of Paw Paw, Illinois; Elmer S., of Big Rock, Illinois;
and Eugene of Clear Lake, Iowa. The father grew to manhood in
his native state, married there and in 1856 moved to Illinois. After
looking about him he located in Dekalb county and purchased eighty
acres of land. By the use of intelligent methods in his farming
he prospered and at the time of his death was the owner of a large
tract of land.
740 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
George W. Grimm was reared on his father's farm, and en-
joyed the wholesome advantages of life in the country. He at-
tended the district school in the winter months and in the summer
received a very practical training in agriculture. In 1878, when
twenty years of age, he left home to make his own fortunes in the
world and coming to Cerro Gordo county, secured employment as
a farm hand. He continued at this until 1882, when he took his
savings and purchased eighty acres of partly improved land in
section 14, Union township. He further improved these and added
to them from time to time until when he retired to Clear Lake in
the fall of 1903 he had accumulated one thousand and forty acres,
this consisting of three farms with three sets of buildings and a
tract of land in South Dakota. Since coming to Clear Lake he has
devoted his time to auctioneering and is a success in this line. He
has made a specialty of Hereford cattle-raising and feeds about two
ear loads of cattle a year.
Mr. Grimm gives allegiance to the Republican party and takes
an active interest in public affairs. He has served as township
assessor two years and as trustee for six years. lie is a member
of the Clear Lake Independent Order of Odd Fellows and his wife
attends the Methodist Episcopal church. His success in life has
been principally due to his own efforts, for he came to Cerro Gordo
county with nothing and has made of life a success.
Mr. Grimm was united in marriage, in December, 1SS3, to
Miss Henrietta Callanan, born in 1865. Five children were born
to this union : Milton, living in South Dakota ; Irving, of New York
city; Floyd, of Union township; Hazel, wife of Henry Harthan of
Lake towTiship ; and Gladys, who is at home. His second wife was
Miss Anna Billings, born at Shabbona, Illinois, September 25,
1865. Her parents were John and Martha (Bigelow) Billings,
the former born in Michigan May 3, 1837, and at present a resident
of Clear Lake township; the latter, born in Michigan in 1842 and
dying September 5, 1893. They located in Illinois at an early
date and in 1882 moved to Cerro Goi'do county and took up their
residence in Union township. Mr. Grimm's second marriage took
place December 24, 1900, and has been blessed by the birth of one
child, Edna P., who is at home. Sirs. Grimm was married the
first time October 1, 1882, to William Leonard, by whom she had
two children, Dora, wife of Charles Adler of Union township, and
Daisy, who resides at the Grimm home. Both Mr. and Mrs. Grimm
were legally separated from their former wife and husband.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 741
WILLIAM P. FROST.
Among the industrious, far-seeing and enterprising men who
have been associated with the agricultural interests of Cerro Gordo
county for a full half century is William F. Frost, who owns and
occupies the farm, on the southwest quarter of section twenty-seven,
Portland township, on which his father, Benjamin Frost, settled
in June, 1860, coming here in pioneer days. He was born, Decem-
ber 12, 1846, in Dubuque county, Iowa, and with the exception of
two years spent in Kansas has lived on his present homestead since
fourteen years of age.
Coming from New England stock, Benjamin Frost was born
in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and was there brought up and
educated. Beginning life for himself at the age of seventeen years,
he made his way westward to Galena, Illinois, where he was for a
few years employed in lead mining. Coming from there to Iowa
he married and for a number of years resided in Dubuque county.
Locating in Cerro Gordo county in June, 1860, he bought six hun-
dred acres of land that was still in its virgin wildness in Portland
towTiship, and began the improvement of a homestead. Cedar
Falls, sixty-five miles away, was the nearest market, all wheat and
other surplus produce of the farm being hauled to that place.
Times were hard, and the pioneers had a hard time to pay taxes
and living expenses. He was prominent in public affairs, serving
as school director many years and holding other township ofiSees.
Subsequently moving with his family to Kansas, he was a pioneer
settler of Neodesha, where he spent his last days, passing away
at the age of seventy-six years. He married in Dubuque county,
Iowa, Elizabeth Filbrick, who survived him about ten years. They
became the parents of three children, namely: Benjamin T., a
wealthy resident of Neodesha, Kansas, where he has extensive
holdings; Mary Elizabeth, who married Charles Trevett, of Port-
land township, and died at the age of twenty-four years, leaving
three children ; and William F. The father and both of the sons
took up quarter sections of land in Wilson county, Kansas, in
pioneer times.
Having spent the larger part of his active life on the farm
where he now resides, William P. Frost has made improvements of
value on the place, having one of the most valuable and productive
farms in the vicinity. In company with his son he operates his
home farm of one hundred and sixty acres, in addition leasing two
hundred acres of land, which he is conducting with good results.
Mr. Frost has been tlu-ee times married. He married first, in
742 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Portland township, Sarah J. Frost. They had three children,
namely: Eva Estelle, Florence E. and Frank W. Eva Estelle
married F. M. Angel, now of Mason City, and to them five children
have been born, Guy, Grace, Leslie, Wilbur and a child that died
in infancy. Florence E., married Douglas Lepley, of Bemidji,
Minnesota, and of their two children one is living, a son named
Wayne. Frank W., a talented and accomplished musician, is
widely known as a professor of music, a successful teacher and a
composer of ability. He has a keen, delicate touch, and can play
on six musical instruments at one time.
Mr. Frost married for his second wife Mre. Flora I. Townsend,
a widow with two children, William Roy Townsend, a farmer in
Minnesota, and Ernest Edwin Townsend, who recently sold the
claim that he took up in Assinniboine, Manitoba, and is now a resi-
dent of Sawyer, Minnesota. She died August 13, 1904, leaving
five children by her marriage with Mr. Frost, one of whom, Nellie,
is the wife of William I. Morris, living just north of Mason City,
and they have three children, Litta, Leon and Charles; Benjamin
Ray, is a blacksmith working on a farm in Dougherty township.
Mr. Frost married for his third wife, January 26, 1909, Mrs.
Sarah Ann (Kelley) Trevett, who was born in Northumberland
county, Canada, and at the age of sixteen years . came with her
parents, James R. and Elizabeth (Curtiss) Kelley, to Iowa, locat-
ing first in Floyd county. She married first Emanuel C. Trevett,
who died in early manhood, leaving her with one daughter, Mrs.
F. T. Stevens, of North Dakota. She married for her second hus-
band Charles C. Trevett, a brother of her first husband, and they
became the parents of four children, namely : a daughter that died
in infancy; Mrs. Albert Dearwin, of Mason City; Cora E. Trevett,
who is in the employ of the Damon-Igon Company; and Harry C.
Trevett, of Kansas City, a bricklayer by trade.
A Republican in politics, Mr. Frost has rendered appreciated
^service in numerous local offices, serving for eighteen years as road
master. Fraternally he belongs to the Highland Nobles and to the
Yeomen of America. Mrs. Frost is a Seventh Day Adventist.
but they both attend the Evangelical church, of which Mr. Frost
is a member.
WILLIAM G. BELL.
A man of excellent business capacity, indu.strious and enter-
prising, William G. Bell is successfully engaged in the prosecution
of a calling upon which the wealth and prosperity of our nation so
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 743
largely depends, and upon which each succeeding year much more
study and money is expended. A native of Cerro Gordo county,
he was born September 21, 1884, in Portland township, on the
farm where he is now living, a son of the late Malcolm G. Bell, Sr.
A son of Ronald Bell, who is now living at the advanced age
of eighty-seven years, Malcolm G. Bell, Sr., was born in Canada.
At the age of eight years he came with his parents to the States,
and for six or more years lived in Pond du Lac county, Wisconsin.
Coming then to Iowa, his father rented land in Owen township,
which was the family home for a number of years. On attaining
his majority Malcolm G. Bell, Sr., began farming in Owen town-
ship, from there coming in 1882 to Portland township. Buying a
tract of land, he labored hard to place it under cultivation, in addi-
tion to tilling the soil feeding and raising a fine grade of cattle.
He became exceedingly successful in his operations, adding to his
orginal purchase until he had a rnagnificent farm of four hundred
and forty acres, on which he had erected substantial farm buildings
and made other improvements of great value. Here he resided,
an honored, contented and respected citizen, until his death, in
August, 1904, when but forty-eight years of age. He was active
and prominent in public affairs, holding various local offices and
being ever a promoter of beneficial enterprises.
Malcolm G. Bell, Sr., married, in Cerro Gordo county, Mary A.
Carrott, a daughter of William Carrott, a pioneer farmer and stock
raiser and a man of prominence. Five children were born of their
union, namely: Mrs. Mabel Brahm, of Mason City; Mrs. Lulu
Toiirtellot, of Owen township ; William G., of this review ; Malcolm
G., Jr., a farmer and stockman in Portland township, married
Gertrude 'Harrow, of Owen township, and Myrle, living with her
widowed mother in Mason City.
William G. Bell received his rudimentary education in the
rural schools of his native district, afterward taking a business
course of two years. Choosing the occupation to which he was
reared, he is now successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits on
the home farm, which is one of the most valuable and desirable
pieces of property in the township, being finely improved and
readily yielding to cultivation.
Mr. Bell married in January, 1908, Litta L. Himtley, a former
teacher in the Mason City schools, and they have one child. Alden
H. Bell, born in September, 1909. Politically Mr. Bell is a Repub-
lican. Mr. and Mrs. Bell are members of the Christian Science
church.
744 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
EMORY COOPER.
The subject of this sketch is a representative of one of the
pioneer families of Cerro Gordo county, Iowa — the Coopers.
Josephus Cooper, the father of Emory, was born and reared in
Virginia. At the age of twenty-one years he left the "Old
Dominion" and came west as far as Illinois, where he subsequently
married iliss Ibbey Tucker, and where, in Stephenson county, he
was for several years engaged in farming. From there he came
to Iowa, spent some time in Dubuque, Bremer and Floyd counties,
and in the spring of 1865 took up his residence in Cerro Gordo
county. Here, on section 1, Lime Creek township, he bought one
hundred and sixty acres of land, and on this place passed the rest
of his life and died, his death occurring in 1879, at the age of sixty-
four years. His wife died in Floyd county, Iowa, in 1860, at
the age of thirty years. They were the parents of three sons and
five daughters, namely: Jesse M., born in 1848, resides in Worth
countj', Iowa ; Emory, whose name introduces this sketch ; J. C,
bom in 1860, now owns and occupies the one hundred and sixty
acres in Lime Creek township which his father purchased on com-
ing to the count.y, as above stated ; Aletha Jane, who died in 1908, in
Minnesota, at the age of sixty years; Emeline, born in 1840, is the
•widow of J. A. Boutell, and resides in Worth county, Iowa ; Betsey
Ann, born in 1842, became the wife of Jacob Kuapp, and she
died in the '70s, leaving two children ; Eliza, born in 1844, died in
the '70s ; and Rebecca born in 1853, is the wife of Albert Goldthorp,
and a resident of Lime Creek township.
Emory Cooper was born in 1851 in Stephenson county, Illi-
nois. He was reared there and in Iowa, having accompanied his
parents on their removal to this state, and with other members of
the family he landed in Lime Creek township, Cerro Gordo county,
March 5, 1865. Here he has since lived, with the exception of
about ten years spent in Worth county, this state. He remained
a member of the home circle until he was twenty-six years of age,
when he went to Worth county and settled down to farming on his
own account. He bought and sold a farm there, and he has since
bought and sold several farms in Cerro Gordo county ; also at one
time he owned two hundred acres of land in Minnesota. After
his father's death he was administrator of the estate. Now, par-
tially retired from active work, he resides on a fine little farm of
twenty-two acres in section 1, Lime Creek township, which has been
his home since 1898.
In Worth county, Iowa, in 1878, ^Iv. Cooper married Miss
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 745
Maggie Breneman, a native of Clarion county, Pennsylvania, born
October 8, 1852, daughter of George and Ebeline (Campbell)
Breneman, and third in a family of four, the others being: Mattie,
wife of George Debell, died at Washburn, Wisconsin, May 1, 1906,
at the age of fifty-eight years; Anna, wife of A. C. Abbey, of North-
wood, Iowa, and D. C. Breneman, born in 1857, is a millwright,
and foreman in a saw mill at Bemidji, Minnesota. IMi-s. Cooper's
parents went to Minnesota in 1856 and settled in Houston county,
where they died some years ago, the date of the father's death
being 1885. Mrs. Cooper came as a young woman from Minne-
sota to Iowa, and was soon afterward married here. She and Mr.
Cooper have one son, Clinton B., born in Cerro Gordo county in
1882. He married Miss Ethel Page, at Plymouth, Iowa, and they
have a little daughter, Alice Laura, born May 26, 1906.
Mr. Cooper's father voted the Republican ticket and was a
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and in both politics
and religion the son follows in the footsteps "of the father. He is
a member of the fraternal organization of Yeomen.
J. B. PATTERSON.
Among Clear Lake's progressive and enterprising business
men must be numbered J. B. Patterson, a .jewelry dealer who has
established for himself a thriving trade and has the distinction of
having been in business probably longer than any other jewelry
dealer in Cerro Gordo countj'. Mr. Patterson was born at Homer
in Cortland coiuity. New York, June 30, 1856. His parents,
U. H. and Amelia (Butler) Patterson, were also natives of the
Empire state. Mr. Patterson claimed the advantages of the graded
school education provided by his home town, and at the age of
eighteen went to Ithaca, New York, where he began to acquire the
knowledge of jewelry and watch making which has since served
him in such good stead. After spending five years in Ithaca he
went to Binghamton, New York, where he remained for several
years longer. In 1882, attracted by the newer and richer re-
sources of the west he came to Omaha, Nebraska, and his father
following in 1884, they went into business together, this most
satisfactory partnership being terminated by the death of the
father in 1885.
In 1885 Mr. Patterson removed to Mason City, Iowa, and for
something like a year was in the employ of a brother who resided
there. In 1886 he made the step which was to be the most
momentous one in his career, by his coming to Clear Lake, wliere
746 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
he boxight out the business of James Clark, which he has ever since
conducted. He has a tine stock of goods; built his present fine
store building in 1896 ; and enjoys a large and growing patronage.
In addition to this primary interest he is one of the organizers of
the Clear Lake Independent Telephone Company and had charge
of the first exchange when it consisted of but ten numbers. In
polities Mr. Patterson gives his heart and hand to the Democratic
party and enjoys the social benefit of membership in the Knights
of Pythias. Mrs. Patterson is a member of the Congregational
church and president of the Ladies' Aid Society.
Mr. Patterson was united in marriage, November 30, 1883, to
Miss Eva C. Haines, who was born at Caledonia, Minnesota, March
28, 1858. They have one son, Leland R., who is at home.
WILLIAM SHANKS.
Prominent among the many enterprising men who brought to
their calling good business methods and excellent judgment and
were active and influential in developing the argicultural resources
of Cerro Gordo county and promoting its industrial prosperity was
William Shanks, late of Portland township, who was engaged in
general farming for many years, meeting with well deserved suc-
cess. Coming from substantial Scotch ancestry, he was born,
January 3, 1847, in Glasgow, Scotland. His father, John Shanks,
married first Mary Forie, who bore him twelve children, of whom
but one, John Shanks, Jr., of California, a man of eighty years, is
the sole survivor. Mrs. Mary Shanks died in Glasgow, Scotland,
when William, her youngest child, was but nine months old. John
Shanks married for his second wife, in 1850, Agnes Wiper, and
subsequently emigrated with his family to the United States, locat-
ing in Chicago, Illinois, where a year later his wife died with
cholera. His daughters afterwards kept house for the family,
keeping the family together a number of years.
Beginning life for himself as a farm hand when but twelve
years old, William Shanks worked in Cook county, Illinois, for
seven years. Coming then with his brother John to Iowa he located
at Charles City, Floyd county, and afterwards worked by the
month for neighboring farmers until 1871. MarrWng then, Mr.
Shanks was engaged in farming on rented land for three years, in
the nieantiiiic, with the assistance of his courageous wife who proved
herself a hi-lpuiatc in the true sense of the term, he saved some
money. In 1874, investing their accumulations in land, Mr. Shanks
bought two hundred and forty acres of raw prairie land on sections
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 747
twenty-four and twenty-five, Portland township, and immediately
began its improvement. Erecting a good set of farm buildings,
he carried on general farming and stock raising in an intelligent
and skillful manner until his death, October 7, 1902. A man of
integrity and honest endeavor, Mr. Shanks was held in the highest
regard throughout the community, his many sterling traits of
character winning him the respect of all with whom he came in con-
tact. He was a Republican in politics, and filled various offices
of trust. Although not a member of any church organization, he
was a sincere Christian, believing in the fatherhood of God and the
brotherhood of man.
Mr. Shanks married in 1871 Mary Ann Kay, of Charles City,
Iowa. Her father, Edward Kay, was born and brought up in
England, and there learned the tailor's trade. On March 23, 1848,
he married Sarah Bellamy, who was born September 19, 1823, at
Aston, England, and very soon afterward sailed for America. He
lived first in Springfield, Wisconsin, from there coming in 1866 to
Charles City, Iowa, but later removing to Nora Springs, where the
death of Mr. Kay occurred in 1905, at the age of eighty-three years,
and that of Mrs. Kay on June 21, 1894, at the age of seventy-two
years.
Of the eight children bom to Mr. and Llrs. Shanks, two have
passed to the life beyond, Nellie M., d.\nng at the age of three yeai*s,
and Edna, when two years old. Six are still living, namely : William
W., a well-to-do farmer of Portland town.ship, married Vinnie
Turner, and they have three children, Leonard B., Willard and
Alice; Mary F., wife of William Taylor, of Spokane, Washington,
has one child, Mildred M. ; Margaret E., wife of Walter Wilcox, a
farmer in Mason township, has two children, Lyman and Edna;
Belle, wife of C. J. Hansuld. of Nora Springs, has three children,
Velva, Edwin and George ; Edward, of Ma.son City, married Fannie
Allen; and Lester K., assists his mother in the management of the
home farm. Mrs. Shanks is a woman of good business ability,
and a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
HENRY GARLOCK.
There is no citizen of Clear Lake who has had more of the ex-
periences of the pioneer or who can tell in more entertaining
fashion of the wholesome early days and the struggles in bringing
the wild country into subjugation than IIenr.y Garlock, for ni;my
years a farmer in Cerro Gordo county, now retired and living in
Clear Lake. Mr. Garlock is a man respected and popular in the
748 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
community and he has reared a family of ten children to good citi-
zenship. He was bom in Jetferson county, New York, October 22,
1839, and is the son of Joseph and Nancy (Homing) Garlock, both
natives of Herkimer county. New York. The father died in 1882,
at the age of sixty-nine, and the mother, in 1897. at the age of
eighty-four. They were the parents of eleven children, six of
whom are living, as follows: Varney, living in Clear Lake;
Henry; John, a resident of ]\Iinnesota; Sarah, wife of Edward
Butler, of White Water, Wisconsin ; Matilda, wife of Joseph Vin-
cent, of Milton Junction, Wisconsin ; and David A., of Clear Lake,
Iowa. In 1848 Mr. Oarlock's father decided to leave his native
state and to go west to examine for himself the wonderful un-
developed resources of which report had so much to say. He went
from Sackett's Harbor to Buffalo and then to Milwaukee, Wiscon-
sin, in the latter place cutting ties for the first railroad built in that
part of the state. He purchased a small farm within two miles of
Milwaukee and cultivated this for a time, then removed to Rock
count.v. Wisconsin, where he aigain devoted his energies to the tilling
of the land. He finally went to Freeborn county, Minnesota,
where he and his wife lived out the rest of their lives.
Henry Garlock was nine .years of age when his parents went
to the fami near Milwaukee, and here he passed his early boyhood.
He remembers ]Milwaukee when it was no larger than ]\Iason City
is now. As he was forced by necessity to work out when a boy he
received a somewhat meager schooling. He gives an interesting
description of primitive school conditions. The house was of
logs and the seats were logs split in half, with four holes bored in
the round side into which sticks were driven for legs. The desks
were slabs of wood put up slantwise against the wall all around the
room. The teacher boarded around, as was the custom before
free schools came into existence.
Mr. Garlock made a venture at independence early in life and
began farming in Wisconsin, where he owned a small farm of sixty
acres. In 1869 he sold out and came to Cerro Gordo county,
locating in Grant township, where he purchased the southwest
quarter of section 24 at four dollars an acre. It was absolutel.v
unbroken country and Mr. Garlock made the first track leading
from his place to Clear Lake. He erected a small house and for the
first three years lived in it without its being lathed or plastered,
despite the fact than an Iowa winter was as capable of sudden
descents in temperature in those days as now. Mr. Oarlock's wife
proved a splendid pioneer's helpmeet, and among other things
drove the breaking plow for him, teams of oxen being used. When
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 749
he built his first house he bought the lumber at Albert Lee, Minne-
sota. It was framed at Albert Lee and hauled to and placed on
the foundation. It was fourteen by eighteen feet in dimension.
Later Mr. Garlock added one hundred and sixty acres to his
holdings and expended such intelligent activities upon it that
today it stands as one of the best improved farms in all Cerro
Gordo county. His evergreen grove was quite the first set out in
the locality. In the course of his career as an agriculturist Mr.
Garlock has had many unique and sometimes unpleasant exper-
iences. In the .summer of 1907, when the corn was waist high
and the oats budding out, a violent hail storm ruined everything
and left the whole farm looking as if a steam roller had passed over
it. The following year he had his barn and all his grain destroyed
by wind, but has since rebuilt. He hauled his hay fifteen miles
to Mason City upon one occasion and was offered the alternative
either of selling it for two dollars and a half a ton or hauling it
home again. In 1869 he sold wheat for forty cents a bushel. In
1870 he bought pork for two dollars and sixty cents a hundred
pounds, and paid twenty-four per cent for money. From time
to time Mr. Garlock has been engaged quite extensively as a stock
raiser and feeder.
In May, 1907, Mr. Garlock gave up the active duties of an
agriculturist and came to Clear Lake, where he purchased a house
and remodeled it into a modern one. It has the additional attrac-
tion of an accompanying two and a half acres of land, and its
owner has another house, with a similar grounds, which he rents.
He has sold half of his three hundred and twenty acres to a son-in-
law. Mr. Garlock has served as road and school officer in Grant
township and has always stood for anything tending toward and
betterment of the county. He is a well read man and keeps in
touch of the vital questions of the day. He has raised a large
family, none of whom have ever given him a moment's trouble, and
he is proud of each and every one of them. Politically he has
voted with both parties, for he tries to discover and to support the
better man. He is a stockholder in the Farmers' Mutual In.sur-
ance Company. He is vice president of the Cerro Gordo County 's
Old Settler Society and is a member of the A. F. and A. M.. No
250, of Clear Lake.
On March 6, 1868, Mr.. Garlock was united in marriage in
Janesville, Wisconsin, to IMiss Hannah A. Hurd, born in Saratoga
county, New York. June 21, 1844, daughter of Denois and Mary
Ann (Gifford) Hurd. both natives of New York. They moved to
Wisconsin in 1854, where they followed farming. Thev came to
750 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Grant township this founty, in 1895, and made their home with
Mr. Garlock until their death, the father dying May 16, 1900, at
eighty-four years of age, the mother on August 8, of the same year,
at eighty-three years of age. Mrs. Garlock was educated in Wis-
con.sin. Mr. and Mrs. Garlock came through from Wisconsin by
team with three small children, journeying over poor roads. This
union has been blessed by the birth of ten children, all of whom are
living. They are: Sarah M., wife of Carter Dawson of Heckla,
South Dakota; Dora N., wife of E. L. Moore, of Grant townstip;
Henry, residing in Canada; Mary, wife of George Peck, of North
Dakota ; Maud wife of Ernest Bogardus of Chicago ; Josephine wife
of Ralph Wooster, of Texas; Sherman, living in Heckla, South
Dakota; Bertha, wife of Wade Quarton, of Grant township;
Reliance, wife of John Mellows, of Cedar Falls, Iowa ; and Bernice,
wife of Peter Knutson, of Clear Lake, Iowa.
EDWARD FESSENDEN.
Edward Fessenden, owner of one of the best improved farms
in Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, is entitled to pioneer rank both by
reason of birthright and emigration. To him belongs the distinc-
tion of being the first white child bom in Sublette township, Lee
county, Illinois, and he emigrated to his present location when this
part of the country was nearly all wild prairie land.
Edward Fessenden was born April 4, 1839, a son of Thomas
Fessenden and wife, both natives of New Hampshire, the former
born in 1805, the latter, in 1804. The mother died at the age of
sixty years, the father reached the ripe age of eighty-three. In
their famil.y were eleven children, of whom four are now living:
George T., of Los Angeles, California ; Edward ; Caroline, \vidow of
B. Dexter, of Monrovia, California; and Warren G., of Amboy,
Illinois. Thomas Fessenden was a clock peddler in New Hamp-
shire in early life, and later turned his attention to farming. In
October, 1837, he left his New England home en route to Lee
county, Illinois, and made the joiirney across the country in a
wagon, bringing with him eight hundred dollars in cash. At that
time he could have purchased the whole of Chicago for eight hun-
dred dollars, as it consisted of only a few log cabins surrounded by
a "frog pond. He made his home in Lee county until 1870, when
he sold out, retired from active life and went to Santa Barbara,
California, where he passed the rest of life and died.
On his father's frontier farm in Lee county Edward Fessen-
den was reared and early became familiar with all kinds of farm
(& at^x</u:^^M^,
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 753
work as carried on in those days. A short time before reaching
his majority he married and engaged in farming for himself,
which he continued there for a few years, with the exception of
time spent in the army. On August 13, 1862, he enlisted in Com-
pany E, Seventy-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and with his
command went to the front. Eight da.ys after they crossed the
Ohio river they were in the battle of Perry\alle, and out of the eight
hundred men composing the regiment three hundred and fifty were
lost. After a year's service in the army Mr. Fessenden, on ac-
count of illness, was transferred to guard duty, and became a mem-
ber of what was known as the Veteran Reserve Corps, which was
stationed at Elmira and Buffalo, New York, and later at Rock
Island and Chicago. Mr. Fessenden 's eldest brother, George T.,
enlisted in the same company at the same time he did, and served
until the close of the war, during which time he never missed a
day, was never on the sick list, and was never wounded.
After his discharge the sub.ject of our sketch resumed farming
in Illinois, and remained there imtil 1886, when he came to Iowa.
That year he boiight one hundred and sixty acres of his present
farm in Lake township, Cerro Gordo county. Only fourteen acres
had been broken, and the largest tree on the place, as he expresses
it, was a wild rose bush. The following year he moved his family
to the new home, landing here on the 12th of March. The house-
hold goods were brought by wagon from Mason City dviring a
heavy snow storm — one of the severest in many years — and after
the goods were unloaded and placed in the house the snow melted
and the water had to be shoveled out. He had the pioneer spirit,
however, and, undaunted, he went to work. Today he has two
hundred and forty acres, one of the finest improved farms in the
county, on which are over thirty varieties of trees and shrubs, some
of which he brought here from California. For years he made a.
specialty of breeding fine cattle, his herd including many thorough-
bred Durhams.
On February 26, 1860, Mr. Fessenden married Miss Harriet
Dexter, who was born in Lee county, Illinois, April 7, 1843, and
died March 17, 1898. Four children were born to them, of whom
two are living : Francis D. and James II. The former, a resident
of Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, married Miss Anna N. Pedelty,
and has four children : Manard C, Warren, Helen and Esther.
James II., since his mother's death, has had charge of the home
farm. He married Miss Margaret L. Hinkle, and they, too, have
four children: Robert, Alta, Edward and Evelyn.
Mr. Fessenden has been a life long Republican, and is a inem-
Vol. 11— 21
754 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
ber of C. H. Huntley Post, 6. A. R. In his religious views he has
for years harmonized with the Congregational church, of which
he is a worthy member and to which his good wife also belonged.
JOHN BISHOP.
Noteworthy among the more thriving and progressive agricul-
turists of Cerro Gordo county is John Bishop, who is here exten-
sively engaged in general farming and stock raising, his estate of
three hundred and fifty-four acres lying in sections, eleven, thirteen
and fourteen, of Portland township. A portion of his estate is
in the west half of the southeast quarter of section eleven; a part
in the west half of the northeast quarter of section thirteen; a
part in the east half of the northwest qiiarter of the same section ;
a part in the north half of the northwest cjuarter of section thir-
teen; while the home place is in the north half of the northeast
quarter of section fourteen.
A son of Joseph Bishop, he was born, October 13, 1842, in
Stark count.v, Ohio, of English ancestry. Joseph Bishop was born
in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and his father came to this
country from England. Joseph Bishop learned the trades of a
cooper and mason, and these he followed, according to the season,
in Pennsylvania until after his marriage. Moving then to Stark
county, Ohio, he secured forty acres of land, and in addition to
improving a good farm worked at his trades during the remainder
of his active life, contimiing his residence in Ohio until his death, in
1881, at the age of eight.v-two years. He was a man of influence
in the communit.v, successful in business, and a member of the
Lutheran church. His wife, whose maiden name was Elizabeth
Weaver, died in 1845, at the early age of thirt,v-nine years, and he
never married again. Of their eleven children, seven grew to
years of maturit.v and two are living, one son. Joseph, being a resi-
dent of Akron, Ohio ; and John.
Brought up on the farm in Stark county. Ohio, John Bishop
received but limited educational advantages, although he was well
drilled in the various branches of agriculture. During the Ci\'il
war he served nine months in Company I. Seventy-Sixth Ohio
Volunteer Infantry, taking part in many engagements of impor-
tance. Migrating to Illinois in 1865. he was for sometime em-
plo.ved as a farm laborer in Plainfield, Will county. Industrious
and thrifty, he accumulated some money and on IMarch 23, 1870,
accompanied by Mr. M. E. Bitterman, he arrived in Cerro Gordo
count.v. and has since been actively and successfully engaged in
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 755
farming and stock raising, making a specialty of raising a fine
grade of Short-Horn cattle and Poland China hogs.
Mr. Bishop married, in 1872, Lucinda Spotts, who was born in
Summitt county, Ohio, and came to Cerro Gordo county in Novem-
ber, 1871. Eleven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Bishop, namely : Nathaniel J., who served as a member of Company
D, Seventh California Volunteer Infantry, in the Spanish war,
is a farmer in "Washington, on the Puget Sound, and is married and
has two children; Frank, engaged in farming near Mabton,
Klickitat countv, Washington, is married, and has a son and a
daughter; Alice, who married Hiram L. Weaver, died in Summitt
county, Ohio, in February, 1905, leaving two children, Irving and
Grace, whom Mr. and Mrs. Bishop kindly eared for for five .years ;
Ed, is a very successful wheat grower in Lincoln county, Washing-
ton; Mary, wife of K. L. Daily, of Chicago, Illinois, has three
children; Laura, is living at home; Arthur, is engaged in farming
in Klickitat county, Washington ; Lloyd, is at Rmmdup, Montana,
a rancher ; Jay, Glenn and Blaine at home.
Politically Mr. Bishop has ever been a true supporter of the
principles of the Republican party, and has been influential in local
affair.s. Mrs. Bishop is a member of the Methodist Episcopal
church. She is a woman of ability, and has well assisted her hus-
band in all the cares and burdens of life, proving herself a true
helpmate.
A. D. KERR.
A man well known in Clear Lake and its environs is A. D.
Kerr, a retired farmer and stock raiser who until recently operated
in a successful manner a tract of four hundred and forty acres in
Mt. Vernon township, and who is now en.joying the fniits of his
previous industry. Mr. Kerr was born October 8. 1836, in Canada,
on the shore of Lake Erie. He was the son of Castle and Dorothy
(Meagher) Kerr, the former a native of Argyleshire, Scotland, and
the latter an American, her birth having occurred at Crown Point,
New York. The father died in 1859, at the age of sixty-three
years, and the mother's demise was an event of the following year,
her age being fort.v-six years. Two children were born tn this
marriage, Mr. Kerr being the only one surviving. There were,
however, seven children by the father's former marriage. Mr.
Kerr's father was only ten years of age when his parents came from
Scotland to America. They located in Nova Scotia, where he grew
756 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
to manhood and with the exception of a few .years when he followed
the sea he was engaged in farming here until the time of his
death.
Mr. Kerr was reared on the farm and occupied a desk in the
district school as many months ont of the year as his assistance in
the agricultural duties coi;ld be dispensed with. In 1863 he left
the parental roof and started forth to make his own fortunes in the
world. He was successful in accumulating some capital and in
1863 moved to Green Lake, Wisconsin, where he purchased two
hundred and forty acres of land. This he operated until 1878,
when he sold out and went to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, locating
in Mt. Vernon township. Having rented land for a time, he came
to the conclusion that he liked the section sufficiently well to estab-
lish a permanent home there, and accordingly he bought four
hundred and forty acres, which he proceeded to improve and bring
to a high state of cultivation. He devoted a great deal of atten-
tion to stock raising and feeding, his specialties being Hereford
cattle and Poland China hogs. In 1906 he retired and came to
Clear Lake, where he has since made his home.
Mr. Kerr has given a life long allegiance to the Republican
party and has held several public offices. In the fall of 1892
he was elected county supervisor and took his seat January 1, 1893,
serving for six years on the board and serving thereon with 0. J.
Dennison. He has also held school offices and has been trustee
and assessor of Mt. Vernon township.
Mr. Kerr was united in marriage. May 29, 1861, to Miss Sarah
Gillette, a native of Canada, born in 1842, and dying in 1874. Of
their five children four are living: Edward L., of Minnesota;
George, of Minnesota; Elwin, of Clear Lake; and Prank, of St.
Paul. In 1875 a second marriage was contracted. Miss Zora Bly,
a native of New York state, becoming his wife. She died at Clear
Lake, November 15, 1908, at the age of fifty-eight years. ]\Ir.
Kerr was married a third time, February 16, 1910, to Mrs. Retta
(Noonan) Hill, widow of William Hill.
WILLIAM A. MEIER.
William A. Meier, a retired farmer of section 22, Palls town-
ship, Cerro Gordo county, Iowa, was born in Jo Daviess county,
Illinois, Augu.st 21, 1854. He is a son of John C. and Louisa
(Happel) Meier, the former born in Germany, near the Rhine, and
the latter also l)orn in Germany, December 7. 1828. The father
died at Nora Springs, Iowa, in 1900, and his wife died June 12,
1910 in Nora Springs. They were parents of eight children, of
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 757
whom all are living, namely: Elizabeth, wife of George Schmidt,
of Nora Springs, Iowa; William A.; John C., of Nora Springs;
Louisa, wife of Fred Helmer, of Plymouth, Iowa; Mary, immar-
ried, living at Nora Springs ; Annie, wife of Peter Eby, of Mason
City; Matilda, wife of Arthur Crall, of Kansas; and Fred, of
Minnesota.
John C. Meier and his wife were married in Germany and
came to the United States in 1850, spending seven weeks on the
ocean voyage. They landed at New York, spent one year near
Erie, Pennnsylvania, then moved to Jo Daviess county, Illinois.
Mr. Meier had been a school teacher in his native country and had a
splendid education, but on account of poor health was obliged to
give up his profession. The family drove from Illinois to Lan-
caster, Wisconsin, where they bought a small farm and operated it
nineteen years. In 1874 the family came to Cerro Gordo county,
Iowa, and purchased a farm of three hundred and twenty-seven
acres in Portland township, where they lived until 1893, then re-
tired to Nora Springs.
The boyhood of William A. Meier was spent on a farm and he
received a good common school education. After his marriage
he remained three years on the home farm, then moved to Aurora
county. South Dakota, where he took up a homestead of one hun-
dred and sixty acres of raw land near White Lake, which he im-
proved and worked eight years, then sold out and returned to
Cerro Gordo county. Upon his return he purchased one hundred
and sixty acres of land in Falls township, erected modern buildings,
made numerous other improvements, and lived there until 1908,
when he purchased his present place of nineteen acres, where he has
put up a comfortable residence and is preparing to give up active
work. He has always been actively interested in public aifairs
and current issues and in politics has been a life long Republican.
He served four years as school director and six years as justice of
the peace. He is a member of the M. W. A. of Rock Falls and he
and his wife belong to the Methodist Episcopal church at that place.
Mr. Meier was married, July 10, 1879, to Annie D. Wolff,
bom in Preeport, Illinois, April 15, 1861, daughter of Charles and
Sophia (Schroeder) Wolff. Mr. Wolft' was born in Prvsen, Prus-
sia, February 14, 1822, and died at Rockford, Iowa, at the age of
seventy-four yeai-s. His v\dfe died in 1864, at Freeport, Illinois,
at the age of thirty-five years. They were parents of four chil-
dren. Mr. Wolff and his wife emigrated to the United States
and passed through Chicago when it was only a village, locating at
Preeport, Illinois, where he followed his trade of wagon maker.
758 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
In 1869 he removed to Charles City, Iowa, and later located in
Rofkford, Iowa, where his death occurred. Mr. Wolff married
for his second wife Annie Vogle, a native of Germany, who died
at Charles City, in 1903, aged seventy-two years. By his second
marriage Mr. Wolff had three children, of whom but one survives.
Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Meier, namely: Mary
E., wife of William Oleson, of Rock Palls. Iowa; Laura M., at
home; and Ester L.. who died at fifteen years of age.
GEORGE E. LY1\IAN.
It would be difficult to find in the length and breadth of the
land a man who possesses a greater number of interesting pioneer
experiences or who is more tnily an American in every sense of
the word, than George E. Lyman. After a varied and successful
life as an agriculturist he is now retired and enjojang the fruits
of his previous industry. Mr. Lyman was born in Susquehanna
county, Pennsylvania, September 18, 1828, his parents being
Samuel and Eunice (Earl) Lyman. The former was born in
the Blue Mountains in Vermont January 26, 1796, and died in
Braintrim, Bradford county, Pennsylvania, in 1867. The mother
was also an easterner by birth, and died in Washington township,
Wyoming county, Pennsylvania, September 14. 1861, at the age of
si.xty-three. The father answered to the triple calling of farmer,
shoemaker and Methodist preacher, pursuing his several activities
in Susquehanna and Wyoming counties. The Lymans adhered
to the pioneer custom of large families and were the parents of
twelve children, of whom but three are now living; the subject of
this biography; the Rev. Gideon C. Lyman of Scranton, Pennsyl-
vania ; and Joseph, residing at Binghampton, New York.
George B. Lyman attended the common schools of Pennsyl-
vania and afterward was enrolled for a while at a select school.
He remained under the parental roof until his marriage in 1850.
During the first year of his married life I\Ir. Lyman taught school
in Braintrim, Pennsylvania, and the following year moved to a
farm in Wyoming county which he had purchased. The house was
a log one, located in the woods. Mr. Lyman cleared and improved
the place and lived upon it about four years, when he sold it and
came to Dixon, Illinois, the year being 1855. The trip was made
by the way of what is now known as Rochelle, and from that place
they drove to Dixon. They bought an improved a farm in its
vicinity and remained upon it for about a year. But while ai
Dixon Mr. Lyman entered six hundred and eighty acres in Geneseo
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 759
township, Cerro Gordo eoimty, which was secured for the most part
with government land warrant. After entering the land Mr. and
Mrs. Lyman sold their farm at Dixon and returned to Pennsylvania
where he followed blacksmithing about three years and then took
charge of the farm of Mrs. Lyman's mother, Mrs. Kintner, near
Dixon, Illinois, Mr. Kintner having died in 1856. Two years
later they returned to Dixon and remained for a year upon the
farm which they had previously owned.
In 1860 the Lyma'ns took up their residence upon their new
claim. In February Mr. Lyman drove through from Dixon to
Geneseo township with a load of household goods. There were as
yet no buildings there, but about one a mile away a neighbor had
built a log house and he lived there until .joined by his wife in
April. Both of them continued to live with the neighbor until
October, when a frame house of their own, sixteen by twenty-four,
had been completed, and they moved in. Conditions were primi-
tive and the country I'oundabout very sparsely settled. There
were only two houses between their farm and Mason City, eighteen
miles away, and in 1860 but Ave families resided in the township.
Grain had to be taken to Cedar Palls, Iowa, about fifty miles away,
and it took a number of days to make the trip. Religious meetings
were held first in Mr. Lyman's home and later in the school hoiase,
and the settlers came from miles about to attend. The land was of
course all unbroken prairie and Mr. Lyman began at once to break
the sod. The first year he raised corn, wheat, oats and potatoes
on the land which he had himself broken. There were a great many
wolves, and much game, such as deer, wild geese and ducks in large
quantities. The latter destroyed the corn, which was a serious
calamity.
The rebellion broke out and in 1863 Mr. Lyman enlisted in
Company L, of the Pourth Iowa Volunteer Cavalry. After being
for some time in camp in Davenport his company joined the regi-
ment and engaged in barrack building. He saw considerable
active service and remained until the mustering out of the troops
at the close of the war. During his military service Mrs. Lyman
remained upon the farm with her five children. After the return
of peace Mr. Lyman went back to work upon the farm, which he
reduced in size by the sale of two hundred and fifty acres. He
enlarged the house and built good barns. In 1896 they decided
to give up the management of the farm and accordingly removed
to Rockwell. In 1902 their present beautiful residence was erected
and within its walls they have ever since made their home.
The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Lyman took place October 6,
760 HISTORY OF CBRRO GORDO COUNTY
1850, the wife's maiden name being Sarah E. Kintner. She was
born in Monroe county, Pennsylvania, October 9, 1834, her parents
being William and Susan (Heller) Kintner, also natives of Penn-
sylvania. They were married in the Keystone state and came to
Dixon, Illinois, in 1850, the father's death occurring six years later.
The mother continued to live in the vicinity of Dixon until her
death, March 28, 1899, she having attained to the great age of
ninty-three years and six months. She was the mother of thirteen
children, of whom six are now living. She was a remarkable
woman and her mind was clear and active to the time of her
death. Mrs. Lyman, her daughter, shared in her capability, spin-
ning the linen for her own tableclothes and towels and weaving
her own carpets. Seven children were born to the union of Mr.
and Mrs. Lyman. Those still living are: Lucretia Ann, wife of
George Felthous, of Rockwell ; Mary Elmira, wife of C. W. Harris,
of Rockwell; William Eddie, also of that town; and Lena L., wife
of William B. Bruce, of Rockwell. Myron W., died at the age of
four years; Eunice, at the age of six weeks; and Elma Leona, at
the age of thii-ty-five years.
Mr. Ljonan was originally a Whig and became a Republican
upon the organization of that party, and has ever since voted that
ticket. He has served as justice of the peace and township clerk
and in numerous school offices while upon the farm in Geneseo
township.- He and his wife have been faithful members of the
Methodist church since before their marriage, and enjoy the esteem
of all those who know them.
The families living in Geneseo township at the time of their
coming were the Hunts, the Rogers, the Whitesells, the Kettells
and the Goheens. Mr. and Mrs. Lyman celebrated the sixtieth
anniversary of their marriage on October 6, 1910.
MANIES E. BITTERMAN.
Manies E. Bitterman, a prominent farmer of Portland to\\'n-
ship, Cerro Gordo county, takes an active interest in public affairs
and has held several local offices Mi\ Bitterman was born in Canton,
Ohio, August 27, 1843, son of Frederick and Margaret (Bair)
Bitterman. The father was born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in
1820, and at the time of his death, in 1847, was a school teacher in
Canton, Ohio. Mrs. Bitterman was born in Stark county, Ohio,
in 1824, and died in 1903. They had but two children, of whom
Manies is the only one surviving. After Mr. Bitterman 's death
his widow married Samuel Spotts, by whom she had three children,
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 761
namely: Abraham, of Portland township; Jlary, \\afe of Levi
Hendrickson, of Santa Anna, California; and Samuel, of Kansas
City, Missouri. Mr. Spotts now lives in Pasadena, California.
He was bom in Stark county, Ohio, in September, 1822. The
Spotts family moved from Ohio to Will county, Illinois, in the
sixties, and in the spring of 1872 located in section 15, Portland
township, Cerro Gordo county, on wild land.
When he was but four years of age Manies Bitterman lost his
father, and when he was but twelve years old he had to begin to
work for his living. He worked at anything he could find until
1861 ; when he moved to Loekport, Illinois, remaining in that
vicinity for some years. During the war be bought and shipped
hay and became successful in this biLsiness. In 1867 he engaged
in farming near Plainfield, Illinois, and continued there until
March, 1870, when he located on eighty acres of land in section 11,
Portland township, part of his present farm, having purchased
this land some fifteen years prior. He erected buildings and began
to make improvements, adding to his possessions from time to
time and becoming very successful. All the improvements have
been made by him, even to setting out the trees, and at one time
he owned two hundred and eighty acres. At present he has two
hundred acres, in the homestead and eighty acres in section 13,
this township, all under cultivation, and which for the last ten years
his youngest son has operated. He has always paid special at-
tention to stock raising and feeding. He has always shown good
judgment in the condiact of his affairs and has paid close attention
to every detail of his work.
In February, 1865, Mr. Bitterman married, at Loekport, Illi-
nois, Sarah Hintzlman, who was born in Center county, Pennsyl-
vania, in November, 1843, and they became the parents of six
children, namely : Calvin, of Portland township ; Edward, also of
Portland township; Jennie, wife of William Allen, of I\Iason City;
Trullie, wife of J. Shulta ; Mary, wife of Milton Forbes, of North
Platte, Nebra.ska ; and Clinton, operating the home farm.
For the past thirty-eight years Mr. Bitterman has served as
township treasurer, and has been township trustee eighteen years.
He served one year as assessor and has also been school director and
road superintendent. Mr. Bitterman is highly esteemed in the
vicinity of his home and his fellow citizens have delighted to show
him honor. He served in 1892-94 as a member of the Twenty-
fourth and Twenty-fifth General Assemblies of Iowa. He has
always been a strong supporter of the Republican party and promi-
nent in party councils. He is a member of the M. W. A. of Nora
762 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Springs. Mr. Bitterman is wholly a self-made man, for he started
out when a boy without any means and has risen to a place of
influence by his unaided efforts.
JOSEPH PEDELTY.
For many years actively and prosperously identified with the
agricultural interests of Cerro Gordo county, Joseph Pedelty found
both profit and pleasure as a general farmer, and having acquired
a competency he is now enjoying a well earned leisure at his home
in Mason City, living retired from active pursuits. He was born,
July 9, 1846, at New Diggings, Wisconsin, a son of Peter and Mary
(Alder.son) Pedelty and brother of John Pedelty. in whose sketch,
which may be found on another page of this volume, further
parental and ancestral history is given.
Brought up on the home farm and educated in the rural
schools of Wisconsin, Joseph Pedelty remained with his parents
until March 17, 1869, when he came to Cerro Gordo county, Iowa,
it being his first trip away from his home town. Buying one
hundred and sixty acres of land that was in its primeval wildness
in section thirty-six Lincoln township, he began the arduous task
of reclaiming a farm. Fortune smiling on hLs efforts, Mr. Pedelty
met with unbounded success, not only improving a substantial
homestead, but becoming owner of three hundred and twenty acres
of rich and productive land in Lincoln township, and a large trat,
of valuable land in the north. Giving up farming on March ±,
1896, ]\Ir. Pedelty has since resided in IMason City, where he is
highly respected for his integrity and sterling worth. He is a
decided Republican in politics, and for fourteen consecutive years
served as township treasurer.
Mr. Pedelty has been twice married. He married first, in
1869, ]\Iattie Bryson, who was born, March 21, 1844, in Ireland, a
daughter of James and Ann (Beatty) Bryson. Coming with his
family to this country in 1854, Mr. Bryson located in Jo Daviess
county, Illinois, where he was engaged in tilling the soil for about
ten years. Moving then to Kansas, both he and his wife spent
their remaining years in that state. They were the parents of
eleven children, of whom one son, David Br.vson, of Mason City, is
the sole survivor, Mrs. Mattie (Bryson) Pedelty died March 17,
1905, leaving three children, namely : G. L., of Mason City ; Anna
M., wife of Francis Fessenden, of Lime Creek tovmship; and J. M.,
of Mason City. "Sh: Pedelty married for his second wife, October
9, 1906, Mrs. Lucy (Boles) Kelsev, who was born, July 2, 1862, in
c^/" >^^ ?^^^:^^*^^
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 765
Benton county, Iowa. By her marriage with her first husband,
Albert W. Kelsey, Mrs. Pedelty has three ehiklreu, namely : Frank
v., of Douglas, Wyoming; Bert E., of Fairfield, Iowa; and Wilbur
S., of Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Pedelty are held in high esteem
throughout the community, and are valued members of the Congre-
gational church.
FRANCIS E. McGLONE, M. D.
Doctor McGlone is a native of Iowa, having been born at Jesup,
Buchanan county, February 2nd in the year 1870. His parents,
Edward and Mary (Smith) McGlone left their homes in Ireland
in early childhood, coming to the Province of Quebec, Canada,
where they grew to the years of maturity and where they were
united in marriage in 1847. Two years thereafter, lured by the
inviting prospects of a future home of wealth and happiness, the.v
came to Iowa and settled at Cascade, in Jones county. Here the.v
resided until 1866, when they transferred their residence to the
old homestead near Jesup, Iowa, where the worthy sub.ject of this
brief sljetch first opened his eyes to the light of day.
Mr. Edward McGlone and his devoted wife possessed in
generous measure the sterling honesty, the energy and perseverance
characteristic of the best type of Iowa's pioneer citizens. With
other thousands they literally blazed the pathway of civilization ;
they broke the virgin prairie, planted the seed, and made the desert
to bloom even as the rose. Mr. McGlone with his family continued
to reside at Jesup until 1890, in which year he moved to Indepen-
dence, Iowa, where he died in the .year 1901 at the venerable age
of eighty-three years. Mrs. McGlone had preceeded him in death,
having passed to the great be.yond in 187-4. Of the ten children
born to them, two sons and six daughters are now living.
Dr. McGlone lived in the home where he was bom until 1890.
when he moved with his father to Independence, Iowa, and having
enjoyed the privilege of a wholesome and elevating influence, the
results of a careful training in a Christian home, to which was
added the advantage of the local public schools, he entered the
medical department of the University of Iowa. During his years
of preparation for the practice of medicine. Dr. McGlone 's appli-
cation to his boote is significant in view of his subsequent brilliant
career. The foundation for a successful practice was laid deep
and strong. He was graduated from the University of Iowa with
the degree of Doctor of Medicine, in the year 1895. Rockwell,
Iowa, was his first field. Here from the beginning of his practice
766 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
he won the confidence of the laity, and the respect of his fellow
practitioners, and here he continued to reside until 1903.
On September 12, 1899, Dr. McGlone was united in marriage
with Miss Annie A. Dougherty, of Rockwell, to which union two
children were born, Mary Dorothy now nine years and Prances
Evelyn eight years of age. The married life of Dr. and Mrs.
McGlone was severed after a little more than four .years by the
mournful and untimely death of the young wife and mother. Joy-
ful, but fleeting years of wedded bliss were theirs, but years which
have left a memory at whose shrine the bereaved husband and
orphan children worship with a devotion that is as lasting as it is
tender and true.
In 1905 Dr. ]\IeGlone transferred his residence to Mason City,
where he now resides. In the more inviting field which Mason
City affords his practice is large and prosperous and he is recog-
nized as one of the leading physicians and skillful surgeons of
northern Iowa.
To this store of professional knowledge acquired during his
student days at the University of Iowa, Dr. McGlone has added
from year to year, thus keeping well in hand the modern methods
and ethical practices of the high class physician. He has repeat-
edly fortified himself in this regard by efficient post-graduate work
in Chicago, in the New York Polyclinic and the New York Post-
Graduate School. He is a member of the American Medical Asso-
ciation, The Iowa State Medical Society, the Austin Flint-Cedar
Valley Society, and The Cerro Gordo Medical Association. Of the
last named society, Dr. McGlone holds the office of president. He is
a member of the Knights of Columbus, the Catholic Order of For-
esters, the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks and the
Modern Brotherhood of America.
The confidence and respect of a large circle of patrons, friends
and acquaintances are his in generous measure, while it is his also
to be held in highest esteem as a representative citizen by every
one in his community.
R. W. HEMMING.
A man who enjoys a wide acquaintance in this part of Iowa,
his business taking him not only over Cerro Gordo county, but over
Pranklin county as well, is R. W. Hemming, farmer and auctioneer.
He was born in Seneca county, Ohio, April 1, 1855, his parents
being G. W. Hemming and Lucinda (Roller) Hemming. The
father was a Pennsylvanian, but removed to Seneca county when
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 767
about eleven years of age. His father had been a farmer and he
followed in the paternal footsteps in the matter of a vocation. He
continued farming for a short time after his marriage at the age of
twenty-four years, and then for five years engaged as traveling
salesman for a dry goods firm in Cincinnati, Ohio. In November,
1861, he decided to go back to his old calling and he and his wife
and six children drove thorough to Old Chapin. Franklin county,
Iowa, where they remained until the following spring. They
then went on to Shobe's Grove where the father had bought eighty
acres of wild prairie land. The family lived for four years in a
log house on an adjoining farm, but in 1865 the father built a log
house on his own farm and to this the family removed.
Conditions in those pioneer days seem now almost incredible.
The nearest market was Cedar Falls and that was sixty-five miles
away, the trip requiring five days at the least and when the water
was high, quite ten days. For the first seven or eight years they
could go twentj^-five miles to the Iowa river and not see a sod broken
and the same is true of the country between their farm and Clear
Lake, twenty-two miles away. They could live high when there
was time to hunt, for geese, ducks, brant, crane and prairie ehickeu
were numberless. A few deer and occasionally a stray bufi'alo
wandered near, while the prairie wolves were thick. In 1867 the
father purchased an additional forty acres, paying for the whole
just one hundred dollars. His was a strenuous existence, attempt-
ing to subdue the wild country, breaking the sod, fencing and mak-
ing other improvements. In 1884 he .sold the old homestead and
bought forty acres in Richland township, Franklin county, upon
which he moved and there resided until his death, which occurred
in 1892 at the age of seventy-two years. The mother was born in
Ohio and died in Cerro Gordo county in April, 1903.
Mr. Hemming was the fourth of nine children, the others be-
ing : Emily, became the wife of John Cannam, of Springville, Utah ;
Irene, married James Cunning and died when about forty-six
years of age; Madison is now living in Ottawa, Kansas; Richard,
was killed in a railroad accident in Texas, being at the time in the
employ of the government for which he bought saddle horses and
beef cattle ; Albert, is at present a resident of Pleasant Valley town
ship, Cerro Gordo county; Aldie, is the wife of Hugh Caldwell of
Lockwood, Dade county, Mi.ssouri ; the two youngest died in in
fancy. The mother was a member of the IMethodist church. In
political principles the father was a Democrat.
R. W. Hemming was educated in the public schools of Franli-
lin county and continued to reside upon the old homestead until he
768 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
became of age. He then set out for himself and went to Grundy
county where he worked for eighteen months on the George Wells
farm. Returning to Franklin county he worked out breaking
prairie with teams. When twenty-four he satisfied his ambition to
become a land owner, buying eighty acres of wild land in Grimes
township, Cerro Gordo county, for five dollars an acre. He broke
the sod and for two years rented it to a tenant. After his marriage
in 1882 he and his wife lived on this place for two years. In
1883 he bought ten acres upon which his present home is situated,
the hoiise being built in 1884, when he immediately moved into it.
In 18S6 he sold his original eighty acres in Grimes township. In
1892 he purchased eighty acres of improved land in section 23 and
in 1894 eighty acres more in the same section, making in all one
hundred and seventy acres in Cerro Gordo county which he can
call his own. In addition he owns a half interest in one hundred
and sixty acres in Edmonds county. South Dakota, and one hun-
dred and sixty acres in Geneseo township. For the past four
years he has rented his farm. For fourteen years he has engaged
in the auctioneering business, his sales taking him over Cerro Gordo
and Franklin counties. He is a Republican and for fourteen years
has been a member of the school board. He is a member of the
I. 0. 0. F. of Rockwell and both he and his wife are members of
the Baptist church.
Jlr. Hemming was married April 8, 1882, to Miss Bertha Geer.
a native of Henry county, Illinois, and a daughter of Silas and
Rebecca (Moore) Geer. They came to Geneseo township, Cerro
Gordo county in 1873, the father buying a small place and working
at his trade of stone mason during the rest of his life. He died in
April, 1899, and his wife in August. 1905. Mrs. Hemming was
the sixth in a family of seven children, her brothers and sisters
being as follows: Laviuia is the widow of William Foster, of JIason
City ; Delia is the wife of Harmon Dills, of Manley ; Loretta is the
wife of Lee Bugher of Rockford, Iowa; Barton resides in Rock-
well ; Effie married John Leech and lives in Mason City ; and Kate
is the wife of Oscar Shindall. Mr. and Mrs. Geer were members
of the Christian church and the father was a Republican.
Four children have been born to the marriage of Mr. and ilrs.
Hemming. Harvey, who is a farmer in South Dakota married
Edith Wilson and they have one son ; Coy is a clerk in the Farmers'
Co-operative store of Rockwell ; Lola is in attendance at the Rock-
well high school from which she will be graduated in 1911; George
is also in school at Rockwell.
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 769
WILLIS G. C. BAGLEY.
A man of energy and ability, industrious, persevering and
painstaking, Willis G. C. Bagley is well known throughout Mason
City as cashier of the First National Bank, with which he has been
connected for nearly a score of years. Entering the institution
in a minor capacity, he has worked his way steadily and rapidly
upward until assuming his present position of respoasibility and
trust, his advance being the result entirely of his own honest and
persistent efforts. A son of the late Shepherd S. Bagley, he was
born, October 29, 1873, in Rock county. Wisconsin, but was reared
and educated in Mason City.
Coming from honored New England ancestry, Shepherd S.
Bagley was born, in 1839, in Maine. Possessing the spirit of rest-
lessness characteristic of the American race, even in his early days,
he migrated when young to the newer state of Wisconsin, and after
his marriage embarked in business as a merchant in Cainville, a
village named in honor of his father-in-law, Seth Cain. Coming
in 1877 with his family to Iowa, he engaged in the grocery business
as senior member of the firm of Bagley & Shockey, subsequently
conducting the business alone for a time. He purchased an interest
in a marble shop, mth which he was connected. Later he was
again engaged in the grocery business, becoming connected with
the firm of Purdy, McGregor & Company. After the death of his
wife, he disposed of his interests in Mason Cit.y, and moved to St.
Paul, Minnesota, where he was a resident i.intil his death, in 1904,
at the age of sixty-seven years, the last few years of his life having
been an invalid. He married Louisa Cain, who was born in New
York state, and died, in Mason City, Iowa, in 1896, aged fifty-five
years. Six children blessed their union, of whom four are living,
namely: Fred W., of St. Paul, Minnesota; W. S., of Waterloo,
Iowa ; C. A., of Denver, Colorado ; and Willis G. C.
A lad of four summers when he came with his parents to Mason
City, Willis G. C. Bagley was educated in the common and high
schools. Leaving the high school in February, 1891, he became
collector for the First National Bank, with which he has since been
associated, having filled all of the intermediate positions up to
cashier, the position to which he was elected in 1908, and which he
has since held. Holding this office of great trust and responsibility
with one of the strongest institutions of the kind in northern Iowa,
Mr. Bagley is well worthy the title of a self-made man, and
eminently deserves the success that he has gained in the business
world.
770 HISTORY OP CEKRO CxORDO COUNTY
Mr. Baarley married, May 15, 1895, Winifred Boprardus, who
was born in Mason City, Iowa, August 31, 1874, and they are the
parents of two children, Margraret L. and Burton B.
Politically Mr. Barley is a steadfast Republican ; and re-
lisriously he is a member, and a trustee and the treasurer, of the
Methodist Episcopal church, to which Mrs. Bagley also belongs.
Mr. Bagley is active and prominent in many of the leading
fraternal organizations of northern Iowa, belonging to Mason City
Lodge, No. 375, B. P. O. E. ; Cerro Gordo Lodge, No. 70, K. of P. ;
Benevolence Lodge, No. 145, A. F. and A. M. ; Benevolence Chapter,
No. 46, R. A. M. ; Antioch Commandery, No. 43, K. T.; Midland
Lodge, No. 226, M. B. A.; Wilcox Camp, No. 709, M. W. A.;
Cerro Gordo Tent. No. 53, K. 0. T. M. ; and Iowa Division. Post A.
T. P. A.
MAX A. GOR]\IAN.
A skilled mechanic, and a practical electrician. Max A. Gor-
man, superintendent of the People's Gas Company, at Mason Cit.\
is filling the responsible position which he occupies with credit to
himself, and acceptably to the numerous patrons of the company.
A native of Iowa, he was born, July 19, 1872, in Butler county,
coming from pure Irish ancestry.
His father, Michael Gorman, was born in county Tyrone, Ire-
land, in 1820, and was there reared. Coming to the United States,
the land of golden opportunities, in 1840, he followed his trade
of a leather dresser in Newark, New Jersey, for about ten years, in
the meantime marrying. In 1850 he came with his bride to Clin-
ton county, Iowa, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres of
land, on which he lived five years. Selling out, he removed in
1855 to Butler county, Iowa, purchased a small tract of raw land,
and immediately began the improvement of a homestead. Meeting
with eminent success as an agriculturist, he added more land by
piirchase to his farm, increasing its size to four hundred and thirty-
two acres. Disposing of his interests in Butler county in 1896.
he moved to Minneapolis, Minnesota, where he invested his money in
residential property, and was there a resident until his death, in
September, 1907. His wife, whose maiden name was Mary Ann
O'Donnell, was born in county Donegal. Ireland, in 1822, and died
in Butler county, Iowa, May 9, 1890. Of the ten children born of
their union, five are living, as follows: Mary A., wife of Ed P.
Munghey, of Minneapolis; Winifred, of Minneapolis; J. J., of
Mason Cit.v, Iowa ; Max A. ; and Mrs. J. A. Bishop, of Spokane,
Washington.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 771
Growing to manhood on tlie home farm. Max A. Gorman re-
ceived his preliminary education in the district schools of Butler
count.v, after which he entered the Curtis Business College at St.
Paul, Minnesota, in 1895 being graduated from its commercial de-
partment. He was afterwards assistant in a plumber's establish-
ment in that city for about a year, subsequently being employed
in the electrical department of the Economy Steamboat Company of
St. Paul for three years. In 1902 and 1903 Mr. Gorman did con-
struction work for the Western Union Telegraph Company, the
followng two years being in the employ of the Edison Company
and the John Gorman Company. Coming to Mason City in 1906,
Mr. Gorman accepted his pre-sent position as superintendent of the
People's Gas and Electric Company, which under his manage-
ment is in a most prosperous condition. He has been exceedingly
successful in business, and in addition to other property owns a
fourth interest in the Clark Electric Meter Company of Chicago.
Mr. Gorman married, January 18, 1905, Caroline M. Berlin,
who was born at Rock Palls, Iowa, November 29. 1875, and into
their pleasant houssehold three children have been born, namely:
Charlotte, born February 26, 1906 ; Margaretta, born September 4,
1908; and Dorothy Elizabeth, born Jlay 25, 1910. Fraternally
Mr. Gorman is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order
of Elks ; of the Modern Woodmen of America ; and of the Modern
Brotherhood of America. In politics he is independent, voting
according to the dictates of his conscience for the be.st men and
measures. Mr. Gorman is noted as an athelete. He is the unde-
feated amateur champion wrestler of the northwest, winning a
medal and the title in St. Paul in 1890 from James Harbart of
Duluth, Minnesota.
HENRY S. GRADY.
Henry S. Grady a representative member of Cerro Gordo coun-
ty's agricultural class and one whose soas are following in the
paternal footsteps and giving an intelligent and enlightened con-
sideration to the details of their calling, is Henry S. Grady, whose
well improved farm with its attractive dwelling and handsome
groves and orchards is situated in section 1. Dougherty townshij).
Mr. Grady was born at Owen Sound, Canada, October 10. 1851.
his parents being Thomas and Rebecca (Stevens) Grady. Both
parents were natives of Nova Scotia, the father having been born
at Halifax, July 4, 1813, the mother March 6, 1823. They were
married in 1844 and in 1850 removed to Owen Sound. Twenty
Vol. 11—22
772 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
years later they came to Carroll county, Illinois, and engafjed in
farming, following this occupation there until their deaths, the
father's occurring December 10, 1891, and the mother's November
4, 1908. They were the parents of ten children, the following
eight of whom are living : John W., of Owen Sound, Canada ; James
G., of Goldfield, Nevada ; Henry S. ; Thomas, a resident of Moline,
Illinois ; Robert, whose home is in St. Paul, Minnesota ; Annie
(single) of Rock Island, Illinois; Lucy, wife of George S. Senneff,
of Paton, Colorado; and Elizabeth, wife of George Woalard, of
Beloit, Wisconsin. The father adopted the agricultural calling
only after coming to Carroll county, having previously for some
years been a sailor and master of a ship.
At the age of fifteen Mr. Grady set forth like the hero in the
tales of adventure to seek his fortunes. He may have inherited
some liking for the sea — at any rate he went to work on the Great
Lakes as a sailor and for four years pursued this calling. Later
he spent some time in the pineries of the north as a lumber .jack.
In June, 1871, shortly after the removal of his immediate relatives
to Illinois, he joined them and remained under the home roof until
1875 when he came on to Cerro Gordo county. He worked out for
a year and then rented land for another and in 1881 became an
independent land owner by the purchase of one hundred and twent.v
three acres in section 1, Doughertv township, this being wild land
which Mr. Grady proceeded to put into tillable condition. He is
now the owner of two hundred and eight acres of land which he
operates with the aid of his sons. He follows general farming
in the main, but is nevertheless interested in cattle raising and has
a fine herd of full blooded registered Poland China hogs, a herd of
full blooded Short-Horn cattle and some registered sheep.
Mr. Grady is a whole hearted Republican and there is no impor-
tant issue of the day which does not have his attention. He has
held office, having been at different times, township trustee, school
director and school treasvirer. He is a stock holder in the Rock-
ford Farmers' Co-operative Society and for nine years has been a
director. He and his family are members of the Congregational
church and supporters of its good causes.
On March 31. 1879, Mr. Grady was united in marriage to Miss
Nathalia Dawson, born in Belvidere, Illinois, IMarch 11, 1858. She
is a daughter of William and Elizabeth (Sizer) Dawson, both
natives of Lincolnshire, England. They were married January
3, 1851, and came to the United States in 1854. The father was
a carpenter by trade and had served an apprenticeship in his native
country. In the year of his arrival here he located in Belvidere,
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 77:J
Illinois, and for two years worked at his trade. In 1876 he came
west to Cerro Gordo county and purchased land in Dougherty town-
ship upon which he lived until his death. He was born Novem-
ber 17, 1825 and died in 1896. The mother died in Minnesota,
February 18, 1905, at the age of seventy-six years. Mr. and Jlrs.
Grady are the parents of two fine sons, Harry Lee and Roy
Bernard.
REV. FATHER JOHN JOSEPH CLUNB.
To the Rev. Father Clune, assi-stant pastor of the Sacred Heart
church belong-s the pleasant task of contributing to the spiritual
and educational welfare of the community. He is one of the
younger members of the clergy of the Catholic church, and is of
promising attainments. He was born in Norwalk, Connecticut,
in 1878, his parents being Thomas and Maria (Fallon) Clune, both
natives of Ireland, who came to the United States with their
parents. They were married in Norwalk and both of them lived
there for the rest of their lives. The father's demise occurred
when Father Clune was an infant but a year and ten months old,
he being the youngest of three children.
Father Clune was graduated from the parochial school at
Norwalk and afterward attended St. Bonaventure College at Alle-
gany, New York. He finished there and was ordained to the
Catholic ministry in December, 1903, and in the following January
undertook his first charge as assistant pastor. It was after his
arrival that the church was consumed by fire, and Father Clune
assisted greatly in its reconstruction.
The church at Rockwell and the mission at Swaledale together
comprise from one hundred and ten to one hundred and fifteen
families. The average attendance at the Sacred Heart Academy
is about one hundred and twenty-five. After being graduated
from this institution the students are qualified for admission to
the freshman class of the state university.
WILLARD A. BURNAP.
Willard A. Burnap inheriting in no sniall measure the sterling
virtues of a long line of New England ancestors, Willard A. Burnap
of Clear Lake, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, holds a position of
especial note among the valued and respected citizens of this sec-
tion of the state. Patriotic and public spirited, he served his
country nobly in her time of need, taking active part in the great
774 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Civil war, and has since been identified with its business, educa-
tional and official interests. He was born, October 17, 1840, in
Paxton, Worcester county, Massachusetts, where he was bred and
educated. In 1857 he made his first appearance in Iowa, and has
since considered this his home.
In July, 1861, not long after the surrender of Fort Sumter, Mr.
Burnap enlisted in Company I, Second Iowa Cavalry, and served
until the close of the conflict, his discharge recording the names
of twenty-seven battles and skirmishes in which he was personally
engaged. He served in every station in the ranks up to first ser-
geant, and was with his company on every march and in every fight
until the fall of 1863. The following extract from the affidavit
of Brigadier General Datus E. Coon best tells us of the subsequent
service of Mr. Burnap, General Coon testifying as follows:
"That he was personally acquainted with Willard A. Burnap
from the time of his enlistment in the spring of 1861 until his final
discharge in the fall of 1865. That in the fall of 1863, owing to
excessive duties, his health failed and he resigned his position, and
soon after was taken to the field hospital at Collierville, Tennessee.
That failing to recover his health, he was placed on detached duty
at General Greerson's headquarters, (as chief clerk and in command
of orderlies) where he served out his three years' term of service.
That at my personal request he re-enlisted, and was detailed for
duty at my headquarters. Second Brigade, Fifth Division, Cavalry
Corps, M. D. M., and would have been commissioned (as captain
of Company I) had his health proved sufficient for active field
work. ' '
Duly sworn to and signed by General Datus E. Coon, at Mason
City, Iowa, on the eleventh day of November, 1891.
After leaving the service Mr. Burnap was for several years
connected with the Bryant & Stratton Business Colleges of Chicago
Illinois, and of Springfield, Illinois, as teacher and manager. In
1871, after his marriage, he settled at Forest City, Winnebago
county, Iowa, and was there engaged in the land, law and loan busi-
ness until about 1878, during one year of the time serving, by ap-
pointment, as county treasurer. Coming from there to Clear Lake,
he purchased of George E. Frost the Clear Lake Bank, which he
conducted for about two years. An act of his cashier at that time
compelled l\Ir. Burnap to close the doors of the institution and ask
for a receiver, into whose hands he placed all of his private prop-
erty, (including his homestead) and paid every depositor of the
bank in full within ninety days. (See Court Records)
Since that time Mr. Burnap was for four years manager of
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 775
the Business Exchange of Bryant & Stratton's Business College
in Chicago; was for six .yeai-s clerk of the district court of Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa; and the remainder of the time has been en-
gaged as a conductor of business classes for business men and as an
expert accountant, making a specialty of settling- with county
officials.
Mr. Burnap has been director, vice president and twice presi-
dent of the State Horticultural Society ; also director, vice president
and twice president of the Northeastern Iowa Horticultural Society.
He has served as chancellor commander of Clear Lake Lodge,
Knights of Pythias, and as captain of Mason City Uniformed Rank.
For five years Mr. Burnap was president of Cerro Gordo County
Farmers' Institute, and for two years was president of the Old
Settlers' Association of Cerro Gordo and surrounding counties.
He was also a member of Governor Newbold's staif, serving as
aide de camp and receiving his commission as lieutenant colonel.
As a member of the Grand Army of the Republic Mr. Burnap
was commander of the C. H. Huntle.y Post, of Mason City, and of
the Tom Howard Post, of Clear Lake. He was likewise aide de
camp and inspector general on the National Commander's staff,
and at the present time is a member of the Council of Administra-
tion for the Department of Iowa. He has served as president of
the North Iowa Veteran Association, and as secretary and as
president of his own regimental society, the Second Iowa Veteran
Volunteer Cavalry.
Mr. Burnap married, March 20, 1871, in Chicago, Illinois.
Mary E Mathews, and to them six children have been born, namely:
Leta Marie, born January 20, 1872, married C. W. Foster; Willard
Lathrop, born January 28, 1874, married May Merrill ; ]Mary Eliza-
beth, born December 27, 1875, is the wife of Edward Dahl(|nist;
Martha Babcock, born April 27, 1879, died April 8. 1882; Sher-
burne Matthews, born May 23, 1882, married Ada Harte, Decem-
ber 8, 1910; and John Wheeler, born August 31, 1884, died April
2, 1888.
WILLIAM A. GRUMMON.
Among those citizens who play a live part and a useful one
in the afPairs of the town and county must assuredly be numbered
William A. Grummon, postmaster since 1897, editor of the Rock-
well Phonograph and one of the advisory editors of this volume.
He belongs to the town by birth as well as by life long residence.
He was bom here June 2, 18G8, his jiarcnts being Nelson J. and
776 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Romelia (Quaekenboss) Grummon, a sketch of the former appear-
ing in this history. He received his education in the Rockwell
schools, finishing in the high school, and he devoted his youthful
energies to the varied emplo\Tnents to be encoimtered upon his
father's farm. In 1890 he entered the office of the Rockwell
Phonograph, and under the efficient tutelage of the editor, Mr. W.
L. McEwen, learned the printer's trade. On February 24, 1892,
Mr. Grummon was united in marriage to the editor's daughter,
Miss Florence M. McEwen, who was born in Floyd county, Iowa,
August 9, 1869. Her parents were W. L. and Harriet (Rhinehart)
McEwen. Her parents were married in the east about the year
1854 and came to Floyd county in 1856, owning and operating a
farm there until 1886, in which year Mr. JIcEwen disposed of his
land and came to Rockwell. In partnership with his son, Elmer
Ellsworth, he purchased the Rockwell Phonograph and continued
to conduct that paper until his death in March, 1904. The mother
survived until the fall of 1909.
After his marriage Mr. Grummon purchased an interest in the
paper, and owing to the poor health of Mr. ^McEwen he shortly after
assumed its editorship. He has continued in that capacity until
the present time, and has given great sati.sfaetion to his readers,
being a student of current matters and keeping abreast of the
times. Mr. Grummon owns the Phonograph in partnership with
E. E. McEwen. On July 1, 1897, Mr. Grummon was appointed
postmaster, his commis-sions being issued by President McKinley
and Roosevelt, and his present term of office to expire in the spring
of 1912. He has always been active in his support of the Republi-
can party. He and his wife belong to the Congregational church,
and as to his fraternal connections he is a member of the I. 0. 0. F.
On October 31, 1903, the first ilrs. Grummon died, leaving
besides her husband two young sons, Stuart N. and Paul W. On
May 14, 1907, Mr. Gnimmon was married to ]\Iiss ]\Iary E. Bruce,
a daughter of Albert and Sarah (Blodgett) Bruce. Her father
was a pioneer merchant of Rockwell, having established his first
store here and serving on the county board of supervisors. They
have one son, named Howard E.
MORRIS G. EVANS.
Morris G. Evans, locomotive engineer on the Chicago, Mil-
waukee & St. Paul Railroad, has been engaged in railroading since
he was twenty-four years old. and for more than thirty years has
pulled the throttle. Until 1879 ]\Iihvaukec was liis headquarters.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 777
then he came to Mason City, Iowa, which has since been his home,
his present work being the hauling of passengers between Mason
City and Mount McGregor. Mr. Evans resides with his family
at No. 416 West Seventh street, where he built a handsome home.
He is a native of Monroe county, Pennsylvania, born in 1849.
His earliest recollections, however, are of a cabin in Wisconsin,
his parents, Abraham and Rebecca (Flight) Evans, having left
their eastern home and came west in 1850, the year following his
birth, making the journey across the coimtry in primitive pioneer
style, with a yoke of oxen and a span of mules, and reaching their
objective point with a cash capital of only sixty cents. On this
journey Abraham Evans was accompanied by two brothers and a
brother-in-law, one of whom, Alexander Evans, remained in Wis-
consin and improved a farm. About half way between Janesville
and Madison, Abraham Evans secured title to half a section of land,
built a cabin, and established his home, and there he lived for over
forty years, the cabin in time giving place to a frame house. When
they landed there game of all kinds was plentiful, including deer ;
and they lived in their wagon until they could cut logs for the
cabin. Madison at that time was built of log houses and contained
only about one hundred and fifty inhabitants. After he had es-
tablished his home he helped to build a log school house, about half
a mile distant, and became prominently identified with the best
interests of the community. From the organization of the Repub-
lican party he was one of its staunch supporters, and in 1866-7 he
represented his district in the Wisconsin state legislature. After
about forty years spent on the farm he retired and moved to Madi-
son, where he and his wife died, his death occurring in 1898, at
the age of seventy-three years; hers in 1905, at the age of eighty-
eight. Both were members of the Methodist Episcopal church,
and he was for many years identified with the Masonic order. Of
their four children, Joseph, a member of Company D, Seventh
Wisconfsin Infantry, was killed in the second battle of Bull Run;
Theodore, a practicing physician of Madison, Wisconsin, received
his education at Ann Arbor, Michigan, and Toronto, Canada ; and
Amy, wife of Albert Hawkins, resides at Madison, Wisconsin.
At Madison, Wisconsin, Morris G. Evans married Miss Ellen
Collins, a native of Rochester, New York. When she was quite
small her family moved to Wisconsin and settled at Hebron, from
whence in 1858 they went to Dane county, where she was reared
and educated. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Evans have one daughter and one
son : Etta B. and Claude T. The former, a graduate of the Ma.son
City high school, is now a saleswoman, representing automobiles
778 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
in Milwaukee; the latter is engaged in the plumbing business at
Mason City. He married Miss B. Vivian Duffy, of Dickinson,
North Dakota. Mrs. Evans was a daughter of John and Priscilla
(Sansom) Collins, natives of Devonshire, England, who came to
America shortly after their marriage, settling in New York state,
subsequently moving to Michigan and later to Wisconsin. Still
later they went to Parker, South Dakota, and from there came
to Clear Lake, Iowa, where the father died in 1896, at the age of
sixty-eight years. The mother returned to Stoughton, Wisconsin,
where she now resides with a daughter. In their family were
four sons and two daughters: John 0., a farmer, who died in
Minnesota, December 8, 1908; Herman, of Stoughton, Wisconsin,
is retired; Andrew, a contractor and builder of Tacoma, Washing-
ton ; Mrs. Evans, wife of the subject of this sketch ; Mrs. John
Evans, of Stoughton, Wisconsin; and Wesley, of Clear Lake,
Iowa. Mrs. Evans, like her husband, was reared a Methodist,
and both are worthy members of that denomination. Mr. Evans,
fraternally, is associated with the B. of L. E., Sanborn Lodge, No.
117, also with the I. O. 0. P., and Mrs. Evans belongs to the
Rebekahs.
FRED MAIIANNAH.
Of the various professions and pursuits to which men devote
their time and energies, not one is of more vital importance than
that which deals with the education of the child. Iowa is par-
ticularly fortunate in having among her educators men who have
attained the front rank in their professional labors, noteworthy
among the number being Fred Mahannah, county superintendent
of the schools of Cerro Gordo county. A man of broad intellec-
tuality, energetic and progressive, he is an enthusiastic worker
and has greatly advanced the status of the schools under his con-
trol since assuming his present position. A native bom citizen
of Iowa, his birth occurred August 18, 1874, at North English
Iowa county.
His father, E. C. Mahannah, was born in 1834 in Ohio, and
was there brought up and educated. Coming with his family to
Iowa at a comparatively early da,y, he settled at North English,
where he bought land and was actively engaged in agrici:ltural pur-
suits until his death, in 1900. His wife, whose maiden name was
Matilda Meeker, was born in 1845 in New York state, and is now
living at North English, Iowa, Nine children were born to them,
six of whom are living, as follows : Wilford, of Fargo, North
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 779
Dakota; Elmer, of Harper, Kansas; Virtie, wife of A. Mi'Kinstry
of North English, Iowa; Fred, with whom this sketch is ehiefly
concerned ; Lew, of Keswick, Iowa ; and Albert twin brother of Lew,
of North English.
Acquiring the rudiments of his future education in the district
schools, Fred Mahannah completed the full course of study in the
North English high school with the class of 1893, and five years
later was graduated from Cornell College. Beginning his profes-
sional career in the country, he taught one term in a district school,
receiving twenty dollars a month for his services and gaining in the
meantime experience of great value. He was subsequently as-
sistant principal at the North English high school two years, from
there coming — in the fall of 1901 — to Cerro Gordo county to accept
a position as principal of the Rockwell schools. Meeting with ex-
cellent success in that capacity, Mr. Mahannah was connected with
the Rockwell schools five full years, retiring from the principalship
in the fall of 1906 to assume his present position as county superin-
tendent of schools, an office to which he was re-elected in 1908,
and again in the fall of 1910 he was re-elected for a third term.
At the fifty-sixth annual session of the Iowa State Teachers'
Association held in Des Moines in November, 1910, Mr. Mahannah
was elected president for the ensuing year and was also appointed
as a member of a Special Legislative Committee for the State
Association.
Mr. Mahannah is a man of strong individuality, brilliant in
intellect and power, extremely earnest in purpose, and is popular
alike with the pupils, the teaching force of the county, and w-ith
the patrons and friends of the public schools within his jurisdiction.
Mr. Mahannah married, July 10, 1901, Edith Gertrude Swaney
who was born in Kellogg. Iowa, February 10. 1878. Mrs. Mahan-
nah is a woman of culture and talent, a graduate of Grinnell
College in the class of 1899, and now serving as deputy county
superintendent of the Cerro Gordo county schools.
Politically Mr. Mahannah is a staunch Republican. Frater-
nally he belongs to Wilcox Camp, No. 709, M. W. A. and to Cerro
Gordo Lodge, No. 70, K. of P.
W. II. PEEDAN.
One of the progressive and popular business men of Mason
City is W. II. Peedan, who is proprietor of the successful enter-
prise conducted under the title of the Ma.son City Rug Company,
lie has been a resident of this city since 1890 in which year he
780 HISTORY OP CBRRO GORDO COlfNTY
bet-ame chief clerk in the clothing store conducted by W. B.
Ensign. With this concern he continued to be identitied until the
following year when distinctive mark of the strong hold he had
gained upon the popular esteem in the community was given in
his election to the office of county recorder in which he continued
to serve for three conseciitive terms. After his retirement from
this office Mr. Peedan purchased the Daily Globe, and later pur-
chased the plant and business of the Mason City Gazette and ef-
fected the consolidation of the two papers under the present title
of the Globe-Gazette. S. A. Narine was finally adniitted to part-
nership in the business and later Mr. Peedan sold his interests
to the firm of Muse & Conroy. While thus actively identified with
journalistic enterprises Mr. Peedan was also the owner of a half
interest in the Mason Cit.y Steam Laundry with the operation of
which he continued to be identified for a period of twelve years,
disposing of his interest therein in the autumn of 1906. His
aggressive business instincts and constructive ability have always
found profitable exemplification and for the past decade he has
been identified with the manufacturing of rugs to which he has
given practically his undivided attention since the autumn of
1906. He has a well equipped establishment. The business is
conducted under the title of the Mason City Rug Company, as is
noted in the opening paragraph of this sketch. The finely equipped
factory is located in what is known as the Mill building, which
was purchased by Mr. Peedan a number of years ago, and here are
utilized four floors, each thirty by sixty feet in dimensions, and two
wings, of one story each and respectively twenty-four by thirty-
six and twenty-four by twenty-two feet in dimensions. The annual
transactions of the company have grown from two thousand dollars
to the noteworthy aggregate average of twenty thoiisand dollars
and the business is one of the important contributions to the com-
mercial and industrial prestige of Mason City and Cerro Gordo
county. The trade of the concern ramifies throughout Iowa and
also extends into the states of Kansas, North and South Dakota,
Colorado, Wyoming, Montana and Minnesota. An efficient corps
of traveling salesmen represent the company throughout its wide
trade territory at special seasons. The mechanical equipment of
the concern is of the most modern type and the factory is un-
doubtedly one of the best of its kind in the entire state. ]\Ir.
Peedan is a thoroughly practical, progressive and enterprising
business man and he has shown a lively interest in supporting all
measures and enterprises tending to advance the general welfare
of the community. In politics he is a stanch Republican and he has
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 781
rendered effective service in behalf of the party cause. As already
noted he served six years as county recorder but he has never been
a candidate for other public offices than this. He is affiliated with
the Knights of Pythias, Modern Woodmen of America and the
Modern Brotherhood of America and is a member of the Christian
church.
Mr. Peedan was born in Allamakee county. Iowa, on the 21st
of October, 1860, and is a son of Capt. H. N. Peedan, who came
to this state in the '50s and was numbered among the pioneers of
the county mentioned. Captain Peedan was a captain in an Illinois
regiment in the Civil war and for several years after the close of
the same he continued his residence in Illinois. He finally removed
to Arkansas where he had extensive lumber and mill interests.
He is now living retired at Simpson, Texas, and is about seventy-
five years of age at the time of this writing, in 1910. The subject
of this sketch was fifteen years of age when he took up his residence
in Cerro Gordo county and his success as a business man represents
the diametrical results of his own efforts.
On the 12th of April, 1885, Mr. Peedan was united in marriage
to Miss Hattie May Foster of Rockwell, Cerro Gordo county, where
she was born and reared, being a member of one of the pioneer
families of this county. She was summoned to the life eternal
on the 22nd of March, 1906, and of the four children, two daughters,
Berniee Estelle and Gail are deceased ; Max. who is seventeen years
of age (1910), is attending the public school of Mason City, as is
also Lavinia, who is eleven years of age.
THOMAS McMANUS.
Thomas McManus has for a number of years been prominent
in the affairs of Dougherty township and he was among those who
organized the first successful farmer's co-operative society in Iowa.
He is convinced that for the agriculturist to keep in touch with the
best and most progressive ideas developed in his calling requires
constant alertness. Mr. McManus o\vns two hundred and forty
acres, in addition operates one hundred and sixty for a relative
He was born in county Fermanagh. Ireland, February 15. 1843. and
his parents, Redmond and Mary (Murphy) McManus, were both
natives of that county, the mother dying there in 1847 at the age
of forty years. In November, 1862. the father and the children set
out for the United States, landing on the 18th of that month at
Philadelphia. For the four years following the father worked in
the city, but in 1866 he coududed to try his fortunes in the agricul-
782 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
tural districts, and accordingly he went west to Winneshiek county,
Iowa, where he rented a small farm. By the exercise of thrift he
was enabled three years later to purchase one hundred and sixty
acres of wild land in section 24, Dougherty township, to which he
and the children removed in the following spring. The country was
at that time very sparsely settled, there being but two houses be-
tween the father's place and Rockwell and but two between it and
Marble Rock. The nearest railroad was at Charles City and the
lumber used in erecting the first building upon the place was
hauled from there. The father served as township trustee
for a number of years. He was a member of the Catholic church.
He died November 6, 1885, at the age of eighty-five .years. Of his
eight children three survive: Ellen, wife of Miles O'Dowd of
Charles City ; Thomas, of this review ; and Mary who resides in
Charles City.
Thomas McManus was reared on a farm in Ireland and thus
received a practical training in the vocation he was to follow. He
was nineteen when he came to Philadelphia and his first employ-
ment was in a woolen factory where cloth was made for the uni-
forms of the soldiers, the Civil war being then in progress. He
afterward worked in a brick yard until the removal of the family
to Winneshiek county where he assisted his father with the farm-
ing. When he first came to Cerro Gordo county he made his liveli-
hood as farmer 's hand. He at present owns the excellent property
previously mentioned and operates a smaller farm for the children
of a brother. He has improved his homestead in every way,
erecting good buildings, and setting out fine groves and orchards.
He does general farming and in addition raises cattle and hogs and
owns a flock of sheep.
Mr. McManus was united in marriage to Miss Elizabeth Mul-
laney, born in Cook county, Illinois, in 1858, their union taking
place November 4, 1890. To them have been born the following
six children: Redmond, Alice, Dennis J., Thomas E., James and
Agnes, all of whom are at home.
Although Mr. McManus' education was a limited one in his
native country he has since rectified this deficiency and is partic-
ularly well read and well posted on the issues of the day. He was
for eleven years director of the first successful farmers' co-opera-
tive society in Iowa which was organized in Rockwell. He is
president of the Dougherty township Farmers ' Co-operative Society
and since its beginning has been very active in its affairs. He
has traveled all over the middle west in attendance at conventions
and meetings of various sorts and was a strenuous combatant in the
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 783
bitter fight the railroads and the big grain companies put up against
the independent farmers. He was one of the prime movers in
organizing the Farmers' Grain Dealers Association at Rockwell,
November 4, 1904, and was chosen one of the directors, which office
he has since held. Mr. JMcManus is a stanch defender of the
policies and principles of the Democratic party and has served
both as justice of the peace and school director and he was twice
nominated by the Democratic party to represent them in the Iowa
legislature. He and his family are communicants of St. Patrick's
Catholic church at Dougherty.
SAMUEL B. DUTRO.
Samuel B. Dutro, general contractor and builder, also owner
and operator of a planing mill and plant for manufacturing all
kinds of interior finish, Mason City, Iowa, came here about 1895
and has been engaged in business at this place for the past fifteen
years, employing steadily from ten to a dozen men. In 1908 ho
organized the Dutro Manufacturing Company for the manufacture
and sale of a tool of which Mr. Dutro is the patentee, this tool being
used by carpenters to hold sash and doors in place. The company
was capitalized at $12,500 and officered as follows: Dr. Charles L.
Marston, president; Samuel B. Dutro, vice president; Alba Miller,
secretary; and S. M. Grunland, treasurer. The plant is situated
at 218 1-2 S. Main street.
Mr. Dutro is a native of Illinois. He was born .just north of
Wyandotte, in Bureau county, in 1860, son of S. M. and Caturah
(Blaker) Dutro, natives of Ohio, the former of French descent and
the latter of Irish, the.y having left the Buckeye state in 1849
and settled in Bureau county, Illinois, where the father was success-
fully engaged in farming and stock raising for a number of years.
The last ten years of S. M. Dutro 's life were spent with a son at
Brooklyn, Iowa, where he died in 1904, at the age of eight.v-two
years, his wife having pa.ssed away some years ago in Illinois. In
their family were six children, four sons and two daughters, now
scattered and settled, as follows: J. S. Dutro, an auctioneer of
Brooklyn, Iowa; M. I. Dutro, a locomotive engineer in California;
C. E. Dutro, a pipe welder, of Kewanee, Illinois; Mrs. Allen, of
Illinois; and Mrs. Beck, of Brooklyn, Iowa.
Samuel B. Dutro was reared in Bureau county, Illinois, where
he received a high school education. Then he came to Iowa. At
Creston, Union count.v, in the coach shops he learned the carpen-
ter's trade. Later he was in the locomotive department of the
784 HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY
C. B. & Q. Railroad and still later, for two years, ran an engine
On resigning his position with the road, he engaged in contract
ing and building, and remained at Creston until 1895, when he
became a resident of Mason City, where he has been very succassful
Mr. Dutro married, in Illinois, Miss Letta Hull, of Henry coun
ty, Illinois, she being a representative of an old family of that place
Their union has been blessed in the birth of three daughters and
one son : Clare, wife of Lou Barrett, now of Deer Lodge, Montana
Wayne, in business with his father, and Letha and Edith, at home
Politically, Mr. Dutro is a Republican ; socially, he affiliates with the
I. 0. 0. F., both lodge and encampment.
RICHARD H. DE NEUT.
Richard H. De Neut, general contractor and builder, residing
at 308 South Jefferson street. Mason City, Iowa, has been identi-
fied with this place since June, 1892. The tirst ten years of his
residence here he worked as carpenter for M. E. Bushman, and the
next seven for M. F. Hutfman, and since then, for the past three
years, he has been doing general contract work. In 1909, he built
ten houses and three barns, including two houses for himself, one
of which he rents, and the present year, 1910, his business has in-
creased to such an extent that at times he has in his employ as many
as twenty-five men.
Richard H. De Neut is a native of Grand Rapids, Michigan.
He was born August 18, 1868, son of Jonathan Henry and Maria
(Kamboldt) De Neut, the latter an adopted daughter of the late
Judge Withy of Grand Rapids. Jonathan H. De Neut was born
in Canada, of French-Canadian parents. He was by trade a
cabinet maker, at which he worked up to the time of his death.
He was accidentally killed, in the spring of 1873, at Grand Rapids.
His widow survived him until February 21, 1892, at the age of
fifty years, one month and twenty-one days.
Until he was twelve years old, Richard H. attended day school
in Grand Rapids. Then he went to work, and practically from
that time forward has made his own way in the world, supplement-
ing his meager schooling by night study and reading. He learned
his trade in Michigan. In 1882, he went to South Dakota, where
he spent several years, in the threshing machine business, for a
time being employed as engineer and later owning and operating
a machine. In this he was successful. Prom South Dakota he
came to Iowa, and settled at Mason City, where he has since resided.
In 1892, at Mason City, Mr. De Neut married Miss Lottie
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 785
Payne, of Cerro Gordo county. She was born at Burr Oak, Iowa,
daughter of one of the pioneer residents of that part of the state.
Mrs. De Neut died at Mason City, in 1898, leaving one child, Clair
Whittier, bom January 13, 1895. On November 9, 1899, Mr.
De Neut married Miss Esther B. Tucker, a native of Bassett, Chick-
asaw county, Iowa, born in 1871, daughter of Joseph K. and Betsy
(Warren) Tucker, early settlers of that place. Her father, born
in 1845, in Green county, Mississippi, of English parents, has been
a farmer all his life. He is a veteran of the Civil war ; her mother,
born in Tioga county, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1844, died November
12, 1882. They had removed to Chickasaw county, Iowa, in the
latter '60s. William Tucker, Mrs. De Neut's paternal grandfather,
now well advanced in age, was for some twenty years in the United
States Treasury Department, in the second auditor's office. He
has one brother in South Africa, one in Australia and one in Eng-
land, all of whom have celebrated their golden wedding anniversa-
ries. At her grandfather's request, Mrs. De Neut corresponds
regularly with these great-imcles. By his present wife Mr. De
Neut has three children : Charlotte Ethel Lynne, born February 5,
1901; Joseph Tucker, August 4, 1903; and Richard Henry, May
27, 1907.
Politically, Mr. De Neut is a Republican. He is identified,
fraternally, with the I. 0. 0. F., M. B. A. and M. W. A., and his
religious faith is that of the Christian church, of which he is a
member, and which the family attends.
M. J. LYONS.
M. J. Lyons, proprietor of the Ideal Steam Laundry at Mason
City, Iowa, has been engaged in this plant as manager for sixteen
years, the last three years of this time being proprietor also. This
laundry was established, in 1893, by Butterbaugh & Hoyt. Later,
for a time, Mr. Hoyt conducted it alone ; then sold an interest to
L. P. Herriek, and the firm name became Hoyt & Herrick. Three
years later Mr. Hoyt bought his partner's interest, and ran the
business alone until December 10, 1906, when Mr. Lyons purchased
the plant. It is equipped with the latest and most improved
machinery, employs thirty-five to forty hands, and besides handling
business for this section of Iowa, receives work from points in
Minnesota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. The capacity of the
plant is about $1,000 worth of work per week.
Mr. Lyons was born in Slason City, Iowa, June 25, 1876, and
was reared and educated here. At the early age of thirteen he
786 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
became a wage worker, at the rate of one dollar per week, and from
that small beginning worked his way up to the position he now
occupies, that of proprietor of a prosperous concern.
Mr. Lyons' parents. Patrick and Susan (Couley) Lyons, were
early residents of ilason City, where his father died, about 1877,
in the prime of .young manhood. His mother subsecjuently Ijecame
the wife of William Dunbar, a shoemaker of Mason City, now
deceased. Mrs. Dunbar is still living here, her home being 510
East Seventh street. She has been a resident of this place since
shortly after the Civil war, when she came here with her parents.
The subject of this, sketch is her only child by Mr. Lyons. By her
second marriage she has six children, namely: Mrs. H. B. Madsen,
Mrs. Charles Hayden, Mrs. Jack Prosivoek, William, John and
Mabel, all of Mason City.
Mr. Lyons is married and has a family of four children:
Ammirta, Clifton, Wilmer and Laurine. Mrs. Lyons, formerly
Miss Anna Paulson, is a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. K. C. Paulson,
her father being a retired farmer and pioneer of Cerro Gordo coun-
ty. Fraternally, Mr. Lyons is identified with the Benevolent and
Protective Order of Elks.
L. D. HELM.
One of the estimable and progressive young agriculturists of
Cerro Gordo county is L. D. Helm, who is of that sound and sterling
stock upon which the material prosperity of this section of the
state is .securely founded. He is a native lowan, his birth having
occurred September 2, 1878. at Plymouth, this county, and his
parents being Matthew and Esther (Blair) Helm. The first of
the Helm family in America was the grandfather of him whose
name initiates this sketch, Jonathan, who settled in Darlington,
Lafayette county, Wisconsin, and was soon numbered among the
respected people of that section. Plis son Matthew, 'Sir. Helm's
father, was born March 7, 1840, and died April 22, 1903. He was
a farmer and a man who enjoyed the esteem of his contemporaries,
one of his distinctions being a valiant Civil war record. At the
time of the inception of the conflict between the states he joined
the support of the Union cause, enlisting at Darlington. Wisconsin,
August 14, 1862, and being honorably discharged June 16, 1865,
at Camp Madison, Wisconsin. Some years after the termination
of the war, in 1872 to be exact, Matthew Helm came to Cerro Gordo
county, and being pleased with the aspect of things purchased a
farm here and remained aetivelj' and successfully engaged in this
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 787
quarter for the remainder of his life. He and his wife resided wp-
on the farm nntil the spring of 1899, when they removed to Ply-
mouth, in whieh place the father died in 1903. The marriage of
Mr. Helm's father and mother was solemnized December 16, 1874,
the latter Esther Blair Helm, born April 27, 1852, and died Decem-
ber 9, 1909, over seven years after the demise of her faithful and
devoted husband, being a daughter of James and Nancy Blair.
Both of the parents of Mr. Helm were Methodists, consistent and
helpful in the good causes of the church. The father was a life
long Democrat and a prominent member of the Masonic fraternity.
L. D. Helm received an excellent education, his preliminary
training being acquired in the public schools. He early decided
to follow in the parental footsteps in the matter of a life work.
He engages in general agriculture and his efforts have been crowned
with success. He laid the foundation of a congenial life compan-
ship, when on August 16, 1899, he was united in marriage to Josie
Reynolds, daughter of Anna L. and Charles (Henry) Reynolds,
the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Vermont.
The date of their wedding was August 16, 1899, and its scene
Plymouth, Iowa. They have become the parents of the following
seven children: Winnie E., born May 14, 1900; Flossie M., born
September 24, 1901 ; Harold H., December 7, 1902 ; Olive E., born
February 23, 1905 ; Wayne L., July 13, 1907 ; Melvin D., December
15, 1908; and Bruce, July 4, 1910.
Mr. Helm, like his father, has ever given his hand and heart to
the men and measures of the Democratic party and his lodge
affiliations are with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the
Modern Woodmen of America. He is one of the well known
farmers of the community and can ever be depended upon to give
his support to all measures likely to result in the attainment of the
greatest good to the greatest number.
WALLACE H. NUTTING.
A thorough going mechanic, active, enterprising and progres-
sive, Wallace H. Nutting occupies a conspicuous position among the
leading contractors of Mason City, and as an honest man and a
loyal citizen has the confidence and esteem of the community. lie
was born, November 21, 1865, in Columbia, Wisconsin, coming on
the maternal side of New England lineage.
His father, Rufus L. Nutting, was born in New York state,
July 14, 1842, and subsequently moved with his parents to a farm
in Wisconsin. After his marriage he settled as a farmer in Clark
Vol. 11—23
788 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
coiinty. Wisconsin, from there removing, in 1882, to Dane county,
Wisconsin. On April 25, 1887, he located at Jfason City, Cerro
Gordo county, Iowa, and having resumed the mason's trade, which
he had learned when young, has since built up a large and lucrative
business as a contracting brick and stone mason. He married Mary
E. Cvimmings, who was born, in October, 1842, in Massachusetts,
and was there bred and educated. They are the parents of three
children, namely : Clarence L., of Mason City ; Wallace H. ; and
Winifred M.
Living on a Wisconsin farm until twenty-two years of age,
Wallace H. Nutting received his early education in the district
schools, subsequently attending a graded school two winters. Com-
ing wdth the family to ]\Iason City in 1887, he began working at the
carpenter's trade, and for eleven years was in the employ of one
man, nine years of that time being foreman of the carpenter gang.
Subsequently embarking in business for himself as a contractor,
Mr. Nutting, in 1906, had charge of the carpenter work during the
building of the Northwestern States Portland Cement Company's
plant at Mason City, and was afterwards secretary and manager of
the North End Biulding Company. He is now busily employed
in contracting, his services being in demand in all building transac-
tions of importance.
Mr. Nutting married, December 25, 1893, Eliza McKee, who
was born in Freeborn county, Minnesota, in 1870, and they have
one daughter, Mary B. Nutting. Politically a stanch Repiiblican,
Mr. Nutting has respresented the Second Ward in the City Council
two terms. Fraternally he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of
America.
HANS P. FORBERG.
For more than three decades a resident of Mason City, Hans P.
Forberg, chief carpenter for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul
Railroad Company, has been actively identified with the advance-
ment of the industrial prosperity of this part of northern Iowa
and has gained a position of note among its more worthy and
respected citizens. A native of Norway, he was born May 19,
1842, in Trondjhem. a son of Ole and Martha Forberg. When far
advanced in years his parents were bv him indiiced to come to
America, and having made the dreaded ocean vo.vage. they located
in 1873. in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where both spent their remaining
da.ys, the father dying in 1877. at the age of four score and four
HISTORY OP CERRO GORDO COUNTY 789
years, and the mother, in 1876, aged eighty-one years. Of their
four cliildren two are living, as follows: Mrs. Moe of Wisconsin,
and Hans P.
Inheriting the natural mer-hanieal tastes of his father, who was
a cabinet maker by trade, Hans P. Forberg as a mere child would
get up at six o'clock in the morning and work at the bench until
time to go to school, and at night hurry home from school to fini.sh
the work begiin in the morning. Leaving home in 1866, he emi-
grated to the United States, and for eleven and a half years worked
as a cabinet maker and house finisher in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, after
which he followed his trade in Llilwaukee for two years. In 1869
Mr. Forberg entered the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railroad Company, at Watertown, Wisconsin, working as a
carpenter both in the shops and on the road. Transferred to St.
Paul, Minnesota, in August, 1871, he took charge of all building
operations between St. Paul and LaCrosse, Wisconsin. In May,
1878, he was transferred to Mason City, and in 1882 settled his
family here. Continuing with the same company, Mr. Forberg
now has full control of all the bridges and buildings on his line of
railway between McGregor, Iowa, and Chamberlain, South Dakota.
Unable to speak a word of English when he came to this country
and with the small sum of two hundred dollars to his name, Mr.
Forberg has steadily climbed the ladder of success, his present
prosperous condition being due to his own industry, energy and
able business management. Politically he is a Republican, and
fraternally he is a member of the Knights of Pythias. Religiously
he was reared in the Lutheran faith.
Mr. Forberg married. May 15, 1875, Mary Taleson, who was
born in Norway, June 2, 1853, and came with her parents, Ole and
S.ynewa Taleson, to Wisconsin in 1855. Her mother died April
18, 1908, aged seventy-nine years, but her father, now eighty years
old, is still living in Wisconsin. They reared eight children of
whom three are living. Mr. and Mrs. Forberg have two children,
Anna, wife of Charles Berger, of Joliet, Illinois, and Clara, wife
of Harry Dwyer, of Nashville, Tennessee.
GEORGE H. FULLER.
George II. Fuller, president of the Farmers' State Bank of
Rockwell since its organization in 1892, is also an extensive property
owner, owning as he does, about six hundred acres in the vicinity.
He has been a useful citizen for nearly thirty years, having come
here in 1882 from the state of Illinois. Mr. Fuller was born in
790 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
Geneseo Valley, New York, in October, 1845, his father. Seymour
Fuller and his mother before her marriage Eliza Mordoff. The
former M^as born in Vermont in 1817 and died in Belvidere, Boone
county, Illinois, in 1897. The mother's birthplace wa.s the state of
New York, she was born about 1822, her demise occurring in 1888,
The father began his career as a farmer in New York, but in 1846
concluded to cast his fortunes with the new west and came with his
family to Illinois. They came by the lakes to Chicago and thence
drove through to Belvidere. The head of the house had come pre-
viously and had purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land
from the government at a dollar and a quarter an acre. They
were among the first settlers in that part of the country and quite
the first to go on to the prairie to locate. A frame house was
constructed with some difScnilty and the family moved into it. In
those days there was plenty of wild game which helped to solve
the problem of livelihood. The father broke the sod, constructed the
necessary buildings for stock and so forth and he and his wife lived
upon their prairie homestead until their death. The.y were Baptists
and the father voted the Republican ticket. There were four
children besides Mr. Fuller; James A., is deceased; Charles E.,
resides in Washington D. C, where he represents his district in the
United States Congress ; Du Fay A., is a citizen of Belvidere, Illi-
nois; and May E., is the wife of Prank S. Stoekwell of Belvidere.
George H. Fuller received his education in the public schools
of Belvidere, and remained at home, assisting upon his father's
farm until the attainment of his majority. When he first left the
home roof he went to Waverly, Iowa, clerking in a store there for
a time and then going on to Dubuque where he was engaged in a
similar capacity for two years. In 1870 he removed to Thayer,
county, Nebraska, and later to Mc Webber county, Kansas, taking
up claims in both places and selling them. In the course of four
or five years he returned to Illinois where he remained for a time.
As previously mentioned Mr. Fuller took up his residence in Rock-
well in 1882 and for two years was occupied in the grocery busi-
ness. For the next eight years he engaged in various lines of busi-
ness and in 1892 when the State Bank of Rockwell was organized
he was elected president, which position he has filled to the present
time. He is a friend of good education and served on the school
board for a great many years. He Ls a loyal adherent of the
Democratic party and enjoys membership in the I. 0. 0. F.
The date of the marriage of Mr. Fuller is 1886, the lady to
become his wife being Miss Ella M. Guth, a native of Woodstock.
They are the parents of four children. Du Fay D., is a graduate
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 791
of the Drake Law School of Des Moines; Linn G., is a sophomore
at Grinnell College; Catherine May is a graduate of the Sacred
Heart Academy of Rockwell ; and George E., attends the Rockwell
high school. All the members of the family belong to the Congre-
gational chiu-ch with the exception of ilr. Fuller and he contributes
liberally to its support.
GEORGE H. FELTHOUS.
One of Rockwell's most prominent and valuable citizens is
George H. Felthous, a one time agriculturist, later engaged in the
elevator and grain business, and at the head of several progressive
movements, among them the establishment of the Rockwell Bank.
He was born in Dubuque county, Iowa. August 4, 1848, and is of
Teutonic origin, his parents, Jolm H. and Caroline (Foellj Fel-
thous, both having been born in Germany. They emigrated sepa-
rately to the United States, the father with a brother who died
shortly after his arrival upon American shores, and the mother
when nineteen years of age in company with her parents. They
were married in Dubuque eouuty where the father had taken \ip
farming and where he died in 1869. The mother resides in Rock-
well with a daughter and now (in 1910) is past eighty-one years of
age. There were four children besides George; Mrs. Louisa C.
Specht; John C. ; and John Adam and Amelia, the two latter de-
ceased.
George H. Felthous received his education in the public schools
of Dubuque county and for one term attended the commercial
college at Dubuque. For the following seven years he taught in
the county schools diiring the winter and in the summer devoted
his energies to the farm. In June 1869 he made the change which
was to prove very far reaching in its ett'ect, coming to Geneseo
township, in Cerro Gordo county and purchasing two hundred and
eighty acres in sections 17 and 19. He returned to Dubuque county
and the following year removed finally to his land where he pro-
ceeded to break a quarter section of the wild prairie. In 1871 lie
undertook the management of a grain business in Roctwell which
had been started by others the year previous when the Iowa Central
Railroad had been built through. He built a warehouse and in
1874 the elevator. He continued in the grain and elevator busi-
ness until 1882 when he sold out to his brothers. For the ensuing
five yeai-s he engaged in buying and improving wild lands in
Cerro Gordo county. His present agricultural holdings consist of
fifty -six acres in Cerro Gordo county and a tract in ilinneapolis.
792 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
In 1887 Mr. Felthous established the Rockwell bank, he being
sole owTier. The capital stock was $10,000 and the officers, Mr.
Felthous and F. R. Putnam, the latter having been associated with
the bank for sixteen years. He was succeeded by F. C. Siegfried,
the present cashier. The capital stock has been increased to
$25,000 and the bank does considerable business in real estate loans
and insurance. When the bank was inaugurated its home was a
plain frame building which it occupied until 1892 in which year was
built the present substantial brick building with vault and all
modern appliances. He built his first Rockwell residence in 1872
and the one now occupied by him and his family in 1883.
Mr. Felthous has given his support to the Republican party
through many campaigns and he has given efficient public service
in several offices, among them township clerk for several years,
member of the school board and of the town council. He was a
member of the Rockwell Knights of Pythias until the reliquishment
of their charter. Both he and his wife are active and consistent
members of the Methodist church in whose good works they are
always interested. Mr. Felthous has been superintendent of the
Sunday School for a number of years and gave excellent assistance
in the building of the church edifice some time since.
Mr. Felthous laid the foundation of a happy home in 1874 in
which year he was married to Miss Lucretia M. Lyman, eldest
daughter of George E. and Sarah E. Lyman. They have one
daughter, Hazel Lou, who is at home. She was graduated in 1909
from Cornell College (Iowa). Mr. and Mrs. Felthous believe
in culture and cultivate the finer side of life. Consequently they
are good travelers. In 1882 they took a trip to the Pacific coast
and in 1900 accompanied b.v their daughter they visited the Paris
Exposition and the Passion Play at Oberammergau. They were
abroad for several months and visited England, Ireland, Scotland,
Holland, Germany, Austria, Italy, Switzerland and France.
J. H. WHEELER.
That faithful domestic animal, the mule, is said to be without
pride of ancestrj^ or hope of posterity. In one respect, at least,
I differ from the mule, for I possess pride of ancestry ; in another
respect however, I fear I bear him some resemblance, for, being
a bachelor of advanced age, I have little hope of posterity.
Through my paternal grandmother, Sally Fuller, bom in 1785.
I claim descent from the Pilgrim Fathers who came over in the
Mayflower and landed on Plymouth Rock in the .vear of our Lord
one thousand six hundred and twentv.
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY 79:j
Through my paternal grandfather, Weston Wheeler, born in
1783, I claim descent from Puritan forbears who came from the
shores of the old to those of the New England during the first
half of the first century of its settlement.
Tradition hath it that the Wheeler's were of good fighting
stock and did their share in the interminable wars in which the
Colonies were engaged during the century and a half that inter-
vened between the first settlement of New England and the Revolu-
tion.
At Bunker Hill my paternal great-grandfather, Josiah
Wheeler, then only twenty years old, under Colonel John Stark,
helped construct the breastwork of rails and new mown grass and
from behind that improvised and frail defense gave the British
regulars ball for ball until his ammunition gave out. He fought
at White Plains, at Princeton and Trenton and at Bennington and
Saratoga. His last exploit was at the very close of the war and
after he had retired from the service, at the burning of Royalton.
His time having expired, Josiah Wheeler had retii'ed from the
service in 1779 and married Miss Nancy Howe. In 1782, or there-
abouts, he had taken his wife and child, a team of horses and his
earthly possessions and settled on the New Hampshire Grants, in
the township of Royalton. In 1783, the last year of the war, a
body of British and Indians raided and "burned" Royalton, killing
and taking prisoner the people and earrjing off or destroying the
property. At the time, my great-grandmother was confined to her
bed with a babe only three days old. She was taken from her
bed and mounted on horseback and her oldest child, two years of
age, was mounted with her, while the nurse wnth the three days old
babe was mounted on the other horse and the two women were told
to ride for their lives. My great-grandfather took his musket
and, with his neighbors and other rallying settlers, went to fight
and turn back these last invaders of American soil during the Revo-
lution. The babe borne by the nurse was my grandfather, Weston
Wheeler.
When my grandfather was sixteen years old he wore crepe
in mourning for George Washington. He served in the Vermont
militia during the \Var of 1812 and is said to have been present at
the battle of Lake Champlain. He was married sometime before
the war to Miss Sally Fuller, a young lady from Connecticut, by
whom he had ten children. Of these, my father, William Wheeler,
was the youngest, being bom April 17, 1824. My grandfather
was a man of more than ordinary ability and force of character and
was well educated and had good standing as a strong chun'liman
794 HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUNTY
and citizen. He removed with his family in 1836 to Crawford
county, Pennsylvania, and with him, as a part of his family, came
my father, who was then twelve years old.
When my father was twenty-two years of age, he very sensibly
married jMiss Susannah Fry. Susannah is Hebrew for lily. The
fair lily my father foimd growing in "Penn's "Woods" and, like a
wise man, gathered to himself, became my mother. My father has
slept in a -soldier's grave this five and forty year.s, dead on the
field of honor, but my mother, still a widow, still true to the one
love of her youth, is with me yet. She is wrinkled and old and
gray now, weighted down with the burdens of four score and four,
but I can remember her when she was tall and straight and young
and fair, with hair like the raven's wing. My father, with his
family, moved to Iowa in 1854, settling in Allamakee county. In
August, 1862, he enlisted in Company A, 27th Regiment of Iowa
Volunteer Infantry and on the night of May 30th, 1865, he died
in the United States hospital at Prairie du Chien, of disease
contracted during General Banks inglorious Red River campaign.
My own story is soon told. I was born more than sixty years
since, on the banks of the "Little Conneaut Creek." in Crawford
county, Pennsylvania, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and forty eight. I was born in a large, rambling old
farm house built by my grandfather. In 1854 my father brought
me to Iowa. During the winter of 1854-5 my father built what
was then considered a large log house. In that log house, which
had grown old befpre I finally left it forever, I lived the happiest
years of mj' life, for it was there I was a boy and it was there I
grew up. After I grew up I was elected justice of the peace, read
some law and was admitted to the bar. I promptly convicted mj'
first client and then went to Dakota Territory, seeking after other
clients to convict. In the meantime I had got religion, joined the
church and came within an ace of becoming a preacher.
In Dakota I did fairly well. I settled at Mandan, the county
seat of ]\Iorton county, and, at that time, 1883, a flourishing rail-
road to\\Ti and frontier metropolis and was supposed to be a coining
Omaha. Besides convicting a few more clients. I got into politics,
was made chairman of the Republican county committee, organized
a political machine that could show Tammanay points of improve-
ment, and became a political boss, or rather a sub-boss under Alex-
ander McKenzie, the political king of North Dakota and one of the
most sagacious and successful political leaders of machine politics
the country has ever produced. Since I have grown old and im-
potent, I have reformed, but McKenzie. vigorous in health, a giant
HISTORY OF CERRO GORDO COUiNTY 795
in bod.v and intellect, has kept on his devious ways, a political boss
in North Dakota, a railroad lobbyist in Washington and, at one
time in apparent danger of a federal prison in Alaska. When I
knew and worked with him in the long ago, McKenzie had a sound
head, a good heart and was true as steel to those who trusted him.
His only misfortune was that he worked for the "Corporations"
and, therefore, for a master without a soul. I was also a member
of the Republican Territorial Committee and when I decided to
leave the territory, was permitted to name my successor on the
committee. I selected Major A. E. Bovay of Ripon, Wisconsin,
but at that time at the head of a colony he had established at Glen
UUin in Morton coimty. Major Bovay has the honor of being the
founder of the Republican pai-ty.
I was county attorney for Morton county, which at that time
had all of Dakota west of the Missouri river between the Big Sioux
Reservation and the British line attached to it for jutlicial and
other purposes. The law, however, is a jealous mistress and, phy-
sically at least, its exactions were too strenuous for me and I gave
it up and became, first, city editor of the daily Mandan Pioneer and
then of the Bismark Commercial. I have dabbled in newspaper
work ever since.
It was during my sojourn in the "West Missouri Country" of
northern Dakota, that I met two men who afterward became known
the world over. One of these men was Marquis De Mores and the
other Theodore Roosevelt. At that time, 1882 to 1887, the two
were leading ranchers of that land of bad lands, buttes and coulees.
De Mores was a French nobleman, who had married an American
heiress, a noted duelist and soldier of fortune. After many ad-
ventures in different lands, he was finally treacherously slain by
his Tuareg escort south of Tripoli, Africa, while crossing the Desert
of Sahara on his way to Fashoda on the Upper Nile. As for
Roosevelt, at that time, San Juan Hill, the Presidency, Africa and
his return to civilization in a greater than Roman triumph, were all
before him.
My health, which has always been a millstone around my neck,
did not thrive in the climate of Dakota. This fact, together with
a constant longing for Iowa, which at times amounted to actual
homesickness, decided me to return to the Hawkeye state. Re-
turning to Iowa, I settled in Cerro Gordo county and have been
here ever since. Its people have been iii\- people, its God my God,
and here I expect to die and be buried.
3678
