Joseph Hartley
Joseph Hartley
Different occupations claim the attention of Joseph Hartley, one
of Allamakee county's most prominent and successful native sons,
for he is not only one of the largest landowners, most prosperous
farmers and extensive stockraisers in this vicinity, but he is
also a representative and able business man. For the past twelve
years he has owned and operated a large, protable sawmill, doing
general customs work, and he controls an important trade as a
grade contractor, his interests being all of a constructive
character, which makes them valuable as factors in general
advancement and growth.
He was born to John W. and Sarah G. (Ratcliffe) Hartley, of whom
further mention is made elsewhere in this work, in connection
with the sketch of Benjamin Hartley.
Joseph Hartley acquired his education in the log schoolhouses in
French Creek and Union City townships, and after he had laid
aside his books continued to assist with the work of the
homestead, a thing he had been accustomed to do since his
childhood. When he was twenty-seven years of age he began his
independent career, buying three hundred and thirty-two acres in
Union City township and upon this property, which is known as the
Gilchrist farm, he still resides, carrying forward its further
cultivation and development along progressive and modern lines
and meeting with the success which is the natural result of his
industry and practical labors. He is particularly interested in
stock-raising, being one of the most extensive breeders of his
township, and he has made this branch of his interests an
important source of income to him. Mr. Hartley has invested
extensively in Canada lands, realizing as a judicious and
discriminating business man the value of this property, and he
now owns twelve hundred and eighty acres in Manitoba, ninety
miles west of Winnipeg, which for three seasons he has had farmed
in small grain. He wons in addition to this valuable holding
vacant city property in Winnipeg.
His contracting business is an important and valuable one. He has
recently completed a peice of road grading in Iowa township
estimated at ten thousand dollars, and he put in the first
artesian well on the Iowa river in Allamakee county, and has been
connected with a great deal of other important work of this
character. Being ambitious and energetic, he has been carried
forward into important business relations and, continually
enlarging the scope of his interests, stands today among the most
successful and prominent of Allamakee county's native sons.
Mr. Hartley married, in 1896, Miss Carrie L. Howes, a native of
French Creek township and a daughter of John Howes. She is one of
a family of nine children, six of whom are still living. Mr. and
Mrs. Hartley have five children: Ethel L., who was born in 1897,
and who is attending high school at Waukon; John J., whose birth
occurred in 1899; Belle S., born in 1901; Albert G., born in
1906; and Charles E., born in 1912. The parents are devout
members of the Presbyterian church.
Mr. Hartley is connected fraternally with the Masonic order,
holding membership in the lodge at Waukon. He gives his political
allegiance to the republican party, of which he is an active
member. Naturally, however, he gives most of his attention to his
business affairs, which are bringing him richly merited success.
His worth is widely acknowledged, his business enterprise having
gained him distinction in commercial circles, and his business
probity stands as an unquestioned fact in his career.
-source: Past & Present of Allamakee County; by
Ellery M. Hancock; S. J. Clarke Pub. Co.; 1913
-transcribed by Sharyl Ferrall