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History of Benton County, Iowa
The Lewis Publishing Company, Chicago, 1910; Luther B. Hill, Ed.

Pages 638-641

LEON S. LOIZEAUX, president of the Cedar Valley Land & Investment Company, the important real estate business which is described elsewhere in these pages, and of four other land companies and also president of the bank of Crook, Colorado, is the prominent representative of a family which has been identified with Benton county affairs from the time when the lands of the county belonged to the government. His father was the late J. J. Loizeaux, an emigrant from France who entered government land in Jackson township, Benton county, in 1854, and improved his land and lived on the homestead until his death in 1887, at the age of sixty-seven. In France he had been a silk dealer on a large scale, and as a result of failure in business had come to America to find better opportunities for his family. The mother, whose maiden name was Susan Duce. died in this county in 1892, aged seventy-three.

They were the parents of eight children, namely: Paul, an evangelist living in New York City, and associated in business with his brother Timothy; Timothy is head of the firm of Loizeaux Brothers, on Fourth avenue, New York, publishers of tracts and religious literature; Louise Jennings, wife of a retired tea broker of New York City; Dr. C. J., a physician and surgeon of Des Moines, and a graduate of the University of Iowa; Leon S., of Vinton; Mrs. Lydia Kechie, of Chicago, a widow, whose husband was in the dry-goods business there; Mlrs. Mattie Acomb, of Minneapolis, widow of the late Rev. E. Acomb, an evangelist; and J. D., in the lumber and real estate business at Plainfield, New Jersey.

Leon S. Loizeaux was born in De Lane, France, in 1850, and was brought to America and the homestead in Benton county in 1854. After he had attended the country schools he had to begin life without any special equipment and without capital. He began farming and stock raising, then had considerable success in the buying, feeding and handling of stock, and with the capital secured from this enterprise he engaged in the real estate, banking and other business. For some years he has been identified with the public-spirited citizenship of the county. In politics he is a Republican.

He married, in Benton county, Miss Wilhelmina Geddes. She was born in Canada, and her father, Alexander was originally from Scotland, spent a few years in Canada, and moved to Benton county before the Civil war, where he and his wife resided until they died during the seventies. One of the children of Alexander Geddes was the late Gen. James L. Geddes, U. S. A., who was Queen's Guardsman in Canada and came from there to the United States just prior to the Civil war, enlisted, formed a company at Vinton and served as its captain. He died in 1888, being identified at that time with the Ames Agricultural College. Four of his brothers also served in the Civil war, all enlisting from Benton county. One was Colonel Andrew Geddes, now on the retired roll and residing at Washington. Another was William Geddes, who was a second lieutenant and now resides in Florida; Charles Geddes is a resident of Nebraska; while John, the remaining brother of this military family, died in the army.

Mr. and Mrs. Loizeaux have four children: Louise, now at home, attended school in Washington, D. C.; Harry G., assistant cashier of the People's Savings Bank at Shellsburg; and William L. and Paul A., both in the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois.

Picture of Leon S. Loizeaux



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