Alanson G. Overacker (1823-1911)

OVERACKER

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 3/24/2022 at 17:40:35

Alanson G. Overacker
(May 11, 1823 – August 12, 1911)

Prominent among the citizens of Calhoun County who have witnessed the marvelous development of this section of the state in the past quarter of a century, and who have by honest toil and industry succeeded in acquiring a competence and are now able to spend the sunset of life in quiet and retirement, is the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch, his home being on section 11, Jackson Township.
Mr. Overacker was born in Herkimer County. New York, on the 11th of May,
1823. a son of Daniel Overacker, Jr., who was a native of the same county. His grandfather, Daniel Overacker, Sr., was of German descent. The family was founded in this country by three brothers who came from the fatherland and settled in New York at an early day, two of the number becoming residents of Herkimer County, while the other made his home on the Hudson river. The father of our subject grew to manhood in his native county and there married Miss
Margaret Brown, also a native of the Empire state and a daughter of Squire Brown, who was another of the pioneers of Herkimer County and served as a drum major in the Revolutionary war. From Herkimer County, Daniel Overacker removed to Onondaga County, New York, and settled on a farm near Liverpool, where he died in 1834, at which time our subject was only eleven years old. His mother then returned to Herkimer County, where she reared her family.
Alanson G. Overacker received a good education, attending first the common
schools and later the Clear Valley Academy. He engaged in teaching school for a few terms and also learned the cooper's trade in early life, which occupation he continued to follow for some years. On coming west in 1859 he worked at his trade in Chicago and other Illinois towns until 1861, when
he purchased forty acres of wild land in DeKalb County, that state, and turned his attention to agricultural pursuits. He was also a mail contractor and was in the employ of the government for about six years.
While a resident of that county, Mr. Overacker was married in 1867, to Mrs.
Clara Holmes, a widow, who died in 1873. She was born in Fayette County, Iowa. Her father was a pioneer and settled in Fayette County, but now lives at Fort Dodge. He is a brickmaker by trade. Having no children of their own, Mr. and Mrs. Overacker adopted a child, John F. Overacker, who became an inmate of their home at the age of two years and was reared and educated
by them. He now has charge of the home farm and is meeting with excellent success in its operation. He married Miss Felkey and they have two children, Clara and Gertrude.
In March, 1878, Mr. Overacker came to Calhoun County, Iowa, and purchased three hundred and twenty acres of raw land, which he at once commenced to break, fence and improve. Upon his place he erected a small house which in later years was replaced by a more commodious and pretentious structure.
He built a good barn and other outbuildings, set out fruit and shade trees and now has a very desirable farm under a high state of cultivation. He has sold some of the original tract but still retains one hundred and sixty acres of the old homestead. He commenced life for himself a poor man but has
ever made the most of his advantages, being industrious, energetic and thoroughly reliable, and deserves great credit for the success that he has achieved.
In politics Mr. Overacker is independent, voting for the man whom he believes best qualified for office regardless of party lines. He cast his first presidential ballot in 1840 for W. H. Harrison, his campaign cry being
"Tippecanoe and Tyler, too." Socially he is a member of the blue lodge and chapter of the Masonic fraternity, at Lake City, where he was initiated into the order. He has now been a resident of Calhoun County for twenty-seven years, and in its growth and prosperity he has been an important factor, giving his support to all enterprises calculated to promote the moral, social or material welfare of the community in which he lives. He is widely and favorably known and commands the respect and confidence of all with whom he is brought in contact. [Source – Biographical Record of Calhoun County, Iowa, by S. J. Clarke, 1902, p.242]