OWEN, Anson C.

OWEN, GRUPP, THOMAS, RAGSDALE, CLAUSEN

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 11/18/2014 at 05:05:15

The Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
Monday, June 01, 1953
Mason City Centennial Edition, Section 3

1853: MASON CITY ONLY BUFFALO PATH on PRAIRIE

[Page 46] Mason City was only a buffalo path on the prairie in 1853 when the first cabin was built here.

That's the description given by Anson C. Owen, who brought his family to Cerro Gordo County that same year. He settled in a group of trees that became known as Owen's Grove. It was from him that Owen Township was named. His son, Mark Owen, 97, still lives in Mason City. Mrs. Carl [Bess Larinda (Owen)] Grupp is his granddaughter.

NOTE: Anson C. Owen was born January 14, 1810, Tompkins Co., NY, and died February 2, 1892. Anson married in 1840 to Lorinda (Thomas) Owen, was born December 26, 1823, Sullivan NY, and died July 4, 1918, Mason City. They were interred at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery.

NOTE: Marcus "Mark" Owen was born at Owen's Grove in 1855, and died in 1956 with interment at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery. His wife Eva L. was born in 1866 and died in 1932.

NOTE: Bess Larinda (Owen) Grupp was born in 1892 and died in 1958. Carl Grupp was born in 1892, Germany, and died in 1963. They were interred at Elmwood-St. Joseph Cemetery. Carl was a prominent grocer in Mason City and served as Mayor of Mason City 1943-44.

The year, 1853, was a significant one, not only for Mason City, but in world events. It saw Comdr. Mathew C. Perry arriving in Japan "opening" that long shut-off nation to American ships and trade. That year also saw the opening of the World's Fair in the just completed Crystal Palace at New York.

That year has another significance for it marked the start of the Klipto Loose Leaf Company of Mason City at Le Mars, Iowa, under the name of G. H. Ragsdale, the name changing later to Ragsdale and Chassel, then to Ragsdale, Chassel and Ferguson and later to the Le Mars Printing Company.

In 1908 the company business was moved to Mason City and in July, 1923, it was merged with the Klipto Loose Leaf Company of San Francisco, Calif.

Significant Year

It was also a significant year in that it saw the founding of the town of St. Ansgar and the beginning of the Norwegian Lutheran Church in this area. St. Ansgar became the center for this church body in North Central Iowa, where there are now close to 100 congregations.

It was the Rev. Claus L. Clausen, who provided the leadership for this religious center, from which sprang up scores of surrounding Lutheran congregations, including Trinity Church in Mason City.

Typical of families who moved into the uncharted prairie in those days the Owens came by ox team from Rockford, Ill, the community that provided a number of the early settlers.

On time on the long trip the wagon tipped over in a slough at Independence and there they had to camp for the night. No wood was to be found on the treeless prairie and rosin weed was gathered for the fire that cooked the supper and breakfast for the travelers. All that night they were kept awake by prowling wolves threatening destruction of their sheep.

At first the family lived in tents as no time could be taken for building a home. It was necessary to get the land broken and corn and other crops in the ground.

When Mr. Owen returned to Illinois for more supplies, Mrs. Owen sat in the front door with a rifle across her knees to keep the wolves away. The nearest neighbor was 10 miles away.

Helped Other Families

At their Owen's Grove home south of Mason City, Mr. and Mrs. Owen were host to four families during the Civil War. The husbands had been called to war and as there was little money in the community the more prosperous of the settlers assisted in providing for wives and children.

In 1864 Owen sold his farm in Owen Township and bought a farm a mile and a half north of Mason City in Lime Creek Township, land which later was acquired by the Northwestern States Portland Cement Company.

In 1869 the Owens moved to Mason City, where the lived in a house that stood across the street to the south from the Cerro Gordo Hotel. Mr. Owen became Mason City's first uniformed policeman [town marshal]. He died in 1882 (sic, 1892 on his gravestone).

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, November of 2014

Cerro Gordo Biographies maintained by Lynn Diemer-Mathews.
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