Walter Leon CARR

CARR, DRUSE, ALDRICH, REYNOLDS, MATTHEES, JONES, STANTON, PRESCOTT, ZOBEL

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/21/2012 at 04:30:42

Globe Gazette
Mason City, Cerro Gordo County, Iowa
April 22, 1953

Walter L. Carr, Old Timer in Cerro Gordo County, Dies

Walter Leon CARR, 76, died at his home, 615 N. Federal, late Monday afternoon. He had lived in Cerro Gordo County throughout his lifetime and was one of the old timers of the Northwestern States Portland Cement Company.

He was a descendant of a pioneer family who came to Cerro Gordo County in 1870 and settled in Grant Township. When James R. CARR, Walter's grandfather, picked out his first 80 acres to start stock farming, there were few white homesteaders in the township and little or none of the prairie had been broken.

Five years later in 1875, the state census listed only 1,443 acres of Grant Township under cultivation and the township population consisted of 210 men, women and children, 150 of whom were native born Americans.

Born at Lake

Walter CARR was born Feb. 4, 1877, in Clear Lake, the first born of William and Viola DRUSE CARR. At the time of his birth the Carrs had 320 acres under cultivation, a big holding in those days, and the histories of the county relate that the tract was "always under good improvements and is beautified by one of the model farm houses of the county."

He attended rural school in Grant Township, taking his first job off the family farm when he was 15. On Thanksgiving Day, 1898, he was married to Minnie ALDRICH, who lived east of the CARR farm in Lincoln Township, and the young couple went farming on their own.

After the death of 'his first wife, he was married to Mrs. Jessie REYNOLDS MATTHEES of Lake Mills, July 11, 1942.

In 1923, Mr. CARR left farming to help start the first operations of the Webster Conover Company in Mason City. Then he entered county employment and spent some time with the Mason City Sand and Gravel Company.

Buys Stanton Home

He was employed by the Northwestern States Portland Cement Company April 14, 1926, when he was assistant to the late Barney JONES, driving yard teams. He purchased the old John Stanton, home at 615 N. Federal eight years ago.

A member of the Loyal Order of Moose, Mr. CARR has accompanied his wife, who has held the highest position in the state, Deputy Grand Regent, to international conferences. They had made regular pilgrimages to Mooseheart in Illinois.

In the span of Mr. CARR'S life, he had seen life change from the prairie breaking days of the '70s with stray and begging Indians and gray wolves for neighbors, to the prosperous and comfortable farm life of Cerro Gordo County today. He typified the pioneers who built the Middle West into the finest part of the United States.

Family Survives

Surviving are his wife, Jessie, daughter, Mrs. Burton PRESCOTT, Clear Lake; son, Merle CARR, Gary Ind.; stepson, William REYNOLDS Mason City; 11 grandchildren, 14 great grandchildren; four brothers, Clyde, Ernest and Milton, Clear Lake, and Virgil of Mason City, and a sister, Mrs. Gus ZOBEL, Ventura.

Funeral services will be held at the Major Memorial Chapel Thursday at 2 p.m., with the Rev. Warner HUBBARD, pastor of the First Methodist Church, Clear Lake, officiating. Interment will be at Elmwood Cemetery.

Friends may call at the chapel from noon Wednesday until the time of services.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2012