ECHARD, Daniel

ECHARD, HARTMAN, SHULTZ, COX, KEHN, RUDY, MARTIN, RAPE, BECK, HOOVER, HARTLE, KOSIER, MARTIN, KLOTZ, HATFIELD, WEIR, STAYMAN, SLEEPER, FOSTER, CLAYTON

Posted By: Nettie Mae
Date: 1/19/2003 at 00:41:50

Source: "The 1901 Biographical Record of Clinton Co., Iowa, Illustrated" published: Chicago : S. J. Clarke Pub. Co., 1901.

DANIEL ECHARD

The subject of this review, who is one of the leading farmers and representative citizens of Bloomfield township, his home being on section 10, was born in Wayne county, Ohio, on the 22d of July, 1842, and is a son of Peter and Margaret (Hartman) Echard, both natives of Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany. The father was a soldier of the German army. He was born in 1811, and continued his residence in his native land for a few years after his marriage, when he came to the United States, and made his home in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, for three years. At the end of that time he removed to Wayne county, Ohio, and purchased a small tract of timberland, on which he built a small log house, living there until the spring of 1862, when he removed eighteen miles north of that place. There he owned two eighty-acre tracts, which, together with the old farm, made five hundred acres. He died in Wayne county, in May, 1868, and was buried in the Dalton cemetery. After his death the mother made her home with her son, Peter, in Dalton, and later with her daughter, Mrs. Kate Shultz, at whose home she died in August, 1887. Her remains were also interred in the Dalton cemetery. Upright and honorable in all his dealings, he not only gained a comfortable competence, but also won the confidence and respect of all who knew him.

In the family of this worthy couple were eleven children , namely: Margaret became the wife of Eli Cox, a resident of Steuben county, Indiana, and died in April, 1891. Mary wedded Adam Kehn, of Delmar, Iowa, and died December 19, 1895. John wedded Fannie Rudy, deceased, and resides in Wayne county, Ohio. Jacob, who served three years in the Civil War, married Annie Martin, and is engaged in farming in Wayne county, Ohio. Peter married Lydia Rape, and follows farming in Wayne county. Lydia first married Jacob Beck, who enlisted in an Ohio regiment, and died in the service of his country, and she later became the wife of Philip Hoover, of Wayne county. Elizabeth, who died in October, 1897, was the wife of Peter Hartle, of Wayne county. Kate is the wife of Martin Shultz, a wagon and carriage manufacturer, of Dalton, Ohio. Daniel, our subject, is next in order of birth. Susan is the wife of William Kosier, a farmer of Wayne county, Ohio. George, who was in the shoe business in Cerro Gordo, Illinois, married Susan Martin, and died in May, 1876.

During his boyhood Daniel Echard acquired a good practical education in the subscription schools, where he was a careful student, until twenty-two years of age. In the meantime he assisted in the work of the home farm, and on leaving the parental roof, in 1865, went to Steuben county, Indiana, where he was engaged in cutting timber and splitting rails for a year. The following winter was spent at his old home in Ohio, and in the spring of 1866 he came to DeWitt, Clinton county, Iowa. From there he walked to the home of his brother-in-law, Adam Kehn, in Bloomfield township, where he worked for him and others for two years. He then visited his old home in Ohio for a short time.

On his return to this county, Mr. Echard was married, March 10, 1868, at DeWitt, to Miss Mary Klotz, who was also born in Wayne county, Ohio, February 7, 1851. Her parents, John and Mary (Kehn) Klotz, were born reared and married in Hesse-Darmstadt, Germany, and came to America about 1853 on a sailing vessel. The voyage, which was a very stormy and dangerous one, lasted forty-five days, and when near the shores of this country the vessel ran into a pirate ship and came very nearly being sunk, but finally reached New York in safety. Mr. and Mrs. Klotz first settled in Wayne county, Ohio, where he bought a small farm of twenty-three acres, and there they resided six years. At the end of that time they came overland to Iowa, in what was known as a prairie schooner, and Mrs. Klotz purchased eighty acres of land in Bloomfield township, Clinton county, where he continued to make his home until this death. At the same time there came to this county, with the Klotz family, J. Hurt, D. Gish, Jacob Correll, John Brown, and a Mr. Snyder, who all located in the same neighborhood. While visiting William Betzendeffer, who lived in the same locality, Mr. Klotz was attacked by three dogs and was severely bitten, after an awful fight with the brutes, from the effects of which he died January 14, 1863. His wife then carried on the home farm until she, too, was called to her final rest, July 10, 1896, the remains of both being interred in Union cemetery. Mrs. Echard is the oldest of their six children, the others being as follows: Jacob married Carrie Hatfield, and resides on the old homestead farm; Elizabeth died at the age of nineteen years; Annie first married John Weir, and second Frank Stayman, and died in Clinton county, May 23, 1896; Emma is the wife of George Sleeper, who lived south of Delmar, in this county; and John died at the age of four years.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Echard were born eight children, namely: Franklin O., born April 24, 1869, married Cora Foster, and resides in Marion, Iowa, being an engineer on the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. John W., born May 6, 1871, married Cora Clayton and is engaged in the poultry business in Delmar. Rosa Viola, born January 4, 1877, and Bruce O., born July 16, 1879, are both at home. Maude, born August 8, 1883, was killed by the cars on Wednesday night, about six o’clock, December 13, 1899, while driving home alone from Maquoketa, where she had been attending the Diamond School for Cutting and Fitting. At this crossing the Northwestern and Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul roads run side by side, and as there were two trains due, one going east and the other west, it is supposed that, after watching the eastern bound train pass, she thought the track clear, and in this way did not notice the approaching train on the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad, as the wind was blowing very hard from the northeast, and carried the smoke from the engine over her head. The train was in charge of J.B. Fowler, conductor, and D.J. Benjamin, engineer. As she drove over the track the engine must have struck one of the rear wheels, disengaging the buggy from the horse, which was uninjured, and throwing the buggy on the pilot of the engine. Miss Echard was found lying against the boiler head of the engine with her skull fractured. She was taken to Dr. McMeel’s, in Delmar, where she expired. Erma N., born October 1, 1885, is attending school. Ralph, born June 19, 1881, died in December, 1882. Harry, born December 25, 1889, died in infancy.

For a year after his marriage Mr. Echard operated his mother-in-law’s farm, and the following year rented a farm of Benjamin Spencer. At the end of that time he bought eighty acres of partially improved land on section 10, Bloomfield township, which he broke and placed under cultivation. In 1889 he bought forty-two acres more, and in 1894 twenty-acres, so that he now has a good farm of one hundred and forty-two acres. his first home was a log house, but in 1883 it was replaced by a more commodious and comfortable frame residence, and four years later he built a good large barn. Besides his property, he owns a quarter section of land near Mitchell, Hanson county, South Dakota. In connection with general farming he is engaged in raising a high grade of horses, cattle and hogs for market, and feeds all the grain that he raises to his stock. In 1899 Mr. Echard turned over the active management of the farm to his son, Bruce, who has full control of the same under the careful guidance of his father.

Mr. Echard attends the Methodist church, and is a stanch supporter of Republican party. He has served as road commissioner for a number of years, and as a public-spirited, progressive and up-to-date farmer, he takes an interest in all enterprises calculated to advance the general welfare. he is an intellectual gentleman of high social qualities, a fluent talker, and one of the most influential citizens of this community.