Jacobsen, William D.

JACOBSEN, BOARDMAN, BATCHELDER, BARKER

Posted By: Volunteer Transcribers
Date: 2/10/2003 at 22:48:42

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

WILLIAM D. JACOBSEN.

William D. Jacobsen, the well-known and popular postmaster of Lyons, and one of the most prominent citizens of the place, was born there on the 13th of November, 1856, a son of Albert M. and Mary A. Jacobsen. The father was born in France in 1821; in 1845 he emigrated to the United States. After spending some time in various places he came to Lyons, Iowa, from Galena, Illinois, in 1848, and entered into mercantile business, being one of the first to carry a full line of general merchandise, his store being situated on the river front. As he prospered in his new home, he invested his capital in real estate, all of which became quite valuable. He died in 1860, at the comparatively early age of thirty-nine years. The children born to him were Pauline A., deceased; Emma F., wife of H. C. Boardman, of Nevada, Iowa; Albert D., deceased; William D., our subject; and Louis V., deceased. For her second husband the mother married Ezra Batchelder, by whom she had one child, Laura E., now the wife of J. F. Barker, of Tucson, Arizona.

Mr. Jacobsen, of this review, obtained his early education in the public school of Lyons, and later attended an academy in Chicago, the college at Mount Vernon, Iowa, and business college in Poughkeepsie, New York. He was engaged in mercantile trade in Lyons from 1885 to 1889, and since then has devoted his attention to his real estate interests, which are quite extensive. After his return from college he studied law with A. R. Cotton, and was admitted to the bar in 1881, but never engaged in the practice of that profession.

Socially Mr. Jacobsen is a member of the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. In August, 1899, he was appointed postmaster of his native city, to succeed M. D. Madden, and has since discharged the duties of that office in a prompt and able manner, worthy of the highest commendation. As clerks he employs C. H. Leedham, Lucy H. Madden, Gordon W. Hempel and William K. Nattinger, while L. E. Madden serves as assistant postmaster. This office receives sixteen mails a day and has one rural route, which was established August 15, 1900, and is now conducted by C. L. Rogers, the distance being twenty-eight and a half miles.