Landers, Frank E.

LANDERS, BIDWELL, BARROWS, YOECKEL

Posted By: Janelle Martin (email)
Date: 5/18/2010 at 18:29:55

History of Hamilton County, Iowa, Vol. II, 1912, p. 160.

FRANK E. LANDERS.

Frank E. Landers, who since the 1st of May, 1899, has been connected with the First National Bank at Webster City, and since May 1, 1910, has been its auditor, and whose record as a soldier and citizen measures up to the high standard which he has attained as a business man, was born at Upper Lisle, Broome County, New York, July 17, 1844, his parents being John and Mary P. (Bidwell) Landers. The father remained upon the farm on which he was born in Broome County until 1864 and then, removing to the middle west, settled in Woodstock, Illinois, where he remained for about four years. In 1869 he removed to Hamilton County, Iowa, where his remaining days were passed.

Frank E. Landers was a pupil in the public schools of his native county, dividing his time between the acquirement of his education and the work of the home farm to the time of his enlistment for service in the Civil war. For a year or more the country had been involved in a sanguinary conflict when he felt that he could no longer content himself to remain at home and, although but a boy in his teens, he offered his services to the government, enlisting in 1862 as a member of the Sixteenth New York Battery, with which he served for nineteen months, when he was honorably discharged on account of physical disability. He then returned to the Empire state and in 1869 he came to Hamilton County, Iowa, with his father. For ten years thereafter he was engaged in general farming and on the expiration of that decade was elected auditor of the county, in which position he served from the 1st of January, 1880, until the 1st of January, 1884. On his retirement from office he spent a year in a clerical position in the Farmers' National Bank and in 1889 he went to Des Moines, where he was employed for nine years as clerk of the executive council of the state of Iowa, continuing in that capacity until 1897. He then returned to Hamilton County and became connected with the First National Bank, of Webster City, of which he is now auditor.

In 1874 Mr. Landers was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Olive Barrows, a daughter of Lathrop H. S. Barrows, who was a manufacturer of millwork in Woodstock, Illinois, and now resides at Pasadena, California. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Landers have been born four children, as follows : Leonora, whose birth occurred in 1875 and who is now living in Pasadena, California; Lou Cornelia, who was born in 1877 and passed away in 1908 ; John Clement, who was born in 1879 and wedded Miss Sarah L. Yoeckel, by whom he has a son and daughter; and Frank Lathrop, whose birth occurred in 1888, and who resides in Webster City. John Clement Landers, a civil engineer by profession, is engaged in the United States irrigation work. These children are not only entitled to membership with the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution but are also descended from soldiers who fought in the Pequot war, the King Philip's war, and the French and Indian war, while one of the founders of the family in America came to this country as one of the passengers on the Mayflower.

The military spirit of his ancestors found expression in Frank E. Landers not only in his service in defense of the Union but again in 1884, when he organized Company C of the Sixth Regiment of the Iowa National Guard, now the Fifty-sixth regiment. He was its first captain and resigned only when he went to Des Moines. He belongs to Winfield Scott Post, No. 66, G. A. R., and is its present commander, which position he also occupied twenty-nine years ago. His political support is given to the republican party and for four years he served as councilman of Webster City. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church. His interest in all that pertains to the material, political, social and moral welfare of the community is deep and sincere and is manifest in many tangible and helpful ways.

Hamilton Biographies maintained by Lynn McCleary.
WebBBS 4.33 Genealogy Modification Package by WebJourneymen