ARNOLD, Elmer J.

ARNOLD, RENZIEHAUSEN, ROSWAG, LAU

Posted By: Dora Mueller (email)
Date: 10/13/2007 at 11:07:10

No history of Klemme and of Avery township, Hancock county, would be complete without extended reference to Elmer J. Arnold, a most energetic, active and farsighted business man whose carefully directed labors have brought substantial success, but while he has won individual prosperity, he has also contributed to the welfare and progress of his community. In a word, his labors have been a most potent factor in developing the district in which he lives and in promoting its business interests. He was born in Clayton county, Iowa, on the 30th of April, 1879, and is a son of Fred and Mary (Renziehausen) Arnold, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Ohio. The father has passed away, but the mother is still living at the age of sixty-four years.
Elmer J. Arnold came to Hancock county with his parents in 1895, when a youth of sixteen years, and assisted his father in farming and in the cattle business, making a specialty of the raising of shorthorn cattle and also handling Duroc hogs and Percheron horses. His school days had been spent in Clayton county, Iowa, and he was a student in the Nora Springs Seminary for two years, and in Drake University at Des Moines for one year, and afterward attended the Upper Iowa University. He pursued a short agricultural course at Ames and then returned to the old homestead, situated on sections 4, 5 and 8, Avery township, Hancock county, the buildings being upon section 5. The farm comprises five hundred acres of rich and valuable land which was purchased by his father in 1889 for eight dollars and a quarter per acre. He also owns a small farm in Clayton county, Iowa. His place is splendidly improved. It has upon it good buildings, including ample barns and sheds for the shelter of grain and stock, modern machinery and in fact all the equipments and accessories of a model farm of the twentieth century. Mr. Arnold's efforts are most intelligently directed & his labors result in the attainment of success. He is also a stockholder in the creamery company of Klemme.
In 1912 Mr. Arnold was married to Miss Nellie Lau, a daughter of Henry and Mary (Roswag) Lau, who are natives of Clayton county, Iowa, and are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Arnold have two children, Curtis C. and Wilbur. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and generously contribute to its support. In politics Mr. Arnold is a republican but has never sought political office. He has, however, been a member of the school board, serving for four years as its president, and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion, for he believes that the young should have ample opportunity for that training which qualifies them for life's practical and responsible duties. His education was liberal and in it he sees the foundation of his success. There is no resident of Hancock county who carries on farming along more scientific or whose labors are attended with a greater measure of success. He has closely studied the question of soils, their productiveness and adaptability to crops. He is familiar with various scientific points of stock breeding and utilizes his knowledge in most resultant manner.
History of Winnebago and Hancock Counties, Iowa (1917) p. 463-64