ARNOLD, Clarence A.

ARNOLD, RENAIEHAUSEN, LENZ, KOERNER

Posted By: Dora Mueller (email)
Date: 10/13/2007 at 14:13:09

One of the most enterprising citizens and business men of Hancock county is Clarence A. Arnold, who carries on agricultural pursuits according to modern scientific methods and bases his activities upon thorough study, resulting in complete comprehension of the questions involved. He is today one of the most prominent farmers and stock raisers of his section of the state. He was born Clayton county, Iowa, on the 19th of August, 1883, and is a son of Fred and [Mary (Renziehausen) Arnold, natives of Germany and of Ohio, respectively. In the year 1895 the family removed to Hancock county, Iowa, where the mother is still living at the age of sixty-four years, but the father has passed away.
Liberal educational advantages were accorded Clarence A. Arnold, who after attending the district schools for six years, spent two years in the graded schools of Klemme and a short period in the Nora Springs Seminary. Later he matriculated in the Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Fayette county, and also at the State College at Ames, specializing in agronomy and animal husbandry, over, he has remained a close student of the best magazines and other publications which have a bearing upon every subject connected with farming and stock raising, and he had, too, practical training, for he early began to assist his father in the cultivation and development of the home farm. The family home was established on section 5, Avery township, Hancock county, on the 5th of April, 1895, and in his boyhood days Clarence A. Arnold aided in the work of the fields, performing such tasks as he could, his responsibilities and work increasing as the years went by. Today he is actively engaged in the cultivation of four hundred and eighty acres of land on section 8 and in the raising of pure bred Polled Durham cattle and Duroc hogs. He is a most successful agriculturist and his work is an exemplification of the practical value of the scientific methods which he follows. He has studied soils and their adaptation to particular needs, knowing just which crops can be raised most profitably, and he has also studied every feature of stock breeding and raising. He stands as a most prominent representative of scientific farming and success in large measure has been his. He is today a student of such papers as Wallace's Farmer, The Agricultural Digest, Successful Farming, the Kimball Dairy Farmer, Hoard's Dairyman, the Prairie Farmer, the Breeders' Gazette and the Iowa Agriculturist. In addition to his other activities Mr. Arnold is a director and stockholder in the First National Bank of Klemme.
On the 28th of August, 1912, Mr. Arnold was married to Miss Emilie M. Lenz, a daughter of Ernest and Friedrika (Koerner) Lenz, natives of Germany. The father came to the new world in 1865 and lived in Wisconsin. The mother crossed the Atlantic in 1869 and lived for a time near Freeport, Illinois. For thirty-nine years they have been residents of Hancock county. Mrs Arnold was one of four children. She is a lady of liberal culture and refinement, sharing in her husband's studies and tastes. On their table are found such magazines as the Christian Herald, the Literary Digest, the Outlook, the Pathfinder, the Ladies' Home Journal, the Woman's Home Companion, the Mother's Magazine and others, showing that both are keeping in touch with the trend of modern thought and progress. Their religious faith is indicated in their membership in the German Methodist Episcopal church, in the work of which they take an active and helpful part. Mr. Arnold has served as assistant superintends Sunday school and he has also filled the offices of township trustee and of school director. His political allegiance is given to the republican party. His efforts to further the welfare of the community have been directed along the lines of educational campaigns. He is president of the Klemme Cooperative Creamery, of the Cow-Testing Association of Klemme and of the Short Course Associations and director of the Federation of Cow-Testing Associations. He recognizes the fact that activity must be preceded by desire and the desire for advancement, progress and improvement in community life as well as in stock breeding and raising must be furthered by instruction. No man has done more to promote knowledge and advance the interests of scientific farming in Hancock county and his work will long bear fruit. In his own affairs, too, he has displayed the utmost enterprise, combined with keen sagacity and discrimination, and his business judgment is seldom, if ever, at fault.
History of Winnebago and Hancock Counties, Iowa (1917) p.329-30