Bale, Leo P.

BALE, DONNELY, BAILEY, BUNSE, FLAMMA, BRISEL

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 8/21/2009 at 10:27:55

Bale, Leo P.

To attain a worthy citizenship by a life that is always honored and respected even from childhood deserves more than mere mention. It is no easy task to resist the many temptations, which assail and beset the pathway of youth and early manhood and plant a character in the minds and hearts of associates that will remain untarnished for all time to come. One may take his place in public life through some vigorous stroke of public policy, and even remain in the hearts of friends and neighbors, but to take the same position by dint of the practice of an upright life and without a craving for exaltation and popularity is worthy of the highest commendation. One of the highly respected and industrious young men of Baxter, Jasper County, is Leo P. Bale, who was born in Newton Township, this County, on May 3, 1886, and here he grew to manhood and received his education in the common schools. He has always resided in this locality, of which his parents were early settlers, his mother being eleven years old and his father twenty-one when they came here. He is the son of John and Mary (Donnely) Bale, the father born in Rockford County, Illinois, on July 10, 1853, while the mother's birth occurred in Louisiana on July 6, 1855. She came North when a child and grew to womanhood in Jasper County, Iowa, was educated in the old-time schools and here she and Mr. Bale were married and he spent the rest of her life here, dying in Newton on April 28, 1907. The father of the subject grew to manhood in Illinois and about 1864 came to Jasper County, Iowa, and married and here devoted his life to farming. He is now living in Baxter, making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Lizzie K. Bailey, she being the eldest of a family of seven children, her birth occurring in Newton, Iowa, on January 17, 1881; the others are: William, born September 23, 1883, lives in this County; Leo P., of this sketch; Mrs. Henry Bunse, born April 28, 1889, lives near Newton; John, born February 21, 1892, lives in Baxter; Vernon, born August 23, 1895, lives in Newton; Maurice, born August 13, 1898, lives in Newton. All these children were born, reared and educated in Jasper County.

Leo P. Bale was married on December 3, 1908, to Dora Bunse, who was born in Newton Township, this County, November 8, 1891, and here she grew to womanhood, was educated and has always lived here. She is the daughter of Fred and Henrietta (Flamma) Bunse, both natives of Germany, the father born in Helminghausen on September 29, 1848, and the mother born in Stormbraugh on March 25, 1859. There they spent their childhood and were married May 15, 1882, emigrating to America in August 1883, locating in Davenport, Scott County, Iowa, where they remained until 1888, when they moved to Jasper County and here became very comfortably established, and here the father spent the rest of his life, dying in Sherman Township, December 16, 1900. The mother is still living in Sherman Township.

Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Bunse, namely: Mrs. Frank Brisel, born in Germany, January 23, 1883, is living in Sherman Township; Henry, born February 14, 1885, of Sherman Township; Herman, born August 27, 1889; Dora, wife of Mr. Bale of this sketch; Meta, born September 27, 1895; lives in Sherman Township. This family was reared in Jasper County.

To Mr. and Mrs. Bale has been born one daughter, Wilma Arlene, whose birth occurred at Ira, November 3, 1909.

Mr. Bale purchased an interest in the dray line at Baxter in 1911 and this he is successfully engaged in. Politically, he is a Democrat and he belongs to the Catholic Church at Newton. Fraternally, he belongs to Active Lodge No. 516, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Baxter. Mrs. Dora Bale is a member of Baxter Rebekah Lodge No. 579. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1230.