Terpstra, Dow W.

TERPSTRA, ZUIDMA, NAPJUS, PLANTENGA, GEORGE, DICK, ROMANS

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/22/2009 at 18:48:35

Terpstra, Dow W.

That period of the nineteenth century embracing the decade between 1850 and 1860 was characterized by the immigration of the pioneer element, which made the great State of Iowa very largely what it is today. These immigrants were sturdy, heroic, sincere and, in the main, upright people, such as constitute the strength of the commonwealth. It scarcely appears probable that in the future another such period can occur, or, indeed, any period when such a solid phalanx of strong-minded, brawny-armed men and noble, self-sacrificing women will take possession of a new country. The period to which reference is made, therefore, cannot be too much or too well written up and the only way to do justice to such a subject is to record the lives of those who led the van of civilization and founded the institutions which today are the pride and boast of a great state and a strong and virile people. Among those who braved the obstacles of Jasper County in its early period of development were the late Dow W. Terpstra and family. The subject was known as a man of extraordinary characteristics, who, by reason of years of indefatigable labor and honest effort, not only acquired a well-merited material prosperity, but also richly earned the highest esteem of all with whom he was associated.

Mr. Terpstra was born in Friesland, Holland, June 11, 1842, and he was the son of Watson and Sietska (Zuidma) Terpstra, both born in the same locality as was the subject and there they grew up and were married. In the year 1850 they emigrated to the United States, locating in Lancaster, New York, where they maintained their home for a period of five years, engaged in farm work; then the family came to Iowa, selecting Marion County as their future place of abode, Watson Terpstra purchasing eighty acres there. His son, Dow W., of this review, being the eldest child, began working in the fields when very young, assisting his father clear up the timber and otherwise get the raw land in shape for crops, consequently he had little opportunity to obtain an education, indeed there were few schools and they were poorly managed and their sessions were brief; but this lack of textbook training was later made up through extensive miscellaneous home reading and actual contact with the business world.

Mr. Terpstra was married in Marion County, Iowa, and he moved to Jasper County in 1860 with his wife and here bought a fractional eighty acres near Killduff. Later he traded this for one hundred and twenty acres in Elk Creek Township. He was a man of excellent ideas and he managed well, and, naturally a hard-working, industrious man, he forged rapidly ahead and added his place here until he became the owner of four hundred and fifty acres of as valuable land as the Township afforded. This he kept well improved and well tilled, in fact, made it one of the model farms of his community, and here carried on general farming and stock raising on a large scale. He was one of the largest cattle feeders in the county and no small part of his handsome competency was realized from this source. He had a pleasant home and convenient outbuildings; everything about his place indicating thrift and that a gentleman of good taste had its management in hand. Having laid by a competency, Mr. Terpstra and wife retired from active life in 1905 and moved to an attractive residence in the town of Sully, Iowa, and that was their home until Mr. Terpstra's death, on July 11, 1906, after a successful and honorable career. He was a man of considerable influence in his community and was well liked by all who knew him, being a man of kindly impulse and exemplary character who inspired confidence and respect. Mrs. Terpstra subsequently returned to the country and is now living on a part of the old home place. She is a woman of praiseworthy attributes and she enjoys the friendship of a very wide circle of acquaintances.

Mr. Terpstra aided in the public affairs of his community in whatever manner possible. For some time he was president of the school board of his district and after moving to Sully he became a member of the town council. Politically, he was a Democrat, and was always true to the tenets of his party. He attended the Reform Dutch Church and was liberal in his support of the same.

Mr. Terpstra was united in marriage on February 14, 1867, to Rosa Napjus, who was born in Friesland, Holland, on September 23, 1848, and she was eight years of age when she immigrated with her parents to the United States, and she therefore grew up and received her education in this country. She is the daughter of John and Rosa (Plantenga) Napjus. This family came on to Iowa and settled near Red Rock in Marion County, in 1856, and there lived for one year when they moved to Pella where they established a home.

To Mr. and Mrs. Terpstra were born eight children, named as follows: Watson Valentine, Mrs. Sietsk George, of North Dakota; Harry B., a farmer of Elk Creek Township, this county; Albert L., Mrs. Rose Dick, Mrs. Yetta Romans and Martin.

Mr. Terpstra was a true pioneer, one of the best representatives of the Hollander people who cast their lots with us in the early days. He found here a wild, undeveloped country, but had the sagacity to see in it a great future; consequently he here persisted in his efforts, having faith that the future would bring rich rewards if today was properly lived. He played no inconspicuous part in the transformation of this nature-favored land and, as was natural and right, he received a fitting earthly reward and is now sleeping the sleep of the just, after life's fitful fever, leaving behind him not only the evidences of material achievement, but what is more to be prized by his family and host of friends, a worthy example and an irreproachable name. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 992.