Tramel, Frank W.

TRAMEL, ALEXANDER, CRAWFORD, JEFFRIES, KEYES, PEASE

Posted By: Volunteer Transcriber
Date: 10/23/2009 at 06:38:48

Tramel, Frank W.

A man who boldly faces the responsibilities of life and by determined and untiring energy carves out or himself an honorable success exerts a strong influence upon the lives of all who follow him. Such men constitute the foundation of our republican institutions and are the pride of our civilization. Such a man is Frank W. Tramel, one of the best known and most enterprising of the young farmers and stockmen of Clear Creek Township. There is peculiar interest attached to a resume of his career in view of the fact that he has here spent his life and also because he is a most creditable representative of one of our best pioneer families, the name Tramel having been well known in Jasper County through all its stages of development.

Frank W. Tramel was born in Clear Creek Township, this county, on the old homestead where he now lives. January 27, 1871, and here he grew up and was educated and has always followed agricultural pursuits in this community. His father, J. J. Tramel, was born in Kosciusko County, Indiana, November 26, 1842, and is deceased. When ten years of age he came to Clear Creek Township, this county, with his father, they being, as stated above, among the earliest settlers here. The date of their arrival was October 10, 1852. The paternal grandfather, W. A. B. Tramel, was born in North Carolina, in February 1802, and he died on the old homestead in Clear Creek Township, Jasper County, Iowa, in April 1897. His wife, who was known in her maidenhood as Cynthia Alexander, was born in Indiana in 1804, and her death occurred on March 3, 1878. J. J. Tramel, mentioned above, married Hannah Crawford, who was born in Coshocton County, Ohio, August 30, 1849, and she emigrated to Poweshiek Township, Jasper County, Iowa, with her father in an early day and here spent the rest of her life, dying in 1891. Frank W., of this review, was the only child of this union. The father enlisted in the Union Army from Clear Creek Township, August 22, 1862, in Company D, Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served very faithfully for three years, during which he fought at Port Gibson and in the siege of Vicksburg. He was honorably discharged and was mustered out at Davenport, Iowa.

On March 11, 1896, Frank W. Tramel was united in marriage with Grace B. Jeffries, who was born in Independence Township, Jasper County, Iowa, July 26, 1872, the daughter of A. E. and Emily H. (Keyes) Jeffries, the father born in Kosciusko County, Indiana, January 13, 1846, and is still living in Jasper County, at the town of Ira; the mother was born in Benton County, Iowa, August 9, 1850, and died in Independence Township, this County, April 22, 1904. They were early settlers in Jasper County and became well known and highly respected. Their family consisted of four children, namely: Grace, wife of Mr. Tramel, of this review, is the eldest; Vesta Pease, born May 22, 1874, of Poweshiek Township, Jasper County; Heziah, born February 11, 1876, lives at Des Moines; Xanthe, born December 21, 1877, lives at Burwell, Nebraska; she was born in Crawford County, Iowa, but the others were all born in Jasper County.

To Mr. and Mrs. Tramel two children have been born, a daughter and a son, namely: Mildred Grace, whose birth occurred on May 31, 1898; Howard James, born January 18, 1902, the former in Independence Township and the latter on the old Tramel homestead.

Mr. Tramel has been very successful in his life work and he is the owner of one hundred and seventy acres in Independence Township, on which are two sets of good buildings, and he also has eighty acres in the home farm, which consists of one hundred and ninety acres, and his improvements on all his land are modern and first class, his home being commodious, pleasant and well furnished. He carries on general farming and stock raising on an extensive scale and in a manner that stamps him as being fully abreast of the times.

Politically, Mr. Tramel is a Republican, and he has always manifested a lively interest in local affairs. He is at present a member of the Township board of trustees, and he has been a member of the school board. He belongs to Camp No. 5660, Modern Woodmen of America, of Ira, also the Yeomen lodge of that place, and he and his wife are members of the Disciples of Christ of Ira. They are pleasant people to meet, broad-minded, liberal and can claim a wide circle of acquaintances and friends. Past and Present of Jasper County Iowa B. F. Bowden & Company, Indianapolis, IN, 1912 Page 1228.