Auten, Alexander Colley 1839-1933

AUTEN, COLLEY, FOOTE

Posted By: Marilyn Auten Berthelsen
Date: 8/4/2005 at 16:13:07

Alex C. Auten had died and would be buried on Friday 23 of December 1933 at the Methodist Church, 2:00 p.m. The singing was the old songs, wih a quartette and a lady soloist. Pallbearers were Victor Reynolds, Sherman Woods, Ben Braley, Otis Braley, Wilbur Woods, and Charley Davis.

Alex was born in Ohio on July 20, 1839, came to Iowa in 1865, and settled in Buena Vista Township. Alex plowed across the fence next to our pasture, working old Prince and Molly. He was kind to his stock, and was always talking to them. He could not stand to see anything abused.

Mr. Auten always had everything on the farm in perfect order. There was never a broken-down gate, a loose hinge, or a piece of broken board lying around the farm. He had nice, even ricks of wood; the corn had every husk and nearly all silks removed.

He and Mrs. Auten made nearly every bit of their living off the farm. For years, Mrs. Auten sold her butter to Mr. Mc Farlin and Charlie Axtel in Newton at a premium, which it should have commanded.

They lived in a little brown house, with three very small rooms and no basement. In the corner of one room was a trap-door in the floor where they kept a lot of spare things in the hole he dug there.

The only things Alex joined were the Methodist church and the Democratic party, and he was loyal to both. He was even tempered, and while he had strong convictions of his own, he appeared not to be interested in making the other fellow believe as he did. They had family prayer in that house, and both Mr. and Mrs. Auten had much faith in the real power of God.

Alex Auten was not a leader, neither was he a duplicating stamp. He did the duties that came to him in a perfect manner. He was absolutely honest and frugal and always ready to help his neighbors.

- written by Ashel K. Murphy - December, 1933
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Alexander Colley Auten was born on July 20, 1839 in Fredericktown, Ohio, to Jacob Cotner Auten and Rebecca Colley Auten. His grandparents were Henry Auten and Sarah Gortner Auten. He died December 20, 1933 at Kellogg, Iowa, having moved to Iowa with his six-months old son, Frank Mc Clellan Auten and wife Lois Dillison Foote Auten in March 1865.

They built a 3 bedroom two-story house in 1898 on the 80 Acre farm they had purchased.

Preceding him in death were his parents, his wife Lois in 1920, his second son Jay C. on March 17, 1888, and Frank's wife Susie Mae Morris Auten on June 10, 1910.

Surviving are his son Frank and his wife Ida Belle (nee Critchett) married in 1916, Grandchildren Anne-Lois (Mrs. Paul) Reynolds, Jay M. and wife Grace (nee Adams), C. Windsor and wife Ruth (nee Saunders), Margaret (Mrs. Clayton) Beveridge; and also Albert C., Frank Melvin, and Gene B. Auten; 4 great-grandchildren, and many nieces and nephews in Iowa and Ohio.