WOLFE, LEE O.

WOLFE, SIMMS

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 7/3/2003 at 18:48:01

Biography reproduced from page 76 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

The story of the career of Lee O. Wolfe should prove an incentive to every ambitious young man, as it clearly demonstrates that success in life depends more upon energy and determination of purpose, than upon favorable circumstances. His life record was begun in a one-room log cabin, sixteen by twenty-four feet, in the year 1873. The place of his birth was Quiet Dell, West Virginia, the name of the town in itself being most suggestive of poetry and romance. His parents were Jacob and Elizabeth Wolfe, the father of Irish and Dutch extraction, but a member of an old Pennsylvania family, while the mother was of English descent. The paternal forefathers were largely soldiers, one of the ancestors having been General Wolfe of Quebec fame, while for many generations the mother’s family had been planters of Virginia.

Lee O. Wolfe passed his boyhood in a home to which luxury was unknown and even comfort almost a stranger. At the age of eight years he began his education in the rural schools of his native state, which he attended for a period of about thirty-six months during the succeeding nine years. When a youth of seventeen years he started out to make his own way in the world, beginning his career as a teacher at Weston, West Virginia. The succeeding two years he taught school at Brown, in the same state, and at the expiration of that time he followed the advice of Horace Greeley and started west. He terminated his journey at Cornell, Illinois, where he arrived penniless and unknown. He reached there on Thursday and on the following Saturday he took the teacher’s examination at Pontiac and on Monday began teaching at Manville, where he remained for a year. The next year he took a school at Rockcreek, Illinois, remaining there for a similar period. He subsequently taught at Chenoa for two years, and at Chatsworth and Dwight for a year each. In the spring of 1898, he enlisted in Company F, Third Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and after being sworn in as a private in the United States army at Springfield went with his company to Chattanooga, Tennessee. They were detained there until the latter part of May, when they were ordered to Newport News, where they took passage on the St. Paul for Porto Rico. They landed there in June, and had time to participate in a few skirmishes with the enemy before peace was declared. Their regiment was in the Fourth Army Corps under the command of General Wood at first and later under that of General Grant. He returned to the United States in January, 1899, and received his discharge at Pontiac, Illinois. When mustered out he came to Iowa and from then until the following fall worked out as a farm hand. In the autumn he came to Titonka and purchased the Topic, a paper which he has ever since edited. When he arrived here the winter previous he owed four hundred dollars, which indebtedness he increased to seventeen hundred dollars when he took possession of the paper. He had unlimited confidence in himself, however, and felt sure that he could meet the obligation, and assumed the responsibilities of his new position with the assurance of a man whose vocabulary does not contain the word failure. On the 1st of April, following, he was elected postmaster, which office he still holds. Mr. Wolfe’s success in the business world during the intervening period has not been in any way remarkable, but is that of the man who directs his energies in accordance with a carefully considered plan of action toward the achievement of a definite purpose. When he took possession of the Titonka Topic, its subscription list contained but a hundred and fifty names, and now it has a circulation of twelve hundred and eighty. He owns the building where his office is located and his residence, both free of mortgage, and some stock in the First National Bank of Titonka, of which he is a director and in the State Savings Bank of Woden.

In March, 1900, Mr. Wolfe was united in marriage to Miss Carrie Belle Simms of Carrollton, Kentucky, a daughter of John Simms, a tobacco dealer of that state. Of this marriage have been born three daughters, Lela Marguerite, Carrie Elizabeth and Mabel Geraldine.

When granted the right of franchise upon attaining his majority Mr. Wolfe voted the democratic ticket, as had his father, but he changed his party affiliation after Bryan’s first campaign. He was the first supporter of A. B. Cummins for president in Kossuth county and ran the original Cummins paper. He is now and has for the past twelve years been the incumbent of the office of justice of the peace. Fraternally he is a member of the local camp of the Modern Woodmen of America, and has held the office of clerk continuously since 1902. He also affiliates with the Homesteaders and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. Mr. Wolfe is very public-spirited and takes an active interest in everything which tends to promote the welfare of the community or advance its development. He is one of the enthusiastic members of the Kossuth county Agricultural Association and has been vice president of this organization since the autumn of 1911. He is a man of high principles and commendable motives and the columns of his paper are ever ready to champion any worthy cause. During the twelve years of his residence here he has made many friends both in Titonka and the surrounding country, where he is spoken of by all who know him in the highest terms, his affairs in both public and private life being conducted in a manner that entitles him to the respect of those with whom he has dealings.