BARSLOU, LEON A.

BARSLOU, FASGATE, FLEMINGS, SMITH, JOHNSON, FISHER, ARTHUR, ODELL, ROBINSON, JONES

Posted By: Jean Kramer (email)
Date: 5/26/2004 at 15:04:09

Biography reproduced from page 281 of Volume II of the History of Kossuth County written by Benjamin F. Reed and published in 1913:

Leon A. Barslou, who engages in general farming in Harrison township, in connection with which he also operates a well-digging outfit, was born in O’Dell, Livingston county, Illinois, on the 21st of December, 1865, and is a son of Peter M. and Laura A. (Fasgate) Barslou. The father, who is of French extraction, was born in the vicinity of Montreal, Canada, and there he was also reared and educated and learned the blacksmith'’ trade. When a youth of about nineteen years he crossed the border into the United States, going direct to Wauseka, Illinois, where he obtained work at his trade. He was an ambitious, enterprising young man, and his spare time was largely devoted to the study of English, with which language he was entirely unfamiliar. Later he removed to O’Dell, where he established a shop of his own which he operated until 1874. During that period he took up the study of law and also became identified with local politics, and for a time served as deputy sheriff of Livingston county. In July, 1874, he came to Kossuth county with his family, and locate din Portland township, where he bought a farm and for three years thereafter devoted his entire attention to agricultural pursuits. He next went to Burt, going from there to Bancroft, where since 1896 he has been engaged in the practice of law. The mother, who is also living, is a native of the state of New York and is of French and Yankee extraction. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Barslou numbered eleven, seven of whom are still living as follows: George, president of the Watcher Tile Company, of Watcher, Iowa; Leon A., our subject; Belle, the wife of Henry Flemings, a tailor of Tulsa, Oklahoma; May, the wife of H. W. Smith of the Des Moines Bridge & Iron Works of that city; Anna, the wife of J. B. Johnson, an insurance man of Algona; Irma, the wife of Charles Fisher, a traveling salesman of Rockford, Illinois; and Edna, who married Fred Arthur, a farmer and stockman of Missouri. The deceased members of the family are as follows: Fred, Josephine, Nellie and Edna.

Leon A. Barslou, who was a lad of nine years when he removed to Kossuth county with his parents, began his education in the public schools of his native town and continued it in those of this county until he was a youth of seventeen. He then laid aside his text-books and turned his attention to the work of the fields, assisting his father with the cultivation of the farm until the family removed to Bancroft, when he left home and started out to make his own way in the world. For two years thereafter he worked out as a farm hand, but at the end of that time he went to Bancroft and ran a dray line for the same period. He next entered the employ of Brewer Brothers, lumber dealers, but he left that firm at the end of a year, and went to work for John Winkel, a grain and stock dealer of Bancroft, remaining with him for two years. In 1892, he took up well drilling and has ever since followed this business with very good success. Four years later he bought eighty acres of unimproved land located on section 13, Harrison township, and in the spring of 1898 he took up his residence there and now engages in farming in connection with well-drilling. Mr. Barslou has erected all of the buildings on his place and he has also fenced his fields and planted a grove and orchard during the period of his residence, as well as made various minor improvements, all of which have added to the appearance and value of the property. In connection with the cultivation of his fields he also feeds hogs and carries on dairying on a small scale. He still devotes much time and attention to well-digging, especially at such seasons as the farm work is light, and as he has been successful in the business and is well known, he has all of the contracts he can possibly fill.

On the 30th of November, 1897, Mr. Barslou was united in marriage to Miss Alice M. O’Dell, a daughter of W. W. and Melissa (Robinson) O’Dell. The father is a native of Wisconsin and the mother of Illinois, while the material grandparents came from New England. In 1886, Mr. O’Dell, who is a farmer, went to South Dakota and took up a claim which he cultivated for five years. At the end of that time he located in Bancroft, where he and the mother still reside, and now engages in house moving. Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. O’Dell, of whom Mrs. Barslou is the second in order of birth and the eldest daughter. The others are as follows: Fred, who is farming in Harrison township; Maude, who married Charles Jones, a barber of Jefferson, Iowa; Clarence, an engineer of the city water works plant at Gowrie, Iowa; Raymond, a champion one hundred and seventy-five pound wrestler, who has lost only two out of thirty-seven matches, living in Colorado; Charlie and Elwyn, who are attending school in Bancroft; and Grace, who died in childhood. To Mr. and Mrs. Barslou have been born six children: Alfred, who has passed the thirteenth anniversary of his birth; Wilfred, who is eleven years of age; Percy, who died from appendicitis at the age of six years; and infant son, who died when four weeks old; Alice, who is anticipating her sixth birthday; and Raymond, a babe of one year. The two eldest children are attending district school No. 67, Harrison township.

Mr. Barslou give his political allegiance to the republican party and had on several occasions been called to public office. He is now and has been for three years trustee of Harrison township, and for seven years he was a school director in district No. 6, while for five years he was president of the township school board. Fraternally he is affiliated with the Masonic lodge at Bancroft, Knights of Pythias at Germania and Modern Woodmen of America at Ledyard. He is diligent and enterprising in matters of business as well as of citizenship, and is accorded the esteem and regard of a large circle of friends, not only in his immediate neighborhood, but throughout the county.