Hart, O. D.

HART, ALLING, HUGGINS

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, Plym. CC (email)
Date: 3/19/2005 at 11:35:40

O. D. Hart

Although we are often prone to rail at our environments and our lack of early opportunities, often blaming these for our failures along the road toward the "heights," yet the contemplative mind must conclude that life is, after all, about what we make it. When but a boy O. D. Hart, well-known stockman of Le Mars, realized that man is master of his fate; that he is the captain of his own soul, and he set about in a laudable manner to shape his destiny on "these banks and shoals of time."

O. D. Hart is a son of David and Gertrude (Alling) Hart, natives of Massachusetts and of the state of New York, respectively. The father came West when a young man, locating in Wisconsin and engaged in farming in Jefferson county for many years. He came to Iowa in 1876 and died in this state on August 26, 1907. His family consisted of five children, four of whom are still living, O. D. Hart being the only one in Plymouth county. O. D. Hart was born in Jefferson county, Wisconsin, April 7, 1859, and there he spent his boyhood and received his education in the common schools. After leaving school he took up athletics and was a sprint runner, making excellent records. Leaving his state in 1876 he went to Cedar Rapids, Iowa, for a short time; thence to Waterloo and was a trainer for L. F. Walker's running team, which he coached and which under his guidance won the state championship for three years in succession. Later he went to Omaha, Nebraska, to coach a team that was named for J. M. Thurston, which team he took to New Orleans, Louisiana, in 1886, and won the world's championship. He also managed other teams at Pueblo, Colorado, and at Mankato, Minnesota, and his reputation as an athlete became international in the world of sports. In 1890 he turned his attention to breeding thoroughbred Jersey cattle and Poland China hogs at Kingsley. He was very successful from the first in this venture and soon became widely known to farmers and stockmen. In 1894 he sold one sow for fifteen hundred and fifty dollars, the highest price ever paid for an animal of that kind up to that time. At this writing he has a large heard of thoroughbred Jersey cattle and also of Poland China hogs. He has shipped his fine animals to nearly all the states in the Union, finding a very ready market for them, owing to their superior quality. He is the only breeder of Jersey cattle in Plymouth county, and was one of the first to breed Poland China hogs here. He has always been among the prize winners at the Iowa and South Dakota state fairs, carrying off all the prizes offered on such stock one year at the South Dakota fair, and also repeated this unusual record at the Iowa State fair at Sioux City the same year.

In 1884, at Albert Lea, Minnesota, O. D. Hart was married to Alice Huggins, a daughter of J. P. Huggins, and to their union six children have been born, namely: Raymond, who married Mary Miller and has one child, Robert; Marvel, who married George Stevens and has one child, Ruth; Oscar, John, Nelson and George, who are at home with their parents. Mr. Hart is a Republican.

BOOK SOURCE:
History of Plymouth County, Iowa
Indianapolis, Ind.: B. F. Bowen, 1917