Hospers, Henry, 1830-1901

HOSPERS

Posted By: Lydia Lucas - Volunteer (email)
Date: 7/27/2010 at 21:49:55

DEATH OF HENRY HOSPERS. The Noted Sioux County Pioneer Passed Away Monday. He Was the Founder of the Holland Colony in This County.

On Monday morning, Oct. 21st 1901, Senator Henry Hospers of Orange City passed quietly away at about nine o'clock. Death came while the senator was sleeping.

This is not only a great loss to his family and relatives but also for this town, this county, and this district. It is meet that under these circumstances we should give a short life sketch of the deceased.

Senator Hospers was born in Hoog Blockland, the Netherlands, on the 6th day of February, 1830, and emigrated to America in 1847 with many other Netherlanders and helped to found the town of Pella, in Marion county, Iowa. While there his more than average knowledge soon brought him employment, first as a surveyor and he also did common farm labor and plowed the fields with teams of oxen. He became justice of the peace, notary public and afterwards attorney at law. In his practice it was always his object to settle disputes, rather than work up litigation and this he soon became highly esteemed.

When a new colony of Netherlanders was to be started in the then far west of northwestern Iowa, it is therefore little wonder that his man was chosen to lead these people to their new homes, and so he became the founder of the settlement in Sioux county, a settlement that has grown until it has become the principal one of its kind in the United States.

Senator Hospers came to Sioux county in 1871 and was soon elected as a member of the board of supervisors. In 1873 he became chairman of the board and the recognized father of this colony. Soon after this, upon the advice of Mr. Rufus Stone, at that time the most prominent attorney in Sioux county, a suit was commenced against the bondholders of a large amount of fraudulent bonds, held against this county and by the winning of this suit [he] obtained the lasting gratitude of the whole of Sioux county.

In 1891 Mr. Hospers was chosen to represent this county in the state legislature, and two years thereafter he was re-elected. His many good services in this office are matters of public history.

In 1895 Mr. Hospers was chosen as senator to represent Sioux, Lyon, O'Brien, and Osceola counties and served one term with honor and distinction. When the time for his re-election arrived his friends dissuaded him from making an active campaign for the reason that his health was then failing, and the germs of the disease that carried him away were then too apparent. Soon after that a stroke of paralysis incapacitated him for active work, and this ended in his death.

Senator Hospers was married twice. To his first marriage there were six children, of whom three survive him. By his second marriage he has eight children, all of whom survive him, as well as their mother. He was nursed with the tenderest care during all the years of his sad affliction. Two of his sons are prominent ministers of the gospel. A third, and youngest, is now old enough to take upon himself the work of looking after the banks owned by the late senator.

The funeral services were held from the Dutch Reformed church at Orange City this afternoon at 2 o'clock and were conducted in the Dutch language by Rev. N. M. Steffens, D.D. of Dubuque, and in the English language by Hon. Isaac Struble of LeMars. It was the most largely attended funeral ever held in Northwestern Iowa.

Source: Hawarden Independent, Oct. 24, 1901, pp. 1, 8.

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HENRY HOSPERS DIES SUDDENLY. Distinct Character of Northwest Iowa Who Accomplished Much. SAVED COUNTY $1,000,000. Long Fight Against Crooked Gang--Served in Legislature as Representative and Senator--Eight Children.

Orange City, Ia., Oct. 23.--Hon. Henry Hospers, patriarch and one of the founders of Sioux county, died at his home here at 10 o'clock Monday morning [Oct. 21] aged 70 years.

Few men in Iowa history can claim credit of greater contribution toward establishing a rich and prosperous community than is due Henry Hospers for his part in building up Sioux county. He was a member of the original Iowa Dutch colony at Pella. In 1869 he came here and, with other leaders, organized, secured lands and brought out a large colony of Pella people. They were largely of the younger generation, full of energy and from them and colonists who followed them have descended about half the present population of this county.

Little Promise at the Start.
When the first colonists came here there was hardly a bona fide resident in the county. A little group of professional bond manufacturers had come here before them, organized a quasi county government, and turned it into a machine for issuing county securities. They had elected themselves to the county offices and fraudulently issued many hundreds of thousands of county bonds without compensation. The new Dutch colonists found they must fight these issues and Henry Hospers was elected, by the newcomers, chairman of the supervisors. He remained in that position many years, fighting constantly against these issues in the courts. Many dramatic incidents are connected with that old litigation. Henry Hospers earned the complete confidence of his county by the long fight and his unswerving honesty. [Omitted a recap of the Dutch colonists hijacking the county records from the bond gang's county seat in Calliope and taking them to Orange City; it is covered in county histories.]

Mr. Hospers' Many Services.
Mr. Hospers at last won in his long contest. Every dollar of the bogus issues was declared illegal by the courts. Mr. Hospers was always afterwards the trusted counsellor of his people in all public matters. He was elected county superintendent, representative and finally senator from the "Big Four" district. In the banking and land business he aggregated a large fortune. He is survived by all of the eight children who were born to him. Six of them live in this county, one in Chicago and one in Cleveland.

[Omitted a paragraph anticipating funeral arrangements.]

Source: Hawarden Independent, Oct. 24, 1901, p. 2.

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HENRY HOSPERS

At Orange City on Thursday Sioux county's most eminent citizen was laid to rest after a long and useful life. Henry Hospers is dead! This is the sad news that flashed over the county last Monday and carried sorrow to thousands of hearts. Henry Hospers was a man honored and respected by many. He was a friend of the people and the people revered and loved him. The stamp of his genius is upon one of the fairest spots in the world--the county of Sioux in Iowa. Such a man is not a man of one town or one county. His influence is wider than that. He belongs to the world for he helped to develop its wilds. He was a pioneer who blazed the way for others. His deeds are of history and in history they will be embalmed.

Seventy-one years ago the deceased opened his eyes to the light of day in the Netherlands at Hoog Blokland and spent the first seventeen years of his life in that historic land of the dykes. Then he came to America and labored upon the farm, beginning his official life--like many another eminent man--as surveyor. He helped to found the town of Pella in Marion county and from being one of her first justices drifted into law and was admitted to the bar. In 1870 he came to Sioux county with a party of Hollanders and founded Orange City--the site of which he originally owned. He was a leader in the political, commercial and religious interests of the county from the first and remained so until he lost his health a few years ago. As chairman of the board of supervisors from 1873 to 1888 he, with Rufus Stone and others, defeated the machinations of a gang of bond thieves who sought to fasten a debt of $100,000 upon the county. It was indeed fortunate for our county that she had so able an official to represent her and that he did his duty so well. In appreciation of his services the county twice sent him to the state legislature as representative and his record in that capacity made him the choice of Sioux, O'Brien, Lyon and Osceola for state senator in 1895. The completion of his term in the senate closed his official career with befitting honor.

Henry Hospers was a man of physical and mental strength and by these talents amassed a fortune. He was twice married and the father of fourteen children--two of whom are now ministers of the gospel. Of the six children by his first wife three have joined their mother in the land beyond. The second wife and eight children survive. The causes which led up to his death date from 1898 when he was stricken with paralysis. From that time he was rendered incapable of physical exertion but retained in large measure the wonted brilliance of his mind. A second stroke a little more than a year ago clouded his intellect and left him but a sad wreck of his former self. Last Monday morning his family thought him sleeping and did not discover that he had passed away until he had been dead for several hours. His end was evidently peaceful.

The funeral on Thursday was the largest in the history of Sioux County and probably in the history of the northwest. Services were conducted in Dutch by Rev. Steffens of Dubuque and in English by the Hon. Isaac Struble of Le Mars.

Source: Alton Democrat, Oct. 26, 1901.

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Cards of thanks are signed Mrs. Hendrina Hospers and family.

Other obituaries, with similar information, were published in the Hull Index (Oct. 25, 1901) and the Sioux County Herald (Oct. 30, 1901).