Martens, John F.

MARTENS

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/29/2021 at 13:35:36

History of Warren County, Iowa from Its Earliest Settlement to 1908, by Rev. W. C. Martin, Clarke Publishing Co., Chicago, Illinois, 1908, p.562

JOHN F. MARTENS
John F. Martens' excellent farming property of seven hundred and fifty acres pays tribute to the care and labor of J. F. Martens, who since 1883 has occupied this farm, his home being situated on section 15, Jefferson Town­ship. His residence in the county, however, dates from 1861. He was at that time but a very small child, for his birth occurred in Will County, Illi­nois, May 1, 1860.
His father, Fred Martens, was a native of Holstein, Germany, and a farmer by occupation. When a young man he came to the new world settling in Will County, Illinois, where he followed farming and developed and im­proved a good tract of land. He had served in the Revolutionary War in Germany in 1848, and as this movement was unsuccessful he determined to seek a home in the new world where he might enjoy the fruits of liberty and independence. Accordingly he crossed the Atlantic and took up his abode in Will County, Illinois, where he married Miss Margaret Huss, a native of Germany. In 1861 they came to Warren County, Iowa, where the father broke the sod and opened up a farm. He became one of the most prominent and prosperous agriculturists of Jefferson Township, where he accumulated sixteen hundred acres of land. This he developed until his last years and in July, 1905, he was called to his final rest at the age of seventy-eight years. He had for several years survived his wife, who died in 1893, at the age of sixty-three years. They are the parents of six children, four of whom reached adult age.
John F. Martens was reared on the old home farm in Jefferson Township, acquired his education in the common schools and in the summer seasons worked in the fields, early becoming familiar with the best methods of tilling the soil and cultivating the crops. Before his marriage he purchased two hundred and sixty-five acres of land and was thus well qualified to care for a wife, when on the 13th of March, 1883, he wedded Miss Barbara M. Huglin, native of Germany and a resident of Madison County from the age of six years.
With characteristic energy Mr. Martens began to cultivate and improve his farm and has been numbered among the most progressive agriculturists of this part of the state. He has erected a good two-story dwelling in modern style of architecture, has also built three large barns, hog sheds, cribs and other buildings for the shelter of grain and stock. To his original holdings he has added by subsequent purchase, until he now owns seven hundred and fifty acres of rich and productive land. He also has a set of tenant buildings on the place, his farm and fields are surrounded by woven wire fence, and in fact his is one of the best improved properties in the county, indicating in its well kept appearance the careful supervision and practical methods of the owner. For years Mr. Martens has been engaged in raising shorthorn cattle, has been an extensive feeder for fifteen years, and his sale of stock annually brings to him between four and five thousand dollars. He has likewise been engaged in raising high grade Norman Percheron horses for nine years and is not unknown in connection with the dairy busi­ness. He has a cream separator and does a good dairy business, amounting to from five to seven hundred dollars annually. He spares no expense, is keeping everything about his place in good condition, and since 1890 he has largely enhanced the productiveness of his land by the use of tile, having laid fully eight carloads upon his farm.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Martens have been born eleven children, but Katherine died at the age of twenty years and one died in infancy. Nine of the family still survive, viz.: Carl, who is assisting in the operation of the home farm; Matilda, Earnest, who is a graduate of the Iowa Business College, and is holding a position in a banking house in Des Moines; Oscar, Frank, George, Roy, Raymond and John, all yet at home.
Mr. Martens has been a lifelong Republican where national issues and questions are involved, but casts an independent local ballot. He has served as township trustee for several terms, has been a member of the school board for a quarter of a century and has acted as secretary of the board. He has been a delegate to the county and state conventions of his party and greatly desires the success of the party, through the adoption of its prin­ciples. He belongs to the Modern Woodmen Camp at Wick, where he has served as consul for several years. He is also connected with the Yeoman of Indianola and with the Modern Brotherhood of that place. He belongs to the Lutheran Church at Churchville, of which both he and his wife are charter members. It was the first organization of this denomination in the county, and aside from aiding in its establishment he has been one of its official members for several years. His life has been honorable and upright in its purposes and its conduct and no man of the community enjoys or receives any fuller measure of respect than does John F. Martens who has spent almost his entire life here.