Charles Jerome LOVRIEN

LOVRIEN, IMUS, ELLERBROCK

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 8/17/2010 at 11:08:08

Charles Jerome Lovrien
by Leland Charles Lovrien

The first of ten children of James Monroe and Mattie Imus Lovrien, Charles was the first white child born in Faulk County, South Dakota. He graduated class valedictorian from the Bradgate (Iowa) High School, attended Des Moines College for two years and then worked as a teacher, surveyor and carpenter. In 1910-11 he and his sister, Blanche, homesteaded in Parlans County, South Dakota, "proving up" on adjoining quarter-sections. Charles built the home that still stands on the former James M. Lovrien farm rear Bradgate, Iowa. He farmed from about 1915 to 1938, first at Laurens, Iowa, then at Eagle Grove.

From the early 1930s Charles was working on government programs helping farmers. This included serving as Wright County Chairman, Agricultural Adjustment Association and then as Wright County Chairman, Rural Electric Association. In 1938 he left the farm, moving to Sac City, Iowa where he managed the Sac County Rural Electric Cooperative until his death in 1950.

Eunice Ellerbrock, a daughter of Charles, has a large gold coin dated 1842 with a thumb print in the center which her father carried in his pocket as a lucky piece. It had belonged to her grandfather, James Monroe who claimed the coin had saved his life. James carried it in his vest pocket when he worked for the railroad and an Indian arrow had struck it, making the original indentation. Charles treasured the almost pure gold coin and gave it to Eunice just before he died.

Source: http://www.lovrien.com/genealogy/showmedia.php?mediaID=31&medialinkID=33