Buena Vista County, IA
GenWeb Project

Julius Robar is numbered among the progressive and prosperous farmers and stock-raisers of Buena Vista county, owning eighty acres of land on section C, Nokomis township, and also eighty acres in Elk township.  He is a native of Clinton county, New York, born December 23, 1847, a son of Julius, Sr. and Julia (Tromblee) Robar, both of whom were natives of the Empire state, and the latter of French ancestry.  The father was a blacksmith by trade.

Julius Robar, whose name introduces this review, was reared in Keeseville, New York, where he acquired his education in the common schools.  At the age of fourteen years he entered a factory, where he learned to manufacture nails.  He was thus employed until l865, when, believing that the west offered better opportunities, he made his way to Chicago, Illinois, and was there employed in a nail factory for fifteen years.  In 1878 he invested his money in forty acres of land in Wisconsin, not far from Chicago.  He improved this tract and erected a house thereon.  During the summer seasons he cultivated his land and in the winter returned to Chicago and worked at his trade.  In 1881, however, he took up his abode in Buena Vista county, purchasing eighty acres of raw land in section 6, Nokomis township.  He cleared the land and prepared it for the plow, also laid tile and built fences.  He erected a house, barns and outbuildings, set out fruit and shade trees and made it a model farm property.  He later purchased eighty acres in Elk township and also owns two hundred and eighty acres in Lake county, South Dakota.  He is engaged in general farming and also raises shorthorn cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs, feeding all the grain he raises.  He is likewise a stockholder in the creamery at Alta.

Mr. Rohar was married in October, 1875, to Miss Julia Deno, their marriage occurring in Walworth county, Wisconsin.  She is a native of McHenry county, Illinois, and a daughter of Lewis Deno, who died during his service in the Civil war.  The home of Mr. and Mrs. Robar has been blessed with eight children:  Wesley H., who wedded Matilda Krum, of Lake county, South Dakota, has two children, and is engaged in farming his father's land in that state; George E., who is married and has three children and is also farming in South Dakota; Eugene A., who is a barber of Sioux Falls, South Dakota; Irene, Jay, Homer, Clifton and Garrett, all at home.  Mr. Robar has cast his presidential ballot for the republican candidates since age conferred upon him the right of franchise but at local elections casts an independent ballot.  He has been identified with the school board for a number of years and for one year was its president.  He is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Aurelia, has served through all of the chairs in that order and has twice been a delegate to the grand lodge.  He attends and supports the Methodist Episcopal church at that place.  He has made a creditable record in the business world, for he started out in life empty-handed, so that all that he today possesses has been acquired through his own labor and economy.  He has a wide acquaintance in both Buena Vista and Cherokee counties and his estimable wife shares with him in the high regard in which he is uniformly held.