HOSEA BALLOU

View Portrait of Mr. & Mrs. Hosea Ballou

In every community there are men who are recognized as leaders in business affairs or in public life, their labors contributing to the welfare and upbuilding of the district in which they make their homes. Such a position does Hosea Ballou occupy in eastern Iowa. For twenty years he was a farmer of this part of the state and is, moreover, one of the native sons of Iowa, his birth having occurred in Jones county on the 24th of April, 1860.

His father, Asa Ballou, was born in New York, in January, 1835, and was a son of Jerry Ballou, who removed with his family to Michigan in 1840. In that state Asa Ballou was reared and when a young man came to Iowa, settling in Jones county in 1855. He was married in that county to Dilla Batchelor, who was born in New Hampshire and became a resident of Jones county, Iowa, in her girlhood days. She was married when sixteen years of age. Asa Ballou was a prominent farmer of Jones county, owning at one time a thousand acres of land. He reared his family in this part of the state and remained a valued and honored resident of his district until his death, which occurred in Clarence after he had retired from active business life. His wife still survives him.

Hosea Ballou was reared upon the old home farm and was educated in the district schools. He continued with his father until he had reached his majority and was married in Jones county when in his twenty-first year to Miss Maria Schaaf, the wedding being celebrated December 11, 1880. She was born and reared in Cedar county and is a daughter of Jacob Schaaf, one of the early settlers, who came from Germany to the new world and first located in Ohio, after which he came to Cedar county, Iowa.

Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ballou took up their abode on a farm near the old homestead, there cultivating rented land for three years. At the end of that time his father gave him eighty acres and he also bought an adjoining tract of eighty acres. This he farmed and improved, adding to and remodeling the house and building two good barns, double cribs, machine house and granary. Extending the boundaries of his place from time to time, he at length became the owner of four hundred acres, which he continued to cultivate until 1900. He engaged in feeding stock for fifteen years and sold from ten to fifteen carloads of fat cattle and hogs annually.

In 1900 he removed to Clarence and rented his farm. He has since sold one hundred and sixty acres and has invested in Texas lands, owning fourteen hundred acres in the Panhandle. There he has improved one section. In Clarence he turned his attention to buying and shipping stock and for four years shipped about two hundred carloads per year. He was one of four promoters of the Clarence Telephone Company and superintended the building of the line. He has been engaged in the real-estate business for the past sixteen years and handles Texas and Iowa lands. In Clarence he purchased eight acres, in the midst of which stands a fine residence, where he now makes his home. Moreover, it is the abode of hospitality and its good cheer is greatly enjoyed by many friends.

Unto Mr. and Mrs. Ballou have been born two children. Frank, who is married, now follows farming in Jones county. He is a well educated man, being a graduate of the Clarence high school and also Parker College of Winnebago, Minnesota. He was ordained a minister of the Freewill Baptist church but had to give up church work on account of his health. Capitola also attended the high school of Clarence and Parker College, where she took up music and also pursued a teacher’s course until her graduation. She is now the wife of Professor C. W. Bond, of Mitchell, Iowa, who is principal of the schools of that place.

The political endorsement of Mr. Ballou is given the republican party and while living in Jones county he served as township trustee for six years. He has been a delegate to county and state conventions both in Jones and Cedar counties and is interested in all that tends to promote the progress and insure the success of the political principles in which he believes. He and his wife and children are all members of the Freewill Baptist church, and Mr. Ballou is an exemplary representative of the Masonic fraternity, having joined the blue lodge in Clarence in 1895. He has since served through the chairs and by reelection has been continued in the office of master for nine consecutive years. He is also a member of the consistory, having attained the thirty-second degree in the Scottish Rite. He is thoroughly in sympathy with the teachings and purposes of the Masonic order, which recognizes the truth of the universal brotherhood of mankind and inculcates a sense of conscientious obligation in the individual to his fellowmen.