CHARLES F. FIERCE
Charles F. Fierce , who is
successfully engaged in farming and stock-raising in Long Creek township, is a
native son o f Decatur county, born on the 17th of July, 1868, on
the Fierce homestead, of the marriage of William E. and Anna (West) Fierce,
natives respectively of Indiana and of Ohio.
The father became a resident of Decatur county when but a child and
here grew to manhood. He was reared to
farming and on starting out on his independent career purchased land in Long
Creek township, which he improved and operated until
called by death. He enlisted from this
county in the Union army and served at the front for a year. He passed away when fifty-two years of age on
the
10th of July, 1895. His wife is still living at Van Wert at the
age of sixty-four.
Charles F. Fierce attended
the district schools in Long Creek township and
assisted with the work of the farm during his boyhood and youth. When he was twenty years old he rented land
and continued to cultivate land belonging to others until his father’s
demise. He then inherited forty acres
and purchased an additional forty acres on section 24, his holdings now
comprising eighty acres. In addition to
cultivating his own land he and his brother E. W., a sketch of whom appears
elsewhere in this work, farm the adjoining eighty acres owned by their
mother. Mr. Fierce of this review
remodeled his residence and erected a barn upon his farm, which is now one of
the well improved places of his locality.
He carries on general faring and also raises high grade stock. He finds the feeding of hogs for the market
exceptionally profitable and sells many head annually to the shippers.
On the 10th
of May, 1891, Mr. Fierce was
married to Miss Margaret Barrackman, who was born on the 2d of
September, 1871, at Van
Wert. Her parents, John and Emma (Iams)
Barrackman, were born respectively in Owen county,
Indiana, in 1841 and in Holmes county, Ohio, May 31, 1842. The father was brought to Decatur county, Iowa, by his parents when he was still a lad and grew to
manhood in Long
Creek township. On reaching mature years
he purchased eighty acres of land in Franklin township, upon which he lived until 1894, when he
removed to Kingfisher county, Oklahoma, and took up a claim of one hundred and sixty acres,
upon which he is still living. His wife
was taken by her parents to Clarke county, Iowa, when she was eleven years of age and the marriage of
Mr. And Mrs. Barrackman occurred in that county on the 27th of
January, 1863. She passed away in Kingfisher county, Oklahoma,
on the
24th of March, 1914. To them were born ten children: Mrs. Ida Hill, of Custer, Oklahoma; Mrs. Dora
Brown, of Kingfisher, Oklahoma; Mrs. Sarah Smith, of Des Moines, Iowa; Mrs.
Laura Frans, of Thomas, Oklahoma; Mrs. Margaret Fierce, of Van Wert, Iowa;
William H., of St. Joseph, Missouri; David H., of Kingfisher, Oklahoma;
Charles, of Oklahoma City; Mrs. Mauna Frans, of Clinton, Oklahoma; and Mrs.
Harriet Frans, of Kingfisher, Oklahoma.
To Mr. And Mrs. Fierce have been born three children, namely: Helene,
whose birth occurred on the 10th of March, 1895, and who is now a
student in the Des Moines College; Gerald, born November 26, 1896, who
graduated from the Van Wert high school with the class of 1915 and is now
helping his father with the work of the farm; and
Lucille, born February 8, 1901, who is a student in the Van Wert high school.
Mr. Fierce is a republican in
politics and is serving his third term as township trustee, while for six years
he was director in school district No. 2, of Long Creek township. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of
America, the Yeomen and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, belonging to the
lodge of those organizations at Van Wert, and his wife is identified with the
Rebekahs. He and his family all belong
to the Methodist Episcopal church of Van Wert and are working members of that
congregation. Throughout his entire life
Mr. Fierce has resided in this county and the high esteem in which he is generally
held is proof of his integrity and rectitude.