Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 888
JOHN U. MARTI

The function of a biography is not to give voice to a man's modest estimate of himself and his accomplishments, but rather to leave upon the records the consensus of opinion of his neighbors and fellow citizens as to his character. In touching upon the life history of John U. MARTI, fulsome encomium and extravagant praise are avoided, yet the life of Mr. MARTI has been characterized by perseverance, energy and well-defined purpose, as well as a broad charity. Such is the opinion of those who have known Mr. MARTI longest and best.

John U. MARTI was born on January 6, 1881, in Scott county, Iowa, and is a son of Bartley and Margaret (REESE) MARTI, the former born in 1857, in Scott county, and reared on a farm there. He came to Harrison county in 1882, where he purchased two hundred acres of land in Harrison and Pottawattamie counties. He farmed in Washington township, Harrison county, until his death, which occurred in 1887. His wife was born in 1862, in Scott county, Iowa, and after the death of her husband in 1887, she was married a second time to William Dollen, a native of Germany. At the time of this sketch he is farming the old home place.

John U. MARTI was one of three children by his mother's first marriage, he being the eldest. Lillie died in infancy, while Rosa lives in Tama county, Iowa. By her second marriage, Mr. MARTI's mother had two children, Elsie, who married Carl KUBELCK, of Union township, and Mrs. Nellie Pitman, of Woodbury, Iowa. The mother of these children died in 1912.

John U. MARTI was reared on a farm, attended the schools of his home neighborhood, and was also a student of the Minden school for three years. When twenty years old, he started working by the month and continued at this for three years. Later, he purchased eighty acres of land in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, and, after making many improvements on this place, sold out, after which he worked in a hardware store in Minden, Iowa, for a short time, and was engaged in various lines of endeavor until 1912, when he moved on his farm of forty acres, to which he has since added forty acres just east of Persia, in Washington township.

John U. MARTI was married in 1904, to Alvina SANDERS, who was born in 1884, in Germany, a daughter of Christian and Anna (PAULSEN) SANDERS, both natives of Germany, where they remained all their lives. Mrs. MARTI left her native land in 1896, and after coming to the United States, lived in Manning, Iowa, for a short time, and then came to Minden, where her marriage took place. John MARTI and wife are the parents of two children, Elsie and Elvin, twins.

Mr. MARTI is a Republican. He and his family are members of the German Lutheran church. He is a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is a representative citizen of Washington township and popular in the community where he lives.

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