Harrison County Iowa Genealogy

HISTORY OF HARRISON COUNTY, IOWA, 1915
BIOGRAPHIES
Page 736
FRED A. SCHWERTLEY

Poets often tell the truth. The old song which contains the refrain, "The farmer feeds them all," states a very fundamental and economic truth. Without the farmer the rest of the country would starve within a week, despite the large amount of food in cold storage. Every occupation might be done away with but farming and people still would live, but a total cessation of farming for a short time would actually depopulate the whole world. A man can live without banks all his life, but deprive him of his bread and his career soon ends. Farming is becoming an honored profession. Our district schools are teaching it as a science, and our colleges are granting degrees for agricultural courses. The farmers of any community sustain the people dependent upon other professions. Without the farmer the banker would close his doors; the manufacturer would shut down his factory, and the railroads would cease to run their trains. Among the honored farmers of Calhoun township, Harrison county, Iowa, is Fred A. SCHWERTLEY, who is one of those men who helps to keep the banker, the manufacturer and the railroads going.

Fred A. SCHWERTLEY was born on March 11, 1867, in Taylor township, Harrison county, Iowa. He is a son of Frederick and Salome (BRECHT) SCHWERTLEY, who were the parents of eleven children, seven of whom are living.

Frederick SCHWERTLEY was born in 1828 in Wurtemburg, Germany, and was reared on a farm in his native land. When about twenty-five years of age he left Germany and emigrated to America, arriving in Harrison county, Iowa, about 1856. He drove a stage line in the early days out of the old town of Calhoun, Iowa, for about a year, after which he bought land in Taylor township, and farmed this tract for about ten years. He then sold out and purchased another farm. Frederick SCHWERTLEY became an extensive landowner in Harrison county. He lived on his farm until his death, which occurred in 1901. His wife was born in 1832, at Baden, Germany. She is now living with a daughter, Mrs. Frances DOUGHERTY, in Omaha, Nebraska.

Fred A. SCHWERTLEY, the subject of this sketch, has lived on a farm all his life. He received a common-school education and, at the time of his father's death, purchased the old home place. Mr. SCHWERTLEY now owns eleven hundred acres of the very best Missouri Valley bottom land, including about fifteen acres of natural timber. Mr. SCHWERTLEY has made extensive improvements upon his large agricultural holdings, and is an extensive feeder of live stock, usually shipping three or four carloads of cattle each season, and has always kept a high grade of stock. Mr. SCHWERTLEY is not only a progressive farmer, but he is a successful business man, and is now president of the Missouri Valley Savings Bank, in which he is a large stockholder.

Mr. SCHWERTLEY was married in 1902, to Elizabeth TOVEY, who was born in Magnolia township, Harrison county, Iowa, a daughter of William and Anna (O'CONNOR) TOVEY. Her parents were of Irish descent, and were early settlers in Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. SCHWERTLEY five children have been born, Margaret E., Donald F., Dwight A., Robert B., and Mary L., all of whom are living at home with their parents.

Mr. SCHWERTLEY is a Democrat and has held several township offices. He is now treasurer of the school board and has been township assessor. Mr. SCHWERTLEY is a man of wide influence in local politics, whose advice is sought on all occasions.

Mr. and Mrs. SCHWERTLEY and family are members of the Catholic church, and Mr. SCHWERTLEY is a member of the Knights of Columbus of Missouri Valley, prominent and influential in the affairs of this organization. Fred A. SCHWERTLEY is not only a representative farmer and stockman of Harrison county, but he is justly entitled to rank as one of the representative farmers of the state of Iowa. His success in life is due not only to his splendid managerial and executive abilities, but likewise to his honorable and upright character.

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