"B" Biographies
BALBACH, JOHN
John Ballbach, a retired blacksmith and an honored veteran of the great struggle for the Union, is now living a retired life in Doon, where he occupies a good home, and is regarded with friendship and esteem by all who know the record of his peaceful and useful career.
Mr. Ballach was born in Wittenberg, Germany June 21, 1846, and when he had reached the age of five years was brought by his parents to this country. They made their home in Erie county, New York, where they remained four years, when they removed to Lee county, Iowa, in 1855. At this time the state was very new and land was of little value. Here Mr. Ballach lived until 1863, when he enlisted in Keokuk, Iowa, in Company H, Third Iowa Cavalry. The command was sent to Memphis after its organization, where it was kept continually on duty, raiding the country, pressing hard upon the tracks of General Forrest. That commander gave the Union troops a repulse and followed them to the outskirts of Memphis. When they met again at Knoxville the Third Iowa and its associates completely whipped the command of General Forrest. The Third was then put under the command of Gen. A.J. Smith, and was engaged in the pursuit of General Price through Missouri, Kansas, Arkansas, the Cherokee nation, and Fort Scott, Texas. After this extended pursuit the regiment was ordered back to St. Louis for rest and recuperation. During this trip Mr. Balbach was in the saddle one hundred days.
From St. Louis, Mr. Balbach was sent with a boat load of ammunition to Louisville. The boat blew up with two hundred and sixty soldiers on board. Two hundred were reported mising. Mr. Balbach was so badly scalded, that all the cuticle on one side came off. He was thrown under the horses and mules, and was badly trampled on. However, he had life enough left in him to get away by grabbing some rope which was fortunately near enough to be reached by him. The rope was on fire, and in handling it he burned his hands so badly that the flesh came off. He was taken to the hospital at Jefferson Barracks, where his treatment was being covered with white lead and oil once a day. To allay the pain he was kept under the influence of morphine. His strong constitution pulled him through, and in sixty days he reported for duty. Under command of General Nelson he participated in the famous raid in which the city of Selma, Alabama, was captured. Selma was a great point for the rebel armies in the making and storing of all kinds of ammunition. It was not taken without a hard fight. From there the command moved to Montgomery, and to Columbus, Georgia, thence to Macons, where the war was practically closed. Mr. Balbach was sent with a detachment to Augusta to guard the government arsenal, where he remained for three weeks. He was on guard duty for some weeks at Atlanta, Marietta and Kenesaw Mountain. He was discharged at Atlanta, August 10, 1865.
On his dismissal from the army Mr. Balbach returned to Iowa, where he worked as a journeyman blacksmith for ten years. For twenty years he ran a shot of his own, when on account of asthma he retired from business. This was in 1892, and five years later he came to Doon, where he built him a fine residence which he now occupies as his permanent home.
In 1872 Mr. Balbach was married to Miss Genie Grier, by whom he had one child, Katie, who still makes a home with her parents. Mr. Balbach has always been a Republican.
BARRETT, S.M.
S.M.Barrett, an extensive landowner of Lyon County, and one of the solid and substantial business men of Rock Rapids, was born in Mayville, Dodge county, Wisconsin, July 25, 1849, where he spent the first fourteen years of his life, and secured such education as the local district schools could afford.
In February, 1864, Mr. Barrett, then not quite fifteen years old, enlisted in Company I, Forty-fourth Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and joined his command at Nashville. Here he was detailed to provost duty, his station being in the old Zollicoffer hotel, and was employed in this manner for some two months, then being ordered to Paducah, Kentucky, where he was also set to provost work in the city. Here he spent the remaining part of his service,as the war was over before his regiment was again sent to the front. Always ready for duty he was sick only a few days, when he had an attack of jaundice. Then he did not go to the front as his comrades performed his duties for him. The regiment was discharged in September, 1865.
Returning from the war the young veteran took up for a time the trade of coopering, his father's occupation. This trade did not please him however, and after spending a short time on the farm, he confessed the need of more education, and was a student for a year and a half or more in the high school of his native village. In 1868 he came into Iowa, where he bought a farm and by industry and careful management soon had it paid for and in a high state of improvement. He saved money, and presently came to Rock Rapids, then the center of great expectations, and in company with F.A. Horton bought a drug store, which the two operated together for some five years. At the end of this time Mr. Barrett disposed of his interest to his partner and retired from active business cares. He devotes his attention to the work of supervising his real estate holdings. He owns a farm in Riverside township, two miles from Rock Rapids, which he purchased for $21 an acre, and which could now be readily sold for $75 an acre or even more. He also owns in partnership two hundred and fifty one acres in Rock township, and has a house in Rock Rapids, a beautiful and home-like structure for himself and family. It is built after his own ideas of comfort and is a fine appearing place.
Mr. Barrett was married in 1874 to Miss Jennie, daughter of W. Horton, a native of Pennsylvania, and now a retired farmer living in Rock Rapids. To this union have come two children: Blanche, now the wife of J.E. Randall of Algona, Iowa and Grace.
Mrs. Barrett has two brothers, Relzamon, ages fifty-one years, and Frank, aged thirty-eight, who has his home in Carroll, Iowa. She also has a sister, Mary, aged forty seven. Mr. Barrett has brothers and sisters as follows: Reuben was born March 4, 1832; George, born September 5, 1834, died young; Sarah, born November 16, 1837, married J.K. Hasbrouck; Eugene, born March 5, 1840, was a soldier, and a cooper by trade, died in 1897; Adelbert, born January 13, 1843, was also a soldier. Our subject's father died when eighty-one years old, and his father, Delight Tuttle, lived to be ninety-four.
S.M. Barrett belongs to Dunlap Post, No: 147, Grand Army of the Republic. His family are members of the Congregational church.
BARRON, EDWARD J.
Edward J. Barron who has won a very enviable business standing as beyond question the leading liveryman of Rock Rapids, was born January 3, 1864, and is a son of Richard Barron, who was born in County Meath, Ireland June 4, 1825. While yet a lad young Richard was brought by his parents to this country, and settled in Stephenson County, Illinois where he worked with his father, who had ought a tract of land comprising eight hundred acres, improving this large estate. He remained with his parents until he was about thirty years old. At that time he married and set up a home for himself, buying eighty acres of land near his parents. Gradually he greatly improved this with adequate farm buildings and thorough cultivation. The father bought his land for a dollar an acre, and after living on it for forty years he sold it for seventy-three dollars and fifty cents an acre. After disposing of this farm he came to Lyon County and built him a residence in Alvord, which he occupied until 1895, when he removed to Rock Rapids. Here he still lives surrounded by the fruits of a long and useful life. His income is derived from two farms of three hundred and twenty acres in Logan Township and a quarter section in Cleveland Township, both being highly improved. The family now lives with William, his eldest son, who is a grain buyer in Alvord, and also owns a farm in Cleveland Township.
Frank N. Barron, another son, is traveling for A.A. Cooper, wagon and carriage maker. John, the youngest son, has been in the United States mail service since 1898, having his run on the Northwestern line.
Edward J. Barron, whose name introduces this article, was a graduate of the high school in Illinois, and a student in St. Vieter College of Kankakee. The first of November 1887 he came to Rock Rapids and started a livery business, which was rapidly growing under his management when he was burned out the following year. This experience did not dishearten him, for in 1889 he built a brick barn, 50 by 100 feet, capable of holding sixty head of horses, and he is said at the present time to have the best equipped livery in the county, representing an investment of at least $12,000.
Mr. Barron is quiet and modest man always ready for business, and withal very popular. He is a Republican, and ran for alderman on the party ticket in his ward, and was defeated by only eight votes. In Illinois he was made postmaster under the administration of President Cleveland. In politics as elsewhere he is a close and independent thinker. In religion he is a Catholic, as the Barrons have been for many generations. For at least one hundred and fifty years before the birth of his father his ancestors lived on one piece of land which they rented in Ireland. His grandfather lived to be eighty-five years of age, while his father was impressed and served five years in the British navy during the time of Napoleon. He came home with honor, having many stories to tell of the strange nations and curious customs he had seen around the world. Some of these are still told.
BARTHELL, JOHN W.
John W. Barthell, who has been associated from the beginning with the history and the making of Inwood, Lyon county, was born in Iowa in 1861. His earlier years were spent in a log cabin in Winneshiek county, where he received such educational advantages as the frontier could then afford. These advantages, slim as they were, were embraced by him with eagerness, and by the time he was called upon to care for himself he was well qualified for a serious position. For a time he was a clerk in a bank, but when he came to In wood he had an interest in a general store, which became very popular under his able management.
Mr. Barthell was married in 1891, to Miss Lucetta Hodgson, daughter of Robert Hodgson. He died at the age of sixty-seven. The Hodgson family is of English origin. Mr. and Mrs. Barthell are the parents of a family of five children: Merle, Margaret, Martha, Marie, and May. The children are all living, and constitute a family of whose parentage no one need be ashamed.
Mr. Barthell is a charter member of two local lodges, that of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and also of the Modern Woodmen of America. In politic he is a Democrat, and was appointed postmaster in July, 1893.
BEHRENDS, H.J.
H.J. Behrends, a noted citizen and business man of George, Lyon county, illustrates in his own career, the almost irresistible power of a grand persistence in making way for a man against every sort of hindrance.
Mr. Behrends was born in Hanover, Germany, in January 17, 1840,
H. J. Behrends
and when of age he was called to muster with the pioneer corps of the army of the King of Hanover. The duties of his division were to go ahead of the main body and build pontoon bridges, and other engineering feats of extreme importance and correspondingly inviting hostile attack. He was in the service for a year and a half and was then sent home. When the troubles with Denmark broke out in 1864 he was again called to the army, and at the severe battle in that country where the Danes resisted from six in the morning to six in the night, his duty was to bear away the wounded and bury the dead. When this war had ended, he was again discharged from active service, and as he was twenty four years old he thought it time to consider his future, which nowhere appeared so bright as it did if lived in the liberty and opportunity of the new world. Accordingly he came to this country, and when he reached his destination, he had only twenty-five cents with which to begin his career in a land of strangers. He secured work as a farm hand, but as he had learned the carpenter trade at home, he also found the employment of that. On coming to Grundy county, IA he began to make way for himself, and at Sheldon, IA he took up the real estate business in company with J. Rankins, in which he was engaged for two years. From Sheldon he went to Ashton, IA where he opened a furniture business until 1889, when he sold out to locate in the new town of George, that he might take advantage of the wonderful growth the town was making. He has continued as a furniture merchant, and as an undertaker is the leading one in the business. Keeping up with every advance of his calling and with all the new devices for the preservation of the dead, he offers the most modern and scientific methods to his patrons. Mr. Behrends has a very complete stock, and owns the store which he now occupies. It is 24 by 80 feet. He has also built a home in George which is commodious and attractive. Mr. Behrends was married April 1, 1861, to Miss Jennie, daughter of Henry Flesnef. Two children born to this union are now living; Etta, the wife of Ed. M. Freeks, and Tena Foulkans.
Mr. and Mrs. Behrends with their children belong to the German Evangelical church, of which he has been steward and trustee. He is a Republican, and has been a member of the city council for five years past. For seven years he ran a threshing machine and during this time met with so bad an accident that his elbow was torn and his hand so badly mashed and lacerated, that only one finger and thumb remains to tell the story.
BERG, AUGUST J.
August J. Berg, who owns one of the well-improved farms of Cleveland Township, Lyon County, was born March 31, 1862, the oldest of a family of five children born to John and Catherine (Schemmel) Berg. The father died in 1874, but the mother is still living, and has her home in Alvord.
In Holstein, Germany, where Mr. Berg was born, he learned the butcher trade, and in 1881, having been in correspondence with relatives in this country, he decided to trust his fortunes in the New World. He arrived at New York June 26, 1881, and went to Davenport, Iowa, where he soon obtained a position in a butcher shop. Three years later he is found at Rock Valley, Sioux County, Iowa, where he opened a butcher shop and meat market for himself, and operated it very successfully until 1886. That year he took possession of the farm where he is now living. Without improvements of any kind this farm cost him fourteen dollars and fifty cents per acre. His first payment exhausted his cash funds, and it became a struggle for a while to simply make both ends meet. Mr. Berg took up his farming with characteristic energy, and what he has accomplished is before the eye in broad and well-tilled acres. His house is comfortable and well furnished and all the farm equipments are modern and sufficient to the operations of the farm.
Mr. Berg is a self-made man in every sense of the word, and has built up a heritage of honesty for his children. Almost as soon as he came into the township he was called to fill important offices of trust and responsibility. He was elected assessor, and was named on the school board, and for eight years was town clerk. Mr. Berg is a public-spirited citizen, and is ever seeking the good of the community. He is a Democrat, and belongs to the German Lutheran church. In fraternal matters he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and is district deputy for Lyon and Osceola Counties; member of the Sons of Herman. Mr. Berg was married in 1885 to Miss Emma Schemmel, by whom he has become the father of four children: August F., Agnes, Katie and Bernhardt.
BILSBOROUGH, M.D.
M.D. Bilsborough was born in Ogle County, Illinois on the 27th of September 1863, the oldest of three living children born to A.J. and Almeda (Mayberry) Bilsborough. The father is now living in Little Rock. The mother died in 1882 in Ogle County, Illinois. The Bilsborough family settled in Ogle County in 1860, where the husband and father was engaged in farming, so that the early life of the subject of this writing was spent in the peaceful serenity of an agricultural existence. In 1887 the family came to Lyon County, where the elder Bilsborough purchased a half section of land in Elgin Township. In 1891 upon the purchase of the bank the family removed to Little Rock, where its members have since resided. M.D. Bilsborough has been mayor of the city, and is known as the first mayor of Little Rock, his mayoralty covering the years 1894 and 1895. In 1888 he was married to Miss Nora Wirebaugh, by whom he has had three children: Herbert, Hazel D., and Verna. In 1902 he erected a handsome residence, and owns what is pronounced the most comfortable arranged home in Little Rock.
BLAIR, W.E.
W.E. Blair is a familiar presence on the streets of Rock Rapids, where he has long been known both in a business and a personal way, as a man lifted above the general run by his
W.E. Blair
More Photosbusiness abilities and personal characteristics. He is a photographer, and is a thorough master of his vocation. He is a good citizen, and his word is as good as gold.
Mr. Blair was born at Joliet, Illinois, and when a small child was taken by his parents to Grant County, Wisconsin, where he was reared on a farm, and trained to a farmer's life. When he was eighteen years old, in 1874, he came west and made a location in Lyon County. Here he was engaged in farming for a time, and removing to Cherokee County, where he spent four years in the cultivation of the soil. In 1880 he became actively interested in photography, and for near four years devoted his attention to it at Sac City.
In 1888 he came to Rock Rapids and here he erected a building which he devoted exclusively to use as a photographic studio. Here he soon became a leader in the work, and in 1896 sold out to remove to Belle Plaine. There he remained three years, but then came back to Rock Rapids and repurchased his former stand and business, at once resuming his hold on the popular favor as the leading photographer in the city.
Mr. Blair was married in 1880 to Margaret, daughter of Paul Hein, a farmer. Mr. and Mrs. Blair have three children. Frederick, aged twenty-one years; Ralph Lawrence, aged fourteen and Mazah, aged twelve years. All the children are living at home.
John Blair, father of W.E., was born in Missouri, and died in July 1856, when about thirty-five years old. He came of an Irish ancestry. His wife was Minerva Brown.
Mr. W.E. Blair is a member of the Knights of Pythias, Lodge No. 91, Palladium, of Rock Rapids, of which he is now chancellor commander. He also belongs to the Ancient Order of United Workmen, of Sac City, No. 239. In 1888 Mr. Blair purchased a comfortable, if not to say elegant home in Rock Rapids, which he did not sell at the time of his removal to Belle Plaine, and to his retention of this property is said to be very largely due his return to Rock Rapids.
BOGGESS, L.J.
L.J. Boggess, the deservedly popular and successful landlord of the only hotel in Alvord, Lyon county, was born in Howard county, Iowa, in 1869. When he had reached the age of eleven years he accompanied his parents to Sioux county, where his father engaged in the hotel business in Hull. There L.J. Boggess attended school, and prepared himself for an honorable and useful career in after life. Born with a mechanical bent of mind, he was early associated with his father in his work as a carpenter and joiner, so that he became an accomplished worker in wood long before he reached his majority. While still a boy he worked as a journeyman carpenter on contract work in elevator building under the supervision of Boggess Brothers, a firm long making a specialty of that class of construction, their field of work being extended over a wide territory.
After his marriage Mr. Boggess retired from this work, and became a hotel man, for which career he has an obvious fitness, his genial spirit and warm heart making many friends which his careful management of the hotel, and his evident desire to please his patrons, does much to retain. At first he was established at Larchwood but soon removed to Alvord, where he is keeping the only hotel in the place. Independent in politics, he has a natural preference for the Republican party, and in the main affiliates with that party, but will countenance no unworthy candidate because he is on the ticket. He is a member of Violet Lodge, No. 324, of Sioux Center, Knights of Pythias, being enrolled in the Oriental degree.
J.W. Boggess, the father of L.J., was born in Kentucky, January 7, 1822, and came of a family long established in that state. He was a carpenter by trade, but seeing an opportunity to better himself, came into Iowa at an early day, at first working at his trade, and then becoming landlord of a hotel at Rock Valley, afterward being in the same business at Hull and Alvord. He is the father of ten children, all of whom do credit to his training.
The family springs from Scotland and Ireland, but has long been represented in this country. Mr. Boggess is still living, and has been prominent in political matters, having served Howard county as clerk and filled other local positions.
L.J. Boggess and Miss Margarite Albertus were married in 1898. Her father, John Albertus, was born in Holstein, Germany, in 1822, and when he was fifteen years old became a sailor, beginning as a cabin boy. From this lowly position he rose by successive steps to the rank of captain, and for years sailed a vessel into every part of the known world, going twice around Cape Horn. In 1848 his country called him, and for a year or more he bore arms in the war. In 1849 he came to the United States, and secured a place as captain on an American vessel. He saved his wages, and in 1851 he was paid over a $1,000 in one sum by his employers. With this in hand he came to Iowa, and secured government land near Des Moines. By the exercise of those qualities that had before marked his career he gradually became a successful farmer. Here he reared a family of three girls and eight boys, Ulysses, Otto, Anna, Sadie, Margarite, William, John, Peter, Herman, George and Ferdinand,--all of whom are an honor and a credit to their parents. He now owns 640 acres of land in Lyon county, which was an unbroken prairie at the time of its purchase by him in 1888, but which in the intervening years under his industrious cultivation and business-like administration, has become almost a model farm.
BONARD, JOSEPH
Joseph Bonard, who is now a retired farmer and business man of George, Lyon county, was born in Clayton county, Iowa, in the first house where his parents stopped after their arrival from Germany. This was in 1852, and the father soon after "took up" a claim in the wooded district of that county, and young Joseph grew up on the farm, assisting his father in the preparation of the land for cultivation, and bearing a willing hand in the various labors such an enterprise demanded. Their products were hauled to McGregor, the nearest market town, and the profits, small as they were under such limitations, were used to still further improve the place. When the young man had grown to maturity he bought the farm of his father, to whom he agreed to pay yearly installments until all was settled for. In the contract the son was to build the father a dwelling house and allow him five acres for a garden. The father in an unfortunate hour, married a young woman not twenty-one years of age. When he signed the deeds he had every confidence in his father, and supposed they ran for the house and five acres, but after building a barn and making many other substantial improvements he found he had given his father a life lease, which gave the farm back to his father, who had conveyed the lease to his wife. The only thing left for Joseph Bonard to do was to take his family, load up what little personal property and machinery he had left, and strike out in the world, leaving behind him the accumulations of hard and laborious years. He did this, and arrived in Lyon county with a five-dollar bill, all the resources he had in the world in the way of money. This bill he had to break to get the first meal for himself and family in the county. Mr. Bonard, however, was a man of courage and determination, and his first step was to rent a farm. At the end of a year he bargained for a quarter section of land, part of the purchase money being due the coming fall. His crops failed, and but for the kind heartedness of the man with whom he was dealing everything would have been lost. His time was extended another year.
Mr. Bonard put his own land into wheat and rented sixty acres, which he put into flax. This was the year fortune smiled on him. His wheat crop was large, and he had 650 bushels of flax, which he loaded into a car for the Chicago market, where he received $1.40 a bushel; his wheat paid him 80 and 85 cents at home, and he was able to pay many debts. The next year he did the same thing, had good results, and was now fairly on the highway to fortune. Long since he has not only paid for his land, but secured two other tracts, all of which have become very valuable. His home farm, which he still retains, is said to be worth at least $75 an acre. About six years ago he felt he could retire from active labor. He has rented his farm and bought an acre of land in George, on which he has built a home for himself and family.
Mr. Bonard is a man of generous impulses and fine feeling, and becoming interested in a worthy young blacksmith who had been employed in the George shops, offered to set him up in business. This proposition the young man gladly accepted, and the very substantial success he has achieved has fully justified the judgment of his friend.
Mr. Bonard was married when he was twenty-seven years of age, and by this marriage has become the father of one child, Lucy, who is the pride and delight of the hearts of her parents. Husband, wife and daughter constitute a happy home. In politics he is an independent Democrat, and has been school director for the last two years.
BOOMGAARDEN, HABBE S.
Habbe S. Boomgaarden, who was born in the village of Grothussen, East Friesland, Germany, November 30, 1854, is a good representative of his sturdy fellow countrymen of the land of dykes and sand dunes, and who resisted alike the incursions of
Habbe S. Boomgaarden and Family
the ocean and the tyranny of the Spanish with equal strenuousness. Though leaving his native land in 1862, when only seven years old, he has many of the best traits of land and race in his blood, and in his industry, thrift, integrity, and character brings no blush of shame to the true and honorable men and women to whom his ancestry runs.
Coming to the United States in 1862 his parents located at Freeport, Illinois, where he attended school, though he had attended school in Grothussen two years before leaving for the west. He attended school near Freeport, four years, where his parents located on a farm near that city. There he remained four years, when his parents removed to Grundy county, Iowa. This was in the spring of 1866, and there Habbe S. completed his school attendance in 1872. Remaining on the farm until 1876, he then engaged in an agricultural career for himself, raising mostly hogs and cattle.
Mr. Boomgaarden was married in 1878 to Miss Trinky Schlutter. She was a daughter of John S. and Antje (Herren) Schlutter, and was born in Golden, Illinois, April 17, 1860. When she was nine years old, her parents located in Grundy county, Iowa, where her father engaged in farming for some three years, and then opened a blacksmith shop in Parkersburg, Iowa, where he was engaged for some five years. He returned to the farm in 1874. It was on this place that the daughter was married.
In 1890 Mr. Boomgaarden came to Lyon county, Iowa, and took possession of a farm which he had bought in the fall of 1887, located in section 35, township 100, range 46. Two years later he removed to Rock Rapids, Iowa, where he lived retired until 1896, when he returned to the farm, and extensively engaged in chicken raising, making a specialty of brown leghorns, and two years later turned his attention to sheep culture, having all this time been gradually working into cattle. At present he has a fine herd of shorthorns, numbering about eighty head, some twelve hundred chickens, six hundred sheep, and one hundred and fifty Poland-China and mule-footed Ozark hogs. The building used by the chickens is 18 by 128; sheep require three buildings, 18 by 112 by 5; 48 by 162 by 5, and 28 by 258 by 5. The cattle and hog houses are combined, and is 48 by 28, with seven foot posts; the horse barn is 36 by 43, with eight foot posts. The residence is 16 by 26 by 14 feet in its main part, with an addition 12 by 26 feet, and later another addition of 16 by 24 feet. The buildings are all of good construction, are kept in a good state of preservation, and the entire effect is that of good order and careful management. A family group portrait of H.S. Boomgaarden and family will be found on another page of this volume.
Meard J. Boomgaarden, the father of Habbe S., was born in the village of Kampen, East Friesland, Germany, July 20, 1812. In 1829 he went to Emden, Germany, where he learned the baker trade, and in 1830 he engaged in a bakery at Amsterdam, Holland, where he engaged in the business. In 1849 he was married to Antje Habbena, daughter of Jan and Antje (Regena) Habbena. Her father was born in Mauschlagt, Germany, in 1774, where he remained until his death in 1886. Antje Regena was born in East Friesland, and was married in 1810, at Mauschlagt. Jan Boomgaarden, the grandfather of Habbe S., was born in Kampen, East Friesland, Germany, where he died at the age of thirty-three years. His occupation was that of farming. His wife, Antje Brethoff, was born near the same place, and they were married about 1810. Antje J. Habbena, the mother of Habbe S. Boomgaarden, was born in Mauschlagt, where she was married April 29, 1849. After the death of her husband, she made her home with the subject of this article until her death, September 23, 1899.
Mr. and Mrs. Habbe S. Boomgaarden have had the following children: Wiena and Anna both died young; Wierd H., Antje and John H., these five born in Grundy county, Iowa; the following were born in Lyon county: Ortwin H.,; Baby, died when only ten days old; Habbe H.; Ellen H. and Edward H. The Boomgaarden family came from France and made their home many generations ago in the Friesland country, in Germany. Our subject is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, No. 480, of Rock Rapids, also Encampment of Rock Rapids. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America of Rock Rapids and the Yoemen of Rock Rapids. The family are members of the Unitarian church.
Mr. Boomgaarden had one brother and sister as follows: Jan J., a farmer of Lyon county, and Antje married to Effe S. Peters, a farmer of Lyon county.She died April 15, 1883, in Grundy county, Iowa.
BOUSLAUGH, EDWARD W., MD
Dr. Bouoslaugh, one of the younger physicians of Lyon County, has won a professional standing at George that is exceedingly creditable both as a student of a great calling, and a skilled practitioner. Born in the state in which his lot is cast, in 1874, he was reared on a farm until he was nineteen years old. To be a doctor had long been his dream, and as he approached manhood he began preparation for a professional career. With Dr. J.H. Talboy as his preceptor, he applied himself in earnest to the study of medicine; and though he had attended Normal school and was pronounced a good teacher in the public schools, a medical career was what he would have. In 1896 he entered the Sioux City Medical College, and graduated with the class of 1900, largely paying his way by practicing during vacation seasons. He also sought other work, and has the satisfaction of knowing that he has earned his education, and not received it as a gift.
After finishing his college work, Dr. Bouslaugh saw a good opening for temporary work at Matlock, Iowa. Here his success was immediate and pronounced so much so that the location bid fair to become permanent, but Dr. McKinney, of George, whose practice had become very large, sought his assistance, with the offer of an immediate partnership. This proposition was agreeable to Dr. Bouslaugh, and events have proved was very wisely done. The two have worked together, and now their offices are very complete. They have Gardner's Electrical Machine, with an X-ray attachment, for the treatment of chronic diseases and the discovery of foreign substances in the human body. They have everything that may be needed in surgical instruments, a magnificent microscope, together with such drugs and preparations that are necessary to carry on an office ready for any disease.
Dr. Bouslaugh was married April 1, 1901 to Miss Alma I., daughter of L. Plumb, who died from a gunshot wound received accidentally, and as it severed an artery in the leg, he bled to death before the needed assistance could be rendered. Mrs. Bouslaugh was educated as a teacher, and before her marriage taught school very successfully.
Dr. Bouslaugh is a son of Marion Bouslaugh, who was born in Polk County, Iowa in 1851, and is a very successful farmer. He is a man of much intelligence and sound views and farming has been his deliberate choice. His father, J.R. Bouslaugh, (judge of Monona County), educated himself, was admitted to the bar, and became a judge. The family is of old pioneer associations. Mary Hawthorne, who married Marion Bouslaugh, and became the mother of the Doctor at George, is a daughter of D.H. Hawthorne. Joseph Bouslaugh, the maternal grandfather of Dr. Bouslaugh, was born in Pennsylvania, and in an early day handled freight between Pittsburg and Allegheny City. He was of German descent, and lived to be over ninety years of age. His wife, Peggy, lived to a ripe old age, and her father, Thomas, lived to be over ninety-three. During the administration of President Jackson, Joseph Bouslaugh the father of our subject, was a captain of riflemen. In 1896 the old stone house which his grandfather had built in Pennsylvania was still standing in a good state of preservation.
Dr. Bouslaugh, who is a Republican, is a devoted student of his profession, and seeks all occasions where he may find inspiration and encouragement in his ambitions. He is a member of the Lyon County Medical Association, the Iowa State Medical Society, and the American Medical Association. He is earnest and ambitious of the best his work offers, and is much esteemed by all that know him.
BOTHWEL MRS. A.
Mrs. Bothwell is now living in the oldest house in Larchwood. This house is built on the land which her father purchased at a very early day, long before LArchwood was even a dream, and before the railroads had come. At the time this house was erected conveyance through the country was by stage route, and his house became one of the stopping places for the stages to change horses, and where the hungry passengers could feed and rest. He would plant trees every spring on these vast prairiesm and many of them have withstood alike the storms of winter and the heats of summer, one especially, a box elder, is noticable as having attained a circumference of over eight feet, and being still green and thrifty. It is undoubtedly the largest shade three in the county.
S.B. Willard, the father of Mrs. Bothwell, was a merchant in New York, when he sold out and came west, settling at first at Rochester, Minnesota, but removed to Lyon county in 1872. While still a young man he was married to Mary Eliza Bramhall. He died in 1882, and she ten years later, both passing away when a little over seventy years of age. He was a Republican, and served as postmaster at Larchwood.
BOWEN, CHARLES W.
Charles W. Bowen, a prosperous and respected farmer, whose home is on the southeast quarter of section 36, Elgin township, owns a half section of land within a mile and a half of Little Rock. He was born in Bradford, New York , April 21, 1841, the oldest of three children in the family of Moses H. and Delia (Briggs) Bowen. His mother died when he was only five years old, and two years later he began making his own living. He enlisted August 13, 1862, in Company K, One Hundred and Third Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and was under fire for the first time at the battle of Mill Springs, participating in the siege of Knoxville, the battles of Franklin, Nashville, Resaca, and in many other bloody struggles. After the war he became a blacksmith at Appleton, Wisconsin.
In April, 1871, Mr. Bowen and his brother arrived in Algona, Iowa, whence they drove through to Lyon county, where Mr. Bowen filed on the land which he now occupies. His brother, Henry, secured an adjoining homestead, and for a time the two occupied one claim shanty, 16 by 20 feet. Arrangements were made for breaking land. Mr. Bowen soon put up a house on his own place, a frame building, 16 by 24 feet, with 9 foot posts, and for those times it was considered quite a building. The only house then in sight was that owned by D.W. Whitehead.
The following winter Mr. Bowen spent in Wisconsin, and when spring had again returned he came back with his family, and installed them in the little prairie home, one end of which was fitted with a forge, and the sound of his anvil broke the silence of these prairies that had answered to the whoop of the savage Indian but a few short years before. For fifteen miles around the people patronized his shop and came to know and esteem him highly. Through those trying times known as the grasshopper years, from 1872 to 1875, Mr. Bowen made a living at his forge, and the development of his farm progressed but slowly. Out of seventeen homesteaders who came into the country with the Bowen brothers, they were the only ones to keep their land with the exception of Mr. Tollman, of Rock Rapids. In 1876 the crops were destroyed by hot winds, but after that year things improved, and the country attained a rapid development. Mr. Bowen now owns a splendidly improved farm, and is counted among the most successful farmers of the county. For three years he has served as county commissioner, in 1884, 1885, and 1886.
Mr. Bowen and Miss Frances E. Rondabush were married in 1866, and have become the parents of eight children: George, deceased; Emery, at home; Frederick W.; Lilly R., now Mrs. F.P. Gross; Cora M., now Mrs. F. Mackinson; Lottie, now Mrs. E.B. Donavon; Dolly, now Mrs. Ross, and Sylvia J. In 1876, the year of the intense heat, a prairie fire swept in from the south, and burned the barn and some other buildings of Mr. Bowen. Fortunately the house escaped. Mr. Bowen is working his way into stock, and is making a specialty of the Aberdeen-Angus blood.
BOWERS, GEORGE WASHINGTON
George Washington Bowers, a prominent and successful farmer and real estate dealer in Doon, Lyon County, was born on a farm in Bedford County, Pennsylvania, March 25, 1847. There he spent the first eleven years of his life, and then accompanied his parents in their removal to Jackson County, Iowa, and thus became identified with the early history of this great state. Soon after arriving his parents settled on a farm near Maquoketa. Dubuque was then the nearest market town. Until he was nineteen years of age he remained at home with his parents. After this he struck out for himself and rented a farm near Anamosa. In 1873 he took up a homestead in Hamilton County, Nebraska, where he remained four years, and after putting the place under good cultivation, sold out. Here he had built a sod house and barn. Moving back to Iowa, he bought an improved farm, which he presently disposed of at a sharp advance. He did this several times, buying, improving and then selling, and each time making money. In 1880 he came to Doon, and bought what is now known as the Bowers farm, near Doon, and in fact part of the city, embracing all the land north of the Main Street. Part of this tract was subdivided into city lots for both buildings and residences, and Mr. Bowers became the owner of seven hundred acres of land in this county and twenty-two sections in South Dakota, with holdings of land in Nebraska and Mississippi, which could he have held, would have made him wealthy.
Mr. Bowers started a general store in Doon, backed up by almost unlimited credit. He bought horses and brought them here to sell to farmers, in its day a very profitable deal. There was no man with a brighter prospect of wealth than Mr. Bowers, but he could not make headway against the panic of 1893-94. He was doing an extensive business, giving and receiving much credit, and needing much money. Always this had been easy, but now he could not raise a dollar on all he had. When the crash came he turned in all his possessions, which under forced sale brought almost nothing. With his financial loss he did not lose, as others did, the respect and confidence of his neighbors. Out of the crash he saved enough to buy him a home in Doon in 1896. This he now occupies. He is a strong and active Democrat, and though this county is some three hundred majority or more against him, Mr. Bowers was elected county treasurer on the Democratic ticket by over a hundred majority, and was reelected to a second term. For twenty years he has been school director in Doon, with only one intermission. He was elected and served as a member of the first city council, and held
the position for several terms since that time. Under the first administration of President Cleveland he was appointed postmaster, and is now justice of the peace. He is in the real estate business; to which he gives much time and thought, and in which he is prospering.
Mr. Bowers is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America and the Modern Brotherhood. He was married in 1870 to Miss Eliza, daughter of Noah and Amanda Pierce. Her father was a native of Vermont. To this union came four children: Lottie, deceased, who married A.R. Thompson; Nettie, who married A. Bristow, they having their home in Quimby, Iowa; Elsie, who is a teacher in North Dakota, and Alice, who is at home.
John P. Bowers, father of G.W. was born on a farm in Ohio, while his father, Samuel, was born in Germany, and served in the American army during the war with Mexico. Margaret Barefoot, the mother of G.W. Bowers, was born in Pennsylvania, where her ancestors had long been settled. Mr. Bowers and family attend the Congregational Church.
BRADLEY, MRS. T.K.
Mrs. T.K. Bradley is a lady whose name is familiar to the good people of Rock Rapids as that of one respected alike for her kind heart, generous spirit, and strong influence for good in the community in which her useful life is passing.
T.K. Bradley, her husband, was born in Westfield, New York, in 1837, and ten years later accompanied his parents to Illinois, where he received a common school education. He remained on the paternal estate until 1870 when he started a general store and entered the hotel business at Beloit, Iowa. A year later he came to Rock Rapids when there was but one general store. Quickly grasping the present opportunity, he purchased lumber, and hauling it from LeMars, fifty miles away, opened a second general store. Here he lived with his family, including five small children, in the back of the structure, while the front was devoted to mercantile purposes, and the maintenance of the Rock Rapids postoffice. Mrs. Bradley was postmistress at the time. A second family lived on the upper floor of this structure. At that time there were only six families in the village. Three of these still remain. In 1880 a brother, Edwin Bradley, became a partner with T.K. Bradley, and the firm of Bradley Brothers continued for five years, when it went out of business.
T.K. Bradley turned his attention to the opportunities presented for grazing cattle on the cheap lands surrounding Rock Rapids. He also began buying and selling land, his first purchase being eighty acres, a part of which was subsequently subdivided and sold. The remainder was used as a beautiful park, on which were planted many thrifty trees. Enough was reserved for the purpose of furnishing a site for a handsome and commodious residence. In the park there is a tree, said to be the largest in the state. It is twelve feet in circumference. The residence was enlarged several times, and now contains twelve large rooms. Here Mrs. Bradley is now living.
Mr. Bradley passed away December 8, 1892, mourned by a large circle of stricken friends. He had a mirthful disposition, and an especially strong sense of the humorous in real life, which he could portray with a striking fidelity to the facts in the case. His disposition was generous, and he was charitable to a fault. A tale of sorrow and trouble would always open his hand and no one needy and deserving ever left his store empty-handed. Though never a member of any church, his life was closely squared by the golden rule.
As time went on and the city grew in size, Ms. Bradley became actively interested in the upbuilding of the Unitarian Church, which she had come to feel was far in advance of any religious work then being done in Rock Rapids. With others she helped build a fine church, seating about two hundred and fifty people and very choice as to its planning, construction and decoration. The society now has about fifty members and all are very proud of their church home.
Mr. and Mrs. Bradley became the parents of a family of eight children: Hudson S., is a carpenter and contractor, now living in Fort Collins, Colorado; Clifford E., was a close student, graduating from the Rock Rapids high school, and the Iowa University, but dying in the last year of his stay at the university, from overwork; Lewis E., was drowned; Harold C., is a photographer at Fort Collins, Colorado; Alfred G., is on a stock ranch in Utah; Charles W., is in the real estate business in Rock Rapids; Herbert J., died at the age of thirty years; Malcom J., is a carpenter and contractor.
The maiden name of Mrs. Bradley was Smith, and her parents, John and Charlotte (Croy) Smith, died within five hours of each other, and were both buried in the same grave, at the age of eighty-one years.
C.C. Bradley, a brother of T.K. Bradley, a physician and a dentist of Rock Rapids, and his wife, Mary A., also died on the same day, and were buried in the same grave, he being eighty-six and she eighty-three years old.
The Bradleys are of English ancestry, and the first American ancestor of the family was a William Bradley, who came here with his brother in the Sixteenth Century. He settled in Connecticut, and to him the family line runs unbroken. The family of Mrs. Bradley, the Croys, are of German and Welsh descent.
BRADLEY, WALTER H.
Walter H. Bradley, who was born in Roscoe, Winnebago county, Illinois, May 14, 1863, has had his full share of the varied and eventful experiences of life, and is now numbered>among the solid and substantial citizens of Larchwood, Lyon county. A portrait of him will be found on another page of this volume.
Walter H. Bradley
Henry Bradley, the father of Walter H., came of an old American family, and was a farmer all his life. During the Civil war he acted as a recruiting agent for the general government. His death occurred in 1868.
Walter H. Bradley grew up and attended school in his native town until he reached the age of fifteen years. In 1878 he came to Rock Rapids, Lyon county, where he completed his schooling at the Rock Rapids high school, and in 1884, removed to Watertown, South Dakota, where he engaged in a machinery business, and continued in that line until 1888, when he returned to Lyon county, and became the proprietor of a lumber yard at Larchwood, in which he was quite successful, and devoted himself to it until January 1, 1902. Mr. Bradley became vice president of the Savings Bank, First National Bank of Rock Rapids, the George Savings Bank, the State Bank of Hills, the Alford Bank, the Bank of Beaver Creek, and the Farmers' Bank of Inwood.
Mr. Bradley was married September 25, 1890, to Miss Tressie Byerly, born in Grant county, Wisconsin, September 27, 1865. They have one child, a bright and winsome little daughter, Anna L., who was born in Larchwood. He is a Democrat, and has been mayor of Larchwood for five years and a member of the town council for three years. As one of the older settlers he has seen the county grow from almost a wilderness to a prosperous and well ordered community, and his own peaceful and well ordered life has helped not a little in working out this great result.
BRADSHAW, SAMUEL MAYS, M.D.
Dr. Bradshaw, whose portrait appears on the opposite page, is widely and favorably known in George, Lyon county, as a practicing physician of much skill and high personal character. He was born in Kentucky in 1852, and was taken by his parents
S.M. Bradshaw M.D.
into Indiana when he was five years old. They located on a farm in Perry county, and there he secured his academic education in the public schools, including a course in a select school and the high school as well as Marengo Academy. For a time he taught school, but being attracted by the healing art and science he determined to make himself a physician. He graduated from the Louisville Medical College in 1886, and for a time practiced his profession in Indiana. In 1888 he located in Little Rock, Lyon county, and there remained for about a year, when he removed to Rock Rapids. There he was doing good work, when he saw an opportunity for a physician in the new village of George, just then rising into public notice as the trade center of one of the richest valleys in the state. Here he came, and almost immediately on his settlement entered into a fine and growing practice, covering as it did almost all the work in a district about eight miles out from George in every direction.
Dr. Bradshaw was worked so hard by his ceaseless professional activities that in 1901 he concluded to give up his profession at least for a time, and go into the sheep business in Dakota. But after some months the old feelings came back so strongly, that he left his interests in Dakota in the hands of his brother-in-law, and resumed his professional career once more in George, where he also repurchased his old home, consisting of a ten-room house, and three lots in a block not far away from Main street. Here he and his family are found at the present time.
While in George, Dr. Bradshaw, feeling the need of a second drug store, built a store on Main street, which he stocked with a large and well selected outfit of drugs. After a few months he took in a partner, and finally sold his interest in this establishment, as his own practice had so grown, it was all he could manage.
Dr. Bradshaw was appointed on the United States Medical Board, for the examination of applicants for pensions, from which he resigned after a membership of six years. He is a member of the State Medical Association, and was postmaster of George for about four years.
Dr. Bradshaw and Mary Kitterman were united in marriage in 1878. She was a daughter of Benjamin and Nancy (Taylor) Kitterman. The Kittermans are of German origin, and their ancestors came to America in the 17th century, settling in Virginia, where they were known as successful land owners. They were prominent in the colony of Virginia, and their representatives were engaged as pioneers in the opening of Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota and the Dakotas. They were always men of brains, holding responsible positions as they scattered throughout the west, while the Taylor family has always stood well to the front, and during the war of the Revolution were strong supporters of the rising republic. They were close to General Washington, and by marriage were related to that great character.
Dr. and Mrs. Bradshaw are the happy parents of a family of six children: Leona S., now married to E.T. Gilman, of George; they have two children, Mary Gail and Lillian F.; Minnie May, who died; Marchs A.; Francis B.; Grover Lee; and Josephine V. The family belong to the Christian church, which has been the faith of the family of Mrs. Bradshaw since the establishment of that denomination by Campbell. The Doctor holds Universalist views. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being affiliated with the lodge at George; and also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. He was a member of the board of health in George for twelve years, and was on the school board for many years. His father, T.J.C., was born in Virginia, and his mother, Sarah (Nix), was born in North Carolina. Both lines of ancestry run back to the 17th century, and his ancestors were largely men of character and prominence.
BRINK, H.B., MD.
Dr. Brink, whose name and face are familiar to the people of Doon, Lyon County, where he is known for his gentlemanly manners, professional skill, and the mastery of the healing art, was born in Joe Daviess County, Illinois, and secured his academic education at the high school. When about twenty years old he began the study of medicine, in which he graduated in 1883. His professional career was begun in Iowa, and for four months he was engaged in practice in California. In 1892 he came to Doon, and took the practice of Dr. Gurney.
Dr. Brink is a lover of his profession, an enthusiast in his work, and has rapidly come to the front since settling in Doon. He keeps in touch with the progressive developments of his profession, and keeps track of all new remedies and instruments as they are presented to the practicing public by science and research.
He has in his office a 24-plate X-ray machine, with which he can scan the interior of the human body and detect abnormalities. This is a valuable help in the diagnosis of obscure diseases. When the hidden trouble is discovered, the remedy is easier to find in many cases. He uses the electricity of this great machine for the cure of many chronic diseases that have baffled medical skill. The Doctor is very fortunate in the fact that his wife is deeply interested in his work, and fines her help invaluable in the preparation of those remedies which they do not dare to trust to other hands.
Dr. Brink was married April 5, 1883, in Brookfield, New York to Miss Blanche, daughter of Dalvert and Helene (Vibbord) Woods. Her father lived to be ninety-six, and was a pioneer. She was of English descent. This union was blessed by the birth of two children: Clifton and Helen. Dr. Brink is a member of Lodge No. 351, Knights of Pythias, and is a member of the blue lodge, Masonic fraternity, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Brotherhood of the Mystic Toilers, and was reared in the Episcopal church, but is now attending the Congregational church, of which his family are members.
In 1903 and 1904 the Doctor took a postgraduate course at Chicago Clinical College. He received the degrees of Doctor of Medicine at the University of the City of New York, March 13, 1883.
BROWN, ALEX H.
Alex H. Brown, who is now dead, came to Lyon County in the fall of 1875, and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Larchwood Township, upon which he long lived and prospered. It consisted at first of a quarter section, but he later added forty acres and left an estate of two hundred acres in a high state of cultivation and thoroughly well improved. Upon this he built two dwelling houses, one having been consumed by fire, and such barns and outbuildings as the successful operation of the place required. He gave much attention to the raising of blooded stock, especially horses and cattle, and acquired a very handsome competency. In 1897 he purchased a home in Larchwood, whither he moved his family, and where he died June 18, 1903.
Mr. Brown was born in Ohio, July 1, 1838, and when he was sixteen years old he came to Iowa, to begin farming near Tipton, Cedar County in 1855, where he was living when the Civil War broke out. He hastened to the defense of his imperiled country, and enlisted in the Fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry in 1861. He followed the fortunes of his regiment in many hard fought battles, and at the battle of Champion Hill was seriously wounded in the hip. After giving three of the best years of his life to his country he was honorably discharged and returned to the arts of peaceful life.
Mr. Brown was married September 14, 1865 to Eliza A., daughter of John and Mary (Schlonecker) Zeitler, both of whom are natives of Germany. To this union have come three children, Mary S. Eicher, William J. and Walter E. Mr. Brown was a staunch Republican and served as director and school treasurer for a number of years. In 1892 he was elected mayor of Larchwood, and was filling that office at the time of his death. He was a member of the Methodist Church and his daily life and example brought no discredit to his religious faith and profession. He was a member of Dunlap Post, No. 104, of Rock Rapids, and also the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, of Larchwood, No. 539.
BROWN, EDWARD H. (Deceased)
Edward H. Brown died December 2, 1903. In reviewing the life of Mr. Brown we find a man who came to Lyon County in the early years of its history, and robust and energetic, threw himself into the work of building a home on the prairie, --like the true pioneer he was. A man who won success by toil and struggle, but who was compelled by disease to stand aside, was a man to see the gradual and steady growth of the county in the early settlement of which he took such a prominent part. It was hard for him to be content under the burden of sickness when such ambitions had ruled his career, but the inevitable must be accepted, and we cannot make head against necessity.
Mr. Brown was born in Dorchester, Massachusetts, October 20, 1848. Very little is known of his ancestry, and today he knows of but one or two living relations outside of his own immediate family. In a family of ten children born to his parents, David M. and Ann (Dow) Brown, he was the first in order of birth, and as nearly as he could remember it was about the sixth year of his life that the family were settled in Iowa. One year prior to this the father in company with five companions went to Dubuque, Iowa and from there struck out afoot into the center of the state in search of land. The senior Brown found an eighty of government land in Buchanan County, which greatly pleased him, and on which he settled his family. This land has never been sold, and the title today runs from the government. Here Edward H. passed his boyhood and youth, leaving home to follow work in the woods and at railroading.
In 1873 the subject of this writing rented land in Fayette County, where he remained until 1879, when he came to Lyon County to make his home in Rock Rapids, and to follow carpentry very steadily until the spring of 1888. That year he settled on the land he had bought, and became a farmer, though after that he worked at his trade not a little. The results of this method of working was quite satisfactory, as he was able to hire at times, additional farm help, and so bring his land up to a high degree of tillage at which he has easily maintained it.
In 1873 Mr. Brown was married to Miss Alice A. Creglow, a native of Pennsylvania. Seven of the eight children born to this union are now living, and it has been the cherished ambition of their parents to give them a good education, an ambition that has been largely gratified. The names of the children in order of birth, are as follows: Judson; Kathryn, a teacher in the Lester schools; Margaret, a teacher in the Sheldon schools; Alice, the wife of L.B. Ferguson, of Carthage, South Dakota; Nellie; Frank; Roy, deceased; and Dorothy.
BRUGGEMANN, ANTHONY
Anthony Bruggemann, who is still a young man, and in the prime of life, owns a good farm, and has made himself a part of the development of Lyon County to an unusual degree. Coming here in his earlier life, and grappling with all the problems of frontier life with energy and decision. Born in Germany November 16, 1868, practically his entire life has been spent in the United States, as his father brought his family to this country in May 1871. A sketch of his father, who also bore the name of Anthony, may be found on another page. Landing at New York the elder Bruggemann brought his family to Chicago, and here the subject of this sketch lived and attended school until the spring of 1881. That year the Bruggemann Brothers, including young Anthony, started in a gardening business on their own account, in which they continued until 1888. That year young Anthony came to Iowa and spent one season engaged in farm work in Sioux County, then returning to Chicago, but in 1890 he bought a farm in Lyon County.
In the cultivation of his farm Mr. Bruggemann kept house by himself and lived alone for a time, but November 28, 1893 he was married to Miss Winnie Nicols, a native of Wisconsin, where she was born July 22, 1870. Her father, John Nicols, belonged to an old English family, and was born and bred a farmer, an occupation which he followed for years in Wisconsin. To the wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Bruggemann have come six children: Minnie, and William born in Lyon County; Josephine, Elizabeth, Gertrude and Henrietta were born in Lyman County, South Dakota.
In 1896 Mr. Bruggemann and his brother went into Lyman County, South Dakota where they engaged somewhat extensively in the cattle business. In 1903 Anthony Bruggemann returned to Lyon County, Iowa and resumed the cultivation of his farm already established in that region.
Mr. Bruggemann is a Democrat, and for three years served as a member of the county board of supervisors, while a resident of Lyman County, South Dakota. He has worked hard, managed well, and has made a decided success of his business career. A half section of land belongs to him, and he has made the farm one of the show places of Lyon County; it is so well farmed, so neatly kept, and so carefully managed.
BRUGGEMANN, HENRY
Henry Bruggemann is a farmer and stock raiser of Centennial Township, Lyon County, and whose present comfortable and creditable position in society was attained by hard work and much self-denial. His present fortunate condition has been won by industry, economy and good management.
Mr. Bruggemann was born in Germany, May 5, 1862, and is a son of Anthony Bruggemann, who was a scientific gardener and a man of high character. The father came to the United States in 1872 and followed his trade in Cook County, Illinois until his death in 1880.
Henry Bruggemann was but seven years old when he accompanied the family to this country. They landed in the city of New York and made their way to Chicago, where young Henry was a student in the city schools until he reached the age of seventeen years, when he started in as a gardener on his own account. In 1891 he came to Lyon County and bought a farm that has proved of very great value under his careful management.
The wedding ceremonies of Mr. Bruggermann and Miss Nellie Clercx occurred February 8, 1896. She was born in Holland in 1874, and was brought to this country in 1880. Mr. and Mrs. Bruggemann have had a family of five children born to them: Agnes, August, John, Leona and Helen. All the children are natives of Centennial Township.
Mr. Bruggemann is a Democrat, and has been town trustee for five years. He has built up a fine farm, and now owns four hundred and eighty acres of fine farming land, all fenced, and all in the most favorable condition for rapid and profitable work. The farm buildings are good and meet every requirement for the successful administration of the place. The grove, which Mr. Bruggemann planted, is very thrifty, and the appearance of the place is very attractive.
BUCHMAN, A.F.
A. F. Buckman, who came to Inwood, Lyon county, in 1882, found nothing here at that time except a flat house where grain was bought for Bassett, Hallum & Company. For some two years he was in the employ of that firm, and in that time put up the first residence constructed in the town. After it was completed, he bought a quarter section of land in Richland township, which he devoted to farming purposes, and there he made his home for many years. His crops were abundant and sure, and he had great quantities of barley, oats, corn and wheat to dispose of every year. With the proceeds he bought more and greatly improved what he had. Later in his farming operations bought cattle to feed, and not long ago shipped over three hundred head to England, going across the ocean himself in charge of this consignment. He disposed of his cattle in Liverpool at great advantage and then made quite an extensive tour of England, and visited many places of historic interest. Soon after returning to his home, he was offered a price of seventy dollars an acre for his land, and accepting it, disposed of his farm. With his cash on hand from its products, and the price of the land itself, what he has in money and investments, constitutes a very fine competency. At the present time he and his family are living in a fine residence in Inwood, the ownership or which he has retained.
Mr. Buckman was born in Illinois, June 12, 1851, and in 1854 was taken by his parents into Iowa. Remaining with them until he was twenty-one years of age, he rented land, and was engaged in its cultivation until he came to Lyon county.
Mr. Buckman was married when he was twenty-one, to Miss Emma Bush, daughter of Daniel Bush, who is now a retired farmer. Their only child, A. F. Buckman, is now a young man who is now engaged in buying grain. The subject of this sketch is a Republican, and has been school director for a number of years, though never seeking any official position.
Charles W. Buckman, the father of F. W., was born in Vermont, and died at the age of seventy-three. In the course of his long and active life he acquired a very superior education, and for ten years held the position of high school principal in his native state. The family comes of an English ancestry.
Webization by Kermit Kittleson - Aug. 2006
