LYON COUNTY GENEALOGY: The Compendium
"W" Biographies
WALLACE, G.C., M.D.
G.C. Wallace, M.D., a well-known and successful physician in Rock Rapids for more than twenty years, and possessing the confidence of the community to a marked degree, was born in Ohio in 1851, and was brought into Iowa by his parents in 1854. This was before the construction of the first railroad across the Mississippi river, or the introduction of the steam car into the mighty prairies of Iowa.
Dr. Wallace attended high school, and was then engaged in the drug business, where he turned his attention to medicine as affording a desirable profession for his active years. In 1868 he entered the Keokuk Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1870. Dr. Wallace was at first located in Washington county, Iowa, where he remained until 1882. That year he transferred himself and his belongings to Rock Rapids, where he still remains, and holds a position in the local medical field almost without a rival. A close student, and desiring to be abreast with the medical science of the times, he has taken several post-graduate courses in diseases of women and children, diseases of the eye and ear, and special courses in practical surgery, anatomy, chemistry, materia medica, and therapeutic obstetrics, etc. Dr. Wallace was once called upon to amputate all four limbs for a young man at one time. He did this successfully, and saved the man's life -- a rare achievement in surgery. Dr. Wallace has performed many complicated and dangerous surgical operations, most of which were completely successful. He is a descendant of Sir William Wallace, Scotland's famous hero, and in almost every generation of his ancestors have been men of note, and distinguished alike in the arts and professions to which they have addressed themselves.
Dr. Wallace is a member of Palladium Lodge, Knights of Pythias, in which he filled all the chairs, and has been representative to the Grand Lodge. He is a Republican, and enjoys the respect and confidence of a host of warm friends in the community in which his useful life is passing.
WATSON, GEORGE H.
George H. Watson, a retired businessman of Rock Rapids, with varied and eventful experiences as farmer and dealer in agricultural implements, was born May 4, 1862 near Freeport, Illinois, a son of Frederick and Eliza (Stocks) Watson. His parents were native to the soil of England and came to this country about 1842. For some two years they lived on a rented farm in Pennsylvania, and then coming to Stephensen County, Illinois settled on a farm near Freeport. There the father still lives at the advanced age of eighty years, and there George H., whose name introduces this article, was born. The elder Watson retired from active labors about fifteen years ago and is now enjoying the results of honorable and industrious years. His wife, the mother of George H., died in 1887, when sixty-six years old. She was the mother of twelve children, eight sons and four daughters. All are living, have married and have had children.
George H. Watson was reared on the farm, but living as his parents did, only about a mile and a half north of Freeport, he and his brothers and sisters would walk to the city school, thus securing better schooling than falls to the average farm lad. In 1883 he was married to Miss Rose E. Engle, by whom he became the sire of four children: Edward E., William B., Stephen W., and Marguerite.
After his marriage he remained at home until the fall of 1886. That year he removed to Lyon County, where he bought a farm comprising one hundred and sixty acres of wild prairie land. This he converted by hard labor into a very desirable place, with a neat and attractive frame house and other needed buildings. His home was maintained on this place until 1889 when he moved to Rock Rapids and went into the agricultural implement business. In this he ran a very successful career, and in the fall of 1897 practically retired from business. At the present time he owns two sections of fine land in Garfield, Rock and Midland Townships in Lyon County. His present fine home was bought several years ago. Then it cost some $5,000. Today it could not be duplicated for less than $8,000. In politics he is a staunch Republican, and cast his first presidential vote for J.G. Blaine. Both Mr. and Mrs. Watson are prominent in the Methodist church.
WEATHERLY, JOHN L.
John L. Weatherly, the present recorder of Lyon County, and one of the most successful farmers of Doon Township, was born in Marshall County, Iowa, February 3, 1859, a son of Timothy and Catherine (Hauser) Weatherly. His father was an old pioneer settler of Marshall County, where he is still living at the age of seventy-four years. Frederick Hauser, the father of Mrs. Catherine Weatherly, followed farming, and was an ordained minister of the Christian Church for more than twenty years. When he died he closed a career of more than three-quarters of a century. The Hauser family is of English descent, her grandfather having been born in Yorkshire, England, and coming to this country early in life. He became a pioneer in the settlement of Indiana, and as he was a man of much education, broad spirit and patriotic purposes, he was elected to congress. He was a staunch member of the Christian Church, and in reply to the question if he would carry his Christian principles to congress said he would not advocate any principle or countenance any measure contrary to the law of God.
John L. Weatherly spent his early life at home, attending school and helping his father on the farm. When he reached his majority he rented a farm, and continued farming until 1885, when he removed to Lyon County, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of wild land. Here he settled and in six years had converted the wild prairie into a highly improved farm, with a good farmhouse, and a barn 36 by 74 feet, as well as other buildings needed to care for his stock and grain. In 1891 he removed his home to the village of Doon where he engaged in buying and selling grain, still retaining the farm. In 1894 he sold out his grain trade, which had become well established and profitable, and went on the road as a collector and salesman. Three years later he returned to the farm, and cultivated a half section of land until his election as county recorder in 1902. Public position is not strange to Mr. Weatherly, as previous to this he had been assessor of the township two terms and town clerk five terms. He had been justice of the peace two terms, and in the village of Doon had been president of the school board one term. In the Doon lodge of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows he has been very active, having passed through all the chairs. For eighteen years he has been a faithful and devoted member of the Christian Church. In November 1879 he was married to Miss Eliza, a daughter of John and Nancy Long, pioneer farmer people of Indiana. This union has been blessed by the birth of six children: Minnie, Elsie, Floyd, Coila, Laura and Royce.
WEBB, JOHN H.
John H. Webb, who is now the proprietor of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 34, Lyon County, where he located in March 1904, first settled in 1883, in section 27, of the same township. His nearest neighbors being at that time David Bruner, Benjamin Whitmore and Washington Lyon. Mr. Webb was born in Grant County, Wisconsin, December 2, 1847, a son of Thomas F. and Martha (Anderson) Webb, natives respectively of Kentucky and Virginia. The father was a miner in early life and later became a farmer. During the Blackhawk War he served as a soldier. When he died in 1887 he was eighty-three years; his wife being sixty-four at the time of her demise in 1882. They were the parents of a family of thirteen children: James M., deceased, county auditor four years, and deputy treasurer of Lyon County for two years. He served four years in the Fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry during the Civil War; Rebecca, the widow of James Green, of Delaware County, Iowa; Thomas J., a pioneer of Plymouth County, served two years in the Third Iowa Battery during the Civil War; John H.; LaFayette, a jeweler at Edgewood, Iowa; Mary, the wife of Seymour Shryock, of Oregon; William H. deceased; Isabelle, a resident of Washington; Isaac A., an editor in Denver Colorado; Charles F., a farmer of Colorado; George E., a farmer in Nebraska; Laura, the wife of Mr. Hamilton, of Pasadena, California; Matthew G. deceased.
Mr. Webb secured his education beyond the common schools in a college at Mineral Point, Wisconsin, and also at a school in Iowa. Removing from Wisconsin to Delaware County, Iowa, he made his home in that county until 1873 when he came to Beloit, Lyon County, where he spent the summer in plastering. For several years thereafter he worked at farming and threshing in Delaware County, but in 1879 went to South Dakota, where he followed farming for some two years. His next move was to return to Beloit, where he engaged in the grain business for some two years, also farming on section 27, of Lyon Township. In March 1904 he removed to his present home, where the promise of a large success is very flattering. He is working rapidly into stock raising, having now on hand a hundred heads of cattle, fifteen horses and a hundred hogs.
Mr. Webb was married February 22, 1884 to Miss Rose D. Tisdale of Delaware County, Iowa, and a daughter of Leonard and Electa (Hanchett) Tisdale, both of whom were natives of New York. Her father was a machinist by trade, and later became a farmer. He died in 1888, at the age of seventy-five years; his widow surviving until 1893 when she passed away at the age of seventy-six years. They were the parents of a family of four children: Adaline, Marie, Oscar and Rose D.,--all of whom are now dead with the exception of Mrs. Webb. Mr. and Mrs. Webb have had born to them the following children: Charles L., a farmer in Lincoln County, South Dakota, he married Miss Edith Baning, and has two children: Eugene T., married Miss Lue Campbell, and has one child: Minnie, deceased; Eva, at home; Harrison, deceased; Verny, deceased; and Bernice at home.
Mr. Webb holds a prominent position in local and county affairs, and is now county supervisor. For twelve years he was school director, township trustee for four years, and justice of the peace two years.
WEBERG, A.P.
A. P. Weberg, of whom a portrait appears on the opposite page, is the present popular and efficient treasurer of Lyon county. He is a man whose career is a striking illustration of the persistence, pluck and energy of the Scandinavian blood, and shows what possibilities the great northwest has opened to men of that hardy and determined race, who could see an opportunity and had courage to embrace it.
Mr. Weberg was born in Norway, February 22, 1858, and when ten years of age came to this country, bound for Rock county, Wisconsin, where friends were to be found, and where he was to take the burden of his own support upon himself. Early impressed with the practical value of an education, he worked out on the farms of that county during the summer time and attended school in the winter. By 1882, using the strictest economy, he had saved a few dollars and had come into the possession of a horse. With this as his working capital he came to Lyon county that year, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land, for which he promised to pay sixteen dollars an acre. In order to meet his payments with the accrued interest, he had at times to borrow money for which he paid 18 per cent. This was very discouraging, but he stuck to it, and finally paid out. He not only has the land, but has greatly improved it and brought it under modern cultivation.
It has a commodious farm house, a barn 32 by 74 feet, a granary 16 by 28 feet, a corn crib 24 by 32 feet, a double machine shed 14 by 28 feet, a hog house 20 by 24 feet, and in fact every improvement needed for the keeping of his stock, grain and machinery as they should be kept. And now this farm, which he acquired with so much work and worry is easily worth $7,000, if not more. On account of the health of his wife he purchased a residence in Inwood, and went into the livery business in that place. He was working up a fine trade, having put in fourteen horses with buggies and other things to correspond, when the barn and outfit was totally destroyed by fire. In the effort to save one of his horses, in the excitement it fell on him, pinning him to the floor, and he was only rescued a moment before the roof fell in. Mr. Weberg bears the marks of this close call to the present moment.
Mr. Weberg then bought a small grocery in Inwood, his brother becoming a partner with him in the enterprise, the farm being known as Weberg Brothers. Gradually they have enlarged their stock, adding general merchandise and other things as they needed, until now they have a very complete store and a trade to correspond. His personal popularity and business standing are so good that the Republican party, in which he has long been a devoted worker, called him to make the run for county treasurer in 1901, and he was elected by over 200 majority against an exceedingly popular Democrat. On his induction to his official position he removed to Rock Rapids, and purchased the home where he now lives. In 1903 he was again elected county treasurer, by 770 majority.
Mr. Weberg was married October 28, 1886, to Miss Sophia, a daughter of O.G. Broadon, of Grant county, Wisconsin. Her father is a native of Norway, has been a life-long farmer, and is still living at eighty-two years of age. Her mother, Sarah, also of Norwegian birth, is still living and is over seventy years of age. Mr. and Mrs. Weberg have three children: Stella Matilda, Ben Harrison and George Dewey. Mr. Weberg belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, with which he has been connected for some ten years, while he is a charter member of the Modern Woodmen of America, Camp No. 3398, at Inwood. He united with the Lutheran church at Inwood, when it had only twelve members, and worked hard to build it up to its present congregation of nearly three hundred members. It now has a church building 26 by 46 feet, with an addition 20 by 24 feet.
WEBERG BROTHERS.
Weberg Brothers is a mercantile firm of Inwood, Lyon county, composed of two brothers, both of whom are notable characters, Joseph, who is in charge of the store, and A. P., now the county treasurer, whose career is noted under another heading.
Joseph Weberg was born in Norway, May 30, 1869, and was brought to the United States by his parents when he was ten years old. They settled on a farm near Beloit, Wisconsin, and there he received his early education. Early manifesting mercantile abilities of a high order, when he reached the age of eighteen he became a clerk in a general store, having already accompanied his parents to Lyon county in 1882. Ten years later he joined his brother, A. P., in purchasing a small stock of goods in Inwood, and their success was immediate and marked. Trade flowed in upon them, and they gradually enlarged their business, taking on dry goods, boots and shoes, and in fact making it a general store of large dimensions.
At the present time they are carrying a stock of about ten thousand dollars in a store 22 by 100 feet, which is shelved to the ceiling, and which they purchased in 1901.
Joseph Weberg was married I 1895 to Miss Nellie, daughter of J. Jacobson, a native of Norway. They have two children, Genevieve and Myrtle. Mr. Weberg is a Republican and has been town trustee. He has been elected a member of the council, and is now serving in that capacity. Fraternally he is a member of Lodge No. 521, I. O. O. F., and is a charter member of Camp No. 2898, Modern Woodmen of America, in which he holds at the present time the position of manager.
WHEATLY, MATTHEW M.
Matthew M. Wheatly, a resident of Elgin Township, Lyon County, and the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 29, is a native of Yorkshire, England, where he was born August 28, 1855, the fifth member of a family of twelve children born to Charles and Mary (Middiewood) Wheatly. Seven members of this large and interesting family are now living.
The subject of this writing was born on an estate that had been in the hands of the Wheatly family for more than two hundred years. His mother had spent several years of her girlhood in this country and her accounts of its possibilities made him leave England while he was still under age. He arrived at Quebec, June 18, 1876, and made his way to Lapeer, Michigan, where he found employment for a short time on a farm, and though he was a good engineer, he decided that in the New World he would be a farmer. In 1883 he came to Lyon County, where he purchased the farm he now owns, paying for it the very modest price of $18 per acre. Here he settled with his family the following spring, and in the twenty years intervening has won his standing as a keen and intelligent farmer and a successful stockman. He has done not a little to improve the grade of cattle handled by Lyon County farmers and owned one of the first full-blood Galloways in the county. He has also devoted much attention to the culture of Shropshire sheep.
For twelve years Mr. Wheatly has been justice of the peace and has long been actively interested in local politics, having served two years as town trustee. In school matters he is progressive, and believes in surrounding the children with the best educational advantages that money can command. He is a Republican, is a Methodist, and belongs to the Modern Brotherhood of America. He attends the county convention regularly.
Mr. Wheatly was married in 1876 to Miss Emily Morton, a native of Lincolnshire, and to their union have come seven children: Edith, now the wife of E.K. Yonker, a farmer in South Dakota; William, a stockman of North Dakota; Marian, a teacher of Lyon County; Albert; Eva; Matthew; and Paul. It has been a hard struggle to meet and overcome the difficulties of the situation; but that he has done, so the conditions of the farm indicate.
WIEGMAN, BERNARD H.
Bernard H. Wiegman, whose handsome and well appointed farm is in section 7, Logan township, not far from Larchwood, is one of the hardworking and upright farmers whose thrift and industry have done so much to make Lyon County the agricultural garden that it is. He was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, in 1860, his birthplace being on a farm, and all his life has been devoted to the tillage of the soil. John B. Wiegman, his father, was born in Germany, and came alone to this country in 1830, while still a boy. His life was also devoted to the soil.
Bernard H. Wiegman was the third child in a family that numbered eight, and was reared to farm work in Wisconsin, where he was given such educational advantages as the condition of the family allowed. Remaining at home until he was twenty-two years of age he did much to improve the family patrimony, and assist his parents to a condition of comfortable independence before striking out into the world for himself.
On Thanksgiving Day, 1884, Mr. Wiegman was married to Miss Rosa Ripperda, also a native of Wisconsin. Her father, Bernard Ripperda, was a native of Germany, and had become very prosperous in his adopted country. To this union were born six children; Bernard, William, George, Stella, Clara, and Edward. For five years after his marriage Mr. Wiegman continued in Wisconsin cultivating his father's place; but in 1889, allured by the opportunity of a free farm, with rich and fertile soil, fine water and clear skies, he decided to remove to Lyon county. This he did in 1889, and bought land in section 7, Logan township, at what was almost a nominal price, in the meantime renting a farm near Inwood, on which he continued two years. In the meantime he greatly improved his own land, put up a structure 14 by 20 feet, broke up the ground, and brought the land into a tillable condition.
In 1891 he took possession of his own farm, which was entirely bare of improvements at the time of his purchase. He now has a house, 16 x 26, with an addition 14 x 26, and a roomy and convenient kitchen. The place has all the needed farm buildings, and is adorned by a thrifty grove and a promising orchard covering an acre or more, which he early planted and has carefully attended. The farm is fenced on all sides, and has been brought under a high state of cultivation.
Mr. Wiegman has served as school director five terms, and has filled the office of township trustee three years. He has always taken a leading part in the affairs of the community, and has ever been regarded as one of the representative men of the township. On two occasions he has suffered severe losses by hail, and has experienced his full share of the troubles and hardships of early life on the frontier, but has never lost faith in the future of the county, and is now enjoying to the full the results of his confidence.
WENIG, JACOB
Jacob Wenig, in connection with John W. Barthill, formed a partnership in 1888, and opened a general store in Inwood, and here they were engaged until October, 1903, when our subject sold his interest to his partner. Mr. Wenig now manages the store of Volkert Brothers.
Mr. Wenig was born in Wittenberg, Germany, and when he was three years old was brought by his parents to this country, who made their home in Dubuque, Iowa, where their son was reared and given a good education. In his early manhood he was a school teacher, and then became a grain buyer, an occupation which he followed for several years in New Albin, Iowa. There he began a general store in 1883, which he successfully conducted for several years, when he sold out and came into Lyon county.
Mr. Wenig was married to Miss H. P. Baske in 1883. To this marriage has come a family of nine children: Minnie, Lilly, Cora, Erwin, Frank, Fred, Myrtle, Elmer and Edna. All the children are living, and give bright hopes of the future.
Mr. Wenig has been a member of the Methodist church for over thirty years and has always been active in promoting its interests. This church has just dedicated in Inwood the largest and finest temple of worship so far constructed there. All the cost has been fully met, and there is not a dollar of debt on the splendid structure. Much of the credit for this desirable result may be justly attributed to the unceasing effort and liberal spirit of Mr. Wenig. In political matters he is a Republican, and for over ten years was a member of the school board. For two terms he was a member of the city council.
WIESE, HERMAN
Herman Wiese is well entitled to mention among the prominent farmers of Garfield township. He has spent the entire period of his life in Iowa, and for many years his labors in behalf of the general progress and improvement of Lyon county have been unceasing. In every possible way he has aided in transforming a wilderness into a pleasant and beautiful farming country, and has become widely known among the progressive farmers of Lyon county.
Herman Wiese was born in Scott county, Iowa, on a farm in 1867, where his father, Henry, who was born in Holstein, Germany, had settled on his arrival in this country in 1848. He was the first born in a family of seven children, and was reared to manhood beneath the parental roof. Inured to hard work, and trained to habits of industry and economy, he became strong and sturdy, and when he left home in 1888 to care for himself, he was employed as a farm hand until his marriage. This occurred in 1893, when Miss Emma Kulper became his wife. She was born in Scott county, and her father, Fred Kulper, a farmer, was born in Germany. Mr. and Mrs. Wiese have two children, charming little maidens, Hazel and Alma.
Mr. Wiese removed to Lyon county in 1893, and at first rented a farm in Cleveland township, where he made a small start, and lived for some two years. In 1895 he bought the land on which he now lives, the northeast quarter of section 9, Garfield township. It was in part improved, but Mr. Wiese has greatly added to it, and now owns a find and well equipped place of two hundred and forty acres, with a house 18 by 28, and 14 by 20 feet. The barn is 32 by 64 feet, and all out-buildings that are needed are provided on a liberal scale. About five acres are devoted to a grove, and here Mr. Wiese conducts both stock and grain raising on a most successful scale. He takes high rank among the early settlers of the county, and has done his full share for the improvement of the community.
WILCOX, THOMAS W.
Thomas W. Wilcox, a noted business man of Doon, has been in many places and has turned his attention to many things. He is active and pushing, always ready for business, and is never willing to let the opportunity for an honest deal go by. A portrait of our subject is presented on another page of this volume.
Mr. Wilcox came to Sheldon, Iowa, in 1877, and through the following winter worked at his trade as a tinner. In the spring of the ensuing year he went on a farm near Hull, which he carried on for two seasons. For three years he worked on a farm near Doon, and in 1882 went to California on an emigrant train, where he found employment in running an engine in a saw-mill camp that was engaged in turning the redwood trees into lumber. At the end of two years he gave this up to take a position as an overseer on one of the immense cattle ranches of that state, but a longing for home brought him back to Iowa in 1886. For two years he worked at his old trade, that of tinner in Hull, and then coming to Doon, purchased a hardware stock, the firm being Kaufman & Wilcox. The two were associated together for a year and a half, when Mr. Wilcox sold out to his partner, and started in Alvord a similar line, in which he was engaged for four years. When he retired from the store in Doon he accepted as cash payment for his interests a quarter section of land in Minnesota. The "hard times" came on, and no land could be sold, and no accounts collected. So he had to abandon his business in Alvord, and go on the road as a salesman. He was so employed until 1899, when he was able to secure a place at his trade in Hull, which he held until 1902. That year he came back to Doon, and bought the hardware store of Burg Brothers. He has been in business since that time on one of the best corners of the city, under the firm name of Wilcox & Company.
Thomas W. Wilcox is a son of Thomas L. Wilcox, who was born in Warren county, New York, and died at the age of sixty-two years, being killed by lightning. His father, Isaiah Wilcox, was a native of Rhode Island and of English parentage. He was a soldier in the War of 1812, and died after he had reached the age of eighty-seven years. The mother of Thomas W. Wilcox was Jane E. Smith, a daughter of Benjamin Smith, who was of English ancestry, and of Puritan stock.
Mr. Wilcox was married in 1883, while in California, to Miss Lucia M. Burdic. Her father, David S. Burdic, was born in New York, and died at the age of seventy-five years. He was the son of Job G. Burdic, who came of a Puritan ancestry, and was very close to ninety years of age when he died. To this union there has come one son, Clyde E., now a young man twenty years of age, who is assistant cashier in the Alvord Savings Bank. Mr. Wilcox is a member of Lodge 538, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, at Alvord, where he is also connected with the Modern Brotherhood. He is a Republican, and is recognized as one of the leading men of this community.
WILLIAMS & GETMAN.
In 1897 N.E. Getman purchased an interest of J.R. Williams at Larchwood, and they began business under the firm name of Williams & Getman, dealing in drugs and the material usually carried in first class establishments of the kind. Their stock of wall paper is said to be the largest carried in the county, and from the time they opened their doors their trade has gradually increased. Both members of the firm reside in Larchwood, where they are personally very popular. They are graduate pharmacists, and do a large prescription business.
N.E. GETMAN was born in Rochester, Minnesota, December 23, 1873, and was brought by his parents to Ida Grove, Iowa, in 1880, where he received a good academic education, and made his preparatory studies for the druggist's profession. In January, 1896, he went before the Iowa State Board of Pharmacy, passed a very creditable examination and received his diploma. He also is a graduate of the Northern Illinois College of Opthalmology and Otology of Chicago.
Mr. Getman is the son of R.M. and Evaline (Williams) Getman. The father spent the most of his life in a successful agricultural career, giving especial attention to the breeding of fine stock, but has now retired from farming, and is keeping hotel in Ida Grove, Iowa. His father, Nicholas Getman, came of old Pennsylvania-Dutch stock. Evaline Getman was a daughter of David and Cynthia (Hill) Williams, and for information regarding her family the reader is referred to the biography of J.R. Williams that may be found in another place.
N.E. Getman was married January 21, 1897, to Lila, daughter of P.W. and Julia (Fisher) Teghtmeyer, a family whose ancestral roots run far back into German history. Two children have come to this marriage: Wayne and Lola. Mr. Getman is a Republican, and for three years has served as township committeeman. He is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and has served two terms as banker. In religion he is connected with the Friends church. Hannah Fisher, the grandmother of Mrs. N.E.Getman, held the deed of land given by William Penn to Grandfather Fisher, for land purchased by him of William Penn, showing that the Fisher family had a very early start in the old colonial days when the best blood of Holland came to the settlement of "the land of peace," as Penn would make his territory.
JAMES R. WILLIAMS, the senior member of the firm of Williams & Getman, was born in Eyota, Minnesota, July 9, 1860, a son of David and Cynthia (Hill) Williams. The father was a farmer who had gone to Minnesota and settled before the war. When the first call for troops came from Washington in 1861 he at once responded and enlisted in the Second Minnesota Volunteer Infantry, Company B, and was with his command until his death at Chickamauga. His widow continued with her little family and did the best she could for them. When the Indians became uneasy she took her family to Ohio, where she remained until after the war. Then she came back to Minnesota to her land and reared her children to an honorable maturity. In 1874 she became the wife of Nathan Spencer, with whom she is still living.
David Williams, grandfather of J.R., was born in Wales, but very early in his life came to these shores.
J.R. Williams spent his early life on the farm, but at the age of seventeen years he became a clerk in a general store at Eyota. After two years he attended business college at LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and in 1879, after working for a time with a threshing machine outfit, began work as a bookkeeper. In 1883 he went into a general mercantile business at Holstein, Iowa, in which he continued for five years; then selling out he engaged in business at Holyoke, Iowa, under the firm name of Tinkel & Williams. In 1891 he sold out, and coming to Larchwood, bought the stock of drugs and goods, under the firm name of J.R. Williams & Co. Seven years later as noted above, Mr. Getman came into the firm, which then became Williams & Getman.
Mr. Williams was married in 1884 to Edith, daughter of William and Catherine McClay, of Scotch and Dutch ancestry, by whom he became the father of five children: Ralph, Jenetta, Edith, Catherine and Russel, the baby. Mr. Williams is a Republican, and has been postmaster for two terms. He was mayor of Larchwood for one year, and is serving as a member of the council at present. For two terms was town clerk. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic Lodge, No. 552, and the Modern Woodmen of America.
WOODBURN, ISAAC W.
Isaac W. Woodburn, the present trusty and reliable sheriff of Lyon county, and who still keeps his fine farm about three miles east of Rock Rapids, was born in Bradford county, Pennsylvania, August 27, 1856, a son of Augustus and Harriett (Tyrrell) Woodburn. The father was born in Pennsylvania, and the mother in Connecticut. They came to Iowa from Fillmore county, Minnesota, in 1876, to settle on a farm comprising a section of land, which they had bought the previous year. And they still live in Lyon county, a happy, prosperous and honored family. Our subject's father and mother now live in Rock Rapids.
Isaac W. Woodburn was one of three children born to his parents, two of whom are yet living. He was always at home and was reared to a farm life, receiving his education in the neighboring schools, and was prepared to play an honest and useful part in the drama of the world's work and progress. He was married January 12, 1879, to Miss Eda Rosebrook, a native of Waukesha county, Wisconsin, and a daughter of Hiram and Nancy (Hall) Rosebrook. They were natives of New York, and were among the very early settlers of Wisconsin. He died in Colorado and she in Rock Rapids. Mrs. Woodburn was one of a family of nine children, and is herself the mother of seven children, six of whom are now living as follows: Clyde, Dell, Roy, Doris, Paul, Ralph.
Mr. Woodburn was married in Minnesota, but immediately removed to his present home, where his father now owns upwards of eight hundred acres of land. In politics he is a Republican, and cast his first vote for Rutherford B. Hayes. In his own township he has filled various local offices from time to time, and in 1901 was elected sheriff of the county, and it is safe to say no man ever placed in that important office has given more general satisfaction than has Mr. Woodburn. He has a happy faculty of making friends even after serving papers on those who have been his enemies. They see and know he has a heart as "big as all outdoors," and is sorry for anyone in trouble. About one of his first experiences was to go after a crazy man, who carried a huge and murderous-looking corn knife, and was looking for his Satanic majesty. When Mr. Woodburn approached him with the request to come along he received a blood-curdling look and the reply: "I know you, but I haven'[t my knife just now: I have helped you lots You are Satan." The sheriff brought him in all right, and is now the butt of many a joke as, "Satan No. 2."
All the uncles of Mr. Woodburn were in the Civil war. The Woodburn family comes of English blood, and has given many notable men to this country. He is a prominent member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His wife belongs to the Christian church, and is one of the beloved wives and mothers of the community, of whom if there were more the world would be far better off. A portrait of Mr. Woodburn appears on another page. He is a member of the Free and Accepted Masons, No. 406, of Rock Rapids, and Chapter of Rock Rapids.
NOTES: Per William Dell Woodburn, Isaac Whitman Woodburn was married in Racine, Minnesota. Isaac died on December 29, 1920 in Rock Rapids, Iowa. William says he has information on Dell Augustus Woodburn, if interested. William's address is 125 Alpine Dr., Estes Park, CO. 80517. His Email address is woodburn2546@msn.com. (Updated May 2008).
Webization by Kermit Kittleson - Aug. 2006
Updated 6/30/2008