Four generations of the Maakestad family have lived on the original land in 100 years. This is something of a record since most families have gone into the fifth and sixth generations in the same length of time.

The original settler, Johannes Peterson Maakestad (also known as John Peterson), was born in Hardanger, Norway, on March 27, 1818. He came to America in 1855 with his wife, Gjoa Olsdatter and two young children and they settled in LaSalle County, Illinois.

When they came to Mitchell county, he drove a yoke of oxen with a wagon containing their household belongings and clothes. His wife herded the three or four head of cattle. All walked the entire distance from Illinois to the homestead they claimed in Cedar township.

Johannes’ wife died in August after their arrival here, and hers was one of the first funerals in the vicinity. Of their four children, only Peder grew to manhood. He moved to North Dakota, dying there some years later a wealthy man.

In 1857, Johannes married Katherine Vambheim. Their children included Ann Marie, Gurina (Mrs. Lars Sorose) of Austin, MN; Jane Lydia (Mrs. Olaus K. Haugen) of Osage; and Martin Maakestad. Martin now owns his father’s land. Johannes died on August 9, 1876, and his second wife October 7, 1912.

Their son, Martin, who was born on March 30, 1871, has always lived on the family farm. He reads both English and Norwegian. He spends most of the summer months on the farm, living with his two sons, Edwin and John. His other children include Cora, (Mrs. Odin Sorose) of Austin, MN; Gladys, (Mrs. Clarence Klemesrud), Nora (Mrs. Kenneth Klemesrud), and Peder Leonard Maakestad, all of Osage.

Martin’s son Edwin is married to the former Helen Klemesrud. Their children include Edwin and John, who live at home; Dorothy, (Mrs. Norman Berry), California; Maurice, who lives in Cedar township; and Kenneth, who is in Waterloo. Three of their four sons have been in the service.

The first log house on the Maakestad land was a log cabin

Johannes Peterson Maakestad Born in Norway, Johannes Peterson Maakestad came to America in 1855. He and his family came to Mitchell county by wagon and oxen, walking all the way.

complete with cellar. It was built shortly after the family arrived here. Their second house, a brick one, is where John Maakestad now lives. The house in which Edwin Maakestad and his family live was built in 1924.

Martin Maakestad attended the old Walnut Grove school, which was two miles across country. It was further by road, and the roads were so bad, they were seldom used by the school children. Ole Jeglum was his first teacher.

Martin’s father was a charter member of the Rock Creek Lutheran church.

Martin’s father owned a 14 inch walking plow for a team of horses or oxen. He probably had no horses as they were scarce at that time. The chief crop was wheat, which was hauled to McGregor after the harvest.

John and Edwin each work half of their grandfather’s original 160 acres.

Today a systematic crop rotation plan is employed on the farm. They grow the usual crops common to this area.

Many items sold in hardware stores in pioneer days are unheard of by the present generation. Can’t you just see yourself sending one of your children down to the J.B. Kingsbury hardware store to buy a butter churn or a wooden dasher for the churn which you now have?

Perhaps it’s an ax you need, or some stove pipe, or maybe a bread mixer or butter paddle. Or maybe you will be putting in a new coal and wood range before winter or getting a new kerosene lamp. Perhaps you are planning to raise some chickens this year, and just must have one of those new-fangled incubators to hatch the eggs.

Or was it new side curtains for the buggy that you sent “pa” up town for? Well, chances are he bought them at Kingsbury’s hardware, if it was any time after 1885.

Kingsbury’s hardware store was started by Jacob B. Kingsbury, who came to Osage from Oelwein in 1885. It was really a partnership business since Wayland B. Kingsbury was associated with Jacob. The original store was across the street from the present site, on the property now occupied by Watts Theatre. It was moved to its present location between 1890 and 1900.

Then there were wash boilers and wash boards, hand-operated washing machines, stompers, tubs, circular clothes lines, barrel churns, and crock churns. You could find almost any kind of lamp, either kerosene or gas, that you desired. Modern tools have replaced all these items.

After J. B. Kingsbury retired, N.J. Berger became a partner of W. B. Kingsbury in the store. He was a brother-in-law of W. B., and sold his interest in the concern about 1912.

Before making Osage his home, W. B. had attended the Cedar Valley seminary, staying at the home of Professor Alva Bush. He later married Flora Bush, Professor Bush’s daughter. W. B. and Flora’s son Frank is the only direct descendent of the original Osage family who still lives here.

Frank and his brother, Dean, went into partnership with their father in 1916. Frank left Osage for a while and was employed in a bank in West Union. He and his first wife had three children: Bob, Josephine and Bruce.

Bob worked with his father in the store for a number of years. He now lives in Arcata, California. Josephine married Dr. E. E. Moore. They have three children and are living in Fort Dodge, IA. Bruce, who has two children, lives in Minneapolis, MN.

After the death of his first wife, Anna, Frank Kingsbury married again in 1939 to Avis McNulty.

Dean stayed with his father and brother in the hardware store for several years. He eventually opened his own plumbing and heating shop in Osage, separating the hardware and plumbing businesses.

Hugh Young joined the Kingsbury firm in 1939, thus changing the store name to Kingsbury and Young. Frank Kingbury sold his interest to Jack Cooksie in 1951. Later Cooksie sold his interest to S. E. Tesch in 1952.

In the past, the hardware store had the following names: J.B. Kingsbury & son; Kingsbury Company; Kingsbury and Berger; Kingsbury and Sons; and Kingsbury and Young.

Kingsbury Family This was the J.B. Kingsbury family around 1885. Back row, l-r: Emma Kingsbury (Berger); W.B. Kingsbury, Ella Kingsbury (Whitmore); and Mary Kingsbury (Hussel). Front row: Mrs. J. B. Kingsbury and J. B. Kingsbury. Emma’s husband, N. J. Berger, was a partner in the Kingsbury hardware for several years. Larger version

Mrs. Alzina Turnmire has been a cateress in Osage for several generations. She has fed men’s clubs week after week for years and has worked in and owned several restaurants in Osage. She thinks nothing of preparing food for 600 or more, whether it be a blue plate special or a simple sandwich.

Mrs. Turnmire’s first feeding the public was when the bridge was built south of the old lime kiln road. When the quarries were going full blast, she had seven or eight men to feed three times a day. “It kept us busy”, she recalls.

Those were the days when butter was churned by hand and the family wash was done on the old washboard. According to Mrs. Turnmire, the girls then didn’t need to diet to keep slim, the hard work did it for them.

She recalls the time when a tornado hit the old greenhouse, then south of the courthouse. Every window on one side was broken. A big plate glass window was broken, too, and glass and water was all over everything.

The first time Mrs. Turnmire worked at the Masonic hall, Mrs. Harmon, Mrs. Lezzote and Mrs. Harvey Richards were on the food committee. Those were the days when all the rolls, pies and cakes were baked by the women themselves. Real linen was used on the table and meals were served in courses.

According to Mrs. Turnmire, the fire department used to have an “eating fest” three or four times each year in the fire hall. Fried spring chicken, roast coon with dressing, and all the trimmings that went with it would be served.

She was a busy person, too, while Martin Fabricus was county agent here.

One month she fed 175 cattlemen, 60 swine breeders, 35 sheep breeders, the 4-H club boys, and many young people’s groups. “And how Martin could get them to sing and eat,” Mrs. Turnmire recalls.

The night the Armistice was signed, Osage businessmen served sandwiches for 800 people at the pavement dance on Main Street. Food was prepared at Casey’s café. The men carried 11 boilers of coffee and Bill Dorsey brought two grain sacks full of tin cups.

She recalls, too, the time the businessmen met to decide whether or not to take the old hitching posts down off Main street. Some thought if they did, the farmers wouldn’t come to Osage to trade.

The George Sawyers used to serve breakfast to the graduating classes. Tables would be decorated with class colors. At 7 a.m., they would serve bacon, waffles, maple syrup and strawberries to 40 people.

Mrs. Turnmire remembers the old Seminary kitchen with its coal stove, little sink, and hard water. There were 70 to 90 students and teachers to feed three times a day, and only two of them to do all the work. They had to bake bread each day besides preparing all the rest of the food. The students would set the tables and clear them. They took turns waiting on the tables.

Meals used to be served in Spring Park. Mrs. Turnmire recalls one time when she served William Jennings Bryan there.

When she wasn’t serving dinners, Mrs. Turnmire was making braided rugs for herself and her friends. She also loved to sew and crochet. For many years, she has followed the custom of memorizing something new each day. As a young girl, she used to work in the printing office, setting type by hand.

June 10, 1886: Will Ryerson received a call from a burglar last Sunday morning, who cut the wire screen on the window and reached in and took his pants which were lying on a chair by the window. The only booty secured besides the pants was 16 cents and a gold collar button.

Sarah Cleveland, pioneer Osage business-woman, has been in the hotel business here for 79 years. For nearly three generations, she has watched businessmen come and go in Osage.

Miss Cleveland came to Osage from Charles City on July 1, 1877, with her parents. Her father took over the management of the old Dunton hotel. It was on the site of the present Cleveland hotel.

Ten years after assuming the management of the hotel, the Clevelands bought the business. They changed it’s name to the Merchants’ hotel. Miss Cleveland’s father died in 1891 and she and her mother continued to run the hotel.

In 1901, Miss Cleveland’s mother died. After that, Miss Cleveland took full charge of the hotel. The sample rooms were then located on Main street where the Hilton real estate office now stands.

In 1902, Miss Cleveland and her brother, Byron, built a new modern hotel, calling it the Cleveland hotel. It was one of the show places of this territory and outranked any hostelry in a city of equal size at that time.

The Cleveland hotel dining room was the scene of many dinner parties. It was popular with Osage residents for Sunday dinners until 1941, when food shortages caused by the war forced Miss Cleveland to clos it down.

No meals were served there until the winter of 1947. Arrangements were made then to serve bi-weekly dinners for the Osage Junior Chamber of Commerce and weekly luncheons for the Rotary Club.

During her many years n the hotel business, Miss Cleveland has entertained her share of distinguished guests. On more than one occasion, the governor of Iowa has stayed in a guest room at the Cleveland.

In 1947, permanent guests were housed in 12 of the 40 hotel rooms. Many had lived in the hotel for years. The Cleveland hotel is still doing a thriving business under Miss Cleveland’s guidance.

John F. Grace and Adeline Woodman were married at Alton, New Hampshire in June of 1855 and came to Mitchell county that same summer. They located in Wayne township and built a log house near the northwest corner of their land. There were no roads at that time.

They acquired the land from W. P. Coffee by buying his relinquishment for $200. He had bought the land from the government. The Grace deed was recorded on October 5, 1856. Roy B. Grace still has the original deed.

Mr. & Mrs. Grace returned to New Hampshire in 1857 and lived there for four years. They came back to their log house in Mitchell county in 1861. There they had three sons: Charles, Samuel and Elmer.

The Graces lived in the log house until 1878. That year they moved to their new house, which is part of the home now occupied by their grandson, Roy, and his wife.

The John Graces first neighbors were the Kimballs, the Barkers, the Carters, the Jennisens and the Teeples. They would work together, especially at butchering time.

All pork at that time was cut in halves and hung on poles to cool. Then it was hauled to McGregor by ox team and sold for 3 cents a pound. On the return trip, the men would bring home flour and other necessities. Later on, a flour mill was built nearer home.

There were few Indians in the early days. Roy Grace remembers his grandmother telling of two Indians on horseback who stopped at the log cabin one day when she was home alone. They asked for something to eat. She gave them food and they went on their way.

At one time, there was a rail fence all the way around the Grace land. A lane one-half mile long ran across the north side of the land. It was used to take cattle to the prairie in Howard county to graze for the summer. Roy Grace uncovered some ox shoes while plowing on this farm some years ago.

The farm is still owned and occupied by Roy B. Grace and his wife. It is operated by Earl R. Grace, great grandson of the original owners. The John Graces had moved to McIntire in 1891and lived in a new home they built there. The house is now occupied by Mr. & Mrs. Sproul.