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[page 303] Dr.
J.G. Parslow, who is enjoying a satisfactory and growing practice,
being numbered among the leading veterinary surgeons of southwestern
Iowa, was born in Middlesex county, Ontario, Canada, January 3, 1859.
His parents were Abram and Hannah (Mahon) Parslow, the former a native
of Ireland and the latter of the province of Ontario, Canada. When
a young man Abram Parslow crossed the Atlantic to the new world and
continued a resident of Canada throughout his remaining days, giving
his attention to general agricultural pursuits there. He died in 1868
and his wife, surviving him for about eighteen years, passed away
in 1886.
Dr Parslow, whose name introduces this sketch, spent his youthful
days in his native country and acquired his education in the public
schools there, mastering the common branches of learning and also
those usually taught in the high school. On approaching manhood he
entered upon an apprenticeship at the trade of ornamental carriage
painting and followed that pursuit for several years but eventually
abandoned that work and for a short time was employed in a mercantile
establishment. However, he did not find that he had permanently located
himself in business lines and turned his attention to the study of
veterinary surgery. In the fall of 1889 he entered the Ontario Veterinary
College, at Toronto, Ontario, and was graduated there from in the
spring of 1891. Following his graduation he came to Iowa in search
of a favorable location for practicing his profession and in the fall
of that year opened an office in Shenandoah, where he remained until
the summer of 1894. At that time the crops were destroyed by drought
and Dr Parslow went to Marshalltown, Iowa, where he opened an office
and remained in practice for four and one-half years. In January,
1899, he returned to Shenandoah, where he has since built up an extensive
practice, having now a very large and profitable business. He not
only derives from [page 304] this
a very gratifying income but has other indications of his prosperity
in the ownership of a section of valuable land in the Alberta province
of Canada.
In 1906 Dr Parslow was married to Miss Emma Jones, of Shenandoah,
and they are most hospitably received in the best homes of the city.
Dr Parslow is a republican in his political views. Whatever success
he has achieved or enjoyed in life is attributable to his own labors,
well directed efforts and well defined activities. His life is not
self centered, for his thoughts are given not only to business affairs
but to the mastery of municipal problems and to the performance of
all the duties and obligations which he owes to his fellowmen. |
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[page
315] David Wilkey is the owner of an excellent farm
of one hundred and sixty acres on section 2, Valley township. His
birth occurred in Ireland, February 2, 1836, and he was one of a family
of five children, having a twin brother and three sisters. He continued
a resident of the Emerald Isle until fifteen years of age, when he
crossed the Atlantic to the United States on a sailing vessel, which
was four weeks and three days in making the voyage. He took up his
abode in Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, and made his home in the
Keystone state until he had attained his majority, when he went to
Wisconsin, where he was engaged in the lumber business for four years.
On the expiration of that period he removed to Henry county, Illinois,
where he resided for ten years, devoting his time and energies to
general agricultural pursuits. The year 1870 witnessed his arrival [page 316] in Page county, Iowa, and
after operating a tract of rented land for a years, he purchased his
present farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 2, Valley township.
The many substantial improvements on the property stand as monuments
to his thrift and enterprise and in addition to cultivating the cereals
best adapted to soil and climate he makes a specialty of raising and
feeding hogs, both branches of his business returning to him a gratifying
annual income.
On the 16th of June, 1867, Mr Wilkey
was united in marriage to Miss Lottie Lemley, a native of Greene county,
Pennsylvania, and a daughter of George and Sarah (White) Lemley, who
spent their entire lives in the Keystone state. Mr and Mrs Lemley
reared a family of eleven children. Unto Mr and Mrs Wilkey have been
born two children, namely: James F., who carries on the home farm;
and Samuel A., a resident of Nebraska.
Mr Wilkey is a stalwart advocate of the principles
of the democracy and his fellow townsmen, recognizing his worth and
ability, have called him to various positions of public trust. He
has held the office of school director for twenty years, served as
justice of the peace for two years and for a period of six years capably
discharged the duties devolving upon him in the position of road supervisor.
Both he and his wife are devoted and faithful members of the Methodist
Episcopal church, in the work of which they take an active and helpful
interest. They have now made their home in this county for almost
four decades and are widely and favorably known within its borders,
the circle of their friends being almost coextensive with the circle
of their acquaintances. Mr Wilkey has now reached the seventy-third
milestone on life’s journey and his has been a commendable record,
actuated by honorable principles. |
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[page 321] Frank
Anshutz is the leading jeweler of Shenandoah, an enterprising man
who has sought his success along the legitimate lines of trade and
found in indefatigable industry, perseverance and capable management
the key that unlocks the portals of prosperity. A native of Moundsville,
West Virginia, he was born February 23, 1852, of the marriage of Christ
and Rebecca (Woodwell) Anshutz. The father, a native of Germany, came
to the United States, when sixteen years of age, in company with his
parents [page 322] and after reaching the new world learned
the miller's trade. Following his marriage he located in Moundsville,
West Virginia, where he resided to the time of his death, which occurred
in 1854 when his son Frank was but two years of age. He left a family
of eleven children, whom the mother carefully reared to manhood and
womanhood.
Frank Anshutz was educated in private schools and when sixteen
years of age left the parental roof to seek a home and fortune in
the middle west. Making his way to Iowa with Des Moines as his destination,
he there spent the winter in the home of a sister and during that
time attended school. In April, 1870, he entered upon an apprenticeship
to the jeweler's trade and worked for two years in Des Moines, after
which he returned to the east in 1872 and completed his trade in Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania. In the summer of 1873 he made his way westward to Pittsburg
but had remained there for only two months when the city became involved
in the financial panic of 1873. Believeing that better opportunities
were offered in the west he returned to Des Moines and was employed
that fall as a journeyman, thus working for four months. He next went
to Jefferson, Greene county, Iowa, where he was employed until the
spring of 1875, when he embarked in the jewelry business on his own
account in Mitchellville, Iowa, feeling that his careful expenditure
and his previous experience justified him in taking this step. He
was there identified with the business for a period of five years,
at the expiration of which time he removed to Glenwood, Iowa, where
he conducted business for three years. Thinking to find a more profitable
field in Shenandoah, he came to this city in 1883 and opened a store.
For more than a quarter of a century he has now been identified with
the jewelry business in this city, having the leading establishment
of the kind here. He carries a large and attractive stock, tastefully
arranged and the reliability and enterprise of his business methods
and his reasonable prices have been the salient features in the success
which has attended his labors. He was also one of the organizers of
the Peoples' Gas Company and for several years was its treasurer,
while later he was chosen vice president of the company and so continued
until 1909.
Pleasantly situated in his home life Mr Anshutz was married in
1881 to Miss Sarah Blake, of Winnebago county, Illinois. Mr and Mrs
Anshutz are very prominent socially and are held in the highest esteem
by all. As a representative of Masonry he is connected with Tricentum
Lodge, No 300, A.F. & A.M., and Sheshbazzar Chapter, No 82, R.A.M.
He is also a charter member of Shenandoah Lodge, No 1122, B.P.O.E.
His political support is given to the republican party but the honors
and emoluments of office have no attraction for him. He belongs to
the Commercial Club of Shenandoah and for many years has been most
active in all movements pertaining to the progress and upbuilding
of the city. His wife is a member of the board of trustees of the
Shenandoah library, is serving as secretary of the board and is chairman
of the book purchasing committee. She is also a charter member of
the Kappa Delta Club, of which she was secretary for several years.
Both Mr and Mrs Anshutz are members of the Presbyterian church and
are actively interested in its work and upbuilding. Mr Anshutz [page
323] is a member of its board of trustees while Mrs Anshutz
has served repeatedly as president of the Ladies Aid society and was
a Sunday school teacher for twenty years, and has been most active
in promoting various lines of church work. Honored and respected by
all there is no man who occupies a more enviable position in commercial
and financial circles, not along by reason of the success which he
has achieved but also owing to the straighforward business policy
which he has ever followed. Moreover, his life record proves that
success is not a matter of genius as held by some but it is the outcome
of clear judgment, experience and unfaltering industry. |
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[page 347] Omar
Duncan, a mail carrier of Clarinda, is numbered among the worthy native
sons of Page county, his birth having occurred here on the 15th of
July, 1874. His father, Daniel Duncan, followed farming throughout
his active business career and passed away on the 25th of October,
1908. The mother, who bore the maiden name of Nancy N. McFerrin, still
survives, being a well known and esteemed resident of Clarinda.
Omar Duncan supplemented his preliminary education, acquired in
the public schools of this county, by a course in Amity College at
College Springs. On the 13th of June, 1898, he enlisted for service
in the Spanish-American war, becoming a private of Company M, Fifty-first
United States Volunteer infantry. The regiment went to San Francisco
and on the 3d of September sailed for Manila, remaining on the Philippine
Islands from December 7, 1898, until September, 1899. Mr Duncan participated
in all the engagements of his regiment and also acted as scout on
many occasions. On the 2d of November, 1899, at San Francisco, he
was mustered out of the army as corporal, having been promoted to
that rank.
[page 348] After returning to
Clarinda he entered the United States mail service as office assistant
and subsequently became a carrier, which position he has held to the
present time, proving a most capable, reliable and trustworthy employe
of the government. He is a valued and a faithful member of the Methodist
Episcopal church, serving as a member of the official board and also
as superintendent of the Sunday school. He has an extensive circle
of warm friends throughout the county in which he has always resided,
his many excellent traits of character having gained him the kindly
regard and good will of all with whom he has been associated. |
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[page 368] Charles Beauchamp, a well known farmer and stock-raiser of Amity township,
is the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and twenty acres
on section 14. He was born in Davis county, Iowa, on the 16th of June,
1864, his parents being Nathan and Mary Alvira (Mallory) Beauchamp,
the former of German lineage and the latter of Yankee stock. In the
late '50s they removed from the vicinity of Terre Haute, Indiana,
to Davis county, Iowa, where the father purchased a farm of one hundred
and twenty acres. The year 1876 witnessed their arrival in Page county,
Iowa, the family home being established on a farm two and a half miles
east of Clarinda. On taking up his abode in this county Nathan Beauchamp
purchased a tract of land comprising forty-nine acres and later bought
forty acres more adjoining. It was all covered with timber and he
had to clear a site on which to erect his dwelling. A man of determined
spirit and unfaltering energy, he resolutely set to work and as the
years passed by brought the fields under a high state of cultivation
and improvement, continuing to make his home on this farm until called
to his final rest. He became well known as a most enterprising and
progressive citizen of the [page 369] community and his demise, which occurred
on the 25th of December, 1899, was the occasion of deep and widespread
regret. At the time of his death he had attained the age of sixty-eight
years, five months and four days. His widow still survives and at
the present time makes her home in Clarinda, Page county.
Charles Beauchamp spent his youthful days on the home farm, in
the cultivation of which he ably assisted his father when not busy
with his textbooks. He first attended the district schools and when
seventeen years of age spent one year in the Clarinda high school.
Subsequently he worked by the month as a farm hand until the time
of his marriage, after which he was successfully engaged in the operation
of rented land for a number of years. In 1906 he purchased a farm
of one hundred and twenty acres on section 14, Amity township, Page
county, on which he has since continued to reside and in the cultivation
of which he has won a commendable and well merited degree of prosperity.
In addition to raising the various cereals best adapted to soil and
climate he also feeds good graded cattle, hogs and sheep and both
branches of his business return to him a gratifying in its neat and
thrifty appearance indicates the supervision of a practical and progressive
owner.
In 1887 Mr Beauchamp was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Patton,
a daughter of Thomas and Rose (Glasglow) Patton, who at that time
were living two and a half miles east of Clarinda, Page county. Mr
Patton passed away in 1903 but is still survived by his widow, who
now resides in Tarkio, Missouri. Unto Mr and Mrs Beauchamp have been
born four children, namely: Wilbur, a young man of twenty years; Orvil,
eighteen years of age; Harry, who is seventeen years old; and Vesta,
five years of age. All are still under the parental roof.
Mr Beauchamp gives unfaltering allegiance to the men and measures
of the republican party and is a stanch advocate of its principles.
Both he and his wife are consistent and devoted members of the United
Presbyterian church at College Springs, Iowa, while his fraternal
relations are with the Modern Woodmen camp at Braddyville, Iowa. They
have an extensive circle of friends throughout the county in which
they have now long resided and the hospitality of the best homes is
cordially extended to them. |
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