NILS ANDERSON, a native of Sweden, (b. 1836) on Sept. 5, 1869, entered a homestead of 80 acres on the S 1/2 Sec. 18 and secured the patent for it June 15, 1875. In 1869 he built a small frame house and occupied it alone that year. In 1870 his wife arrived with their family of five children - Turina, Christina, August, Euphemia and Emma, the last then four years of age. In 1876 his wife, Kizer Olsen, died, and two years later he married Emma Olsen, (no relative of Kizer) of Sioux City. They continued to occupy the old homestead till the spring of 1896, when they moved to Pomeroy. Turina Hendricks, the eldest, (b. March 30, 1850, d. May 2, 1899) was a step-daughter of Mr. Anderson, and in 1875 became the wife of Frank Peterson, of Colfax township; Christina in 1872, married John A. Johnson, of Colfax; August Anderson (single) is mining gold in Colorado; Euphemia in 1895, married Nils Walleen and they reside in the state of Washington; Emma in 1887, married Wm. Johnson, and they reside in Colorado; Betka, a native of Pocahontas county, is still residing with her parents. Nils Anderson was a good farmer and for many years has been an active member and liberal supporter of the Swedish Mission church of Colfax township.

PETER ANDERSON, (b. Oct. 17, 1856) the pioneer owner and occupant of the SE1/4 Sec. 7, is a native of Sweden and a son of Frank B. Anderson, of Grant township. He came to Pocahontas county in 1880 and lived three years with his father. In 1886 he married Christine Youngren, also a native of Sweden, (b. Oct 4, 1862) and since that date they have lived on their present farm. Their family consists of seven children – Ida, Oscar, Elmer, Frederick, John, Nellie and May. Mr. Anderson was township clerk in 1894, and president of the school board three years, 1891-92 and 1897.

JOHN W. BAILEY (b.1835;d.1893), was a native of West Chester, Pa. In 1860 he married Louisa Graham. He was a member of the 36th Wis. Inf. From Nov. 11, 1863 to Sept. 5, 1865. In 1874 he located at Fonda and, with the exception of two years in Williams township, continued to reside there until his decease at 58 in 1893. He was an honored member of the Fonda G. A. R. post, having held nearly every office in that organization. His family consisted of five children. Nelson in 1886 married Mary Wood and lives at Marathon; Ida in 1887 married Frank Niece and died at Fonda in 1894; Frank in 1896 married Matie Tuner and lives in Nebraska; Oscar in 1892 married Hattie Henderson and lives at Fonda; Myrtle in 1899 married Wallace Haven, a painter, and lives at Pocahontas.

JOHN BARRETT (b. 1833) who located on section 11 in Colfax township in 1872, is a native of Ireland, came to Illinois in 1848 and married there Hannah Mullen. She died in 1871, leaving a family of three children—Jennie, Edward and Joseph. The next year he located in Colfax township and has lived on the same farm ever since. He was a trustee in 1874, clerk in ’91 and assessor four years, ’81-84. Jennie married John Sanquist, who died soon afterward leaving one child, Edward. Later she married Edward Hogan, a carpenter and lives at Pomeroy. Edward Barrett married Anna Samuelson and lives in Manson. Joseph Barrett married Mary O’Brien of Pocahontas, lives on the home farm and has one child, John.

MATIAS BARTOSH (b. 1832), Pocahontas, is a native of Bohemia, where in 1856, he served as a soldier under King Joseph in the war with Italy. In 1858, he married Anna Stejskal (b. 1829), and, coming to America in 1865, located in Winsesheik county, Iowa. In 1874, he located on the nw 1/4 sec 29, Center township, Pocahontas county, which he was the first to occupy and improve. He increased this farm to 320 acres and occupied it until 1865, when he moved to Pocahontas, where he still resides. He is one of the founders and liberal supporters of the Catholic church at Pocahontas.
He raised a family of seven children, one having died in childhood.
Catherine (b. Boh. 1859) in 1879 married Anton Sedlacek and located on the ne 1/4 sec. 29, Center township, which he improved, increased to 280 acres, and occupied until his death in 1882. He left five children, Anton, Michael, Mary, Joseph and Wencel, who, together with their mother, occupy his late farm.
Mary in 1879, married Anthony Hudek, see Hudek.
Anna (b. Iowa 1866) in 1888, married Wencel Stoulil, see Stoulil.
Elizabeth in 1890, married Joseph Payer, who lives on his mother's farm in Center township, and has four children, Mary, John M., Anna, and Agnes.
John (b. 1870) in 1894, married Anna Sinek, occupies a farm of 160 acres on sec. 29. Center township, and has four children, Frances, Agnes, Elizabeth, and Albert.
Ella in 1895, married Joseph L. Eral who occupies a farm of 160 acres in Lincoln township and has three children, William, Lucia and Wencel.
Wencel (b. 1873) in 1894, married Anna Schroeder, occupies a farm of 160 acres in Center township and has one son, Wencel.

GEORGE BEHRENDSEN (b. 1843; d. 1898), was a native of Denmark. In 1869 he came to America, located in Cook Co., Ill. Where he married that year Anna Nissen and found employment as a carpenter. In 1875 he located on sec. 33, Clinton township, Pocahontas county, and occupied this farm until his death in 1898. His wife, Anna, died in 1878 and three of her four children where living at the time of his decease, namely, Anna, Mrs. Meta Holmgren and B. G. Behrendsen. In 1879 he married Mrs. Henrietta Behrendsen, who with one daughter, Mary G., survived him. All of his children are still residents of Clinton township. He was a man of rugged honesty and was held in high esteem by all who knew him.

HEILERT W. BEHRENS, (b. Nov. 1827) is a native of Germany, where, in the spring of 1852, he married Marie Hedden(b. 183?) and in May, 1870, they and their two sons, Frederic and Henry, arrive in Pocahontas county. After a residence of three months in Lizard, they bought and began to improve the NW1/4 Sec. 32, 160 acres, Bellville township. A few years later additional purchases were made until they owned 500 acres. Subsequently he sold 400 acres constituting the home farm, to his second son, Henry R, and made investments in real estate in Pomeroy. His wife died in August, 189?, and is buried at Pomeroy. In 1893 he married Mrs. Josephine Dibbert, but secured a divorce in January, 1897. He served two years as a justice of the peace and seven years as a trustee of Bellville township. He has returned to Germany twice during his residence in this country and now resides on the farm with his son. He has been an ardent democrat and an active member of the German Evangelical church of Pomeroy. His family consists of two daughters who died young in Germany, and two sons.

(1) Frederic W. Behrens (b. 1864) in 188? Married Eliza Neetting and they located first at London, Iowa, where in partnership with his brother-in-law, they owned and operated a creamery for several years. After short residences in Ft. Wayne, Michigan and Ohio, they are now owning and operating a creamery in Missouri, and have a family of four children- Emma, Anna, Lily and Frederic. Two others died young.

(2) Henry B. Behrens, (b. 1865) the present owner of his fathers’s farm, in 18?? Married Annie Albright, and they erected a fine barn 56 X 70 feet, and a large addition to the old home, which is protected by a beautiful grove. Their family (one child died young) consists of four children- Minnie, Marie, Elizabehth and William.

Mr. Behrens is a very highly respected citizen and has served as trustee of Bellville township ten years. During the past sixteen years he has served as organist for the German Evangelical church of Pomeroy. During the first three years of this period he missed only three Sabbaths, and as a grateful recognition of this unusual fidelity received in 1886 a gold watch. He has also served several years as collector of the church funds.

Additional information for Henry Bernhard Behrens exerted from the Pomeroy Centennial 1870-1970.

H. B. Behrens was born in Germany on April 20th, 1858, son of Hillert and Marie (Hedden) Behrens. They were the parents of four children, two daughters dying in infancy, Fred and Henry came with their parents when they emigrated to Baltimore, Maryland in 1870, Henry was 12 years old at this time.

They traveled to Ft. Dodge, Iowa and two months later purchased land in Bellville township northeast of Pomeroy which is still owned by members of the Behrens family. They came to America to escape the militarism in Europe and also the regimentation of the State Church.

Hillert W. Beherens was one of the founders of the Evangelical Church. He served as township trustee for seven years. Henry B. Behren (sic) bought the family farm when his father retired. He was united in marriage with Anna Albrecht, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Albrecht, who was born in Elmhurst, Illinois on February 25, 1866.

Mr. and Mrs. Behrens were the parents of six children: Emma (who died in infancy), Minnie, Marie, Elizabeth, William and Ellen.

Mr. & Mrs. Behrens and family moved to Pomeroy in 1903. In partnership with Mr. August Breiholz they purchased the Tall Hardware Store which they operated until 1932 when Mr. Behrens retired. Mr. Behrens organized the Pomeroy Concert Band which he managed for several years. He was church organist for sixteen years having been taught to play by the pastor. He served as township trustee for 18 years while on the farm, and 9 years on the town council. Mrs. Behrens was the first president of the Community Club.

Mr. & Mrs. Behrens celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary and the Pomeroy band played a special concert in honor of the occasion.

Mr. Behrens died June 27th, 1941 and Mrs. Behrens on February 2nd, 1951.

PETER H. BENDIXEN, (b. 1837), a resident successively of Des Moines , Clinton and Lake townships, is a native of Denmark , the son of Niels and Martha M. (Buck) Bendixen. His father. from his earliest recollection, was the owner and captain of a merchant vessel, which he sold in the spring of 1864, when the family came to America . Peter, coming to McHenry county, Ill. , in 1861, found employment as a farm hand and clerk in a grocery store until the fall of 1863, when he returned to Denmark ; and married Petra Alberta Svendson. The next spring, accompanied by his wife, a sister and his parents, he located in McHenry county, Ill.

In the spring of 1869, making the trip in a lumber wagon, he moved to a rented farm in Des Moines township, this county. The next year he bought 80 acres on Sec. 33, Lake township, and his father 80 acres on Sec. 28. Later Peter bought 80 acres more on Sec. 27. Their nearest market then was Fort Dodge , afterward Manson, Humboldt, Algona, Rolfe and finally Gilmore City . The visits of the grasshoppers made it necessary for him to live two years on cornmeal, and to keep his horses the same period without grain. His father died on his farm in 1881 at 81, and his mother in 1898 at 87. Both were devout members of the Lutheran church and are buried at Rolfe.

After his father's death Peter became the owner of 240 acres, which he occupied until 1893, when he moved first to southern Missouri and the next year to a farm of 160 acres in Ellington township, Palo Alto county In 1898 he moved to a farm in Lake township and three years later to another one adjoining Gilmore City on the east, where he is now living. He is a man of considerable intelligence and rendered thirty years of public service in Clinton township, as follows: Assessor one year, a justice two years, a trustee two years, clerk four years, and secretary of the school board twenty-one years. In Lake he served as a justice and clerk in 1900. By his strict integrity and faithful performance of every duty devolving upon him he has won and held the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens.

His family consisted of eleven children. 1) Erasmus Nelson (b. Ill. 1864) married Elizabeth (Christenson, occupies a farm of 160 acres on Sec. 28, Clinton township, and has a family of six children. 2) William (b. Ill. 1866) married Minnie Thompson, lives in Minnesota and has one son. 3) Charles P (b. Ill. 1868) married Carrie Kennedy, lives on 80 acres on Sec. 32, Clinton. 4) Maggie (b. Poc. Co. 1870) married Peter Hendrickson, a farmer, and has five children. 5) Alice B. married Charles Borg, owner of 80 acres on Sec. 32, Clinton, and has two children, 6) Matilda B. married Anton Peterson and lives at Gilmore City. 7) John (b. 1876) in 1901 married Emma Hanson and is proprietor of a blacksmith and wagon-maker shop at Westbrook , Minn. 8) Minnie B. married John Lynch, a farmer. Albert G., Peter Hansen and Nellie B. are at home.

He died Feb. 11, 1902, three days after reading this sketch in The Fonda Times.

HARRY A. BLIZZARD (b. 1867), clothier, Fonda, is a native of Wilton Iowa, the son of Augustus C. and Margarite (Ayres) Blizzard. At 17 he went to Clarks, Neb., and finding employment as a clerk in a store, remained there the next eight years. In 1895 he located in Fonda and became proprietor and manager of a clothing store, under the name of Woodhouse (George) & Blizzard. By his uniform modesty and courtesy he has won the good-will of the people of Fonda and vicinity, and is now (1903) a member of the board of education.
In 1892 he married Margarite Butler, of Clarks, Neb., and has a family of three children, Grace, Harold and Ruth.

JOSEPH B. BOLLARD (b. 1858; d. 1903) druggist, Fonda, was a native of Crawford county, Pa., where he received a good education and later graduated from Oberlin College. He began to teach school at the early age of seventeen and pursued this employment three years after he located in 1880, with his elder brother, Richard D. Bollard, in Pottawattamie county, Iowa. In 1883, he located on a farm north of Fonda, and the next year became a resident of the town, where he found employment as a drug clerk. In 1886, associated with Dr. M. F. Patterson, he became proprietor of a drug store and maintained it nearly fifteen years. Others that were successively associated with him in this business were Henry Brown, S. M. Carleton and Wm. Bott. In 1891, he erected a two story brick block over the ruins of the frail structure that was destroyed by fire, Aug. 25th, that year. He served as a member of the Fonda council six years, 1890-94. He performed a leading part in effecting the organization of the Big Four Fair Association, and was a member of its first board of directors. During the period of his official recognition he exerted a potent influence in the management of the public affairs of the community, especially those relating to its educational interests, and was an active participant in the politics of the county. His pleasant voice, genial nature and natural ability caused him to be recognized as a leader in the circles in which he moved. He died at 45 in 1903.
In 1885, he married Jennie M., daughter of William Bott, Fonda, and his family consisted of five children, Roy, Robert, June, Elzina, and Eva.

RICHARD D. BOLLARD, (b, Oct. 15, 1847) resident of Pocahontas and Recorder of Pocahontas county, 1891-98, is a native of Ashtabula county, Ohio. He received his education in the public schools of Edinboro, Erie county, Pa., where his father located when he was quite young. In 1864, at the age of sixteen, he lost his left arm by the accidental discharge of a gun he was endeavoring to draw across a log while hunting. In 1867, he went to Grant county, Wis., where he worked on a farm and taught school. The next year he returned to his home and on Dec. 25, 1868, married Emma Lawrence. The next spring they located in Wright county, Wis., where he taught school in winter. In 1878, he moved to Pottawattomie county, Iowa, where he bought eighty acres of land and continued farming and teaching. In 1881 he met with another serious accident, the loss of the three largest fingers of his right hand, while shelling corn. Undaunted by these misfortunes he continued farming and teaching until the spring of 1886, when he moved to Fonda and engaged in the coal and grain business.

In the fall of 1890, he was elected recorder of this county, an office to which he was re-elected with a constantly increasing majority in 18892, '94 and '96. The efficiency of the public service rendered during these eight years, elicited the unstinted approval of the people of this county. The office was not closed at night until the necessary work of each day had been faithfully performed.

Just previous to the adjournment of the board of supervisors, Jan. 19, 1899, he was presented with a solid gold watch, chain and charm, the latter set with a diamond of purest luster, and inscribed with the words, "A token of esteem from the county officials to R. D. Bollard, recorder, 1891-1898." In Pottawattomie county, he served several years as a justice of the peace, in Fonda was street commissioner, and at Pocahontas he was a councilman, '92-94, and president of the school board in '99-1900. He taught twenty-one terms of public school.

His family consisted of ten children, six of whom are married: Walter, a drayman, married Rose Early, and lives at Fonda; Mattie B. married John Stream, a traveling salesman, and lives at Fonda; Mary Ella, July 3, 1899, married Wm. Boyd McClellan, a jeweler, and lives at Pocahontas; William married Maggie McCormick and lives in Lake township; Frederick P., in June, 1898, enlisted for the war against Spain in Cuba and spent several months in Jacksonville, Fla.; Roy in 1900, married Ida Lyon, and is a druggist clerk at Fonda; May in 1899, married Charles Lucas, and lives at Pocahontas; Gracie, Lawrence and Gorton are at home.

WILLIAM BOTT, a resident of Fonda and vicinity since 1870, was born in Stratton, Rutland county, England, December 18, 1827, and he was the son of Robert and Charlotte (Bains) Bott. His father was the overseer of the estate of Sir Gilbert Ethcort. In 1850 he came to America and spent the first two years on a farm at Syracuse, New York. He then engaged as foreman in laying railroad track and resided successively at Danville, (Canada), Cincinnati, TerraHaute, and Shelbyville (Ill.). At this place, April 17, 1859, he married Susan, daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth Sapp, and soon afterwards moved to Lichfield. In 1869, he located at Iowa Falls, and superintended the laying of the I. C. railroad from Iowa Falls to Storm Lake. As the railroad advanced his family moved to Webster City, Fort Dodge and Fonda, arriving at Fonda, in August 1870. He found a home for his family at first in the unfinished depot, and when he was compelled to leave it about the middle of October, some of his workmen built him a house in one day. He continued in the employ of the railroad company until 1879 and among others laid the track on the road from Judd to Lehigh and on the Webster City and Crooked creek railway. As late as July 1886 this veteran track-layer was called to Webster City, to superintend the laying of ten miles of new track for a mining company.

His farm of 240 acres on section 21, Cedar township was purchased in 1870 for $5 an acre. In 1874 he moved upon it and began the work of its improvement. During a residence of twenty years on the farm he improved it with fine buildings, fences and groves. In 1894 he returned to Fonda, where his wife died, May 13, 1895, in her 74th year. Their family consisted of five children three of whom died young. Jennie, wife of Joseph B. Bollard, and Lizzie reside in Fonda, the latter with her father.

Wm. Bott is one of the few men, still living, who have had the opportunity of witnessing the growth of Fonda and of taking an active part in promoting the best interests of the town and community. When he came to this place in the spring of 1870, the town site was a wild prairie without roads, houses or trees.

Only two small temporary buildings had been erected, one a blacksmith shop, by Peter Ibson and the other a grocery by Jacob Silbar. Intoxicating liquors were kept in the latter, and Mr. Bott having about seventy-five men in his employ, notified Silbar not to sell any of them to his men. Silbar, affirming his right to sell to who ever paid him for the drinks, was advised to be careful or the men would carry his outfit away. That evening a number of the men gathered about his building, lifted it and were in the act of carrying it to Cedar creek, when Mr. Bott interfered and prevailed upon them to desist from their purpose.

Wm. Bott was a member of the board of county supervisors, six years, 1880-82 and 1886-88, and served as its chairman in 1881 and '87. He has been president of the board of trustees of the Presbyterian church, of Fonda, since 1890. Although of a happy and contented state of mind he has never been a loiterer, but always an industrious and hard worker. His long experience as a foreman is suggestive of his superior tact and ability in managing others. He has been a successful farmer. On the farm he was careful neither to go in debt nor sell a bushel of grain. He raised hogs and cattle successfully by providing for them suitable buildings and giving them his constant, personal attention. He endeavored to keep the fences and buildings in the very best shape and enjoyed what some are pleased to call "good luck." In addition to his farm and home he also owns a valuable brick block in the business portion of Fonda.

LOUIS BRODSKY(b. 1857) merchant, farmer and stock raiser at Plover, is a native of Dubuque County, Iowa, the son of Onifred and Mary Brodsky. His father was a native of Poland and, coming to this country located at Dubuque, where be died when Louis was 15 months old. His mother afterwards became the wife of Vit Payer and in 1876 located at Pocahontas. Louis, that year engaging in store keeping, was the second merchant at Pocahontas. Nov. 20, 1876 he married Katy Sladek and the next spring located on a farm in Dover township. In 1884 he moved to Plover and, engaging in general merchandise, was the second merchant at that place. After a few years be relinquished his interest in the store that he might give his attention to other enterprises that had enlisted his interest, a farm, creamery, elevator, and lumber yard.

He now is the owner of 320 acres of land adjoining Plover known as the Ploverdale Stock Farm, that he has improved with a large dwelling house supplied with modem appliances for convenience and comfort, large horse and cattle barns, several hog houses, two silos that hold 200 tons of ensilage and a number of other necessary outbuildings. The silos were the first built in Pocahontas County. He has erected ample buildings for raising a large amount of stock and taking good care of it from year to year. He built also a large hay depot at the railroad station that he might handle that commodity, buying or selling it as circumstances might suggest.

He received a number of premiums on his exhibits of pure bred cattle at the Iowa State fairs of 1892 and 93, and in 1895 was accorded 21 first premiums at Ruthven, and swept everything at the Big Four fair at Fonda. His large and fine exhibits on these occasions attracted wide attention and his annual public sales have attracted buyers from neighboring states, including Kentucky, as well as from all parts of Iowa.

The following exhibit of some of his public sales shows what he has accomplished in the way of raising fine stock in this section and the substantial increase in the prices received during recent years.

PUBLIC SALES
Date Cattle Aver. Total Amt Of Sale
1894 45 head $53.60 $2,400 $3,520
1895 82 head 72.00 4,904 7,576
1898 40 head 167.00 5,680 6,680
1899 49 head 226.53 11,110 15,547
1901 47 head 206.00 9,705 9,705
1902 30 head 275.33 8,260 8,260

At the time of the sale, March 15, 1899, which was held in a large tent, a special brought a train load of people from Rolfe. Col F. M. Woods, of Lincoln Neb. served as auctioneer. Two of the cattle brought $410 each and two others $500 and $505 respectively. Sixteen Percheron horses were sold that day for $4,315, three of them bringing $300 each and two others $415 and $455 respectively. A set of herd books and a share of stock sold for $132, making the assets that day $15,547.

At his first sale in 1894, 51 young hogs were sold for $1,020, an average of $30 each; and in 1895, 44 head were sold for $1,675, an average of $38 each.

At his last sale, Oct 8, 1902, a cow, 7th Mysle of Pleasant View brought $1000, and four others, $525, $560, $570 and $580, respectively. A special was run from Rolfe and the bids were received by Col. Woods, Al P. Mason and Ralph Barklay. Meredith Bros. sold the same time and place 26 head for $2,970, an average of $114.23; making the gross receipts of the sale $11,230. At a combination sale at Rolfe on the previous day by Claus Johnson, N. A. Lind, Anton Williams, T. H. Fisber, M. P. Hancher, A. G. Hewlett and W. J. Price, 50 Short-Horns were sold for $7,600, an average of $152 a head.

He has shown a preference for percheron hones, short-horn cattle and poland china hogs. Short-Horns of a very superior quality have been sold at his public sales, including Scotch Dorothys, Mysles, Marsh Violets, Lovelys, Schotch-topped Rose of Sharons, and other desirable families. His herd usually numbers about 100 head and three-fourths of them are thoroughbreds. He was the first in the northeast part of the county to embark in raising Short-Horns on a large scale, having commenced in 1889, and a large share of the credit of making Pocahontas county a well known center, where the best cattle in the land may be found, belongs to him; since most of the other breeders were encouraged by his example, profited by his counsel and obtained their first supplies of stock from him. He and other farmers in that vicinity have Short-Horns that are not surpassed any where in size, quality and pedigree.

He has endeavored to raise as true stock as can be done with the best blood and feed, and to secure speedy maturity. He has realized the importance and value of thorough discipline in feeding and taking care of the stock, and never entrusts the care of the heard to a stranger nor exposes any of them for sale until they are in prime condition. Finding that public sales are somewhat expensive he has concluded to adopt the plan of both buying and selling as far as possible, at private sale, in the hope, that he can make sales to his patrons with profit at a much lower rate.

He is a man of excellent business habits and is held in high esteem in the community. He is a good representative of that class of enterprising men, who build up a community and secure for it a good reputation abroad. He was president of the school board three years, 1890-92.

His family consists of five children, Josephine, Frank J., Louis, Frances and George. Frank and Louis attended the State Agricultural College at Ames, and the former is now proprietor of the Plover creamery. In 1900 his father re-opened this creamery, and it has been managed on the plan of each farmer having his own separator and bringing only the cream to the creamery; and about ninety separators are now in use in that vicinity.

ANGORA GOATS
Mr. Brodsky is the owner of a farm of 500 acres, on the triangular strip of land in Lee county, that is at confluence of the Des Moines and Mississippi rivers. On this land he made an intelligent experiment, worthy of special notice. This land, like others in that vicinity was covered with a natural growth of weeds, vines and shrubbery, that prevented agricultural operations and its removal with an axe and brush hook would have required a great deal of time and money. Instead of pursuing this, the common method of clearing these lands, he enclosed it and put 400 Angora goats upon it. The result was a surprise to the old settlers in that section, one of whom remarked, "your goats in one year have cleared more land and done it better than we have done in forty." Some of the people drove miles to see their work, and the board of supervisors appointed a committee to investigate and report the results of this novel and profitable experiment. The goats manifested a relish for every kind of young tree growth, except hickory, and their clip yielded ninety cents each.. It must always be remembered, that this admirable trait of the goat for clearing wild lands, tends to make him a dangerous visitor to the garden, grove and orchard.
This was sent by Ed Moodie, great grandson of Louis Brodsky. The article was transcribed by Norma Lutz.

WILLIAM BROWNLEE, (b. March 1, 1838), of Pomeroy, was a resident of Bellville township from the spring of 1869 until the fall of 1892, with the exception of the two years he served as county treasurer, 1884-'85, when he and his family lived at Pocahontas. He is a native of Welland county, Canada, and the son of Thomas and Sarah Brownlee, both of whom were of Scotch-Irish descent, and came from the county of Armaugh, Ireland. On Nov. 3, 1861, he married Elizabeth H. Owen and one year later, coming to the United States, they located in Walworth county Wis. During a residence of six years at this place he found employment most of the time as a stage driver. In 1869, with a family of two children, they came to Pocahontas county, Iowa, and located on a homestead on Sec. 18, Bellville township. After three years they bought another farm on Sec. 8, which they improved and occupied until the time of their removal to Pomeroy in 1892.

Mr. Brownlee was very highly honored by the citizens of Bellville, who recognized his excellent qualities of head and heart. He was enabled to render many years of efficient service in all the township offices that a good citizen is expected to fill. He was a trustee in 1872, clerk in 1873, a justice of the peace five years, president of the school board four years, secretary of it five years and treasurer of the school fund three years. He was also the first citizen of Bellville township to enjoy the honor of a seat on the board of county supervisors (1876-1883). On Jan. 7, 1884, after eight years of efficient service, he resigned his position as a member of this board, that he might accept the more responsible office of county treasurer, to which he had been elected the previous fall.

His estimable wife was one of the most efficient and popular of the early teachers of Bellville, and she joined with her husband in making their home one of the most hospitable and entertaining in that section. Their home was situated a short distance south of the South branch of Lizard creek and also near the largest lake in the township. This locality proved to be a favorite camping ground for the roving bands of Indians that annually frequented this section for the purpose of hunting and trapping in the days of its early settlement. These Indian bands were neighborly neigh bors, but everybody was glad when they left the community, for they were professional beggars of a treacherous character. The early settler, in the interest of peace and to get them to leave the premises as soon as possible, usually felt if was better to give them all they wanted, so that many times the larder was emptied in meeting their demands.*

Their family consisted of eight children, three of whom are dead. William Allen (single) is engaged in the grain and seed business at St. Paul; Bert O., married to Harriet Swisher, is clerking in a store at Mallard; Bern R. married to Mabel Joslyn, is located on a farm in Calhoun county; Mary F. and Howard Lee are still at home.

JAMES JEREMIAH BRUCE, (b. Nov. 6, 1843 ,) resident of Rolfe, is a native of Oswego , N. Y., the son of Thomas and Mary Bruce. His parents, who were of Scotch-Irish descent, emigrated from the north of Ireland to Oswego in 1842, and soon afterward located in Hastings (then called Simcoe) county, Ontario, where his mother died Aug. 15, 1845. After the death of his mother he was taken care of in the homes of other people. At nine he entered the public school and at sixteen received a second-grade teacher's certificate. At eighteen he taught his first term of school, and then taking a three months' Normal course, taught the same school in Simcoe county during the next three years. He then commenced a term of school in the adjoining district, but at the end of one week - Jan. 10, 1866 - the school house was burned. This occurrence was attributed to a prejudice developed by his unfavorable criticism in the public press of the drunkenness that appeared at the celebration of the Orangemen, July 12th, previous. He relinquished his contract and on march 16th, 1866, started for Chicago , stopping at Toronto a few days to visit some schoolmates on the way. He carried with him a first-grade teachers' certificate issued by the board of education of Simcoe county, that was good for three years, and attested his good moral character and excellent literary attainments. At Chicago he concluded to go west in the hope he might locate in a community where there were no Irish people. He passed by rail to Ackley and thence by stage to Iowa Falls , where he met several Canadians who wished to locate in Pocahontas county. In company with David Wallace he carried his luggage and walked from Iowa Falls to section 8, lizard township, a distance of 77 miles, selecting a homestead and fording the Des Moines river at Fort Dodge . he was surprised to find his new location was in another Irish settlement, and where there were even persons who knew his parents when they lived at Monagan City , Ireland .

At the time of his arrival in Lizard there were only four school houses in Pocahontas county, namely, in the Robert Struthers and (Old) Rolfe districts, Des Moines township, and in the Calligan and Walsh districts in Lizard township. On Aug. 20, 1866 , he was examined and received a teachers' certificate at Old Rolfe from W. D. McEwen, county superintendent, and in 1867 taught the summer and winter terms in the Walsh district. In the fall of 1867, he was elected county superintendent and also county supervisor from the Lizard district. On March 4, 1867 , he married Mary J. Price, one of the pupils in his first school in Lizard township. In the fall of 1869, he was elected county treasurer and moved to Old Rolfe where, on Jan. 1, 1875 , he and W. D. McEwen established a store. In 1881 he became president of the Northwestern land Co. , and on Feb. 14, 1882 , was admitted to the bar by Judge Edward R. Duffie, at Pocahontas. In 1882 he erected the building known later as the Tremain Hotel, and became one of the first residents of the new town of Rolfe, where for a few years he engaged in the mercantile business.

He took a leading part in the first newspaper enterprise and was identified with the public press of the county a number of years afterward.

On June 14, 1869 , he rode to Fort Dodge with Dennis Mulholland, of lizard, and on the nest day arranged with B. F. Gue to print the Pocahontas Journal for one year for $450.00. On the next day, June 16, 1869 , W. D. McEwen, the other editor, arrived and the first issue of the Pocahontas Journal was printed and placed in their hands for distribution. The second issue of this paper was received in Lizard township July 25, 1869 , and the subsequent issues were printed as regularly as the mails could carry copy to the printer and return the printed sheets for folding and distribution. This was the official paper of the county during 1869, 1870 and 1871 (see age 144). He was a regular contributor to the columns of the Pocahontas Times for several years after its removal to Fonda and took the lead in establishing and maintaining the Rolfe Reveille from July 12, 1888 , to Jan. 1, 1894 (See page 306.).

His public career in this county covers a period of thirty years and began Oct. 8, 1867 , when he served as a clerk at the general election in Lizard township. On that day he was elected to three public offices, namely, justice of the peace and county supervisor from Lizard township, which then embraced nearly the south half of the county, and superintendent of the public schools of the county. As a resident of Lizard township he served as justice of the peace in 1868, as county supervisor in 1868-69, county superintendent 1868-69, and county treasurer four years at Old Rolfe in 1870-73. As a resident of Clinton township he served as the first mayor of Rolfe in 1884, president of the Rolfe school board in 1891-92, justice of the peace in 1891-92, representative of the 78th district, which included Pocahontas and Calhoun counties, in 1886-87, and county supervisor nine years, 1880-85, '95-97. He was president of the board of supervisors five of the eleven years he was a member of it.

In the various offices to which he was called he rendered the people of this county a faithful and efficient service. None ever questioned his ability or his integrity of purpose, and no one was either better acquainted with the county's affairs or endeavored to promote them more unselfishly than he.

On May 15, 1897 , he had a tumor the size of a man's hand, removed from the back of his head, that began to appear soon after his recovery from typhoid fever in 1882. A few months later he retired from business and politics and now devotes his attention to the cultivation of his farm on which he lives at Rolfe.

In 1857, at the age of fourteen, he united with the Wesleyan M. E. church, Canada . In 1876 he became an elder in the Unity and later in its successor, the Second Presbyterian church of Rolfe . In 1883 he united with the M. E. church of that place. He has been a life-long advocate of the cause of prohibition and has taken a leading part in promoting that cause in this county.

His family consists of nine children, one having died in childhood.

1 - William Ulysses Bruce married Belle Fisk, lives in Omaha and has a family of two children.

2 - Marion Bruce married Gussie Wilcox, lives in Rolfe and has one child. He became a workman in the Reveille office at the time it was established and owned a half-interest in it from Jan. 1, 1894 to Aug. 4, 1900 . He was recorder of Rolfe '95-96 and has been postmaster since July 1, 1897 .

3 - George Washington Bruce married Ella Wallace, lives at Rolfe and has four children.

4 - Robert Bruce in 1897 graduated from the law department of the Iowa State University and is now practicing law at Rolfe. On Oct. 11, 1899 he married Carrie Ritchey of Des Moines township.

5 - James Bruce graduated from the law department of the Iowa State University in 1898, was engaged in a law office in Denver a few months and since Jan. 1, 1900 has been bookkeeper for the Pocahontas Savings Bank at Pocahontas.

6 - John E. Bruce in 1899 married Anna Miller, has one child and lives in Des Moines township.

Bertha Belle, Edward E. and Harold are still at home

WILLIAM H. BURNETT (b. 1834), resident of Cedar township from 1877 to 1888, was a native of New Brunswick and a cousin of George Spragg. During his residence in Illinois he married Mary Vaughn and soon afterward located in Buchanan county, Iowa. In 1877, after a short residence in Greene county he bought of Mrs. Rachel Hartwell the n1/2se1/4 sec. 6, Cedar township, improved and occupied it during the next eleven years, when he located first at Dana, then in Colorado and is now in Missouri. He was a first day advent and during his residence at Sunk Grove secured the maintenance of occasional services there and in the Pinneo schoolhouse in Dover township.
His wife died during his residence in Colorado. His family consisted of nine children. Burpy died at 21 at Sunk Grove; Ida married James Rarisee, has two children and lives in Missouri; George is at Central City, Colo; Wm. H., an attorney, lives in Colorado; Letitia married Milton E. Burkhalter and lives at Pocahontas; Bertha married Edwin J. Southworth and lives at Laurens; Alice died in 1895; Lulu married Wm. Haller and lives in Des Moines. The others are Albert and Ruth. Four of the daughters, Letitia, Bertha, Alice and Ruth, and their brother, William were teachers in this county and rendered very acceptable service.

ABRAM BURSON, (B. 1856), Carpenter, Fonda, is a native of Greene Co. Pa., the son of James and Rebecca (Reynolds)Burson. His fathers's family consisted of five sons, John R. David, Abram, alexander P. and James, and the three oldest, John, David and Abram became residents of Pocahontas county. David and Abram became residents of Pocahontas county. David came to Fonda in 1881, found enployment in a hardware store and two years later went to California where he still resides. Abram in 1879 married Margaret Ann Greenlee, of Green Co. Pa, and in 1882 located at Fonda where he found employment as a carpenter and builder. During four years, 1896-1900, he was a partner with Elijah H. Anderson in a drug store. During recent years he has been engaged in the sale of real estate. He has served several terms as a member of the Fonda school board and town council.
His family consists of five children. Albert G., a graduate of Fonda and of the pharmaceutic department of the Iowa State University, in 1902 married Mae Fitch and is now engaged in the drug business at Pierce, Nebraska; James is a bank clerk; Frank, Rebecca and Madge are at home.

JOHN R. BURSON, a carpenter, in 1882 located at Fonda where in 184 he married Anna, daughter of Robert Leslie, of Cedar township. In 1887 he moved to Los Angeles, Cal, but is now in Pennsylvania. He has two children, Nellie and Ruth.

MRS. JEAN (PLUNKETT) BUSBY, who died at the residence of her daughter, Mrs. Peter Kiene, in Dubuque, May 1, 1898, was a pioneer of Fonda, and a beautiful monument in this cemetery marks her last earthly resting place. She was a native of Scotland, and after her marriage to James Busby, came to America and located first in St. Lawrence county, N. Y., and afterwards in Chicago, where he died, July 6, 1855, at the age of 55 years. That fall, with a family of seven children, she moved to Dubuque, remained there until the spring of 1872, when, accompanied by four children, she moved to Fonda. Her two sons, William J. and Ebenezer, had preceded her and they had erected, as a home for herself and family, the house now owned and occupied by Geo. H. Ellis, on the northeast corner of block ten. Ebenezer, on his arrival in the fall of 1870, engaged in the mercantile business in which he was joined by his brother William J. in the spring of 1871, and this partnership continued until the accidental death of the former August 23, 1873. After the settlement of her children in homes of their own, Jean resided most of the time with her daughter Mrs. Geo. L. Brower. Her family consisted of Elizabeth J. married to George Butterfield, Plumas Co. Cal.; Matilda, married to C. D. Lucas, Cherokee, Robert A. married to Elizabeth Borland who survives him at Dubuque; Mary A. married to Prof. C. Bayless, Dubuque; William J. married to Louisa A. Price, Fonda; Carrie A. married to Peter Kiene, Dubuque; Ebenezer M. who was the first one interred in the Fonda cemetery; Ella J. married to George L.

Brower, Rockwell City; and Rebecca who resides with her sister, Mary A. at Dubuque. The true nobility of motherhood has seldem been better illustrated than in the patient, beautiful life of Jean Busby. It can be truly said of her, that her children arise up and call her blessed.

MICHAEL M. BYRNE (b. 1858), is a native of County Roscommon, Ireland, the son of William and Mary (Kelley) Byrne. He was raised on a farm in 1878 he married Catharine Lynch and, coming to America, worked two months on a railroad in N. J., and then located in Cedar township, Pocahontas county. In 1880 he bought a farm of 80 acres on sec 14. Dover township, which he was the first to occupy and improve. He increased this farm to 240 acres, improved it with good buildings, grove and orchard and occupied it until 1896, when he built a house and moved to Fonda for the education of his children. He has managed the affairs on the farm several years since his first removal from it and usually carries about 70 head of cattle. In 1900 he formed a partnership with his nephew, Thos. J. Byrne and has since been engaged in the stock, grain and implement business in Pocahontas. He is a democrat and a member of the Catholic church.
His family consists of five children, Michael, Catherine, Anna Ellen, Margaret and Mary Elizabeth. William, the oldest, died form an accidental gunshot wound in 1896.
Mary Byrne, his widowed mother came to America in 1880 and has been a resident of this county since that date. She has dwelt most of the time with her three sons, Thomas in Grant, Matthew in Cedar, and William. Peter Byrne, who was a resident of Grant township 20 years and moved to Minnesota in 1902, was also her son. He married Ann, sisiter of Jeremiah O. Sullivan, and raised a large family. Her other son, Michael, lives in England.

THOMAS BYRNE,(b. 1843), owner and occupant of a farm of 400 acres on Sec. 20, is a native of Ireland. In 1865 he emigrated to New Jersey where two years later he married Ellen Kelley. In 1878 he located in Grant township on a farm of 80 acres, which he has since increased five fold, and improved with good buildings and groves.

His family consisted of four children, Mary, Thomas, John and Ellen. Mary in 1896 married Eugene Kirkendall, a farmer, lives in Grant township and has two children, Thomas E. and John.

SAMUEL M. CARLETON (b. 1825; d.1895), farmer, Cedar, was a native of Salem, N. H., where in 1846 he married Lydia R. Sargent. He found employment in the cotton mills at Salmon Falls, N. H. and remained there 25 years, serving as an overseer during the last ten years. In 879 he came to Pocahontas county and located on a farm southwest of Fonda, which he improved and occupied until 1891 when he moved to Fonda. He died at 70 in 1895 and his wife at 78, Jan. 1, 1902.
His family consisted of three children two of whom died in childhood. James S.; the oldest, in 1874 married Elva A. Mitchell and located at Salmon Falls. Five years later he and family came with his parents to Cedar township. He died at 28 in 1891, one month after the death of his wife. He left one daughter, Rena, a Fonda graduate in 1894. In 1896 she married Vernon W. Harris, a clerk, and in 1902 located at Anthon, Iowa.

GEORGE CHALLAND, (b. 1846; d. 1900) was a native of Canton, England, and at four came with his parents to Shabbona Grove, Ill., where he grew to manhood and in 1871 married Julia Alice, daughter of Moatolbert Greenfield. In 1872 he located near Clare, Iowa, and a few years afterwards near Rolfe, where his wife died at 50 in February 1900. He died in December following.
Their family consisted of eight children, Mrs. Wealthy Smith, of Minneapolis, Terry at Rolfe, Mrs. May (Frank) Neal, formerly of Pocahontas (Des Moines), Clarence, Maud, Claude and Martin

JOSEPH CHAPMAN, (b. Nov. 3, 1808) resident alternately of Williams township and Fonda during recent years is a native of Fairfield Co. Conn., the son of Phineas and Ruth Treadwell Chapman. His father who was the seventh son of Phineas Chapman, Sr., was born, lived and died, at the age of 57 in 1821, in the same house. During the period of the war of 1812 he served as the sheriff of Fairfield county. His six older brothers, during the Revolutionary War, were in the U. S. army, where John became a captain and Albert and James were promoted to minor positions. Joseph was fourteen at the time of his father’s decease. He had three brothers, John, Hiram and Charles, and seven sisters, Laura, Betsey, Ann, Eliza, Matsey, Lidia, and Mary, and all of them died many years ago near the old home in Connecticut, except Hiram, who died in Oregon.

At sixteen Joseph was put out by his mother as an apprentice and worked during the next five years the hatter’s trade in Wilton. The next year was spent in a jewelry store at Albany, N. Y., where he learned to clean and repair the clocks in use at that time. As a book agent and jeweler he spent the next two years canvassing Cuipepper, Madison and several other counties in Virginia. During this period he furnished many an evening’s entertainment playing on the Buggles, singing songs and telling witty stories.

In 1835, in of the props show it. In like manner company with his brothers, Hiram and Charles, all single, he came to Peoria county, Ill., where in 1837, he married Eliza Ann Sherwood and locating on a farm of 80 acres, improved, enlarged and occupied it until 1872, when his wife died and he went to the home of his daughter, Robah Oakes. In 1887, he became a resident of Fonda and vicinity in the home of his son, Baxter S. Chapman.

He united with the Presbyterian church in his youth, served fifty years as a teacher in the Sunday school and nearly as long as a deacon in the church. Such was his reverence for the Sabbath and love for the sanctuary, that when he had passed four score and ten he made personal sacrifices to attend church.

He passed his 94th birthday Nov. 3, 1902, and has been the oldest resident in the vicinity of Fonda since 1900. He never used tobacco or liquor in any form and attributed his steady nerves and good health in old age to that fact. “I cannot tell,” said he on one occasion, “what effect the use of tobacco or liquor might have had on me, for I never used either; but I have noticed the effect thy have had on others, and have profited by their experience. I have taken some light from the lamp of their experience without diminishing their light in the least.” He had an effective method of administering a gentle reproof to those who were so irreverent as to use profane language in his presence. After reminding them that good people have no need to use profane language, and that its use always makes the impression that there is something wrong with the user, he would illustrate the matter by a reference to the use of props. “when any one passes a house that is supported by props, it is not necessary that another should tell him there was something wrong about it, for the use of the props show it. In like manner the use of profanity to support a man’s veracity always shows where he is weak. Don’t swear, if you expect others to believe you.” He was very entertaining, possessed considerable native wit, and often surprised his listeners by beautiful and apt quotations, such at:

“From others fields we gather flowers,
The thoughts are theirs, the thread is ours.”

In his 93rd year he repeated several stanzas of the ode on Heaven.

“The faithless world in ruin lies,
Enwrapt in fancy’s vision,
Allured by sighs, beguiled by shows
And empty dreams; nor scarcely knows
There is a brighter heaven.
“A lonely stranger here I roam,
From place to place am driven, -
My friends are gone and I’m in gloom-
This world is all a dreary tomb.
I have no home but heaven.”

He was accustomed to looking on the bright side of things, endeavored to make others happy, often referred to the secret of a happy life and kept a supply of the Shorter Catechism for free distribution.

His family consisted of four children:

Mary married John Sullivan and died in 1882, leaving three children, Kittie Kinne, Bessie Orton and Hugh Sullivan.

Baxter S., married Hattie Clemens, a pioneer and early teacher of Williams township. He is the owner and occupant of a farm of 240 acres south of Fonda. He has served several years as justice and has town sons, Fred C., a teacher and fruit grower, and Charles.

Robah married Wm. M. Oakes, a farmer, and lives at French Grove, Ill.

Joel died in his youth.

ELIJAH CHASE, his wife, Elizabeth and five children, Marquis, Alfretta, Converse, Frederick and Thomas, the last about two and the first about seventeen years of age, located on Sec. 6, Cedar township Aug. 9, 1868. They came from Buchanan county with an outfit that consisted of four loaded wagons drawn by fourteen yoke of oxen, and ten head of cattle. They were accompanied from the same place by Geo. Spragg, a brother of Mrs. Chase, whose outfit consisted of two wagons drawn by four yoke of oxen, and four head of cattle.

There were the first settlers in Cedar township and they located on the same section. Their experience in making the trip from Independence to Sunk Grove was one that was not uncommon in those days, especially in wet seasons. At this date the railroad extended only to Iowa Falls and the trails west of Fort Dodge extended only to the settlements along Lizard creek. The sloughs were full of water and so soft that frequently the mud would be seen shoving in front of the wagon. All of the oxen, eighteen yoke, were sometimes required to draw a single wagon across a bad slough and, in such cases, half day would be consumed in crossing it. During the first two years of their residence at Sunk Grove all their supplies were obtained from Carroll, Jefferson and Fort Dodge . In the spring of 1869 Marquis Chase made a trip to Fort Dodge for a load of supplies, and while there was overtaken by a heavy rain. The wagon was drawn by four yoke of oxen, and on his return, in the effort to cross the head of Purgatory slough a short distance northeast of the place where Pomeroy is now located, the front yoke of oxen mired in the mud and the others, moving on them, the entire eight head of cattle were lost by drowning. The youthful driver, then only eighteen years of age, was compelled to stay over night with the load and the next day walked home, a distance of eighteen miles, to obtain a larger number of oxen and assistance to extricate the wagon with its load.

Elijah and his family in 1878 moved to Buena Vista county, but returned in 1881. He died in 1895 and his wife, Jan. 15, 1898 , the latter at the home of her son William, near Wadena , Minnesota . His family consisted of ten children, namely: Marquis, in Dover township; Alfretta, wife of Joseph Logan; Converse, Frederick , Thomas, Eunice, wife of Thompson Gilman; Frank, Joseph, Adrian and William.

MAURICE CLANCY, of Canada, visiting this county in 1874, bought 240 acres of land on Sec. 29, Bellville township. In 1875 he and his wife (Catherine Crowley) and their two sons, John and Patrick Clancy (and wife) came to this county, settled on this land and began the work of its improvement.

Maurice and his wife were both natives of Ireland. He died in 1880 at the age of 75 years and his wife in 1891 at the age of 70 years; and both were buried in the Catholic cemetery at Pomeroy. Their family consisted of four sons and two daughters, two of whom settle in Canada. Michael was drowned in Lake Winnepeg, at the age of 26 years, while engaged as a surveyor in Dakota. John bought a portion of his father’s farm in Bellville township, occupied it two years later.

PATRICK CLANCY (b. 1845) is now the owner and occupant of his father’s (Maurice) farm in Bellville township. He has increased its size to ? acres and provided it with the improvements. He is a native of Canada and married there in 1872 Elizabeth Mcalpin, a sister of Mrs. John O’Brien. He is a sturdy, ard working man, a successful farmer and highly esteemed citizen. He was treasurer of the township school found five yers, 1959-64. His family consists of five children – Michael, Catherine (a teacher) Mary, John, Bridget A. and Thomas Michael.

MRS. SARAH A. CLARK (b. 1822), Fonda, is a native of Washington Co., Pa, the daughter of John and Margaret Williams. In 1843 she became the wife of John W Clark and located in the vicinity of Cincinnati, O. In 1853 they moved to Stark Co., Ill., and in 1875 to Warren Co., where he died a few years afterwards. In 1889 Mrs. Clark became a resident of Fonda, where he daughter, Mrs. Emmet Kay had previously located. Dec. 14, 1900, at the end of ten years' service as president of the Ladies' Aid Society of the M. E. church, she was very pleasantly surprised at a meeting held in her honor, by the presentation and adoption of the following resolutions:
"In view of the fact that sister Sarah A Clark, who has reached the advanced age of 79 years, has for more than ten years performed efficiently the arduous duties of president of this society, and has been a faithful member and an untiring worker in the M. E. church for more than half a century, therefore,
Resolved, that she be made an honorary member of our aid society, have a voice and vote therein, be free from the payment of all dues and receive a complimentary invitation to all suppers served by the society.
Attests: Mrs. Dr. Leese, pres. and Mrs. A. Burson sec.
Her family consisted of five daughters. Euphemia E. married Albert Hillard and died soon afterwards. Mary B. married Emmet Kay, (see Kay) Alice married James B. Knotts and lives in Lucas county. Emma died in her youth, and Georgia A., an assistant in The Times office many years, resides with her mother.

JOSEPH CLASON, one of the early pioneers of Pocahontas county, in the spring of 1863, located on a farm of 80 acres on section 1, Clinton township, with a family consisting of his wife (Rebecca Kinyon) and ten children. Upon an unbroken prairie, covered with tall grass and inhabited by mosquitoes, he built a log house and occupied it until June, 1874, when he sold the farm and moved to Kansas . He died in 1880 and his wife in 1888. In Clinton township he served as a trustee, 1865-71; as the first president of the school board, '69 70; as justice of the peace, '71-73.

Ann Clason, his eldest daughter, in 1864 married Richard Chatfield and located in Wisconsin, where she died Sept. 26, 1884, leaving a family of six children, of whom Dora married James Thompson and located in southern Iowa; Rose married Wm. Blain and located in Kansas; George entered the regular army; Edward located in Lizard township; Cora and Alfred are at home.

Sarah Clason on Dec. 25, 1869 , married Geo. W. Heald. (See Heald). The wedding occurred at her father's home and was the first one in the township.

Mary Clason on March 30, 1872 , married Carl John Carlson, who for a number of years was proprietor of the quarries on section 25, and later located on a farm near Havelock . Their family consists of eight children - Carl J., Florence R., Emma H., Worden J., Minnie M., James A., William A. and Wilfred Bert.

MARCELLUS W. COFFIN, (b. 1842; d 1902), editor of the Rolfe Reporter, was a native of Glens Falls, N. Y. His father died when he was twelve, and in 1863, he married Emma Warren (b. 1843). In 1886, he moved to Maquoketa, Iowa, and three years later to Grundy county. In December 1882, when the town of Rolfe was new, he located there and was proprietor of the Rolfe House ten years. As an editor of the Rolfe Reporter, the first paper established at Rolfe, he was associated two years with E. A. Duke and the next four years with Percy O. Coffin his eldest son, when (1890) the paper was discontinued. He wore a long black beard, possessed considerable business capacity, and had the spirit of a leader. He served three ears as a member of the first town council of Rolfe 1884-’86, as the first president of the school board and was a justice at the time of his death, Sept. 2, 1902.

His family consisted of three sons. Percy O., who was associated with him in the publication of the Reporter, 1886-90, lived five years in Omaha, where he graduated as an electrician. In 1901, he returned to Rolfe. In 1886, he married Lena Fisk and has one son, Ray. Edwin G., a farmer, married Lulu Belle Roberts and has three children, Harry, Iona and Wayne.

Lem C. Coffin, a brother of Marcellus, was for many years the owner and occupant of a firm near Rolfe. Sept. 5, 1874, he enlisted as a member of Co. D. 175th N. Y. and served until the close of the Civil War. He is now a resident of Lyons, Neb., where he has been engaged in the hard ware business.

MICHAEL G. COLEMAN, (B. 1854) Fonda, is a brother of James H. (p. 576), the son of William and Margaret Cashman Coleman. He is a native of Derby, Conn., where he received his early education. In 1868, he came with his parents to Allamakee county, Iowa, and settling on a farm, attended the high school at Lansing, spent two years at St. John’s College at Prairie du Chien, Wis., and in 1877, completed a commercial course in the Bryant & Stratton Commercial College, Davenport, Iowa. He taught school during the next seven years. In 1885, he married Emma Spelling and located at New Albin, where he served as postmaster three years he was engaged in the sale of general merchandise at West Bend. In 1892, he came to Fonda, where he has since been engaged in the insurance and loan business. He served three years as township clerk in Allamakee county two years as a member of the council at West Bend, and seven years as city recorder at Fonda. He has been secretary of the Northern Telephone co. since its organization in 1899.

His family consists of two children, Hazel Leone and Helen.

FRANK MARION CONROY, (b. Oct 30, 1861), resident of Fonda, is a native of Tyrone, Ireland, and came to America in 1867, with his parents, Thomas and Bridget, who located first in Wisconsin but six months later of a farm in Black Hawk county, Iowa. In the fall of 1871 they located on a farm near Pomeroy and a few years later on another one near Jolley were Thomas died October 14, 1890. On September 5, 1882, Frank M. married Jennie M. Cahill of Fort Dodge, and they resided near Jolley, until March 1891, when they moved to Fonda, erected a two story brick block on the west side of main Street and established a fine meat market and restaurant. When this building was destroyed by the fire of “91, they moved to their farm on section 30 Dover township, but after two years returned to Fonda, kept a general store for two years and during this period built the fine residence on Franklin street that he has since occupied. He is the owner of several farms in this and Calhoun counties, and is now engaged as a traveling salesman for the manufacturers of the Champion mowers and harvesters. His family consists of two daughters, Florence M., who received a medal in the county declamatory contest at Pocahontas in 1900; and Cecil who is now nine years of age.

FRANK HOLLEY COVEY, cigar maker and etailer, Fonda, was born in Duchess county, N. Y., Nov. 22, 1851. He grew to manhood at Hudson, where he learned the cigar manufacturing business, and afterwards for several years, found employment in the principal cities of the east, as a cigar maker. In 1877 he came to Fonda and continued to manufacture cigars until 1898 when his retail trade, commenced in 1894, began to occupy his whole time and attention. April 22, 1884 he married mary Belle Tucker and they have one son living, Harry now in his 11 year.

At an early age he began to participate in various amateur plays on the stage and soon after his location in Fonda, he had thirteen of the “old timers” join with him in rendering, “Among the Breakers.” It was the principal event of that season and by reason of the admirable manner in which he represented a negro character called “Scud” he has been generally known by that name ever since.

His elder brother, George Covey, a carpenter and his wife came to Fonda in 1876 and remained until 1887 when they returned to New York.

WILLETT S. COX, (b. 1862), merchant, Havelock, is a native of Oquawka, Henderson county, Ill., the son of Chapman and Rebecca Cox, with whom at eleven, he moved to Wapello , Iowa . After completing his studies in the high school in 1878, he learned the tinner's trade. In 1882, he engaged in the hardware business at Humboldt and remained until 1889, when he located at Havelock . Here he established a large hardware store and soon afterwards began to maintain branch stores at Plover and Mallard. In 1896,he disposed of all his interest in the hardware business and in 1897, resumed business at Havelock as dealer in general merchandise. In the fall of 1900, he erected the first building and opened a store in the new town of Ware. He was appointed and served as the first postmaster at Ware, from Oct. 7, 1900 , to Dec. 1, 1901 , when he relinquished his interests there and built a large brick store room at Havelock to meet the demands of his growing business at that place. This new building is one of the best store rooms in the county; it contains 8,200 feet of floor space, is finished in oak and heated with steam. The stock includes drygoods, groceries, shoes, hardware, furniture and undertaker's supplies. He is the owner of considerable land in Iowa and Minnesota , and a leading stockholder in the Havelock Telephone Company. He is an enterprising and successful business man and stands ready to promote any enterprise that will prove a permanent benefit to the town of his adoption. In 1886 he married Cora M. Potter, of Rolfe, and his family consists of four children, Eva, Warren P, Samuel W. and Eldon.

AMOS WILSON DART, in February 1871, became one of the pioneer homesteaders of Cedar township, (e½ ne¼ section 8) and was resident of Fonda from 1876 to 1896, when he married Amy Smith and moved to Rolfe. He assisted in the organization of Cedar township, was the first of its citizens to perform the duties of constable and held that office for twenty years. In 1884 he was appointed deputy collector of this county, and held that office for eleven years. He was a native of Vermont and at the age of fifteen, in 1830, went to Cresscott, Canada, and four years later to Rochester, N. Y. Here he learned the painters’ art in a chair factory. In 1850 he went to California, eleven years later to boise City, returned to Vermont in 1869 and two years later came to Pocahontas county. His first wife Caroline Hays died in 1849, leaving two daughters, both of whom married and had children, but are now dead. In 1871 he married mercy, widow of James Logan and she, as an invalid died in 1895. He died September 29, 1899 in his 85th year. During his early live he became addicted to intemperate habits and they greatly annoyed him in his later years. During his residence on the homestead he became an active member of the M. E. church and few years later was appointed the local agent of the Pocahontas county Bible society. His exhortations in religious meetings were earnest and often deeply impressive. One who heard him conduct a service in the Warner school house in May 1881 was induced to express his remarks in poetic form and the opening lines are as followe:

“I am the door; come knock and I will open,
None ever sought for entrance here in vain;
Come boldly forward, this shall be thy token,
The Lamb was slain.
I am the vine; come and I will engraft thee,
A faithful off-shoot from the parent tree;
I’ll nourish, cherish and at last receive thee
To bloom eternally.”
Shabbona, in The Times, June 9, 1881

ARTHUR W. DAVIS came to this county in the fall of 1895 and served two years as principal of the public schools in Fonda. His excellent work in the school room and in the teachers’ institutes brought him into such favorable notice over the county that in the fall of 1897, he was elected to fill the office of County Superintendent. At this election he received 121 votes more than any other candidate on the winning ticket in this county, an a majority of 373 over his opponent. His administration of the educational interests of this county was vigorous, impartial and exceptionally fine. Although he is still pursuing his education, he has already developed considerable ease and grace as an orator and, on several important public occasions, addressed large assemblages of the people in different parts of this county. He possesses the genius of tireless energy, the genius that achieves, and has a bright future before him.

He was born in Fayette county, in the early seventies, received his preparatory education in the high school at Fayette, and as a Bachelor of Science, graduated at the college in that place in 1893. During his college course he worked on the farm and taught school to meet his expenses. At the time of his graduation he was elected principal of the public schools at Montour, and a little later accepted a similar position at Rock Rapids, where he continued until he located at Fonda in 1895. He is now pursuing a two year’s course of legal studies in the Iowa State University at Iowa City.

JOHN DEACON (b. 1846), owner and occupant of a farm of 160 acres on sec. 5, Cedar township, is a native of Ireland. In 1865, he came alone to America, lived two years in Boston and then located in Jackson county, Iowa, where in 1873, he married Margaret Mahoney. In 1883, he located in this county on his present farm, which he has improved with good buildings, groves and orchard. His family consists of six children, Mary A., Robert, Alla, Julian, Margaret and Henry.

THOMAS L. DEAN, (1841), a pioneer of Lincoln, is a native of Ohio. In 1870, with wife and three children he located on a soldier’s homestead of 160 acres. The se1/4 sec. 34, Lincoln township, this county. He assisted in the organization of that township, was elected the first justice, and served twenty-eight consecutive years, 1873 to 1900. He served as president of the school board two years, clerk four years, and treasurer six years. He also served as sheriff of Pocahontas county tow years, 1878-79. Aug. 8, 1862, he enlisted as a member of Co. D. 98th Ohio Infantry and served until the close of the war. He has made a splendid record as a soldier and citizen. He improved his farm with good buildings and occupied it until 1900, when he moved to Pocahontas.

His family consisted of ten children of whom the first born died in childhood. Ellen M., a native of Mercer county, Ill., in 1884, married William D. Pattee and died at 33, in 1899, at Pocahontas, leaving four children, Mary, George, Minnie and Nellie. Mary E. in 1889, married George E. Hawk, a farmer, lives in Minnesota, and has two children, Arthur and Frank. Minnie O. in 1887, married Charles E. Andrews. They own and occupy a farm of 160 acres in Lincoln township and have four children, Lewis, Roy, Mabel, and Lloyd. Martha A. in 1900, married Edward Challberge, a farmer, and together with her brother, George T., continues to live on her father’s farm in Lincoln township. James e., a carpenter, lives at Palmer. Frank in 1902, married Josephine Flaherty and lives at Pocahontas. John, the youngest, lives in Pocahontas.

THERON G. DEMARAY (b. 1866), cashier of the Bank of Havelock, is a native of Niagara, Co., N. Y. In 1870, he came to Mitchell county, Iowa, where he lived on a farm till 1885, when he commenced working for Morgan & Faneghill and was with them till 1892, when he came to Havelock. After serving nine years as assistant, in 1897, he was appointed cashier of the Bank of Havelock. He is a republican and has served as chairman of the county central committee. In Havelock he has served as recorder and mayor, each two years, as a member of the council live years, and is now serving his third year as clerk of Washington township. He is also a member of the Havelock school board.

In 1894 he married Mattie, daughter of Charles J. Gill, and has two children, Ruth and Richard.

ROSS DENNIS, painter, Rolfe, in 1872, married Juliette Garvis, daughter of Rev. W. A. Potter, and located at Monticello, Wis. In 1884, he came to the new town of Rolfe, Pocahontas county, where his wife died in 1900, leaving a family of three daughters, two children having died in childhood.

Hattie May in 1894, married George Hauck, a merchant, Rolfe. Ida in 1895 married Joseph White, a grain dealer, Rolfe, and has one child, Elizabeth Lucile. Annie in 1901, married Wardale O. McKilvey, a druggist, Rolfe.

JOHN DETWILLER, (1887-1893) victim of the tornado of July 6, 1893, was a native of Canada, where in 1897, he married Helen Stewart. In 1889, they located in the vicinity of Fonda and at the time of his death were living on the south part of the William Marshall farm. The house they occupied was well protected on the west and north by a dense maple and walnut grove. They were not apprehensive of danger and were seated at the supper table. When the unusual roar of the whirling storm was heard, they hastily rose from the table and opening the door, perceived that their barn and outbuildings had been carried away. the next moment the porch was wrested from its fastenings. Stepping quickly into the room it seemed to Mrs. Detwiller, who survived, to be unroofed and commencing to revolve. Becoming unconscious, she knew not what occurred, until she was in the act of rising to her feet amid prostrate tree tops about twelve rods north of the place where the house had stood. No fragments of the shattered house were near her, but she soon beheld the prostrate form of her husband a few feet distant, and found him helpless and unconscious from terrible wounds about the head and limbs. As the shades of evening drew near, he breathed his last. Both had been carried northward over a tall maple grove, in which the trees had been broken by a blast from the north and lay on eupon another in the rows facing southward. His wife sustained serious injuries, and in 1896, returned to the home of her mother at Carlingford, Perth Co., Ontario. John Detwiller lived but a few years at Fonda, but so excellent were his principles and so noble was his conduct that he won the esteem and confidence of all who knew him. He was survived by five brothers and five sisiters, of whom three brothers, alexander, William and Gavin, and one sisiter, Annie, a seamstress, where residents of fonda a few years.

William G. Detwiller, in 1900, graduated form the Iowa State Normal School, at Cedar Falls, receiving the Master's degree. During his school days at Cedar Falls he won many honors as an athlete. In the fall of 1899 he was appointed a captain of cadets by Major Dinwiddile and received his commission from Gov. Leslie M. Shaw in th spring of 1900. He is now principal of the Webster school, Sioux City.

Alexander Detwiller Feb. 3, 1892, began to work as a farm hand for his uncle, Hon. James Mercer, for $200 a year and at the end of five years his balance sheet was as follows:

INCOME
Earnings for five years $1,000.00

EXPENDITURES
For support of the church and Sunday school $ 60.00
Sent home to his mother $ 175.00
Paid current expenses $ 140.00
Spent in travel $ 75.00
Personal property acquired $ 150.00
Money at interst $ 400.00

This is a very interesting and suggestive statement. It tells its own story of success achieved by discretion, industry and economy. Nothing unusual was undertaken when he commenced to work for his uncle, but the results greatly exceed those of hte the average young man who at twenty-one begins life with no other capital than his brain and brawn.

He discovered himself worthy the confidence and esteem of his employer which was the secret of his long continuance in the same position. Time was cheerfully given his to visit the World's Fair in 1893, and later a month to visit his old home. If the amount sent home for the support of his mother be added to the value of the personal property accquired and money on interest it makes $725.00 saved by the industrious farm hand in five years; and that during a period when every business interest suffered more or less form the serious financial depression, and the average farm renter made nothing worthy of mention. He is now married and happy owner and occupant of a half section of land at Hayfield, Manitoba.

GEORGE MADISON DORTON (b. July 4, 1836 – d. September 2, 1880) in the spring of 1871, accompanied by wife and seven children, located on a homestead of eighty acres n1/2 ne ½ section 32, known later at he Smeaton farm, in Cedar township. He planted the beautiful maple grove, that now surrounds the buildings, and remained there until December 1878, when he moved to Fonda and conducted a flour and feed store in connection with a collection agency, until the time of his decease. He taught school in his youth and two terms in the Hersom district. He was elected Justice of the Peace in the fall of 1872, and held that office three successive terms. He was one of the census enumerators in 1880 and a member of the town council in 1879-80.

After the death of his father in Indiana, he came with his mother to Ottumwa, Iowa and on April 19, 1859, married Mary Kerlin, of Chilicothe. After two years they moved to Adams county, and three years later, to Marshall county, where they remained until the time of settlement on the homestead. His family consisted of seven children all of whom and their mother, are still living except Alice F. who Sept. 12, 189, married John W. Willis, a hardwareman, of Chadron, Nev., and died Nov. ’93; Perry, in 1892, married Dora Hughes, resides in the State of Washington, and has one child, Guy; Anna, in 1888, married Clarence Harding, a general agent for the D. M. Osborne Implement Co., resides in at Dubuque, and has three children, Chauncey, Fern and Marie. Donna, in 1885, married Charles Roberts, a blacksmith, lives at Jolley, and has four children, Frank, Haydee, Charles and George; Henry, manager of the Lee & Jenkins lumber yard, at Fonda, married Catherine Fitzgerald and has one child, Veronica; Theresa, in 1887 married Charles Nichols, a carpenter, Fonda, and has three children, Gladis, Glenwood and Clark; John, the youngest, is an employee of the Northern Telephone Co.

HENRY M. DOTY (b. 1852), owner and occupant of a farm of 80 acres on sec. 14, Marshall township, is a native of Michigan. Locating in Marshall county, Iowa, he married there Mary E., sister of A. J. Stover, with whom in 1880, he came to Pocahontas county. He was the first to occupy and improve his present farm, and has met with good success as a farmer. He participated in the organization of Marshall township, was one of its first trustees and served nine years in that capacity. His brother, Emery M. Doty, (b. ich. 1849), who located near him on the same section, was treasurer of the school funds four years, 1885-88.

His family consists of two children, Laura and Torah.

DR. TOMAS J. DOWER (b. 1866) is a native of Williamsburg, Iowa, the sone of John and Elizabeth (Ward) Dower. He acquired his special education by taking the scientific course at Valparaiso, Ind., the medical course at the Iowa State University, where he graduated in 1896, and two special medical courses in Chicago, one before and one after his graduation at Iowa City. He located first at Livermore and in February 1899, at Fonda, where he has been favored with a lucrative practice. In 1898, he became a member of the Iowa State and also of the American Medical Associations. In 1900, he married Mamie I. Lyons, of Webster City, and owns a pretty cottage home.

ALEXANDER DUNN, a justice of the peace in Cedar township since 1895, was born in Manahan county, Ireland, in May 1832, and in 1857 married there Margaret Mills. In March 1860, with wife and two children, he came to this country and located on a farm near Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1864, he enlisted as a member of Co. D. 153rd Ohio Volunteers and participated in several skirmishes with the confederates along the railroads in Virginia and at Chambersburg, pa. In 1872 he located in Cass Co., Iowa, in 1882 on section 20 Williams township, and in 1893 on his present farm in Cedar township, which he was the first to occupy and improve. Few men have been more highly honored by their re-election to the office of Justice of the Peace than Squire Dunn. He filled this office three terms, or six years, in Cass county, two terms in Calhoun county, and is now serving his third term in Cedar township.

His first wife died near Cincinnati, November 20, 1870, leaving three children: Mary Elizabeth, proprietor of a hotel at Elkhorn, Colorado; Alexander, who is engaged in the Cripple Creek gold region; and John, who in 1897 graduated in the law department of the Colorado State University at Denver. In 1871 he married Mrs. Josephine Crozier, of Claremont, Ohio, and the children of this union still living are, Mary, wife of Charles Wood, Frank, Thomas, Arthur, Charles and Clarence.

SAMUEL HENRY GILL (b. 1850), banker, Havelock, is a native of Ogle county, Ill., the son of Thomas and Charlotte Plane Gill. His father (b. 1809; d. 1890), was a native of Norfolk, England, and in 1833, emigrated to Nova Scotia, where, later that year he married Charlotte Plane, (b. 1820; d. 1899), who was also a native of Norfolk. They located first at Geneseo, N. Y., and in 1842, at Byron, Ogle county, Ill , where they remained until 1870, when they came to Fort Dodge, Iowa. In 1882, they accompanied their sons, Samuel and Osborne W., to the new town of Havelock, where he died at 81 in 1890. After his decease, Charlotte, his wife, lived with her sister, Sarah, widow of Benjamin Gill, who died at Havelock, in 1891. She died at 79 in 1889, and was buried beside her husband at Fort Dodge. Their family consisted of fourteen children, ton of whom are still living, namely, Mrs. W. B. Harris, Jolley; J. B. Gill, Fort Dodge; Mrs. H. A. Schoonmaker, Vincent; T. B. Gill, Byron, Ill.; R. P. Gill, Portland, Oregon; Mrs. J. W. Donald Fort Dodge; Mrs. Charlotte (Wright) Wolrod, Callender; Samuel H., Charles J., and Osborne W. Gill, Havelock.

Three children died in infancy and one son at sixteen at Fort Dodge. They encouraged, with unflinching Norman heroism, their three oldest sons to go forth and battle for the home of their adoption, during the war of the Rebellion; and under the good providence of God, all returned home; but one of them contracted seeds of disease that have made his subsequent life one of constant, suffering. Their three youngest sons have been prominently identified with the business interests and history of Havelock, since that town was founded.

Samuel H. Gill was born and raised near Byron, Ogle county, Illinois. In 1869, he came to Fort Dodge, preceding his father one year. In February 1872, having spent most of the previous year in Pocahontas county, he located, temporarily, on sec. 24. Colfax township. That fall he married Ida D., daughter of Gad C. Lowrey, and in 1874, secured the homestead of Wm. B. Owen, brother of Mrs. Wm. Brownlee, on the N 1/2 SW 1/4 sec. 18, Bellville township. He occupied this farm three years, spent two in Pomeroy, and then returned to the farm. When the tornado of April 21, 1878, came one year later, destroying his house and causing the death of his wife, he returned to Pomeroy. During 1879, he was engaged at Fonda and the next two years at Fort Dodge.

In January 1882, soon after its survey, he came to the new town of Havelock, and, in partnership with his brother, Osborne W., erected a building and established the first store in the town. He continued a partner in the store until 1887, when, in partnership with John C. Potter, he founded the Citizen's Bank of Havelock, an Institution with which he is still identified as president and principal proprietor. He is the owner of a fine farm of 360 acres adjoining Havelock.

He has taken the lead in the development of other important interests at Havelock. He has been principal shipper of live stock and in 1892, when the Havelock co-operative creamery was established, he was chosen president of it. He was the first postmaster of Havelock, March 1, 1882, to June 1886, and served a second term, March 1, 1889, to May 1, 1893. He was assessor of Washington township 1885-'88, four years, served five years as a member of the first council in Havelock and four years as mayor of the town, 1898 to 1901. In 1883, as an independent republican candidate he lacked only five votes of being elected sheriff of this county. He has discovered himself to be a broad minded, public spirited citizen, and has met with good success in his business enterprises.

In 1884, he married Minnie Perry, of Marshalltown. His family consisted of two children, both by his first marriage: Viola C. in 1890, married Arthur F. Clarke, eleven years station agent at Havelock and vice-president of the Citizen's bank since 1899. They have two children, Maud and Beth; Etta J. in 1892, married John C. Barth, a livery man, Havelock, and has one child, Carl S.

CHARLES J. GILL (b. Ill., 1854), senior member of the firm of Gill Bros., came to Iowa in 1873, and located at Fort Dodge where he found employment with the Fort Dodge Coal Company five years, and then in the transfer business. In 1890, he and his younger brother, O. W., became dealers in general merchandise, occupying the first year their mother's building, on the west side of Main street. In 1891, at the north end of Main street, they erected a two story frame building, the upper story of which is used as a town hall. Here they have a splendid location and one of the best department stores in the county. He served as president of the Washington township school board in 1890 and the next two years as the first president of the Havelock school board.

During his residence at Fort Dodge he married Anna, (b. 1854), daughter of A. W. and Cornelia Kingsley, and his family consisted of four children: Mattie (b. 1874) in 1894, married Theron G. Demaray;William (b. 1873), a druggist, in 1900, married Bertha Geise, lives at Terrel and has one child, Foster; Emma, a Havelock graduate in 1897, and a teacher, in 1899, married Clarence Lighter and lives at Rolfe; Carl, a druggist, lives at Terrell.

ORSBORNE W. GILL (b. Ill., 1855) junior member of the firm of Gill Bros., in the spring of 1882, came to Havelock and at once became a member of the firm of Gill Bros., general merchants, his older brother, Samuel H., being the other member of the firm during the first six years or until 1888. He then engaged with his brother, Charles J., two years in the hay business, and then, resuming with him his place and interest in the store, has continued in it until the present time.

In 1883, he married Mary Jane Portz, of Fort Dodge, and has two sons, Earl and Brooks. He was mayor of Havelock in 1902.

The other children of Thomas and Charlotte Gill were John B., who married Mary J. McClain, merchant, Fort Dodge; Thomas B., who married Agnes Barry and is engaged in the furniture business at Barron, Ill.; Robert P. at Portland, Oregon, married Maggie McClain; Kate married Wm. B. Harris and lives at Jolley; Sarah E. married Henry Schoonmaker and lives in Webster county; Ida M. married Joseph Donald, Fort Dodge; Charlotte married S. P. Wright, who served as railroad agent at Tara eighteen years and afterwards died at Callender. In 1899 she married Jesse Wolrod, a farmer, and still lives at Calender.

PHILIP HAMBLE (b. 1832), one of the early pioneers of Washington township, is a native of Hamilton county, Ind., the son of Anthony and Elizabeth (McPeek) Hamble, who were natives of Virginia and New Jersey respectively. In 1854 he married Amanda Jane Burns and located on a farm.

His father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and Philip, enlisting in 1862 at Nashville, as a member of company A. 5th Ind. Cavalry, served in the Civil war until its close, June 29, 1865. His first engagement was with Morgan's raiders at Buffington Bar, Ohio, and the next were Blountville and Rheatown, Tenn, At Knoxville the regiment was dismounted and sent back across the mountains afoot through Cumberland Gap to Mount Sterling, Ky., where it was remounted. It then passed with Sherman's army to Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, where it was surrounded and captured. After their return a number of the men, including Philip, were dismounted and sent to the command of Gen. Thomas at Nashville. He spent the remainder of his time in the vicinity of that place, Ptouaski and Louisville.

At the close of the war he returned to his farm in Hamilton county, Ind. In 1868, he located in Dubuque county, Iowa, and in 1873, on the SW ¼ sec. 33, Washington township. At this date there were only three other families in the territory now included in Washington township, He and his family lived in their wagons and among their neighbors until their house was completed. He improved his farm with good buildings and occupied it until 1901, when he moved to Havelock and in 1902, to Long Beach near Los Angeles, Cal.

He was a very highly respected citizen and participated in the organization of Washington township. He served as the first clerk of the township, as the first president of the school board in 1877, and later four years as a trustee. He rendered cordial co operation in the maintenance of public worship and in efforts to promote the moral and educational interests of the community.

His family consisted of three children all of whom were born during his residence in Indiana and came with him to the frontier in 1873: Margaret Elizabeth, Dec. 18, 1872, in Dubuque county, married Jason N. Russell; Delilah, a teacher, married Alexander McEwen; William Franklin, a carpenter, in 1883, married Lulu C. Blake and located on a farm of 120 acres on sec. 33. In 1892, he moved to Havelock. His family consists of four children, Earl, Philip W., Medorah Vashti, and Amanda Eleanor.

HARVEY EATON (b. Dec. 6, 1846), owner and occupant of the se 1/4 Sec. 28, Cedar township, came to Pocahontas county with wife and one child June 1, 1871, and secured a homestead on the ne 1/4 Sec. 36, Dover township. The first improvements consisted of a board shanty, 12X14 feet, a stable and some breaking; and these were located according to some breaking previously done by one who was a practical surveyor. Wishing to know exactly where his homestead was, he then had it surveyed by the county surveyor and was surprised to find that his buildings were along the center of the highway and that a considerable portion of his breaking was on three adjoining farms, two of which were in Grant township.

He has been very successful as a farmer, and is now the owner of 640 acres of land (160 acres in Nebraska) and a two story brick block in Fonda. He believes he worked harder and endured more hardships to secure the homestead than any of the subsequent purchases. In 1873, when the grasshoppers robbed him of everything on the homestead, he took his family in a prairie schooner to Sac City, erected a cabin for their comfort, worked on the railroad till spring and then traded the cabin for a cow.

Both of his farms are finely improved and buildings are kept neatly painted. The house on the homestead was built in 1887 and he continued to live there until 1893 when he bought and moved to the farm of A. B. P. Wood, near Fonda, for the better education of his large and industrious family.

In 1898, he built a two story brick building on the West side of Main street, Fonda, known as the Eaton block and later bought another store on the same street. Few men have met with better success on the farm and it has been achieved by attending strictly to it.

He has been the owner of some of the finest specimens of cattle, hogs and horses, ever brought to this vicinity and has paid fancy prices for some of them. He has shown a preference for the shorthorn and Galloway cattle, and for the English draught horses.

He is a native of Cataraugus C., N. Y., where his father, Hamilton Eaton, died in 1847; the next year after his birth, leaving four sons and one daughter, namely: Henry, resident of Ripon, Wis.; Mary and Albert, both dead; William and Harvey, residents of Fonda. In 1848 his mother, Ruth, became the wife of Warner Gorton who died in Green lake county, Wis., in 1886 leaving two children, Nancy married to William Sweet, and Amos H. Gorton whose wife and two children were killed in the cyclone of ’93, also a resident of Fonda. After the death of her second husband she made her home with Harvey and died in 1893 in her 78th year. Harvey came to Buchanan county, Iowa, in 1867, the next year married Mary B. Thompson, of Independence, and three years later came to Pocahontas county. His family consists of eleven children: Almira, a teacher, and Adelia together had charge of a grocery store in Sioux City two years and in Fonda one year; Jennie, married to John W. McCulloch, Pomeroy; Amos, Cora, a graduate from the Fonda schools in ’99 and a teacher; Jessie, Martha, Wallace, Pearl Gertie S. and Harry.

WILLIAM H. EATON,(b. Jan 19, 1841, N. Y.) in 1859 married Hannah Barrett in Green Lake county, Wis., and engaged in farming there until 1880 when, with a family of eight children he came to Dover township, and eight years later to Fonda. His family consists of eight children: Francis H., Fonda, married Alma Cullen who died in 1888 leaving one son, Roy; and in 1893 he married Maggie Olkjer, who has one child, Lee. William Oscar married Anna Olkjer, lives at Sioux Rapids and has two children, Cecil and Ray. Lucy died in her 23rd year. Ruth Viola married Stephen W. Norton and died in 1896 leaving two children, Ray and Viola. Mary Jeanette married George Dickson, Superintendent of the Boone Co. coal mines at Incline, and has five children, Pearl, Irene, Alpheus, Leveta and Royal. Minnie Myrtle married in 1896 Charles Cheney, a farmer near Newell, and has one child, Ethel. Jennie M. a Fonda graduate in 1897, and Ezra Albert are at home.

THOMAS EBERLE, one of the recent settlers of Marshall township, located on sec. 20 in 1899. He is meeting with good success on the farm and his capacity for managing the public affairs of the township has been recognized by making him president of the school board in 1902. His family consisted of nine children. John in 1900, married Helen Holder and lives in Grant township. Marie in 1899, married Clement Guthrie and lives in Dover. Frank married Maggie Holder and lives in Marshall. Charles, Clara, Thomas, Annie, a teacher, Louisa and Edward are at home.

PETER ELLISON, of Sweden, accompanied by his wife, who was a sister of John Lawson, in 1873, secured a homestead of 40 acres on the NW ¼ Sec. 20. He has added 80 acres to the homestead and still occupies it. Their family consists of three children – Annie, who is married, Christine and Edward.

JOHN ELSASSER (b. 1841) owner of a farm of 280 acres on sections 5 and 8, Dover township, is a native of Germany and one of the most influential of his countrymen in the township. On coming to America he located at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he married Kate (b. Germany 1851) sister of John and Peter Fix, who are also now residents of Dover township. After a few years he located in Sac county, and in 1890 on a farm of 80 acres in section 5, Dover township, which he increased in 280 acres and improved with good buildings and grove. In 1899 he moved to Pocahontas, leaving the farm in care of his sons. His family consisted of five children: Mary in 1895 married Patrick Ryan who occupies a farm of 160 acres in Marshall township, and has a family of four children; William, Edward, Estella and Ethel. John G. and Hugo M. occupy their father’s farm, the latter in 1901 having married Adelia, daughter of Edward Gerrick. Emma and Clara live with their parents. All are members of the Catholic church.

AARON ERICKSON, of Sweden, in September 1869, entered a homestead on Sec. 20, built a cabin on it and the next year was joined by his wife and family. In 1872 this claim was relinquished in favor of Martin McAuliff, who still owns it, and Erickson bought a farm on the SW ¼ Sec. 18, which he still owns and occupies. He has raised a large family.

BONIFACIUS ERNE, who on section 17, in the spring of 1871, bought the first farm sold by Warrick Price, built the first farm home in the township—a sod house. On May 31, 1873 he entered as a homestead the S ½ NE 1/3 section 32, Grant township, 80 acres, and received the patent for it Nov. 5, 1878. A few years later he located in Lincoln township, where he died in 1899. He raised a family of four children who, after his death, moved to Minnesota. He was an industrious and good farmer. His brother, Valentine Erne, also a native of Germany, (b. 1850) in 1881 bout a farm of 80 acres on section 26, Grant township, which he still occupies and has neatly improved. He has a family of two children.

SAMUEL FITCH (b. 1822; d. Fonda, 1903), was a native of Wilburton, England. In 1851, he married Elizabeth Hazel, and coming to America located in New York. In 1856, he came to Clayton county, Iowa, and located on a farm. In 1893, he located in Fonda, where his wife died at 69 in 1895, and he at 80 in 1903. His family consisted of three children, Charles C. (b. N.Y. 1851) lives at Mt. Vernon S. D.

George H. (b. Iowa, 1858) in 1878, married Amelia Biggle and engaged in farming in Clayton county. In 1884, he moved to Calhoun county, and in 1891 to Fonda, where two years later he was joined by his brother, Fred, and they became associated in the hardware business, under the name "Fitch Bros." This partnership was maintained until 1903, when George and family moved to the state of Washington. He served several years as a member of the Fonda council and as a steward of the M. E. church. His family consisted of four children, of whom the first born died at Fonda. Mae, a Fonda graduate in 1899, in 1902, married Albert G. Burson, a druggist, and lives at Pierce, Neb. Grace and Esther are at home.

Fred W. Fitch (b. 1865), junior member of the firm of Fitch Bros., Fonda, 1893 to 1903, is a native of Clayton county, Iowa, where in 1891, he married Elizabeth Broker and engaged in farming until 1893, when he came to Fonda and engaged in the hardware business. His family consisits of three children, Eva, Leon and Elnor.

GEORGE W. FLINT, resident of Williams township, 1868 to 1878, was the son of Silas Flint, who came with him from Benton to Calhoun county. After a few years his parents returned to Benton county and died there, his father 84 and his mother at 82. George W. was a hightly respected citizen and served as a treasurer of Calhoun county two years during his residence in it. In 1878, he moved to Clay county, Neb., and died there in 1897.

He married Sarah J., daughter of Joseph J. Flint, and his family consisted of six children, two of whom died during his residence in Williams townhsip. Ines married Henry E. Spender, a carpenter, and died in 1898, leaving two children. Lulu M. married Nathan C. Barker and lives at Geneva, Neb. Lenora M. in 1900, married Roy T. Carpenter, merchant, Fonda, and has one child, Horace. Georgia Grace is at home.

William P. Flint, a pioneer of Williams township and later a resident of Fonda, is the son of Joseph L. and Jane Curtis (Dickey) Flint. His parents were natives of Maine, where they married in 1842. In 1851, they came to Illinois and two years later to Johnson county, Iowa, where his father died in 1887. His mother and brother, Caleb, live at Barnum. In 1875, he married Kate J. Clemens and his family consists of three children, Mabel, Edith and Clarence.

Ann Flint, who married Joseph Hay, who in 1868, made the first entry of the Warner homestead, and Enceba Flint, who became the wife of Wesley Hay, were both sisters of William Flint and early residents of Williams township.

JOHN FORBES (b. 1858), merchant, Fonda, is a native of Dixon, Ill., the son of Rev. Hugh W. and Mary (Broadwell) Forbes. In 1860, he moved with his parents to Iowa, and has been a resident of the state ever since, first at Tama, and later in Caroll, Buena Vista and Pocahontas counties. In 1887, under the name of John Forbes & Company, he engaged in the sale of general merchandise at Newell. In 1895, he located at Fonda and continued as a general merchant until 1902, when he became associated with E. J. Chingren in the real estate business.

His father, who died in Fonda at 74 in 1896, was the first Presbyterian minister to preach in Dixon, Ill. He served faithfully and well the churches of Cambridge and Hanover, Ill, and of West Irving, Millersburg, Deep River, St. Charles, rock Creek, and Iowa Center, Iowa. Walter Forbes, an ofder brother of John, was a resident of Fonda and assisted in the store from 1895 to 1900, when he located in Colorado.

John was a member of the Fonda council three years, 1897-99. In 1885, he married Emma Woodring, of Carroll, and his family consists of five sons, Judd, Bert, Linn, Newell and Donald.

DANIEL FOUCH, miller, Rolfe, is a native of Ohio. After a residence of five years in Carroll county, Iowa, where he was engaged in the milling business, in 1895, he came to Rolfe accompanied by his brother, Richard, and built a fine grist and feed mill. In 1898, this mill was nearly destroyed by fire but was rebuilt. In 1900, his brother relingquished his interest and Fouch & Patterson have been the proprietors since. Daniel Fouch has served a number of years as an elder of the Presbyterian church. His family consists of four children, Verdie, May, Helen, and Webster D.

FUCHS (Fox) Louis, Joseph and Frank, accompanied by their parents, John and Helen (Wickel), in the spring of 1871 came, to Cedar township. Louis entered the w 1/2 se 1/4 sec. 12, 80 acres, as a homestead on April 22, '71 and received the patent for it December 29, '79 . Joseph, finding that he was not needed by his brother on the homestead nor by the other settlers of this new community, soon afterward sought and found employment in the copper mines of Michigan south of Lake Superior . He remained there about six years and sending his earnings to his brother Louis, the latter secured for him a homestead of 80 acres on the s 1/2 nw 1/4 section 12. The entry for this homestead was made by his father March 10, '74 , and he received the patent for it September 10, '80 ; it having been first entered in 1870 by Henry Pallersels and in 1872 by Geo. F. Symmonds. After his return in 1876 he and his brother lived and worked together until 1880 when he married and began to occupy his own homestead.

Their parents were natives of Germany where they raised a large family. In 1870, after the marriage of their eldest daughter, Johanna, who remained there and of Anna, whose husband, John Hoffman, died there leaving one son, Paul, now in Dubuque, they came to America and located in the timber districts of northern Wisconsin, and the next spring on the prairies of Pocahontas county. They died, John in January 1881, Helen in June 1878, and were buried in the Dover Catholic cemetery.

Louis Fuchs possessed $400 when he came to Fonda, and after expending $270 for his homestead had $130 left for its improvement, and the temporary support of his father and family. The homestead of Joseph in 1874 cost $400. These brothers had an ambition to raise fat cattle and made preparation to engage in this employment as soon as it was possible. It required a few years to get a start but during the period of their partnership they were recognized as the pioneer cattle feeders of Cedar township. Their shipments of cattle in the early days surpassed others in the vicinity not only in their aggregate value but in the superiority of their condition which commanded the highest market price. For a quarter of a century these men have maintained the enviable reputation of being the largest and most successful feeders in the township. As the years have passed they have become the owners of large farms, and have proportionately enlarged their barns, sheds and feed lots. Each has now a capacity for feeding 250 head of fat cattle and, during recent years, they have made their annual shipment about the month of September. Each of them keeps about 400 head of cattle and the sales of each in 1899 amounted to $18,000.

Louis Fuchs acquired his farm as follows: In 1871, the homestead, 80 acres; in 1880, 80 acres; in '83, 80 acres; in '85, 160 acres; in '86, 80 acres; in '88 160 acres; total 640 acres; all of it upland. In 1899 he raised 7,000 bushels of corn and bought 20,000 bushels more. His present house was built in 1892. He was born July 23, 1839 , and on December 21, 1873 , married Mary Magdalene Lieb, of Cedar township.

His family consists of Anna Ida, a Franciscan sister, Dubuque ; Martha Elizabeth, (Mary Josephine died in her 17th year, in 1894), Helen Antonia, (Matilda died young), John Leo, Cecilia, Agnes Angeline and Agatha Alice, twins, Vincent Leo, Florence Josephine and Florian Joseph, twins, and Leona. He was a trustee of Cedar township five years, 1878- 82, and has been treasurer of the school funds since 1890.

Joseph Fuchs acquired his farm as follows: In 1874, the homestead, 80 acres; in 1885, 160 acres; in '87, 160 acres; in '92, 560 acres; total 960 acres. His present house was built in 1893. He was born in 1841 and in 1880 married Stephana Rainier, of Dubuque . His family consists of three children, Matilda, Francis and Mary; Anna the first born having died in childhood. In the spring of 1900 he moved temporarily to Des Moines to secure better facilities for the education of his children. He is a man that appreciates the enjoyment of good health, the peace and gladness of the home and has the happy faculty of anticipating the needs of every part of the work on the farm.

Frank Fuchs, his oldest brother and owner of 206 acres of land in Cedar township, and Martha, a younger sister who also came to Cedar township in 1871, make their home with Joseph.

WILLIAM GADAW, of Germany, accompanied by his wife, two sons and one daughter, in 1873 bought the E1/2 NW 12 Sec. 24, and improved it. Mr. and Mrs. Gadaw died several years ago. Their sons, William and Ernest, still own and occupy the old farm. The former was assessor of the township during the four years, 1887 to 1890. Three daughters were born in this county and all three of them are married. The two oldest are living in neighboring counties and the youngest, married to Michael Burns, lives on section 10.

JARVIS D. GATES (b. 1859), farmer, Fonda, is a native of Shabbona Grove, Ill., the son of Isaac and Laura A. Gates. In 1870, he married Elizabeth, daughter of Martin and Catherine Welsh, and located on a farm. In 1879, he located south of Fonda, and in the fall of 1880, on the farm of Geo. Sanborn, which, after the lapse of twenty-three years, he still occupies. He has met with good success in raising stock and has manifested considerable pride in keeping a flock of fine sheep. His long continuance on the same farm suggests the maintenance of a pleasant relationship with the owner thereof and a just regard for the old adage, "A rolling stone gathers no moss."
His family consisted of four children. Jennie May, a teacher, in 1892, married Daniel A. Whitney, a farmer, lives at Shelbina, Mo. and has two children, Everett and Sarah Etta. Kleber W. in 1885, located at Marshfield, Wis., where in 1894, he married May Beach and has two children. Lester and Harry are at home.
Fremont Eugene Gates, a carpenter and younger brother of Jarvis, has been a resident of Fonda Since 1895.

JOHN GEZY (.1855), Fonda, is a native of Seneca county, Ohio, the son of Joseph and Rosa Gezy, who were natives of Germany. In his boyhood he moved with his parents to Pulaski county, Ind. In 180, he found employment in Newton couty, Ind., where in 1881, he married Lydia E. Martin and located on a farm. Two years later he passed to Iroquois county, Ill., and in 1885, to a farm of 120 acres south of Fonda. He increased this farm to 220 acres, improved it with good buildings and occupied it unitl 1903, when he erected a pretty house in Fonda, which he now enjoys. He has one daughter, Maud, who is at home.

JOSEPH H. GEZY (b. 1857), farmer, south of Fonda, is a brother of John. In 1882, in Indiana he married Lucinda Burritt, and the next year located on 80 acres in Williams township, Calhoun county, Iowa. He has increased this farm to 540 acres and improved it with good buildings. His wife died in 1902. His family consists of four children, Henry, Edward, Frederic and Pearl.

GUSTAV H. GOTTFRIED,(b. Aug. 24, 1843 ) resident of Fonda since March 1899, has been a resident of Cedar township since June 1871, when he secured as a homestead, the n 1/2 ne 1/4 section 36, 80 acres. He is a native of Prussia , and coming to America with his parents in July 1847, lived at Jefferson , Wis. , until the time of his settlement in Cedar township. He improved his homestead and occupied it until his removal to Fonda. He has been the most popular assessor of Cedar township, having performed the duties of that office fourteen years, 1877-78, '83-86, '89-90 and '95-1900. He has been a member of the school board several years, was treasurer of it in 1876 and president of it in 1888.

On April 8, 1877 , he married Dora Spielman and his family consists of three children, Ernest, Delphia Ava, a Fonda graduate in 1899 and a teacher, and Frederick.

JAMES GRIFFIN (b. 1848), resident of of Cedar, is a native of Cork county, Ireland. In 1866, he came to Dubuque county, Iowa, and worked as a bridge carpenter for the I. C. Ry. Co., fifteen years. Here in 1872, he married Catherine, sister of Jeremiah Sullivan. In 1881, he located on sec. 4 Cedar township. He has improved this farm with beautiful buildings and increased it to 240 acres.

His family consisted of seven children.
Michael in 1901, married Eliza, daughter of Patrick Kearns, and lives in Fonda, where he is engaged in the furniture business.
James, Annie, Mary, Maggie, Julia, and Hannah are at home.

FRED HAFFELE (b. 1851) hardwareman, Fonda, is a native of Germany and at two years of age came with his parents to Monticello, Wis., where December 17, 1873, he married Clara Breckenwagon. In 1881 he located at Newell, Iowa, and in 1884 at Fonda, where he engaged in the hardware business until 1893, when he became an assistant to the firm of Roberts and Kenning, his successors. He was a member of the town council in 1886 and of the school board three years. 1889-91. His family consists of three daughters; Lourinda, who November 15, 1894 married A. L. Roberts, hardwareman, Fonda, and has three children Hazel, Homer and Lowell; Minnie a Fonda graduate in 1894 and a music teacher, and Edith.

DAVID B. HALLOCK, who served as one of the trustees of the township in 1883, came to this county with a large family in 1870 and located a homestead on the NW ¼ Sec. 10. He met with many discouragements and , when his crops were devoured by the grasshoppers a second time in 1874, he moved to Lake township, and five years later to Kansas. His eldest son, Charles H. Hallock, in 1870 located a homestead on the NW ½ Sec. 34, and improved it. In April, 1873, his house, which had a thatch roof, or was filled with hay as a protection overhead, caught fire while he was away from home and his wife was outside the building. She rushed in to save her child, asleep in the cradle. She save the child, but her own clothing caught fire and though she extinguished the flames in a slough near at hand, she died soon after a neighbor came to her relief. Charles is now living in Kansas.

PHILIP HAMBLE, (b. 1832), one of the early pioneers of Washington township, is a native of Hamilton county, Ind., the son of Anthony and Elizabeth (McPeek) Hamble; who were natives of Virginia and New Jersey respectively. In 1854 he married Amanda Jane Burns and located on a farm.

His father was a soldier in the war of 1812, and Philip, enlisting in 1862 at Nashville, as a member of company A, 5th Ind. Cavalry, served in the Civil war until its close, June 29, 1865. His first [engagement] was with Morgan's raiders at Buffington Bar, Ohio, and the next were Blountville and Rheatown, Tenn. At Knoxville the regiment was dismounted and sent back across the mountains afoot through Cumberland Gap to Mount Sterling, Ky., where it was remounted. It then passed with Sherman's army to Atlanta and Macon, Georgia, where it was surrounded and captured. After their return a number of the men, including Philip, were dismounted and sent to the command of Gen. Thomas at Nashville. He spent the remainder of his time in the vicinity of that place, Ptouaski and Louisville. At the close of the war he returned to his farm in Hamilton county, Ind. In 1868, he located in Dubuque county, Iowa, and in 1873, on the sw 1/4 sec. 33, Washington township. At this date there were only three other families in the territory now included in Washington township, He and his family lived in their wagons and among their neighbors until their house was completed. He improved his farm with good buildings and occupied it until 1901, when he moved to Havelock and in 1902, to Long Beach near Los Angeles, Cal.

He was a very highly respected citizen and participated in the organization of Washington township. He served as the first clerk of the township, as the first president of the school board in 1877, and later four years as a trustee. He rendered cordial co operation in the maintenance of public worship and in efforts to promote the moral and educational interests of the community.

His family consisted of three children all of whom were born during his residence in Indiana and came with him to the frontier in 1873. Margaret Elizabeth, Dec. 18, 1872, in Dubuque county, married Jason N. Russell, (see Russell).

Delilah, a teacher, married Alexander McEwen, (see McEwen).

William Franklin, a carpenter, in 1883, married Lulu C. Blake and located on a farm of 120 acres on sec. 33. In 1892, he moved to Havelock. His family consists of four children, Earl, Philip W., Medorah Vashti, and Amanda Eleanor.

ALBERT HANKE (b. 1849), a pioneer of Cedar township, is a native of Germany. In 1871, he and his brother, Frank, located on homesteads in Cedar township. Albert married Augusta Stry and is still the occupant of a farm on sec. 6. His family consisted of seven children. Edward married Mary Netski, lives in Buena Vista county and has three children, Martin, Ella and Annie. Bertha, Amanda, George, Carrie, Lillie, Ethel and Albert are at home.
Frank Hanke, his brother, in 1882, moved to Buena Vista county and died there in 1899. He married Minnie Stry, a sister of Augusta, and five of his family of nine are living, namely, Rineholt, Olive, Nettie, Elizabeth and James

VERLIN ELIHJAH HARDY (b. 1873), farmer and stock breeder, Fonda, is a native of Richland county, Wis. In 1880, he located in Cherokee county, Iowa, where in 1886, he married Ada, daughter of Walter and Elizabeth Rice. In 1887, he located on his present farm, on sec. 31, Cedar township, three miles west of Fonda. He has improved this farm with large and substantial buildings and during recent years has acquired considerable prominence as a breeder of fine stock. His family consists of two children, Mabel and Elby Ray.

JEREMIAH W. HARRINGTON (b. 1808; d. Mar. 26, 1901), was a native of Ireland, and coming to this country at 18, located first in New York and then further west. He served as a section boss nearly half a century, and continuously for a quarter of a century on one section of the Columbus and Indiana railroad in Ohio. He resided at Fonda and vicinity during the last twelve years of his life, and died at 93 in 1901. He was a tall, strong and well preserved man, genial modest and dignified in his manners. He never used tobacco nor indulged in profanity. He was the father of a large family of children, who have married and established homes of their own. He was the oldest resident of Fonda at the time of his death. His wife survives him.

MRS. RACHEL HARTWELL, one of the pioneer teachers of Fonda and vicinity, entered as a homestead the N ½ SE ¼ section 6, Cedar township, Nov. 20, 1869, and received a patent for it August 1, 1877. She was a widow, a sister of Robert J. Griffin who taught a term of school in her home in 1870-71. In 1878 she sold her homestead to W. H. Barnett and left the county.

VALENTINE HAUCK, (b. 1837), merchant, Rolfe, is a native of Coburg. In 1852, he came to America and located in Jo Daviess county, Ill. In 1856, he married Maria Kehl (b. 1847), a native of that county, and two years later became proprietor of a grocery store at Marshalltown, Iowa. Later he located at Glenwood, Mo, and in 1882, associated with martin Weible, a brother in-law, opened a general store in the new town of Rolfe. The firm, Weible & Hauck, have been doing business in Rolfe ever since, though August Weible, in 1894, became the successor of his father as a member of the firm. This is one of the oldest business firms in the county, and it has grown stronger financially and in favor with the people as he years have passed. He is the owner of the store building, considerable other town property and 480 acres of farm lands most of it in the vicinity of Rolfe. He has served several years as a member of the Rolfe school board, and is a democrat.

His family consisted of two children one of whom died in childhood.

George Otto Hauck, his son and associate in business, in 1894, married Hattie May, daughter of Ross and Juliette G. Potter Dennis, and his family consists of four children, Ida May, Esther, Margaretta and Valentine.

JAMES HENRY HAVEN, (b. 1841), a carpenter, is a native of Rutland county, VT., the son of Solomon and Charlotte (Tower) Haven. At five he came with his parents to a farm near Rockford, Ill. In 1857, he located in Clayton county, Iowa, where his father purchased a tract of land that had on it a saw-mill. July 18, 1861, he enlisted at Colesburg as a member of Co. G. 9th, Iowa, passed from Dubuque to St. Louis on the Mississippi, then through Missouri and Arkansas with the army of Gen. Curtis, participating in the battles of Pea Ridge, the siege of Vicksburg and Lookout Mountain. After that he was in the army of Gen. Sherman until the close of the war and altogether participated in 28 of 32 battles in which his regiment or a part of it was engaged. He was twice slightly wounded but was never marked “off duty.” He was mustered out July 18, 1865, after having rendered four years of military service.

In 1866, he married Mary M. Bushee and located on a farm near Dyersville. After three years he learned carpentry and pursued that vocation. In 1880, he located at Fonda, where he has been prominently identified with the G. A. R. Post. His wife, while she lived, was an active member in the M. E. church. She died at 56 in 1900. She was twice president of the Fonda W. R. C. and later, its treasurer. Mr. Haven is a charter member of Fonda G. A. R. Post, and on many public occasions has served as leader of the drum corps.

His family consisted of five children but the first born died in childhood. Wallace W., a painter, in 1899, married Myrtle Bailey and lives at Pocahontas. Adah A. in 1892, married Frank Cheney and lives south of Newell. Lurean and Albert are at home.

R. K. HAWKINS (b. 1864), photographer, was a native of Fountain Co., Ind. In the fall of 1865, he came with his parents to Polk county, Iowa, where he grew to manhood and learned photography. He maintained a photographic gallery at Fonda from 1892 to 1898, when he located at Pocahontas. He was a good violinist and took the lead in organizing and developing local musical talent.

TULLIUS C. HAYDEN (b. 1852; d. 1890) merchant, was a native of Union Co., Ind., and at twenty in 1872, located at Panora, Iowa, where he served successively as clerk in a store, deputy sheriff and deputy clerk. After three years service in a bank at Guthrie Center he became a member of the mercantile firm of Hayden & Ferree and established a store at Fonda, where he died at 38 in 1890. In 1875, during his residence at Panora he married Maggie Townsend, who with two children survives him. Blanch in 1898, married David Rose, an Illinois Central railway agent, and now in Washington. Teddie lives with his mother in the state of Washington.

GEORGE A. HEALD, (b. Iowa, June, 1870) vice-president of the Bank of Pocahontas, is a native of Johnson county, the son of Isaac and Amelia Heald, who located at West Liberty in his early youth. In 1887 he graduated from the high school of that town and in June, 1889, from the Eastman Business College , Poughkeepsie , N, Y. He then located in Pocahontas, where he found employment in the bank of D. J. Allen & Sons. Here he embraced the opportunity of reading law under the late B. J. Allen, county attorney at that time, and graduating from the Iowa College of Law in January, 1894, was immediately admitted to the practice of law. In January, 1897, he became a partner and was elected vice-president of the Bank of Pocahontas. He is a young man of pleasing address and is well equipped both for the practice of law and a successful business career. He has the happy faculty of gaining the confidence and esteem of those with whom he becomes acquainted and is entering on a constantly enlarging sphere of usefulness with bright prospects for the future.

On Jan. 23, 1894 , he married Stella Torpey, a teacher of Lake township, and they have one child, George.

JOHN AVERILL HEALD, (b. Jan. 17, 1816 ) one of the early pioneers of Des Moines township, was a native of Granville , Washington county, N. Y. His mother was a descendant of the seventh generation of an ancestor that landed at Plymouth at the time of the arrival of the Mayflower. Dec. 3, 1841 , he married Aurilla Underwood (b. Vt. , March 5, 1819 ,) and located on a farm. In 1856 he moved to Sterling , Whiteside county, Ill. , and remained there until June, 1866, when, with a family of four children, George W., Laura, Mary and Lucia, three of whom were married, he located on section 36, Des Moines township, this county. During their later years he and his wife lived with their son George W., in Clinton township, where he died Oct. 22, 1899 , and his wife, Oct. 1, 1900 .

He was a hard worker and gave as his reason the old adage, "It is better to wear than to rust out." He endured many hardships and privations during the early settlement of this county. Sometimes when he had wheat he could not get it ground. At other times the corn in the crib would be prepared for food by shaving it from the cob with a carpenter's plane or if soft in the field, by pulverizing it with a grate made by puncturing the bottom of a tin pan. He adopted the religious views of the Friends in early life and proved himself a faithful friend and an honest man.

His family consisted of four children:

1 - George W. Heald, on Dec. 25, 1869 , married Sarah Clason, and located on section 10, Clinton township, where he still resides. He is the owner of a finely improved farm of 250 acres on which he built a large barn in 1900, and there is still growing on it a large grove of natural timber along Pilot creek. His family consists of five children: (1) Olive married Sanford Snodgrass, owner and occupant of a farm on section 3, and has three children, Virgil, Lulu and Vivian; (2) Emma married Fred Barth, owner of a farm on section 1, and has two children, Hattie and Raymond; John Wesley and Luana.

2 - Laura married Amos Cornish in Ill. and after a residence of four years in Clinton township, moved to Kossuth county, where she died in 1888.

3 - Mary married William F. Seaman, who is now the owner and occupant of a farm of 170 acres on section 36, Des Moines township, and her family consists of five sons and five daughters, of whom three sons and one daughter are married.

4 - Lucia, in 1865 married Andrew S. Harp, lives near McNight's Point and has raised a family of three children, Elma, Lizzie and Martha.

ALFRED HEWLETT (b. 1816; d. 1901) was a native of Somersetshire, England. In 1849, he came to America and located in Dubuque county, Iowa, where in 1864, he married Christiana Rigg. In 1873, with a family of five children, he located in Pocahontas county, near Rolfe. He died at 84 in 1901, leaving to his children the heritage of an honest, upright man. James, John and George Hewlett, their sister, Mrs. M. C. Ranson, and their mother still reside at or near Rolfe, and Mrs. Geo. W. Horton lives at Cedar Rapids.

SQUIRE FINLEY HORNER, (b. 1845: d. Fonda, 1897), was a native of Boone county, Ind. In his youth he moved to Bloomington, Ill., where in 1866, he married Harriett E. Crosby. In 1895, he moved to Iowa, and located near Fonda, where he died at 52 in 1897. He was held in high esteem and honored by all who knew him. He took the lead in effecting the organization of the Christian church at Fonda and the erection of the tabernacle in 1895.

His family consisted of nine children. Laura Jane in 1892, married Ira Hair and died at 31, at Fonda in 1898, leaving three children. Pearl, Ruth and Paul. Martha May, a graduate of the normal department of Drake University, and her sister, Anna P., are engaged in teaching. Cora S. in 1903, married Amos Eaton and located near Fonda. William N., a farmer, in 1898, married Edna J. Heflin and has one son.

Perry E., Eber G., James F., and Russell are at home.

HENRY JARVIS, whose home near Old Rolfe, became the first voting place in the north part of the county, was a native of England, where he was born Jan. 11, 1832. After coming to America he located first in Illinois and later at Dyersville, Iowa, where on May 25, 1858, he married Mary Tilley, (b. June 19, 1839) and accompanied by his brother William Jarvis, they came to Pocahontas county and built a log shanty in the Des Moines settlement, on the NW 1/4 Sec. 24, in which for several months they lived together.

Both of them selected pre-emption claims. Henry, on Sept. 20, 1859, entered his claim for lots 2, 3 and 4,60 acres, on Sec. 24, Des Moines township, and received the patent April 5, 1862. On June 10, 1864, under the homestead law, he filed a claim for lots 7 and 8, Sec. 25, 115 acres, and renewed this claim May 5, 1870. In 1894, he purchased some land near Rolfe and building thereon, moved to town where he and his wife still reside. Their family consisted of eleven children, two of whom died young and George, the eldest, after his marriage.

Henry Jarvis was the second sheriff in Pocahontas county, and he served in that capacity 1860 to 1863 and 1865 to 1867. His cabin was the polling place in the Des Moines settlement for the first three elections held in the year 1859, and the fourth one, on Nov. 19, was held at the home of his brother William Jarvis.

Jarvis Henry, (b. Jan. 1, 1832,) Rolfe, the second sheriff of Pocahontas county, is a native of England, a brother of William* (*See page 158.) and Charles, who were also early residents of Des Moines township. Henry was one of the little band who left Fort Dodge in May 1857, and founded the first permanent settlements in the north part of this county. On May 25, 1858, having located his home he made a trip to Dyersville, married Mary Tilley, (b. June 19, 1839) and they commenced keeping house in a log cabin on section 24, Des Moines township. A few years later 115 acres more were purchased on section 25. Subsequently the cabin was replaced by a large and comfortable dwelling house that was the home of the family until 1894, when he built a residence and moved to Rolfe. He was the most popular sheriff of this county in the early days, having held that office seven years, 1860-63, and 1865-67.

His family has consisted of eleven children:

1 - George, (b. Nov. 13, 1859 ) in 1880 married Minnie M. Flory and located in the state of Washington, where he died leaving two children, Eda and George, who now live with their mother at Denver.

2 - Sarah Ann, Dec. 25, 1882, married Carmi Vaughn, owner and occupant of a fine farm in Des Moines township, and has three children, Dell, Ernest and Leila.

3 - Nellie E., Feb. 21, 1881, married Edward H. Vaughn, who, after a few years, moved to the state of Washington and engaged in keeping store. On March 8, 1892, she died at Rolfe, leaving a family of three children, Frank, Arthur and Myrtle.

4 - Rosa Bell, in 1886, married Albertus Doe, lived in Powhatan township and died at Rolfe Sept. 7, 1900, leaving four children.

5 - William (b. June 7, 1867,) located in Washington, where he is farming and has a family of three children.

6 - Minnie married C. A. Charlton. (See Charlton.)

7 - Frank (b. June, 1872,) in 1899, married Minnie Alberts, of Lincoln township, and is farming near Rolfe.

8 - Charles (b. 1873) died in 1895, and John (b. 1876) in 1896.

Bert is at home and Carrie, the youngest, May 29, 1900, married Robert Freel and lives at Rolfe.

WILLIAM JARVIS pre-empted the SE 1/4 Sec. 14, Des Moines township, 160 acres, making the entry Sept. 20, 1859, and receiving the patent Sept. 15, 1861. He was born in Somersetshire, England, Jan. 4, 1829, and married there Sarah Sandy, March 26, 1856. Three weeks later they came to America and after one year spent in Illinois, they came to Dyersville, Iowa. From this place they came to the Des Moines settlement by ox-team, in the spring of 1858. The weather was wet, the streams and sloughs were full and frequently they had to make their own road. On their arrival they erected a log shanty 16x24 feet, with two rooms and began farming operations with the oxen, having brought with them a year's supply of provisions. Mr. Jarvis was a good feeder, and turning his attention to raising cattle and hogs, he soon acquired a considerable fortune. After occupying their first residence fifteen years, they returned to England, and after three years they located in the town of Old Rolfe, and now reside at Rolfe.

William Jarvis, in 1860, served as coroner and drainage commissioner for the county. At the first election for the township he was chosen one of the trustees for Des Moines township and served in that capacity from 1860 to 1872, when he returned to England, a period of thirteen years.

JOHN A. JOHNSON, (b. Aug. 25, 1881)owner and occupant of a homestead on section 12, is a native of Sweden. In 1869 he came to America and filed a claim for this homestead. He began the work of its improvement by the erection of a sod house in the spring of 1870, and there lived with him in it that year Charles and John Peterson and John Carlson. This was the first sod house in that part of the township. On October 12, 1872, he married Christina Anderson, (b. Sweden, Sept. 17, 1852,) who came to America in 1870. They began housekeeping in a frame building 12x12 feet, and this is still in use as a part of their present house which was built in 1881. In 1888 the farm was enlarged to 250 acres by the purchase of 170 acres adjoining it in Bellville township. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are highly esteemed members of the Swedish Lutheran church. They have experienced the trials and hardships of pioneer life, but are now surrounded with all the comforts that a good home on the farm can supply. Their family consists of seven children - Jennie, Oscar, Edward, Minnie, Alfred, Victor and Ida.

JOHN BLAKE JOLLIFFE (b.1845), owner and occupant of a homestead on the ne1/4 sec.2, since April 25, 1866, is a native of England, a son of James and Mary Bake Jolliffe, who came to this county when John B was about ten, and located in the province of Ontario, Canada. He was brought up on a farm, and when he became of age, came to Pocahontas county and secured a homestead in Powhatan township. During the first season he lived a short time under a wagon box and did some breaking. During this and the next few years he realized what it was to be on the frontier. He was seven miles west of the Des Moines river and, with the exception of Robert and Edward Anderson, two miles south on 15, he was the furthest west of any of the settlers in that vicinity; and those at the Little Sioux river were thirty miles distant. At first, he worked for Judge Slosson, Henry Jarvis and Perry Nowlen, and occasionally went back and slept on his claim to hold it. During the second summer he put in a crop, cared for and harvested it, having a boarding place in a little cabin two miles distant. Potatoes that cost $2.00 per bushel at the nearest market constituted the principal article of diet, and the only money available was the pelt of the muskrat.

October 14, 1867 (actually 1864) he married Jane, daughter of the Rev. Frederic Metcalf, of Des Moines township, and built first a sod shanty and later a log house. The latter was covered with a board roof that always leaked when it rained and both were very humble and unsatifactory abodes. During the years that have passed since that date, he has added acre to acre, so that he is now the owner of 782 acres of valuable farm land and the old homestead has been imporved with fine buildings, fences and groves. From a humble beginning he has attained a very high degree of success on the farm. He has rendered many years of faithful service in the various township offices and has been a leader in song in religious and various other assemblies. He is a member of the Methodist Church.

His family consisted of twelve children, of whom Emma, the sixth died at 18 in 1897, soon after the removal of a great tumor that weighed 100 pounds. Two others died before her, Cerinda at 14 in 1890 and Ida in childhood.

Rose Ella in 1890 married George Kinsey, a farmer, and has five children, Mary, Eva, Charles, Nellie and Edna.
Mary in 1896 married Henry Tansey and located on a farm in Wright County. They now live near Plover and have one son, Lee.
Albert in 1894 married Annie Gratzen, a farmer, lives near Mallard and has four children, Roy, Bessie, Sadie and Mabel.
Sarah in 1892 married Daniel Miller and located near Des Moines, where she (he-Ed.) died in 1898, leaving three children, Etta, Ray and Glenn. In 1900 Sarah married Henry L. Roush, a farmer, located near Plover and has one daughter, Hazel.
Ina, a teacher, Hattie, Clara, William and George are at home.
Contributed byRoger Tansey

EMMET KAY (b. 1848), mayor of Fonda in 1903, is a native of Kewanee, Henry county, Ill., the son of James and Julia Post Kay. In 1867, he married Mary B., daughter of John W. and Sarah A. Clark and located on a farm. In 1872, he moved to Warren county, Iowa, and in 1885, to Fonda, where he has been engaged first in the livery, and later in the real estate business.
His family consisted of three children. Claude C., married Ellen Russell and lives in Fonda. Maude married Albert Ehline, a tailor, lives in Fonda and has one daughter, Ethel. Zola is at home.

SAMUEL H. KERR, (b. Nov. 26, 1862) attorney and cashier, Rolfe, is a native of Highland county, Ohio, the son of James E. and Clara A. (Beatty) Kerr, who were of Scotch-Irish descent. In 1869 he moved with his parents to Saline county, Mo., where his father died, leaving a family of five sons and three daughters. In 1875 his mother and family moved to Jasper county, Iowa. In 1889 he graduated from the law department of the Iowa State university and located at Rolfe. He engaged in the practice of law until June 1, 1900, when he became cashier of the State Savings Bank of Rolfe. On March 24, 1892, he married Mary E., daughter of A. O. Garlock. Mr. and Mrs. Kerr are very highly esteemed by all who know them.

CHARLES KEZER(B. March 8, 1835) one of the pioneers of Bellville township, is a native of New Hampshire, and the names of his parents were Graham and Elvira Kezer. In 1856 he came to Illinois and on August 12, 1862, at Galva, Henry county, enlisted as a member of the 113th Ill. Regiment. Seven days later he married Sarah Jane Smith, (b. April 23, 1841) of Stark county, Ill. After one year and two months of service he was transferred to the invalid corps and two months later was discharged for general debility. His father-in-law and one of his sons wishing him to go with them to the army, on January 25, 1865, he re-enlisted as a member of Co. G, of the same regiment. On April 4, 1865, at Goldsborough, N. C. he was detailed as an orderly and in June was transferred to the 65th Ill. Regiment. He was discharged July 13, 1865. That fall he and his father-in-law and their families came to Book Grove, north of Webster City, where they spent the winter, and then located in Clear Lake township, Hamilton county, which they helped to organize. In the spring of 1870, he and his family of two children came to Bellville township and located on a homestead on the SE ½ Sec. 28. In 1873 and 1875 he experienced the loss of his crops by the grasshoppers, and in 1881 two of his daughters from cerebral meningitis. In 1884 he moved to Sec., 22, Lincoln township, in 1893 became superintendent of the county poor farm and six years later moved to another farm in that vicinity. Mr. Kezer assisted in the organization of Bellville township in 1870. He was chosen president of the school board at the time of its organization in 1871 and filled that position again in 1874, 76-77. He was assessor four years, 1874-77; township clerk six years, 1877-82; and secretary of the school board ten years, 1875 and 1878-86. Mr. and Mrs. Kezer have won the confidence and esteem of their neighbors wherever they have lived. Of their family six children are still living. Edmund M. on Mov5, 1895, married Elizabeth, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Boyd; they reside at Rutland, where he is engaged in blacksmithing, and have one child, Joyce Pearl. Anna Elvira, on Nov. 29, 1895, married Arthur Irwin, and they reside in New Hampshire. Julie Winifred, Sarah Jane, Franklin G. and Charles Samuel are at home.

SAMUEL EDGAR LEECE (b. 1863) dentist, Fonda, is a son of John and Mary (Sweeney)Leece. He is a native of La Fayette county, Wis., where he grew to manhood, received his early education and began the practice of his profession. After taking a commercial course in the normal school at Valparaiso, Ind, he entered the Chicago Dental College and graduated from it in 1894. In 1895, he married Susie L. Benston of LaFayette, Wis. and located in Fonda, where he has since been engaged in the practice of dental surgery. He performs all dental operations without pain to his patients and has attained a high degree of skill as a workman. He has seved as mayor of Fonda two years, 1900 and 1901. He has one daughter, Marie.

JOHN LEMP (b. March 3, 1835), who entered his homestead on W ½ SW ¼ Sec. 18, Cedar township, Nov. 4, 1869, is a native of Germany, came to America in 1854, and, after spending one year in Pennsylvania and another one in Ohio, located in Kent Co., Michigan, where he found employment on a saw mill. Nov. 24, 1861 he married Idda A. Bowers and in 1866 moved to Sac county, Iowa. During his first year on the homestead he broke about forty acres of raw prairie and built a house, hauling the lumber for it and the coal for fuel from Fort Dodge. The next year he broke more prairie and planted a maple grove of ten acres that with subsequent additions continues to be one of the largest and most beautiful, as well as oldest, in the township. By his industry, economy and good management he met with good success on the farm. During the periods of hard times, the grasshopper visitations, drought and prairie fires he suffered with his neighbors, but his well-tilled farm, with its dairy and increasing herds, enabled him to survive them. He planted fruit trees in the early days and has enjoyed some fine crops of small fruits, plums, apples, and in 1898 of peaches that measured seven inches. These were the first peaches gathered in the township, and were raised on a tree that grew from the pit of a California fruit. By his subsequent purchases the homestead of 80 acres has been increased to a finely improved farm of 260 acres, and in 1889 there was erected upon it one of the finest farm houses in the township. His family consists of five daughters, namely, Cora Belle, who married Arthur Moulton, of Cedar township; Eliza Blanch, who married Adelbert Bailey and lives in Lyon Co., Minn.; Mary Etta, who married Ulyses S. Reed and lives at Varina; Anna Grace, who married George Witcraft and lives in Dover township; and Millie, who married Lars Larson and occupies the home farm.

ALBERT G. LOATS (1823-895), Bellville, was a native of Germany, where in 1850, he married Sceta Shap (b. 1823). In 1868, they came to America and resided two years in Livingston county, Ill. On March 4, 1870, with a family of five children, John A., George A., Albert A., Jennie A. and Folka A., they located on a farm of 160 acre on sec. 28, Belville township, which they were the first to occupy and improve. At the time of their arrival all the money possessed was $84.00 and with this amount a frame shanty, 12 X 14 feet, was erected, that served as the home of the family more than ten years. During the thirty years that have passed since they began to occupy this humble structure, great changes have taken place. The country has developed rapidly, cozy and substantial improvements have been erected at the old home, and all the memebers of the family have married and secured comfortable homes of their own. The venerable patriarch died at 72 in 1895, and his aged wife lives in comfort at the old home with her second son, George A. Loats.
John A. Loats (b. 1854) in 1881, married Irene Johnson and located on a homestead in Turner county, S. S., where he still resides. In 1894, she died leaving a family of two sons and five daughters.
George A. Loats (b. 1856) in 1882, married Gacha (Tessie) Weimers. They own and occupy the old home farm and an additional quarter on sec. 27, bought in 1881, making 320 acres. Both farms are improved with good buildings, fences and groves. the large new house on the home farm was built in 1898. Mr. Loats is a man who concentrates his interest in his family and farm, and has been very successful in raising good crops. He was president of the school board in 1884, and a trustee three years, 1893-1895, but has no desier to hold office. He is a liberal supporter of theh Emmanuel German church, and was one its original members and first officers. He has a family of six children all of whom are at home, Sacha (Sadie), Garrett (Charles), Albert, Henry, Richa (Frederika) and Jennie.
Albert A. Loats in 1882, married Swancha (Susan) Dewall and two years later bought a farm of 160 acres, in Lincoln township, which they were the first to occupy and improve. They moved to South Dakota in 1898, to Havelock two years later in 1897, located in Minnesota. They have a family of five children, Albert, Mary, Hannah, Sadie and William.
Folka A. Loats in 1889, married Gustave Boteen and located in Lincoln township, where they own a farm of 160 acres on sec. 16 which they have improved with good buildings. They have a family of four children. Lena, Sadie, Albert and August.
Jennie A.(b. 1851), the eldest, in 1872, married Anton Ringering in Illinois. In 1884, she died leaving a family of seven children.
The second initial "A" in the name of the children of Albert G. Loats, stands for Albert. It was not an unusual custom in Germany for all the members of the family to have the same name, and in this instance no reason can be assigned for the use of Albert except that their father manifested a preference of fancy for it.

ANDREW O. LONG (b. 1837), Bellville, is a native of Sweden and in 1864, married there Karin, John Peters' daughter, (b. May 30, 1842). Four years later, with two children, they came to America and located in Webster county, Iowa. In June 1870, they came to this county and began to occupy as a homestead, the s 1/2 nw 1/4 sec. 8, 80 acres, Bellville township.

Their first improvement was a little frame shanty, and the following incident, related by a neighbor, is suggestive of their early struggles to keep the wolf from the door. During the period of impassable roads in 1870, their supplies having become exhausted, he walked to Pomeroy, a distance of five miles, for a sack of flour. Having no money and being a stranger, his request for flour was refused and he was compelled to return empty handed. Relating his experience to a neighbor on whom he called, the latter said, "Why did you not call on me, I would have loaned you the money?" Mr. Long replied, "Perhaps you would let me have it yet." He gave him the money and, retracing his steps to Pomeroy, carried the flour all the way home on his shoulders that same day.

This act of kindness in the hour of need is still gratefully remembered and great are the changes that have since occurred. The old homestead is still occupied but it has been enlarged from time to time by additional purchases, so that the home farm now includes 560 acres and the first, and even second, sets of buildings have been replaced by a large dwelling house in 1885, and several unusually large barns for the care of horses, cattle and hogs. He has been very successful as a farmer and stock raiser, and, by all who know him, is highly esteemed as an industrious, prosperous, and upright man. He is a member of the Swedish Mission church and a republican, but has never cared to hold office.

He raised a family of nine children:

Annie in 1892, married John A Sodestrom, who engaged in the lumber and implement business at Sac City. She died at 36, in 1901, leaving four children, Emma, Ellen, Andrew, and Anna.
Peter(b. Sweden, 1867) came to America with his parents in 1868, and after tow years in Webster county, located in Bellville, where he has grown to manhood and still resides. In 1894, he married Sophia Youngberg and lives on a farm on sec. 5, which he was the first to occupy and improve. He has four children, Helen, Clara, Esther and Edna, twins.

Alma in 1892, married John W. Swalin, the pioneer occupant of a farm of 120 acres on sec. 6, Bellville on which he has erected all the improvements. His family consists of six children, Mabel, Huldah, David, Esther, Earl and Albert.

Mary in 1896, married Charles Swalin. They own and occupy an improved farm of 80 acres in Bellville, and have four children, Carl, Edward, Oscar and Emil.

Amanda S. in 1894, married Ole Sodestrom and located on a farm of 80 acres on sec. 8, Bellville, which they were the first to occupy and improve. she died at 26 in 1901, leaving four children, Alice, Walter, Ada and Mabel.

Frank (b. 1877) in 1901, married Carrie, daughter of P. Akerman, and lives on the Akeram farm.

Emma, Albert, and Charles are at home.

GAD C. LOWREY,(b. May 6, 1827 ), Pomeroy, one of the pioneers of Colfax township, is a native of Connecticut , the son of Ira F. and Jane (Jacobs) Lowrey. At eight years of age he moved with his parents to Lacon , Ill. , where he grew to manhood. On Aug. 30, 1849 he married Emeline F. Snell (b. Ind. Dec. 28, 1830) and 4 years later moved to LaFayette where he engaged in the manufacture of wagons and carriages as a member of the firm of Smith & Lowrey, Abraham Smith, his partner being his brother-in-law. Four years later he moved to Mineral, Bureau Co., Ill. , where he remained eleven years.

At the outbreak of the Civil War his interest was manifested by making a number of stump speeches to encourage enlistments. Later he himself enlisted in a regiment of mechanics. After a short time this regiment was disbanded and he then became a member of the 93d Ill. He served until the close of the war under Gen. Logan and participated in the engagements at Vicksburg , Champion Hills, Black River and others of less importance. At the time of his discharge he was 2d Lieut. of Co. H.

In the fall of 1868 he moved to Des Moines , Iowa , and a few months later to Fort Dodge . In June 1869 he located on a homestead of 80 acres on Sec. 26, Colfax township erecting a good one and one-half story house for which he prepared the frame at Fort Dodge . This was the first house on section 26 and for several years was the largest one in the township. Whilst several young men had preceded him, his was the first family to locate in the township and Jason, his son, who preceded him a short time, was one of the first to do breaking in it. He planted a large grove and orchard, and added 80 acres to the farm; but in March, 1878 moved to Pomeroy where he still resides. The house on the farm was blown away by the cyclone of April 21, 1878 , and his home in Pomeroy experienced the same fate in 1893.

He has proven himself a good citizen and noble minded man. When Colfax belonged to Cedar township he was chosen a member of the school board as the first representative from that district, and the first school in it was taught in his home in 1871 by his daughter, Ida. He has been a highly respected elder of the Presbyterian church of Pomeroy since 1883. His wife, a lady of unusually fine conversational powers, has shared with him cheerfully the hardships of pioneer life and given him hearty encouragement in all matters relating to the promotion of morality and piety. In 1899 they celebrated the 50th aniversary of their marriage and received the congratulations of many friends who expressed the hope they might be spared to enjoy many more years of happy wedded life.

Their family consisted of seven children.

1. Jason H. Lowrey (b. Ill June 29, 1850 ), president of the State Bank of Pomeroy, came to Iowa with his parents in 1868. Locating in Pomeroy in 1878 he found employment in the post office and insurance business until July 1, 1886 , when he became cashier of the Farmers Loan & Trust Co. bank. In July, 1892, when it was reorganized as the State Bank through his instrumentality, he became its cashier and is now president of it. The large and well appointed dwelling house he now occupies was built in 1900. He has made the public school of Pomeroy a generous gift of a library of 300 carefully chosen volumes. By this manifestation of public spirit he laid the foundation of a worthy object that will perpetuate his name among his people as one that has widely endeavored to promote the public welfare.

On Nov. 6, 1876 , he married Elizabeth Garlock of Cedar township who died July 21, 1892 , leaving one child that died soon afterward. July 16, 1893 , he married Hattie, daughter of Thomas and Sarah Wells, of Calhoun county, and they have two children, Genevieve and Vivian.

He was a trustee of Colfax township in 1874, and secretary of the school board 1874-75. He was recorder of Pocahontas county in 1878 and postmaster at Pomeroy five years, Jan. 1, 1879 to Jan. 1, 1884 .

2 -- Ida D. (b. Ill. March 11, 1854 ) a teacher, on Feb. 21, 1872 , became the wife of Samuel H. Gill (see Gill) and died April 25, 1878 , from injuries received during the tornado that destroyed their home in Colfax township four days previous.

3 -- Charles F. Lowrey, (b. Ill. Jan. 11, 1856 ) on May 2, 1881 , married Laura J., daughter of Alexander and Ella Lockey. They live in Fort Dodge and have a family of seven children, Clara, Jay , Frances , Lyle, Wayne, Ava and Ross.

4 -- Emma (b. July 19, 1858 ) a teacher, on June 16, 1878 , married R. M. Wilbur, a traveling salesman. They reside first at Pomeroy where she taught school several years, then at Fort Dodge , Council Bluffs and St. Paul , where she died March 15, 1886 .

5 -- Mary E., died in childhood.

6 -- Judd (b. Jan. 24, 1862 ) in 1850 married Emily Wego of Minn. He is a train dispatcher at Escanaba , Mich. , and has one child, Madge.

7 -- Smith G., (b. Jan. 13, 1865) a carpenter, on Oct. 23, 1888, married Mary Miller, lives at Pomeroy and has two children, Clyde and Bernice.

DAVID CRYSTLE LUCAS, (b. Jan. 17, 1842) resident of Fonda and vicinity from 1873 to 1892, was a native of Carroll, Indiana. In 1856 he moved with his parents to Waverly, Iowa, where Dec. 28, 1863, he married Matilda Etta Busby (b. May 21, 1839, N. Y.) of Dubuque and engaged in farming. In 1870 he moved to Plainfield, Butler county and engaged in the mercantile business. In 1873 he located on a homestead in Williams township, Calhoun county, Iowa, and in 1881 moved to Fonda, where he engaged first in the livery business, then for three years owned a half interest in the Fonda Grist Mill, which seriously embarrassed all who invested in it. He then decided to engage in the hotel business and, serving as proprietor of the Central House, Fonda, one year, in 1892 moved to Meriden and two years later to Cherokee where he has since had charge of the Cherokee House. As a hotel keeper he has become quite popular with the traveling public and has met with good success.

Both he and his excellent wife, early in life, became active members and efficient workers in the Methodist church, and in Fonda, he filled for a number of successive years the responsible positions of treasurer, steward and superintendent of the Sunday school. He has always been a staunch friend of the temperance cause and a leader in movements for the suppression of the saloon.

His family consists of five children, Carrie, the second, having died in infancy, Jennie V., an early teacher on the Fonda schools, on March 17, 1887 married Calvin B. Saylor and lives in Lincoln township; Mabel C., a teacher in the Fonda and Rolfe schools, on June 30, 1891 married George H. Bush and lives at Fonda; Eben Parker married Claudia Myers and they both belong to the theatrical profession; Howard Harlan, a graduate of the Cherokee high school in 1899 is now filling a lucrative position in that city.

MASTERS, WILLIAM ELMERS (b. 1862), owner and occupant of NE ¼ sec. 33, 1890 to 1902, is a native of Buchanan county, the son of David and Ellen Gates Masters. In 1890, he married Lucy R. Hovey, and located in Pocahontas county. He was very successful in raising hogs and succeeded finely on the farm. He was an active member of the M. E. church and enjoyed the good esteem of the community. In 1902, he moved to Buchanan county. His family consists of four children: Charles Roy, Nellie F., Fannie E., Lewis David.

BENJAMIN MATHER (b. 1820; d. 1888), a pioneer, Washington township, was a native of Darbyshire, England. He was bereft of his mother in infancy and of his father in childhood. At 15 he came to Dubuque county, Iowa, with an uncle and aunt. In 1845, he married Mary Spensley (b. Eng. 1829; d. 1888) and located on a farm. All the members of his large family were born and raised in Dubuque county. In 1875, he located on sec. 30, Washington township, Pocahontas county. Here he spent the remainder of his days. He died at 68 in 1888 and his wife at 59 one month later. He participated in the organization of Washington township in 1876, and served as one of its first trustees.

His family consisted of thirteen children, four of whom died in childhood: Jemima, in 1869, in Dubuque county, married Morah F. Russell; Richard S. (b. 1849), in 1878, married Ellen Watson, daughter of Robert Struthers, and located on a farm near Rolfe. His family consists of seven children, William, Susan E., Mary C., Robert B., James A., Margaret J., and Helen Jemima; James Thomas (b. 1851), in 1892, married Louise Ludwig. He is engaged in the livery business at Laurens and has two children, Edith and Clarion; William R. (b. 1860), in 1886, married Emma Bonn. He owns and occupies a farm of 160 acres near Laurens and has three children, Ray, Benjamin and Elva May; John (b. 1862), lives at Laurens; Emma K. (?)(b. 1864), in 1897, married Dena Siemring. He is engaged in the livery business at Laurens and has two children, Helen and Rex; Frank B. (b. 1866), in 1892, married Florence Wells and lives at Laurens; Walter M. (b, 1869), in 1890, married Pearl Ellis, lives at Laurens, and has two children, Grace and Laurel.

WILLIAM MATSON, in 1867, coming from Chicago with wife and two children, located at Old Rolfe and was the first to establish a blacksmith shop in Pocahontas county. After a few years he moved to the SW 1/4 Sec. 16, Clinton township, where his wife died May 10, 1884. "Ben Lomond," the first postoffice in Clinton township, was located at his home from 1876 to 1878. His son William died May 27, 1885, at the age of 24 years, and Jennie, his daughter, became the wife of William D. McEwen. (See McEwen.) He died at Pocahontas May 6, 1888.

JOHN McCAFFERTY, a native of Cedar county, Iowa, in 1886, bought a farm of 160 acres in Dover township and the next year married Johanna, sister of Garrett Mackey. He now occupies a farm of 240 acres on sections 9 and 10, Cedar township. His family consists of six children; William, Mary, Thomas, James, Maggie and the baby.

THOMAS F. McCCARTAN (b. Oct. 19, 1854) is a native of Dubuque county and came with his parents to Cedar township in 1871. He was clerk of Cedar township in 1878 and secretary of the school board in 1883. He served as Auditor of Pocahontas county seven years, 1886-92, the law of 1890 changing the election of county officer to alternate years having added one year to his third term. He has been a resident of Pocahontas since 1886; and as a stockholder and cashier of the Bank of Pocahontas has been engaged in the banking and real estate business since 1893. On May 17, 1886, he married Ella, a daughter of Roger and Margaret Collins, formerly of Lizard township, and has a family of six children, Clement B., Tessie, Theo. F., Myrtle, Monica and Arthur Thomas.

MICHAEL McCORMICK,One of the early pioneers, was a native of Ireland and in his boyhood came with his parents to upper Canada, now the province of Ontario. In 1854 in Gray County he married Honora Kearns, and in 1871 located on Sec 22, Lake Twp, Pocahontas Co, IA. Honora, a native of Clare Co, Ireland, died in 1889 in her 54th year. Their family consisted of 11 children, 2 of whom, Anna and Mrs Mary Walsh, died in 1895. John (b: Canada 1855), Elizabeth, Nora, Michael M., Patrick H. married Bridget, daughter of John Cain, and lives at Pocahontas. Mary married Phillip Walsh, and died in 1895 leaving 5 children- Margaret, Thomas, Phillip, Edward and Nora. Margaret married William Bollard. Nellie lives with her sister Margaret and Rosa with her brother Patrick.
Submitted by Jeanie

JOHN J. McDERMOTT, (b. 1851), farmer, at Fonda since 1879, is a native of Brooklyn, N. Y., the son of John and Bridget McDermott, who were natives of Ireland. At ten he moved with them to Ashland coutny, O., where he grew to manhood and in 1875, married Martha E. Bonney. A few months later he located in Weber county, Utah. In 1879, he located west of Fonda, first on the Mackey, then the Jack Hamilton farm and in 1883, on his present farm, which he has improved with good buildings, grove and orchard.

His family consisted of three daughters. Louella in 1899, married William C. Lookingbill, a real estate agent and proprietor of a feed store at Sac City. Daisy, the eldest, and Jessie are at home.

ALEXANDER McEWEN, (b. 1845), one of the pioneers of Pocahontas county and a leading citizen of Powhatan, is a native of Scotland, a son of Rev. John McEwen. His father was a minister in the established church of Scotland and served 45 years as pastor of the church at Dyke Forres, Murrayshire. In his youth he spent one year in Canada, crossing the ocean with his sister Margaret, mother of William D. McEwen, whose husband though of the same name, was no relative of hers. During that year all the family were in America - his father, mother, four brothers, Peter, James, Donald and William, and sisters, Grace and Janet. His father died in 1886, leaving a family of seven children - Alexander, Donald, Robert, Marjory, John, Mary and Henry. Donald, a surveyor in the British army, died in 1886, having spent thirteen years in India and passed through Soudan with the army under Gen. Chinese Gordon. Robert went to India, where he engaged in the indigo trade and died at Edinburgh in 1893. Marjory married John Smith, a merchant at Hong Kong, China. John became an assistant to his father before his death and is now his successor as pastor at Dyke Forres. Mary married Rev. George Bisset of the established church, and lives in Edinburgh. Henry is superintendent of the electric light plant in Glasgow. He received a medal for some astronomical drawings from the London Astronomical society at the World's Fair in Chicago in 1893, and was made a member of the Royal Astronomical society of London.

Alexander, the oldest member of the family, having acquired a good education in Scotland came to Canada, and in December, 1869, became a resident of Des Moines township, this county, where he found a home with Henry Jarvis and taught school during the next seven months in the Jarvis school house, located near the county line, south of McNight's Point. He then prepared a set of abstract books for W. D. McEwen at Old Rolfe, and took charge of the store of McEwen & Bruce, when it was established in the fall of 1870, while they performed the duties of county auditor and treasurer. He remained in the store until the spring of 1875, when, having bought 204 acres on section 16, Swan Lake township, he gave his attention to their improvement and built thereon a house and barn. That fall he sold this farm to Alfred Strouse and bought the homestead of Henry Thomas, on the SE 1/4 Sec. 24, Powhatan.

October 6, 1875, he married Delilah, daughter of Philip Hamble, one of the pioneers of Washington township, and during the ensuing winter taught his last term of school in that township. In the spring of 1876 he located on his farm in Powhatan and occupied it until the spring of 1882, when he bought and moved upon 400 acres of section 26. He improved and occupied this farm until 1892, when he moved to his present farm on section 15, near Plover. He devoted considerable attention to raising fine horses and, at the time of his sale in 18981, had 30 head of high-grade Normans and English Shires.

He is a man of excellent judgment, has always commanded the confidence and esteem of all who know him, and has rendered considerable public service. He was chosen clerk of Powhatan as soon as he became a resident of the township and has served twelve years in that capacity, ten as president of the school board and nine as a member of the board of county supervisors. He has been a trustee of the Plover Presbyterian church since its organization. He has manifested considerable interest in the education of his children and had the pleasure of seeing two of them, Margaret and Susan, members of the first graduating class from the Plover high school in 1899.

His family consisted of eight children. John P. and Mary A. are at home. Marjory, a teacher, in 1902 married E. L. Wallace, formerly principal of the Plover schools and now manager of a lumber yard at Schaller. Susan, a teacher, on the same day, April 16, 1901, married Fred C. Chinn, a grain buyer at Wiola. Philip Hamble, Henry, Elizabeth and Robert Burns are at home.

WILLIAM S. McEWEN (b. 1865), banker, Pocahontas, is a native of Ormstown, province of Quebec, Canada, the son of Duncan and Mary McEwen, and nephew of W. D. McEwen, Esq., Rolfe. He became a resident of Pocahontas county in September 1888, first on his own farm and in 1893, at Pocahontas, where he became cashier of the Pocahontas Savings Bank. He continued to fill this position in a very efficient and satisfactory manner until January 1900, when he resigned, and, in partnership with Joseph Simpson, established the City Exchange Bank of Pocahontas. He is still president of this bank and has been the sole proprietor of it since 1901. He built and occupies one of the fine residences at Pocahontas. In 1903, he was a member both of the council and school board of that city.

In 1893, he married Emma Tutt, of South Bend, Indiana, and has two children, Lawrence R., and Leon Duncan.

W. D. McEWEN, in July 1857 engaged in carpenter work at Fort Dodge and in the spring of 1858 walked from that place to the home of Robert Struthers, his brother-in-law in Des Moines township for the purpose of locating a pre- emption claim. But finding that another man had taken the claim he had in view he returned to Fort Dodge, and remaining there during that winter and the year following, was a frequent visitor to his friends in the pioneer settlement in in the northeast part of the county. In 1859 he returned to the east and spent several years in school. In 1865 he located permanently at Old Rolfe the first county seat and commencing an official career as Superintendent of the Public Schools of this county in 1866, he continued in the public service until Dec. 31, 1887, a period of 22 years. The offices filled were Co. Superintendent, 2 years, 1866 and '67, Clerk of the District Court six years, 1867 to 1872; County judge in 1869, the last incumbent of that office; Clerk of the Board of Supervisors three years, 1867 to 1869; County Auditor four years, 1870 to 1873, the first incumbent of that office; and County Treasurer twelve years, 1874 to 1883 and 1886-87. In 1876 he was the Commissioner from this county to the Centennial at Philadelphia.

"Pay as you go" has ever been a cardinal business principle with him and finding the county $20,000 in debt when he became Auditor, he began to use his influence to protect the credit of the county and maintain its warrants at par value. Before the close of his public career he had the pleasure to see every vestige of indebtedness removed. Few men enjoy the privilege of rendering so long a period of public service or of receiving so many proofs of appreciation form the people whom he served as W. D. McEwen. On Jan. 12, 1884, when his final accounts for the first ten years of service as treasurer were audited and approved by the Board of Supervisors, they passed a resolution expressing their sincere thanks to him for the kind, gentle and manly manner in which he had filled the office of County Treasurer so long, and presented him with the gold pen he had used, as a memento of the office. As a public officer he was uniformly courteous and considerate, and kept the records in a plain, neat and methodical manner.

He has been a loyal and ardent republican, was personally and very favorably known to every voter in the county, and no one could say aught against his qualifications or honesty. On one occasion near the close of his public career, having received the nomination for County Treasurer about the fourth time, one of his friends very wittily remarked that the only exception his opponents could take to him as a candidate, was that expressed by the young man who, being present at a wedding in a New England town, when the minister asked if any one objected to this man marrying this woman, interrupted the ceremony by stammering out, "I want her myself." So with his political opponents, they have been chiefly those who wanted the office for themselves.

He has been a persistent friend of progress and aided greatly in the development and upbuilding of the interests of this county. In 1867 he assisted in the publication of a pamphlet giving a description of Pocahontas county and inviting immigration, of which hundreds of copies were distributed in the East. In 1869 he commenced the publication of the Pocahontas Journal, the first paper published in the county, but as it could not be made a financial success it was discontinued in 1872. In 1875 he published a map of the county, and in 1876 he resumed the publication of a county paper, the Pocahontas Times, that has been continued until the present time, though for two years under a new name - The Fonda Times. In 1878 he issued a second advertising pamphlet of the county and in 1881, 15,000 copies of another one entitled, The New Home, all for free distribution.

W. D. McEwen was born in Chateaugay county, Canada, July 9, 1838, and was the son of William and Margaret McEwen both of whom were natives of Scotland and came to the Province of Quebec in 1820. He attended public school until he was fourteen years of age and then learned the carpenter trade during the next three years, working chiefly at bridge building. This was his employment while he remained in Fort Dodge from July 1857 to the fall of 1859 and again in 1864 when he returned and completed his citizenship at that place. When he visited the Des Moines settlement in 1858 he found it a boundless wilderness and as the times were dull and his expected claim taken he decided in the fall of 1859 to enter Huntingdon Academy in the Province of Quebec and complete his education. He remained at this institution until the death of his father, who appointed him executor of his estate. As soon as the affairs of his father's estate had been settled, he arranged to return to the land of his adoption with the $5,000 that fell to his share.

In the spring of 1865 when he located permanently in Pocahontas county, Robert Struthers, his brother-in-law, was County Recorder. Having a farm and family to look after, W. D. McEwen at once became his deputy and the work of the Recorder's office was turned over to him. As the work of this office was not very exacting nor very lucrative, he worked at his trade during the day and on the public records in the evening. Frequently the records of the entire week were written on Saturday night. During the first three years of his residence in the county he taught school at Old Rolfe in the winter and worked at his trade in the summer. In his youth he recognized the importance of getting a good start in life; he was never idle and on several occasions, carrying his tools on his shoulder, he walked eight miles (once barefooted) in order to assist where he was needed.

On November 18, 1885, he married Jennie Matson, a lady who, like himself, was also of Puritan descent, a resident of Des Moines township and one of his own pupils when he taught at Old Rolfe. She was the daughter of William and Mary (Baxter) Matson, who located at Old Rolfe in 1867. They have one son, Donald, who is in his thirteenth year. They are still residents of the county and live at Rolfe, where he is engaged in banking and occupies one of the finest residences in the county.

W. S. McEWEN, a cousin of Will D. McEwen, succeeded him as cashier of the Pocahontas Savings Bank, which, in July 1902, was reorganized as the First National Bank of Pocahontas. He continued to fill this position in the reorganized bank until September 1903, when all the stock of this bank was purchased by the proprietors of the Allen Bros. Bank, and the latter was merged into it, under the new officers, J. H. Allen, president; C. S. Allen, vice-president; and F. W. Lindeman, cashier. The office was then transferred to the new Allen bank building.

JAMES NELSON McLELLAN (b. 1838), ex-county treasurer, is a native of Chautanqua county, N.Y. He received a good common school education and enjoyed two terms at Wheaton College. July 10, 1861, he enlisted at Camp Douglass, Chicago, as a member of Co. K, 42d Ill., the same company that Abram O. and William E. Garlock belonged to, and remained in the service until Feb. 20, 1865. He served under Gen. Fremont in Missouri, and, passing down the Mississippi river, participated in the capture of Island No. 10, Fort Pillow and Pittsburg Landing. He then passed to the army of the Cumberland under Sheridan, and later under Gen. Newton, the man that blew up Hell gate in the harbor of New York. He also served under Halleck, Rosecrans, Sherman and Thomas, and participated in thirty-seven different battles, including those at Farmington, Stone River, Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge and Nashville. He was under fire 100 of the 120 days occupied in the Atlantic campaign.

In 1868, he married at Waterloo, Iowa, Ellen Hagenbuch and located on a farm. In 1879, he became a resident of Pocahontas county and engaged in the grug business at Fonda. He served as treasurer of Pocahontas county six years 1888-1893. In 1894, he moved to Des Moines where he still resides. He has devoted some time and attention to raising fine horses and in 1898, received from the Louisville Trotting Association the flattering price of $10,000 for Pilatus, a six year old, that had been purchased at the Berry sale in Chicago in 1894. He is a man of portly bearing, was a gallant sodlier and a popular public officer.

His wife died in 1901, leaving a family of five children.

William Boyd, a jeweler, is located at Pocahontas. He is the proprietor of the Pocahontas telephone exchange. In 1899, he married Ella, daughter of R. D. Bollard and has one daughter, Phyllis Roberta.

Stephen Alexander, a graduate of the medical department of Drake University in 1902, in the same year married Alice Weaver and engaged in the practice of medicine at Buckeye.

Philip Sheridan, a horse trainer, Affa Roberta, a Des Moines graduate in 1900, and Laora Bell are at home.

JOHN MOULTON, (1828-1893), resident of Cedar, was a native of Ohio county, Ind. In 1848, he married Nancy D. Brush (b. 1829) and located on a farm. In 1860, he moved to Livingston county, Ill., and remained there until 1876, when he located on a farm of 80 acres in Cedar township, which he improved, increased and occupied until his death at 65 in 1893. He left a family of nine children.

Elizabeth (b. 1849) in 1879, in Peoria county, Ill., married John Garton, and in 1881, located on a farm of 80 acres on sec. 18, Cedar, which he improved and occupied until his death in 1897, when he left a family of four children, Emma, who in 1891, married Frank Hamilton, Cora, who in 1893, married Charles Moore, Isaac, who in 1900, married Clara Perry, and Pearl.

Thomas (b. Ind. 1848), a farmer, in 1861, in Livingston county, Ill., married Elizabeth Dudley and located that year in Cedar township, Pocahontas county. Three years later he located on sec. 18, Dover and remained there thirteen years. His family consists of four children, Chester, Reuben, Walter and Charles.

Delilah in 1872, married Daniel Scribbins and located on a farm in Livingston county, Ill., but later near Peoria, and died while visiting friends at Fonda in 1900, leaving a family of ten children.

Arthur (b. Ind. 1854), in 1881, married Cora, daughter of John Lemp, and is now the owner of a farm of 400 acres in Cedar township, which he has recently improved with new and very commodious buildings. He has a family of eight children, George, John, Wilford, Roy, Grace, Henry, Fay and Nettie.

Floyd (b. Ind. 1856) in 1889, married Ella Decorah. He is the owner of a a farm of 160 acres in Cedar township, and has two children, John A. and Elsie.

Frank (b. Ill. 1860) in 1881, married Lucy, daughter of William Eaton, who died in 1886, leaving two children, John W. and Belle. In 1894, he married Pearl Shreves and is now a resident of Dover.

Stephen J. (b. Ill. 1863) married Bertha Walters, lives in South Dakota and has two children, Dottie and Mary.

Mary Ann in 1886, married James Trude, a drayman, Fonda, (See Trude).

Jared L. (b. Ill. 1886) owner and occupant of the old home farm in Cedar, in 1898, married Anna Larson and has one son, Clarence.

In 1895, Nancy D. (Brush) Moulton married Americus V. Sargent and after a few years residence at Fonda, returned to the old Moulton home

MULLEN BROS., Owen W. and John P., dealers in live stock and implements at Pocahontas and Fonda, have been residents of Fonda and vicinity since 1879. Terrence Mullen (b. 1821), their father, is a native of Ireland, where in 1860, he married Margaret Ward (b. 1841) and located on a farm. In 1881, he came to America and located on a farm of 80 acres south west of Fonda, which he still owns, increased to 640 acres, improved with good buildings and occupied until 1899, when he and family moved to Fonda.

His family consisted of seven children.

Margaret in 1889, married Michael Kelly (b. Ire. 1848), who came to America in 1863, and located in New York state. In 1884, he came to Iowa and located on a farm of 160 acres south of Fonda. He improved and enlarged this farm, by the purchase of neighboring tracts, to 640 acres, and occupied it until 1900, when he moved to Fonda. His family consists of five children, John, Eva, Dennis, Terrence and Michael.

Owen W. (b. Ire. 1863), senior member of the firm of Mullen Bros., in 1900, located at Pocahontas, where he has since been engaged as a dealer in live stock and implements.

John P. (b. Ire. 1864), junior member of the firm of Mullen Bros., has been a dealer in live stock and implements at Fonda since 1899. He spent three and one half years at Buena Vista College and taught seventeen terms of school during his residence on the farm. In 1899, he married Rose Brady of Storm Lake and has three children, Margarite, Marie and Edward.

Rose, a dress maker, lives at Sioux City.

Michael J. after taking a scientific course at St. Mary's Academy at Omaha, Neb., in 1895, became a civil engineer for the Amalgamated Copper Company, of Butte, Montana. During the war with Spain in 1898, enlisting in the vicinity of the Black Hills, he rendered patriotic service as one of the rough riders under Col. Griggsby.

Mary married Thomas P. Fitzgerald, an implement dealer, and lives at Varica.

Jettie E., a teacher, is at home.

HUGH H. MURRAY (b. 1859) Pocahontas, is a native of Sharpsburg, Pa., the sone of Peter and Ellen Murray, with whom in 1860, he came to Iowa and located south of Des Moines. In 1889, he located on the sw 1/4 sec. 23, 160 acres, Marshall township, Pocahontas county, which he was the first to occupy and improve. He herded cattle two years in Marshall and Sherman townships, having 350 head the first year and 800 the next. In 1893, he located at Pocahontas, where he has since been engaged in the insurance business. He is the owner of a fine dwelling and two business houses at Pocahontas, and a half section of land in Sherman township.
In 1895, he married Catherine, sister of M. A. Hogan, and has one son, Vincent.

BENJAMIN NEAL (b. 1828; d. 1903), farmer and drayman. Fonda, was a native of Richmond, Va. At fifteen he moved with his parents to Mason county, Ill., where in 1854, he married Eunice Howe. In 1875, he became a resident of Pocahontas county, locating on a farm in the vicinity of Fonda. In 1884, he moved to Fonda, became a drayman and continued in that employment until his decease at 75 in 1903. He was an industrious, honest and honorable man.

His family consisted of one son and seven daughters. Susan Jane in 1883, married Lewis Dishoff, a farmer, and lives in Greeley county, Neb. Charles E., a farmer, in 1885, married Clara Wright and lives at Cherokee. Sarah C. in 1883, married Frank Messenger, a carpenter, lives at Fonda and has five children. Lena married Robert Boothby, a farmer, and lives at Cherokee. Huldah in 1885, married Charles Woodward, a railroad agent, lives at Mount Vernon, S.D. Lydia, Hattie, and Viola ay, a Fonda graduate (1899) and teacher, are at home.

NELSON CLARK NICHOLS (b. 1828), farmer, Fonda, is a native of Union county, Conn., the son of Warren and Matilda Parrish Nichols. In 1846, he went to Worcester, Mass., and found employment as a machinist. In 1853, he married Lucy Jane Patch (b. 1830) and remained there until 1858, when he came to Clayton county, Iowa. In May 1869, he located on a homestead five miles south west of Fonda, and he is still its owner and occupant. He planted fruit trees suited to this section and has one of the fines fruit bearing orchards in this vicinity. He has not yet forgotten the experiences of 1869, when he and his neighbors, William Strauss, C. D. Lucas, and Orlando O. Brown, hauled the materials, for their first buildings, from Fort Dodge. In October that year he paid the man that lived on the bank of the creek, on the Harvey Eaton farm, one dollar to ferry him across the Cedar at Fonda. The wagon box and fixings were put on the boat and the oxen swam after it pulling the wagon through the water with a slough rope.

His family consisted of five children.

Nellie Marie in 187, married Samuel Way, a telegraph operator, and located successively at Alta and Blairsburg, Iowa, and Gasgow, Montana, where he died leaving four children, Frank, Howard, Nellie and Fred. She now resides at Fargo, N.D.

George Newell, (b. 1861), a tinner, married Clara Roberts and located at Fonda. His family consists of five children, Lola, Vere, Opal, Claude, and Roy.

Charles Henry (b. 1863), a carpenter, married Theresa Dorton and lives in Clayton county.

Frank, a farmer, in 1898, married Pearl McGeary, lives on the old home farm and has one child Laura Jeannette.

Cora in 1886, married George Marsh, a painter and decorator, lives at Primgbar, and has a family of five children, Harry, Phoebe, May, Dora, and Joseph.

DAVID NOWLAN, M. D. (b. 1842), post master at Havelock, is a native of Toulon, Stark county, Ill., the son of Michael and Florence Nowlan, who raised a family of ten sons. He grew to manhood on the farm and at nineteen, in 1861, he enlisted as a member of Co. B. 37th Ill., Inf., and spent three years and three months in the army on the frontier, along the Mississippi, under Gen. John C. Black. He participated in the siege and capture of Vicksburg, and the battles at Prairie Grove and Pea Ridge. He was a member of the first G. A. R. Post, which was organized at Galva, Ill., in 1866, and on coming to this county, became a member of the Andrew Mills Post at Rolfe.

In 1867, he married Mary C. (b. Ohio 1849), daughter of Alonzo Smead, M. D., of Fon du Lac, Wis., and located at La Fayette, Ill. In 1873, he located at Pomeroy, Iowa, and two years later in Jasper county, where he completed a course in medicine under Dr. C. C. Smead, his brother-in-law.

In the spring of 1876, he received a medical diploma from the State Board of Examiners and began the practice of medicine at Rensnor, Jasper county. In June, 1882, he located in the new town of Havelock and very soon secured a lucrative practice. He has served as a member of the town council of Havelock, and has been in charge of the post office there since Oct. 13, 1897. There are few men in the town or township that have lived so long in it or become so widely and favorably known. He received a good education in his youth, and heartily supports the principles of the republican party. He is also an advocate of total abstinence and woman suffrage.

His family consisted of two children: Brete Cassius (b. 1878), after graduating from the Havelock high school in 1894, and teaching five terms of school, in 1900, graduated from the Electrical Engineering department of the Iowa State Agricultural College at Ames. Since that date he has been in the employ of the Western Electric Company of Chicago, and is now at Fargo, N. D.; Edward R. (b. 1881), a Havelock graduate in 1898, after completing the course in Electrical Engineering at Ames in 1902, also entered the employ of the Western Electric Co., and is now at Denver, Colorado.

JOHN W. O'BRIEN(b. 1848), Havelock, is a native of White Oak Springs, Wis. His father died when he was fifteen. This event caused an unusual responsibility to fall on his youthful shoulders, that of providing a home and support for his mother, eight sisters and one brother. His mother died when she was 74. In 1879 he married Alice Noonan and lived two years on a farm near Shullsburg, Wis. In 1881, he came to Pocahontas county, and located on the NE 1/4 sec. 9, Sherman township, which he improved and occupied until 1890, when he moved to Havelock, where he has since been engaged, first as a coal dealer, and then as a contractor and builder. He built many of the fine residences and store buildings in Havelock and others in its vicinity.

He has taught school many winters, and is now serving his eighth year as secretary of the Havelock school board and fourth year as a member of the town council. During his residence in Sherman township he served three years as a member of the board of county supervisors, 1884-'86, one year as assessor, and several terms as a justice, and also as treasurer of the school board. In 1886, he was the democratic nominee for the office of county recorder.

His family consisted of seven children, two of whom died in childhood. Michael S. (b. 1880), a teacher, is clerking in a general store at Pocahontas. John F., Clara, Neal, and Mary Theresa are at home. John F. has been the carrier on the Havelock R. F. D. No. 2 since its establishment Jan. 1, 1903.

JAMES O'CONNER (b. 1842), a native of Ireland, in 1862 came to America and located in Illinois. In 1870 he came to Warren county, Iowa, where in 1872 he married Margaret Jane Durigan and located on a farm. Here he was joined by his brother, Patrick (b. Ireland, 1850), who in 1874 married Ellen Durigan. In 1878 these two brothers and their families came to Pocahontas county and located, Patrick on Sec. 25, Dover township, and James on Sec. 19, Grant township. Patrick, their father, at the age of sixty-five, and their mother at sixty, in 1880, also came to this country and lived with these two sons until they died, their mother in 1881, and their father in 1888. Barney, their brother, resident of Fonda, came too this county in 1883.

James is now the owner of 240 acres that he has laid out to good advantage and has finely improved with good buildings, groves and orchard. His orchard is one of the best in Grant township. Of his family of eleven children ten are living: Agnes in 1899 married Peter Callinan, an electrician, lives in Sioux City and has one child, Joseph. Catherine in 1901 married Marion Argenbright, a painter and carpenter, and lives at Pocahontas. The others are William, Celia, Patrick, John, Clara, Emma, Arthur and Alice. Patrick O'Connor in 1892, moved to Buena Vista county and later to South Dakota. His family consisted of ten children. Anna married Wm. Hogan and lives in Des Moines, where Gertie and Sadie, two of her sisters also live. The others are Frank, Ambrose, Ray, Edith, Vincent, Lagora, Valley and the baby.

EDWARD O'DONNELL (b. 1853) Fonda, is a native of Schuylkill county, Pa. In 1855, he came with his parents to Allamakee county, Iowa, where he grew to manhood. In 1877, he located at Dyersville, where in 1878, he married Ellen Sayre. In May that year he located at Fonda, where he found employment as a carpenter. He was the postmaster at Fonda six years, April 1, 1883, to Oct. 15, 1889, and during this period built for the office a fine brick building. He has been the town assessor most of the years since that date.
His wife died in 1887, leaving four children, Carl, a clerk, who in 1902, married Vina Kennedy and located in North Dakota, Edward, Hazel and Lewis. In 1898, he married Susan McCartan.

ANDREW OLSON, another brother of Gustave, is the owner and occupant of a farm of 80 acres on Sec. 36, Grant township, and he has a family of seven children.

JOHN OLSON (b. 1826) occupant of the south part of the Wm. Marshall farm, Cedar, 1869 to 1885, is a native of Denmark, where he grew to manhood and married Mary Jensen. In 1867, he came to America with a family of three children and located in Maine. Two years later he bought the sw 1/4, sec 33, Cedar township, this county, improved and occupied it the next six years. The buildings that he erected were completely demolished and the grove that he planted was partially destroyed by the tornado of 1893. During his residence here he returned to Denark and brought his aged mother that she might spend the remainder of her days at his home. She died at 98 in 1880 and was buried on the south side of an elevation on the south west corner of the farm near Cedar Creek. He was a member of the Lutheran church but his children became Seventh Day Adventists. In 1885, he moved to San Pasqual, Cal.

His family consisted of three children all of whom were born in Denmark, and bear the name of Johnson, after the Danish custome of calling the children after the first name of their father.

Henry Johnson in 1878, married Florence White, daughter of an Iowa clergyman, and in 1884, located in California. He taught several terms of school in the vicinity of Fonda and now has a family of six children. Frank, Harry, arthur, Nellie, Roy, and Jessie.

Lawrence Johnson, a teacher, after his removal to California married Viola Darling and has two children, Inez and Glenn.

Sophia Johnson, a teacher, pursued medical studies at Battle Creek, Mich., in 1895, graduated later from the California Medical College and has since been engaged in the practice of medicine at San Diego, Cal. She grew to womanhood at Fonda and, having a conviction that there was a more advanced sphere for woman than mere drudgery, pursued her education, relying upon her own resources. The success that has attended her unaided efforts is but another illustration of what a young lady may accomplish if her will and energies are rightly directed.

BENJAMIN FRANKLIN OSBURN, (b. March 25, 1837), a pioneer of Cedar township 1870 to 1885, was a native of Tioga county, N. Y., where he grew to manhood and in 1859 married Delilah B. Reed. August 10, 1862 he enlisted in the 137th N. Y. Inf. as an orderly sergeant, was made first lieutenant May 25, 1865 and was honorably discharged at Elmira, New York, June 9, 1865. In 1867 he and his family moved to Waterloo, Iowa, and in the spring of 1870 purchased the sw 1/4 sec. 25, Cedar township which he improved and occupied until the time of his death which occurred at Adel, Sept. 11, 1885. While returning from the State Fair at Des Moines, he endeavored to pass along a railing used for that purpose on the outside of the baggage car, and when the train entered the bridge at Adel its timbers striking his head inflicted fatal injuries and caused him to fall from the car in an insensible condition.

He was a fine looking soldier and one of the bravest of the brave. He participated in twenty seven battles including Lookout Mountain, Gettysburg and other decisive ones, and was promoted for his skill and courage.

His family consisted of two children: May, who married Fred Opperman, a mail agent, and died in 1885; Bert, a book keeper and clerk, married Becca Pfeiffer and located at Sioux City where his mother resides with him.

JOHN FRANK PATTEE (b. Nov. 10, 1833; d. Aug. 23, 1889), sheriff of Pocahontas county from Jan. l, 1884 to Aug. 23, 1889, was a native of Smithville, Maine. In 1850 he moved to Ohio and, as a contractor, engaged in railroad building. In 1852 he married Mary F. Ady and in the fall of 1856 moved to Farrington, Ill., where in 1867 she died, leaving a family of three sons, Joseph Edward, William D. and Charles F. In 1869 he married Lucinda Taylor and moved to a farm in Boone county, Iowa. In March 1878 he located on the NE 1/4 Sec. 23, Lincoln township, Pocahontas county, where he continued to reside until the time of his decease, Aug. 23, 1889, He served three years in the civil war as sergeant of Co. F, 86th Ill. Infantry, one year as deputy sheriff In Fulton county, Ill, two years as deputy sheriff of Boone county, Iowa, and was serving his third term as sheriff of this county at the time of his death. In the performance of his official duties he became widely known and was highly esteemed by all who had the pleasure of making his acquaintance.

His second wife died in Nov., 1888. His family consisted of the three sons named above. Joseph Edward (b 1855), a teacher, in 1880 married Catherine Kreul and became proprietor of the Nemick hotel at Pocahontas. In December following leaving the hotel he resumed teaching and has continued to reside at Pocahontas. In 1880 he was the republican nominee for recorder, but lacked 11 votes of an election. His family consists of seven children, Mary, William, Rosella, Joseph, Adaline, Agnes and Frank L.

William D. (b. 1857), in 1884 married Ella M., daughter of Thomas L. Dean, and located on a farm. In 1889 he moved to Pocahontas, where he is engaged as a blacksmith. His wife died in 1899 and his family consists of four children, Mary, George, Minnie and Nellie M. Charles F. in 1895 married Frederika Winegarten and engaged in farming until 1895, when he moved to Pocahontas where he is now a dealer in coal. He has two children, Emma and Zeila.

CLAY C. PATTY (b. 1866), druggist, Fonda, is a native of Benton county, Iowa. the son of Joseph M. and Rachel J. (Greelee) Patty, who located at Carroll during his childhood. Here he grew to manhood and secured a good education. In 1888, after attending the Illinois school of Pharmacy at Chicago, he engaged in the drug business at Charter Oak. Coming to Fonda in 1893, he established a drug store, and, though its location was changed several times, he has now one of the finest rooms in the town, the first floor of the brick building built by Roberts, Kenning and Wood on the southwest corner of Second and Main streets, in 1901. In addition to the usual stock of drugs, stationery, school books, soda fountain, etc., he keeps a news stand and a wholesale ice cream establishment. During recent years he has attained the reputation of making the best ice cream, not merely in the town, but in this section of the state. In order to supply the large demand for the smooth and velvety ice cream that he makes, he has provided facilities for its manufacture, that are a credit to the town. They include, among other things, a pasteurizer, a cream separator, a mammoth freezer, and a steam engine. He can easily make one or more hundred gallons of ice cream in a day. During the seasons of 1902 and 1903, the milk of 100 cows was received daily, and the product, which is called "Velvet Ice Cream" was shipped to most of the towns along the Illinois Central and Milwaukee railroads within fifty miles of Fonda.

In 1894, he married Ginevra Ballard of Odebolt, and has one son, Frank.

Dr. Louis G. Patty, his brother, after a residence of five years at Fonda, during which he was engaged in the practice of medicine, in 1898, returned to Carroll. Frank L., a younger brother, after assisting him two years in the drug store, died at 20 at Carroll in 1898.

CHARLES P. PETERSON, (b. 1844), owner and occupant of a farm in Colfax township since March 17, 1869, is a native of Sweden, came to America in 1868 and lived one year in Boone county, Iowa. On March 3, 1869, he entered and two weeks later began to occupy, as a homestead, the S 1/2 NW 1/4 section 12, 80 acres.

Four other young men from Sweden that were his personal friends, namely, John A. Johnson, Gust H. Johnson, John A. Nelson and Harry August Nelson (died the next year), entered homesteads on the same section the same day with him, all having walked together from Des Moines. When they went to locate their claims there was no house west of the Blandon farm, eight miles east. They had to have their claims surveyed three times at a cost of $20 each before they got their boundaries satisfactorily located. Each built a sod house on his claim before the end of that summer and worked on the railroad when not needed on his homestead. At the time of the great snow storm, March 8-10, 1870, they were all at the cabin of John A. Johnson, and not until the third day were they able to return to their own homes to feed and water their stock.

The first home of Charles P. Peterson was a sod house, or more correctly, a dugout, 12x16 feet, excavated two feet below the surface, built with sods three feet above it and covered with a roof of boards. It had one window in the rear gable facing southward. He occupied this humble but comfortable dwelling until 1871, when he built a frame shanty that lasted the nest eight years. In 1879 he married Hilda Nelson (b. Sweden 1857) and began to occupy a new house completed at that time. In 1891 he sold the homestead and bought 240 acres on section 26. He has here a beautiful home with attractive surroundings, he has met with a good degree of sucsess of the farm, raising good crops and raising stock with profit. He is a man of intelligence and strict integrity. He is a liberal supporter of the Swedish Lutheran church and has taken an active part in the management of the most important affairs of the township. He was president of the school board four years, 1893, '95-97, and a trustee six years, '93-98. His family consists of five children, Alfred, Frank, Henry, Melvin and Amy, four having died in childhood.

FRANK PETERSON, (b. 1851), in 1873 secured as a homestead the S 1/2 SW 1/4 section 12, improved and occupied it until 1892. He then sold it and bought 160 acres on the NW 1/4 sec. 23, which he has improved and still occupies. He is a native of Sweden, came to America in 1869 and located first near Des Moines. He has been a trustee of Colfax township since 1897. In 1875 he married Turina Hendricks, a step-daughter of Nels Anderson. She died May 2, 1899, leaving a family of eight children, Hilda C., Ida, Ina, Amanda, Verner, Carl, Lawrence and Nellie.

GODFREY PFEIFFER (b. 1837), miller, Fonda, is a native of Germany. He came with his parents in 1846, to Butler county, Ohio, and in 1860, to Keokuk, Iowa. In 1861, he married Sarah Farr, of Wapello county and located on a farm. In 1871, he became the principal owner and manager of a mill at What Cheer. Three years later he assisted in the erection and management of a mill at Greencastle. Three years later he built a mill at Newton and when it was destroyed by fire three months after its completion he rebuilt it. In 1881 he moved this mill and its machiner to Fonda, erected there also the brick house known as the McKee home, and was a resident of that place until 1889, when he moved to Wilbur, Neb., and in 1893, to Partston, S. D.

His family consisted of five daughters, four of whom engaged in teaching at Fonda and vicinity.

Laura Bell in 1898, graduated from the classical department of the State University, Lincoln, Neb., and became principal of the historic department in the high school at Omaha. She is now teaching at Lincoln.

Lousa Jane, after pursuing a normal course in Drake University and teaching several years, in 1895, married George H. Kerr, proprietor of a lineotype printing press and lives at Des Moines.

Emma Mary, teacher of the primary department Fonda two years, in 1888, married George Taylor, clerk in a shoe store, Omaha, and died there in 1899, leaving seven children.

Rebecca Kate in 1891, married Bert F. Osborn, a clerk, lives at Parkston, S.D., and has two children.

Estella, a graduate in 1891, of the high school at Wilbur, Neb., and in 1899, of the academic department of Yankton College, has since been engaged as a teacher.

CHARLES H. POST, farmer, Cedar, was a native of Painesville, O., the sone of Daniel K. and Charity Post, both of whom died at Painesville, the former at 79, and the latter at 91, after raising a family of twelve children all of whom grew to manhood. Charles H., the seventh son, in 1870, married Mary Matson and found employment in a nursery. In 1880, he located on the n 1/2 sec. 36, Cedar township, which he improved and occupied until 1891, when he moved to the vicinity of Newell. In 1901, he located on a farm near Burlington, Kan. His long experience in nursery work developed a taste for raising fine fruits and also the skill to do so successfully. He achieved good success in raising apples, plums, cherries and strawberries wherever he has been located. He received a good education and both he and his estimable wife were efficient and prominent helpers in the work of the M. E. church and Sunday school.

His family consisted of three children. Ella in 1890, married William shorts, a farmer, and lives near Stuart, Iowa. Alice in 1899, married William Reed, a farmer, and lives near Burlington, Kan. Walter and Mabel are at home

WILBUR EUGENE POST (b. 1861), farmer, Cedar, is a native of LaFayette county, Wis., (near Warren, Ill.), the son of Alanson and Mary Post. In 1885, he married Julia M. Church and lived one year on his father's farm near Newell, Iowa. In 1886, he located on his present farm on sec. 25, Cedar township, which he has improved with good buildings and increased to 160 acres. He has taken an active interest in the management of the public affairs of the township and served as president of the school board three years, 1896-98.

His family consisted of four children, Elliott, who was accidentally drowned at 17 in 1903, Clayton, Glenn and Stella.

JOHN CALVIN POTTER, (b. 1855), banker and farmer, Havelock , is a native of New York , son of Rev. W. A. Potter, who served fifteen years as pastor of the Baptist church at Monticello , Wisconsin . He moved with his parents to Ohio and later to Wisconsin , where he grew to manhood on the frontier. In 1880, he married Lucy C. Marshall and located on a farm near Albany , Wis. In 1882, he came to Pocahontas county, Iowa , and located on a farm of 200 acres on sec. 3, Washington township, that he was the first to occupy and improve. Clinton Farm

At the time of his arrival he had formed a partnership with James Campbell (called R. R. Tim) of Madison , Wis. , owner of 280 acres on sec. 3, for the purpose of raising stock on these lands. In 1883, Mr. Campbell died and his interest passed to his daughter, Charlotte, wife of G. O. Clinton, formerly a superintendent of the C., M. & St. P. Ry., and now a resident of Joliet , Ill. The partnership was continued and J. C. Potter continued in charge of it six years. During this period the farm was increased to 1,000 acres, splendid buildings were erected and the Clinton stock farm became the most prominent one in the township. During the next seven years it was managed by Mr. and Mrs. G. O Clinton, who were represented on the farm by their son, C. A. Clinton, in 1888-'89. In 1890, they located on it. In 1895, it was divided into four farms and three other sets of farm buildings were erected.

In 1887, J. C. Potter moved to Havelock and became associated with S. H. Gill in establishing the Citizens Bank. He continued in the banking and real estate business until 1899, when he relinquished his interest in the bank to engage again in raising stock on his own farm east of Havelock .

He served six years as a trustee of the township, '83-88, and in Havelock three, each as a member of the town council, treasurer of the school fund and president of the school board.

His family consists of six children, one of whom, LaVerne, was born and raised in Wisconsin , the others, Winifred, Pearl , Lona, John C., and Marshall, in Pocahontas county.

After the death of his father in 1880, his mother, Mrs. Harriet Capon Potter, came to this county and lived several years in Havelock . She then returned to Wisconsin and died in 1894, leaving one son, Elmer, who located at Monticello, Wis.; and three sons and two daughters, who are located in Pocahontas county, namely, John C., Havelock; Juliette, who married Ross Dennis, a painter, Rolfe; Cora, married W. S. Cox, a general merchant, Havelock; Frank A., who is in the grain business, Rolfe; and William A., the deputy sheriff of this county, Havelock.

EDWARD PRICE, and his wife Elizabeth, natives of England, married there in 1839, came to America in 1842 with one son, Theophilus, and located in New York State. August 1, 1873, he entered as a homestead the W 1/2 SE 1/4 sec. 36, Cedar township and became a resident of Pocahontas county. After a few years he engaged in the mercantile business at Pomeroy and died there in 1885. His wife died at Rockwell City in 1888. His family consisted of eight children, all of whom except the eldest son were born in New York.

JOSEPH D. REAGAN (b. 1865) the pioneer merchant of Dover township, came to Pocahontas Co. in 1881, and worked three years on the farm for Wm. Fitzgerald, then three years as a clerk for Crahan and McGrath at Rolfe, and then returned to the farm. In 1890 he married Mary A., daughter of Daniel Fitzgerald and after a year each at Atlantic and Gilmore City, in 1893 he became a member of the mercantile firm of Crahan, Linnan and Co., Fonda. In the spring of 1897 he opened a general store and postoffice at the Lilly creamery, where in 1900 he died, leaving three children, Margaret A., Norene and Francis Steven. He was a man of robust constitution and highly esteemed by all who knew him. His wife still maintains the store and postoffice.

JOSEPH M. REED (b. 1842), Clinton, is a native of Pennsylvania and in 1860 came with his parents to Delaware county, Iowa. In 1861, he enlisted as a member of Co. B, 4th Iowa Cavalry, and continued in the service until the end of the war, four years. In 1965, he married Arminta Hayden, and in 1871, located on a homestead in Palo Alto county. In 1874, he located in Clinton township, Pocahontas county, where he improved a farm of 120 acres with neat and handsome buildings, and occupied it until 1900, when he moved to Laconner, Washington.

His family consisted of three children. Amy L. in 1883 married F. F. Fitzgerald. Lena in 1891, married Charles A. Vaughn, a farmer. Ora married Miss Christianson, of Gilmore City.
Transcribers note: The original text of the book shows he married Arminta Hayden in 1965, it should be 1865.

SAMUEL SEIBERT REED, (b. June 29, 11848), banker, Rolfe, is a native of Franklin County, Pa. and in 1861 moved with his parents to a farm near Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In 1880 he moved to Dallas County where in December 1881 he entered the employ of S. P. Mellick. A few months later he became a partner with him and on April 27, 1882 , landing at the new town of Rolfe Junction with a stock of dry goods, began to keep store in what is known as the First National bank building. In June 1883 he sold his interest in the store and engaged in the grain business until Jan. 1, 1889, when he became a partner with John Lee in the banking business that in 1893 was sold to Farmer, Helsell & Co., but with which he continued to be identified until March 1, 1901, when he moved to Mitchell, S. D. to engage in farming and stock raising. He was treasurer of Rolfe during the last ten years of his residence there, 1891-1900.
On Dec. 11, 1889 , he married Anna D. Whittaker of Ill and has two children, Earl and Fay.

WALTER RICE (1845-1091), farmer, Fonda, was a native of Schoharie county, N.Y., where in 1866, he married Elizabeth Chrystal and located on a farm. In 1877, he moved to Iowa, locating first in Story and then six years in Cherokee county. In 1887, he located on the ne 1/4 sec. 24, Cedar township, Pocahontas county, and occupied this farm until a week previous to his decease, which occurred near Des Moines, March 9, 1901. During his long residence at Fonda he became well known as an enterprising and successful farmer. His family still occupies the farm. It consisted of two sons and one daughter.

Fred in 1892, married May Bennett, occupies the old home farm and has two children. Ada in 1886, married Verlin E. Hardy, farmer, Fonda. Frank in 1903, married Olive, daughter of Smauel S. Martin, Fonda.

Transcriber note: The dates following his name are original text as in the book (1845-1091) and should read (1845-1901)

JOHN A. RYON (b. 1836), owner and occupant of sec. 19, 640 acres, is a native of Wayne county, Pa., the son of William and Eleanor (Roberts) Ryon. His mother was a descendant of Rev. Hugh Roberts, the first Quaker preacher in Philadelphia. His grandfather, William, was a native of Wyoming, Pa., and his great-grand-father came from Connecticut to Wyoming a short time previous to the massacre by the Indians of that place. A family bible, that his father purchased about the time of his marriage, while on a rafting expedition and carried home on foot, a distance of 100 miles, may be seen at his home.

At the age of two years he came with his parents to Kendall county, Ill., where he grew to manhood. In 1861 he engaged in farming in DeKalb county, where in 1863 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Dunbar. After his marriage he sold his farm and served in the army as a member of Co. K, Eighth Illinois Cavalry, from Oct. 4, 1864, to July 22, 1865. His regiment, under Col. Clendenning, was assigned to the work of guarding Washington City and watching the movements of the guerrilla forces under Moseby and White.

After the war he returned to DeKalb county, Illinois, and in 1884 located on his present farm on section 19, 640 acres, which he purchased from Frank, a son of D. C. Williams, the nurseryman. The small house and barn that had been erected on this farm have been greatly enlarged, so that they are now among the largest in the township.

In the spring of 1883, D. C. Williams started a nursery of five acres and an orchard of 200 apple trees on this farm. Many of the apple trees have been bearing during the last ten years. The varieties that have done best are the Duchess (summer), Wealthy (fall), Pewaukee's, Bailey's and Talman's Sweets (winter), Martha and Whitney No. 20 (crab). The apple crop in 1896 was about 100 bushels, and much larger crops have been gathered since that date.

Mr. Ryon has been very successful in raising stock, both hogs and cattle, and is now in very comfortable circumstances. He is a fine looking man, wears a full beard, takes little interest in politics and enjoys the confidence and esteem of his fellow citizens. He has secured a good heritage for his children.

His family consists of four children: Lizzie in 1892 married Wilbur E. Craig (p. 684) and located on the NW 1/4 sec. 30, where they occupied the first house built in Washington township, by J. L. Clark in 1870. Her family consists of two children, Hattie and Alice; Andrew D., (b. 1868) in 1893 married Grace, daughter of William and Julia Edwards. He occupies the SW 1/4 sec. 19. His wife died in 1894, leaving one child, Grace. In 1898 he married Mary Pooler (b. 1873) and has one son, John; Hugh L. (b. 1870) in 1898 married Alice Gertrude Moore. He occupies the NW 1/4 sec. 19, and has two children, Bertha and Julia Etta; Jay (b. 1872) in 1900 married Lizzie M. Aschenbrenner, and is located on section 19.

W. B. SAUNDERS (1855-1901), dealer, Rolfe, was a native of Rensselaer county, N.Y. At ten he came with his parents to Illinois and later to Black Hawk county, Iowa. In 1879, he married Alma Messinger and in 1886, located on a farm in Center township, Pocahontas county. After seven years he moved to Rolfe, where he became a dealer in hay and ice. He was a man of strict integrity and very highly respected. He left a wife, five sons and two daughters.

ELECTA SAYRE,(b. 1826), who in 1877 with three sons, Lewis, Eugene and Charles, located on Sec. 21, Dover township, and is now a resident of Fonda, is a native of Vermont, the daughter of James and Melinda (Hemenway) Haven. In 1837 with her parents she located in Winnebago Co., Ill. , where in 1844 she married William Sayre. In 1855 they moved to Allamakee Co., Iowa , where he died in 1861, leaving a family of seven children. In 1865 she moved to Dyersville and in 1877 to Pocahontas Co.

Lionel (b. 1845), in Dubuque Co., married Polly Mountsey, and in 1875 located in Dover township. Later he moved to Fonda and in 1886 to Sellwood , Oregon , where he died in 1901, leaving a family of two children, Addie and Nellie. Frances married William Spence and lives in the state of Washington . Lewis (b. 1848), lives with his mother.

Julia, in 1871, married Mark A. (son of Solomon) Haven, a carpenter, and lives in Fonda. He was a member of the town council three years, 1886- 88, and mayor four years, '89-92. Their family consists of two children, Albert and Harrold.

Ellen, in 1877, married Edward O'Donnell (see O'Donnell). Eugene (b. 1860), in 1886 married Lula Beardsley, lives in Cedar township, and has two children, Guy and Clay. Charles (b. 1862), in 1887 married Elizabeth Gilson, a milliner, lives in Fonda and has one child, Zola.

Electa (Haven) Sayre was the second in a family of ten children, six of whom located in Pocahontas county, namely, Lucinda, who married Mahlon Sayre; Electa, Sophia, who married Horace Haven and lives at Fonda; Minerva, who married A. F. Burdick; Henrietta, who married Mannis O'Donnell; and Charles. The others were Sylvester, a soldier in the civil war; Ellen, James and Lydia .

SAYRE, MAHLON (b. N. J. 1817; d. 1890), was the eighth in a family of nine sons. After learning to make brooms in New Jersey he moved to Winnebago Co., Ill. , where he married Lucinda Haven. In 1873 two of his children, Albert and Elnora, having preceded him, he came to Pocahontas Co. with the others and located on Sec. 20, Dover township. He died in 1890 and his wife a few months previous. 1. Elvira married William Gilson (see Gilson).

2. James Albarnus (b. 1852), in 1875 married Fannie Thompson and located on a homestead in Buena Vista Co. He died in 1891 leaving one daughter, Pearl , who in 1900 married E. D. Snyder and located in Oklahoma , where her mother also lives.

3. Albert (b. 1854), in 1872 married Mary, daughter of Frank A. Burdick. He owns a farm of 110 acres in Dover township and has a family of two children, Dora and Budd.

4. Melinda in 1867 married Lewis K. Johnson and continued to live in Illinois until 1873, when they located in Dover township. Their family consists of three children all of whom live in Idaho . Jennie married Daniel Finnelson, William married Daisy Ingram and Lulu married Charles Irwin. In 1887 Melinda married Washington Snyder and the next year moved to Idaho .

5. Elnora married Eugene Evans (see Evans).

6.CHARLES A. SAYRE (b. 1859), in 1886 married Flora Watts and located on a farm of 320 acres on Sec. 31, Marshall township, which he still owns. Three years later he moved to Sec. 32, Dover township, where he has since resided except during the year 1892, which he spent in Idaho .

In November 1900 he secured five telephone instruments and, utilizing the top wire of the intervening wire fences, established a local telephone system that connects him with four of his relatives in that vicinity, namely, Ai Watts, Joseph Morrison, Albert Sayre and Peter Morrison. This inexpensive and independent line has been a source of great convenience. A telegraphic arrangement prevails on this line and no central office is needed. Every message can be received at every home and the one for which it is intended is indicated by the number of rings.

His family consists of four children; Fay, Crystal , George Watts and Ruby.

7. Henrietta married Peter Morrison (see Morrison).

8. Mahlon Sylvester (b. 1863), is a resident of Fonda.

ALVA L. SCHULTZ, (b. Dec. 26, 1861) editor, is a native of Clinton county, Iowa. In 1886 he began to engage in newspaper work at Winfield, Kan., and the next year became part owner of the Winfield Daily Visitor. In 1889 he returned to Iowa and the next year started the Blade at Wall Lake. Three years later he went to Traer and with H. C. Mann, as a partner, started the Traer Globe. In April 1894 he relinquished his interest in this paper, bought the Rolfe Argus and continued its publication until Dec. 1, 1898, when he moved to Pocahontas and established the Pocahontas Herald. At Rolfe he served as secretary of the school board two years, 1896-97, and at Pocahontas has been justice of the peace and secretary of the school board during the last two years.

HENRY SCHOENTAHL (b. 1844) farmer, Fonda, became a member of Co. M, 6th Iowa Cavalry, Oct. 16, 1862, at Dubuque, and went into camp at Davenport. He was mustered out at Sioux City, Oct. 15, 1865, after three years of service on the northwestern frontier. He participated in the battles with the Indians at Hart Mound, White Stone Hill, and the Black Hills.

In 1868, he married Louisa Kruse, at Dubuque and they continued to reside there until 1890, when they located in the vicinity of Fonda. His family consisted of six children, Emil, Wilhelmina, Sadie, August, Ludic and Edward.

MRS. GEORGE SEIFERT (1826-1902), Clinton, was a native of Germany. In 1848, at Schenectady, N.Y., she became the wife of George Seifert, who died in 1885, at DeWitt, Iowa, leaving a family of nine children. In 1889, Mrs. Seifert and her daughter, Anna, became residents of Clinton township, making their home with her daughter Catherine, wife of W. C. Kennedy. Anna in 1901, married Edward H. Weigman and located at Barlow, N. D. Three of her sons, Charles C., John and Amos Seifert, are still residents of Pocahontas county. The other children are Mrs. McKidd, Nebraska City, Mrs. Page, Chicago, and Henry Seifert, DeWitt, Iowa. She was a loving mother and a noble woman. She endeavored to exert a good influence over all with whom she associated.

PATRICK SHEA (b. 1837), owner and occupant of a farm of 240 acres on sec. 5, Cedar township, is a native of Ireland. At ten he came with his parents to Canada and in 1862, located in New York. The next year he went to California and spent the next seven years mining copper at Stockton or doing other work at San Francisco. In 1869, he married there Mary Maher. In 1870, he left the Pacific coast, visited friends in New York and Canada, bought and located on 80 acres of his present farm which he has nicely improved and increased to 240 acres. He is an intelligent and highly respected citizen and has served several years as assessor, trustee and treasurer of Cedar township.

His wife died in 1879, leaving four children, Richard, Joseph, Margaret and Mary.
Patrick Shea, his father, who came to his home in 1882, died there at 74 in 1887.

JOHN BURTON SHELDON (b. 1867), druggist and optician, Havelock, is a native of Illinois, the son of William A. and Sarah A. (Loverin) Sheldon. After completing a course in pharmacy at the Iowa State University in 1889, he became a member of the firm of C. D. Baker & Co., druggists, Toledo, Iowa. In 1891 he married Myrtle Stauffer of Gladbrook and located at Havelock, where he has since been proprietor of a drug store and jewelry business. There is no occupation in which care, knowledge and experience are more essential than in that of thedruggist, and the establishment conducted by Mr. Sheldon is one of the most reliable in the county. He has had many years of profitable experience and carries a large stock of fresh drugs, medicines, oils, paints, school books and stationery. He is also an optician, having completed a course in optics at the college at South Bend, Ind., in 1901, and carries a carefully selected stock of jewelry.

He is serving his fourth year as a member of the Havelock council and sixth year as treasurer of the school funds.

His family consists of two children, Olive B. and Lawrence Burton, one child having died at the age of two in 1895.

PERRY H. SHERMAN (1838-1902), Rolfe, was a native of Cattaraugus county, N.Y. At the age of four he was bereft of mother and his deprived of a home, circumstances that compelled him to support himself as soon as he was able. He grew to manhood on a farm and in 1858, married Jerusha Smith. In 1865, he located in Jones county, Iowa, where he experienced the hardships common to the pioneers of that section, one of which was the protection of their lives and homes against the depredations of outlaws. During a part of this period he was captain of a band of vigilantes, who were organized for the purpose of apprehending and punishing horse-thieves and other violators of law. In 1892, he became the owner and occupant of a farm adjoining Rolfe and died at 64 in 1902. By industry and frugality he acquired a comfortable competency. He was a man of sterling worth, truthful in his word and exemplary in his conduct.

His family consisted of eight children, namely, J.P. and F.H. Sherman, merchants, Mrs. O.B. Fuller, Nellie, Fred A. and Benjamin Sherman, all of whom reside at Rolfe. Fred and Benjamin in 1902, were students of the State University at Iowa City, having in view the practice of law and medicine respectively. One of his children died in childhood and Alice, wife of F.F. Ellicker, died in 1900, at her home in Des Moines.

WILLIAM ONIDES SIDWELL (b. 1867) is a native of West Virginia. In 1873 he came with his parents to Marshalltown, Iowa, where two years later his mother died. Later he accompanied his father to Benton and also Grundy county. In 1886 he located at Havelock and three years later established there a harness shop, which he maintained during the next thirteen years. During this period he was industrious and earnest, and by close attention to business built up a good trade. He was a good workman and carried a large and varied stock of harness and other horse furnishings. His shop was the only one in the town and by employing skilful workmen and using only good materials he was enabled to draw trade from long distances. In the spring of 1902 he disposed of his interest in the harness business and became a dealer In general merchandise. He has carried into this new and wider field of business operations the good-will he acquired during his long previous residence in Havelock. He served as clerk of Washington township four years, 1893-96, and has been a member of the Havelock Council five years, 1898-1902.

In 1892 he married Matie Webster of Havelock and has a family of three daughters, Zella, Madge and Benita.

JAMES SINNETT (b. 1836: d. 1903), one of the pioneers of Pocahontas county, was a native of Ireland. He came to America in 1853, and after a residence of four years in New York located in Michigan, where he was engaged in the copper industry the next twelve years. In 1869, he married Julia Ryan (b. Ireland 1840), and located in Pocahontas county, Iowa, first in Lizard, the next year in Bellville, and in 1878, on sec. 23, Lake township, where he secured a farm of 240 acres. In 1900, he moved to Rolfe and later to Gilmore City, where he died at 67 in 1903.
His family consisted of twelve children, seven of whom survive him.
M. T. in 1891, married Juliam Murphy. After spending ten years in the mining districts of Colorado, he located at Pocahontas and has a family of four children.
Maggie in 1883, married Thomas Laihoff, lives at Marysville, Montana, and has seven children.
James in 1899, married Anna Keileher occupies his own farm in Lake township and has two children.
Kate in 1892, married M. J. Ford, a farmer, lives in Webster county and has six children.
Patrick in 1899, married Agnes Nugent, lives on his own farm in Lake township and has two children.
Mary in 1895, married J. C. Hood, a farmer, lives in Webster county and has two children.
Julia A.; a teacher in 1903 at Gilmore City, has been very successful in her profession, having taught three and on-half years in Rolfe. Her mother lives with her

THOMAS BRENNAN SMITH (1855-1902), Clinton, was a native of Peoria, Ill. He was the son of Andrew Brennan, who died when he was a babe. His mother soon afterward married Andrew S. Smith, father of James S. Smith of Plover, and the name of Smith was adopted. In 1870, he came with his father to Pocahontas county and continued to reside in it until his death at 48 in 1902. In 1878, he married Julia Nemechk who died at his home on sec. 29. He left on daughter, Mary, who lives with her grandmother, Mrs. Nemecek.

Tom Smith was a pioneer character whose acquaintance or fame was not confined to Pocahontas county. During the early days he kept large herds of cattle on the prairies and as the years passed became possessor of 560 acres in Clinton township. His tastes were extremely primitive and during the summer months he scorned to wear anything on his feet. He made his trips to the neighboring towns and even to the cities without any special change of clothing. As a trader in hay and cattle he did a large business each year. He was a hard and persistent worker, often disregarding the time of day. He experienced the hardships of the pioneer through many years of wearing and wearisome labor.

He was a brother of Mrs. John H. Oldaker and Mrs. John Bush, a half brother of James S. Smith, a cousin of H. C. Barnes, and was related to the Nemecek brothers and Volutka families.

MRS. GEO. SMITH, who came in 1870 and died in 1881, is remembered as a woman of great energy, though small in stature and not possessing a very rugged constitution. She was one of the best of women in ministering to the needs of others. She was even known to watch her neighbor's cattle. Her death was lamented by a large circle of friends.

GEORGE W. SMITH, (b. 1836), resident of Grant from 1870 to 1882, was the son of John and Olive (Pearsall) Smith and a native of New York , where in 1861 he married Almira C. Henry. In 1867 he moved to Cedar county, Iowa , and in 1870 to Sec. 26, Grant township. He participated in the organization of the township, served as one of its first trustees and as the first treasurer of the school funds. In 1881 his estimable wife, who had been very useful in the settlement, died leaving one son, Walter J. The next year he moved to Pomeroy and engaged in the implement business. In 1900 he moved to Fort Dodge . In 1882 he married Gertrude Whaley, of Oswego , N. Y., and their family consists of one daughter, Effie. Walter J., in 1891, married Cora G. Holcomb, embarked in the insurance business at Pomeroy and has a family of five children, Edna, Iva, Margarite, Elwood and Esther.

ANTON SMORKOVSKI (1824-1881), Bellville, was a native of Bohemia, where in 1851, he married _____ Dosa, who died a few years afterwards leaving one daughter, Mary. In 1856, he married Barbara Dosa, a sister of his first wife, and, coming to America in 1867, located in Livingston county, Ill. In 1872, with a family consisting of wife, four sons and three daughters, he came to Pocahontas county, Iowa, and located on the e 1/2 sw 1/4 sec. 28, 80 acres, Bellville township. He was an industrious and thrifty farmer, and improved his farm with good and substantial buildings. At the time of his death at 57 in 1881, he was the owner of 320 acres, all of which are still owned and occupied by his wife and the younger members of his family.
Mary, a daughter by his first wife, in 1875, married Peter Kemmer and located on a farm of 160 acres on sec. 13, Sherman township, which they have improved, increased to 320 acres, and still occupy. Their family consists of three children, Peter, Annie and John.
Anton (b. Boh. 1857) in 1885, married Mary Stoley. He owns and occupies a farm of 170 acres in Center township and has a family of five children, Mary, James, Elizabeth, Lois and Anna.
Annie (b. Boh. 1858) in 1877, married Rudolph Beneke, (see page 345).
John (b. Boh. 1860) owns and occupies a farm of 100 acres on sec. 16, which he has improved with good buildings.
Donna (b. Ill. 1868) in 1890, married George Peters, who owns and occupies a farm near Havelock, which he was the first to improve. Their family consists of five children, George, Barbara, Anton, Joseph and John.
Sophia (b. Iowa, 1872) in 1895, married John Clain, a farmer. Lives in Washington township, and has a family of three children, Jennie, Anton and Joseph.
Joseph, Frank and their mother occupy the old home farm.

JOSEPH SOUTHWORTH,(b. 1832), Laurens, is a native of new Jersey . In 1856 he came with his parents to Buchanan county, Iowa , where in 1858 he married Augusta Hayes (B. 1834.), a native of New Brunswick , and engaged in farming. In 1876 with a family of three children, he came to Pocahontas county and located on the Osborn homestead, on the ne 1/4 sec. 18, Dover township. He improved and occupied this farm until 1888, when he moved to Fonda and four years later to Laurens. He has frequently supported the candidates of the prohibition party, but in recent years has been a republican. He has been a life-long worker in the M. E. church and respect for his excellent judgment has enabled him to exert a potent influence in every community in which he has lived. The amiable companion of his wedded life died at 66 in 1901 at Pocahontas. Her life was one of beautiful trust in God and she exemplified in a happy manner the Christian graces of patience, kindness and love.

His family consisted of three children: Jessie F. (b. 1859) in 1882 married W. H. English, a traveling salesman, lives at Fremont , Neb. , and has four children, Grace, Wallace, Nellie and Willard.

Edwin H. (b. 1862) a harness maker, in 1886 married Bertha B. Burnett and located at Laurens, where he still works at his trade. He is the owner of several properties at Laurens and a farm of 80 acres in Dover township. He has two children, Vincent and Archie B.

Fred J. (b. 1870), also a harness maker located at Pocahontas, where he acquired considerable prominence by serving several terms as a justice of the peace. He married Bessie G. Wallace and has two children Mabel and Verne.

In 1902 Fred and family and his father, Joseph Southworth, moved to Boden, North Dakota.

DAVID SPIELMAN, (b. Aug. 28, 1824), resident of Fonda and vicinity since 1870, is a native of Baden, Germany, and in 1848 came to Sullivan Co., N. Y., where he found employment as a carpenter. In Dec. 1851, he married Dorothea Couch and five years later moved to Dubuque Co., Iowa , where he continued to work at his trade. In the fall of 1870 he located on a homestead of 80 acres on the s 1/2 ne 1/4 sec. 24, Cedar township, this county, improved and occupied it until 1880 when he sold it and bought the sw 1/4 of sec. 19, Colfax township, 160 acres. On this farm he built a good house, barn and other outbuildings and occupied it until 1893, when he sold it, built a comfortable residence in Fonda and moved to town.

In 1845 he entered the German army and spent four and one-half years in the military service of his country. This was the period of the rebellion in Baden , and he participated in thirteen battles.

He has been good citizen and has raised a family of eight children, one having died in childhood and another at the age of twelve. 1. -- David (b. 1851), married Mary Jane (Reed) Wilbur, who in 1872 bought and still owns a farm of 80 acres on the w 1/2 se 1/4 sec. 25, Cedar township. He died in 1883 leaving one son, Carl Spielman, who in 1898 married Stella Reed, of the state of Washington , and lives in Fonda with his mother. The latter on coming to this county in 1872 taught school three years. She was first married to James M. Wilbur, and their family consisted of one son, Romeo M. Wilbur, who in 1870 came to the home of his uncle B. F. Osburn, taught school several years at Pomeroy and vicinity and is now in Chicago . 2 -- Jacob (b. June 28, 1855, N. Y.), a mason and plasterer, resident of Fonda, in 1889 married Nora May Sheriff and has a family of four children, Flossie, Virgil, David and Esther. 3. -- Mary married R. B. Adams, drayman, lives at Cherokee and has a family of four children, Early, Hiram, Elizabeth and Maud. 4. -- Dora married Gustave Gottfried (See Gottfried). 5. -- Sophia married Louie Lieb (See Lieb). 6. -- Frederick (b. Aug. 22, 1864 , Iowa ) a drayman, Fonda, in 1896 married Alta Hardy and lives with his parents. 7. -- Elizabeth married William Wykoff, a plasterer, lives at Fonda and has four children, Roy, Madge, Harry and Vera. 8. -- Lulu, in 1893, married James H. Thompson, a carpenter, Fonda, and has one child.

GEO. SPRAGG, 1868. The first residents of Cedar township seem to have been Elijah Chase and family, consisting of wife and five children, and Geo. Spragg and family. These two families were related to each other by marriage, and bringing their effects from Buchanan county on wagons drawn by oxen, they located at Sunk Grove on Sec. 6, Aug. 9, 1868 . At this date there were no settlements west of those along the Lizard streams and not even a beaten wagon trail through this township. ... Geo. Spragg married Miss Osburn, a niece of J. W. Wallace, and, after a residence of twelve years in the county, moved to Nebraska .

GEORGE B. SQUIRE (1839-1903), Fonda, was a native of Huron county, Ohio. He enlisted as a member of the 3rd Ohio Cavalry, when the first call for volunteers was made at the beginning of the Civil War, and, at the end of three years, re-enlisted and continued in the service of his country until the close of the war. He then came to Iowa, and located at Iowa City, then at Grinnell and later in Audubon county. In 1893, he located near Fonda, where he died at 64 in 1903. He possessed a pleasing personality, was a faithful soldier and highly respected citizen.
In 1869, he married Sarah Detwiler and left a family consisting of two sons and three daughter, Mrs. Georgia Easthouse, Enola and Grace, teachers, Allan and Ernest.

JOSEPH STOULIL (b. 1835), Pocahontas, is a native of Bohemia, where in 1859, he married Antonia Sramek. Some years afterwards he came to America and located in Tama county, Iowa, and in 1872, on 160 acres on sec. 19, Center township, Pocahontas county. He was the first to occupy and improve this farm and increased it to 440 acres. In 1875, when Center township was organized, he was elected a trustee and also the first treasurer of the school board. He is now a resident of Pocahontas, where he is the owner of considerable town property. His family consisted of fourteen children, nine of whom are living.
Joseph (b. 1860), married and lives in South Dakota. Wencel (b. 1865) in 1888, married Ann Bartosh, occupies a farm of 160 acres in Center township and has six children, Mary, Ella, Joseph, Wencel, William and Agnes. Mary in 1885, married Anton Smorkovsky, lives near Pocahontas and has five children Mary, Wencel, Elizabeth, Alice and Anna. Anna in 1888, married Joseph Hobart, lives in Arkansas, and has three children, Agnes, Josephine and Alice. Frank (b. 1873) in 1899, married Josephine Hudek, occupies a farm of 160 acres in Center township and has one son, Richard. Frances is a nurse at Sioux City. Edward is married and occupies the old home farm on sec. 19, Center township. Emma and William are at home.

STRAIGHT BROS., Lee S. and Guy H., manufacturers of brick and tile, Fonda, are natives of McLean county, Ill., sons of Rufus C. and Francina R. (Abbey) Straight. They grew to manhood and received their early education at Fairbury, Livingston county, Ill. Lee in 1882 erected a tile factory at Manhattan, and two years later, selling this plant, bought another one at El Paso, Ill., where Guy then became associated with him in business. In 1894 they came to Fonda and erected a brick and tile manufacturing establishment (p. 388), that has since received their undivided attention and been successfully operated by them. Both are skillful mechanics and entirely familiar with every department of their work. They have with their own hands erected not only their buildings, but also their most important and delicate machinery. The industry they have established is one of the most important at Fonda and its management, under their careful personal supervision, has been very successful. They are the owners of several hundred acres of land in the vicinity of Fonda, and leading stockholders of the Northern Telephone Company. Lee S. Straight (b. 1860) completed his education at the Bryant & Stratton business college, Chicago. He is a director of the Northern Telephone Co. and has served several terms as a member of the Fonda council. In 1882, in Livingston county, Ill., he married Ida Tanner, a teacher, and his family consists of six children. Halver and Fleda, Fonda graduates in 1902 and 1903, respectively, Gladys, Ina, Merton and Alma. Guy H. Straight (b. 1868), junior member of the firm of Straight Bros., in 1891 during his residence at El Paso, Ill., married Ida E. Mahoney, a teacher and resident of Fairbury, Ill. His family consists of three children, Oma, Leta and Lois, one having died in childhood. He is now (1903) a member of the Fonda council.

JAMES C. STRONG (b. 1834), a pioneer resident of Washington township and a county supervisor, 1875-83, is a native of Branch county, Michigan, the son of John and Eliza (Moore) Strong, both of whom were of Scotch descent. His father died when he was four years of age, and all of his brothers and sisters are also dead. In 1854 he married Ellen, sister of Morah and Jason Russell, and located on a farm. In 1858 they came to Dubuque county, Iowa, where he worked in the lead mines six years and engaged in farming the next five. In 1869 he came to Pocahontas county and made the purchase of 2,200 acres of land for himself (560 acres), Jonathan L. Clark, Benjamin Mather, Ephraim Smith, Lewis Foland, John, Harry, Morah and Jason Russell in Washington and Sherman townships. In May, 1870, accompanied by Jonathan L. Clark and Jason N. Russell, he began to occupy and improve his farm on section 32, and the next year built on it the second house and planted the first grove in the township. He improved this farm with good buildings and orchard and occupied it until 1888, when he moved to Havelock and became the proprietor of a lumber yard. After a few years he relinquished his interest in the lumber business and has since been living in comparative retirement in the enjoyment of the well earned competency acquired during the early and prosperous years of his long, active and eminently useful life.

He performed a leading part at the time the township was organized, and served two years as one of the trustees, six years as the first justice, and nine years 1877-85 as the first treasurer of the school funds. He served nine years 1875-83 as a member of the board of county supervisors. He was mayor of Havelock in 1895 and served three years as a member of the first town council.

He is president of the Havelock Old Settlers' association and has presided at all of their annual gatherings since the second one, held in 1897. Ever since he located in Washington township he has been the most prominent citizen of it. His long period of service as a member of the board of county supervisors is suggestive of the public confidence reposed in him. He has always endeavored to do his duty conscientiously, and the integrity of his motives has never been assailed. During his long and active career he has exerted a potent influence in the township and county, and his memory will be cherished by his fellow citizens as that of an upright, honorable man. He is a good illustration of the adage that "Patient plodding persistently prosecuted produces permanent prosperity."

During the eighteen years spent on the farm he had his early experiences with the grasshoppers and with marauding trappers. When the era of better times began, about the year 1880, he spent much time in the work of improving his land, and has erected the second and third set of farm buildings. Two of his farms have wells 300 feet deep, operated by windmills. Two of them have orchards in good bearing condition, and one of them contains eight acres. The Wealthy, Duchess and a few other varieties of apples have stood this climate well, and since 1895 have yielded several crops of 200 bushels or more.

His family consisted of five children:

Alva A. (b. Mich. 1854), a teacher in the early days, in 1874 married Marilda Pilgrim and occupies the old home farm three miles southwest of Havelock. He served as a township trustee in 1879, and seven years as the first secretary of the school board. His family consists of eleven children, one having died in childhood: Etta May, James F., Elizabeth, Pearl W., Ida F., Elmer, John, Mary, Mildred, Wilbur and Archibald.

William A. (b. Mich. 1857) married Mary Pilgrim, a cousin of Marilda, lives at Alida, Ill., and has one daughter, Lucile.

Jason F. (b. Iowa, 1860) in 1889 married Amy Wilson and lives on a part of the old farm on section 32.

Mary Ellen (b. Iowa, 1866) in 1893 married Rev. Joseph Herrington, a minister of the M. E. church, lives now at Barnum and has a family of two children, Luella Grace and Lois Maud.

Myrta Luella (b. 1876), the only member of the family born in this county, in 1899 married George Dickerson, lives at Havelock and has two children, James Claude and Burton Clay. Luella postoffice, the first one in Washington township, was named in her honor.

JAMES STRUTHERS, brother of William, after seven years spent in Australia, located across the line in Humboldt county near McKnight's Point, a beautiful point of timber extending from the east bank of the Des Moines river out upon the prairie a few miles northeast of Rolfe. He improved and occupied this farm until his death in 1898, at which time he was the owner of a large and finely improved farm.

In 1881 he married Margaret Jane, daughter of John and Margaret Kilgour, and his family consisted of eight children, five sones and three daughters, namely, George, a farmer, Maggie, deceased, Andrew J. who located at Sioux Rapids and died at 36 in 1903 leaving a wife and two children, Barbara, Robert, Fred, Anna and Watson.

WILLIAM STRUTHERS (b. 1836), farmer, Des Moines, brother of Robert, (p.171) is a native of Canada where in 1860 he married Anna, daughter of John and Margaret Kilgour. Coming to Pocahontas county that year he located on the nw 1/4 sec. 13, Des Moines township, which he improved and occupied until 1877, when he located on the ne 1/4 sec. 23, where he still resides and is the owner of 226 acres. His family consisted of seven children, one of whom died in childhood. John A. (b. 1862), a farmer, in 1892 married Emma Norman, lives in Des Moines township and has a family of four children, Vernon, Gordon, Florence and Robert. William J. (b. 1865), a railroader, in 1894 married Hulda Elg, lives at Gowrie and has a family of four children, Donald, Pauline, Clifton and Carl Elva. Nellie in 1894 married Frank King, a dentist, lives at Rolfe and has one daughter, Milfred Louise. Elizabeth in 1894 married Frank Duvoe, a banker and lives at Jeffers, Minn. George D. (b. 1876), is the owner and occupant of a far of 170 acres on sec. 18, Des Moines township. In 1900 he married Natalia Julmi and has one son, Melvin. Leslie (b. 1879) is at home

HENRY SULLIVAN (b. 1854), Cedar, is a native of Wheeling, W. Va. At the age of one year he moved with his parents, John and Ann Gibbons Sullivan, to Green county, Wis., where he grew to manhood. In 1880, he located in Pocahontas county, Iowa, in the vicinity of Fonda, and is now the owner and occupant of a farm of 160 acres near the town, on which he has erected all the improvements. In 1882, he married Ann Knight of Green county, Wis.

JEREMIAH O. SULLIVAN (b. 1840) is a native of Ireland. At the age of nine he came with his parents to Memphis, Tenn. and six months later to Jackson county, Iowa. In 1870, he came to Pocahontas county and located on a homestead of 80 acres on sec. 4, Cedar township, which he still occupies, has increased to 430 acres and improved with good buildings.
In 1874 he married Mary Keefe and has a family of three sons and three daughters, Michael, Anna, Margaret, John, William, and Mary.
John Carey, James Griffin and Peter Byrne, who reside in the vicinity of Fonda, are married to sisters of Mr. Sullivan. His parents lived and died in Jackson county.

SWEN J. SWENSON (b. 1840), tailor, is a native of Sweden, where he grew to manhood and in 1867, married Alberta Eigil (b. 1843). In 1869, he came to America and lived nine years in Brooklyn, N.Y. In 1878, he located at Newell and in 1892, at Fonda, Iowa, where he established tailor shops that at times gave employment to several workmen besides himself and his two sons, Paul and Gustave. Nov. 1, 1900, he moved to Albert City. He is an industrious worker, a man of sterling integrity and has raised a fine family.

His family consisted of six children. Bertha in 1891, married Carl E. Thorpe, a tailor, lives at Manson and has three children, Evelyne, Lloyd and Magarite.

Swen N. (b. 1871), a drug clerk, St. James, Minn., in 1894, married Eva Alfreda Krohn and has two children, Irena and Marion.

Paul (b. 1875), a tailor, Lake City, in 1896, married Edna Clearwater and has one child, Pauline.

Gustave T. (b. 1875), a Fonda graduate in 189, worked in the tailor shop several years, acquired a practical knowledge of electrical engineering and is now chief electrician for the Pacific Wireless Telegraph and Telephone Company, San Pedro, Cal. In 1902, he married Edith, daughter of William and Rebecca J. Busby, Fonda, and lives in Los Angeles.

Mary Johnson Swenson (1808-1897), his mother, in 1872, the year after the death of her husband, Swen Swenson, at the age of 64 years, came to America and lived with her son, Swen J., at Brooklyn, Newell and Fonda, until her death at 89 in 1897. She was the mother of four children, one of whom, the eldest, died in childhood; Anna Bertha married August Foegelquist and lives in Minnesota; Augusta married C. Ljungren lives in Sweden; and Swen J. Swenson. She was a devout member of the Lutheran church.

ISHA CLARENCE THATCHER (b. 1845), county auditor, is a native of Williston, Vt., the son of Stephen and Hellen Isham Thatcher. In 1853, he moved with his parents to Indiana, in 1857, to Dodge county, Wis., and in 1863, to Minnesota, where his parents still reside. In 1888, he located in Des Moines township, Pocahontas county, where he soon won recognition as an enterprising and prosperous farmer. He was three times elected and served efficiently as auditor of this county six years, 1897-1902. Called from the plow to accept an important public trust he discovered to his friends that the man who successfully stirs the sod can faithfully and efficiently perform the duties of the auditor's office. He is now serving as a deputy in the auditor's office.

In 1869, he married Helen A. Faster who died in 1871 leaving one daughter now Mrs. H. B. White, Houston, Minn. In 1878, he married Ella C., only daughter of Sanford and Chloe Brown Ritter, and their family consists of one daughter, Eloise, a teacher.

SYLVESTER P. THOMAS (b. 1852), assistant cashier of the Bank of Havelock, 1891-98, is a native of Mahaska county, the son of James B. and Irene A. Thomas. In 1875 he married Ella M., daughter of William and Mary Perry, and located on a farm in Marshall county. In 1887 he located in Havelock and engaged in the mercantile business in partnership with C. H. Collins. In 1891, when the Bank of Havelock was established, he relinquished his interest in the store and becoming an assistant cashier in the bank, continued to fill that position until 1898, when he moved to Humboldt county and became cashier of the Bank of Rutland. In 1902 he located at Hunter, Oklahoma, and associated with Clark L. Thompson, his son-in-law, became proprietor of the Bank of Hunter. Clark L. Thompson became its vice-president and Fay C. Thomas, his son, its cashier. At the time of his removal from Havelock he owned several valuable town properties and about 780 acres of land in that vicinity. He served five years as treasurer of Havelock.

His family consisted of two children: Bertha M., a graduate of Mt. Vernon college, became the wife of Clark L. Thompson, banker, and lives at Hunter, Oklahoma. Fay O., a graduate of the Capital City Commercial college, and cashier of the Bank of Hunter, died at the age of twenty- four in 1903.

A SPRINGFIELD SURVIVOR: It is of interest to note that S. P. Thomas was a survivor of the Spirit Lake massacre of 1857. His father and family, consisting of wife and six children: Frank, Albert, Emma, William, who was killed, Sylvester and Mary, the baby, in 1855 had located at Springfield, Minn., where the Indians arrived with bloody intent about 4 o'clock in the afternoon of March 26, 1857, after the massacre at Spirit Lake. The log cabin of Mr. Thomas was located at the edge of some timber and 22 persons had sought refuge in it at the time the Indians arrived. When the Indians came they hitched their ponies and secreted themselves in the timber some distance from the cabin. Then one of the chiefs came to the cabin dancing and singing to attract the family out of it. William, about ten years of age and being in the yard, was the first to see the chief approaching and called to those in the house to see the "old chief," whom he recognized, dance. This Indian had been at the Thomas home on several previous occasions to receive food and had smoked the "pipe of peace." As soon as the family was attracted outside the cabin the Indians rushed from the timber and as a result of their first volley William was shot in the head and instantly killed. Mr. Thomas received a severe wound in the right arm and two of the neighbor women were also wounded. After this onset the attention of the Indians was occupied for a short time in getting the horses from the stable. This gave the family time to get into the house and barricade the door and windows. Fortunately three hunters or trappers, who were well provided with arms and ammunition, were lodging with the family at this time, and Mr. Thomas had three rifles, though after his injury he could not use them. The fusilade of the hunters kept the Indians at bay until 11 o'clock at night when they withdrew, taking the horses but leaving about eight of their own number who had been killed by the hunters.

One hour later preparations were begun for the departure of the family and those that were with them to Ft. Dodge 75 miles distant. To make this journey some of the cattle that were left were hitched to a sled, the women and children were loaded on it and the trip was begun in the darkness of the night. In the haste of leaving, supplies of food were forgotten and they were nearly famished from hunger when met by the relief expedition from Ft. Dodge. Mary, the baby, died from the exposure incident to the journey, about the time of their arrival at Fort Dodge.

Mr. Thomas had built the log cabin on his own homestead, but after this terrible experience, he never returned to occupy it. He engaged for a few years in the mercantile business at Nevada and then moved to Marshall county, where he died in 1866.

GEORGE E. THOMPSON, (b. June 22, 1826 , d. Cedar township, Aug. 20, 1891 ) was a native of Indiana county, Pa., the son of George C. and Elizabeth ( Davis ) Thompson. May 5, 1853 , he married Evaline George and engaged in farming. Dec. 31, 1866 , he moved to Aledo, Mercer county, Ill. , where he remained three years. In November 1869, in two prairie schooners, he and his family made the trip to Redfield , Iowa , crossing the Mississippi at New Boston, Ill. In the fall of 1870 they located on a homestead of 80 acres on the N 1/2 SE 1/4 Sec. 18, Cedar township. He improved this farm with good buildings and a new house in 1890, and occupied it until the time of his decease in 1891. In 1894 this farm was sold and the family moved to Fonda.

His family consisted of seven children, all of whom are still living. 1 -- Cyrus is a veteran school teacher, one who has been well qualified for teaching, stands high in educational circles and in the fall of 1899, as the democratic nominee for the office of county superintendent, polled a splendid vote - his own township of Cedar, that gave the republican candidate for county treasurer a majority of 187, giving him a democratic majority of 44 votes. He still lives with his mother. 2 - - Elizabeth Frances, March 24, 1875, married James Albarnus Sayre, who died in Fonda Oct. 29, 1894, leaving one daughter, Pearl, who on Sept. 6, 1900, married Evermond D. Snyder, of Des Moines. 3 -- George P. March 29, 1883, married Alice Bliss, (daughter of George) of Dover township, and lives on a farm in Thayer county, Neb. 4 -- Harry C. Sept. 29, 1889, married Eugenia Gobelle, of Vermillion, S. D., and has one son, Earl. He was a telegraph operator for a number of years and is now an express agent at Kansas City , Mo. 5 -- James H., a railroad carpenter, on Dec. 22, 1898 , married Lulu Spielman, lives at Fonda and has one child, Fern. 6 -- John A., August 26, 1896 , married Dora Sayre, has one child and is engaged in the hardware business at Varina. 7 -- Mary, a dressmaker, in 1887 married Leslie Dean and their family consisted of one child, Daphne; in 1899 she married Eugene Herrington and now lives at Sioux City .

George H. Thompson, a nephew of George E., came with the latter to Pocahontas county in 1870 and homesteaded the S 1/2 NE 1/4 Sec. 18. Cyrus Thompson owned this farm from 1885 to 1898.

SOLOMON H. TRUDE (b. 1816), carpenter, Fonda, was a native of Saratoga, N.Y. In 1839, he married Rachel Bailey (b. 1820), and located at Erie, Pa., where he found employment as a carpenter and later nine years as a ship builder on the lakes. In 1858, he moved to Johnson county, Wis. Oct. 4, 1861, he enlisted as a member of Co., H., 13th Wis. Inf. and continued in the service three years and two months. He belonged to the army of the Cumberland and served successively under generals Rosencrans, Grant, and Sherman.

His family consisted of eight children, and three of his sons, William, George, and Marion, followed his patriotic example and rendered military or naval service during the civil war. William served three years in the same company with his father and died at Hillsboro, Wisconsin, in 1880. George W. enlisted as a member of the 8th Wis. Inf., the eagle regiment and served nearly four years. He is a carpenter and lives at Des Moines. Francis Marion entered the navy and was under the command of Capt. Winslow on the ill-fated Kearsarge.

Solomon H. in 1880, came to Fonda, Iowa, where he continued to reside until 1900, when he and wife moved to Des Moines where he died at 85 in 1901.

James J. Trude, his youngest son, came with him to Fonda and engaged in draying many years. In 1900, he located on a farm in South Dakota. In 1886, he married Mary A. Moulton and has a family of six children, John, Nancy, Cora, Charles, Clarence and Arthur.

SETH SAMUEL TUCKER (b. 1830), hotel keeper and dairyman, Fonda, is a native of Erie county, N.Y., the son of George and Susan Tucker, who were natives of that vicinity. In 1850 he married Jane Coyle a native of Poughkeepsie. In 1878 he located on a farm in Cedar township, north of Fonda. In 1883 he became proprietor of the Central House and four years later of the Ewing Hotel, Fonda. He has maintained a dairy and sold milk most of the time since 1889. His wife died at 56 in 1888.

His family consisted of seven children, two of whom died in childhood.

Mary Belle, and early Fonda teacher, in 1884, married Frank H. Covey, a cigar maker, lives at Fonda and has one son, Harry. Minnie in 1886, married John Weaver, one of the first engineers on the Wabash (now C., M. & St. P.) railroad, Des Moines to Fonda is now a master mechanic on the Santa Fe railroad. They live at Marceline, Mo. Gilbert W. in 1893, married Emma Jennings and lives at Marceline, Mo. Charles S. an engineer on the Santa Fe railroad, in 1897, married Susan Tucker and lives at Burlington, Kan. Hepizibah Lapen in 1891, married Palmer C. Toy, lives at Storm Lake and has on daughter, Opal.

ULYSSES SAMUEL VANCE (b. 1868) county superintendent, was born near Indianapolis and at three years of age moved to Benton county, Ind., where he grew to manhood on a farm. He received his education in the public school, Oxford Academy and Purdue University at La Fayette, Ind. He began to teach school at seventeen and, with the exception of two years, has been engaged in teaching or educational work ever since. In 1894 he located on a farm in Washington township, this county, intending to engage in farming, but in less than a month he was induced to become principal of the Havelock schools, and held this position from April 1,1894 to July 1, 1898. He organized the high school and graduated the first class from it in 1898. In connection with his school work he served as editor of the Havelock Item from Oct. 11, 1897 to July 1, 1898, and then gave his entire time as a moulder of public opinion to the paper until Oct. 1, 1899. In 1897, as a candidate for the office of county superintendent, he gave his predecessor a close race for the nomination and became his logical successor, on the basis of skill as an educator and popularity among the teachers. In 1900 he began to perform the duties of the office of county superintendent and is now serving his second term. He became a leader in township institutes in Indiana and was an instructor in the county institutes in this county each year of his residence in it until he became superintendent. He is a man well qualified by education, experience and good character to perform efficiently the duties of a teacher or superintendent.

Encouraged by the generosity of Hon. George Schee of Primghar, as superintendent of the schools of Pocahontas county, he has accomplished one thing for which he has often been congratulated and will be long remembered, namely, the development of an interest in libraries, that has placed an assortment of good books in the rural schools of this county. He believes that when a child is taught to read, he should be encouraged to read good books, and he has put forth an honest endeavor to place good reading, through the public schools, within the reach of every child in the county. All the rural schools of this county, with four exceptions, now have libraries of 10 to 375 volumes each, and the town schools have larger ones. The annual report for 1903 will show that there are over 10,000 volumes in the schools of this county, instead of 1,021 volumes in 1900 when he became superintendent. According to the last statistics issued by the state superintendent, Pocahontas county stands at the head of the list in reporting the largest Increase in the number of library books for the public schools, and largest amount of money raised for that purpose. This is one of many evidences that he is laboring efficiently to promote the interests of our public schools. He is held in high esteem by the educators of the state.

In 1892 he married Ella Maud, oldest daughter of Geo. W. Kyle, who has been a resident of Washington township since 1893. Two of his family of four children are living: Emmet Lowell, the oldest, and Ulysses Samuel, the youngest. In 1901 he moved to Pocahontas.

DAVID WALLACE, (1805; d. 1885) ancestor of the Wallace families of Lizard and Center townships was a native of Ireland , where he married Mary Bagdad. Both he and his wife were of Scotch parentage and received their early training in the Established Church. In 1837, after the birth of their first two children, they came to America and located on a farm in Canada . In March 1866 his eldest son, John W. Wallace, Henry Shields, his brother-in-law, James Shields and James Connors came together to Lizard township and secured homesteads of 80 acres each on Sec. 8. They came by rail to Ackley and walked the remaining distance. Each of the first three men named built a sod house and began the work of improving their homesteads. Two months later David Wallace, a younger brother of John W., arrived, secured a homestead on the same section and built another sod house. In October 1866 David Wallace and family, which then included three of his grand children, Mary J., Josiah W. and Francis H. Osborne, arrived, began to occupy Connor's homestead and built another sod house on the same section. These settlers on Sec. 8, were among the number of those who had to take the d in this county in erecting sod houses and planting artificial groves. They experienced no difficulty in getting sod for their houses, which were used about one year, but as there were no tree peddlers in those days, they had to go many miles to obtain the little trees or cuttings for the groves.

David Wallace in 1869 served as superintendent of the first Sunday school in Lizard township. It met in the Johnson school house on Sec. 4. His wife died at 66 in 1871 and was buried in the cemetery in Jackson township, south of Clare. In 1876 he accompanied Henry Shields and family to the State of Washington where he died at 80 in 1885. He was a tall, large and strong man. His family consisted of eight children:

Ellen in Canada married Frank Osborne, who died in 1852, leaving three children; Mary J., Josiah W. and Frank H. She died in 1855. Their children found a home with their grand parents and in 1866 came with them to Lizard township. Mary became the wife of George Spragg and in 1869 located in Cedar township and twelve years later in Nebraska . Josiah married Ida, a sister of L. W. Moody and located at Pomeroy. Frank went to Washington .

Thomas H, in Canada married Charlotte Carlisle and later located in Ft. Dodge , where she died in 1881 leaving three children. Eliza J. in Canada married Henry Shields who, in March 1866, secured a homestead on Sec. 8, Lizard township. He improved and occupied this homestead until 1876 when, accompanied by David Wallace, he moved to Washington .

John W., Clerk of the Court, 1875-86. See page 479.

David (b. 1847; d. 1894) in 1870 married Rosa Dempsey, a native of Canada, and continued to live on the homestead in Lizard township until 1884, when he moved to Washington where he died in 1894 leaving four children; William, Ella, Maude and Dot.

Samuel (b. 1851), coming with his parents to Pocahontas county, in 1879 located with his brother John at Pocahontas. In 1881 he married Mary McLarney and a few years later located at Gilmore City . His family consists of six children.

JOHN WILLIAM WALLACE, (b. June 17, 1845 ; d. Pocahontas, May 22, 1899 ), was one of the early settlers and a very popular official of Pocahontas county. He was a native of Northumberland county, Ontario , Canada , the son of David and Mary ( Bagdad ) Wallace, both of whom were of Scotch descent, natives of the north of Ireland and members of the established Church of England .

In 1865, having completed his education in the public school, he came to Michigan but returned to Canada that fall. In March 1866, one year before the arrival of his father and family, he located on a homestead of 80 acres o sec. 8, Lizard township, on which he built a sod house and during the first three winters engaged successfully in hunting and trapping. On May 28, 1872 he married Mary Elizabeth Riley (b. Ireland 1851) who became a resident of Lizard township in 1869 and still survives him. He was clerk of Lizard township in 1871-72. In the fall of 1874 he was elected clerk of the district court of Pocahontas county and the next spring moved to old Rolfe. In 1876 he moved to Pocahontas where he died May 22, 189 . He was five times re-elected to the office of clerk of the district court and rendered twelve years of public service in that capacity, 1875-86. Whilst others rendered more years of public service and as many in the same office, this was the longest term of continuous service in the same office rendered by any public official of Pocahontas county. He was deputy sheriff five years, 1893-97, and frequently served as coroner of the county when those elected did not qualify. He was secretary of the school board of Center township nine years, 1888-96, and of Pocahontas two years, 1896-97.

He had the contract for carrying the mails between Pocahontas and Humboldt during the four years, 1879-82, and from Fonda to Rolfe, 1887- 91. In 1892 he engaged in the livery business at Pocahontas and continued in it until the time of his decease. He made additions to the old homestead from time to time and was the owner of 200 acres of land in this county in addition to the home in Pocahontas, built in 1881.

He was a strong, well built man, enjoyed good health and nobly performed his part in the great drama of life. He was loyal to his covictions, when he was sure he was right, and was equally loyal to his friends. He was amiable in his disposition, happy in his home life and just in all his dealings. His unswerving integrity placed his public service above unfavorable criticism and his public spirit was manifested in the leading part he took in efforts to promote the welfare of the public schools of his town and township. The flags on the school and court house were placed at halfmast and most of the business houses of Pocahontas were closed during the funeral services and his remains were interred at Rolfe.

His family consisted of seven children one of whom, Rosa, died in childhood. Ella married George W. Bruce; William D. (b. June 14, 1876 ) in May 1898 enlisted for the war with Spain in Cuba as a member of Co. B. 2d Ia. Infantry, and spent a few days at Camp McKinley , Des Moines ; Bessie married Fred J. Southworth, Pocahontas: Amanda Melvina, a millner; Blanche and Genie E. are at home.

THOMAS WARD (b. 1835) is a native of Canada, the son of Calvin and Margaret Ward. In 1862 he married Rosanna Dorman and four years later located on a farm in Clinton county, Iowa. In 1891 he located on his present farm, the se 1/4 sec 28, Washington township, which he was the first to occupy and improve. He has increased this farm to 400 acres and improved it with good buildings.

His family consisted of five children:

Jeremiah D. (b. Canada 1863) in 1887 married Nellie L. Hubbard and occupies the north part of sec 28. He has one daughter, Alice, Catherine in 1883 married William Steen, owner and occupant of the se 1/4 sec 16. He has been secretary of the School board since 1897. His family consists of seven children: Roy, Thomas, Arthur, William, Rose, Amber and Ellen.

Margaret A. in 1887 married John E. Moats, lives at Boone and has one daughter, Blanche.

Sarah Jane in 1887 married Mitchell E. Hoover, an engineer, and lives at Lake City.

Thomas C. (b. 1872) in 1894 married Margaret Boekenoogen, occupies the nw 1/4 sec 28 and has two children, Hazel and Clifford.

Rose and Philip Isaac are at home.

MARTIN WEIBLE (b. 1836) merchant, Rolfe, is a native of Wittemburg, Ger. In 1846, he came with his parents to America and located in Jo Daviess county, Ill. In 1861, he married Cathrina, sister of Valentine Hauck. In 1878, he located in Carroll county, Ill., later at Grundy Center, Iowa, and in 1882, associated with Valentine Hauck, he established a general store in the new town of Rolfe. This pioneer firm is still doing business at Rolfe under the old name "Weible and Hauck," but August, his son, in 189, became the active member of the firm. During the years 1894 to 1902, he found congenial and profitable employment as a dealer in stock. He is the owner of 360 acres of farm land in the vicinity of Rolfe. He was brought up in the Evangelical Association or Albright church.

His family consists of three children.

Margaret in 1881, married Jacob Yetter, a farmer, who owns and occupies a farm of 320 acres in the vicinity of Rolfe.

Anna in 1885, married Charles Mahaffey, a mason. He died in 1891, leaving three children, Judson, Catherine and Leona. In 1894, she married Stewart B. Whitmore, a farmer, lives near Rolfe and their family consists of three children, Hazel, Harriet and Stewart.

August (b. 1870), merchant, is a native of Jo Daviess county, Ill. In 1891, he married Nellie Hoard and in 1894, became the successor of his father in the general store of Weible & Hauck, Rolfe. He is the owner of considerable town property and in 1902, he completed one of the most handsome residences in the town of Rolfe. It is modern in its plan of construction and from cellar to attic is supplied with the most recent facilities for comfort and convenience.

WILLIAM WILDE (b. Dec. 25, 1849), is a native of Dodendorf, Germany. He came to America in 1869, and located at Oregon, Ill., where he found employment on a farm. In 1878, he moved to Center township, Calhoun county, Iowa, and in 1879, married Amanda McNames. In 1884, he moved to Pomeroy and became an assistant in a lumber office. Since 1890, he has been the manager of the lumber and coal business of the Woodford & Wheeler Company, Fonda.

His family consists of five children, Morton Clyde, Guy, Hazel, Linn and Iris.

DAVID C. WILLIAMS nursery man, in January 1881 purchased the ne 1/4 sec 31, all of sec 19 and altogether 1280 acres of land in Washington township. He located on 31 and his son Frank on 19. That spring they broke 310 acres and planting it in flax secured a yield of 18 bushels to the acre from some of it. He built that year two sets of farm buildings, sunk three wells and planted five acres with nursery stock on the farm of James C. Strong on sec 32.

In 1884 he enlarged the nursery to 20 acres (p. 997) but Frank leaving sec. 19 it was sold to John A. Ryon.

His wife, Sarah M. Chapman, died at 57 June 17, 1887, and he died two years later.

His wife was a native of Chautauqua county. N. Y. In 1847 she married D. B. Chapman and located at Monmouth, Ill. Two years later they moved to Arkansas. About ten years later they returned to Illinois, and in 1864 he died at Eau Claire, Wis., leaving one daughter, Mary L. Chapman.

In 1869 Mrs. Chapman became the wife of D. C. Williams and located at Cedar Falls, Iowa, where he engaged in the nursery business and remained until 1881, when they came to this county.

Mary L. Chapman, who became very prominent as a teacher in this county, in 1886 married Prof. Abbott C. Page, principal of the Waterloo high school. She was a graduate of the State Normal school and served as an instructor at several of the annual institutes in this county.

JOSEPH WOLF (b. 1859), Center, is a native of Tama county, the son of Albert and Frances Wolf. In 1880, he married Josephine Anderly (b. 1859) and located on a farm. In 1889, he came to Pocahontas county and after one year in Sherman Located in Center township. He served as clerk of the township three years, 1895-98. His family consists of four children, Charles F., Mamie, Albert and Julia.

JOHN MARTIN WOOD (b. Apr. 3, 1822, d. Cedar township, Jan. 13, 1900) was a native of Warren county, N. Y., where in July 1854, he married Sarah T. Tubbs. March 27, 1870, they located on a homestead, the E ½ SE ¼ section 36, Cedar township, where he erected first a sod house that was afterward replaced by an underground stone house in which he spent the remainder of his days. He raised a family of ten children: Alice married Joseph Gatton and lives in Monona county; Mary Maria married Julian Adams, Fonda; George W. and Charles C.; Wilson married Mary Jenkins and lives in Williams township; Lydia married Gus Eikhoff, Fonda; John Elmer and Ezra Eugene; William married Emma Holyer, Fonda; and Oller F.

MAURICE WOLF (b. 1820; d. 1901), Lincoln township, was a native of Ireland. At twenty-two he came to Illinois, where he married in 1859. In 1887, he came to Iowa and remained until his death at the home of his daughter, Mrs. Geo. Bonne, Lincoln township, in 1901. He left a family of twelve children all of whom were with them at the time of his death, namely, John, Robert, Edward and Jerry Wolfe, Mrs. Geo. Bonne, Mrs. W. J. Stegge, Mrs. John Alberts, Agnes, Maggie, Julia, Josephine and Cecilia.

WILLIAM MARSHALL WYKOFF (1834-1902), farmer, Fonda, was a native of Canandagua, N.Y., the son of James and Esther Gates Wykoff. He was the youngest of a family that consisted of five brothers and two sisters. At four he was bereft of his father and at twenty-one went to Elmira, learned the tinner's trade and later engaged in the hardware business at Brownsville, Minn. In 1876, he located three miles southwest of Fonda on a farm, which he was the first to improve and occupied it until his decease at 68 in 1902. His house on the knoll west of Cedar creek has always been a very prominent land mark. A happy home and family were the objects of his first concern, and then the faithful performance of his duty as a good citizen.

In 1858, at Brownsville, Minn., he married Phoebe Snyder and his family consisted of six children. Frank, William who married Lizzie Spielman, Fobes, Esther who married Virgil Heston, Dollie, and Mamie who married Geo. H. Stafford.