county. He has made a specialty of cattle feeding for several years and has been very successful in this as well as in his farming. He is one of the progressive, wide-awake, alert young agriculturists, who keeps in close touch with every advanced movement along the lines in which he is interested, always ready to try any new methods which appeal to him as being practical and the efficacy of which has been demonstrated by trial.
He established a home of his own by his marriage on the 11th of October, '900, to Miss Nellie Ray, a daughter of Jacob Ray, now a resident of Nevada but for many years one of the well known pioneer farmers of Indian Creek township. Three children have been born of this union : Ray, Ralph and Rollin.
Mr. Coughenour's fraternal relations have been confined to membership in the Mystic Workers of the World. Ever since age conferred upon him the right of suffrage his political affiliation has been with the democratic party, as he feels its policy is best adapted to protect the interest of the agriculturist. He has never been an office seeker nor aspired to political honors of any kind, but each election day finds him at the polls, where he casts his ballot for the candidates of the party of his choice. He is highly respected and esteemed in this, the county of his birth, and higher tribute could not be paid to his worth as a man and citizen.
SEVEREN O. WALD.
Among the active members of the Story county bar none occupies a more honorable place than the gentleman whose name introduces this review. He has been in the thick of the fray for fifteen years and has carried off a fair share of laurels, being known as one of the brightest lawyers in this section of the state–an attorney who never acknowledges defeat as long as he feels he is in the right and who in a remarkable number of difficult cases has convinced the court or jury of the righteousness of his contention.
He was born in Polk county, Iowa, December 10, 1865, a son of Ole J. and Bertha U. (Gaard) Wald, both natives of Norway. They came to the United States before their marriage, in the early '50s, and located near Ottawa, Illinois. Mr. Wald purchased one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land in Elkhart township, Polk county, Iowa, from a man for whom he was working in Illinois, and in the spring of 1865 he and his family removed to this place. He built a log cabin and later improved his farm with modern structures, developing it into one of the valuable properties of the township. He also acquired land in Humboldt county, Iowa, taking up his residence there about 1890. Mrs. Wald passed away in 1899, her husband departing this life eight years later. They were both faithful members of the Lutheran church and active workers in behalf of