1967 and is our present manager. A dry blend fertilizer plant was built in 1968 by Honeybee Company Inc. of Everly, Iowa. A drive is being planned to raise enough building note money to put up a 110,000 bu. steel tank for storage by this fall.
The total assets at the end of our fiscal year January 31, 1969 was $841,934.33. At our annual meeting in March it was decided to increase our common share of stock to $250.00. The directors at this time were Owen D. Fincham, President; Arthur Turner, Vice President; Lawrence Knaphus, Secretary, Reuben C. Ellingson, Glenn Kenney, Harlow McBride, Paul Lundy, Merle Meimann and Wendell Eley, Dean Hill and Jesse Torgeson have now replaced Owen Fincham and Lawrence Knaphus.
The present employees are Walter J. Benson, Irene Bergland, Don Arnold, Gene Coffman, Richard V. Thompson, Floyd Holle, Robert Ruble, Laurence Banks, Harold Borton, Charles Stoutner, Kenneth Ezell, Harold J. Donald, George Wildeboer. Verda Rhodes and Mary Wicks are part time help.
Families of Yesteryear
Maurits Malmin
Maurits Malmin (1846-1923) came to Warren Township in 1884. His first residence in this country was near Roland having come from Norway in 1881. He and his family moved on a farm in Section 17 and worked as tenant farmers until 1893 when he purchased a farm (a quarter section) one mile west of town for a price of $5,000. Here they resided until 1914, when they retired. They had built a new home in town which is the present Lutheran parsonage.
Malmin was the township road supervisor for eight years. At that time farmers worked on the roads, paying their poll tax in this manner.
The only surviving member of the Malmin family is Mrs. Clara Egenes aow 80 years old and residing just west of the Lutheran church.
Ole J. Solyst
Ole Solyst settled 1 1/2 miles northwest of town in the 1880's. He moved into town in 1896 and became the postmaster - a job he held until 1916.
His oldest son, John, was McCallsburg's first rural mail carrier in 1900.
The Olous Helland family
The Olous Helland family came to Warren Township in 1892 from North Dakota. They farmed northwest of town for many years and later west of town. They were the parents of thirteen children. Their son, John O. Helland and their daughter, Mrs. Iva (Lavina) Johnson both now retired, live in McCallsburg. Both were born near here.
Edmund R. Elliott
Edmund R. Elliott came with his mother and sister to Warren Township in the fall of 1878 from Henry County, Ill, When they arrived in lowa by train, they could not get possession of their farm until spring so the first winter was spent at what is now the George Meimann home. The farm to which they moved is now the Walter Hill home in Sec. 27 of Warren Township. Elliott worked around as a hired man and he worked for four years for John Peck.
In 1886 he married Elizabeth Blair and they established their home on the same farm his mother had come to ten years earlier. They continued to live on this farm for almost fifty years.
Of their three children, two daughters survive, Mrs. Dessa Stakehouse, Ankeny and Mrs. Lois Arrasmith, Story City.
Mr. Elliott lived within two days of his 90th birthday.
The Sampson Family
Sam Sampson and Regine Halvors were both born in Kvindherring, Norway. They came to Clinton, Iowa, where they were married. They came to Story County in 1880 and farmed for several years. In 1905, they moved into McCallsburg having purchased the home of C. B. and Mary Thompson. This home is now owned by the Otis Lundy family. Mrs. Sampson passed away in 1907. Mr. Sampson was engaged in the lightning rod and gas lamp business. He passed away at the age of 86 in 1934, having lived in and around McCallsburg for 54 years.
The children were: Esther (Mrs. Lars Olson), Louise (Mrs. Ed Helland), Serene (Mrs. Henry Michaelson), Sam T., Herman, Carl, and Christina (Mrs. William Robinson). All are deceased. There are 32 living grand-children. Three of them live in McCallsburg. They are: Emma Ellingson, Albert Sampson, and Irene Bergland.