activities, but Mr. Torsleff still feels that he has a part to play in the
world's work and is contributing in marked manner to the successful conduct
of the creamery interests with which he is identified.HISTORY OF MITCHELL AND WORTH COUNTIES, IOWA, 1918, Pages 230, 235
JOHN TORSLEFF
John Torsleff, prominent as a promoter of creamery interests in Osage
and now secretary of the Osage Creamery Company, was born in Boston,
Massachusetts, October 12, 1844. He has therefore passed the seventy-third
milestone on life's journey. Many a man of less resolute spirit would
consider that he had reached the point where he should retire from business
activities, but Mr. Torsleff still feels that he has a part to play in the
world's work and is contributing in marked manner to the successful conduct
of the creamery interests with which he is identified.
He was reared and educated in Boston and came to Mitchell county, Iowa, in 1868, when a young man of twenty-four years. He took up his abode in the village of Mitchell, purchased farmland there and resided in that locality until 1914. Through all the intervening years he has been closely identified with the county's up building and progress and has been behind many of its most advanced movements for the good of the farming community and for the public welfare at large. He is in very substantial measure responsible for the success of the development of the creamery interests in this part of the state and for fourteen years he has been secretary of the Osage Creamery, in which position he still continues. In connection with J.H. Johnson he established the first creamery in Mitchell county, the other directors of the company being E.S. Fonda, Daniel Sheehan, Gene Kady, E.V. Kady, W.L. Eaton and Mr. Torsleff. In 1892 the business was incorporated for twenty years as the Osage Creamery and the first share was issued in June, 1892.
J.H. Johnson became the first president. In I912 the business was reincorporated for another twenty years, running until 1932. The incorporators were Osmond Button, A. J. Lovejoy, A. P. Lesch, J. H. Johnson, Adam Fox, G. B. Lovejoy, Joseph Jacobs, William Woods, J. W. Annis, C. H. Colter, D. C. Rodgers, W. G. Frazer, P. M. Titus, Harry Councel, Frank Councel, J. Sanford, George A. Tupper, A. W. Patterson, Joseph Whitcomb, S. W. Hastings, John Torsleff, Joseph Wallruff, W. L. Laughlin, Robert Eckford, 0. S. Jacobs, N.N. Patterson, J. Schultheis, A. J. Burtch and J. G. Burtch. The new incorporation was headed by C. L. Hanson, president, and John Torsleff, secretary.
Since that time W. L. Gilchrist has become president, with O. L. Crogstaad vice president and Marshall Sweeney treasurer, while Mr. Torsleff remains as secretary. The directors are J. H. Hobkirk, Frank Jacobs, J. D. DeLaney, O. L. Ask and A. E. Walker. The company owns its buildings in the west part of Osage and ships many thousand pounds of butter each week. This is a cooperative concern and success has attended the undertaking from the beginning, showing that it was based upon sound business principles.
For a considerable period Mr. Torsleff was identified with farming interests near the village of Mitchell but has now disposed of all of his landed possessions and lives in Osage, where he is managing the creamery.
Mr. Torsleff has been behind many projects and plans for the welfare and advancement of the people in this section of the state. He helped to organize the Mitchell County Agricultural Society, of which he is still a member. In 1870 he assisted in promoting the Horse Protective Association in this section of the state. He also aided in organizing the Farmers Mutual Insurance Company of Mitchell county, which is one of the strongest and most important business interests of the county.
In 1872 Mr. Torsleff was married to Miss Ida W. Piper, who was born in Boston and came west about the same time that her husband arrived in Iowa. They were married in this state and became the parents of a son, Frank, who is engaged in farming at Union Springs, New York. The wife and mother passed away August 30, 1915, and her death was the occasion of deep and widespread regret, for she had gained many friends during her long residence in Iowa.
In politics Mr. Torsleff is a Republican, giving active and earnest support to the principles of the party. His religious faith is that of the Congregational church. He has long been associated with the progressive men of this section of Iowa yet is withal a man of retiring disposition, free from ostentation and display. He stands, however, fearlessly for whatever he believes to be right and has been an earnest church worker, thus contributing to the moral advancement as well as to the material progress of his adopted county.