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History of Sac
County
by William H. Hart -
1914
HAHNE, AUGUST -----Although
the character of the immigrants that come to America
today seems to be changing, yet there is not a single
doubt but that in years past some of the most sturdy,
energetic and progressive people living upon our soil
were the ones that came to us from foreign lands. They
have brought to us not only the spirit of thrift and
endurance, but have contributed to the loyal American
spirit to a degree which can hardly be
overestimated.
August Hahne, a prosperous
farmer of Eureka township, in Sac county, Iowa, was born
in September, 1859, in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. His
parents, Frederick and Sophia (Domeier) Hahne, were both
natives of Germany, who came to America in the later
thirties and hewed out a home for themselves in the
dense forests of Wisconsin. In 1863, when August was
only four years of age, they moved to Allamakee county,
Iowa, where they stayed for eight years. In 1871 the
family moved to Sac county, where the parents spent the
remainder of their lives. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Hahne
have four sons and two daughters living: Henry; Herman,
whose history is delineated elsewhere in this volume;
William; August; Mina and Sophia.
August Hahne went to school
in Allamakee county, Iowa, and Sac county, and from his
earliest boyhood helped with the work on the home farm.
At the age of twenty-two he started to seek his fortune,
and picked up land in Eureka township, in this county,
which he now owns. On his farm of two hundred and
forty-seven acres he has built a fine home, excellent
barn and other outbuildings. He has fenced, drained and
improved it in such a way as to increase its
productivity as well as add to its value. He has put out
groves and orchards and has one of the most attractive
places in the township. While he raises all the crops
peculiar to this locality, he makes a specialty of stock
raising and produces annually for the market twenty head
of cattle and one hundred head of hogs. In his forty-two
years of farming in this county, he has acquired a
reputation as one of the most progressive and up-to-date
farmers of the county, one who is always at the
forefront in every laudable enterprise concerning the
public welfare.
Mr. Hahne was married
December 18, 1888, to Margaret Van Atta, a native of
Wisconsin and the daughter of Joseph Van Atta and wife.
Mr. and
Mrs. Hahne have seven children living, all of whom are
at home: Walter, Clarence, George, Henry, Leonard,
Bernice and Gladys. The five younger children are still
in school and are being given the best educational
advantages which the local schools
provide.
Politically, Mr. Hahne is a
Republican, but, like thousands of other Republicans, in
1912 he changed his ballot for the first time and voted
for Woodrow Wilson. The Western states particularly
seemed to have had thousands of men who were not blind
partisans, but who really voted their convictions and
cast their ballot for men and principles which they
believed to be for the best interest of the country at
large. Mr. Hahne is a man who has won the respect and
admiration of his fellow citizens because of the
wholesome life he has lived in this township. He and his
wife are hospitable people and have a large circle of
friends and acquaintances in the
community.
HAHNE, HERMAN -----This land of ours
owes a debt of gratitude to the stalwart and hardy
European races whose sons have come in large numbers,
especially during the past half century, where there was
a crying need of fearless men to assist in the work of
winning and developing the Western states from their
primitive wildness. The people of Germany have formed a
large contingent and have ever been most welcome owing
to their willingness to give their best efforts to this
work, being, almost without exception, industrious and
law abiding, willing to upbuild and support our
institutions and, while holding in grateful remembrance
the native land, yet at the same time cherishing the
Stars and Stripes. In their ranks were numbered Herman
Hahne, one of Schaller's best known business men and one
of Sac county's highly respected citizens.
Herman Hahne, a retired
farmer of Schaller, Sac county, Iowa, was born October
19, 1855, in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. His parents
were Frederick and Sophia (Dohmeier) Hahne. who were
born, reared and married in Germany. Shortly after their
marriage they came to America and settled in Sheboygan
county in 1848. In 1863 the Hahne family moved to
Allamakee county, low a. and ten years later settled in
Sac county on section 17 in Eden township. They were
among the first settlers of the township, and lived here
until their death, Frederick dying in 1890 and his wife
in 1882. Eleven children were born to Frederick and
Sophia Hahne, of whom two died in infancy. The other
nine are: Frederick H., deceased; Simon C. deceased;
Mrs. Sophia Schorer, of California; Henry J., of Storm
Lake, Iowa; Herman; Mrs. Mina Luhman, of Schaller;
August, a farmer of Eureka township, this county; Mary,
deceased, and William, who is now farming the old home
place.
Herman Hahne was seventeen
years of age when his parents came to Sac county. He
received a good common school education and remained
with his father on the farm until he was twenty-three
years of age. He then moved to the farm which he now
owns, being the southwest comer of section 6 and the
northwest quarter of section 7. Part of this first farm
was given him by his father, being swamp land which he
had bought for two dollars and a half an acre. Herman
put up a shack on the farm and "bached" for three years,
residing on the farm until the fall of 1882, and then
lived with his brother Fred in Schaller until the spring
of 1886. He then moved to Kansas and ranched for four
years, returning to Schaller in 1890. He went out to
Kansas during its boom days, but after some experiences
in that state he decided that Iowa was a better state,
so he returned to his farm of one hundred and sixty
acres in Eureka township and cultivated it until
1902. He
then lived in Schaller for a couple of years where he
engaged in the stock business, then spent fourteen
months in California, two years at Beatrice, Nebraska,
six years in Lincoln, Nebraska, while his son, Ernest
Herman, was in the State University. He then returned to
Schaller where he is now living. At the present time he
owns two hundred and sixty acres in Sac county, two
hundred and forty acres in Osceola and three hundred and
twenty- acres in Jefferson county,
Nebraska.
Mr. Hahne was married March 4,
1889. to Virgie Kitchen, of Russell county, Kansas. She
died March 27, 1912, at the age of forty-eight, leaving
one son, Ernest Herman, who was born October 20, 1890.
Ernest H.
Hahne graduated from the University of Nebraska
in the law department and is now, 1914, a student in
Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachusetts. In his politics,
Mr. Hahne is an Independent Republican. He is a member
of the Presbyterian church.
HAHNE, SAMUEL -----There is no
positive rule for achieving success, and yet in the life
of the successful man there are always lessons which
might well be followed. The man who gains prosperity is
he who can see and utilize the opportunities that come
in his path. The essential conditions of human life are
ever the same, the surroundings of individuals differing
but slightly, and when one man passes another on the
highway of life to reach a goal of prosperity before
others who perhaps started out before him. it is because
he has the power to use advantages which probably
encompass the whole human race. Today among the
prominent citizens and successful men of Schaller stands
Samuel Hahne. The qualities of keen discrimination,
sound judgment and executive ability enter very largely
into his make-up and have been contributing elements to
the material success which has come to him.
Samuel Hahne, the cashier of the
State Bank of Schaller, Iowa, was born August 27, 1883,
in the town where he is now living. His parents were F.
H. and Sophia M. (Schaefer) Hahne, natives of Germany
and Wisconsin respectively. F. H. Hahne was born in
Germany in 1847 and died in 1900. He came to America
with his parents when a child and settled in
Wisconsin. In the early seventies
the Hahne family came to Sac county, Iowa, and settled
in Eden township, on land for which they paid one dollar
and a half an acre. The country at that time was all a
barren prairie, but it needed only the magic touch of
the human hand to convert it into the garden spot of the
world. F. H. Hahne was one of the first citizens of
Schaller and was prominently identified with the
material prosperity of the town and community.
He served as county supervisor for two terms and
was one of the largest land owners of the township. At
one time he owned nearly one thousand acres of land and
at his death was the owner of four hundred and eighty
acres. In his latter years he was interested in the
banking business at Schaller and was president of the
organized private bank which became a State bank in
1889. Mr. and Mrs. F. H. Hahne were the parents of seven
children. Mrs. Matilda Aldrich, Mrs. Marie Jenkins, Mrs.
Sarah King, Hulda (deceased), Samuel and Joseph.
Samuel Hahne was educated in the
common schools of Schaller and later graduated from the
high school of that place. He entered the bank in 1902,
when only nineteen years of age as assistant cashier and
became the cashier of the bank in 1913. The State Bank
of Schaller was originally operated as a private bank
and dates its existence from 1880. It was conducted as a
private bank from the time of its organization until
1899, when it was reorganized and made a state bank,
with F. H. Hahne president and A. W. Bicknell. cashier.
The capital stock was forty thousand dollars. In 1900 F.
H. Hahne was succeeded by H. L. Leland as president,
which position he held until 1907, when he was succeeded
by W. J. Howard, who is still president of the bank. Mr.
Bicknell was succeeded by J. T. Edson as cashier, and in
1913 Mr. Hahne assumed that responsible position. The
present officers of the bank are as follows: W. J.
Howard, president : J. H. Meier, vice-president;
Samuel Hahne, cashier; E. W. Sacaefer, assistant
cashier. The directors of the bank are C. O. Porter,
William Spindler, W. J. Howard, J. D.
Currie, J. T. Edson, Samuel Hahne, J. H. Meier and J.
T. Edson. The bank has a
capital stock now of forty thousand dollars and in 1913
deposits of three hundred and twenty thousand dollars
and a surplus of ten thousand. The bank is housed in a
large brick building, which is owned by the banking
company.
In addition to his banking
interests, Samuel Hahne owns three hundred and twenty
acres of land in Minnesota and has recently disposed of
several tracts of land which he owned in this county.
Politically, he is a Republican and is at present the
treasurer of the city of Schaller. Mr. Hahne and his
family are members of the Presbyterian church, to which
they give an earnest and zealous support. Fraternally,
he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons.
Mr. Hahne was married in 1906 to
Cora M. McLaughlin, of Schaller, the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. Joseph McLaughlin, and they have one son, Everett
Lincoln, born February 12, 1908. Mr. Hahne is rapidly
coming to the front as one of the prominent businessmen
of his community. He is forging his way to the front
ranks by reason of his innate force and superior
ability, and shows intelligence and judgment of a high
order. He has applied himself closely to the intricacies
of the banking business with a determination which
speaks well for the future. He is now at the thresh hold
of a long and useful career, and the life which he has
lived so far in the community has proved that his career
in the future will be one which will reflect credit upon
himself and redound to the honor of the community in
which he lives.
HAHNE, WILLIAM -----Among the
prosperous farmers of Sac county, who are of German
descent, is William Hahne, of Eden township, who is now
operating a fine farm of two hundred and forty acres in
this township. He was born November 12, 1867, in
Allamakee county, Iowa, and is the son of Frederick and
Sophia (Dohmeier) Hahne.
Frederick Hahne and his wife
were both born, reared and married in Germany and
emigrated to this country in 1848. They first settled in
Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, and in 1863 moved to
Allamakee county, Iowa. They purchased three hundred and
twenty acres of land in that county and lived there for
ten years, and in 1873 they sold this tract for sixty
dollars an acre and moved to Eden township. Sac county,
where they invested in land in section 17. Frederick
Hahne died in 1890, and his wife in September, 1882.
They were the parents of eleven children: Frederick H.,
deceased; Simon C, deceased; Mrs. Sophia Schorer, who is
a resident of California: Henry T. who lives in Storm
Lake, Iowa: Herman; Mrs. Mina Luhman, of Schaller, this
county; August, a farmer of Eureka township; Mary,
deceased; and William, whose history forms the theme of
this narrative.
William Hahne was five years
of age when his parents moved to Sac county from
Allamakee county, Iowa, and has lived on the farm which
his parents bought in 1873 until the present time. He
attended the district schools near his home, and later
graduated from the Business College of Iowa City
University in 1888. At the close of his college career
he took charge of the home farm and in 1892 engaged in
the implement business in Schaller. After conducting
this business for nine years he sold out and returned to
the farm, where he has since lived.
Mr. Hahne was married in the
fall of 1889 to Lillian Eliza Perrott, daughter of Mr.
and Mrs. Cornelius C. Perrott, of Schaller, and to this
union there has been born one son, William Frederick,
who was born January 27,
1899.
Politically, Mr. Hahne is a
Republican and has been honored by his party by being
nominated for township trustee and subsequently elected
to that important position, and he is administering the
affairs of that office to the entire satisfaction of all
of the citizens of his township, irrespective of party
lines. Fraternally, he is a member of the Modern Woodmen
of America, in which order he takes an active interest.
Mr. Hahne has always taken an active and interested part
in the public affairs of his township and believes that
the true American citizen best serves his community who
takes his full share of the responsibilities of the
official life of his community. For this reason
he has felt that in performing the duties of township
trustee he has been serving his fellow citizens in the
best possible manner. He is a man of genial manner and
pleasing personality and has a large number of loyal
friends and acquaintances who admire him for his many
good qualities.
HAMAND, JAMES ------The
present age is essentially utilitarian, and the life of
every successful man carries a lesson which, told in
contemporary narrative, is productive of much good in
shaping the destiny of others. There is, therefore, a
due measure of satisfaction in presenting, even in brief
resume, the life and achievements of such men, and in
preparing the following history of the progressive
farmer and enterprising citizen whose name appears
above, it is with the hope that it may prove not only
interesting and instructive, but also serve as an
incentive to those who contemplate making agriculture
their life work.
James Hamand, one of the
largest individual land owners of Sac county, Iowa, was
born March 1, 1839, at Zanesville, Muskingum county,
Ohio, the son of James and Eliza Hamand who were natives
of Perry county, that state, and at the time of his
birth James Hamand was a merchant in Zanesville, and
later was engaged in the mercantile business in
Columbus, Ohio.
Lexington, Kentucky, and Mount Vernon, Ohio. In
1849 James Hamand went to California, with the
"Forty-niners" and died there. Mr. and Mrs. James Hamand,
Sr., were the parents of four children: James, Jr., with
whom this narrative deals; John; Thomas, and Jane, who
now lives with her brother,
James.
James Hamand, Jr., was reared
in Somerset, Perry county, Ohio, by his paternal
grandfather, John Hamand, who was a leading citizen of
that county. He attended the common schools, as well as
the high school at Somerset, and was given a good
educational training. At the age of twenty he took a
tour west to the Rocky mountains, and when twenty-one
years of age settled in Macon county, Illinois, on a
farm. Here he lived and prospered until 1882, when he
came to Sac county and purchased six hundred and forty
acres of land at six dollars an acre. In 1902 he
purchased three hundred and twenty acres across the road
from his previous purchase, for which he paid eighty
dollars an acre. In 1907 he bought one hundred and
twenty-seven acres, paying one hundred and forty dollars
an acre, and he is now the owner of ten hundred and
eighty-seven acres of fine land, with nine hundred and
sixty acres of it in one large farm south of Schaller,
this county. He has about twenty sets of buildings on
his farms and until a few years ago Mr. Hamand had
personal supervision of his extensive farming
operations. He now has four tenants on his farms, being
compelled by advancing age to relinquish some of his
former activities. He has a fine, large home and since
coming to this county he has planted large groves of
trees and orchards over his land, and so prolific has
been the growth that some of the trees in the open
measure as much as two feet in diameter. He has raised
large herds of cattle and hogs and farmed on an
extensive scale with very profitable
results.
For many years Mr. Hamand and
his sister, Jane, have lived together. She has been his
faithful companion and housekeeper and has helped him
with her advice and counsel in a way which has been
beneficial to him. She is an intelligent and cultured
woman who has a large circle of friends and
acquaintances in the
county.
Politically, Mr. Hamand is an
independent Republican and reserves the right of the
free-born American citizen to cast his vote as he
pleases. In 1896 he voted for Bryan and in 1912 he voted
for Wilson. He is well informed upon all current issues
of the day and is a man who has an enviable name for his
honesty and upright character. His career has been
noteworthy in view of the fact that he has attained such
a pronounced success in agricultural lines in this
county. He has always been a hard worker and until a few
years ago he was always to be found in the fields. He
can now look back over a life which has been well spent
in every particular and feel that he has lived such a
life as will have redounded to his honor and been a
benefit to his fellow citizens.
 HAMMERSTROM,
GUST -----To a great extent the gratifying degree of
prosperity which reflects from the broad and smiling
acres of Sac county, Iowa, is due to the honest
industry, the sturdy persistence, the unswerving
perseverance and the wise economy which characterize
that portion of the farming element of this county which
traces its origin to the land of Sweden, across the
seas. Among the natives of that land who have won a
pleasing measure of success for themselves and at the
same time conferred honor and dignity upon their chosen
locality by their commendable course in life, may be
mentioned the subject of this sketch.
Gust Hammerstrom, residing on his
farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 10, of
Wheeler township. Sac county, Iowa, has made something
of a name for himself as a breeder of livestock. He
favors the Shorthorn breed and keeps on hand twelve
animals of this pure strain, having at the present time
about fifty head altogether. He also has about
seventy-five hogs and makes a specialty of the Chester
White strain, supplying the demands of the breeders in
Sac, Crawford and Ida counties.
Mr. Hammerstrom was born in Sweden
on January 20, 1869, being a son of John and Anna
Hammerstrom, both of whom died in their native
country. The elder Hammerstrom
was a farmer in that country, and Gust was, therefore,
reared on a farm, coming to America in 1889, when twenty
years of age. He located first in
Minneapolis, where he remained only for a short time and
then came to Wall Lake and thence to the southwestern
portion of Sac county. Here he engaged in
farm work for some time, and in 1892 went to Denver,
Colorado, where he secured employment with the street
railway company of that city. He remained there for two
years, returning to this county, where, for six years,
he rented farming lands. About the year 1900 he saw his
way clear to make an investment in land for himself and
purchased a tract containing eighty acres, lying across
the line in Ida county, for which he, paid fifty dollars
per acre. This he sold in the spring of 1909 at one
hundred and forty dollars per acre, when he purchased
his present farm, for which he paid one hundred and
thirty-five dollars per acre. Since obtaining possession
of this land he has greatly improved it and today it
stands worth much more than the amount at which he
obtained it. For a time he and his brother, August,
owned a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Union
county, South Dakota, but after retaining it for about
three years they disposed of it to advantage.
On December it, 1891, Mr.
Hammerstrom was united in marriage with Emma Linquist,
born in Sweden, the daughter of Jonas Anderson and
Caroline Larson, who came to America in the fall of 18S8
and located in Ida county. To their union have been born
five sons and one daughter. Roy, the eldest, is a
student at the Ames Agricultural College and has studied
at the Sac City Institute, having also completed courses
at the Buena Vista College.
The other members of the family, namely: Ralph, a
student in the Dennison University, Russell, Howard
Wesley and Garnett remain under the parental roof.
Mr. Hammerstrom is a man who keeps
himself fully informed on current events, and at the
birth: of the Progressive party he endorsed the platform
laid down by its leaders. His religious affiliation is
with the Swedish Baptist church at Arthur, and he is
considered one of the best members of that society.
It would be impossible to touch fully upon the
struggles of the earlier years Gust Hammerstrom passed
in this country and the many hardships he endured in
order to get a start, but his later successes have
justified whatever sacrifices he may have made at the
beginning. He is a man of sterling qualities of
character, even-tempered, patient and scrupulously
honest in all the relations of life, hospitable and
charitable, and he has gained the approval and high
esteem of his fellow citizens because of his upright
life.
HANSON, EDWARD H. -----History
tells us that the Norsemen were the first white men to
see America and that Lief, the Lucky, visited the shores
of Greenland and Labrador in about the year 1000. From
the earliest part of the Christian era, the people of
Norway and Sweden have been among the most venturesome
of the many different nations of Europe and the energy
which characterizes these people has made them one of
the most prosperous nations of Europe. A few of the
descendants of these old sea kings of Norway and Sweden
have settled in Sac county, Iowa, and among these is
Edward H. Hanson, a farmer of
Richland township.
Edward H. Hanson was born March 31,
1879, at Oyster Bay, New York. He is the son of Nels and
Anna (Nelson) Hanson, who were both born in Sweden. Nels
Hanson was born in May, 1839, and died in May, 1902,
while his wife was born in April, 1847, and died in
November, 1913. They were married in
the land of their birth and came to America in 1868, and
for a period of two years lived in New York, then
located in Oyster Bay. where the father, Nels Hanson,
was a caretaker for a summer estate.
Here the family lived until the spring of 1883,
when, wishing to better their condition, they came
direct to Odebolt, Sac county, Iowa. After a year's
residence in Odebolt, the family moved to a farm of a
brother of Nels, who had previously come to this county.
Two years later Mr. Hanson moved to his farm of one
hundred and sixty acres in Richland township. In 1891 he
purchased three hundred and twenty acres. In 1902 he
moved to Odebolt, where he died in May of that year. Mr.
and Mrs. Nels Hanson were the parents of nine children,
of whom Edward H. is the fifth.
Edward H. Hanson was educated in the district
schools of his home township and has lived the greater
part of his life in Sac county. Twenty years of his life
have been spent on his present farm near Odebolt.
He was married March 3, 1909, to
Ella Down, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Down, of
Sac county. To this marriage have been born two
children, both of whom are deceased.
Politically, Mr. Hanson is
affiliated with the Republican party and identifies
himself with the Progressive wing of the party. He and
his wife are both stanch members of the Methodist
Episcopal church and interest themselves in the various
works of that denomination. He is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He has won the respect
and esteem of all who know him, because of his friendly
manner, his business ability and his upright
living.
HANSON, GEORGE H. -----Several
things must be taken into consideration in the
preparation of a biography of an individual. The writer
must necessarily study the attributes and character of
the person under review and present to the best possible
advantage as a matter of permanent record his abilities
and accomplishments. Young men, as a rule,
have their careers yet ahead of them and are often
confronted with the difficulty of choosing the right
location and the one which seems best adapted to their
powers and, above all, the occupation which is most
likely to yield the greater measure of substantial
return in exchange for their efforts. While many young
men have turned away from the farm and entered the
learned professions, there to achieve success or fail,
as the case may be, a gradually increasing number are
embracing the science of agriculture in its truest sense
and adopting farming as a permanent pursuit. They are
wise in their generation and are assured of a permanent
occupation and a comfortable and contentedly existence,
with a practical certainty of wealth ahead of them. The
young farmer of today is usually well educated and has
had the opportunity of special preparation along the
lines of his chosen work not possessed by his father who
preceded him. A farmer with well developed tastes for
the work and whose faculties have received cultivation
in other lines to his personal advantage is found in the
person of George Hanson, manager of Echo Valley farm in
Wheeler township.
George H. Hanson was born March 2,
1883, in Odebolt, the son of Henry Hanson, a pioneer
settler of Sac county and native of Sweden, and of whom
extended mention is made in this volume. He was a
student of the Odebolt high school, and then studied for
three years, 1899, 1900 and 1903, in the State
Agricultural College at Ames, Iowa. After finishing his
course at Ames he went to the city of Chicago and
studied for a term of one year in the famous Art
Institute of that city. On his return he engaged in
farming in Wheeler township.
Mr. Hanson's farm embraces three
hundred and seventy acres in the southern part of
Wheeler township and is decidedly one of the best
equipped farming establishments in Sac county or western
Iowa. The buildings are located in a valley and are all
practically new and constructed modernly with every
convenience for facilitating agricultural operations and
insuring home comforts. A beautiful cottage lies on the
north side of the road, being a nine-room structure
built mostly of concrete. Another substantial tenant
building is located on the south side of the road which
divides the land and separates the home from the barns
and farm buildings, which are practically built of
concrete at considerable expense. The farm buildings
comprise a horse barn, fifty-four by sixty-four feet in
dimension, a cattle barn sixty-four by fifty-two feet in
extent, and a granary or crib with a capacity of six
thousand bushels of grain. The buildings were
practically all erected in 1907. Mr. Hanson is a
well-known breeder of Aberdeen Angus cattle, of which he
has a herd of sixty pure breds; he has twenty head of
grade horses and one hundred and fifty head of
Poland-China hogs.
Politically, George H. Hanson is
allied with the Republican party: he is a member of the
Presbyterian church and is fraternally connected with
the Masonic lodge at Odebolt.
Mr. Hanson was married June 12,
1907, to Zella Hardy, of Denison, Iowa, a daughter of A.
P. Hardy. Their home life and furnishings betoken
refinement and education. Mr. Hanson is still a student
and a reader who aims to keep abreast of the times as
well as being a successful farmer.
It is a safe prediction that his career will
prove to be an honorable and useful one and that his
influence among his fellow men will prove to be the best
evidence of inherited and developed ability.
HANSON, HARRY H. -----One of
the youngest and most prosperous farmers of Sac County
is Harry H. Hanson who is the owner of one hundred and
fifty acres of fine land adjoining the town of Odebolt,
Richland township. He is a fine type of the
agriculturists who have received a good high school
education and then returned to the farm. Too many of our
young men today feel that farming does not offer the
opportunity that may be found in other professions, and
it is an important thing to note that an increasing
number of our young men have been born on the farm,
returning to it even though they have received a
splendid education.
Harry H. Hanson was born November
21, 1887 in Richland township.
Sac county, and is the son of Nels and Anna
Hanson, who were natives of Sweden. Harry H. Hanson was
educated in the district schools of his township and in
1906 graduated from the Odebolt high school. For two
years after he graduated from the high school he was
employed in a hardware store in Odebolt. He then married
and moved on to his present farm of one hundred and
fifty acres, where he is fast building up a reputation
as one of the most progressive farmers of the county. In
the summer of 1912 he erected a fine barn of cement
block, which is thirty-two by sixty feet in size.
The barn has concrete floors—in fact, is one of
the very few barns in Sac county which are practically
all concrete. This barn was erected at a cost of two
thousand dollars and is a model of convenience and
stability.
Mr. Hanson was married on September
2, 1908, to Margaretta E. Newcom, the daughter of George
W. and Sarah M. (McKim) Newcom. To this union have been
born two daughters, Sarah Kathleen and Doris Anna.
George W. Newcom, the father of Mrs. Hanson, was
born August 1, 1852, in Scotland County Missouri, and is
the son of Willman T. and Margaretta Newcom, natives of
Kentucky. His parents came from Kentucky to Missouri and
from thence they moved to Crawford county, Iowa, in
about 1865. In that county George W. Newcom was reared.
In 1874 he was married to Sarah M. McKim, who was born
in 1853 in York county Pennsylvania, the daughter of
Ethan A. and Elizabeth McKim. The McKims came from
Pennsylvania to Crawford county, Iowa, in 1861 and were
among the pioneer settlers of that county. Mr. McKim had
previously made a trip to Iowa in 1857 and was convinced
that the county would soon become one of the most
prosperous of the state. Ethan A. McKim prospered on his
farm in Crawford county, and in 1900 moved to the
village of Deloit, where he died. His widow is still
living in Deloit. in her eighty-third year. George
W. Newcom and wife
farmed in Crawford county until 1884 and then moved to
Nebraska, where they resided eight years. In 1892 they
sold out their hardware store in Gage county, Nebraska,
and located in Sac county on one hundred, and sixty
acres adjoining Odebolt on the north, Mrs. Newcom still
owns the two-hundred-acre farm in Crawford county, this
state, on which they lived for ten years. Mr. and Mrs.
Newcom were the parents of four children: Gertrude,
deceased; Jessie, deceased; Clifton T., deceased, and
Margaretta, the wife of Harry H, Hanson.
Mr. Hanson, like many other men,
felt in the summer of 1912 that the new Progressive
party was destined to bring about a revolution in the
affairs of this country. Accordingly he lent his
influence to this new party and has not regretted the
step made at that time He and his wife are members of
the Methodist Episcopal church and contribute freely of
their substance to its support. They move in the best
social circles of this community and being genial and
unassuming in their relations with their friends. they
have a large and loyal circle of friends, who cherish
them for their many good qualities.
HANSON, HENRY ----There is no
section of the United States which has held and still
now holds greater promise for investors in lands than
western Iowa and especially Sac county. It is a fact
that land values have trebled and quadrupled in value
during the last decade and are still on the upward
swing. Consequently the men who have had the foresight
and the faith in the future of the country to continue
to invest in the farm lands have become prosperous and
wealthy. It was never designed by Providence that men
should be poor and wretched. There are enough good
things in the world for everyone-and the best things
come from the bosom of Mother Earth. He who gets close
to the earth and uses skill in combining the elements of
soil and air in producing the crops which are always in
demand for the purpose of feeding the millions of
inhabitants of this broad land is performing a high
vocation and is certain of success. Henry Hanson, of
Odebolt, is a citizen who began his career in Sac county
in tilling the soil and has enlarged his operations to
such an extent that he is one of the most important
factors in the community and one of the largest estate
holders in the county. Mr.
Hanson is a native of a foreign land which has
contributed some of the best citizens in many of the
Western states. The Swedish-Americans of Sac county are
among the leaders in all walks of life, and are
universally respected as men of intelligence and
pronounced ability everywhere they have settled.
Henry Hanson, farmer, of Odebolt,
Iowa, was born in Sweden June I, 1849, the son of Jens
and Kirsty Hanson. Jens Hanson died a few weeks before
Henry's birth. His mother later came to America and died
here. At the age of nineteen years Mr. Hanson crossed
the ocean and landed in New York City in September of
1868. He spent six years at various pursuits in New York
City and then came westward. In the spring of 1874 he
came to Sac county and, in partnership with A. E.
Johnson, purchased three hundred and twenty acres of
land in Wheeler township. They operated this tract
together until 1877. The land cost them six dollars and
sixty cents an acre and was purchased on a time contract
with five years' time allotted them in which to complete
the payments. In 1877 each of the partners took one
hundred and sixty acres for his own use. Mr. Hanson
added eighty acres to his quarter in 1876 at a cost of
five dollars and fifty cents an acre. In the year 1880
he disposed of his Wheeler township tract of two hundred
and forty acres and invested in one hundred and fifty
acres adjoining the town of Odebolt. Mr. Hanson has
dealt considerably in farm lands since his first venture
and at the present time is the owner of a total of eight
hundred and ninety acres of land in Wheeler township.
His home farm, occupied by his son, is the model farm of
the southwest portion of Sac county and fitted with
beautiful buildings and every convenience for the
carrying on of scientific farming operations.
In 1877 he made his residence in
Odebolt and located his family here in 1878 when the
town was first started. He immediately took advantage of
his opportunity and engaged in the buying of grain and
livestock for shipment to the markets. He continued in
this pursuit until 1883 and was the pioneer grain dealer
of Odebolt. He began as manager of the Swedish Farmers'
Elevator Company and soon bought out the business, which
was the second grain buying establishment in the city.
Since 1883 he has devoted his time to looking after his
Crawford and Sac county agricultural interests and his
business affairs.
Mr. Hanson is a large stockholder
and vice-president of the First National Bank of
Odebolt. He has a large modern residence on Lincoln
avenue. He is a Republican in
politics and devotes a considerable portion of his time
to civic affairs, being a member of the school board and
having served on the city council. His family attend the
Presbyterian church, and he is a member of the Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons and has taken the degrees in
Masonry in the Sac City chapter and commandery.
Mr. Hanson's marriage occurred in 1872 to Augusta
Eckblom. a native of Sweden. They are the parents of
four children, as follows: Mrs. Robertina Von Marell, of
Phoenix, Arizona: Lillian, the efficient librarian of
the Odebolt public library : George, on the home farm in
Wheeler township : Grace, at home.
By a life of persevering industry
and fair and honest dealings Mr. Hanson has acquired a
fair share of this world's goods, and, what is of more
value, the respect and esteem of everyone with whom he
has come in contact. He and his family
occupy an enviable social standing in their community,
in which they are among the pioneers, and possess in a
marked degree that happy faculty of making steadfast
friendships.
HANSON, JOHN -----There have
come to our country from foreign lands many men of
limited financial resources, but imbued with sturdy
independence and a laudable determination to succeed,
and who have taken advantage of the wonderful
possibilities afforded by our free institutions and
gradually step by step have arisen to places of
prominence and influence. The career of John Hanson
illustrates most forcibly the possibilities that are
open to a man who possesses intelligence and
determination, combined with integrity and honor. It
proves that success is not a thing to be inherited, but
may be won by sheer force of energy, directed and
controlled by correct moral principles.
Mr. Hanson is an American by adoption, but none
the less a most ardent and loyal citizen.
John Hanson, the oldest living
farmer of Cook township, is a native of Sweden, born
December 20, 1844, the son of Hans and Christina (
Neilson ) Hanson, both natives of Sweden. The mother
died in her native country.
and in 1882 Hans Hanson came to America and lived
for twelve years with his son, John Hanson. He was a
farmer and carpenter in the old country, working as a
wagon maker and house builder during the winter time. He
eventually removed to Harrison, Nebraska where he
died. John Hanson left
Sweden when he was twenty-one years of age and landed in
the great city of Chicago in 1867 with only two cents.
He was the possessor of two willing hands and a stout
heart, and soon found work as a farm hand in DeKalb
county, Illinois, where he worked for three years. He
then worked on a railroad for three years by which time
he was able to rent a farm in DeKalb county Illinois,
which he cultivated for four years. In 1878 he came to
Iowa and found employment with B. A. Coy. who had a farm
within two miles of Early, Boyer Valley township. Here
he worked for four years. During the years he had taken
good care of his earnings, and in 1881 he was able to
purchase a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, paying
therefor fifteen dollars per acre. On this farm Mr.
Hanson resided for a period of twenty-two years. He then
removed to Early, where he purchased , a nice home
turning the active management of his farm to his
son.
John Hanson was married March 2,
1872 in DeKalb county Illinois to Elizabeth Johnson, a
native of Sweden, who came to America in 1869 with her
sister, Matilda Hanson, who now lives at Gowrie, Iowa.
Mr. Hanson's brother, Peter Hanson, came to America in
1871. Mr. and Mrs. Hanson have three children : Levene,
who lives on a farm, is married and has two children,
Clarence and Robert; Mrs. Annie Hoff lives at Wall Lake,
Iowa, and is the mother of seven living children,
Levene, John, Veda, Claudie, Vera, Helen and Delbert,
and Lawrence, who is deceased. Ida, the third child, is
the wife of Frank Houston, a farmer of Boyer Valley
township, and they had three children, John, deceased,
William and Lloyd. Elizabeth Johnson,
the mother of these children, was born in Sweden July
19, 1842, a daughter of John Peterson Johnson and
Catharine Johnson. The latter was born
in March, 1821, and is still living in Sweden at the
remarkable age of ninety-two.
Mr. Hanson is a member of the
Masonic order, and both he and his wife are charter
members of the Eastern Star. His church membership is
with the Methodist church, while, politically, he
affiliates with the Republican party. Mr. Hanson is
deserving of the splendid success he has made for
himself. He is a gentleman whom to know is to respect,
and the need of praise here accorded him is, in the
estimation of his numerous friends, most worthily
bestowed.
HARADON, ELI -----One of the
old patriarchs and Civil-war veterans and highly
respected citizens of Sac county is Eli Haradon, who is
now living a retired life on his farm in Boyer Valley
township, in Sac county, Iowa. His life for many years
was a strenuous one, and, whether engaged on the field
of battle in defense of his country's integrity or in
the more peaceful pursuits of civil life, he has ever
been found faithful to his calling and today he enjoys
to a notable degree the respect of his fellow
citizens.
There is no more picturesque figure
in the history of Sac county than Eli Haradon, who has
passed his four score years, and is now patiently
waiting for the final mustering in and the roll call
which will terminate his long and useful career. He was
born June 20, 1831, in Vermont the son of Eli and Maria
(Perkins) Haradon. In 1845 Eli Haradon, Sr., and his
family left Vermont and settled on a farm near Joliet,
Illinois, where Eli Haradon, Sr., and his wife died.
Eli Haradon, Jr., learned the
blacksmith trade when a young man, and after the death
of his parents moved to Bremer county, Iowa, in 1857,
where he followed the blacksmithing trade, he married
and began farming, although he still worked in his shop,
and continued to live in Bremer county until his wife's
death, leaving him with one daughter, Susan Ellen, after
his wife's death he returned to his old home in
Illinois, where he was living at the outbreak of the
Civil War.
On August 22, 1861, he enlisted in
Company K, One Hundredth Regiment of Illinois Volunteer
Infantry, was mustered in at Camp Irwin, Joliet,
Illinois, under Capt. David Kelly and Col.
F. A. Bartleson. His regiment was assigned to the
Army of the Cumberland in the west, and was a part of
the First Brigade, Second Division and Fourth and
Twentieth Corps. His career in the army was of short
duration, but while it lasted it was full of severe
fighting and exciting incidents. He participated in the
battle of Bairdstown and Perryville in the fall of 1862
in Kentucky and in the battle at Stone River, Tennessee,
in December of 1863. On January 3d, that
year, he was injured by a gunshot wound in his right
thigh. The Company in which Mr. Haradon was attached was
guarding a battery of cannon and were on the ground near
the cannon one evening about sundown, when a bursting
bomb partially destroyed his hearing. After the battle
he was picked up off the field and taken to the hospital
at Nashville, where he lay until August 3, 1863. He was
then discharged on account of disability and for two
years was unable to walk without the aid of
crutches.
Immediately after his discharge he
returned to Bremer county, Iowa, and after recuperating
from bis wound, rented a farm and began farming.
As soon as his strength was regained he opened
his blacksmith shop and followed that occupation for
eight years. In the meantime he had married and in 1871
he decided to go to Kansas, where he lived for the next
four years. In 1875 he came to Sac county, locating in
the town of Early, when that town was started. He opened
the blacksmith shop and conducted it continuously until
1901 when he retired to a farm which he had purchased in
this township. He has lived on his
one-hundred-and-twenty-acre farm, two miles south of
Early, for the past thirteen years and takes an active
interest in the superintending of his place.
The second marriage of Mr. Haradon
occurred in 1864, when he was united in marriage to
Julia Davis, of Bremer county, Iowa. His second wife
died in 1910. To this second marriage were born five
children: Leslie, Ellis, Everett, Mrs. Edith Wilson and
Mrs. Etna Hair. All of the children are residing in
Early, except Ellis, who is on the farm with his father.
Mrs. Susan Helen Bedell,
Mr. Haradon's daughter by his first wife, is also living
in Early.
Mr. Haradon has always identified
himself with the Republican party, and has the
satisfaction and honor of knowing that he was old enough
to vote when John C. Fremont was the first candidate on
the Republican ticket in 1856. While he has always taken
an intelligent interest in the affairs of his party, yet
the nature of his business has kept him from being an
aspirant for any public office. He is a member of the
Christian church and renders it his zealous support at
all times. He is one of the most loyal members of the
Grand Army post at Early and takes a keen delight in the
meetings of the post. Mr. Haradon is one of the grand
old patriarchs of Sac county and a man who has lived a
life singularly free from blame and censure in every
way. His life has been marked by many discouragements,
and yet through it all he has been optimistic and done
his duty as he best saw it. He is highly honored and
respected by everyone who know him, and there is
probably no man in the township who has more friends
than he.
 HART, WILLIAM H. ------He of
whom this notice is written by the publishers has been
the supervising editor of the volume entitled "History
of Sac County, Iowa," which the reader now holds. Mr.
Hart is one of the leading attorney's of the Sac county
bar today.
William H. Hart was born March 4,
1859 in Cedar County, Iowa, son of Jeremiah and Julia A.
(Whitson) Hart natives of New York and Pennsylvania,
respectively. Julia Whitson was a descendant of the
Piatt family of Pennsylvania. John Piatt being the
ancestor. The mother of Jeremiah Hart was a native of
northern Ireland, and a descendant of Thomas Babington
Macauley. Jeremiah came to Iowa about 1855 and was
united in marriage in Cedar county, the seat of justice
of which is Tipton. Julia A. Whitson had come with her
father to Cedar county Iowa, about 1850.
The Hart family came to Sac county, Iowa, in
1882. nearly a third of a century ago. The son William
H., came in the fall of 1880. The family located on a
farm in Jackson township, a mile and a half northwest of
Sac City. Later in life they removed to the city, where
the father, Jeremiah, died at the age of eighty-two
years, on September 10, 1910. The wife and mother died
July 24, 1910, aged seventy-one years. Their children
were: William H. of this memoir; Clarence E., now
residing in Sac City, Iowa; Charles, of Sac City, Iowa,
and Lee J., of Kalamazoo, Michigan.
William H. Hart obtained his
education in the public schools of Clarence, Iowa, and
at Carthage College Carthage, Illinois. He followed
teaching in Cedar county, Iowa, for about three years,
and deciding to fit himself for the profession of a
lawyer, studied with Piatt & Carr, of Tipton, Iowa.
He was admitted to the practice of law in 1880 coming to
Sac City in November of that year. He served as
assistant cashier in the Sac County Bank (now the Sac
County State Bank) for five years, and in 1885 formed a
partnership with Hon. C. D. Goldsmith, which continued
until Mr. Goldsmith was elevated to the bench. In 1890
Mr. Hart formed a business partnership with Hon.
Phil Schaller. in which they carried on an
extensive business in law, loans and real estate. This
partnership continued until the death of Mr. Schaller in
July, 1911.
Politically Mr. Hart has always
been identified with the Republican party, believing
that this party best represents the interests of
American citizens. Among the various
offices he has filled with credit to himself, may be
mentioned that of county attorney for Sac county, which
position he filled for two terms, equal to four years
mayor of Sac City one term; secretary of the school
board in Sac City twenty-seven years, or since 1886;
city recorder and treasurer, and the attorney for the
commissioners on insanity of the county for fifteen
years. In all of these various public positions Mr. Hart
has seemed to be the right man in the right place, and
has given almost universal satisfaction. His knowledge of the
law, his clear-headed and intellectual grasp of the
situation, at all times, has made him peculiarly fitted
to serve in these various capacities.
Mr. Hart is of the Presbyterian
faith and has been an elder in this church for more than
twenty years, and was twice elected to the general
assembly of the church.
Fraternally. Mr. Hart is connected
with the blue lodge, chapter, commanderv and council of
the Masonic order, as well as holding membership with
the Mystic Shriners at Des Moines. He is well informed
in the workings of this most ancient and honorable
order. He was custodian of the grand chapter of Iowa for
six years, and grand high priest of the grand chapter in
1906.
Mr. Hart was united in marriage
March 31, 1881, at Clarence, Iowa, to Anna Greig, a
native of Canada, and the daughter of James and Jeanette
Greig.
Unlike the man who goes through
life with the sound of a trumpet and full of egotism,
making many warm friends and also many enemies, Mr. Hart
has, during all the years of his career in Sac county,
gone about his daily duties, both as an attorney and as
a public official in a graceful, gentleman manner, never
fearing to stand for the right as he has understood the
right, yet without causing opposition or friction where
duty did not demand it. It goes without saying that he
counts his friends in Sac county and northwestern Iowa
by the one word, "legion."
HARTMAN, EDWARD P.
------It is the essence of biography to record the
accomplishments of the individual.
Not all men are chosen to perform wondrous tasks.
The great bulk of the population in our towns and cities
is made up of industrious men who are doing their duty
in behalf of those dependent on their exertion and at
the same time taking the necessary part in the
self-government and promoting the well being of the
community at large. Each man in his own sphere of
endeavor is doing his duty as he sees it or as his
environments require. Edward P. Hartman,
banker and man of affairs in Lake View, is a successful
citizen, residing in a growing and hustling city noted
for its enterprise and the high personal character of
its citizenship. It is meet and desirable that his
biography be written and inserted herein.
E. P. Hartman was born November 16,
1869, in Spencer county, Indiana, the son of John C. and
Barbara (Collignon) Hartman. John C, the father, was
born in Germany in 1834 and died in Sac county in the
year 1905. Barbara Collignon was the daughter of French
parents and a native of the province of Alsace Loraine.
When John C. Hartman was twelve years old he came to
America with his parents, who located in the state in
Pennsylvania in 1846. His father was a miller by trade
and John C. naturally took up the
same vocation and was employed in his younger days in a
flouring mill near the city of Harrisburg. He likewise
became a skilled millwright and understood the erection
of a flouring mill from the foundation to erecting the
structure and installing the machinery. He became a
builder of flouring mills. He removed to Indiana for a
short time and later migrated to Iowa in the year 1873
and for two years worked in a flouring mill in Dubuque
county. In 1875 he came westward and built a mill at
Carroll, which he operated until 1880. He then came to
Sac county and built a mill in Boyer Valley township,
which he operated until 1883, then removed to Odebolt
and erected the Odebolt Flouring Mill. He operated the
Odebolt mill for several years and became quite well to
do, being recognized as one of the substantial and
valued citizens of the county.
The children of John C. and Barbara Hartman
numbered thirteen in all, seven of whom are yet living,
namely: Mrs. J. R. Mattes, of Odebolt; Mrs. J. F. Covey,
of Clinton, Iowa; Mrs. J. P. Laughlin, of Bevington,
Iowa; Mrs. Barbara Shea, a resident of Spokane,
Washington: J. W. Hartman, of Lake
View; E. P. Hartman, with whom the reviewer is directly
concerned.
E. P. Hartman was educated in the
public and parochial schools of Carroll, Iowa, and also
studied in Dixon College. From 1890 to 1891, inclusive,
he served as deputy treasurer of Sac county. He then
engaged in the mercantile business in Cowrie for a
period of seven years, after which he returned to
Odebolt where he resided until 1905. In 1905 he became
connected with the Lake View State Bank and is now the
bank's efficient and accommodating assistant cashier.
His attention, like that of many other successful and
enterprising men in this section of the West, has been
devoted to agricultural interests and his land holdings
are considerable. He is the owner of
three hundred and sixty acres of rich land, one hundred
and twenty acres of which is located in Wall Lake
township and two hundred and forty acres in Boyer Valley
township.
Mr. Hartman was married in 1892 to
Louisa Schaller, a daughter of Hon. Phil Schaller, one
of the noted and commanding figures in the history of
Sac county, and of whom this volume gives an extended
biography. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs.
Hartman, as follows: Lucille and Philip, students in
Grinnell College; Mary, Schaller, Catharine and
Margaret.
Politically, Mr. Hartman is allied
with the Republican party. He is a member of the
Catholic church. He ranks high as one of the
representative and leading citizens of his city and
county; is genial, well educated and progressive and
enjoys the friendship and esteem of his many
acquaintances throughout the county. He is the father of
a very interesting family who will undoubtedly be reared
to become good and useful men and women.
HARTSELL, JACOB W. -----Clearly
defined purpose and consecutive effort in the affairs of
late will inevitably result in the attaining of a due
measure of success, but in following out the career of
one who has attained success by his own efforts there
comes into view the intrinsic individuality which made
such accomplishment possible, and thus there is granted
an objective incentive and inspiration.
The qualities which have made Mr. Hartsell, the
mayor of Early, one of the prominent and successful men
of that city, have also brought him the esteem of his
fellow townsmen, for his career has been one of
well-directed energy, strong determination and honorable
methods.
Jacob W. Hartsell, mayor of Early,
Iowa, and prosperous farmer of Sac county, was born
April 6, 1853, in Mercer county, Illinois. His parents
were Harrison and Elizabeth (Unangst) Hartsell, who were
both natives of New Jersey. They came west in the early
history of Illinois and settled in Mercer county that
state, where they both died. They reared a family of six
children; Charles, of Preston, Kansas; Mrs. Mary
Shearer, of Lorimer, Iowa, Mrs. Elizabeth Moler of
Stuart, Iowa; Elijah, also of Stuart, Iowa: Ezra,
deceased, and Jacob W., with whom this narrative
deals. Jacob W. Hartsell was
educated in the schools of Mercer county, Illinois, and,
after marrying in that state, came to Sac county, Iowa,
in 1882, and purchased three hundred and twenty acres in
Cook township, and continued to reside on this farm
until he moved to Early in 1905. In 1909 he was elected
mayor of Early and has been filling that important
position up until the present time. Since taking charge
of the executive chair he has installed an electric
light plant, at a cost of ten thousand dollars, and the
city now boasts of handsome boulevard lights, which
gives it a very attractive appearance at night. He has
been a strong advocate of all town improvements and has
given an administration to the citizens of Early which
has been satisfactory in every way.
Mr. Hartsell was married in 1877 to
Amanda McLaughlin, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. R.
McLaughlin, of Mercer county. Illinois, and to this
union there have been born five children, James,
Charles, Vernon, Nellie and Ruth. James and Charles are
now on the home farm, Vernon is farming near Early and
Nellie resides on a farm near the same place, while Ruth
remains with her parents.
Politically, Mr. Hartsell is a
Democrat and is a firm believer of the principles as set
forth by that party and advocated by President Wilson.
His party has honored him by electing him to the office
of mayor of Early, while he has honored his party by
giving his services, not only for the benefit of the
members of his own party, but for all the citizens of
the city, irrespective of their politics. Fraternally,
he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons,
while he belongs to the Mystic Shrine at Des
Moines. The members of the
family are all Presbyterians and render that church
their earnest support. Mr. Hartsell is. first of all,
distinctly a man of the people, whose interests he has
at heart and for whom he wouldn't hesitate to make any
reasonable sacrifice. He believes in the ultimate
glorious destiny of our free institutions and that the
best way to realize that destiny is for each member of
the body politic to live up to his highest ideals of
right, which, to the best of his ability, Mr. Hartsell
has endeavored to do.
HASCH, HENRY -----All credit
should be given a man like Henry Hasch, one of the
progressive farmers and substantial citizens of Wall
Lake, Iowa, a man who, although interested primarily in
his own affairs, manifests an abiding regard for the
advancement and welfare of the community and for any
measure or enterprise by which his fellow men may be
benefited. All this is only the more commendable because
he is not a native of "the land of the free and the home
of the brave," but was reared to honor another flag and
supported other forms of administrations; but since
coming among us he has quickly assimilated our
civilization and adopted our customs.
Henry Hasch, a prosperous, retired
farmer living in Wall Lake, Iowa, was born May 5, 1840,
in Holstein, Germany. His parents, Hans and Christina
Hasch, were born, lived and died in Germany. Hans Hasch
was a shoemaker by trade, while his son, Henry, was
apprenticed to a brick layer in his youth and learned
that trade before coming to America.
Henry Hasch received a good,
elementary education in his native land and was an
expert brick layer and plasterer when he came to this
country in 1869. He first stopped in Chicago, where he
worked for three months and then made his way to
Davenport, Iowa, where he worked until September, 1870,
after which he removed to Cedar Rapids, this state, but
shortly afterwards went to Benton county, this state,
where he found plenty of work to do in his trade among
the farmers of that county. Here he worked until 1873,
when he married and started on his own successful career
as a farmer.
The first experience of Mr. Hasch
on a farm was in Benton county, Iowa, and here he worked
for six years, learning the rudiments of the profession
and perfecting himself in all of those details which are
the necessary concomitants of the successful farmer. He
saved his money and in 1879 he started to come to Sac
county and invest in land. After making a careful survey
of the land offered for sale in this county, he finally
decided to purchase ninety-six acres in Wall Lake
township, at six dollars and sixty five cents an acre.
This proved to be a fortunate investment and a few years
later he felt justified in purchasing one hundred and
thirteen acres of land adjoining his farm at six dollars
an acre. He now had over two hundred acres of land and
applied himself with true German thrift and
determination to make his farm a paying proposition, he
improved the farm by ditching, draining and the
construction of buildings, so that he had a comfortable
home in which to live. In 1901 he added another farm of
two hundred acres to his land holdings, for which he had
to pay forty-five dollars an acre. This two-hundred-acre
farm was crossed by the railroad, which takes out twelve
acres, so that his total land holdings are now three
hundred and ninety-seven acres. In addition to his own
farm, he purchased farms for his sons upon their
marriage and has the satisfaction of knowing that they
are becoming successful farmers and useful citizens of
the county.
Mr. Hasch was married on December
13, 1873, to Lena Emke, who was born in Germany in 1854
and came to America in 1871. To this union there have
been born eight children: Minnie, the wife of Louis
Staub, a farmer in this township; William, who lives on
the home farm; Mrs. Dora Melbrech, deceased; Mary, wife
of John Lange, of North Dakota; Henry, deceased; August
and Benjamin, who are farmers of Clinton township, this
county, and Arthur, also a farmer living in this
county. In 1897 Mr. Hasch
retired from active farm work and moved to Wall Lake,
where he and his wife are spending their days in a
comfortable home surrounded by all the modern
conveniences of life.
Such, in brief, is the story of one
of Sac county's prosperous citizens. Coming to this
country practically penniless, he has within thirty-five
years risen to a position of affluence and wealth and
his story but repeats what has often been said that
"where there is a will, there is a way." Mr. Hasch is a
Democrat in politics and a German Lutheran in his
religious affiliations. He has fully measured up to all
of the standards of American citizenship and has given
to his adopted country a devotion no less sincere than
that of her native sons. It is needless to say
that he has won the esteem and respect of a large circle
of friends and acquaintances. for his life has been one
which has been entirely of
censure.
HATFIELD, CHARLES ------The
biographies of successful men, especially of good men,
are incentives and guides for the instruction of others.
The examples they furnish of patient purpose and
steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what is in the
power of each to accomplish. Some men belong to no
exclusive class in life, yet have succeeded in
overcoming apparently insurmountable obstacles which in
many instances have awakened their latent powers and
ha\e served as stimulus which has carried them onward to
success while yet in the prime of life.
Self reliance, when given half a chance, will win
out in the end. Sturdy colonial ancestry has frequently
inbred in descendants the power to do and build where
others fail. .For a man to have struggled onward to
attain a comfortable competence which enabled him and
his beloved wife to sit in comfort and enjoy the setting
of life's journey by their own fireside in peace and
contentment with the world at large, is the greatest of
successes, to the mind of the historian. Such an example
is the aged gentleman of whom it is a pleasure to record
the ensuing facts.
Charles Hatfield, of Sac City,
Iowa, was born February 14, 1839, in the old state of
Massachusetts, the offspring of Horace Hatfield, of
Massachusetts, and Almire (Kellogg) Hatfield. He was
left fatherless when twenty-two years of age, and having
previously married, he assumed the care of his mother
during the remainder of her life. Charles, having been
reared in the vicinity of the great paper mills of his
native state, learned the trade of paper maker in the
mills and was employed at his trade for a period of
eight years. He was married in
1858, taking to wife Lovenia Warren, who was born in
Massachusetts on March 5, 1839. Mrs. Hatfield is a
descendant of an old New England family. She is the
daughter of Pliny and Mary (Tanner) Warren, whose
immediate ancestors crossed the Atlantic in the
"Mayflower." One of her direct ancestors was Dr. William
Warren, who fell at the battle of Bunker Hill.
The mother, son and wife set out
for the West in 1864 and located in Wisconsin, where
they resided for two years on a farm. In 1866 they came
to Iowa, locating in Butler county. They were very poor,
and it was necessary for Charles to work out at farm
labor for two years in order to obtain a livelihood.
This enabled him to obtain some tools and livestock and
he rented a farm in Butler county for twelve years. The
family were thrifty and saving-abilities which enabled
him to come to Sac county in 1879 and purchase eighty
acres of good land in Jackson township for six dollars
and sixty cents an acre.
He at once began breaking his land
and sowed it to crops and erected a small house which
served as their habitation. Some years later he
purchased an additional forty acres at a cost of
thirty-two dollars an acre. In 1891 he sold his entire
holdings in Jackson township at sixty-five dollars an
acre and invested in one hundred and seventy-one acres
in Douglas township at a purchase price of forty-four
dollars an acre. He rented this farm
for a little over twenty-one years and in 1891 removed
to a cottage in Sac City where he and his estimable wife
are enjoying a comfortable and peaceful old age. In the
year 1912 Mr. Hatfield disposed of his farm holdings for
the considerable sum of one hundred and fifteen dollars
per acre.
This well respected couple have
reared two daughters to beneficent womanhood, namely:
Mrs. Cora Reynolds, who resides in. northwestern
Nebraska and is the mother of three children, Charles
Reynolds, of Omaha. and father of two
children. .Milton and Robert; Mrs. Cora Daly of
Nebraska, who is the mother of one child. Helen; Leroy
Reynolds, unmarried. The second daughter is Mrs. Nellie
Corderman, of Cedar Township who is the mother of seven
children, namely; Alvin Corderman who is married and
lives in Cedar township, Sac county: Louis: Ellis, who
is married and has one child, Beryl; Walter; Warren;
Elsie, and David. Mr. Hatfield has always been allied
with the Republican party and has served as trustee of
Jackson township. He and his wife are both members of
the Methodist Episcopal church and are affiliated with
the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Hatfield is a Free
Mason, being a member of the chapter and commandery. and
is a member of the Yeomen.
HAYDEN, ARTHUR SUMNER -----It
is probable that the average professional medical
practitioner sees more of the darker side of human life
than any other, owing to the nature of his calling,
which is to relieve suffering and to eradicate disease
from mankind. He is often self-sacrificing and of
necessity must be very reticent concerning the knowledge
which comes into his possession ; frequently he becomes
the family adviser and counselor ; it is he who soothes
the last hours of the dying and gently leads the sick
and ailing along the high road to recovery through the
ministration of the remedies provided by nature and
often through the exercise of his own optimism and gifts
of power. A true representative
of this noblest of all professions is found in the
person of Dr. Arthur S. Hayden, of the town of Wall
Lake. He is a pioneer resident of Sac county, and his
parents before him were pioneers.
Doctor Hayden was born March 12,
1862, near Blackberry Station, now Elburn, county of
Kane, Illinois. He is the son of Rev. Rufus Hayden, who
was born December 10, 1819, and died December 27, 1908.
His mother was Lucia Muncil, born in 1821 and died in
1900. They were both natives of Old Vermont and
descendants of old New England forbears. They were
reared and married in their native state and migrated to
New Hampshire and thence to Auburn, New York. Rev. Rufus
Hayden was a Baptist minister and by the necessity of
his calling he was required to have many homes and moved
about considerably, from Auburn, New York, he went to
Hillsdale. Michigan, and from
there to Elburn, Illinois, in the late fifties.
In the year 1864 he removed to Buchanan County,
Iowa, and resided their until 1873. when he came to Sac
county. For two years he preached the gospel in Sac City
and then bought a farm two and one half miles south of
the city. He organized Baptist churches throughout the
county while engaged in farming. He was the pioneer
minister of the Baptist faith in Sac county and will
long be remembered by the older residents whom had the
opportunity of listening to his discourses from the
pulpit. His was noble task. Rev. Hayden was the father
of eight children: Francilia, born in New Hampshire and
died in Michigan ; George, born in New Hampshire and
died in Toledo in 1909; Harlan, born in Michigan and
died at the age of two years; Lucian, born in Michigan
and now residing at Little Rock, Arkansas; Caroline,
wife of C. O. Strong, of near Sac City: Mrs. May Bayne,
born in Illinois and living at Morningside, Iowa: Arthur
S.: Flora, wife of Charles Swarm, born in Buchanan
county, Iowa, and living in Windom, Minnesota.
Dr. Hayden was eleven years of age
when his parents removed to Sac county. He received his
education in the Sac City high school and the Western
Normal College of Shenandoah, Iowa. He entered the State
University at Iowa City and graduated from the
department of homeopathy in 1896. From the time he was
seventeen years of age until he attained the age of
thirty he taught school in Sac county. He served as
principal of the Lake View schools and the schools of
Wall Lake. He began his practice in Wall Lake and has
resided here over thirty years in all. He has an
excellent practice and enjoys the esteem of a large
circle of friends and acquaintances.
Dr. Hayden was married October 16,
1886, to Ethel Baker, daughter of W. L. Baker, of Wall
Lake, born near Belvidere, Boone County, Illinois,
August 20, 1868. In 1878 her parents and their three
children moved to Sac county, where her mother and
eldest brother died that same year. Her father died June
20, 1908. One brother, John E. Baker, lives at Lake
View. Two children were
born Dr. and Mrs. Hayden: Beulah, wife of G. A.
May, M. D., of Audubon, and Harold Baker, a
resident of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Arthur S. Hayden is a member of the
State Hahnemann Society and the Iowa .State Medical
Society. Politically, he is allied with the Republican
party, but is progressive in his tendencies. He has
served as school director of Wall Lake and is now a
member of the city council. He is affiliated with the
Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen.
HECHTNER, CHARLES -----It is
evident from a study of the life of Charles Hechtner
that when opportunity knocked at his door he opened it
and invited opportunity to step in. Some wise man has
said that opportunity knocks but once at every man's
door and that the subsequent success of every man
depends upon whether he answers the knock and takes
advantage of the one chance which is offered him.
Whether this be true or not, it is a fact that the
subject of this brief review did not miss his chance, as
his successful career in Sac county fully attests. He is
another of the many descendants of Germanic ancestry who
have gained success in Sac county and although a native
of this state, yet he inherits those characteristics
which dominates a true son of Germany.
Charles Hechtner was born April l0,
1864, in Muscatine county, Iowa.
His parents, Frederick and Sophie Hechtner, were
born, reared and married in Germany. They came to this
country in 1855. Upon coming to America, they located
first at Princeton, Illinois. In 1864 they came to
Muscatine county, Iowa, where Charles was born.
Frederick Hechtner died in 1891 and his wife in 1900. To
them were born nine children, seven of whom are living:
Mrs. Mary Hector, of Avoca, Iowa; Mrs. Emma Hector, of
Walnut, Iowa; Mrs. Eliza Slade, of Des Moines; Mrs.
Caroline Shannon, of Nichols, Iowa; Charles, whose
history is portrayed in this connection: Alfreda, of
Chicago; Mrs. Elizabeth Sauer of Denver, Colorado.
Charles Hechtner received his
education in the public schools of Muscatine county,
Iowa, and at the age of twenty-four he began farming for
himself in his native county. In 1892 he came to Sac
county and purchased two hundred and forty acres in Coon
Valley township, on which he is living today. He is an
expert raiser of corn, and in 1913 had forty acres of
corn which averaged sixty-five bushels to the acre; is a
large raiser of livestock and markets from twenty-five
to fifty head of cattle and one hundred head of hogs
annually. He is also a large breeder of Percheron horses
and has ten head of these fine animals on his farm at
the present time. He has a fine modern home which he
erected in 1898, as well as large barns and other
outbuildings. When he bought his farm, much of it was of
such swampy character that it was not in a condition to
raise any crops at all-in fact, only twenty acres of it
was cultivated when he took charge of the farm, but by a
system of scientific ditching he has brought all of the
farm under cultivation. The land originally cost him six
thousand five hundred dollars: it is now worth over
sixty thousand dollars. He has spent sixteen thousand
dollars in improvement in the way of buildings, ditching
and fencing, and he now has two complete sets of
buildings on his land.
Mr. Hechtner was married March 1,
1888, to Hattie Belle Messenger, daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. L. B. Messenger, of Muscatine county, Iowa. To this
union have been born three children: Mrs. Elsie May
Brynteson, of Sac City,. born June 5, 1891: Charles
Lloyd, who was born January 21, 1904, and Robert
Raymond, who was born March 26, 1908.
Mr. Hechtner has been active in the
Republican party for many years and has tilled many
township offices, as well as the position of county
supervisor for six years. He was selected as county
supervisor in 1906 and so efficient was his
administration that he was re-elected in 1909,
terminating his second term on January 1, 1913. He and
his family are regular attendants of the Methodist
Episcopal church and contribute liberally of their means
to its support. Fraternally, he is a member of the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Ancient Order
of United Workmen. Successful in business, respected in
social life and efficient as administrator of various
duties in public affairs, Mr. Hechtner has been a
prominent factor in the life of his township and county.
He has at all times discharged his duties in a manner
becoming an intelligent citizen and justly earns the
high esteem in which he is held by a large circle of
friends and acquaintances throughout the
county.
HECHTNER, JOHN G. -----Every
nation on the face of the earth has contributed to the
population of the one hundred million occupying the
United States as their home. Every nation in Europe has
contributed its quota to the incoming tide of immigrants
who annually flock to the shores of this country. In the
olden times people lived and died in communities where
they were born, but in the nineteenth century, when the
fame of the United States was broadened throughout the
world, the ambitious people of the world turned their
eyes to America, the Land of Opportunity, flocking here
literally by the millions. Thus it comes about that we
have, scattered throughout the United States, couples
who have come together whose native homes were often
thousands of miles apart. The family history of John G.
Hechtner, which forms the theme of the present
narrative, is an illustration of the fact and shows what
the civilization of the nineteenth century has
accomplished. His father was born in Prussia, his mother
in Switzerland, while he himself was born in Illinois,
in the United States of America.
John G. Hechtner, a prosperous
farmer of Coon Valley township Sac county, Iowa, was
born on December 13, 1868, in Bureau county. Illinois,
near Princeton, and is the son of John and Elizabeth
(Mehlin) Hechtner. John Hechtner was
born in Prussia and came to America when he was eighteen
years of age with his father, Godfrey. Elizabeth Mehlin
was born in Switzerland and came with her father to this
country when she was sixteen years of age. It so
happened that the fathers of Mr. and Mrs. John Hechtner
settled in the same county in Illinois, and there John
Hechtner and Elizabeth Mehlin met and were married. John
Hechtner died in Princeton, Illinois, in 1901, at the
age of sixty-three, and his wife is still living in that
city. Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. John Hechtner
there are seven living: Mrs. Marion Rudigar of Bureau
county, Illinois ; Mrs. Emma Dreman, of the same county:
John G., with whom this narrative deals: Charles, of
Chariton, Iowa; Mrs. Elizabeth Dreman, of Bureau county,
Illinois: Mrs. Caroline Yingling, of
Mannius, Illinois, and Mrs. Joseph Johnson, of near
Princeton, Bureau county, Illinois.
John G. Hechtner was educated in
the common schools of Bureau County, Illinois, later
attended a business college at Davenport. When twenty
two years of age he went to Chicago, and for ten years
was employed in the circulation department of the
Chicago Chronicle. In 1901 he came to Sac county with
his savings and purchased two hundred acres of land at
fifty dollars an acre. In 1900 he added forty acres to
his original purchase at a cost of ninety-six dollars an
acre. Since coming to this county, he has spent from ten
to fifteen thousand dollars in the way of improvement.
He has built a fine modern residence, remodeled his
barn, tiled and fenced his farm.
His land is today worth two hundred dollars an
acre. In 191 3 he had seventy-five acres of corn, which
averaged sixty-five bushels to the acre. He annually
puts on the market from one hundred and twenty-five to
one hundred and fifty head of hogs, and raises other
live stock in proportion.
Mr. Hechtner was married November
30, 1892, in Tiskilwa, Illinois, to Jessie M. Sheldon.
To this union five children have been born, three of
whom are now living: Gertrude, born November 21, 1893;
Marion, born October 27, 1905, and Bernard, born August
24, 1908.
Politically. Mr. Hechtner belongs
to that intelligent class of voters who are classed as
independent. Though he was reared a Democrat, he has
exercised his right as an American citizen and voted for
the best man irrespective of their politics.
Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons, the Ancient Order of United Workmen and
Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Hechtner has established
a reputation for honesty of purpose in all his dealings
with his fellow men and by being an advocate of clean
and wholesome principle in politics, in home life, in
everything which touches the welfare of his community,
he has come to be regarded as one of the representative
men of the county.
HENNING, WILLIAM W. -----Among
the prosperous farmers of Jackson township. Sac county,
Iowa, is William W. Henning, who embodies all of those
characteristics which are the marks of the progressive
farmer of the twentieth century. Although he has been in
this county only a comparatively short time yet he has
impressed his individuality upon the community where he
settled, by virtue of the fact that he is a man of
strong convictions and upright character. Coming here
from the state of Illinois, he made the change because
he felt that this was one of the best agricultural
sections of the country, and that this county offered
the farmer as good or better opportunity for a
successful career than could be found any place in the
United States.
William W. Henning, of Jackson
township, was born August 7, 1S60, at Plano, Illinois,
and is the son of William and Marinda (Brown) Henning,
natives of New York. William Henning, Sr., is the son of
Cornelius Henning, who left his native state of New York
and came by the lakes through Chicago. Cornelius and his
family then traveled by wagon to Plano, two miles
distant from Chicago. They settled on a farm in the
immediate vicinity of that city. William Henning, Sr.,
was a prosperous farmer and stockraiser in Illinois and
was one of the most substantial citizens in the locality
where he lived. Half of the present city of Plano was
built on the Henning farm. William Henning Sr., died in
1886 at the age of seventy-two and his wife died ten
years later, at the age of sixty-nine. Nine children,
including three sets of twins, were born to Mr. and Mrs.
William Henning, Sr.: Loren, of Plano, Illinois:
Gilbert, deceased: Mrs. Clara Cox. of Aurora, Nebraska;
Herschell, of Marengo, Illinois; Hattie, deceased;
William W., whose history is here recorded; Mrs. Eva
Laurie, of Aurora, Nebraska;
Clarence, deceased ; Wallace, deceased, who was a twin
of the subject.
William W. Henning was educated in
the Plano public schools and later attended Aurora
Seminary, a Methodist institution. He assisted his
father on the home farm until he was twenty-three years
of age and then managed the family farm of three hundred
and twenty acres near Steward, Illinois, where he
resided twelve years. In 1895 he sold his farm and moved
to Plano, Illinois, where he served as city marshal for
three years. In 1901 he came to Sac county, having
purchased, in 1900, his present farm of one hundred and
ninety acres for fifty-five dollars an acre. He has
spent nearly six thousand dollars in improving the farm
since he purchased it, putting one thousand dollars on
the house, three thousand dollars in tiling and one
thousand dollars for stock and machinery. He now has the
farm in excellent condition and values it at two hundred
dollars an acre. In 1913 he had seventy-five acres of
corn, which averaged fifty bushels to the acre. That
year he also raised twenty-five head of cattle, forty
head of hogs and ten head of horses.
Mr. Henning was married February
14, 1884 to Adah Wilcox, of Plano, Illinois. She died in
January, 1909 leaving three children Bertha, Davis and
Dorothy. Bertha and Dorothy are with their father, while
Davis is managing the farm for his father. Davis married
Irene Masteller of Sac county, and has one son, Verlin.
On .April 24, 1913, Mr. Henning was married to Agnes
Bock, a former teacher of Sac county, the daughter of J.
A. and Hetty A. Bock,
both natives of Pennsylvania. The Bock family came from
Pennsylvania to Carroll county, Iowa, in 1877, and moved
to Sac county in 1809, where they have since
resided.
Mr. Henning is a progressive
Republican and, while interesting himself in the various
political questions of the day, he has never been an
aspirant for any public office. His family are members
of the Presbyterian church, while, fraternally, he is a
member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and
Modern Woodmen of America, having been a member of the
latter order since he was twenty-five years of age. Mr.
Henning has been a man of action and has lived a life
which has been in accord with the Golden Rule. He has
carried forward to successful completion whatever he has
undertaken, and his business methods have been in strict
conformity with the standard ethics of commercial life.
He has never shrunk from his duties as a citizen, his
obligations to his church, his neighbors or his
friends
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