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History of Sac County
by William H. Hart - 1914
ADAMS, HIRAM -----Among the aged
citizens of Sac county, Iowa, Hiram Adams, who is now
living a retired life at Wall Lake, in this county, is
deserving of particular mention in this volume. He has,
in addition to his record as a successful farmer in this
county, a war record which entitles him to honorable
mention. Mr. Adams is a fine
example of the man who follows one occupation to middle
life successfully, and then changes and makes a success
of a totally different occupation. Born in New York
state, October 5. 1836, he lived in that state for the
first twenty years of his life. His father, Samuel
B. Adams, was born May
19, 1791, in New York state, and died February 27, 1864.
His mother, Elizabeth (Haynes) Adams, was also a native
of New York, born there on August 12, 1801, and died
September 19, 1841. Neither of his parents ever left the
state of New York.
In 1856 Hiram Adams left his native
state and located in DuPage County, Illinois, where he
followed the trade which he had learned as a youth,
namely that of shoemaking. He continued to work in his
chosen calling until he enlisted for service in the
Union army in Company C, One Hundred and Fifty-third
Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and after an
honorable service in the war, he returned to Illinois
and followed his trade as a shoemaker until 1880. He
then left Illinois and came to Sac county, Iowa, where
he purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land in
Levey township, at four and one-half dollars an acre,
and this land he has gradually improved and developed
until it is now one of the best in the township, and he
has also gradually increased his land holdings until he
is now the owner of five hundred and sixty acres in this
county, as well as a tract of eight hundred acres in
Alberta, Canada. In 1888 he moved to Wall Lake, where he
purchased a residence, which he has since remodeled into
his present attractive modern home. Mr. Adams was in the
mercantile business in Wall Lake for eighteen years,
retiring from that business in 1906.
Mr. Adams has been twice married,
his first marriage being to Frances Bigelow, on July 10,
1860, and her death occurred February 1, 1873, leaving
three children: Mrs. Mary E. Crighton, who lives in
Odebolt; A. J., of Sioux City, this state, and who is in
the employ of a railroad company, and Francis Hiram, of
California. Mr. Adams was married the second time on May
14, 1874, to Sarah Jane White, a native of Geneva, Kane
county, Illinois, and the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Amsa
White. Two children were born to the second marriage,
but both are now deceased.
Mr. Adams is a Progressive in
politics, and has always taken more or less of an
interest in political affairs. He served for several
years as a justice of the peace in Illinois, and since
living in Wall Lake has been the mayor of that city. He
is a loyal member of the Grand Army of the Republic and
takes an active interest in the affairs of the local
post. He has been a man of tireless energy and
indomitable courage, and has won the confidence and held
the unqualified esteem of his fellow citizens. He has
met and encountered many obstacles along life's pathway,
but now he can look back over his career and feel that
no action of his has brought sorrow to any of his fellow
citizens or trouble to anyone.
AHRENS, ERNEST L.
-----Self-educated and self-trained men in all walks of
life are usually found to be of a high type of
individual in practically every community. Their horizon
has been broadened; their faculties have been highly
developed; their mental caliber is found to be of the
strongest, and their business ability is generally
recognized as above the average. Wherever we find a
successful merchant, it is discovered that the results
of his attainments are due to his close application to
the details connected with his business and his success
due in a great measure to his personal integrity and
energy in overcoming obstacles which many have during
the past placed themselves in his path. E. L. Ahrens, senior member of the firm of Ahrens
& Lowry, Sac City, belongs properly in the highest
class of progressive men of business. To his foresight
and business acumen we can safely give the credit for
the establishment of one of the most successful and
prosperous establishments in a city noted for its fine
and well stocked stores. Although not born nor reared to
a life of mercantile pursuit, he has demonstrated that
he possessed the necessary ability to establish and
build up a thriving concern which is a credit to the
community.
The hardware business of
Ahrens & Lowry was begun in a limited way by Mr.
Ahrens in the year 1899, when he left the farm and
started a plumbing shop on the main thoroughfare of the
city. This shop met with instantaneous success, and a
line of hardware was gradually added to accommodate the
ever increasing patronage. L. P. Lowry became a partner
in the year 1906, and additional capital provided by his
entrance into the partnership enabled the new firm to
branch out and install a larger and more varied stock of
goods. The firm owns its own handsome brick building,
the main show room being twenty-two by one hundred and
thirty-two feet in extent. They carry a complete and
modern stock of hardware, plumbing and heating apparatus
and supplies. A completely fitted plumbing shop is also
maintained, the business requiring the services of five
employees.
Biographically speaking, E.
L. Ahrens was born on February 2, 1860, at Belle Plain,
Iowa. He is the son of German parents, his father,
Christian Ahrens having been born and reared in the
fatherland. His mother was Amelia Schroeder likewise a
native of Germany. His parents emigrated, with their
respective families, to Iowa in an early day. They met
and were married in the same neighborhood of the
original place of settlement. Both died in the town of
Belle Plain. Christian was the father of six children,
namely: Mrs. Amelia Tischer, of Sac City; W. W., of
Plain View, Nebraska: Ernest L.: Samuel, of Belle Plain.
Iowa: C. A., of Marshall, Minnesota. and G. R.. also
a resident of Belle Plain, Iowa.
E. L. Ahrens received his
primary education in the district schools near Belle
Plain and was reared on a farm, learning the secrets of
soil cultivation from his German parents. In the year 1880
he removed to Sac county and established himself on a
farm in Wall Lake township, consisting of one hundred
and sixty acres, which his father had previously
purchased in his behalf with the understanding that the
son was to repay him from the proceeds of his farming
operations.
This was an excellent arrangement, which is
deserving of emulation by every father who has sons
whose desire it is to succeed along agricultural lines.
We must credit Christian Ahrens with remarkable
foresight and a keen parental desire to see his children
prosper while the father was yet among the living. E. L,
did not belie the parental expectations, and it is to
his credit that he soon paid off his indebtedness and
has added to his original acreage from time to time. He
is now the owner of four excellent farms in Sac county,
consisting of the original farm of one hundred and sixty
acres, one of eighty acres, one of one hundred and
thirty acres, and another very good one of one hundred
and forty acres, making a total acreage of five hundred
and ten acres. All of these farms are well improved and
are provided with good buildings and fencing. Mr. Ahrens
has them rented out to responsible tenants. So
diligently did he apply himself to the task of
cultivating his land that his health gradually failed
him and he found it necessary to discontinue farming and
removed to Sac City in the year 1897. During his
residence in the country he had taken up the study of
penmanship, bookkeeping and commerce, so that he came to
the city well fortified to engage in a pursuit for which
he had a natural aptitude. During his spare time and of
evenings he studied diligently and increased his
knowledge so that he would be better prepared to embark
in a business pursuit when it would become necessary for
him to abandon agriculture
permanently.
Politically, Mr. Ahrens is
allied with the Republican party. He takes an active
interest in municipal affairs and believes it to be the
duty of every citizen to assist in every possible manner
in pushing forward the growth and progress of his home
city. He has served as school treasurer of Wall Lake
township and has filled the office of city councilman.
He is one of the best known members of the Christian
church of Sac City. Fraternally, he is affiliated with
the Brotherhood of American Yeoman, the Odd Fellows and
the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he is a
Knight Templar.
Mr. Ahrens was married in 1883 to
Emma Dart, a daughter of C. J. Dart, one of the
pioneer settlers of Sac county. He is the father of the
following children: Pearl, the wife of Homer B. Ford,
merchant of Seattle, Washington ; Ida Y., a student in
the State Agricultural College, at Ames,
Iowa.
ANDERSON, ADOLPH -----Born the land
of the Vikings have come some of the most substantial
citizens of Sac county and the same indomitable spirit
which characterized the Northmen of old are to be found
in these sturdy sons of Sweden today Adolph Anderson
offers another striking example of the oft-repeated
statement that "America is the land of opportunity," for
he came to this country when a mere youth without money
and without friends, and yet by the sweat of his brow he
has risen to a position where he is classed among the
most substantial farmers of Sac county.
Adolph Anderson, of Coon Valley
township, was born August 27, 1857, in Sweden, the son
of Andrew and Hannah Anderson who spent all of their
lives in the land of their birth.When a lad of sixteen years,
Adolph Anderson came to America. The subsequent story of
his life illustrates what can be accomplished by the
proper application of industry and honest methods of
life. Upon coming to America in 1874 he came directly to
Illinois, where he secured a position on a farm, at the
rate of fifteen dollars a month. A year later this young
man, now seventeen years of age, rented a piece of land
and for the next seven years worked diligently to save
enough money to buy a farm of his own.
By the time he was
twenty-four years of age he was in a position
financially to invest in a farm of his own, and
accordingly, he came to Cedar township, Sac county,
Iowa, and bought one hundred and sixty acres for five
dollars and seventy-five cents an acre. The following
year he married and at once he and his young bride
settled on his farm in Sac county, and started to lay
the foundation of their future prosperity. However, they
met with many discouragements. A year later they
returned to Illinois where they lived for the next four
years. The year 1886 found them back again in Sac
county, where they purchased one hundred and seventeen
acres in Coon Valley township for seventeen dollars and
a half an acre. This farm they still own and, as they
felt able, they added to their original investment till
at line time they owned one thousand two hundred acres
of land in the county. Mr. Anderson has not attempted to
farm all of this land and has sold some of it from time
to time, although he still owns six hundred and twenty
acres in Coon Valley township. Failure is a word not
found in the Anderson family dictionary and today Mr.
Anderson is classed with the most substantial farmers of
his township. He has improved his farm in such a way as
to net him handsome returns, and he now has three
complete sets of buildings on his land. Some years ago,
he retired from active work himself and turned over the
management of his farm to his son. In 1908 he erected a
fine modern home on the farm and removed to Sac City,
where he and his wife are spending their days surrounded
by all of the conveniences of the twentieth century. His
farms are exceedingly productive and his yearly sale of
livestock comprises forty head of horses, one hundred
and fifty head of hogs and from seventy-five to one
hundred head of cattle.
Mr. Anderson was married in
1881 to Mary S. Peterson, who also is a native of
Sweden. She came to America in 1877 when twenty-eight
years of age. To Mr. and Mrs. Anderson have been born
three children: Charles, who is married and has two
children, Cecil and Ethel; Albert, who is married and
has three children, Adolph, Behula and Bernice; Mrs.
Anna DeBorgh, of Lytton, who has one daughter,
Eilleen.
The Republican party has claimed
the support of Mr. Anderson and he has seen no reason
why he should change his party allegiance to any other
political organization. Religiously, he and his family
are loyal members of the Lutheran church and give
liberally of their means to its support. Mr. Anderson is
regarded as a good businessman of excellent judgment and
foresight, and has been very successful in managing his
large estate. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Bank of
Sac City and now owns five shares in that financial
institution. His six hundred acres are easily worth one
hundred and seventy-five dollars an acre, and it can be
readily seen that he can now afford to live a life of
ease for the remainder of his days. However, his whole
career has not been devoted solely to the acquisition of
wealth, but he has kept abreast of the times and taken
his part in the public life of county fully attests. He
is another of the many descendants of the sturdy pioneer
his friendly manner, his business ability and his
upright living and is therefore a representative man of
Sac county.
ANDERSON, SWAN ----Among the many
excellent citizens of Sac county, Iowa, of Swedish
origin, is the subject of this sketch, who, through
years of honest and unremitting toil and frugality, is
now able to take his place among the well-known farmers
of this county, many of whom have achieved most
gratifying success in their chosen vocation and others
who are in a fair way to realize their highest ambitions
in this line.
Swan Anderson was born on April 25,
1869, in Sweden, being the son of Anderson Nilson and
Johanna Anderson, neither of whom ever left their native
country. An older brother (N. P. Anderson), who had been
in this country for some time, persuaded Swan also to
come to America. N. P. Anderson first lived
in Sac county and later went to Nebraska, where he died.
Swan Anderson emigrated to America in 1885 and had but
four dollars in his pocket when he arrived in New York
City on November 15th of that year. He disembarked one
Sunday afternoon and early Monday morning he started out
for Sac county, Iowa. Upon arriving here, he secured
employment with P. B. Olson, of Wheeler township, with
whom he remained during that winter and in the spring of
1886 he secured work on the Cook ranch, where he
remained for sixteen years. He proved himself a faithful
employee, worthy of every confidence, and carefully
saved all possible out of his earnings, In 1901 he
purchased the farm where he has since made his home,
paying fifty-three dollars per acre for his land, and
since making the purchase he has greatly improved the
farm buildings and rebuilt the residence. This house
occupies a most lovely location, being set back in the
center of the tract in a grove of trees and is reached
from the public highway by means of a long driveway. Mr.
Anderson pays particular attention to producing such
crops as are raised in this section, being uniformly
successful in his endeavors. He also devotes
considerable attention and time to raising livestock,
producing from eighty to one hundred head of hogs
annually. He prefers the Poland-China breed and has an
excellent strain. In cattle he likes best the Angus
breed, and has at present about thirty head. He keeps
eleven head of horses for general purposes.
and is well equipped for carrying in the work of
his farm. He approves modern methods of farming and to
careful attention to detail in this respect he
attributes his growing success.
On February 23, 1899, Mr. Anderson
was united in marriage with Anna Hakenson, who also was
born in Sweden and came to this country in 1897. To
their union have been born two daughters : Esther, born
December 15, 1899, and Edith, born July 20, 1901, both
of whom remain at home, attending school and being
carefully trained in such knowledge as best fits a woman
for her place in the world. In politics, Mr. Anderson is
identified with the Progressive party, exhibiting a
commendable interest in its affairs. The family attends
the Methodist Episcopal church and also the Swedish
mission, giving of time and means to further the cause.
Mr. Anderson has won the sincere regard of those with
whom he comes in contact on account of his upright
principles and consistent manner of living. The success
to which he has attained has been most fully deserved
and, considering the circumstances under which he began
his career in his chosen country.
his course has been most commendable in every
particular.
 ANDRE, THOMAS J.
----The man who devotes his talent.-and energies to the
noble work of ministering to the ills and alleviating
the suffering of humanity is pursuing a calling which in
dignity, importance and beneficial results is second to
no other. If true to his profession and earnest in his
efforts to enlarge his sphere of usefulness, he is
indeed a benefactor to his kind, for to him more than to
any other man are entrusted the safety, the comfort and
in many instances the lives of those who place
themselves under his care and profit by his services. It
is gratifying to note in the series of personal sketches
appearing in this work that there remain identified with
the professional, public and civic affairs of Sac
county, Iowa, many who are ably maintaining the prestige
of noble names. Of this number Dr. Thomas J.
Andre, who is prominent among the physicians and
surgeons and who is practicing his profession in the
city of Schaller. is one of the representative men of
the county. He stands in the front rank of Sac county's
professional men, having been engaged in his calling
here for thirty-two years, during which he has not only
gained wide professional notoriety, hut also established
a sound reputation for uprightness of character in all
the relations of life.
Dr. T. J. Andre, a popular
practicing physician of Schaller, Iowa, was born May 10,
1857, in Columbiana county, Ohio, near the village of
Hanover. His parents, John L. and Rachel Ann (Taylor)
Andre, were natives of the same county and continued to
reside there until 1865, at which time they migrated to
Scott county, Iowa, and settled on a farm where they
lived for forty-one years. John Andre died March 9,
1911, in New Sharon, Mahaska county, this state, at the
advanced age of eighty-four years and six months. His
wife died in 1903. John L. Andre and wife were the
parents of eight children; W. H., of Estherville,
Iowa;
Mrs. Mary J. Cook, deceased; Mrs.
R. A. Fleck, of Lake City, Iowa: Mrs.
Emeline Parker, of Davenport, Iowa; Dr. T. J.,
with whom this narrative deals: J. Frank, of Davenport,
this state; John L., Jr., who died at the age of eight
years, and Mrs. Alberta Landstrom, of New Sharon,
Iowa. Dr. Thomas J. Andre
was reared on the farm in Scott county, this state,
receiving his education in the common schools of his
neighborhood. Early in life he
decided that he wanted to follow the medical profession
and with this end in view he entered Rush Medical
College, of Chicago, from which institution he graduated
in the spring of 1882. In the fall of the same year he
located in Schaller, this county, at a time when that
town boasted of three saloons, two drug stores and one
blacksmith shop. He has lived through
all of the history of the town and has seen it grow from
that spirited beginning to its present prosperous
condition. While Doctor Andre has been wonderfully
successful as a physician he has also been successful as
a businessman, and for several years he has dealt in
Iowa lands, and is now a large land owner in this and
other counties of the state.
Doctor Andre was married in 1884 to
Cora A. Pettit. of Storm Lake, Iowa, and to this
marriage have been born three children: Mrs. Edna R.
Reedy, of Amarillo, Texas; Dorothy J., who is at home
with her parents, and Thomas J., Jr., who was born
February 9, 1906.
The Republican party has claimed
the vote of Doctor Andre, but the nature of his
profession has prevented him from being an active
participant in politics. However, he has served his
township as school director for a number of years, in
which he has done good service for his community.
Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and
Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is
also a member of various medical societies, among which
are the Sac County, Iowa State and American Medical
Societies. He is also a member of the Western Surgical
and Gynecological Society. Doctor Andre's life has been
characterized not only by the high order of his medical
ability, but also by that tact and human sympathy which
overleaps mere sentiment and is a prominent factor in
the life of the successful practitioner. It is the
mixture of smile with medicine which wins the patient's
confidence and starts him on the high road to recovery.
This genial manner is characteristic of Doctor Andre and
is one of the reasons for his pronounced success in this
locality.
 ARMSTRONG, ALDEN -----It is the progressive,
wide-awake man of affairs that makes the real history of
a community, and his influence as a potential factor in
the body politic is difficult to estimate. The examples
such men furnish of patient purpose and steadfast
integrity strongly illustrate what is in the power of
each to accomplish, and there is always a full measure
of satisfaction in adverting, even in a casual way, to
their achievements in advancing their own interests and
those of their fellow men and giving strength and
solidity to the institutions which make so much for the
prosperity of the community. Such a man is Alden
Armstrong, a stock dealer and businessman of Lake View,
Sac county.
Iowa, and it is eminently proper that a review of
his interesting career be accorded a place among the
representative citizens of Sac county.
Alden Armstrong, a prosperous
stock dealer of Lake View, Iowa, was born in Canada.
August 24, 1853. He is the son of Piatt and Amelia
(Mc-Carter) Armstrong, the former being the founder of
Lake View. Amelia McCarter was the daughter of Robert
McCarter, of St. Lawrence county, New York. Piatt
Armstrong left Canada in May, 1834 with his family and
settled at Lost Nation, Clinton county, Iowa, where his
wife died within a short time.
Alden Armstrong was reared in
Clinton county and in the fall of 1874 he left Clinton
county in company with another man on a well-digging
expedition. However, they could find no work to do, so
his partner took the team back to Clinton county and Mr.
Armstrong took the train from Cedar Rapids and stopped
at Ogden, Iowa. Shortly after this he entered the employ
of Joseph Gorham, of Odebolt, and worked for him about
six weeks.
He then went to work on the Wheeler farm and
later spent a short time in Ida county. By this time he
had become convinced of the value of farming land in Sac
county, and wrote his father, asking for financial
assistance in locating land in this county. With his
father's help, he bought all of section 13 in Clinton
township, tor which he paid six dollars and sixty-five
cents an acre.
In the spring of 1875 Mr.
Armstrong came back to Sac county, after wintering in
his old home county, and, with the assistance of Oran
Haskins, broke up one hundred and forty acres of land on
his Sac county farm. In the fall of 1875 Alden Armstrong
and his father came from Clinton county to Sac county
and built a house, but returned to Clinton county for
the winter. In February of 1876 Mr. Armstrong married
and in the spring returned to Sac county, where he has
continued to reside up to the present time. He had to
haul his lumber from West Side, Crawford county, and,
since there were no roads at that time, he had to haul
it by way of the old Levey bridge. For five years he
worked on this farm, then his father gave him one
hundred and sixty acres of the land, and at the same
time gave one hundred and sixty acres to each of his
other sons. Mr. Armstrong lived on his farm for twelve
years, when he sold it for ten thousand dollars and
moved to Lake View in 1887. Upon removing to
Lake View, Mr. Armstrong engaged in the grain and
livestock business. He continued to follow both lines
until 1900 when he disposed of his grain business and
devoted all of his attention to his livestock trade. He
has also been interested in the hardware and automobile
business in Lake View and is also one of the
stockholders and directors of the Lake View State
Bank.
 Mr. Armstrong was married February 24, 1876,
to Emma G. Pollack, of Gundy county, Missouri, the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Robert Pollack. To this union
have been born two children, Lillian and Claude P.
Claude P., who is in the automobile business in Lake
View, is married and has three children, Alden, Velma
and Robert Allie.
Mr. Armstrong was a Republican up
until June, 1912, when he left the old party and joined
the new Progressive party. Fraternally, he is a member
of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and is a Mystic
Shriner of Sioux City, Iowa. He is also a Knight Templar
at Sac City. Mr. Armstrong has lived nearly forty years
in this county, and has seen it grow from a broad
expanse of prairie to its present thriving and
prosperous condition. He recalls the time when he shot
as many as fifteen deer at one time in the vicinity of
Wall Lake. When he came here the country was all
unimproved, and his house was the first one built
between his site and Sac City. His house is built on the
divide between the Missouri and Mississippi rivers. Mr.
Armstrong has so ordered his course at all times as to
command the confidence and regard of the people of his
community. He is a man who has always followed the most
conscientious methods in his business dealings, and has
never neglected to advocate whatever he felt would
promote the public welfare of his locality in any
way.
ARMSTRONG, C. P. -----The
gentleman to a brief review of whose life the reader’s
attention is herewith directed is among the foremost
businessmen of Lake View Sac county, Iowa, and has by
his enterprise and progressive methods contributed in no
small measure to the industrial and commercial
advancement of his community. Possessing splendid
executive and business abilities, he has been successful
in a material way and because of his sterling qualities
he is numbered among the representative men of the city
in which he lives.
C. P. Armstrong, a member of
the Lakeview Auto Company was born January 15, 1877, on
the old Armstrong homestead in Wall Lake township, Sac
county. Iowa, the son of Alden Armstrong and the
grandson of Platt
Armstrong.
C. P. Armstrong has resided
in Lake View for the past twenty-six years with the
exception of seven years which he spent in Minnesota on
a farm. He
went to Minnesota in 1905, and remained there until he
became connected with the Lake View Auto Company as one
of the managers and owners in the fall of 1912. At that
time he purchased the interests of Alden Armstrong and
P. Smith. The company sells automobiles and also has a
well equipped repair department. They employ skilled
mechanics and are equipped to do all kinds of automobile
repairing.
Mr. .Armstrong was married in July,
1902, to Mabel L. Honeyman of Dallas Center, Iowa, and
to this union have been born three children: Velma, aged
ten; Alden, aged seven, and Robert, born February 28,
1914.
Politically, Mr. Armstrong is identified with the
Progressive party.
having joined that now political party upon its
organization in the summer of 1912. Fraternally, he is a
member of the Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons.
 ARMSTRONG,
PLATT -----To have the honor of establishing a city does
not fall to the lot of every man, and yet Platt
Armstrong, of Lake View, is the father of that
prosperous little city by the lake. He had the foresight
to see that the site which he chose would be a good
location for a town, and the subsequent history of Lake
View has justified his judgment. Lake View is one of the
beauty spots of Iowa and is situated on the shores of
Wall lake. Mr. Armstrong’s residence occupies a
commanding and beautiful site overlooking the broad and
rippling waters of the lake.
Platt Armstrong was born
September 10, 1832, in Canada. He is the son of Henry
and Martha (Guernsey) Armstrong, the latter being the
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Guernsey, of
Vermont.
Mr. Armstrong was reared and
educated in Canada and married before he left his native
country. In 1854 he came with his family to Freeport,
Illinois, then the terminus of the Illinois Central
railroad. Here they secured wagons and drove overland to
their Iowa destination from Freeport. He was
accompanied by his wife and one son, Alden whose
biography is given elsewhere in this volume. From
Freeport they journeyed to Clinton county, Iowa, and
settled at Lost Nation. He purchased a farm of two
hundred and forty acres, improved it and resided in
Clinton county until 1877. He then sold his Clinton
county property and moved to Sac county, having
previously bought land in Wall Lake township. In 1880 he
bought one hundred and sixty acres additional, but sold
this in 1884, except ten acres of this quarter section,
which he platted as part of the present town of Lake
View. He platted Lake View in 1882 and has seen it
thrive from the barren prairie to its present opulent
condition. In 1892 he bought sixty acres on the north
end of Wall lake and platted it for a residence section.
In addition to his real estate holdings in Lake View,
Mr. Armstrong has also handled land in Le Mars, in
Plymouth county, and Pierson, Woodbury county.
Mr. Armstrong has the honor
of serving his country faithfully and well during the
long struggle in the sixties. He enlisted from Clinton,
Iowa, September 3, 1862, in Company I, Twenty-sixth Iowa
Infantry, under Capt. Edward Wimple
and Col. Milo Smith. He was before Vicksburg until July
12, 1863, and after participating in many engagements
and skirmishes became ill and was sent to Jefferson
barracks, at St. Louis, and then invalided to the
federal hospital at Keokuk. Here his faithful wife, who
had been left with the care of five children during the
war, came on to care for and nurse him back to health
and strength. He was honorably discharged June 15, 1865.
His company was attached to the First Brigade, First
Division of the Fifteenth Army Corps, and participated
in the following engagements: Chickasaw Bayou, Fort
Hindman or Arkansas Post, Deer Creek, Black Bayou
Expedition, Jackson, Vicksburg and many minor
engagements, such as Clinton, Jackson, Raleigh, Rienzi,
Brandon, Bear Creek and Tuscombia, Cherokee. The company was
also engaged in the great battles of Chattanooga,
Lookout Mountain. Mission Ridge, Ringgold and Pea Vine
Creek, the famous march to the sea, the capture of
Savannah, and at Columbia, South Carolina. He was also
in the subsequent Carolina campaign, and marched in the
Grand Review at Washington, D. C, after having served
until June 12, 1865.
In recent years, Mr.
Armstrong has been attending to his large farming
interests. He is now farming three hundred and twenty
acres near Lake View. He has also been engaged in the
banking business at Moville, Iowa, but has now disposed
of his interest in that bank.
 Mr. Armstrong was married a second time, on
November 25, 1856, to Amanda McCarter, a sister of his
first wife, and who was born July 23, 1829 in Lisbon,
St. Lawrence county New York. To this second marriage
have been born seven children : Kimball, a farmer of
Lake View; Moody, who was killed by a horse on July 4,
1899; Rufus. of Medicine Hat, Canada; Mrs. Millie
Thayer, of Denver, Colorado; Mrs. Nina L. Mann, who is
at home with her parents; Lowry, of Lyle, Washington,
and Guernsey, who died in infancy. Mrs. Armstrong is the
daughter of Robert and Amanda (Marshall) McCarter who
were of Scotch descent. Her grandfather was a native of
Scotland, who emigrated to Ireland.
Mr. Armstrong and his wife
have traveled extensively and have had many unique
experiences during the course of travel. They were
caught in the railroad wreck on November 1, 1913, while
on their way to Brookings, South Dakota, and Mrs.
Armstrong was slightly injured. They have made several
trips to the state of Washington, as well as other
points on the Pacific
coast.
Mr. Armstrong was old enough to
cast his first vote for John C. Fremont in 1856, and
voted for Abraham Lincoln at the front in Georgia, and
has never seen any reason why he should change his
political faith to any other than that of the Republican
party. In his religious affiliations, he belongs to the
Christian Scientist church and contributes liberally to
its support.
He is a loyal member of the Grand Army Post at
Lake View. Mr. Armstrong’s life has been one of
continuous activity from his earliest boyhood and
because of his good business judgment, he has acquired a
very comfortable competency for his declining years. His
life has been full of good work, and many people have
cause to be thankful because he has lived in this
community.
He has always had the welfare of his city at
heart, and as the “father of the city” his name will go
down to succeeding generations as the man who put Lake
View on the map of the United
States.
AUSTIN, JAMES ELMER -----One
of the enterprising men of Sac City who, by close
attention to business, has achieved success and risen to
an honorable position among the progressive men of the
county with which his interests are identified, is J.
E. Austin,
city marshal of Sac City, Iowa. Mr. Austin is one of
those estimable citizens who commands respect because he
has performed well his duty in all relations of
life.
Mr. Austin was born January
22, 1863, and is a native of the state of Nebraska. He
is a son of John Gilbert and Maria (Tufts) Austin, the
former a native of Ohio and the latter of Wisconsin.
John G. Austin was born in the year 1835 and came to Sac
county with his father, Leonard Austin, in 1852. Maria
Tufts was the daughter of Joseph Tufts, an early settler
in Sac county, and she came to this county with an
uncle. John G. Austin and Maria Tufts were married in
Sac county and went to Nebraska, but returned here in
April, 1863, and had a farm near Sac City, where they
lived until about 1896. They were the parents of five
children, named as follows: John who lives in South
Dakota: Mrs. Almina Fletcher, who also lives in South
Dakota; William V., of Fonda, Iowa: Edward, who is the
Standard Oil Company's representative at Sac City; James
Elmer, the immediate subject of this sketch. John G.
Austin died in 1901. At the time of his death he was
city marshal of Sac City, and he was a man who had the
respect of all who knew
him.
J. E. Austin was reared on
the parental farm and followed the active life of a
farmer until 1898. At the age of twenty-three he married
and rented a farm in Jackson township, where he lived
for three years. He then lived for five years on his
father's farm of one hundred and sixty acres adjoining
Sac City. after which he bought a residence in Sac City
and removed to town, and for the following three years
was in the employ of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St.
Paul Railroad Company. In 1907 he became deputy sheriff
of Sac county under Sheriff Currie, and served in this
capacity for three years, or until 1910. He is now
serving as city marshal of Sac City, having succeeded
his father in this position at his death. He is
generally conceded to be a very efficient and
trustworthy official, and has the support and confidence
of the community.
Mr. Austin was married in 1886 to
Nellie M. Nichols and they are the parents of five
children; Clarence lives at Lake View, Iowa; Leonard:
Mrs.
Eveline Stutzman of Corning, Iowa; Charles and
Lloyd.
Politically. Mr. Austin is a Republican, and he
is a member of the Woodmen of the
World.
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