|
History of Sac County
by William H. Hart - 1914
CARLTON, DAN D. ---The true measure
of individual success is determined by what one has
accomplished. An enumeration of those men who have
succeeded in their special vocations in Sac county,
Iowa, and at the same time are impressing their
personalities on the community, men who are conferring
honor on the locality in which they reside, would be
incomplete were there failure to make specific mention
of the gentleman whose name initiates this paragraph,
for he is an important factor in the business life of
his community. The splendid success which has come to
him has been the direct result of the salient points in
his character, for, with a mind capable of having
judicious plans and a will strong enough to carry them
into execution, his energy, foresight and perseverance
has carried him forward to a position in the front rank
of the successful men of his community, he has carried
forward to a successful completion whatever he has
undertaken, and his methods have ever been in strict
conformity with the standard ethics of commercial life.
He has taken an intelligent interest in the civic life
of the community and has earned the high regard in which
he is held by all who know him.
Dan D. Carlton, Vice-president of
the Citizens State Bank of Early, Iowa, and retired
merchant of that city, was born January 31, 1862, in
Scranton, Pennsylvania. His parents, E. W. and Nancy R.
(Fuller) Carlton, were both natives of New Hampshire,
and shortly after the birth of D. D. Carlton they moved
back to their old home in New Hampshire, where the
father died in 1903. and the mother is still residing in
that state, nearly seventy-seven years of age. E. W.
Carlton and wife were the parents of a large family of
children: Mrs. Anna Hunter, of Wall Lake, Iowa; Edward,
of Dubuque, Iowa; Guy, of Washta, Iowa: Mrs. Etta
Siscoe; Mrs. Nellie Marshall; Fred, of New Hampshire; D.
D., with whom this narrative deals, and Bert,
deceased.
Dan D. Carlton was educated in the
public schools and Derby Academy in New Hampshire, and
later graduated from Eastman's Business College, at
Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1883. He immediately came
west and in 1884 located in Early, Iowa, then a new
town. He worked on a farm for the first year, and then
began clerking in the store of H. Mohr & Son. In
1886 he became a partner of T. A. Barrett, his
father-in-law, a partnership which lasted for
twenty-five years, and on January 1, 1913 Mr. Carlton
retired from the mercantile business, and he has been
vice-president of the Citizens State Bank, of Early
since its organization. In addition to his mercantile
and banking interests, he has been also interested in
farming lands, and is now the owner of two hundred and
fifty-five acres in Buena Vista county, Iowa, two
hundred and sixty acres in Sac county and three hundred
and twenty acres in South Dakota.
Mr. Carlton was married in 1886 to
Kitty L. Barrett, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. T. A.
Barrett, and to this marriage have been born three
children: Bvrhl, cashier of the Citizens" State Bank, of
Early: Murl, who is now a law student in the University
of Michigan, and Marjorie who is a student in the high
school at Early.
Politically, Mr. Carlton is a
Republican. The members of the family are all faithful
adherents of the Presbyterian church. Fraternally, Mr.
Carlton is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted
Masons at Early, including chapter and commandery, and
has served as master of the Early blue lodge. He has
also served for one year as treasurer of the grand lodge
of Iowa. He is also a Noble of the Mystic Shrine.
T. A. Barrett, father of Mrs.
Carlton, was born April 13, 1833, in Erie County,
Pennsylvania. His parents were L. W. and Martha (Wells)
Barrett, natives of Vermont and New York respectively.
In 1843 his parents moved to Ohio, where T. A. Barrett
was educated. When twenty years of age he came to Porter
county, Indiana, where he spent ten years in a general
mercantile store, and in 1864 he crossed the plains in
the head waters of the Missouri in search of health, but
returned to Porter County, Indiana, and in 1873 he went
west again and settled in Story county, Iowa, where he
spent eight years on a farm. He then came to Sac county
and became one of the first settlers in the town of
Early and opened the first general merchandise store in
Early under the name of Thurman & Barrett. Later he
bought out the interests of his partner and in 1886 took
his son-in-law into the business, retiring in January,
1911, and his son-in-law, Mr. Carlton, sold out his
interests two years later. Mr. Barrett erected the Early
Creamery and for several years this was the pioneer
creamery in northern Sac county, Iowa. In addition to
his mercantile and banking interests, Mr. Barrett was
interested in farm lands, and at one time was the owner
of over eight hundred acres. He now owns about two
hundred and fifty acres as well as a business block and
dwelling houses in Early. Mr. Barrett was
married September 9, 1859, in Porter county, Indiana, to
Lavina White, who was born October 27, 1835, and to this
marriage were born two children, Byrhl, deceased, and
Kittv L., the wife of Mr. Carlton. Mr. Barrett is a
member of the Free and Accepted Masons and also of the
Eastern Star, while in his church affiliations he
adheres to the Universalist faith.
The Citizens State Bank of Early
was organized in January, 1896, by T. A. Barrett and
operated as a private bank under the firm name of
Barrett & Carlton. On January 1, 1911, the bank was
reorganized as a state bank and Mr. Barrett has been its
president since its organization. The bank has had a
very successful career, as is shown by its statement to
the auditor of Iowa on September 10, 1913, as follows:
Resources-Loans and discounts, $189,993.61; overdrafts,
$3,583.02; bank building and fixtures, $6,500.00; cash
and exchange, $21,348.87; total, $221,427.50.
Liabilities-Capital, $30,000.00; surplus fund,
$1,000.00; undivided profits, $1,074.29; deposits,
$189,353.21: total, $221,353.50.
CAWIEZEL, FRANK
-----The little republic of Switzerland furnishes very
few emigrants to the United States, for the reason,
probably, that the people of that country enjoy as
democratic a form of government as do the people of this
country. Switzerland has the oldest republic in Europe,
and for several hundred years they have enjoyed the
freest democratic government in the world. In the small
mountain state of Switzerland the initiative, referendum
and recall were born, which today are being so widely
agitated throughout the United States. The people of
Switzerland are among the most prosperous of any people
in the world, and the few Swiss emigrants who have made
their home in the United States have prospered wherever
they have settled.
Frank Cawiezel, a prosperous farmer
of Sac county, was born April 7, 1847, in Switzerland.
His parents, Lucius and Mary Cawiezel, lived all their
lives in Switzerland. Frank Cawiezel came from his
native country to Iowa in 1868, and followed the trade
of a carpenter, which he had learned in his native land,
continuing in this business until the time of his
marriage, which occurred in 1875. In 1869 he went to
Nebraska and took up a homestead here, but shortly
afterwards went to St. Louis, and here followed his
vocation as a carpenter for three years, at the end of
which time he went to Shreveport, Louisiana, and worked
for some time at that place, after which he returned to
St. Louis. He then married and came to Sac county, Iowa,
in 1875. where he rented a farm for the first two years
on the site now occupied by the city of Early, then
bought one hundred and sixty acres for fifteen hundred
dollars, and he has added to this tract from time to
time until he and his wife own together nine hundred and
eight acres of fine farming land in this county and
Buena Vista county, this state. He has prospered from
the beginning of his farming experience, and his whole
career in this county testifies of the man who wished to
perform his full duty as a citizen of his adopted
country. He has a fine modern home of seven rooms, which
is situated on the bluff above Boyer river. He raises
large crops of all the grains common to this locality
and also markets a considerable amount of livestock each
year.
Mr. Cawiezel was married in 1875 to
Mary Durisch, of Clinton county, Iowa, and to this
marriage have been born nine children : Stephen and
Lucius, deceased ; Mrs. Fannie Yander, of Carroll
county, Iowa ; Mrs. Mary Toohey, of Buena Arista county,
this state; Mrs. Katie McKenna, of Murray county,
Minnesota : Frances, Frank, Ida and Elinor, the four
youngest children being still with their parents on the
farm.
Politically, Mr. Cawiezel is an
independent voter having always believed that the best
interests of his community would be best served by
voting for the best man. He and his family are all loyal
and consistent members of the Catholic church at
Schaller, and are interested in the various activities
of that denomination. Mr. Cawiezel has a charming home
and he and his family entertain their many friends with
genuine hospitality.
CHANDLER, ABNER L. ------No
intelligent student of the rise and progress of the
great state of Iowa will deny that the pioneer element,
with their descendants, constitutes the back-bone and
the mainstay of civilization. They boldly entered the
Wilderness, encountered its hardships, dangers and
deprivations and carved out new homes and new destinies.
Abner L. Chandler is one of those substantial citizens
of Sac County whose long residence and interesting
family history contains much of value to his
descendants.
Abner L. Chandler is a native of
Susquehanna County Pennsylvania, born April 2, 1845, and
he is a son of Ezra and Florinda (Lewis) Chandler, both
also natives of the Keystone state. In 1850 Ezra
Chandler and family located in Lake county, Illinois,
where they became pioneer farmers of that section, and
in 1856 still following the star of empire westward,
removed to Fort Scott, Kansas, where they purchased a
farm. They were not destined to remain long in their new
home in a new country, as death soon called both Ezra
Chandler and his good wife, she dying there in 1857 and
he in 1858. Their children were: Frederick, who was a
soldier in the Civil War, now deceased: George,
deceased; Eliza, deceased; Levi, deceased; Ann,
deceased: Viola, deceased; Abner L., the immediate
subject of this sketch ; Luther, who is a veteran of the
Union army, lives in the state of Washington; Mrs.
Hattie Woodruff and Mrs. Amelia Carr live in the state
of Washington, and Charles also lives in that state,
being located at Cannas.
After the death of the parents, the
family was dispersed and Abner L.
returned to the state of Illinois, where he
worked on a farm until the breaking out of our great
civil conflict, when he enlisted at Waukegan in Company
D, Ninety-sixth Illinois volunteer Infantry and
patriotically served his Country for three years. He
participated in several very important engagements and
many minor skirmishes, among them being the battles of
Resaca, Buzzard Roost, Pine Mountain, New Hope Church,
Kenesaw Mountain, Marietta and Dalton. At the siege of
Atlanta he was severely wounded in the abdomen and was
sick for eighty days, returning to his regiment a few
days before the battle of Franklin. He returned to
active service before his wound was properly healed and
served with bravery and distinction in the two-days
battle of Nashville.
After the war, Mr. Chandler again
settled in Lake county, Illinois, working on a farm, and
later farming for himself. In 1872 he came to Sac
county, Iowa, and located in Wheeler township, and he
has the distinction now of being the oldest living
settler in Wheeler township. He came here in a primitive
day, and there were no houses or dugouts within five
miles of him. He moved onto the big Wheeler farm in
section 10 and for seven years worked there for a Mr.
Ellis, who was renting land. He then, in 1879, bought
one hundred and twenty acres in section 12, paying four
dollars and five dollars per acre for the land. He made
his permanent home on this land, adding to his acreage
as he prospered, first buying one hundred and twenty
acres of the west one-half and later buying eighty acres
of the south one-half, making his total acreage three
hundred and twenty acres. In 1906 he sold one hundred
and sixty acres of this land and later disposed of the
remainder. In December, 1907, he removed to Odebolt, and
here he erected a beautiful bungalow residence on Maple
street.
Abner L. Chandler was married,
December 1, 1867, to Henrietta Dunn, who was born
October 21, 1847, Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, a
daughter of Joseph and Olive (Witter) Dunn, descendants
of an old Connecticut family who lived and died in
Pennsylvania. Mrs. Chandler came to Lake county,
Illinois, when twenty years old. To Mr. and Mrs.
Chandler have been born, a fine family of ten children,
named as follows : Sidney Levi, born December 5, 1868,
is a graduate of Morningside College. Sioux City, Iowa,
and is now dean of this college, but is at present
taking a postgraduate course in New York City. He was
married November 5, 1890, to Mary A. Smith, of Clinton
township, and has three children. Harry Miner, Asa Lewis
and Olive Lyle. Frank A., born July 2, 1870 died in
infancy. Olive F., born August 18, 1871, is the wife of
Charles Smith, and they live in Clinton township Sac
county, Iowa, and have five children, Anna, Sadie,
Hobart, Lawrence and Esther. Anna L., born February 9,
1875, died in 1889. Etta, born September 18, 1878, died
in infancy. Philip L., born
January 12, 1880, is a farmer in Nebraska, married Etta
Epperson and they have two children, Keith and Kenneth.
Arthur G., born September 23, 1881, resides on a farm at
Lyons, Nebraska, and married Maggie McLean. Cordelia,
born November 20, 1883 lives in Richland township in
this county, and is the wife of Sebastian Buehler. They
have two children May and Fern. Harry A., born February
10, 1880, died February 10, 1888. Forest H., born March
28, 1887, is a graduate of Morningside College Sioux
City, Iowa, and is now superintendent of West Bend Iowa,
schools; he married Francis Horn, of Sioux City, Iowa,
also a graduate of Morningside College and principal of
the West Bend high school. They have one
great-grandchild, Earl Wayne Gilbert.
Politically, Abner L. Chandler is a
Progressive. In an early day he served Wheeler township
in the capacity of trustee. At other times he was also
township clerk and supervisor. A warm-hearted, affable
gentleman, he is one of those esteemed old pioneers who
have done so much for the opening up and development of
this favored section of western Iowa, and he is
deservedly popular in the community where he has lived
so long and labored to such good
purpose.
CHRYSLER, JOHN E. -----Someone
has said that there are three influences which govern
this country, namely, the pulpit, the press and public
opinion. This means that there are really only two
controlling influences, since public opinion would be of
no force unless it found expression in the public press.
No one can gainsay the fact that the power of the press
is one of tremendous influence in shaping the affairs of
the nation today, and while we may have legislatures who
are supposed to direct our government, yet the
newspapers of the country really suggest to the
legislature the course which they should pursue. If
every newspaper in the United States would favor a given
national policy, there would be an amendment to the
national Constitution within the next two years favoring
that reform. The influence of a good newspaper in a
community cannot be over estimated, and it is to the
credit of the editors of the country that their papers
are usually found on the right side of most public
questions.
John E. Chrysler, the editor of the
Odebolt Chronicle was born February 29, 1880, in O'Brien
county, Iowa. His parents were Asahel B. and Anna
(Edwards) Chrysler. A. B. Chrysler was born in 1848 in
Canada of parents of American birth, his father and
mother both coming from Pennsylvania.
His wife was a native of Indiana. A. B. Chrysler
came to Iowa in 1869 and homesteaded in O'Brien county,
where he resided until 1891. He then moved to Dickinson
county, where he resided for the next twenty years,
after which, in 1910, he retired to Los Angeles. He
served four years as postmaster at Hartley, Iowa, and
fourteen years at Lake Park in this state, and at the
time of the expiration of his last term he was the
oldest postmaster in point of service in the state of
Iowa. Four children were born to Mr. and Mrs. A. B.
Chrysler: Eva, the wife of W. W. Gaunt, of Corning,
Iowa; John E., newspaper man of Odebolt : C. B., of
Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Elva A., of Chicago.
John M Chrysler was educated in the
public schools of Lake Park, Iowa, graduating from the
high school at that place. He took his college course in
Des Moines, and while living there he became interested
in newspaper work. He had taken a business course in Des
Moines and this threw him in touch with the newspaper
field, with the result that he secured a position as
reporter on the Des Moines Leader. Later he went to
Chicago and worked on different papers there for six
years and in this way got the practical experience which
is necessary to every successful editor and publisher.
He then felt competent to conduct a paper of his own and
went to Lake Park, Iowa, where he took charge of a paper
owned by his father. He later disposed of this interest
and conducted a newspaper at Early, Iowa, and in 1896
went to Cody, Wyoming, where he got charge of the Cody
Enterprise. This paper was
originally founded and owned by Col. William F. Cody,
more familiarly known as "Buffalo Bill." On October 1,
1910, he went to Odebolt and took charge of the
Chronicle and has been managing that paper up to the
present time. His paper espouses the principles of
Progressive Republicanism and although a paper of local
circulation, he does not hesitate to voice his opinion
in forceful English. The purpose of a newspaper of this
sort is to gather local news and present it to its
reader in a plain and simple manner.
This he does, with the result that his paper has
gradually increased in circulation and has become a
household necessity throughout the community.
In addition to his paper he also runs a job press
and adds not a little to his annual income from this
source.
Mr. Chrysler was married on
Christmas day, 1905, to Elizabeth G.
Griffin, of Sac City, and the daughter of Mr. and
Mrs. J. S. Griffin. Mr. and Mrs. Chrysler have two sons,
Gage and John, and two daughters, Shirley and Alice.
Fraternally, Mr. Chrysler is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the
Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He also belongs to the
Mystic Shrine of Sioux City. He holds membership in the
Modern Woodmen of America at Odebolt. Mr. Chrysler is a
man who easily makes friends and in his capacity as a
newspaper man has built up a wide acquaintance
throughout the county. He takes an active interest in
all public enterprises and never hesitates to express
his opinion on articles of local
interest.
COLE, WILLIAM L. -----The
gentleman whose name heads this sketch is widely known
in Sac county and is one of the honored citizens of
Douglas township, where he is living after a strenuous
life of activity in connection with agricultural
pursuits. His well directed
efforts in the practical affairs of life, his capable
management of his business interests and his sound
judgment have brought to him prosperity, and his life
demonstrates what may be accomplished by any man of
energy and ambition who is not afraid to work and has
the perseverance to continue his labors in the face of
any disaster or discouragement that may arise. In all
the relations of life Mr. Cole has commanded the
confidence and respect of those with whom he has been
brought into contact and a biographical history of this
locality would not be complete without a record of his
career.
William L. Cole, of Douglas
township Sac county Iowa, was born September 5, 1862. in
Clinton county. Iowa. His parents. Madison and Sarah
Jane (Swing) Cole, were both natives of the Hoosier
state of Indiana. Madison Cole was born
in Indiana, in June 1826. and died August 26, 1903.
Sarah Jane Swing was born March 13, 1835, and died March
13, 1900. Shortly after their
marriage Madison Cole and his wife came to Clinton
county. Iowa, about the year 1858, where they remained
until 1881 when they settled on the farm in Douglas
township Sac county, where W. L. Cole is now living. Mr.
and Mrs. Madison Cole were the parents of a large
family: Mrs. Malinda Jane Shadle, deceased; Mrs. Laura
Glidden deceased: Mrs. Abigail Cook, of Clinton. Iowa;
Mrs. Fannie Allison of Wichita, Kansas: John, of Jackson
township Sac county: W. L. of whom this sketch speaks:
Mrs. Inez Paeper of Douglas township, in this county;
Charles, of Varina, Iowa: A. U. of Cedar township, this
county, and Mrs. Ola Block, who lives in Douglas
township, this county.
William L. Cole was reared and
educated in Clinton county, this state.
and when nineteen years of age his parents moved
from Clinton county to Sac county, and he has since
resided on the farm where his parents settled upon their
arrival in this county. Since 1889 he has had entire
charge of the farm, having purchased the farm from his
father. He has erected a fine, modern, ten-room house in
the last two years, has good barns and outbuildings of
all kinds. He has a barn which measures thirty-two by
forty-eight, with a fourteen-by-sixteen-foot addition.
He raises a large amount of stock each year and has
about twenty-five head annually for the markets.
Mr. Cole was married February 2,
1892, to Lena Galbraith, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs.
Alexander Galbraith. The Galbraiths were early settlers
of this county and first settled on the farm where their
daughter is now living. Mr. and Mrs. Cole are the
parents of four children: Guy, born December 20, 1895;
Lola, born in November, 1901; Reo, born in June, 1903,
and Lucile, born in January, 1909.
Politically, Mr. Cole is a member
of the Republican party and has taken a very active
interest in the affairs of that organization. An
indication of the esteem in which he is held by his
fellow citizens is shown in the fact that he has been
elected as trustee and assessor of his township, both
offices coming to him as a recognition as a businessman.
He is interested in the Sac County Mutual Insurance
Company and was a director in that organization for
eight years. In fact, Mr. Cole is interested in any
public enterprise which seeks to better the condition of
the farmers of his locality. The members of the family
are adherents of the Methodist Episcopal church and give
it their zealous and earnest support. Mr. Cole has lived
a useful and honorable life, a life characterized by
perseverance and well defined purpose, and he has
established his character as a man who measures up to
the type of the good American citizen.
COLLENBAUGH, BENJAMIN F.
-----In Sac county are two classes of pioneer settlers
and pioneer families. But few remain of the
first families which came into the county over half a
century ago, but a large and increasing number of
descendants of those who settled in the county in the
second settlement decade are found and are occupying
permanent positions as exponents of the science of
husbandry in its most advance form in the fertile
sections of this great subdivision of a great and
wealthy state.
Those settlers who came in the
second migration to the fertile areas within the borders
of the county, journeyed hither with the intention of
staying and providing opportunity for their children.
Land was then much cheaper in Sac county and the thrifty
husbandmen from the older counties of Iowa were wise in
their day and generation inasmuch as they disposed of
developed farms in the older county and invested in
large tracts in Sac county.
The father of the well-known agriculturist whose
name forms the caption of this review was among those
whose foresight and power of vision drew him onward from
his former home in Clinton county, Iowa, to the newer
lands of Sac county, wherein he would be better enabled
to find a home and present better opportunities for his
sons to follow in his footsteps. Christopher C.
Collenbaugh, father of Benjamin F. Collenbaugh, was one
of a large number of Clinton county people to settle in
Cook township in the period which includes the year of
his migration in 1883. B. F. later removed from his home
township to Cedar township where he now has one of the
finest and most productive farms in the county.
Benjamin F. Collenbaugh, proprietor
of the Fairmont farm of two hundred acres in Cedar
township Sac county, Iowa, was born November 22, 1867,
in Greene county, Indiana. He is the son of C. C. and
Rosanna S. (Maxwell) Collenbaugh, natives of Ohio, who
were among the early settlers in Indiana. C. C.
Collenbaugh and family left Indiana for Iowa in 1877 and
located in Clinton county, where they remained for six
years. In 1883 they settled in Sac county, where they
bought a large farm in Cook township, on which the
father died August 6, 1905, at the age of seventy-seven;
his widow is still living in Odebolt in this county, at
the advanced age of eighty-four years. Mr. and Mrs. C.
C. Collenbaugh were the parents of five children: Mrs.
Mamie Mathers, of Odebolt; John M., of Doone, Iowa; Mrs.
Alice Davenport, of Odebolt; Benjamin F. whose history
is portrayed in this connection, and Charles M., of
Odebolt.
Benjamin F. Collenbaugh received
his early education in Indiana and after his parents
came to Iowa he finished his schooling in Odebolt. Upon
reaching his majority, he rented a farm in Cook township
for five years and later bought forty acres in the same
township at forty dollars an acre. In 1907 he moved to a
farm near Sac City, where he remained until he moved to
his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres. He
paid one hundred dollars an acre for this land and in
1912 bought another eighty acres, paying one hundred
dollars an acre for it. He now has two hundred acres of
land which is easily worth two hundred dollars an acre.
In 1913 he had out sixty acres of corn which averaged
fifty-five bushels to the acre, forty acres of oats
which averaged thirty-seven bushels to the acre, besides
livestock, consisting of horses, cattle, sheep and hogs.
His farm is well improved in every way, has a good house
set in a handsome grove and a bank barn which he
constructed in 1911 at a cost of twelve hundred
dollars.
Mr. Collenbaugh is a member of the
Republican party and, although he keeps well informed on
the current issues of the day, he has never taken an
active interest in the deliberations of his party.
Fraternally, he is a member of the Yeomen, while he and
the members of his family are regular attendants at the
Christian church.
Mr. Collenbaugh was married in 1892
to Agnes Falconer, of Manchester, Iowa, and to this
union have been born five children: May, the wife of
Newton Penninan, of Douglas township, this county;
Verna, who is now eighteen and a senior in the high
school at Sac City; Leonard, who is fifteen and in the
high school, class of 1914: Gladys and Lloyd, who are
now in the grade schools of Cedar township. Mr.
Collenbaugh has, by his conscientious methods and
upright dealings, made a success of his farming and
because of his kindness of nature and generosity of
heart he has won a large circle of friends and
acquaintances throughout the community.
COLLENBAUGH, CHARLES M.
-----The office of biography is not to give voice to a
man’s modest opinion of himself and his accomplishments,
but rather to leave upon the record the verdict
establishing his character by the consensus of opinion
on the part of his neighbors and friends. In touching
upon the life history of the subject of this sketch the
writer aims to avoid fulsome encomium and extravagant
praise; yet he desires to hold up for consideration
those facts which have shown the distinction of a true,
useful and honorable life—a life characterized by
perseverance, energy, broad charity and well-defined
purpose.
Charles M. Collenbaugh, a
prosperous farmer of Cook township Sac county, Iowa was
born in the good old Hoosier state of Indiana in March,
1871. His parents were Christopher and Rosanna (Maxwell)
Collenbaugh, who were natives of Ohio and later became
early settlers in Owen county, Indiana.
In 1877 the Collenbaugh family moved to Clinton
county Iowa, and six years later they settled in Sac
county, where they purchased a farm in Cook township.
Mr. and Mrs. Collenbaugh lived on this farm until 1903,
when they moved to Odebolt where Christopher Collenbaugh
died in August 1905, and his widow still resides in
Odebolt. They were the parents of five children: Mrs.
Marie Flathers, of Odebolt: John, of Sioux county, Iowa;
Mrs. Alice Davenport, a resident of Odebolt; Frank, a
farmer of Cedar township, this county, and Charles M.,
whose history forms the theme of this narrative.
Charles M. Collenbaugh was educated
in the district schools of Cook township, and has lived
on his present farm since March, 1883. Upon the death of
his father, in 1905, he bought the interests of the
other heirs in the old homestead farm, and has added
land from time to time to this tract until he now has an
estate of one hundred and forty acres. In the spring of
1912 he erected a fine, modern home with eleven rooms
and has his home fitted out with all the modern
conveniences. He has a large number of trees on the
farm, which, together with splendid fencing and good
outbuildings, gives the farm a very attractive
appearance. He raises a considerable amount of livestock
and markets annually about one hundred head of hogs and
thirty-five head of cattle.
Mr. Collenbaugh was married in
March, 1903, to Mary, the daughter of William Rhule, of
this county, and to this marriage have been born three
children, Manie, Laura and Inez, who are all in school.
Politically, Mr. Collenbaugh lends his
influence and vote to the Republican party, but has
never been an aspirant for any public office. He and his
family are members of the Congregational church.
Mr. Collenbaugh takes an interest
in the public questions of the day and is well informed
on all current issues which are today before the
American people. He is not afraid to express his opinion
on any subject, and yet he is considerate of the views
of his fellow citizens. His life has been
lived in strict conformity with high ideals of
citizenship, and for this reason he is justly regarded
as one of the representative citizens of this county and
is eminently entitled to mention in this
volume.
 COLLINS, GEORGE P. -----Life
holds possibilities for all of us, whether it be in the
halls of the learned, within the temples of the great,
in the marts of trade and barter, or in close communion
with nature in all her various moods and changes of
temperament. The agriculturist is,
to the comprehension of the philosopher and observer,
the individual thrice blessed in his privilege of being
closely allied with nature in the pleasant and
beneficent task of inducing the elements of the soil and
the atmosphere to combine in yielding the necessary
foods which form the sustenance of all human life. When,
in the eventide of his years, the tiller of the soil
retires to the enjoyment of a well-earned repose, he is
again blessed if he be enabled to further enlarge his
comprehension by the indulgence of his mental acumen in
the assimilation of literary productions which have
always appealed to his mind. Such a gentleman is he
whose name forms the caption of this creation of the
biographer. George P. Collins, of
whom this narrative is written, was born in the town of
East Hartford, Connecticut, the direct descendant of a
long line of illustrious New England ancestors. He
belongs to the family of Pitkins on his mother's side,
and is a near relative of Governor Pitkin, of
Connecticut. The family originated in America with
William Pitkin, who emigrated from England in 1659, and
settled in Connecticut. The present site of the city of
Hartford formed a pasture in those early days for the
grazing proclivities of his oxen. The ancestral Pitkin
home was built on the east banks of the historic
Connecticut river. Several of the Pitkin family fought
in the Revolutionary War, and later gave their services
in behalf oi their country in the War of 1812.
The birthdate of George P. Collins
is recorded as being on July 2, 1851.
He was the son of Orin T. and Charlotte Pitkin
Collins. O. T. Collins, the father, was born in South
Gastonbury, Connecticut, and was the son of Isaac
Collins. His birth occurred January 3, 1823, and he
departed this life September 7, 1901. It is recorded in
the annals of New England that the first ancestor of
George P. to arrive in America was a member of the
Willisfield colony of freemen in the state of
Connecticut. From him has descended a numerous and
distinguished progeny. Charlotte, wife of O. T. Collins,
was born August 14, 1821, and died May 7, 1878. She was
the daughter of George Pitkin.
O. T. Collins and family migrated
to Bureau county, Illinois, in the year 1855, and
settled on a farm. He became prominently identified with
the creation of a component part of the great state of
Illinois and lived a long and useful life in the land of
his adoption. He was the father of five children: George
P.; Mrs. Lottie E. Rose, residing in Kansas: Sophia, a
resident of Parkridge, Illinois; Charles P., of Redwood
Falls, Minnesota: Laura C. Collins, of Parkridge,
Illinois.
This brief chronicle directly
concerns the life and fortunes of George P. Collins,
however, and we will now resume the narrative direct. He
was educated in the district schools of Westfield
township, Bureau county, Illinois, and always showed an
aptitude for learning. Further advance beyond the common
schools was denied him however, and he took up the
vocation of farming. In the year 1883 he left the
vicinity of his early struggles and journeyed to Ida
county, Iowa, and there purchased a farm in Galva
township, on which he and his family resided until 1894.
He then disposed of his holdings in the neighboring
county and invested in a fine farm of three hundred and
twenty acres in Eureka township, Sac county. He resided
on this farm until December of 1909, and then removed to
a pleasant home in the nearby town of Schaller.
Mr. Collins political affiliations
are with the Republican party, and he and his wife are
members of the Presbyterian church. He is fraternally
affiliated with the Modern Woodmen.
Mr. Collins was united in marriage
with Emma Holler in LaSalle county, Illinois, December
31, 1874. She was born in LaSalle county, the daughter
of Philip and Elizabeth (Ott) Holler, natives of Germany
and Pennsylvania, respectively. Philip Holler was born
in September, 1820, in the German empire, and first
settled in Pennsylvania after his emigration to the
States. He later became one of the pioneer settlers of
LaSalle county, Illinois, and it is recorded that he
drove a six-horse team overland from Pennsylvania to the
newer country. He died in the month of June, 1913.
Mr. and Mrs. Collins have reared an interesting
family of four children, namely: Elizabeth, the
efficient and capable manager of a store in Kingsley,
Iowa: Charles, who is tilling the homestead acres and
who is the parent of two children, George, Jr., and
Millicent: Mrs. Lucy Watson, of Eureka township, who is
the mother of three children, Elizabeth, Marjorie and
John; Frank Collins, a farmer in Eureka township, and
who has one child, Ruth.
George P. Collins, by virtue of his
exemplary life and his successful career as a farmer and
husbandman, is fully entitled to a place of honor among
the citizens of this county, and we are pleased to
present this encomium for the perusal of his friends and
associates. He has been fortune in his inheritance of
preconceived notions of duty and abilities above the
average, as a natural birthright bequeathed by a long
line of sturdy and upright ancestors, whose lives and
the inspiration derived therefrom have been a guiding
light for him and his in their progress.
CORRELL, DAVID ------This
biographical appendix to the history of Sac county is
for the express purpose of preserving the records of the
men worth while in this county, and especially the
records of those citizens who have done their share in
the developing of the county and assisted in a
substantial way in having their adopted county attain
the enviable prestige which it holds among the ninety
and nine divisions of the great state of Iowa. It is
meet, therefore, that we write this brief review
concerning David Correll, a citizen of the city of
Odebolt and one of its valued residents.
David Correll was born April 6,
1853, in the city of Wooster, Wayne county, Ohio, the
son of Jacob and Catharine (Floyd) Correll, natives of
Pennsylvania. Jacob was born on January 17, 1815, and
departed this life June 16, 1892. His wife Catharine was
born August 11, 1814, and died April 15, 1903. Jacob
migrated with his parents to Ohio when a youth and
became orphaned at a very early age. He learned the
trade of tailor and followed it as a merchant tailor in
Wooster, Ohio. After working at his trade for some years
he purchased a farm near Wooster and moved thereon and
from that time on he followed the vocation of
agriculturist. In 1854 he removed to Clinton county,
Iowa, and purchased a farm. He was a pioneer settler of
this county, which has furnished a large number of the
best families in Sac county. He ended his days on his
Clinton county farm and became very prosperous previous
to his demise, leaving his family well provided for and
bequeathing them a heritage of right living and a high
standard of morals.
Jacob Correll was the father of
eight children, as follows: Abram died in Maquoketa,
Iowa, December 20, 1909; Daniel, a resident of Marion,
Iowa; Samuel, of Parsons, Kansas; Levi, also a citizen
of Parsons, Kansas; Maria, a resident of Maquoketa,
Iowa; Amanda, who died March 29, 1873; Mrs. Catharine
O'Brien, deceased June 3, 1882; David.
David Correll was reared and
educated in Clinton county and was united in marriage on
September 2, 1880, with Laura Isabel Davenport, who was
born April 13, 1855, in Winamac, Indiana. She was the
daughter of Charles L. and Mary Davenport. She departed
from the scene of her earthly career July 15, 1913. She
was a good and faithful wife and a kind and loving
mother to her children. Her demise was deeply mourned by
the members of her family and many friends and
acquaintances. She had been a member of the Methodist
church from the time she was sixteen years of age and,
was a devout and true Christian woman. She was very
active in the church work and took a leading part in the
women's home department, the Foreign Missionary Society
and the Ladies' Aid Society and was a member of the
Ingleside Club a literary organization. She was the
mother of the following children: Esther, wife of Fred
Gilbert, of Odebolt ; Zula, wife of Percy Brown,
residing in Eugene, Oregon.
After the marriage of David and
Laura Isabel Correll in the town of Elwood, Iowa, they
came direct to Sac county, arriving at Odebolt. They
located on a farm of three hundred and twenty acres of
land in Clinton township which cost twenty dollars an
acre, part of which was already broken for cultivation.
The father of Mrs. Correll had previously invested in an
entire section of land and had divided it among his four
children. David bought an additional one hundred and
sixty acres and he and his wife held the land in common,
finally increasing their holdings until they owned four
hundred acres. In addition to this excellent holding of
Sac county land, Mr. Correll was the owner of four
hundred and eighty acres in the Dakotas.
They lived on the farm until February, 1908 when
they removed to Odebolt and erected a fine two-room
residence which is one of the best in the city located
on beautiful Paris avenue in the west part of the
city. Mr. Correll is a
Republican politically: he is a stanch member of the
Methodist Episcopal church and is affiliated with the
camp of Modern Woodmen. He is well read,
sociable and is universally recognized as a man among
men, one who has lived an honest, industrious and
upright life. His character is above reproach and he is
highly esteemed by all who know him.
CORSAUT, DAVID -----One of the
most prosperous farmers and stockmen of Sac county is
David Corsaut, of Jackson township. He has built up a
reputation as one of the leading horse men in the state
of Iowa. He has been interested in the breeding of
Percheron thoroughbred horses for the past seven
years. buying his first
brood mare in 1907 at Sioux City, for which he paid six
hundred and sixty dollars. The following winter he
bought the champion brood mare of Iowa, "Victorine." He
now has three of the finest Percheron stallions in Iowa,
one of which he imported in the spring of 1913 at the
cost of eighteen hundred dollars. This stallion, "Cato,"
'is three years old and weighs one thousand, nine
hundred and sixty pounds. He now has over twelve head of
thoroughbred Percheron horses on his farm and has the
gratification of taking sweepstakes at the state fair in
Des Moines on more than one occasion.
David Corsaut was born February 10,
1840, in London, Canada, and is the son of James and
Millicent ( Farrar) Corsaut. His father was born in New
York state, his mother in Connecticut. His mother came
from the famous Farrar family of preachers, who trace
their ancestry back to John Knox, a reformer of the
Middle ages. Mr. Corsaut also traces his ancestry back
to the Corsauts of colonial times. His grandparents came
from Holland and first settled in New York. James and
Millicent F. Corsaut were the parents of eleven
children, seven sons and four daughters. Five of these
children are still living, namely: Ebenezer, of London,
Ontario; James, of Anderson, Indiana: William, of
Dakota; Charles, of New York, and David, whose history
is portrayed in this connection. Both of the parents of
David Corsaut died in Canada, his mother living to the
advanced age of ninety-one.
David Corsaut received all of his
education in the schools of Canada and lived at home
until he was twenty-three years of age. In 1863 he left
Canada and came to Michigan, where he hired out as a
farm hand for two years, then settled in St. Clair
county, Michigan, where he married and bought a farm, on
which he lived until 1886. He then moved to Butler
county, Iowa. and the year following went to Hamilton
county, in the same state, where he lived on a rented
farm for six years. He saved his money with the
intention of investing in land at the first opportunity
and in 1892 he came to Sac county and purchased three
hundred and twenty acres of land for twenty-three
dollars an acre. Since purchasing this land he has
erected all the buildings, thoroughly tiled and fenced
the farm. In 1899 he bought three hundred and twenty
acres in Cedar township at forty-five dollars an acre
and now owns six hundred and forty acres in Sac county,
which is worth two hundred dollars an acre.
Mr. Corsaut was married April 15,
1867, to Sarah Hunt, the daughter of John and Mary
(Wilcox) Hunt, and was born in Exeter, England. Her
parents came to America in 1870 and settled in London,
Ontario, where they lived and died. To John and Mary W.
Hunt were born twelve children, nine of whom are now
living: Grace, Thomas, William, Elizabeth, Harry, Sarah,
Fanny, Hunt, Mary Jane, and Ann, Robert and Samuel,
deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Corsaut have reared six children,
one dying in infancy: William and Charles are at home
with their parents; James is a farmer of Cedar township,
married and has four children, Frances, Dwight, Zada and
Loren; Mrs. Emma Hendrickson, of Sac City, who has two
children. Fern and David; Mrs. Zada Keir, of Spencer,
Iowa, who has children, Robert and Ferris; Hannah died
at the age of twenty-two months in Michigan.
Politically, Mr. Corsaut is a
Republican and, while taking an intelligent interest in
the political issues of the day, he has never been an
aspirant for any public office. He and his family are
loyal members of the Presbyterian church, and ally
themselves with various interests of that denomination.
Mr. Corsaut has all of
those qualities which go to make up ideal
citizenship. Among those with whom
he associates he is held in high regard. His strong
character, farseeing judgment and high purposes have won
for him a large circle of friends and acquaintances, who
admire him for the life of strict integrity and
usefulness which he has led since coming to this
county.
CORSAUT, JAMES DAVID -----An
enumeration of the representative citizens of Sac county
would he incomplete without specific mention of the well
known and popular gentleman whose name introduces this
sketch. A member of one of the old and highly esteemed
families of this locality and for many years a
public-spirited man of affairs, he has stamped the
impress of his individuality upon the community and
added luster to the honorable name which he bears,
having always been actuated by a spirit of fairness in
his dealings with the world in general, and leaving no
stone unturned whereby he might benefit his own
condition as well as that of his friends and the favored
section of the great commonwealth in which he has been
content to spend his life. Straightforward and
unassuming, genial and obliging, Mr. Corsaut enjoys the
good will and respect of a wide circle of friends
throughout this part of the state.
James David Corsaut, the son of
David and Sarah (Hunt) Corsaut, was born January 12,
1870, in Michigan. David Corsaut was born near London
City, Canada, in 1839. His wife, Sarah Hunt, came from
England to Canada when she was three years of age. In
1885 David Corsaut and family came to Butler county,
Iowa, and a year later moved to Hamilton county, where
they stayed for six years. In the spring of 1892 they
came to Sac county and settled on a farm of three
hundred and twenty acres in Jackson township, where Mr.
and Mrs. David Corsaut are now living.
They were the parents of six children. five of
whom are living: Will and Charles King are at home;
James David, whose history is herein delineated; Mrs.
Emma Hendrickson, of Sac City, Iowa; Mrs. Zadie Kier, of
Spencer, Iowa, and Hannah, who died at the age of
two.
James David Corsaut received his
education in the public schools of Michigan and Iowa and
worked with his father on his large farm until his
marriage in 1900. He is cultivating a fine farm of three
hundred and twenty acres owned by the family and raises
a considerable amount of stock in addition to his
general farming. He and his father and brothers make a
specialty of the breeding of Percherons. They have three
fine stallions, one of which. "Cato." was imported from
Belgium. In 1913 they had nineteen head of horses and
forty head of cattle. They always have a fine herd of
Shorthorn cattle, and adds not a little to his annual
income from the sale of this cattle.
Mr. Corsaut was married January 10,
1900, to Margaret Rebecca Gishwiller the daughter of
Nicholas Gishwiller. the mayor of Sac City. This
marriage has been blessed with four children, all of
whom are at home: Frances Alvira, aged fourteen; Dwight
James, aged twelve: Zadie Emma aged ten, and Lorne
Fuller, aged eight.
In his political relations, Mr.
Corsaut has allied himself with the Republican party,
but, owing to his many interests, he has not been able
to take an active part in political affairs. The family
are all members of the Presbyterian church and give it
their earnest support at all times. Mr.
Corsaut is a member of the Yeomen and is very
much interested in the activities of that order. Two of
his children, Dwight and Lorne, drew first prizes in a
declamatory contest recently, which was held by the
Yeomen. Mr. Corsaut is one of
the most important stock raisers in the county and has
been identified with the material growth and prosperity
of this section of the state. By his straightforward and
commendable course he has won his way to a respectable
position in the life of his community and has earned a
reputation as an enterprising man of affairs.
 CORY, GEORGE I. -----In the
municipalities of the United States, where the
inhabitants enjoy the greatest measure of
self-government we frequently find a laxity of
government, owing to the attitude of those who are
directly concerned in the administering of the laws made
by and for the people, and a disregard of law and order
in some cases by those whose duty it is to see that the
laws are obeyed. Of late years, however, we are
witnessing a higher and better type of civic government.
owing to the awakening consciences of the American
people and a more active and direct participation in the
affairs of local government than has heretofore
prevailed.
Sac City is extremely fortunate in
this respect, inasmuch as the officials, with
practically no exceptions, are men of high order of
intelligence and imbued with a strict desire to attend
to the duties which have been entrusted to them by the
people of the community. The important position of city
water commissioner and city marshal is held by a man who
has lived practically his whole life within the environs
of the town and vicinity. His long term of service in
this capacity is justification of the high esteem in
which he is held and is direct evidence of the
confidence imposed in him by the city officials and his
fellow citizens. George I. Cory has served the people of
Sac City ably and well and is ambitious to perform the
duties of his appointed office to the best of his
ability, and that is saying that his services in both
capacities are satisfactory to the majority of his
fellow citizens.
The citizen and official of whom
this biography is written was born in Hardin county,
Ohio, November 11, 1848, the son of Francis M. and
Isabelle (Hitchcock) Cory, old pioneer settlers of Sac
county, of whom extended and favorable mention is made
elsewhere in this volume. He was six years of age in the
autumn following the arrival of the Cory family to the
Cory grove, near the present site of Sac City. While
very young in years, he can recall many incidents of the
pioneer life of the times and personally knew the
settlers of the early days.
Mr. Cory loves to tell of his
school days and recalls that a man named Cromer taught
the school situated about eighty rods from the Cory
home. George's father was
wont to hitch up the ox-team and drag a huge log through
the great snow drifts on winter mornings, so as to make
a pathway for the children and enable them to attend,
school regularly. This was absolutely necessary, as the
children were actually without comfortable footwear, and
shoes were a luxury unheard of in the homes of the early
Sac county pioneers. George learned to hunt when very
young and could trail his deer or wolf as well as the
older heads. He swam the Coon river when but six years
of age. The Cory boys are said to have possessed a
veritable menagerie of wild animals which they had
caught and tamed to domesticity. This menagerie
consisted at one time of a pet coon, three coyotes, some
young wolves, and two pairs of elk. The famous pair of
elk, which the boys tamed and trained to harness, were
known familiarly as "Aleck and Jem." "Aleck" was very
smart and given to all kinds of tricks, which sometimes
made him a nuisance in the neighborhood. When he was
very small he would invade the camping places of the
pioneers and wood choppers and, nosing out their dinner
pails, would empty them and eat his fill.
George Cory resided at the paternal
home until seventeen years of age, when, on August 4,
1865, he "ran away" from home with S. L. Watt, for the
purpose of seeing the great world beyond Sac county. The
boys succeeded in getting as far as Denison, thirty
miles away, but soon became homesick and returned in
October. After his mother's second marriage, George
hired out by the day to work for neighboring farmers. In
the summer of 1868 he rented a tract of land from
Charles Dart. He succeeded in getting a good crop, and.
in 1870, he purchased forty acres of land in Coon Valley
township. Prospering, he soon
afterward added eighty acres to his holdings. He
journeyed to the far West in 1872, and was absent for a
period of thirteen months in company with Sam Watt, with
whom he was employed on a western ranch in Nevada, owned
by Charles McDeed. Being provident and saving, he sent
his earnings home to be applied for breaking up his
prairie land. On his return he
traded off one of his forties for a team of horses, and
in the summer of 1873 was employed on the farm of J. O.
Platt Trapping and hunting was his principal diversion
in winter, it being a sport which appealed to him from
an enjoyable as well as commercial standpoint.
 Mr. Cory was
united in marriage in January, 1875, with Frances Helen
Whitney, who was born August 7, 1859, in Sac City, being
the first white girl born in Sac City. She was the
daughter of O. F. and Martha Esther Whitney, who
migrated from the state of New York in 1856. Mr. Whitney
was a pioneer farmer, who also carried the mail on a
star route for a number of years. O. F. Whitney died in
April, 1892. His wife died October 30, 1905.
Mrs. Cory has one sister, Mrs. Minnie Young. who
resides on the old Whitney homestead in Cedar
township.
The newly wedded couple immediately
moved into a log shanty located on their farm in Coon
Valley township, and borrowed two cows. They also rented
part of the farm of J. S. Tiberghein, but the
grasshoppers had been in the county the year before, and
George made ends meet by hauling stone during the
season. He became the possessor of a fine team of
two-year-old colts as the result of a bet made with
Tiberghein, in which George wagered that the "hoppers"
would leave the Sac county region during the season.
They returned to their own place the following year and
lived in a log house built with five logs on one side
and seven on the other. In June of 1876 they began the
erection of a really good house of two stories, also
built of logs. This was later supplanted by a more
pretentious frame residence. However, in 1877, the
grasshoppers returned and took or ate the crops. There
was nothing for them to do but go hunting for the
remainder of the year, and the entire family of Cory's
packed up and journeyed to the wilds of Pocahontas
County, buying a supply of provisions at Fonda. This
hunting trip netted them four hundred dollars in hard
cash. George resided on his farm until 1882, when he
removed to the new town of Early, and engaged in the
retail merchandise business with his brother, Joseph H.
In 1884 he again returned to the farm and remained two
years.
He then took-up a permanent
residence in Sac City and purchased the Sac County
Democrat in partnership with his brother Isaac.
Isaac was the editor of the publication and
George looked after the mechanical end with competent
assistance. Later his brother, Hugh, purchased a fourth
interest in the newspaper. His connection with the
Democrat ceased in 1889, at which time he became city
marshal. For the past twenty-five years he has served
the people of Sac City as city marshal and deputy. His
only vacation from his official duties during that time
was for a period of five and one-half years, when he was
again re-elected to fill the position. His last election
to the office was in October of 1912. Mr. Cory was
appointed city water commissioner in October, 1912, and
ably performs the duties of his combined official
positions. He is allied politically with the Democratic
party: is an active member of the Knights of Pythias,
Odd Fellows and Rebekahs. Mrs.
Cor\- is also a member of the Rebekah Lodge.
Two children have been born to this
estimable couple: Isabelle Amer, of Sac City, who is the
mother of three children, Helca, Cory and Thelma; the
second child is Philo. who resides in Sioux City,
Iowa.
 CORY, HUGH M.
-----The crowning point of a long and reasonably active
life is that period when, at peace with the world and
mankind and relieved of the necessity of further
endeavor to obtain a livelihood, one is enabled to
retire for the remaining years and await the sunset
period Life, with its struggles and disappointments, is
yet ahead of the younger generation. The activities
incidental to the gaining of a livelihood, and amassing
a competency which enables one to enjoy a peaceful and
contented old age in comfort, are matters for
reminiscences of value in a work of this character. To
have served one's country on the frontier of
civilization and to have shouldered a musket in defense
of the Union is honor sufficient to gratify the
ambitions of the average human. This combination of
circumstances fell to the lot of Hugh Cory, retired
pioneer of Sac City, and Union veteran of the Civil
War. Hugh Cory was born
January 11, 1844 on a farm in Hardin county, Ohio, the
son of Fancis M. and Isabelle (Hitchcock) Cory, both
natives of the grand old Buckeye state.
Because of the fact that Francis M.
Cory was one of the very earliest settlers of Sac
county, and was known as a strong and remarkable
character in many ways, considerable mention of him in
these pages is necessary before we proceed further with
the biography of the son, Hugh. He was born in Ohio in
the year 1818, and came to Sac county in 1865, Francis
was the son of Alanson Cory, who was the son of Abner
Cory, a native of Scotland.
Alanson emigrated to America in the latter part
of the eighteenth century and entered government land in
Crawford county, Ohio. He was the father of the
following sons: Francis M., Abner, Hugh, Enos and
Alanson. These six sons were reared to manhood on the
farm in Crawford county, Ohio.
Francis M. first located in Hardin county. Ohio,
on attaining his majority.
Hearing of the new and richer lands to the
westward, he set forth on the long journey with his wife
and eight children in the spring of 1854. His children
were as follows: Isaac A., of Bellingham, Washington,
the first teacher in Sac county; William, who died in
Texas; Hugh; Harvey, who resides in North Yakima,
Washington; George I., city marshal and water
commissioner of Sac City; Joseph, a farmer residing at
Mulhall, Oklahoma ; John, proprietor of the Perkins
Hotel, Plattsmouth, Nebraska; Abner, deceased; Frances,
wife of J. S. Tiberghein, and who was the first white
female child born in Sac county.
The Cory's were part of an
immigrant company of five families who became the real
pioneer settlers of Sac county. These were the families
of Leonard Austin, Joel Austin, Jacob McAfee, William
LaGourgue and Francis Cory. The family traveled overland
with two yoke of oxen by easy stages, hunting and
fishing on the way, and taking in all the sights of the
new and strange country through which they were passing,
and enjoying the trip as a distinct novelty. Arriving
within the confines of the county, they naturally
selected a timbered tract, surrounding what is known as
the Big Springs along the Coon river. The only
inhabitants of the neighborhood at that time were
scattering bands of Indians, who were on friendly terms
with the white people who were soon to take away their
traditional hunting grounds. Mr.
Cory took up his land in what is officially known
as the southeast quarter of section 36, township 88,
range 36. The land was almost completely covered with
heavy timber. They at once set about the hewing of logs
from timber newly felled, and erected a small log cabin.
Every stick and piece which went into the construction
of the pioneer home was hewn out by hand. The floor was
of puncheon, and much of the furniture was made by hand
from branches and boards smoothed by the adz. This cabin
was replaced in 1855 by a more commodious log dwelling,
sixteen by eighteen feet in extent. It is said of Mr.
Cory that he was a very level headed man and enjoyed the
confidence and esteem of the Indians with whom he
traded. He made a virtue of his trading operations, and
would give the Indians meal and pork in the right
quantities in exchange for their furs. These he would
take to Des Moines and exchange for the necessities of
life. During the first winter the settlers fared
exceedingly well and were happy and contented with their
lot, and were of the decided opinion that their lines
had fallen in pleasant places and that this section of
Iowa was a second Garden of Eden in a certain
sense. Hugh recalls that on
a certain occasion a band of twenty-five Indian "bucks"
made a visit to his father's home from their camp on the
old Waddell place. Mr. Cory, as was his custom, took the
guns from the Indians and stacked them. He then tried to
converse with their leaders. One Indian, who seemed to
be the leader of the group, struck a beam with his
hatchet and clipped his hand. Mr. Cory called out "Sug!"
The Indians answered in concert, "Sug." They at once
began trading. Mrs. Cory frequently cooked great kettles
full of corn or hominy for the Indians. This they
partook of gratefully, fish and game abounded and the
Cory boys were in their natural element when hunting and
fishing. Beaver dams were plentiful and the settlers
easily added to their store of goods by trying their
skill at trapping the fur-bearing animals, which were
found in prolific numbers along the banks of the Raccoon
river. Deer and elk roamed the prairies all through the
timber. The Cory's had a team of trained elk which were
great pets. The boys, during their idle moments, trained
a team which were as sensible and easily driven as a
team of horses. It is recorded that the father sold this
team of elks to a wandering trader for one hundred
dollars. Not having the necessary cash with him, the
trader gave Mr. Cory a check for the amount on a Des
Moines bank. Cory set out at once on horseback for the
Capital city for the purpose of cashing the check and
thus securing some ready money, which was a scarce
article in those days. Imagine his disappointment upon
his arrival at Des Moines when he learned that the bank
had failed and his check was worthless. Young Hugh and
his brother George became great "shots," and frequently
visited with the Indians, whom they amazed by their
ability to shoot.
The principal diet of the settlers
for the first few years of their occupancy of Sac county
is said to have been composed of game, crab apples, and
dried blackberries, which grew rapidly after fires had
swept the timber slashings.
Wild grapes grew prodigiously and other wild
fruit were highly appreciated, another diversion of the
young fellows was the hunting down of wolves and coons
after nightfall. The children wore clothing made of
homespun woven on the place by the housewife, and their
suspenders were made of ticking. The "fry'" from the fat
coons furnished a substitute for commercial lard used in
the cooking and baking. According to the sons of Francis
Cory, "Sac county at all times was the grandest place in
the world for good feeding." Francis Cory served the
county as one of its first treasurers.
It is said of his wife, Isabelle Hitchcock, that
she was the right kind of a mate for the pioneer, and
was a typical frontierswoman. She was an excellent rifle
shot, and could ride a horse or handle a yoke of oxen
equally well with her sons or husband should occasion or
the necessity for her doing so arise. She was born in
Ohio in the year 1822 and died in Sac City in 1898.
This narrative, however, directly
concerns Hugh, the third son of F. M.
Cory. At the age of twenty years, he enlisted, on
March 27, 1864, in Company K, Seventh Iowa Volunteer
Cavalry, under Captain Cooper. His command was engaged
principally in the west along the frontier. It was the
duty of the border troops during the latter years of the
war to be in readiness to check threatened Indian
outbreaks, and Captain Cooper's company served for one
year after enlistment, keeping vigilant watch over the
red men in anticipation of outbreaks. The command was
concerned in several small battles and many skirmishes
with the bands of Indians which they prevented from
joining main bodies which would become formidable
opponents. The object of the Federal government during
the Civil war was naturally to keep the several tribes
isolated from each other as far as possible, so as to
prevent them from joining in a concerted campaign of
attack, while the country was enduring the throes of the
Rebellion. William Cory was also a soldier during the
Rebellion and served with bravery and distinction as
became the son of a pioneer. William and Harvey Cory
served in Company A, Tenth Iowa Infantry, and were in
many great battles.
After returning from the war, Hugh
Cory pre-empted one hundred and sixty acres of
government land, but was so unfortunate as to lose
possession of it in a short time. In the fall of 1867 he
purchased the old family homestead.
He and his wife occupied the old log cabin, where
the family were reared to manhood and womanhood for a
time. As his family increased, he erected a comfortable
farm dwelling, which formed their home until the removal
of Mr. and Mrs. Cory to Sac City in later years. This
farm was held by Hugh until recently, when he disposed
of it for one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. During
his lifetime, or rather during his residence in Sac
county, the original homestead had increased in value
nearly one hundred and fifty times.
The purchase price when Mr. Cory first occupied
the farm directly after his marriage was twenty-five
dollars an acre. This is a typical illustration of the
rapid increase in the value of Iowa farm lands during
the last decade. To be accurate, the Cory's built their
large frame house on the farm in 1893 and also built a
commodious and modern barn. During their residence on
the land it yielded a comfortable living for a growing
family of six children, and for the last twenty years of
their occupancy it gave them a substantial profit over
and above living expenses, thus enabling them to start
out their children in the right manner and lay by a
competence for old age. During late years Mr. and Mrs.
Cory have taken several trips across the country on long
visits to relatives and children on the Pacific coast,
but inevitably return to Sac county as the one place of
residence which they prefer above all other spots on the
face of the earth.
On March 15, 1867. Hugh Cory and
Alice LaGourgue were united in marriage. Alice is the
daughter of William LaGourgue and was born March 25,
1851, in the state of Iowa. William was a native of the
island of Jamaica, and the son of French Canadian
parents. He became a sailor when very young and followed
the seat until his emigration to Ohio, in 1849 where he
was married in 1850, emigrating and taking up his
residence in Sac county in 1834. In September of that
year he pre-empted government land in the county, and
soon became a prominent figure in the organization of
the county government. He was the first sheriff of Sac
county. It is stated on good
authority that his daughter, Alice, has resided in Sac
county for a longer period of time than any other woman
now living. Her oldest brother, Horace, who died at the
age of eight years, was actually the first white male
child born within the borders of the county. The wife of
William LaGourgue was Elizabeth Austin, a native of
Canada. She was the mother of eight children: Mrs. Alice
Cory; Mary (Swett), deceased in 1909; Horace, deceased:
Frank, who resides at Anahem, California: Isabel
(Earnest), of South Omaha: Jane ( Allsworth), of
Beatrice, Nebraska: William B., a farmer in Nebraska:
and Minnie (Arnold), who lives near Denver,
Colorado.
William LaGourgue was born in 1822
and died in October, 1903. His wife was born July 14,
1832, and now resides at Odell, Nebraska, to which state
William removed in 1875, because of the "crowded
conditions"' of Sac county.
Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Cory have had a
family of six children, viz. : Francis M., born in June.
1868, and is now a post office clerk at Bellingham,
Washington. He is the father of
three children, Berney, Alice and Jean. Francis was a
soldier in the Spanish-.American war and a member of the
Thirty second Iowa Volunteer Infantry Regiment, having
served in the Philippine islands and Cuba during the
periods of American occupancy. Nora (Geary), wife of
William Geary, was the second child. She was born June
17, 1871, and married in 1890. She departed this life
August 16, 1906 leaving three children, Merville, Iva
and Hugh, who reside with their father at Bellingham,
Washington. The third in order of birth is Dora, wife of
Kelley Garoutt, of Heron Lake, Minnesota. She was born
May 4, 1875, and is the mother of two children, Harold
and Eula. Leon is the fourth, born 1885, and resides at
Los Angeles, California. He is the father of one child,
Leon. Jr. Next comes Ella, wife of Bert Nixon, Sac City.
She was born in 1882 and has one child, Yetta. William
Victor is the next living child, born 1890. He resides
at Bellingham, Washington.
In politics, Mr. Cory is a
Republican. He has served as school director and road
supervisor. He and Mrs. Cory are stanch members of the
First Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Cory is a member
of the Masonic lodge. and is also a comrade
of William Sherman Post, Grand Army of the
Republic.
The information on Trails to
the Past © Copyright
may be used in personal family history research,
with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be
duplicated for publication in any fashion without the
permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material
on this site is not permitted. Please respect the
wishes of those who have contributed their time and
efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank
you! |
