History of Sac County 
by William H. Hart - 1914

DAHM, MICHAEL -----Among the prosperous farmer of German parentage who have made their home in Sac county, Iowa, is Michael Dahm, of Boyer Valley township.  Coming to this county with practically nothing, he has, by the sweat of his brow, carved out a very respectable fortune within the past thirty years, and is now the owner of a half section of fine farming land in Boyer Valley township, this county. He is one of the oldest pioneers of the county, having lived here since 1875, and what he has accomplished is due solely to his energy, industry and sturdy persistence, qualities which are essential to success wherever they are properly used.

Michael Dahm was born on November 3, 1848, in Cook county, Illinois, the son of Anthony and Margaret Dahm. who were both natives of Germany, who came to this country and settled in Buffalo, New York. Later they went to Cook county, Illinois, and in 1852 moved on west to Dubuque county, Iowa, where they remained until 1865, when they moved to Clinton county, this state, where the father died in 1884. Mr. and Mrs. Anthony Dahm were the parents of five children, Fred, Barbara, John, Katherine and Michael. Katherine went with her husband to Boyer Valley township, this county, in 1872, where she died many years ago. The other children are now living in Sac county, Iowa.

Michael Dahm came to Sac county, Iowa, in 1875 and located in Boyer Valley township. His first work consisted of breaking raw prairie land, and in 1876 he bought a part of his present farm. Until 1885, however, he lived on rented land, and in that year moved on to his own farm of one hundred and twenty acres. While it was partly improved it had no buildings on it, and for this reason he had not moved to it sooner. He later purchased two hundred acres of fine land. Mr. Dahm raises considerable live stock, and in 1913 shipped twenty-five head of cattle and one hundred and fifty head of hogs to the markets, and he finds stock raising a very profitable adjunct to his agricultural operations. 

Mr. Dahm was married in 1885 to Katherine Engler daughter of Mr.  and Mrs. John Engler, who were the proprietors of the first hotel in Early.  Mr. and Mrs. Dahm are the parents of six children: Mrs. Eva McOuirk, who lives in Boyer Valley township, and has four children, Cyril, Joseph.  Florence and Robert: Anthony L., a farmer of Boyer Valley township; Mary A., Frederick B., Gertrude and Sylvester, the four youngest, who are still with their parents at home.

While Mr. Dahm is nominally a Democrat, yet he reserves the right to cast his vote for the best man in his opinion at elections irrespective of party lines. He is a class of the ever increasing number of men who are independent in all of their local elections. He and all the members of his family are faithful and consistent members of the Catholic church and give to it their earnest and zealous support at all times. Mr. Dahm has so ordered his course at all times as to command the confidence and respect of the people of his community. He is a man of honorable business methods and advocates the promoting of the public welfare in any way.

DALY, REV. M. C. ----There can be no question that the men who minister to the spiritual wants and needs of our people are men of high character who are solely devoted to the great work which they are doing. Their whole duty is to prepare men to live better lives, freer lives and prepare them to perform their duties better on this earth in order that they may be the better prepared to meet the world to come. These men are self-sacrificing, and the reward which comes to the businessman in this world is often denied those of the ministerial profession. Among the men of Sac county who have contributed to the spiritual welfare of the citizens of the county there is no one who has performed more conscientious work in the field of the Master than has the Rev. M. C. Daly, pastor of the St. Joseph church at Wall Lake.

Rev. M. C. Daly, the son of T. J. and Catherine (De Barry) Daly, of Ireland, was born in Queenstown, Ireland, November 1, 1850. From his earliest boyhood he was inclined toward the church and as he grew in years his determination to devote his life to the service of his Master was the controlling passion with him. Receiving the elements of a common school education in his home country, he left Ireland in young manhood and for the next eleven years was in the schools of the continent, preparing himself for the priesthood, spending seven years in Rome, where he received his collegiate training.

In 1875 Father Daly came to America and at once located in Dubuque, Iowa, his first mission being Rickersville. Here he remained for the next seven years, performing all those multitudinous duties which fall to the lot of the Catholic priest. In 1882 he went to Sioux City, Iowa, and served not only the church in that place, but also missions in the surrounding country. He built a church at Salix, near Sioux City, and also superintended the erection of a parsonage at that place. He assisted all the missions along the Missouri Valley on the Iowa side. In 1886 he founded St. Joseph's church at Sioux City and labored diligently to get it in a good working condition. In fact, so arduous were his labors that his health became impaired and in 1889 he returned to his native country in order to recuperate.  A year later he returned, and was stationed at Manson, Iowa, where he erected the mission house and rebuilt the church at that place. Here he remained until 1903 doing splendid work and building up the church in every way. At the beginning of his ministry at Manson there were but four families under his charge and before he left he had the satisfaction of seeing his parishioners largely augmented and the church in a prosperous condition. While at Manson he also attended the missions of Pomeroy and Great Barnum. and built churches at each place. at Pomeroy the church was unfortunate in having to rebuild their edifice no less than twice because of destruction by storms and fire. The storm which destroyed the church at Pomeroy killed and maimed one hundred and ten people and was one of the most destructive cyclones which ever swept over this part of the state. At the time of this unfortunate catastrophe Father Daly worked a whole week without sleep, doing everything he possibly could to alleviate the suffering of the unfortunate people.

In 1903 Father Daly came to Sioux City and took charge of St. Joseph's Hospital, and was made chaplain of the Good Shepherd's Home. Here he labored for the next three years, after which he was transferred to Wall Lake, in Sac county, and placed in charge of St. Joseph's church. He completed the church, which was in the course of erection, and cleared off a debt of three thousand dollars. Since taking charge of this church he has remodeled the parsonage and modernized it in every way. His work in this place is appreciated, not only by the people of his own denomination, but every public-spirited citizen who is interested in the advancement of civilization, whether it be a Catholic church or a Protestant denomination.  The work which Father Daly has done since coming into Iowa has made for better citizenship, better homes and if he fails to receive his reward in this world he has the assurance that he has not labored in vain.

DARLING, CHARLES S. ------The field of agriculture has widened considerably during the past twenty years, and nowhere in the land has greater advancement in this important industry been made than in Sac county, nor has the value of farm lands increased with greater rapidity than in this "Garden Spot of the World," as it is called by the pioneer settlers and their descendants who have lived to see the county, emerge from a condition of dormancy, and have seen the wide prairie lands transformed into productive farms, the peer of which cannot be found elsewhere in the country. In Cedar township, where some of the most substantial farmers of the county reside, modern methods of agriculture have supplanted the old, arduous way of tilling the soil and the farmer's burdens have been lightened by the introduction of modern machinery. and an excellent drainage system has reclaimed thousands of acres of rich, desirable land which was frequently flooded and at one time considered valueless on account of its sodden condition during the greater part of the year. Charles S. Darling, a citizen of the better type and an enterprising farmer of Sac county, enjoys the unique distinction of having resided on his Cedar township farm for forty years and is one of the pioneer residents of the county.

Mr. Darling is the owner of a farm of two hundred and ninety-six acres, two hundred and seven of which he has in Sac county, and is part of the old Darling homestead, and eighty-nine acres he has in Calhoun county adjoining.  This land is now being thoroughly drained at considerable expense for tiling and ditching, the land being located in a drainage district which will provide for a direct flow of the water. The old Darling home, in which Charles S.  resides, was remodeled and modernized in 1903. He has been a stock raiser and breeder for many years and has at the present writing about twelve head of pure-bred Shorthorn cattle, and also produces from ten to twenty head of English Shire thoroughbred horses annually. At present the farm is supporting a large drove of hogs. In the year 1913, Mr. Darling's land produced seventy bushels of corn to the acre, this being the best-known yield in Sac county, and one of the best yields in the entire state of Iowa for the season, which was not propitious for a good corn crop. The Darling farm is known as Eaverdale farm, Lytton, Iowa.

Charles S. Darling was born March 4, 1856, in Summit county Ohio.  He is the son of James Darling, who was born January 8, 1824, in New York state, and died November 17, 1887, in Sac county. He was the son of Adam Darling, a native of Haddington, Scotland, and who emigrated to New York in 1820 after he married Elizabeth Portus, and later reared a family. Adam was a cabinet-maker by trade. His son James married Margaret Drennen, a daughter of Scotch-Irish parents, who were Matthew, a native of Ireland, and Jane Drennen, a native of Pennsylvania. Margaret Drennen was born in Pennsylvania in 1827 and died in Sac county in the year 1877. James Darling migrated to Summit county, Ohio, and was there married.

In the spring of 1874, James Darling and his family left the old buckeye home and started for Iowa. The trip consumed seven days in all. They settled on the farm in Cedar township for which James had traded his Ohio property at a valuation of five dollars an acre for the land, which totaled four hundred and fifteen acres. William Drennen took the other part of seven hundred and thirty-five acres which was included in the deal. Charles S. now owns two hundred and seven acres of this land and Mrs. Sadie J.  Elwood, his sister, owns two hundred and seven, five acres forming the balance. They erected a small house, sixteen by twenty- four feet in dimension, which served as the habitation of the family for the first two years.  Their nearest neighbors at this time were the Youngs and Herrolds who lived over four miles away. The land was swampy and remained so until the drainage district was organized and an outlet was made which permitted the draining off of the "slough" water. It is said of James Darling that he was a well-educated man and broad minded. During the years 1878 to 1882, inclusive, he served the county as superintendent of schools; he held several township offices and was very prominent in county civic affairs. He was the father of three children, namely: Mrs. Sadie J. Elwood, of Sac City, and Charles S. These two are twins. One child died in infancy. 

Charles S. Darling, with whom the reviewer is more intimately concerned, was educated at home and studied under his gifted father, there being no schools of any consequence in the neighborhood in which they resided.  The children received practically the equivalent of an academic education, the father being well read in the classics, languages and history.  When he attained young manhood he purchased eighty-nine acres of land in Calhoun county which was located across the dividing road from the home farm. He paid four dollars an acre for this land and met his obligation out of his earnings and savings. He resided on his Calhoun county farm for one year and has lived the remainder of his time in Sac county on the old homestead. Mr. Darling has recently removed to the nearby town of Lytton and the family home is now occupied by his son, who is working the farm in partnership with his father.

Politically, Mr. Darling is a Republican. He has held several township offices and has several times refused the proffer of county office, for so great is his love for his home that he did not care for county political preferment.  His family and ancestry were of the Scotch Presbyterian faith, of which religious organization his father was a ruling elder. Charles S. and wife are members of the Lytton Presbyterian church, of which he is a ruling elder.  Mr. Darling has been twice married. His first marriage occurred in 1879, to Anna F. Parker, of Calhoun county, a daughter of W. D. Parker.  She died on April 10, 1895, leaving four children: James, born in 1880, a farmer with his father; John, born in 1882, formerly superintendent of the farm of eight hundred acres connected with the Northern Hospital at Redfield, South Dakota, but is now operating the farm with his father.  Eugene Drennen, born in 1885, a graduate of the College of Agriculture and Animal Husbandry at Ames, Iowa, in the class of 1909, and is now located at Graettinger, Palo Alto county, engaged in the breeding of livestock; Annabelle, born April 5, 1895, is graduate of the Lytton high school in the class of 1913.

The second marriage of Mr. Darling occurred December 12, 1896, with Julia Fitch, a daughter of Henry Howell Fitch, an early settler of Sac county, and who was a former well known teacher of Sac county; there are many people residing in Sac county who have cause to remember Mrs. Dar ling favorably and kindly as their teacher. Mr. Fitch was born October 14, 1836, and died July 24, 1907. His place of birth was on a farm near Mount Vision, Otsego county, New York. He was educated in the Delaware Literary Institute, of Franklin, New York. At the age of twenty-one years he migrated to Grant county, Wisconsin, and taught school for some time.  He was married in March of 1859 to Elizabeth Huntington, who still resides in Sac City. He farmed in Grant and Lafayette counties, Wisconsin, until 1878, when he removed to Sac county. He settled on a farm in Cedar township where he resided until 1894 and then took up his residence in Sac City. Mr. Fitch was a lifelong Republican and was elected county supervisor of the county in 1886, serving eight years in all, and it was during his term that the courthouse was erected. However, he changed his political convictions in 1896 and supported W. J. Bryan for President, remaining a Democrat to the end of his days. He was affiliated with the Presbyterian church. Mr. Fitch was the father of the following children: Linus E.; Mrs. Nellie Calvert, of Lucerne, Missouri; Mrs. Julia Darling: Mary E.; John H.; Eva L.; Harry H., and Theodore.

Great changes have taken place in Sac county and the western Iowa country since Mr. Darling first came to the county. One of the particular improvements worth noticing is the fact during his boyhood days it was necessary for him to walk a distance of thirteen miles for the mail, whereas, now two mail routes pass his home and they have practically two mail deliveries at their door each day. Educational facilities have been vastly improved; whereas, he secured his education sitting by his father's side in the evenings and on cold winter days when outside work was impossible, he has given his children every opportunity to secure a thorough and complete education.  His son, Eugene Drennen. has become a skilled agriculturist and has been educated in agriculture from a scientific standpoint. He was superintendent of the Redfield, South Dakota, state farm for three years and later was superintendent of the Iowa farm at Davenport previous to engaging in farming for himself. In the short space of three years he saved sufficient money to embark in farming for himself. This modern way is quite different from the older and more laborious methods of our forefathers and more remunerative.

No one individual is more worthy of specific mention in these memoirs of Sac county than Charles S. Darling and his family. This record is intended for personal use by his friends and to serve as a lasting memorial for the members of his family.

DAVENPORT, ALBERT -----It is a fine thing when a man can retire in his old age with the satisfaction that he has attained enough of this world's good in order to live his declining years in comfort. Hundreds of Sac county's best farmers have retired within the last few years, after having lived lives marked by hard work and are now enjoying their last years in peace and quiet. Among the many retired farmers of Odebolt, who have laid by a competency sufficient to maintain them in their declining years. there is no one more highly honored and respected than Albert Davenport, who was born September 25, 1857, in Clinton county, Iowa. He is the son of Charles L. and Mary (Parnell) Davenport, natives respectively of Ohio and England.

Charles L. Davenport was born January 15, 1830, in Ohio and died in Odebolt August 1, 1905. He was the son of John Davenport, a native of Ohio and one of the pioneer settlers of that state. In 1838 John Davenport emigrated to Indiana, where he died. In the spring of 1857 Charles L.  Davenport came to Clinton county, Iowa, and was one of the pioneer settlers of this state. In 1883 he came to Sac County, settling in Odebolt. He was one of the most prosperous farmers of the township. Mary Parnell, the mother of Albert Davenport, was born in England in 1833 and came with her parents across the ocean to Ohio when she was only six weeks old. She died in Sac county, Iowa, in 1888. Mr. and Mrs. Charles Davenport reared a family of five children: Mrs. Laura Correll, who was born April 15, 1855, and died in Odebolt July 13, 1913; Albert, whose history is herein recorded; Agnes, who died at the age of six; Lincoln H., a farmer living one mile east of Odebolt; Jesse C. of Clear Lake, Iowa. 

Albert Davenport was educated in the district schools of Clinton county and later attended Mt. Vernon Academy. Upon his marriage in 1882 he came to Sac county and located on a one-hundred-and-sixty-acre farm given him by his father. Later he purchased an additional quarter section of land and for the next twenty-six years successfully farmed the half section of land in Clinton township. He improved his farm by drainage and fencing and was regarded as one of the successful farmers of his community. In the spring of 1908 he moved to Odebolt and purchased a large modern residence where he is now living. He owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in South Dakota and one hundred and sixty acres in North Dakota. 

Mr. Davenport was married February 15, 1882, to Alice Collenbaugh the daughter of Christopher Collenbaugh, a native of Indiana. See the sketch of B. F. Collenbaugh elsewhere in this volume for additional information on the Collenbaugh family. Mr. and Mrs. Davenport have one child living, Hazel, and one deceased, Grace A., who died at the age of twenty years in 1904.

Politically, Mr. Davenport is a Republican and has served as assessor of his home township. He and his wife are stanch members of the Methodist Episcopal church and give it their support at all times.

DAVIS, CHARLES W. -----The records of the greater number of the successful men in most communities -and especially true is this of the western section of this great land of opportunity-show that they began their careers with practically no assets but their intelligence and brawn. It is likewise true that the self-made class of Americans make the best citizens and are essentially human and tolerant in their dealings with fellow human beings. A few there may be who apparently deem themselves as above their station and ignore the fact that once they were poor and ambitious, but happily this class can be numbered with few numerals. Charles W. Davis, proprietor of the Wall Lake Creamery, is a self-made man of affairs who began at the bottom of the ladder without a dollar and is now one of the substantial citizens of the city and county wherein he resides.

The Wall Lake Creamery was established in 1886 and Mr. Davis has owned the plant since February 1, 1909. It is one of the largest if not the largest and most successful creamery establishment in Sac county. The average weekly output of creamery butter manufactured on the premises is fifty-two tubs, of sixty-three pounds each. The total output from July 1, 1912, to July 13, 1913, exceeded three thousand two hundred tubs. Three men are employed and the capital invested exceeds five thousand dollars.  The factory is fitted with all modern equipment and there is always a ready demand for the product. In addition Mr. Davis manufactures an excellent brand of ice cream, freezing in excess of six thousand gallons in a single season. He also operates a retail ice business in connection with the creamery and places in storage about forty cars yearly. The creamery itself requires a total of ten cars during the heated season. Twelve thousand tons of ice were stored in the Davis houses during last winter and supplies the town of Wall Lake and vicinity. Over twelve hundred dollars is invested in the ice plant alone.

C. W. Davis was born June 21, 1866, in Brazil, Indiana, the son of Benjamin and Elizabeth Davis, natives of Ohio. When Charles W. was an infant six months old the family removed to Middletown, Ohio, where they located on a nearby farm. Both of his parents are deceased, the mother dying at Middletown in 1888. Charles was educated in the Middletown schools and in the death of his mother left the city and went to Owensboro, Kentucky where he was employed in a wagon factory for one year. In the fall of the same year he went to Chicago, and after a six weeks' stay in the city he located on a farm in Illinois, remaining there for two years.  In March of 1890 he went to Wauconda, Illinois, and worked at farm labor for the ensuing four years. In February of 1894 he obtained employment in the Wauconda Creamery and was employed for nine years, becoming thoroughly proficient in butter making and skilled in the operation of the establishment. In the year 1903 he came west and located in the town of Ashton, Osceola county, and operated a creamery for six years in partnership with another gentleman, B. Kramer. He disposed of his holdings at Ashton in l909 and invested his capital in the Wall Lake Creamery. 

Mr. Davis was married May 29, 1895, at Woodstock, Illinois, to Lizzie Bacon. To them have been born two children, as follows: Edna, a graduate of the class of 1914, Wall Lake high school, and Percy, who is attending school.

Politically speaking, Mr. Davis is a Democrat. He is affiliated with the Congregational church, and, fraternally, is connected with the Masonic, Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen and the Mystic Workers lodges. He is a Scottish Rite Mason of the thirty-second degree and is a member of the consistory at Sioux City. He is a member of the Iowa Buttermakers' Association, the Iowa Dairymen's Association and the National Creamery and Buttermakers' Association. He is proudest of all of the fact that he is president of the West Central Iowa Improvement Association. Above all things, he is what is known as a good fellow, an enterprising citizen, and a live, progressive member of the community in which he resides. He is well and favorably known throughout the country and his friends are numbered by hundreds. This brief review cannot do justice to this esteemed gentleman's many manly attributes, but it is an attempt to record something of the life of a man who is eminently entitled to representation in this Sac County history.

DENMAN, JOHN H.  ------All men are not gifted alike. Through the mysterious ways of an unseen power, individuals, while they are alike given similar opportunities, naturally work out their destinies by diverse methods which yield different results. When the whole is computed, however, and the totals weighed, it will be found that in all countries the most gifted and those who are peculiarly endowed with foresight, which becomes more fully developed, are the persons whose enterprises are the most profitable. These things the biographer does not pretend to thoroughly explain. We can only decide that he who accomplishes extraordinary things is, and must be, deserving, otherwise an all-seeing Providence would withhold from him and his their rightful heritage. The reasonably large fortunes of the West have been created from the cultivation of the soil and by the exercise of a talent for determining land values and having a sincere and abiding faith in the inevitable prosperous future of a great and growing country.  There are many men in Sac county who have achieved wonderful and gratifying success through the exercise of natural talents, a keen financial ability, and confidence in the certainty that land values would climb continuously on account of the wonderful richness of the soil and the constantly growing land hunger of the masses. One of the most substantial and representative citizens of the foregoing class in Sac City is John H. Denman, a native of the grand old Buckeye state, and who began with hunted advantages and has risen to a place of prestige among the landed agriculturists of western Iowa through his own efforts solely. He possesses abiding faith in the wealth of the soil and its ability to retain its productiveness and the certainty of its continuous rise in value.

J. H. Denman was born in Licking county Ohio, August 30, 1846. He is the son of Matthias Denman and Elizabeth (Smith) Denman, who were alike born and reared in the Buckeye state. Matthias was the son of Hathaway Denman, a native of the state of New Jersey, and whose ancestors came from England. In the fall of 1852 the Denman family migrated to McLean county Illinois, and there settled on a farm. Matthias died here, in the month of May, 1901, at the advanced age of eighty-two years His wife had preceded him to the great beyond a few months before, dying in February 1901, at the age of seventy-eight years. They were the parents of thirteen children, three of whom died in infancy: Martha, deceased in 1871: Lizzie, deceased in 1871; Charles, who died in 1899; Belle, deceased in 1900; Thomas, a resident of Boswell, Indiana: Mrs.  Emma Gillstrap, of Tacoma, Washington: Mrs. Sarah J. Long, of Carlock, Illinois: Daniel E., a citizen of Normal, Illinois; and John H.

The citizen to whom this chronicle is devoted had the advantages of but a limited education in his youth. The family resided a considerable distance from a school and he was permitted to attend this very ordinary temple of learning for but four months in the winter seasons, consequently he is one of the great army of self-educated men who are counted among the successful men of many communities. He journeyed from Illinois to Marshall county, Iowa, in the spring of 1875, beginning his journey to the new land of promise April 11, 1875. He followed agriculture in Marshall county until February 22, 1880, when he decided that Sac county offered a better field for his operations. His first purchase of land in Sac county was one hundred and sixty acres, in Cook township, which he purchased for thirteen dollars an acre. He resided on this farm for two years and then removed to Ida county where he bought one hundred and twenty acres and again sold it in 1884. Returning to Sac county he invested in two hundred acres of excellent land at a cost of twenty-five dollars an acre, in section 6 Cook township. On this piece of land he made his home and resided thereon until his removal to Sac City.  Prosperity apparently smiled upon him and rewarded his industry, for in 1888 he added eighty acres, in section 6 of Cook township, at a cost of thirty dollars an acre. In 1890 he added seventy acres more to his holdings. in the same section, at a purchase price of thirty-three dollars an acre. Later he bought one hundred and seventy acres of land in Jackson township which he traded for a fine farm of one hundred and eighty acres located a few miles northwest of Sac City, one hundred and sixteen acres of which is in Delaware township and sixty-four acres in Jackson township.  Mr. Denman is the owner of six hundred and sixteen acres of land valued as follows: Four hundred and twenty-six acres in Cook township, marketable at two hundred dollars an acre, and the balance is easily worth one hundred and fifty dollars an acre.

Mr. Denman moved to Sac City, February 22, 1904, and purchased a home in the choice residential section of the city, remodeling and modernizing the same into a comfortable and handsome place of abode. In politics, Mr. Denman is a Democrat of the old school and is one of the "wheel horses" of the party in Sac county, while the party has been in the minority since time immemorial in the county, Mr. Denman's allegiance to the principles of Jefferson Democracy has been shown by his candidacy on the Democratic ticket for county offices at various times. He prides himself on his thorough Democracy. His family are members of the Presbyterian church. He is affiliated with no fraternal societies and prefers his home life to the diversions of club or societies. He and the members of his family usually spend the winters in Florida. He is connected with the State Bank of Schaller, Iowa, in an official capacity.

His marriage with Mary Ellis, of DeWitt county, Illinois, and daughter of Abner Ellis, took place February 6, 1877. They have five children: Mrs. Bessie Griffin, of Florida; Roy, a farmer in Delaware township; Nannie, librarian of the Sac City public library; Matthias, a farmer in Cook township; Mary, a teacher residing in South Dakota.

DETTMANN, HENRY F. -----The subject of this review is a representative farmer and stock grower of Cedar township, Sac county, Iowa, and he is known as one of the alert, progressive and successful agriculturists of this favored section of the Hawkeye state. In his labors he has not permitted himself to follow in the rut in a blind, apathetic way, but has studied and experimented and thus secured the maximum returns from his enterprising efforts, while he has so ordered his course at all times as to command the confidence and regard of the people of the community in which he lives, being a man of honorable business methods and advocating whatever tends to promote the public welfare in any way.

Henry F. Dettmann. a prosperous farmer of Cedar township Sac county, was born in 1875 in Bremer county, Iowa. His parents were Henry and Mary Dettmann. both of whom were natives of Germany. They came to this country and settled in Bremer county, Iowa, shortly before the birth of Henry F. the oldest one of their children, and in 1880 moved near Sac City in Sac county. Mr. and Mrs. Henry Dettmann are the parents of seven children, five of whom are living: Henry F.: Mrs. Caroline Heck, of Calhoun county; Mrs. Dora Reman., of Calhoun county; Mrs. Augusta Robbins, of Calhoun county, and Fred, who is now on the old home farm.  Henry Dettmann is still living in Coon Valley township, but his wife has been dead several years.

Henry F. Dettmann was educated in the schools of Sac county and remained with his parents on the farm until his marriage in 1899. He then moved on to the farm of one hundred and sixty acres which he had purchased in 1898. He paid one hundred dollars for his first one hundred and sixty and later bought sixty acres more for which he paid eighty-five dollars an acre. Since going on to the farm he has placed ten thousand dollars worth of improvements, consisting of buildings, tiling, ditching and fencing.  In the summer of 1912 he remodeled his house, making it more convenient and modern and in 1902 erected a large barn; in 1913 he had eighty acres of corn, which averaged forty bushels to the acre. He raises a considerable amount of stock and last year had ten head of horses, fifteen head of cattle and five sheep. He now has his farm of two hundred and twenty acres in a condition where it is netting him handsome returns annually and by his systematic course of crop rotation he is able to keep his soil up to the highest state of productivity.

Mr. Dettmaitn was married in 1899 to Emma Leggett of Sac county.  and to this marriage have been born seven children, six of whom are living: Eldora, born December 23, 1901; Evelina. born August 19, 1904; Albert, born February 16, 1907; Harry, born June 2, 1909; Emma, born August 12, 1912; Theodore, born October 11, 1900, and died a year later; Frederick, born November 28, 1913.

In politics, Mr. Dettmann is independent, believing that the interests of his community and county, as well state, will be the best served by voting for the right man at all times irrespective of political affiliations. He and the members of his family are earnest adherents of the German Lutheran church and give generously to its support. Mr. Dettmann is a man of generous impulses and because of his public-spirited way and mingling in all the civic and other enterprises of his community, he is highly regarded by all of those with whom he is associated.

DOWN, THOMAS W. -----Sac county is the home of good farms and excellent farmers and the material prosperity of the county is due to the prosperity of the farmers.  The effect of a bad season is felt on every industry in the county, while a successful farming year means prosperous times for everyone else in the county. It has been said that the corn crop is the business barometer of Iowa, and this agricultural aphorism is certainly a true statement of the situation.  Among Sac county's farmers who have aided in keeping this county to the front as an agricultural county there is no one more worthy of mention than Thomas W. Down, a prosperous farmer of Richland township, this county.

Thomas W. Down, the son of Thomas and Eliza (Hodge) Down, was born February 20, 1872, in Woodford county, Illinois, near El Paso.  Thomas Down, Sr., was born May 4, 1824, in Highbickington, Devonshire, England. His parents were William and Elizabeth Down. Thomas Down, Sr., came to America from England in 1849 and first settled in Batavia, New York. In 1854 he came to Peoria county, Illinois, and worked as a farm laborer near Kickapoo. Later he went to El Paso in Woodford county, Illinois, and while working in this county he was married to Eliza Hodge on January 21, 1863. She was born in Devonshire, England, October 18, 1813 she is the daughter of Richard and Mary Hodge, who came to America in 1852 and settled in Batavia, New York. In 1854 the Hodges left New York and settled in Kane county, Illinois, near Aurora. Two years later went to Iowa, but returned, however, to Illinois in 1860 and lived in Woodford county, that state, until the death of Richard Hodge, who is buried in El Paso, Illinois. Mary Hodge, the mother of Mrs. Down, died in 1846, and Richard Hodge then married Susan Land.

After Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Down, Sr., were married in 1863, they moved onto their own farm of eighty-six acres in Woodford county, Illinois, where they lived for eight years. Previous to this residence, Mr. Down had spent three years in California working in the gold and silver mines of that state and had saved enough money to purchase forty acres of his farm at twenty dollars an acre. Later he earned enough to buy forty-six acres additional. In the fall of 1873 Mr. Down came to Sac county and bought three hundred and twenty acres at five dollars and fifty cents an acre. They sold their land in Woodford county, Illinois, and moved to Richland township Sac county, Iowa, in April 1874. Mr. Down had to haul the lumber for his small twelve-by-sixteen home twenty miles. Mrs. Down did not like Sac county at first, and the family returned to Illinois for a time. In 1885 they moved back to Iowa, having purchased a farm one mile east of Odebolt, where they lived until 1897. They then purchased two and one-half acres near Odebolt and retired from active work. Mr. Down died February 2, 1911. He was a Republican in politics. He and his wife were loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church. To Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Down Sr., were born four children, Ada, Mary, Thomas W. and Ella E. Ada is the widow of Charles Hanson, who was accidentally killed by a falling building on February 9, 1907. Mrs. Hanson has two sons, Leslie Ernest and Morris V. Mary, the second child, was the wife of Albert Hanson, of Odebolt, Iowa. They have one daughter, Mae. Ella E., the youngest child, is the wife of Edward Hanson, a farmer of Richland township. 

Thomas W. Down was two years of age when his parents came to Sac county, was educated in the district schools and in the Odebolt high school and later studied six months in the Crescent City Commercial College of Des Moines, Iowa. Upon leaving the business college, he went to work on his present farm and has lived there since 1885. He purchased his first land in 1896, has been a successful farmer and has added to his land holdings from time to time until he now owns three hundred acres of good land in section 36 in this county. He also farms one hundred and twenty acres of his mother's land. For several years he has been a breeder of Duroc-Jersey hogs and Shorthorn cattle. He raises a large amount of livestock every year and markets annually a car load of cattle, one hundred head of hogs and a few horses.

Mr. Down was married February 19, 1896, to Emma Hanson, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Nels Hanson. His wife was born in Oyster Bay, New York. Mr. and Mrs. Down are the parents of nine children: Vivian, born in December, 1896; Vernon, born in June, 1898; Lawrence, born in October, 1899; Howard, born in November, 1901; Wallace, born in December, 1903; Dorothy, born in July. 1905: Charles, born on April 1, 1907; Florence, born in May, 1909, and Helen, born in May, 1911.

Politically, Mr. Down is allied with the Progressive party, having identified himself with that new party upon its organization in the summer of 1912. He and his family are loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church and contribute generously of their means to its support. Fraternally.  he is a member of the Yeomen. He has been interested in the educational and moral aspects of his community and is now serving as treasurer of the township school board. Mr. and Mrs. Down have a beautiful home of ten rooms which they erected in 1909. where their friends always find a hospitable welcome.

Mr. Drewry was married in October, 1902, to Lavanda L. Abbott, of Rushville, Nebraska, and to this marriage have been born two children, Sarah T. and Mamie. Politically, Mr. Drewry is a Republican, but has never held any public offices. The family are members of the Christian church and give it their earnest support. Fraternally, Mr. Drewry is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Sac City. By a straightforward and commendable course, Mr. Drewry has made his way to a respectable position in the agricultural world and has won the hearty admiration of the people of his township as h progressive man of affairs. He is a man of pleasing personality and has a host of friends and acquaintances throughout the township and community in which he has spent his entire life.

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