History of Sac County 
by William H. Hart - 1914

GALBRAITH, ALEXANDER -----From the land of “’Bobbie Burns” have come thousands upon thousands of the sturdy sons of Scotland who have ranked among the best and most worthy of the citizens of this cosmopolitan country, wherein the best blood of the Old World has fused in the creation of a race of men whose achievements have been the wonder of the ages. Most of the sons of Scotland who have journeyed far from the lands of their fathers have been poor in this world’s goods, but have been endowed with wonderful gifts which have enabled them to bear bravely the vicissitudes incidental to the life of the pioneer and to become successful in the true meaning of the word. Sac county has within its confines a number of excellent and well-born Scotch-American families whose sons rank among the best citizens in the West.

In the setting of his years, but still possessing much of the mental and physical vigor which has enabled him to find a home and family in this new country we find Alexander Galbraith of Sac City, a fitting and deserving personage who is entitled to recognition as one of the sturdy pioneers of Scotch birth who has done his part in the development of Sac county and bequeathed to posterity a heritage of honesty and uprightness which will be long remembered. 

Alexander Galbraith was born in the city of Edinburgh, Scotland. May 12, 1833. He is the son of Alexander and Sarah Demery Galbraith, who emigrated to America and settled in the old state of Connecticut in the year 1841. Alexander, Sr., died in Scotland in the year 1838. The widow, desiring to settle in the new land of promise in order that her children might have a better opportunity of gaining a livelihood and amassing a competence, crossed the ocean with her two children, Alexander and Samuel in 1841.  Two older daughters, Ann and Nancy, remained in Scotland. As soon as they became old enough for manual labor the two sons were employed in the Colt fire-arm factory in Connecticut and were still at work in the factory when the Civil War broke out. Alexander longed for the new lands of the West and was ambitious to possess a farm and homestead of his own. Consequently, we find this sturdy young Scotch boy, in the year 1864, on his way to Iowa. On February 22, 1864, or thereabouts, he arrived in Cedar county, and remained there for seven years engaged in farming.

In March 1871, he joined the large influx of migrants and located in Sac county. He bought a farm in Douglas township, and at present enjoys the distinction of being the oldest living settler of this township. Like all the newcomers of that day he was very poor. However, the thrift and perseverance which was his by right of heritage, enabled him to eventually prosper and forge ahead. He became a landed proprietor of moderate wealth and influence and owned, before his retirement, four hundred and eighty acres of rich farming land in the northwest part of Douglas township, of which his sons now own the greater part. In the year 1902 he retired, with his estimable wife, to a residence in Sac City where he is enjoying; the fullness of a well rounded and useful life to the utmost. Mr. Galbraith has been a lifelong Republican, but in the election of 1912 he aligned himself with the Progressive party because he firmly believed that it best represented his political principles and beliefs.  He and his good wife are members of the Presbyterian church, and Mr. Galbraith is fraternally connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, lodge and encampment, and the Daughters of Rebekah. 

Mr. Galbraith was married on February 17, 1864, to Sarah Demery, who was born in Scotland on September 28, 1837. This aged and respected couple celebrated their golden wedding anniversary on February 17, 1914.  A host of relatives, children, grandchildren and friends were at hand to tender their congratulations and extend their good wishes. They have reared seven children and have sixteen grandchildren. The children are as follows: William, a grain dealer at Owens, Iowa, and who is the father of two children, Earl and May; George Henry, a farmer of Calhoun county, who has five children Fay, Leon, Robert, Sadie and Doris ; Frank Galbraith, a farmer in Douglas township, who is the parent of three children Julian.  Cecil and Vera; Rutherford, a resident of Newell, Iowa, and who is the father of one child, Naomi; Mrs. W. L. Cole, of Douglas township, the mother of four children, Guy, Lola, Reo and Lucille; Charles Galbraith of Whittier, California, who has one child, Kenneth; Mrs. Bessie Walters, of Delaware township.

GISHWILLER, NICHOLAS ORLANDO ----An enumeration of those men of the present generation who have won honor and public recognition for themselves, and at the same time have honored the locality to which they belong would be incomplete were there failure to make specific mention of him whose name forms the caption of this biographical record. The qualities which have made him one of the most capable and successful men of Sac county have also brought him the esteem of his fellow men, for it is evident that his career has been one of well directed energy, strong determination and honorable methods. As a contractor and builder he has achieved a good measure of success; as a businessman he has so managed his personal affairs as to rank among the substantial citizens of Sac City: as mayor of the city he has so administered governmental affairs as to earn the hearty commendation of his fellow citizens regardless of politics.

Nicholas O. Gishwiller was born September 9, 1854 on his father's farm in Williams county, sixteen miles from the city of Bryan, Ohio. His parents were Louis and Margaret (Sheets) Gishwiller, natives of Switzerland and Polk counties, Ohio, respectively. His mother was born near the town of Ashland, Ohio. Louis Gishwiller was an infant six months of age when his parents emigrated from Switzerland to the United States. They settled on a farm near the city of Wooster, in Wayne county, Ohio, where Louis was reared to young manhood. When the father of Nicholas O. Gishwiller became of age he moved to Williams county Ohio, and purchased a tract of land which he cleared of heavy timber growth and improved. He disposed of his western Ohio farm in 1869 and moved westward to Stephenson county Illinois, where he purchased a large farm. The first land investment which he made totaled two hundred and ten acres, which was subsequently added to in different tracts until his holdings were among the most extensive in the county. In his old age Louis retired to a residence in the town of Lena, where he died in October, 1911 leaving a large family of ten children, namely: John Alford, of Carancahua, Texas; Louis Franklin, of Waddams. Illinois; David William, of Lena, Illinois; Mrs. Sarah Elizabeth Stahl, of Freeport. Illinois; Nathaniel Orlando; Mrs. Sophia Margaret Albee of Lena, Illinois; Henry I., also of Lena; Hulbert Marion, of Lena; Charles Wesley, of Wilcox, Nebraska; Mrs. Ada Catharine Coomber, residing in Freeport, Illinois. Three children died in infancy. 

He with whom this narrative is intimately concerned was educated in the district schools of the neighborhood in which he was reared and remained on the parental farm until the year 1882. He then came to Sac county and purchased one hundred and forty acres of good land in Cedar township which he improved and made into a valuable property. He resided on the farm until 1884 when he sold it and bought another tract of eighty acres in Wall Lake township, on which he and his family resided until 1888. The family then moved to Sac City with the intention of making a permanent residence here.

Mr. Gishwiller at once engaged in carpentering and contracting and has met with signal success in all of his undertakings in his chosen line. It is very rarely that a man who has followed the ancient occupation of tilling the soil can abandon it as a means of gaining a livelihood when approaching middle age, but Mr. Gishwiller has exemplified the fallacy of the oft-repeated argument that "Once a farmer, always a farmer." His work as a contractor and builder has been thoroughly and honestly done and his services have been in great demand for several years. His two oldest sons assist him in his operations and he employs additional help on occasion.  He is the owner of two hundred and forty acres of excellent farm land in South Dakota and is the possessor of a residence property in Sac City.  Politically, he has always been allied with the Republican party. He has filled various local and school offices with credit to himself and in the interest of his constituents. In the spring of 1913 he was elected mayor of Sac City. He is known as one of the most energetic and capable city executives who has ever held the office. During his administration extensive city improvements have been pushed to completion. Miles of paving have been laid within the city and improvements have been made throughout the municipality which have placed Sac City among the most progressive of the cities of Iowa. He is a member of the Baptist church and is fraternally affiliated with the Knights of Pythias and the Brotherhood of American Yeoman. Mr. Gishwiller is a prominent and active member of the local lodge of Pythians.

N. O. Gishwiller was united in marriage with .Mary Hall, of Jo Daviess county. Illinois, on February 13, 1877. She is the daughter of Joseph and Rebecca Hall, natives of England and Canada respectively. Three children have been born to this estimable couple, namely: Margaret Rebecca Corsaut who was born January 3, 1878, on the farm in Illinois, and resides in Cedar township. She is the mother of four children: Frances, Elmira, DeWitt James, Zada Emma and Loren. Oran Orlando, the second son, was born May 9, 1885, and resides in Sac City. He is the father of two children, Helen Grace and Marguerite. The third child is Ira Irwin, born June 6, 1887.

GOLDSMITH, CHARLES D. -----If a resume were to be written of the successful and influential attorneys of the northwestern part of Iowa, the name of Charles D. Goldsmith, of Sac county, would occupy a high position. In the legal profession he has supplemented the practice of the essentials with a wealth of common sense. In every profession theories and rules cannot be literally interpreted: they act as guides alone and the human equation is the force that impels decisions of merit. In judicious foresight, cool calculation and prompt initiative, Mr.  Goldsmith has excelled. He stands for the lawyer, in the true sense of that word, that is to say, the man who advocates a sympathetic reading of the law, and not a merciless, steely and unyielding interpretation. Charles D.  Goldsmith has won for himself a reputation for high integrity, and his courteous, affable nature, savored with a brilliant fund of wit, have won for him countless friends and clients among the good people of Sac county and this section of Iowa.

Charles D. Goldsmith, ex-district judge and now a practicing attorney of Sac City, Iowa, was born December 16, 1841, in Middletown, New York.  He is the son of John M. and Martha A. (Davis) Goldsmith, natives of Orange county, New York, and descendants of old New England families.  John M. Goldsmith was a contractor and builder in New York. 

Charles D. Goldsmith received his education in the schools of New York and in August, 1861, enlisted in Company I, Fifty-sixth Regiment New York Volunteer Infantry, and served for four years and four months. He was in the Peninsula campaign of 1862 when Gen. George B. McClellan attempted to take Richmond. Thence he was transferred to South Carolina and, with his regiment, was stationed in this state until the end of the war, being mustered out October 15, 1865.

In January of the following year he was married and came to Iowa a year later, locating in Hamilton county, where he was admitted to the bar. After practicing five years in this county he located in Newell, Buena Vista county Iowa, where he practiced for six years. In 1879 he came to Sac City and for six years was in partnership with William H. Hart. In 1889 he was appointed district judge of this county and in the fall of the same year was elected to this office. He received his commission January 1, 1890, and served a term of four years, to the entire satisfaction of the county. Since that time he has not been a candidate for any public office, preferring to devote all of his attention to his increasing legal practice. He has a reputation in this part of the state as one of the keenest lawyers who has ever appeared before a jury and in the various cases which he has conducted he has shown a rare knowledge of the intricacies of legal procedure.

Mr. Goldsmith was married in January 1866, to Delia E. Borland, and in December, 1883, to Emily Baxter. To these unions have been born three children: Delmont, who is president of. the Salem, South Dakota, Bank; Karl, an attorney and a member of the law firm of Horner, Martens & Goldsmith, at Pierre, South Dakota, and also president of the Pierre National Bank. The third child of Mr. and Mrs. Goldsmith was Mrs. Blanche Murray, deceased.

Politically, Mr. Goldsmith is a Democrat and has always taken a deep interest in political affairs, although he has never been a candidate for any public office since retiring from the judgeship. He and his wife are regular attendants of the Episcopal church and contribute of their substance to its support. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. As a lawyer. Mr.  Goldsmith has ever maintained a high standing, never descending beneath the dignity of his profession or compromising his usefulness by practicing any but noble and legitimate practice. Personally, he is a pleasing gentleman to meet, honest and upright at all times, not only held in high esteem for his superior professional ability, but for his public-spirited nature and wholesome private life.

GOODENOW, CHARLES -----Each life seems to be cast in a different hold, although environments similar in character surround all persons of any one community. We are influenced to some extent in our choice of a life career by the example set by our fathers; if the paternal parent of an individual has become successful in a good profession the son is very likely to follow in the footsteps of his father and to carry onward and upward the work begun. Thus it is seen that the parental influence, when wielded wisely and for the good of the offspring, is the greatest impulse in shaping the careers of successful men.  It is even claimed by some observers and writers that banking, for instance, is an inherited occupation and if a father is gifted with financial ability, this trait is transmitted to the son in a higher degree if he possesses a personal aptitude for the business. Even so, history records hundreds of instances where this highly important department of our national financial system has been more successfully conducted during past centuries where the heritage has been given over to the sons of the family who but stepped into the place left vacant by the father and acquitted themselves wonderfully and shouldered the responsibilities of conducting such an important business in a manner creditable to themselves and their predecessors. In writing the biography of Charles Goodenow, banker and leading citizen of Wall Lake, Sac County, account must be taken of the fact that his father was the pioneer banker of this locality and founded the business which the son has extended and broadened.

He whose name forms the caption of this chronicle was born August 13, 1856 in Clinton County Iowa, and is the son of Royal Goodenow, pioneer settler and banker of Wall Lake, Iowa. Royal Goodenow was born in the state of New York, December 25, 1820, and was the son of Timothy Goodenow, a descendant of an old and highly respected family of New England.  In the year 1845 he migrated to Clinton county, Iowa, and settled on a pioneer farm. He was one of the first settlers of this great county and was preceded by a brother, John E. Goodenow, who settled on a farm lying on the Jackson-Clinton county line as early as 1838. John E. had the distinction of being the first railroad land-grant owner in Iowa and was one of three trustees (Goodenow, Clark and Cotton) to whom the land grant was deeded in trust in 1841. In the year 1875 Royal Goodenow came to Sac county and invested in a tract of four hundred and eighty acres in section 1 Clinton township, to which he soon added one hundred and sixty acres, making an entire section of land which he owned. This was practically virgin prairie which he had broken for cultivation and improved. In 1882 he and Nelson Wright came to the new town of Wall Lake and started the Bank of Wall Lake, which was later reorganized as the Wall Lake Savings Bank in September of 1905. In his later years, when old age robbed him of some of his virile energy, he removed to Jackson county and there spent his remaining days amid the familiar scenes of his younger days, dying March 20, 1911. He will long be remembered in Sac county as one of the influential and striking figures of the county. The interesting history of the founding of the Wall Lake Bank and its subsequent fortunes is graphically told in the banking chapter of this memoir.

This pioneer citizen of the county was twice married. His first wife was born in New York state and was Marilla Griffin, who bore him one son, Melville B., now a resident of Nebraska. His second marriage was with Sarah Sherwood, who was born in Ohio in 1833. They were married in Clinton county. To this union were born the, following children: Charles; Mrs. Marilla Phillips, of Clinton county; Mrs. Candice Butterworth, of Jackson county; Burt L., a resident of South Dakota. He was a Democrat politically and was an exemplary and valuable citizen whose usefulness in the early development of Sac county is more than deserving of extended mention.

Charles Goodenow, the son, and with whom this review is directly concerned, received his education in the district schools of his native county.  He came to Sac county when the family removed here and drove a large bunch of cattle ahead of him. He unloaded the cattle from the train at Grand Junction, Iowa, and drove them to his father's ranch by the way of Lake City and Sac City. He assisted his father in hauling and handling the lumber used in the erection of the farm buildings and did his share in the prairie breaking. In 1878 he journeyed to Nebraska and remained in this newer state for three and one half years, engaged in ranching. On his return to Sac county he located in the town of Wall Lake and opened a general merchandise store, which he conducted successfully for several years. He became connected with the Bank of Wall Lake, now the Wall Lake Savings Bank, sometime later and has practically managed its affairs since 1882.  His ability as a banker is unquestioned and the institution in his charge is considered one of the solidest and the safest financial concerns in the county.  Mr. Goodenow has always been interested in farming and has never allowed his interest to wander far from the vocation to which he had been reared. He has charge of the Goodenow estate, consisting of six hundred and fifty-six acres and the cultivation of which he supervises, and is the owner of a fine farm of three hundred and twenty acres in Clinton county. 

Charles Goodenow was married on February 14, 1881 to Jessie Newby, formerly of Clinton county and daughter of William Newby, who removed to Sac county from Clinton. He is the father of the following children: Mrs. Nellie Zae Garrett, of Wall Lake; Ruth, at home with her parents; Marilla, a student in the State University at Iowa City: Royal, a student in the public schools and aged thirteen years. Politically, Mr. Goodenow is a Democrat and is pronounced in his convictions; fraternally, he is a Mason. For a long period of twenty one years he has served on the city council of Wall Lake and has ever been found in the forefront in advocating public improvements ; he has many warm friends and well wishers, and is one of these whole-souled, likeable fellows who are accommodating and hospitable to a high degree. Of such men are the best Communities composed.

GOSCH, JUERGEN P. -----The farming profession has been revolutionized within the last fifty years, and the farmer of today in Iowa has so modernized the former methods of agriculture that he has very few of the disadvantages of a past decade to contend with in tilling the soil. The pioneers themselves now living in Sac county have come up through this great transformation in agricultural methods and have prospered accordingly. Scores of inventions have been put on the market which enable the farmer to lead a life of ease as compared with the hardships of an earlier day. The farmer is certainly the most independent man of the country and all other professions must bow to him. Iowa is known throughout the length and breadth of this country as one of the leading agricultural states of the Union and Sac county is one of its best subdivisions.  Among the many excellent farmers of this progressive and wealthy county who is of German birth none occupies a more prominent place than Juergen P.  Gosch, who arose from a poor immigrant to become one of the wealthy and influential figures in the county.

Juergen P. Gosch has resided on his large farm of five hundred and twenty-three acres in Levey township since the year 1880 and has developed it from prairie land to one of the best equipped and most productive in the county.

He was born March 2, 1848, in Schleswig, Germany, and is the son of Peter and Mary Gosch. When he was twenty-four years of age he came to America and in the spring of 1872 located in Jackson county Iowa, where he worked at farm labor for a period of five years and saved his money.  While a resident of Jackson county he married and then decided that it was time to become a land owner and tiller of his own land. First, he rented a farm for two years, then came to Sac county and invested his savings in one hundred and twenty acres of land in Levey township, which formed the nucleus of his present large acreage. This first tract of land cost him twenty dollars an acre and was purchased on a time contract, as was the custom in that early day. Very few settlers came to Sac county with much money, and Mr. Gosch was as poor as his neighbors at that time. A few years later he bought one hundred and eighty-eight acres at a cost price of twenty-eight dollars an acre. In 1889 he again invested in a tract of two hundred and twenty-three acres at a cost of thirty-nine dollars an acre. The Northwestern railroad cuts diagonally through Mr. Gosch’s section, hence the odd acreage.  Mr. Gosch has from time to time invested in lands in Dakota, Kansas and Iowa, and has usually sold out at a profit. At the present time he is the owner of an entire section of land in Kansas and owns a half section of fine farm lands in Dakota. On his Sac county farm are three sets of farm buildings, all in excellent condition. His home farm is a very fine one and the residence is exceptionally good, as will be seen by the view herein presented.  Nearly all the buildings have been built or remodeled by Mr. Gosch and are kept in very good condition. He also owns a nice residence in Wall Lake, where it is his intention to retire very soon and take life easy, as he can well afford to do. Of late years he has entrusted the work of the farms to his children.  For a number of years Mr. Gosch has been a breeder of Percheron horses and has a band of forty head of fine thoroughbred stock on his farm.  He has always paid considerable attention to the raising of livestock for the market and is a live-stock farmer. Among his forty head of fine horses are about twenty-five head of registered Percherons, which are worth fancy prices in the market.

In the year 1877 this successful farmer was married to Mrs. Mary Mohr Sonderman, a widow who had two children by a former marriage. Ella, deceased, and Mrs. Minnie Putbres, of Sac county. There have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Gosch the following children: Fred and Henry, who are tilling the home farm; Mrs. Anna Wunscher, of Delaware township; Mrs.  Margarita Patee, of Eden township; Carl and August, at home; Mrs. Katie Plautz, of Clinton township; Alvena and Detlef, at home with their parents. The mother of these children was born in 1853 on the ocean aboard a sailing-vessel enroute to America from Germany. She was the daughter of Fred and Elzaba Mohr, who first settled near Davenport, down the river in the timber belt of Jackson county. This was in the year 1853, when settlers were few and far apart in that section of Iowa, and the Mohrs endured many hardships. They, the parents of Mrs. Gosch, were among the very earliest pioneer settlers of Jackson county and lived and died in the county, well respected by all who knew them.

Mr. Gosch himself has not succeeded to his present position of affluence without hardships of a serious character at times, and his success has been due to hard work and thrift, combined with keen financial ability and rare business acumen. One of the most serious disasters with which he had to contend was in 1889, when his barns and outbuildings were destroyed by fire. At that time he had the largest barn in Sac county, and his loss was considerable.  Five horses, five thousand bushels of corn, ninety tons of hay, and buggies and harness were lost in the holocaust.

Mr. Gosch is allied with the Democratic party and has served his township as trustee and president of the school board. Like many other successful men of affairs, he finds time and has the inclination to take an active part in local politics, and his influence has generally been on the side of right and progress. Having a large family of children himself, he has ever been in favor of a good school system, and located on the corner of his farm is one of Sac county’s modern district school buildings. He and his family are members of the German Lutheran church and Mr. Gosch is a liberal contributor to the support of this denomination, which at present is erecting a fine modern church edifice in the town of Wall Lake. His long residence in Sac county, his marked success as a citizen and agriculturist and stockman makes him eminently entitled to representation in this valuable work.

GOSCH, JOHN H. -----There are no thriftier people in Sac county today than those who are of German descent and while they have always been successful in their business affairs, they have also taken their full share in the public life of their respective communities.

John H. Gosch, one of the most prosperous farmers of Levey township, Sac county, Iowa, was born September 9, 1857, in Schleswig, Holstein, Germany. He is the son of Peter Frederick and Mary (Kuhr) Gosch, who spent all their lives in the land of their birth.

John H. Gosch received a good practical education in the public schools of Germany and when twenty-five years of age left his native land and came direct to Odebolt, Sac county, Iowa, landing here on October 9th. A few years later he married and went on a rented farm in Levey township, where he lived for three years. In 1888 he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land for twenty-six dollars an acre and in 1894 he added forty acres adjoining at the cost of fifty dollars an acre, bought from J. H. Knappen. The next purchase was in 1899, when he bought eighty acres at fifty dollars an acre from C. E. Mien, in 1906 he added eighty more acres adjoining at a total cost of sixty-four hundred dollars, purchased of Josias Skinner. In 1909 he purchased a quarter section in Osceola county, this state, for which he paid fifty-five dollars an acre. He has been prosperous from the start and is now recognized as a progressive farmer who never neglects to take advantage of the latest improvements in machinery or the newest methods in crop production. In 1910 he built a new home, enlarged his barn, erected a large corn crib and other buildings. In 1914 he erected a new barn, fifty by sixty feet in size. He markets from seventy-five to a hundred head of cattle and one hundred head of hogs annually. 

Mr. Gosch was married March 10, 1885, to Mary M. Fleck. She was born September 12, 1863, in Germany and is the daughter of Johann Henry and Sophia Magdalena (Seeman) Fleck. She came to this country from her native land in 1883. To Mr. and Mrs. Gosch have been born ten children: Fred, who was accidentally killed while plowing on September 30, 1913, was twenty-seven years of age, married and left his widow with two children. Alfred Robert and Christian August: Johannes D., of Osceola county, who is married and has one son, Marvin Herman ; Edward, of Levey township, who is married and has one daughter. Vera Edna. The remaining seven children, still with their parents, are Lorena Mary, Elsie Wilhelmina, Wilhelm, Elbert, Edna, Robert and Arthur.

Mr. Gosch has identified himself with the Democratic party since coming to this country, but is not a blind partisan, reserving the right to cast his ballot for the right man irrespective of politics. Since settling in his township he has served six years as township assessor and filled this position to the entire satisfaction of all of his fellow citizens. He and his family are earnest members of the German Lutheran church and contribute generously of their substance to its support. Mr. Gosch reserves a great deal of credit for his success, which has come about solely through his own efforts. He came to this county with no money and in the course of a few years was recognized as one of the substantial farmers of his township. He is a man who takes things easy and because of his clean and wholesome life is highly regarded by everyone with whom he is associated.

GORDON, FRANCIS E. -----It is the progressive, wide-awake man of affairs that make the real history of a community and their influence as potential factors of the body politic is difficult to estimate. The examples such men furnish of patient purpose and steadfast integrity strongly illustrate what is in the power of each to accomplish, and there is always a full measure of satisfaction in adverting even in a casual way to their achievements in advancing the interests of their fellow men and in giving strength and solidity to the institutions which make so much for the prosperity of a community. Such a man is Francis E. Gordon, and as such it is distinctly proper that a review of his career be accorded a place among the representative citizens of the city and county in which he resides.

Francis E. Gordon, secretary of the Sac County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Association, was born June 26, 1856, in Schoharie county New York, the son of S. E. and Anna (Freese) Gordon, both of whom were also natives of Schoharie county, New York, who emigrated to Sac county, Iowa, in March, 1866. S. E. Gordon was a soldier during the Civil War, with a New York regiment, and took up a soldier's homestead in Sac county, on the northwest quarter of section 36 in Douglas township. He purchased a piece of timber land in the same locality, sawed the timber and built a good frame house on his homestead, and here he lived until his death, January 29, 1890. His wife died in 1900. He served as county supervisor of Sac county for three terms. He was a prosperous and successful farmer and a highly respected citizen. His landed estate consisted of four hundred and eighty acres, gained through his thrift, industry and good judgment.  Five children were born of the marriage of S. E. Gordon and Anna Freese. Francis E., the oldest, is the immediate subject of this sketch. H.  C. Gordon resides at Newell, Buena Vista county, Iowa. M. L. Gordon lives at Brooklyn, Iowa. Mary Gordon died in 1894. Mrs. Nellie (Gordon) Hazard also lives in Buena Vista county, Iowa.

Francis E. Gordon received a good common school education, attending the little "school house on the prairie." He was reared on the farm and amid this healthful influence early learned the value and dignity of honest toil.  In 1878 he became a farmer for himself, his father having given him eighty acres of land, and he followed the active life of a farmer until 1894. In the fall of 1893 he was elected secretary of the Sac County Farmers Mutual Insurance Association, assuming the duties of this office January 1, 1894.  Since 1900 he has also been president of the Town Mutual Dwelling House Insurance Association, a large concern operating in the state of Iowa, with headquarters at Des Moines.

Mr. Gordon was married in 1878 to Athelia M. Davis, of Lake City, Iowa. They have no children. Politically, Mr. Gordon is a Republican, and he holds membership with the Advent Christian church, the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Ancient Order of United Workmen.  Mr. Gordon is a man of vigorous mentality and strong moral fiber who possesses the necessary energy and business qualifications to discharge worthily the duties of any responsibility with which he may be entrusted. He has achieved eminent success in the special field to which he has directed his efforts and won for himself an enviable place among the leading men of the city and county honored by his citizenship.

The Sac County Farmers Mutual Fire Insurance Association was organized in August, 1875, by S. E. Gordon and others. The first meeting was held June 5, 1875, when a constitution and by-laws was adopted. The first annual meeting was held June 5, 1876. The officers then elected were: Phil Schaller, president; J. N. Miller, vice-president; Joseph L. Dobson.  secretary: Tames Taylor, treasurer. The directors were F. N. Hahne, Thomas Batie, T. W. McClellan, A. B. Holmes, S. E. Gordon, J. P. Carr, Oscar Staley, E. S. Fanning, C. Martin, S. Beeler, William Cory, William Warren, C. N. Levy, John Bence, A. C. Ables and A. Young. The executive committee was S. E. Gordon, William Hawks and John Bence. The records show that at the beginning of the year June 7, 1878, the number of policies in force was sixty-two, representing insurance to the amount of $50,717.66.  Thirty-six policies were issued during the year, of a value of $34,910.99.  S. E. Gordon was chosen vice-president in 1878. The present officers are R. M. Long, president; L. E. Irvin, vice-president; F. E. Gordon, secretary; J. Y. Campfield, treasurer. The directors are C. A. Drewry, Dennis McTeague, F. E. Smith, George B. Gould, John Hailing, A. Mason, E. L.  Ahrens, Ed. Williams, Charles Hechter, W. W. Rhoades, C. L. Wade, S. E. Peck, William Nutzman, Earnest A. Walrod, W. F. Charles and L. P. Lowry. The number of policies now in force, one thousand seven hundred.  Insurance in force, $3,857,806.00. The company has had a steady and continuous growth, and is now firmly established as one of the best insurance companies in the state of Iowa.

GOREHAM, JOSEPH P.  -----Forty years of residence in Sac county and living to see the county develop from a vast prairie country into a populous and cultivated garden spot, with beautiful trees and cities rearing their spires heavenward, should be honor and glory enough for one man, but when he and his faithful helpmeet are so blessed as to have been enabled to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary in addition, it seems truly that Providence has especially singled out a most worthy couple for great favors. However, Joseph P.  and Charlotte Goreham, with whom this resume is concerned, are deserving of all the good fortune and every blessing which has befallen them in a long, happy and useful life.

Joseph P. Goreham was born March 4, 1840, in Stockholm, St. Lawrence county, New York. He is the son of Philo and Maria (Bard) Goreham, natives of Vermont, and who moved to Canada in 1845, and resided there until the spring of 1861. They then moved to Clinton county, Iowa, where the father died in the year 1888. There were nine children in the Goreham family, as follows: Betsey, Warren, Harriet, Miranda, Susannah, Reuben and William, all deceased; Joseph P., and Mrs. Mary Wade, of Allen, Nebraska.

In the fall of 1861 Joseph P. Goreham left his Canadian home and came to Clinton county, Iowa, and was there married, January 20, 1864, to Charlotte Hill, who was born May 8, 1844, in Yorkshire, England. She is the daughter of John and Susannah Hill, who emigrated to America in 1851 and first settled at Rockford, Illinois. They reared a family of fourteen children. The Hill family located in Clinton county, Iowa, in 1854, and were substantial pioneer settlers of this county.  Mr. and Mrs. Goreham resided on their farm in Clinton county until the fall of 1874 when they removed to Sac county and purchased the north half of section 2 in Wheeler township. At this time there were no roads and few settlers in their vicinity. In the spring of 1875 they built a house and began developing the farm. About this time they also bought the southeast quarter of section 36 at a cost of five dollars and fifty cents an acre on ten years' time. So industrious and frugal were this excellent couple that it was only a very short time until they were free from debt and added more land to their holdings. They were able to give forty acres to each of their sons outright and yet have four hundred acres of fine land, including one hundred and twenty acres in Woodbury county, Iowa. In 1894 they left the farm and removed to Odebolt where they have a comfortable residence in the southeastern part of the city.

Politicallv, Mr. Goreham is a Progressive and is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. He is the father of eight children, as follows: One died in infancy: George, who died at the age of three years ; Mrs. Mary Coy, of Highlands, California; Horace, of Moville, Iowa, and who is the father of one child, Aubrey; Leonard, residing on the old homestead and who has three children, Clarence, Irene and Laura; Edson, located on the west quarter section of the old homestead and who has five daughters, Doris and Dorothy (twins), Charlotte, Mildred and Gertrude; Mrs. Grace Gunderson, who lives on the southeast quarter section of the home farm in Wheeler township and is the mother of seven children. Hazel, Vernon, Pierce, Paul, Cyril, Eva, Edward; Mrs. Mabel Irwin, of Odebolt: Wilbur, deceased in 1878.  Mr. Goreham has the distinction of having been the first township clerk in Wheeler township and assisted in the organization of the township when it was set off from Levey township. He also had charge of the first election ever held in the township and was a prominent factor in Republican politics during his many years of residence in the township. After serving as clerk he was four times elected township trustee and also served as secretary of the school board.

On January 20, 1914 this pioneer couple celebrated their fiftieth wedding anniversary. Concerning this important affair the Odebolt Chronicle had the following to say:

The half century mile post of wedded life stretches away off in the distance and but few attain it. Mr. and Mrs. J. P. Goreham, pioneer residents of this community, were privileged to reach the goal, however, and celebrated their golden wedding at their Odebolt home on Tuesday, January 20th, in a way that befitted the importance of the event. They reached the goal in good health, blessed with a happy home and the possessors of an army of friends.

For a good many years the couple had looked forward to the date of January 20, 1914, which would round out their fifty years of married life. Provided they readied the goal in good health, they had long ago decided the event should be celebrated as it should be.  It was their privilege to do so and accordingly the event was celebrated as it should be. With all of their children about them, except one, Mrs. P. F. Coy, of Highlands, California, they kept open house from two to five P. M., and between those hours over one hundred of their friends called to pay their respects, to visit awhile and to wish for the venerable pair continuance of good health and longevity.

The home was beautifully decorated for the affair all of the rooms were a perfect bower of roses, jonquils and carnations. Smilax, sent all the way from California, added to the beauty of the rooms. Many of the flowers were the gifts of friends. The guests were received in the spacious living room and after extending congratulations filtered through the rooms to make themselves comfortable and to enjoy the hospitality that was theirs to enjoy. A two-course luncheon was served to all, a total of one hundred and twenty being served.

They were married in Lost Nation, Clinton county, Iowa, fifty years ago. Forty years ago they came to Sac county and bought the farm known as the north half of section 2 of Wheeler township. Coming at that early date they have a right to be classed as pioneer residents. They saw the country in its newest state and its subsequent development and have never been sorry that they cast their lot in good old Sac county. Until nearly twenty years ago they made their home on the old farm, where they reared their family and met with success in a financial way. Something over nineteen years ago they bought the place in town and turned the farm over to the sons. When in a reminiscent mood they can recount some interesting experiences of the early days and know what pioneering in its most rugged sense is. They still have the handle of their first broom in their possession and Mrs. Goreham still uses it as a clothes stick on washdays. Cake was served to the guests from a platter that has been in the possession of the couple since the day of their marriage.

"Numerous presents were received by the couple Tuesday". The list is as follows: Parlor suite in golden oak, leather upholstered; gold bowl sugar shell; two gold bowl spoons, gold bowl berry spoon, two gold handled umbrellas, gold headed cane for Mr. Goreham, gold thimble for Mrs. Goreham, hand painted teapot, gold trimmed: set gold cuff bottons, gold brooch and many gift cards.

"The out-of-town relatives and friends present were Mr. and Mrs. H.  W. Gorehan and son, Audrey; Mr. and Mrs. R. M. McCarter, Mr. and Mrs. William Barto, Mrs. W. E. Hall, all of Moville; George Cressey and daughter, Mrs. Robert Stewardson, Arthur: Mrs. Ernest McMillan, Ruthven; Mr. and Mrs. J. T. Irwin, Pleasant Hill.

"An original poem by R. M. Stavely, a cousin of the couple, who resides in California, was read." It is the heartfelt wish of their many friends that they may live to celebrate their diamond jubilee.

GOREHAM, LEONARD L. ------It is not improper to judge of the success and status of a man's life by the estimation in which he is held by his fellow citizens. They have the opportunity of seeing him in his home, about his business, in his church, they hear his views on public questions, observe the workings of his code of morals, witness how he conducts himself in all the relations of life, both private and public, and thus they become competent to judge of his true worth. L. L. Goreham, who has spent practically his entire life in this community, is one of the most respected of the citizens of Wheeler township, and therefore it is safe to conclude that his conduct in all the various affairs of life throughout the years has been actuated by the highest motives only.  Leonard L. Goreham was born in Clinton county, Iowa, in August of 1870, being the son of J. P. and Charlotte Goreham, among the oldest settlers of Wheeler township Sac county, and elsewhere in this volume will be found a sketch of the career of J. P. Goreham.

Leonard L. Goreham was but four years old when the parents came to this county and has never lived elsewhere than on the homestead where his father established a typical pioneer home so many years ago. Since the time when he was first brought to this county great and wonderful improvements have been made along all lines, this locality at that time not having been occupied by the white man very long. The nearest post office to the Goreham home was at Vail, many miles distant, and between the farm and the town of Sac City there was not a house or tree visible. Mr. Goreham recalls that the favorite Sunday pastime of his boyhood was the hunting of prairie chickens, of which they would sometimes gather scores. When a youth, he attended the district schools of their vicinity and assisted the father in the work about the home, thus acquiring information which has been of incalculable value in later years.

In 1900 he received forty acres of land, including the homestead, from his father and there he has since made his home. He owns but the forty acres, but farms three hundred and twenty acres. In addition to his substantial home there are many other excellent buildings about the farm. There is a barn in size sixty-four by one hundred and two feet, and containing every convenience for the care of stock, etc. There is also an excellent granary, thirty-four by fifty feet, having a capacity of sixty-five hundred bushels of corn and eight thousand bushels of smaller grain. In addition to carrying on the regular work of the farm as relates to crops, etc., Mr. Goreham has more than local fame as a breeder of Percheron horses and Shorthorn cattle. He has eighteen head of thoroughbred Percherons and at the Sac county horse show in January of 1914, at Odebolt, he was awarded the second prize. Expert Kennedy pronounced the Goreham exhibit at the show held in Odebolt as worthy of exhibition anywhere, being a first grade exhibit. In addition to the thought and labor expended on his horses, he also has about fifty head of Shorthorn cattle, good pure-bred stock. The strain he has is of large size and therefore excellent beef producers.  In conducting the business of his farm, Mr. Goreham employs only the latest and most approved methods of handling such business and is an earnest student along the lines in which he is most interested.  Mr. Goreham's political affiliation is with the Republican party and in the affairs of this party he takes more than a nominal interest. He has served Wheeler township as clerk and also school director, for twenty years being a member of the school board, serving as secretary and treasurer part of the time. In addition to the duties devolving upon him by reason of political connections, Mr. Goreham for two years has served as secretary of the Sac County Mutual telephone Company and is also one of the directors of the Sac County Farmers' Institute. By reason of his connection with the breeding of Percheron horses, he has become a member of the Percheron Society of America. He is a director of the Wixcel Manufacturing Company.  manufacturers of hay loaders at Marcus, Iowa. Mr. Goreham is a communicant of Saint Martin's Roman Catholic church of Odebolt and his fraternal affiliation is with the Knights of Columbus at Carroll in Carroll county.

On September 18, 1894, Mr. Gorham was united in marriage with Sophronia Brennan, a native of Sac county and the daughter of Michael and Julia (Delaney) Brennan. Mrs. Goreham's mother was a native of Wisconsin, and was of Irish descent. Her father Michael Brennan, a native of Pennsylvania, was a son of Michael, who was a native of Ireland, and now makes his home with her. He was born on May 2, 1841, and is, therefore in his seventy-third year. The Brennan family came to Sac county in 1892 from their former home in Wisconsin, and took up their residence in Wheeler township. There were originally seven children in the family four of whom are now living. Those other than Mrs. Goreham are Mary, wife of T. D. Hansen, residing in Manning, Iowa; William.  who lives in Omaha, and John, who makes his home with the subject of this sketch. In the Goreham family there are three children, namely: Clarence L. born in May, 1897; Irene, born in January, 1900, and Laura, who was born in November, 1901.

Mr. Goreham has demonstrated in an unmistakable manner his eminent ability and efficiency in the discharge of both his private business and public duties and has won for himself from those who know him an enviable reputation as a man of strict integrity and one who has the courage of his convictions. He has, by his indomitable enterprise and progressive methods, contributed in a material way to the advancement of his locality and has in all the relations of life given evidence only of principles that were the highest and best.

GOULD, GEORGE B. ------This is the era of the installation and use of modern machinery and the prolific use of the automobile in lightening the former heavy task which fell to the lot of the average farmer. No one knows the value of labor saving machinery better than the modern farmer. In every department of his work, from plowing the land to harvesting the crops, inventive genius has sought to save him time, expense and labor, and, at a reduced cost, increase and improve his products and add to the productive value of his land. As a result, the farm of today, when completely equipped, affords its owner an ease and facility of operation that his father before him would never have dreamed was possible. The automobile, too, has done much to add to the ease and profit of farm life and work. Time is money to the farmer as much as to the man in any other walk of life. To "hitch up" and drive to the nearest town takes time; the automobile saves three-fourths of it. It serves, too, in carrying small produce to market and it affords a quicker means of transportation from one part of the farm to another than the horse affords. Apparently the most highly developed industry in Sac county and western Iowa akin to the development of agriculture and indicative of the great prosperity of the region is the automobile business. No town is too small to afford its garage and place of distribution, and some of them boast several finely equipped sales rooms and repair departments. In this connection we find that an agriculturist, George B. Gould, quick to see to what extent this industry would be developed on account of the demands of the times, established the Gould automobile sales rooms and garage in Schaller in 1911. The foresight and business acumen which made him a successful farmer has alike enabled him to make a success of this business venture. In the fall of 1912 he began the erection of a large concrete structure, thirty-five by seventy-five feet in dimension, for a sales room, with a modernly equipped repair shop twenty-five by fifty feet in extent, and completed the building in May, 1913.  Three men are employed. This concern sells such well known makes as the Jeffrey line, which includes the Rambler and the New Jeffrey car. the Moon, the Overland and the Maxwell.

George B. Gould was born June 6, 1855, in Grant county Wisconsin, the son of Chauncey and Flavia A. (Brusseau) Gould. His father was a native of, Vermont and his mother is a native of Canada, of French ancestry.  Her father was a Frenchman, who married a lady of English birth.  Chauncey Gould left Vermont in about the year 1853, journeyed to Wisconsin and settled on a farm in Grant county. In 1885 he migrated to Sac county so as to be in the proximity of his son George. For some years he resided on a farm near Schaller and then retired to the town. He died in December, 1900. Mrs. Gould resides with her daughter in Correctionville, Iowa, and is over eighty years of age. Two children were born to them, George B. with whom this narrative deals, and Mrs. Emma Borah, who resides on a farm about four miles from Correctionville.

He whose name forms the caption of this review came to Sac county in the month of May 1876, while not yet of age, and settled on three-hundred and twenty acres of land in section 33, Eden township, paying therefor five dollars and forty cents an acre, the year previous to his real settlement in the county. His first dwelling place was a small house sixteen by twenty-four feet in dimension, which he has twice remodeled from the original plan. It is a remarkable fact and a typical illustration of the great rise in land values that the annual rental which Mr. Gould now receives from this farm is more than the original cost, the rental being eight dollars an acre. Later he bought six hundred and forty acres additional at seven dollars and fifty cents an acre, in Minnesota, which has since become very valuable. He resided on his Eden township farm for twenty-five years and in 1903 he removed to Schaller.  Mr. Gould is a Progressive Republican politically. While not a member of any church, he firmly believes in the usefulness of church organizations as having an excellent moral effect in any community and is a liberal giver to the cause of religion. The members of his family are attendants at the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen.

Mr. Gould has been twice married. His first wife was Margaret Borah, of Wisconsin, whom he espoused in 1875, and who died in 1891 at the age of thirty-three years, leaving three children: Samuel C, a dentist in Ashton, Illinois: Pearl L., wife of Professor Eells, superintendent of the Rolfe, Iowa, public schools: Margaret, whose birth was the unfortunate time of her mother's death, and who likewise died in 1911 at the age of twenty years.  Mr. Gould was again married on December 4, 1895, to Ella Parrott, a lady of English nativity and who came to America with her parents when thirteen years of age and settled at Dyersville, Iowa, and later came to Schaller. One child has blessed this union, Doris A., who is a student in the Schaller high school. Pronounced attainments and recognized ability in two well defined and important lines, in each of which he has been successful, characterizes the life work of this estimable and worthy gentleman.

GREEN, COL. FESTUS J. -----There are some professions which demand a certain amount of native talent, and without this no man can make a success of that particular profession.  Someone has said that man can train himself for practically any line of business, but there is one profession which takes a number of qualities of a peculiar nature in order to bring about success in that particular line. It is safe to say that the profession of the auctioneer demands certain innate characteristics which are not possessed by every man. A man must be a good judge of human nature, a psychologist, in order to judge what to do and how to do it at the proper time. The auctioneer must first of all have a good voice, which means that he must be a man of good physique: secondly, he must have a thorough knowledge of the goods which he attempts to sell: and, thirdly, he must be a reader of human nature in order to carry his conversation so as to keep his buyers in a happy frame of mind ; and. lastly, he must be absolutely honest, or he will soon lose the confidence of the citizens of a community.

Col. Festus J. Green, a retired farmer, successful businessman. and one of the most prominent auctioneers of this section of the country, has all of the characteristics which go to make up the successful auctioneer. He was born March 29, 1857. in Somersetshire, England. His parents were Harr}' and Elizabeth (Popham) Green, his father being a tailor by trade in his native land. Neither of Colonel Green's parents ever came to this country and both have long since passed away. He was self-educated, for the reason that he had no opportunity to attend the schools in his country, but he has read and studied at home until he now is well qualified to speak upon any of the current topics of the day. The nature of his profession demands that he keep in close touch with a great variety of interests, and the success which has attended his efforts on the block indicate that his reading has not been in vain.

Colonel Green came to America in 1872, at the age of fourteen years, and located at Manchester, Iowa. Before leaving his native country, he had learned the brick and stone trade and followed this profession in Manchester for five years. In 1878 he returned to England, but came back to this country seven months later and located at Dyersville, Iowa, where he farmed until 1894, then moved to Early, in Sac county, where he has since resided.  He purchased a farm of two hundred and eighty-five acres two miles from Early, and has been engaged in breeding thoroughbred Hereford cattle, and he has shown his cattle in various county fairs, as well as the state fair of Iowa, and has taken many prizes. He has been one of the most prominent members of the Sac County Fair Association, and has been superintendent of the cattle department ever since the association was organized.  While Colonel Green has been a success as a farmer, his greatest reputation has been won in the auctioneer's field. He is strictly a self-taught man in this profession, and since he started in 1824 his fame has increased until he has cried livestock sales in California, South, Dakota, Minnesota, Illinois, Nebraska, as well as all over his own state. He receives the highest salary as an auctioneer of any man in the state of Iowa. His record of farm sales runs from seventy-five to one hundred a season, and every year he has a sale for every day in December. His fame as an auctioneer is such that people come for miles to hear him talk, who have no other reason for coming than to hear the admirable way in which he conducts his sales. 

Colonel Green was married in 1883 in Dubuque county, Iowa, to Ada House, and to this union there have been born seven children : Harry, a rancher of Montana; Alonzo, a salesman in a dry goods store in Mobridge, South Dakota: Elmer, of Storm Lake, Iowa, where he is operating a meat market; Roy a professional ball player with the Storm Lake baseball club; Charles, who is a student in the high school at Early; Blanche, who is a bookkeeper in a hardware store at Early, and Hazel, who is at home with her parents.

Colonel Green is a follower of the Republican party but has never been a candidate for any public office. In his religious belief he adheres to the Presbyterian church, as do the other members of his family. He is a member of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, of Early, and a member of the chapter and commandery at Sac City, and of the Mystic Shrine at Des Moines. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias at Early. In 1908 Colonel Green made a trip to England, and visited the London horse show, as well as his old home. Colonel and Mrs. Green have a fine home in Early, where they dispense genuine hospitality to their many friends. He is a progressive and substantial citizen who is always interesting himself in the welfare of his home city.

GROMAN, AUGUST ----No other profession has accomplished, during the last half century, the progress and development that have been made by the medical. The man of original thought and action, whose textbook forms but the basis of future which has ever moved forward, taking advantage of and utilizing new discoveries in the science and looking always for better methods, surer means to the desired end. Such a man is he whose name forms the caption to this sketch. In considering the character and career of this eminent member of the medical fraternity, the impartial observer will not only be disposed to rank him among the leading members of his profession in his locality, but also as one of those men of broad culture and mental ken who have honored mankind in general. Through a long and busy life, replete with honor and success, he has been actuated by the highest motives, and to the practice of his profession he has brought rare skill and resource, his quick perception and almost intuitive judgment enabling him to make a correct diagnosis, always necessary that proper treatment may be used. He has always been a close observer and student of medical science, keeping in close touch with the latest advances along that line, and he has been uniformly successful in the practice. Because of his high attainments and his exalted personal character, lie is eminently entitled to representation in a work of this character. 

Dr. August Groman. oldest practicing physician of Odebolt, Iowa, was born November 9. 1856, in Lake county, Indiana. His parents, Charles and Caroline ( Kluckhohn ) Groman, were both natives of Germany, who came to this country early in the history of Indiana, and lived and died in Lake county, that state. To them were born nine children: Henry, deceased; Charles, deceased; Frederick, of Muncie, Indiana: Dr. August Groman, of whom this chronicle speaks; Minnie, who lives in Chicago; Mrs. Caroline Noehren, of London, Ontario, Canada: Mrs. Sophia Wrede, of Chicago; Mrs. Louise Klein, who is a resident of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania: Mrs.  Anna Wilson, of Hammond, Indiana. Charles Groman was twice married, and Dr. August Groman was a son by his first marriage, his mother dying when he was thirteen years of age.

Dr. August Groman was educated in the district schools of Lake County, Indiana, and finished his common school education in Knight's private school at Crown Point, Indiana. Early in life he decided to enter the medical profession and, with this end in view, he matriculated in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College in 1875. Immediately upon his graduation from that institution in 1878, he came to Odebolt, Sac county, Iowa, and has practiced continuously in this community for the past thirty-six years. He has lived to see this county grow from a straggling frontier settlement to its prosperous condition, and has had a large share in the material life of the community itself. Hundreds of the citizens of this county have Doctor Groman to bless for their very existence, and the good which he has accomplished in his many years of service in this county cannot be calculated by human agency.

Doctor Groman was married June 14, 1881, to Gesine E. Beckman, and to this union have been born six children, four of whom are now living: Dr. Herman C., of Hammond, Indiana; Alice, Dorothy and Elinor. 

Doctor Groman is a member of the various medical associations which seek to keep their members in touch with the latest scientific developments along medical lines. Among these are the Sac County, the Iowa State and the American Medical Associations. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Knights of Pythias and the Yeomen. Doctor Groman has filled a large place in the ranks of the public-spirited physicians of his county, in that he has done his part well, for his record has been such as has gained for him the commendation and approval of a large circle of friends throughout the county. His career has been a long and useful one in every respect and the citizens of this county owe him a debt which they can never repay.

GULLIFORD, A. B. -----One of the successful farmers of Cook township. Sac county, Iowa, who has made his impress upon the community in which he has lived for many years is A. B. Gulliford, the proprietor of one hundred and sixty acres of excellent farming land in this township. His career has been marked by hard work and strict attention to business, which has resulted in his attaining to a fair degree of success and the securing of a goodly share of this world's goods.

Mr. Gulliford was born on September 22, 1862, in Grant county, Wisconsin, the son of John and Mary (Francisco) Gulliford. John and Mary (Francisco) Gulliford were both natives of New York and were reared and married in Wisconsin before coming to Iowa. They came to Iowa in 1874, locating three miles south of Odebolt. in Wheeler township, this county, where they entered prairie land. In 1880 they moved to Cook township, this county, where they lived until 1896'. Mr. and Mrs. Gulliford were the parents of five children: Mrs. Isaac N. Mead: Mrs. Henry McLaughlin: Mrs. Charles Higgins, deceased; Mrs. Elsie McCline, deceased, and A. B., whose history is here presented. John Gulliford was an invalid for many years on account of injuries received during his service in the Civil War.  He was in the Twenty-second Regiment Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry and served for three years. He nearly lost his eyesight while in the service and suffered from eye trouble during the remainder of his life. He died in Schaller, Iowa, in 1906.

A. B. Gulliford was educated in the district schools of his township, and began farming for himself in 1886 on the home farm. Later he lived for one year in Schaller, Iowa, but returned at the expiration of that time to the farm and has continued to reside there since. In 1903 Mr. Gulliford purchased his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Cook township, and in 1909 he erected a large concrete home, which is modern in every respect, contains twelve rooms and is fitted with all the modern conveniences. 

Mr. Gulliford was married in 1886 to Hattie Weaver, and to this union there have been born three children, James, Elda and Mary. Politically, Mr. Gulliford is a stanch Democrat and is heartily in sympathy with the principles set forth by President Wilson. He has won the respect of a large circle of friends and acquaintances because of his quiet and unostentatious life since living in this county. He is a citizen who can always be depended upon to be on the right side of such questions as affect the welfare of his community.

GUNDERSON, ANTON E. -----Among the most progressive and thoroughly up-to-date agriculturists of Sac county, Iowa, is the immediately subject of this sketch, who is engaged in farming in Wheeler township, where he owns a homestead comprising three hundred and twenty acres of excellent land and in addition to the arduous duties devolving upon him in the proper care and management of his business, Mr. Gunderson finds time to devote to public interests. Besides being secretary of the Co-operative Store Company and a director of the Farmers Savings Bank of Odebolt, he is township clerk of Wheeler township and also president of the school board, and to the duties of these offices he gives conscientious care and attention.

A. E. Gunderson was born on July 29, 1875, in Chicago, Illinois, the son of John and Anna May Peterson, both natives of Sweden, where John was born in 1844 and Anna May in 1853. It was about the year 1868 when John emigrated from Sweden, coming directly to Chicago, and Anna May came one year later. They were married in Chicago, where they lived for several years, and in the spring of 1880 came to this county, where, in 1875, they had purchased one hundred and sixty acres, being the northwest quarter of section 7, in Levey township. They were among the earlier pioneer residents of this county, and on this farm they passed the remainder of their lives, John dying in 1893 and the wife passing away on July 20, 1901. When they purchased their homestead it was raw prairie land and through unremitting care and labor they converted it into excellent farming land. They were the parents of eleven children, but five of whom came to mature age and of these three are now deceased, being Hulda, Gustave and Amil. Besides Anton E., the immediate subject of this sketch, there is still living Esther (Mrs. Roscoe Robinson), who resides in Spencer, Iowa.

When a youth, Mr. Gunderson attended the district schools of their vicinity, supplementing this later with a course at the Odebolt high school and also the Carroll Normal School. In 1890 his father purchased a mercantile business in Odebolt, known previously as the E. W. Lester store, and the firm was known as Gunderson-Larson-Erickson Company, and in this business Mr. Gunderson spent three years, developing the excellent business ability, which has characterized his later activities. When he was about eighteen years old, his father died and he consequently assumed charge of the family interests, disposing of the mercantile business and taking charge of the estate. 

In 1898 Mr. Gunderson moved from the old home place to land which he had purchased in section 2 of Wheeler township, which purchase comprised one hundred and sixty acres, for which he paid forty-nine dollars per acre. The year previous he had purchased the same acreage adjoining at forty dollars per acre. This tract of three hundred and twenty acres he has since made his home. In 1908 he built an elegant residence of eight rooms, thoroughly modern in every sense of the word, possessing every convenience possible. On his ranch he has two barns, one forty-eight by seventy feet and the other forty-eight by sixty feet: he has, in fact, two complete sets of buildings throughout. He has fifty head of Shorthorn cattle, some of pure bred: produces one hundred head of Duroc Jerseys annually and has twelve head of fine Percheron horses. Mrs. Gunderson also has a fine flock of chickens and confines her efforts to one good breed, preferring the White Plymouth Rocks. Mr. Gunderson has resided on this farm for fifteen years, and in that time has made wonderful improvements, bringing it up to a high state of perfection. 

On January 18, 1899, Mr. Gunderson was united in marriage with Grace Goreham, daughter of J. P. Goreham, one of the pioneers of this county. To their union have been born seven children, namely: Hazel, born December 30, 1899: Vernon, born August 1, 1901; Pierce, born May 18, 1904; Paul, born July 27, 1906; Cyril, born May 2, 1909: Eva, born February 4, 1910 and John Edward, born December 25, 1912. This interesting family of children are being reared along proper lines, are receiving good educations in the Odebolt public schools and in every way are being trained to take their places in the world as useful and intelligent citizens. The family are attendants at the Methodist Episcopal church, of which Mr. Gunderson is a faithful member, and are being raised in strict accordance with the tenets of that faith. 

Mr. Gunderson's fraternal affiliations are with the Modern Woodmen of America and. politically, he gives his support to the Republican party, being decidedly progressive in his views. He is a man of strong personal qualities, who realizes fully his responsibilities in every phase of life and seeks to discharge the duties falling to his lot in a fitting manner. Aside from his business cares and the rearing of his family, he gives his hearty co-operation to every movement having as its object the ultimate benefit of the moral, material or educational life of the community.

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