History of Sac County 
by William H. Hart - 1914

LEE, CURTIS ORVILLE ------Among men of affairs in almost any progressive community are found those who have apparently been singled out for preferment of a higher order than their fellows. Such individuals are known to possess ability of a marked quality, the power of discernment, the faculty of making and retaining friendships, and the financial acumen which is absolutely necessary to gain material recognition as captains of finance. We usually judge a personage by the nature of his past accomplishments, his mode of living, and his usefulness to his fellow men. However, we dare not lose sight of the fact that, among men in general, we judge the citizen, to a certain extent, by his power to profit along the lines to which he seems naturally adapted. Life moves in such a mysterious manner and in ways that are past our comprehension that there is no possible means of predicting the outcome of the career of those who might be gifted with every advantage possible at the starting of their life tasks.  Select two men from the average groups into which humans are usually divided, give each an equal start in the race, provide both with suitable sinews, take it for granted that each will be equipped mentally and physically and endowed along similar lines. Watch the outcome. It is probable that one or the other will fall by the wayside or fail to properly develop his gifts and make only a mediocre success of his life; the other will enlarge his horizon and ever seek for new tasks to overcome and succeed even beyond the expectations of his friends and associates. These things we cannot properly explain.  We can only portray life as we see it. It is the province of the historian to record the actual accomplishments of the men who come under his observation.  It is a pleasure, however, to present this encomium of the life and deeds of him whose name forms the caption of this biography. Curtis Orville Lee is a product of the pioneer life of Sac county and one of those who has taken high rank among the citizens of his native city along several useful lines of endeavor.

Curtis Orville Lee was born November 18, 1860, in Sac City, the son of Melitus S. and Caroline (Travis) Lee. M. S. Lee was born in Schoharie county. New York, May 27, 1821 the son of William Lee, a native of the state of New York. While yet in his young manhood he made a trip to the west as far as Council Bluffs, Iowa. On his return he filed on and proved up on a claim in Madison county, Iowa. He later sold his claim to a settler and returned to Laporte. Indiana. Previous to this he had found employment with Curtis Travis, who afterward became his father-in-law. In 1853, he married Caroline, third daughter of his employer. He then traveled westward, stopping for a few months in the vicinity of Baraboo, Wisconsin, and then proceeding to Fayette county, Iowa. He remained in this county for but one season however and in 1834 removed from the town of Winterset to Sac county. He first resided in Sac City, in a small log cabin, the winter of 1854- 1855 was a terrible one noted for the great depth of the snows and for the extreme cold. M. S. Lee found it necessary to remove his live stock to an improvised barn dug in a snowbank, near Judge Criss' place for the remainder of the winter. In the spring of 1861 he removed his family to his farm in Douglas township where he erected a fine residence which is occupied to this day by his daughter. He resided on the farm until 1894. when he retired to Sac City, dying March 12, 1898. The senior Lee was a large land owner, becoming obsessed of an estate of one thousand three hundred and twenty acres of excellent farm lands. During his time he filled several minor township offices and served as county supervisor of Sac county. He was an able and capable citizen whose demise was deeply mourned by a host of friends. His wife, Caroline Travis, was born September 2, 1836, in Laporte county, Indiana, and died September 4, 1900. They were blessed with the following children: Cassina M., who died of diphtheria at the age of seven years; Curtis Orville, the two first named being twins; Mrs. Lenora Keir, of Douglas township; William Lamont Lee, of Mason City, Iowa, and Mrs.  W. E. Wayt, of Chandler, North Dakota.

Curtis Orville Lee was educated in the common schools and Cornell College of Mt. Vernon, Iowa. After completing his education he took charge of one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land on coming of age, which his father gave him outright. This farm was located in Douglas township. He improved it to the best of his ability and added to the acreage until the land now totals three hundred and thirty-six acres. On August 2, 1892, he purchased the grain elevators at Sac City and operated them for nine years, removing his family to the city in February 1893. He has a fine residence in the choice residential section of the city. Mr. Lee has been eminently successful as an auctioneer and real estate operator. Since 1895 he has made a business of crying auction sales and has a reputation as a very successful auctioneer among the farmers of the neighborhood. His dealings in farm lands run into the thousands of acres. He is the owner of one thousand and seventy acres of land in Sac county over which he exercises personal supervision, by conducting his farming operations on the hired help and the cooperative basis. He has a large stock farm northwest of Sac City on which he feeds hundreds of cattle and hogs. Mr. Lee's shipments of cattle will average fifteen carloads annually, in addition to ten carloads of hogs. During the season of 1912 he shipped over thirty carloads of swine to the Chicago markets.

Mr. Lee is not only a practical, but a scientific farmer, who takes a keen interest in the betterment of conditions for the agriculturists, and is a strong advocate of better and more intensive farming methods, we are indebted to his literary talent for the excellent chapter on the Evolution of Agriculture which is found in this volume. He is allied with the Republican party and has served as mayor of the municipality, has been a member of the school board. He is a member of the Baptist church, and is connected fraternally with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, blue lodge, chapter and commandery of Sac City; the Yeomanry and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. 

He was united in marriage with Ccelia Rogers, March 16, 1884, Mrs. Lee is the daughter of Mrs. E. A. Knapp, of Sac City. They have two sons : LaVerne Lee. born February 26, 1887, and who is traveling salesman for and treasurer of the Conger-Ball Seed Company of Sac City; Ward Forrester aged thirteen years.

LEWIS, REUBEN -----Specific mention is made of many of the worthy citizens of Sac county within the pages of this volume, citizens who have figured in the growth and development of this favored locality, each contributing in his sphere of action to the well-being of the community in which he resides and to the advancement of its normal and legitimate growth. Among this number is Reuben Lewis, one of the leading stock raisers and large land owners of Sac county.  By years of labor and honest effort he has not only acquired a well-merited material prosperity, but earned the high regard of all with whom he has associated.

Reuben Lewis, livestock buyer and shipper, was born August 14, 1854, in the state of New York, son of John H. and Catharine (Collitan) Lewis, both also natives of the Empire state. John H. Lewis left the state of New York in 1866 and settled in DeKalb county. Illinois. In the spring of 1883 he came to Sac county Iowa, and settled in Jackson township, where he died in 1891. Five children were born to John H. and Catharine (Collitan) Lewis, named as follows: Mrs. Emma M. Olmsted, of Genoa, Illinois; Mrs.  Anna Wager, of Jackson township. Sac county, Iowa; Reuben, the immediate subject of this sketch; D. C, who died in Sac City in 1907, and George B., of Sioux City, Iowa.

Reuben Lewis received a public school education in DeKalb county, Illinois, where he followed the active life of a farmer. In the fall of 1881 he came to Sac county, Iowa, preceding his father by two years. He located on section 8 in Jackson township, where he bought one hundred and twenty acres of land, paying five dollars per acre for eighty acres and six dollars for the forty acres. This was what was known as railroad land, and was purchased at the time of a great influx of settlers in western Iowa who were seeking this desirable land. Mr. Lewis improved this land, erected buildings thereon and cultivated a portion of it, and here he resided for twenty-one years, except for a short time when he lived on one hundred and sixty acres in section 9 of Jackson township, which he purchased in 1891 at twenty dollars per acre. Previous to this, however, in 1882, he bought forty acres at seventeen dollars per acre. In 1900 he bought one hundred and sixty acres in section 21, at forty-five dollars per acre; in 1903 he secured eighty acres in section 21 at fifty dollars per acre; in 1909 he purchased forty acres in section 20 at one hundred twelve dollars and fifty cents per acre, and in 1912 he bought one hundred and sixty acres in section 16 at a cost of one hundred fifty-seven dollars and fifty cents per acre. His landed estate thus consists of seven hundred and sixty acres valued at one hundred and seventy-five dollars per acre.

In 1902 Mr. Lewis removed to Sac City, where he built one of the finest modern homes in the city, being located near the college.  Mr. Lewis was married in the state of Illinois in 1877 to Mary Mulcahey a native of that state. To this marriage have been born three children, only one of whom is living, Mrs. Grace Griffith, of Sac City, formerly of Denver.  Colorado. She is the mother of two children, Grace Esther and Reuben.  Charles R. Lewis died at the age of thirty-one years, and Catharine Lewis died at the age of nineteen years.

Politically, Mr. Lewis is a Republican, and he has held various township offices in Jackson township. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He is one of the largest buyers and shippers of stock in western Iowa, shipping one hundred car loads of hogs and cattle annually. In his special line of effort probably no man in this locality has achieved a more pronounced success nor a better record. For over thirty years he has been one of the leading citizens of Sac county, and because of the eminent success he has achieved he has gained a reputation which extends far beyond the borders of his own community.  Sound judgment, wise discrimination and good common sense have so entered in his make-up as to enable him to carry on his business along lines that have inspired his success. Personally, he is a warm-hearted, genial, kindly man.

LITTLE, WALTER W. -----It is generally considered by those in the habit of superficial thinking that the history of so-called great men only is worthy of preservation and that little merit exists among the masses to call forth the praises of the historian or the cheers and the appreciation of mankind. A greater mistake was never made. No man is great in all things and very few are great in many things. Many by a lucky stroke achieve lasting fame, who before that had no reputation beyond the limits of their neighborhoods. It is not a history of the lucky stroke which benefits humanity most, but the long study and effort which made the lucky stroke possible. It is the preliminary work, the method, that serves as a guide for the success of others. Among those in this county who have achieved success along steady lines of action is Walter W. Little, who is now rendering efficient service as cashier of the State Bank of Early.

Walter W. Little, the present cashier of the State Bank of Early, was born September 18, 1887, on a farm near Early. Sac county. Iowa. His parents are George W. and Elizabeth (Ridley) Little, who are now living in Indianola, and were among the oldest settlers of Sac county. George Little was born in New Hampshire in 1850, and moved to Canada in his youth with his parents. Later he returned to the United States and settled in Wisconsin, when about eighteen years of age, with his father, John Little. In 1870 John Little, with his wife and only son came to Sac county, Iowa, and settled on a farm in Boyer Valley township, where they bought eighty acres of railroad land, and on this farm George W. worked for a number of years.  He then came to Early and operated a grain elevator until a few years ago, when he returned to the farm. In 1907 he came to Early and in September, 1913, he moved to Indianola, where he and his wife are now living. George W. Little and wife were the parents of three children; Charles L., a veterinary surgeon of Lohrville, Iowa: Walter W., and Alice A. who is now a student at Simpson College, making a study of music. 

Walter W. Little was educated in the district schools of his township and later finished his education in the schools of Early. He then entered the bank at Early as bookkeeper and was promoted to the position df assistant cashier and subsequently to that of cashier. The State Bank of Early was first operated as a private bank and was incorporated in 1890, with S. K. Fuller as the principal stockholder. It was first known as the Bank of Early and upon its incorporation was called the Early State Bank. S. K. Fuller was the first president and was succeeded by F. S. Needham. The cashier of this institution in the order of their service have been as follows: N. O. Fuller, E. M. Fuller. J. H. McCord, G. S.  Needham and Walter W. Little. The bank now has a capital stock of forty thousand dollars; deposits of two hundred and twenty thousand dollars and resources of two hundred and sixty thousand dollars. The bank owns its own brick building, which is also occupied by the post office. as well as another brick building which is rented for business purposes. In 1910 the institution changed its name to the State Bank of Early and increased its capital stock from thirty to forty thousand dollars. The bank is doing a prosperous business and is a financial institution which has won the confidence of the people of the community because of its sound business methods. 

Mr. Little is a Republican in politics. but. owing to the nature of his profession, has never taken an active part in the game of politics. Fraternally he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and of the Mystic Shrine at Sioux City, Iowa, and also holds membership in the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Little is yet a young man and has a long and promising career before him, and it is safe to predict that prosperity awaits him if he continues to follow the lines which he has already marked out. He is interested in the various enterprises of his town and community and is always found identified with the right side of all public questions.

LONG, ROBERT McKEE -----The farmer of today is radically different from the farmer of yesterday.  To use a well-known phrase which aptly fits the case, "the American farmer has come into his own". The whole world of necessity bows to the farmer, figuratively speaking. His productive land is the basis of values and the source of the greatest wealth. It is he who feeds the multitudes of people who exist in the cities and towns which have multiplied in this broad land of ours during past decades. He is at present the most prosperous and among the most enterprising of our citizenship. Where formerly he seemed a nonentity to the masses of the people, today he is universally respected and envied in his possession of a fine farm and the comforts of life in abundance. Then, too, although the farmer's life is secluded to a certain extent, he is no longer derived of the comforts and luxuries of life which formerly belonged solely to the city dweller. In Sac county we find many handsome and modern country homes occupied by well-to-do and progressive agriculturists who endeavor to keep pace with the world's affairs and take an active part in the onward movements of the times. A well-known representative of this enterprising type of farmer is found in the person of Robert McKee Long, of Cedar township.  Mr. Long has a farm of three hundred and sixty acres, two hundred acres of which he in section 9, and one hundred and sixty acres is located in section 16 of Cedar township. He has a large commercial orchard covering seven acres of ground, and which has yielded five hundred dollars worth of fruit in a single year.

He was formerly engaged in cattle raising and kept from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five head on the place. His son. Robert M. is now actively engaged in cultivating the land and has charge of the farming operations. In 1912 Mr. Long completed a fine, modern residence of ten rooms fitted with all conveniences. with the necessary adjunct of large, spacious barns. This home is situated on a commanding site above the stream which flows through his land and is surrounded by great forest trees. It was erected at a cost of over two thousand six hundred dollars, but the home and building cost to exceed one thousand dollars.  This cultivated and enterprising gentleman was born October 6, 1853, in Cedar county, Iowa, the son of Robert M. Long, whose wife was Mary M. Lyle, both of whom were natives of the Southland. Robert M., the father, was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1818 and was the son of Samuel and lsabella (McKee) Long. He died in 1863. Mary M. Lyle was born in 1824 and died in 1876. They were united in marriage in 1844.  The Lyles are natives of Virginia. Mary M. Lyle was the daughter of William Reid Lyle, of Virginia, who was the son of John Lyle. The father of John Lyle was also named John and was the son of James Lyle.  a native of Lome, in county Antrim, Ireland. It is recorded that the Lyles emigrated to Rockbridge county, Virginia in 1740 or there abouts. There were three brothers that were pioneers in the settlement of the town of Timber Ridge, Rockbridge county.

Robert McKee, the first, was the son of Samuel and Isabella (McKee) Long. His father was of German descent on his father's side and Scotch-Irish on his mother's side. Isabella McKee was the daughter of Robert McKee, a native of county Down, Ireland, who traveled to the Isle of Man and there married Mary Downey. He was born December 15, 1760, and was married in 1788 and settled at Hagerstown, Maryland.  Robert McKee Long, the first, with whom the biographer is in part concerned, was born February 22, 1818, near Hagerstown, Maryland, and later settled in Tipton. Iowa, where he was a well-known merchant. He died in 1863, on the eve of his acceptance of a colonel's commission in the Union army. His children were: Alfred R., a resident of Tipton, Iowa; Edwin G., a citizen of Omaha; Flora E. Porter, who lives in Tipton: Robert M.  of Sac county; Mrs. Alan L. Moreland. of Blairstown, Iowa; Mrs. Ida Belle Shinn living also in Blairstown; William L. of Tipton, Iowa.  Robert McKee the second, to whom this review is directly devoted.  received his primary education in the Tipton high school and pursued his classical course in Cornell College. He taught eighteen terms of school in Cedar county and made his own way in life from the time he was ten years old. He resided in various towns for a period of thirty years and followed different occupations in order to obtain a livelihood. while always looking ahead for something better. He worked for the Illinois Central Railroad Company as brakeman ; drove the stage from Tipton to Davenport and also from Tipton to Stanwood. He is self-educated, working his way through school and college and paying his own expenses.

In 1883 he turned his attention to farming in Johnson county, Iowa, where he and his brother operated a farm in partnership for three years. This farm embraced a total of nine hundred and thirty-six acres and required considerable labor and attention to successfully operate. He then went to Benton county and farmed for sixteen years as a tenant farmer, in the meantime saving his money so as to make a final and lasting investment in land for himself. In 1900 he came to Sac county and purchased his Cedar township farm oi three hundred and sixty acres, at a total cost of fourteen thousand one hundred dollars. He has since refused offers of twenty-six thousand four hundred dollars for one hundred and sixty acres of this fine piece of land and it is easily worth one hundred and seventyfive dollars an acre. He removed his family to Sac County in 1900 and has since taken a prominent and influential part in township and county affairs.  Mr. Long is a pronounced Progressive in his politics and is chairman of the Progressive organization in Cedar township. During his residence of fourteen years in the community he has held all township offices and has several times refused to become a candidate for county office, although he has generally taken an active part in county affairs and has wielded his large influence in behalf of better government. For three years past he has been president of the Sac County Mutual Insurance Company.  He has served for a period of seven years as secretary of the Cedar township school board He is affiliated with the Methodist church and is fraternally connected with the Modern Woodmen. Modern Brotherhood of America, the Mystic Toilers and the Ancient Order of United Workmen. 

Mr. Long's wedded life began in 1883 when his marriage with Minnow Melina Weston, of Norway, Iowa, was solemnized. His wife was born in Norway, Iowa, in 1864 and is the daughter of John H. and Ellen (Mummey) Weston. They are the parents of the following children, eleven in number: Bessie Ellen, born 1884 and is the wife of Louis M. Dawes, of Sac City; Mrs. Maud Brobeil, of Cedar township and who was born in 1886; Robert McKee Long, the third born in 1888, farmer, married Martha Alice Rhoads; Edwin Garfield, born May 29, 1890 and was married November 1, 1911, to Elsie Pearl Witt, daughter of William Witt; Frank Otis, born 1892 and married in October of 1913 to Lola Cress and resides in Lavinia, Iowa; Ralph Henry, born in 1894 and resides at home; Glenn Herbert, born 1896; Ada Pearl, born in 1898; Charles Alfred, whose birth occurred in 1900; Mary Belle, who was born in 1902; Edith Emily, born in 1904. 

This brief resume of the life of Robert McKee Long is presented herein with the conviction that it will lie esteemed as a memoir of great value by his children, descendants and friends. It is an epitome of the life of a self-made man who has not only achieved a comfortable competence solely through his own efforts but has the enviable distinction of having reared a large and interesting family of children who are being brought up in the surroundings of a Christian and cultured home. It is an epitome of a self-made man of gentle birth and who is proud of his Germanic and Scotch-Irish ancestry. Having the advantages of gentle birth and the inspiration of a long line of sturdy ancestors to inspire his efforts, he has become a citizen of wide influence in his adopted county. From newsboy and bootblack to being the owner of a valuable Sac county farm, the father of a large and interesting family, and to being a leader among his fellow citizens, along the paths of good government, is a long step forward and credit sufficient.  It is the records of the lives of such men as Mr. Long that make interesting reading and furnish inspiration to the readers of this valuable volume. 

Mr. Long has never been an office seeker, though time after time he has been solicited to become a candidate for various offices at the earnest solicitation of the leaders of the Progressive party and yielding to the importunities of his many friends throughout Sac county, he became the candidate of the party for the important office of representative to the state Legislature, in the spring of 1874. His strength as a candidate is indisputable and recognized in the great agricultural class of his home county.  His ability as a public speaker of note is attracting wide attention for the clearness of his logic and the force of his arguments as coming from a man of sound and honest convictions. His many friends view his candidacy with optimistic predictions and he is receiving firm support which will enable him to make a strong race for the position which will land him in the halls of the state Legislature if successful at the November election.

LONGMAN, THOMAS -----To write the personal record of men who raised themselves from humble circumstances to a position of responsibility and trust in a community is no ordinary pleasure. Self-made men, men who have achieved success by reason of their personal qualities and left the impress of their individuality upon the business and growth of their place of residence and affect for good such institutions as are embraced in the sphere of their usefulness, unwittingly, perhaps, built monuments more enduring than marble obelisk or granite shaft. Of such we have the unquestionable right to say belongs the gentleman whose name appears above. 

Thomas Longman, a prosperous farmer of Cedar township Sac county, Iowa, was born March 13, 1855, in Holloman county, Ontario, Canada, and is the son of George and Julia (Murphy) Longman. His parents were natives respectively of England and Canada. George Longman and wife came to Illinois in 1869, when Thomas was about fourteen years of age, and in 1889 the parents moved to Nebraska, where they lived the remainder of their lives. They were the parents of fourteen children, eight of whom are still living.

Thomas Longman was educated in the schools of Illinois, and when twenty-six years of age began farming for himself in that state. For the first ten years he rented land and by thrift and economy he saved sufficient money so that he felt able to go West and purchase a farm of his own.  Accordingly, in 1893 he went to Nebraska, where he purchased a farm, but sold it three years later. He then came to Sac county, Iowa, where he rented land for twelve years in Coon Valley and Jackson townships. and such was his success in farming that he was able, in 1908, to buy his present farm of two hundred acres, for which he paid sixty-six dollars an acre, and has improved it in various ways until it is now easily worth two hundred dollars an acre. In 1913 he had eight horses, twenty-five head of cattle and other livestock upon his farm. He has made a notable success of farming since coming to this county, and is rightly regarded as one of the best farmers of the township. He keeps well informed on all the latest developments in agricultural work and does not hesitate to depart from old and established methods if he believes he can improve his farm in any way. 

Mr. Longman was married in 1883 to Bridget Maria Finnegan, of Illinois, and to this marriage have been born five sons and two daughters, Arthur, Edward, Leo, Hugh, Roy, Marguerite and Winifred. The last four children are still at home with their parents, while the others are farming in other parts of this county. It has been said that success comes to those who deserve it, and if this be the case, Mr. Longman has certainly deserved it.  as he has worked hard for his property and what he has gained has been earned by the sweat of his brow, and he is well deserving of a place in the list of representative men of Sac county.

LOOKINGBILL, COL. WILLIAM C. -----The careers of self-made and successful men all abound with lessons from which those of the present rising generation can take comfort and profit. It is by no means an easy task to describe within the limits of this all too brief review a man who has led an active and eminently useful life and by his own individual exertions reached a position of honor and trust in the line of the profession and industry with which his interests are closely allied. But biography finds justification in the tracing and recording of the salient facts of such a life history, inasmuch as the public claims a certain proprietary interest in the career of every individual and the time invariably arrives when it becomes advisable to give the right publicity. It is, then, with considerable satisfaction that the biographer enters upon the writing of the biography of Col. W. C. Lookingbill, eminent auctioneer and breeder of fine livestock, who, from a humble beginning, has achieved a reputation little short of marvelous in the short space of time given him to accomplish his ambition and secure a place in the body politic as a successful man among a host of successful citizens in this wonderfully developed community.

Colonel Lookingbill resides in one of the most beautiful homes in the eastern portion of a city noted for its attractive environs and handsome structures. Years ago, when he first came to Sac City to win fortune and renown, he was attracted by the features of a beautiful stretch of woodland elevated in such a manner as to provide an unexcelled setting for a home. This land was then owned by Judge Criss, who at first refused to consider an offer. It was Colonel Lookingbill's good fortune, however, to eventually become the owner of this desirable property, which consists of fifty-seven and five-tenths acres of land. He erected his home at the brow of a bluff overlooking the fair grounds and the city. This tract is part of his original purchase of sixty acres and has steadily risen in value since his purchase of the tract for one hundred and twenty-five dollars an acre in 1908. His farm and home are within the corporation limits of Sac City. A large and modern barn is located in the rear and to the east of the residence with other buildings suitably grouped. He is a well-known breeder of pure bred Shorthorn cattle. Poland China swine and Shropshire sheep.  His stock is practically all registered as thoroughbreds. Once each month Colonel Lookingbill conducts a great sale of livestock on his place, which is largely attended and patronized by the neighboring stockmen.  W. C. Lookingbill was born in the year 1873 on a farm in Guthrie county.  He had the advantages of a fair public school education and graduated from the high school when still a youth, following up his educational advantages by graduating from Guthrie College in June, 1890. He followed farming in his home county until 1893 when he located in Calhoun county. In 1895 he came to Sac county and purchased a small farm in Cedar township on time, investing his savings in an initial payment. He met with serious misfortune during his first year and found himself reduced to penury, with no means of going on with his fanning operations. He rented out his land for the season and went in search of employment. Jobs were scarce, but he eventually succeeded in obtaining a job with Mr. Robbins, who was then engaged in the erection of an addition to his mill. During the first week he received the munificent sum of fifty cents per day: the second week he demanded one dollar per day and received it; in the third week his wages were advanced to one dollar and fifty cents per day. So well did he satisfy his employer, who had at first scoffed at his inability to earn living wages, that he was placed on a salary of one dollar and seventy-five cents per day for the remainder of his term of employment under Mr. Robbins. This labor eventually enabled him to regain his feet financially, and his aggressiveness and tireless dynamic industry have pushed him to the front. In May of 1900 he purchased a small farm in the south part of Sac City for two thousand dollars, which proved to be an excellent investment. In 1909 he removed to his present location after he had erected his handsome home.

Mr. Lookingbill's birth occurred February 13, 1873, as aforesaid, in Guthrie county. He is the son of Henry Lookingbill, a native of the state of Maryland and who was born in March, 1836. His mother is Elizabeth Holt Lookingbill, a native of Pennsylvania, born in 1837. The Lookingbill family first migrated to Illinois, and later became very early settlers in Guthrie county, Iowa. The family is highly regarded in the community in which they reside.  Henry is a strong, virile personage, noted in his younger days for his great strength and wonderful powers of endurance. His greatest heritage bequeathed to his son has been an excellent physique and like powers of endurance.  It is as a professional auctioneer that he of whom this is recorded has best excelled. In December of 1905 he graduated from the famous school of auctioneering in the city of Davenport, Iowa, which school is now located in Chicago.

Colonel Lookingbill's success in his chosen profession has been phenomenal, when one considers the short period of time which he has devoted to the exercise of his attainments in a profession which calls for accurate judgment, a wide knowledge of agriculture, and a keen discernment of the values of livestock such as is necessary for a successful sale crier to possess. His field is practically unlimited and his services are in demand in Iowa, Nebraska, the Dakotas and Minnesota. His specialty when called away from his home county is in conducting pure bred horse sales, in which difficult vocation he is widely known as an expert. In politics he is a Republican; religiously, he is a Presbyterian, and is, fraternally, allied with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Mystic Workers.

Colonel Lookingbill was united in marriage with Luella McDermott, of Buena Vista county, Iowa, December 1, 1898, and is the father of two children, Lillian Ellen and Llewelyn McHenry Lookingbill. His farm is appropriately named "Oakland Stock Farm."

Mr. Lookingbill is a strong man. physically, mentally and morally, who has never known the taste of tobacco or strong drink in any form. His standing in the community is of the highest and he is known widely and favorably for his enterprise and public spirit. It is the records of such men as he that add value to these memoirs of Sac county.

LUNDELL, PETER G. ------The biographer finds it an easy task to describe a man who has led an eminently active and busy life, and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. In the tracing of such a career, biography finds its most perfect justification and it is with a full appreciation of all that is demanded, and also with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of such a record as has been that of the respected subject of this sketch. At one time a stranger in a strange land, unacquainted with its customs in every particular. Mr. Lundell possessed that inherited ability which has enabled him to overcome all handicaps and has elevated him to a place of prominence and influence in his chosen locality. 

Peter G. Lundell was born on May 14, 1859, in Sweden, the son of Andrew and Anna Lundell, who, with their family, emigrated to America in 1869, arriving at the port of New York in December of that year. They remained with friends in that city until the New Year, when they came westward into Illinois, locating near Princeton, where they resided on a farm and proceeded to carry on farming. There the family remained and prospered until 1878, when they again came westward, this time locating in Sac county, Iowa, settling on the land where the subject of this sketch now lives, which was railroad land when they purchased it. There the family lived for several years, Andrew the father dying on February 1, 1896, and the mother passing into the great beyond in February of 1900. Two daughters were ill in New York harbor as the family were waiting for admittance to the country; one died in the harbor and the other in Princeton, Illinois, and at the death of the parents there were four children remaining, being August, of Wheeler township, John and Anna (Mrs. Lindskoog), in addition to the immediate subject of this sketch, who succeeded to the homestead and has always resided there. In later years he has made many additions and improvements, greatly adding to the value of the place. This homestead consists of one hundred and eighty acres of excellent land and is known as the Pine Lane farm, deriving its name from the long lane of pine trees which leads from the public highway to the farm residence, situated some distance back in the tract. The house sets on a hill and is surrounded by a grove of pines and spruces and is in every way an ideal home, combining beauty and convenience.

Mr. Lundell received his elementary education in the district schools of Illinois, where the family first resided upon coming to America, and this was supplemented in later years by much earnest study on his part. For a number of years he taught schools in Wheeler township during the winter season and engaged in farming in the spring and summer. He is looked upon as one of the leading men of his nationality in the community and is a man of marked characteristics which readily place him in the forefront of those desiring the best and most lasting good to the community. In politics, Mr. Lundell is a Republican of marked progressive ideas and has ever exerted a worthy influence in local politics. He has served Wheeler township both as trustee and clerk and at the present time is secretary of the township school board. He was recently elected secretary of the Kiron Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, of which his brother August is president.  This company does business in Crawford, Sac, Ida, Woodbury, Monona, Harrison, Shelby and Carroll counties, this state. Mr. Lundell renders these public services in addition to capably managing the business of his farm and throughout the years has won for himself such an enviable reputation as a man of faultless integrity and excellent judgment, that much more is demanded of him in this line than his own affairs warrant him in assuming.

Mr. Lundell chose as his wife Amanda Berg, daughter of Carl and Caroline Berg, natives of Sweden who had settled in Wheeler township, and their marriage was solemnized on March 11, 1882. Mrs. Lundell was born in Sweden on November 10, 1865, and was a child of four years when her parents emigrated to this country. To Mr. and Mrs. Lundell have been born twelve children, namely: Mabel Delphine, wife of E. N. Sandstrom; Edna Rosene, a stenographer in the city of Des Moines; Abbie Dorothea, a teacher in the public schools: Edith Arline, George Willard, Edward Martin, Elizabeth Elfreda, Edmund Gustavus, Mildred Evangeline, Harold Tennyson, Constance Muriel and Bayard Royal, all of whom are at home, while Edward Martin has attended an automobile school at Kansas City, Missouri.  Mr. Lundell holds his religious affiliations with the Swedish Lutheran church and in the tenets of that faith he is carefully rearing his family.  Mr. Lundell is one of those solid men of brain and substance so essential to the best growth and prosperity of a community and stands before the younger generation as an example of a self-made man who has attained to worldly success and the unqualified respect of all who know him by the operation of correct principles of life coupled with indomitable will and the determination to succeed. He has always been especially desirous of extending a beneficial influence over the youth with whom he came in contact and is most conscientious and painstaking in the rearing of his own family.  In every relation of life he has proven himself every inch a man and adds another name to the already long list of honorable and high-minded American citizens of Swedish origin.

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