|
History of Sac County
by William H. Hart -
1914
SONNICHSEN, SANKEY CHRISTIAN -----A
descent of sturdy Germanic ancestry is S. C. Sonnichsen,
a farmer of Wall Lake township, Sac county, Iowa. Since
coming to this county in 1895 he has accumulated farm
property, which is netting him a handsome return each
year. His career has always been marked by those
characteristics which ha\e made all of the Germans of
this county such desirable citizens. Not only has he
been a successful tiller of the soil, but he has also
taken his full share in the public life of his
community.
S. C. Sonnichsen was born March 24,
1868, in Marion county, Iowa, and is the son of M. M.
and Jetty Caroline (Datlefsen) Sonnichsen, both of whom
were natives of Germany. M. M. Sonnichsen was born in
Schleswig Holstein in 1835, and served in the
Germanic-Danish war in 1863, eight years in all. After
his marriage in 1857, he came with his wife and three
children to America in 1866 and on the voyage to this
country one child was born, Hannah, who died in January,
1907. The other three children who came with their
parents in 1866, were Martin, of Colorado City,
Colorado: Dora Hamilton, of Pocahontas county, and Mary
Williams, of Custer, Oklahoma. The Sonnichsen family
settled in Marion county, Iowa, in the year 1867 and
after settling in this state four more children were
born: S. C, with whom this
narrative deals; Anna (Forsythe), of Sac county, Iowa;
Henry, of Hancock, Minnesota, and Jetty, deceased. The
wife of M. M. Sonnichsen died in
1876, and he lived near Knoxville, Iowa, until May of
1914, when he came to Sac county to reside with his son,
S. C. His second wife was Amy Delp, who died May 14,
1914.
S. C. Sonnichsen was reared and
educated in Marion county, Iowa, and came with his
parents to Sac county in the spring of 1889. Shortly
after coming to Sac county, M. M. Sonnichsen went to
Oklahoma, but returned in a few years to Sac county. In
1892 S. C. Sonnichsen removed to Newell, Buena Vista
county, Iowa, where he lived three years. In the spring
of 1895 he came to Sac county, renting a farm on the
river for three years. He owned two farms in
this county before he purchased his present farm of
eighty acres in 1906.
Mr. Sonnichsen was married November
27, 1890 to Harriet Parkinson, the daughter of Joseph
and Sarah (Dover) Parkinson. Her father was a native of
England and is now living in Lake View in this county.
To this marriage have been born two children. Emma, who
was born March 18, 1896, and one child who died in
infancy.
Mr. Sonnichsen has always given his
support to the Democratic party and has been honored by
his party by being nominated and elected to various
local offices, among which was that of school director.
He has always taken an active interest in politics and
keeps well informed upon the current issues of the day.
Fraternally, he is a member of the Yeomen and is deeply
interested in the success of that fraternal
organization. Mr. and Mrs. Sonnichsen are hospitable
people who have a host of friends in this community who
admire them for their many good qualities.
SPICER, J. J. -----One of the
prominent citizens of Coon Valley township, Sac county,
Iowa, who has made a success of two distinct vocations
in life, is J. J. Spicer, formerly a civil engineer, now
a successful farmer in this township. The experience and
training which he gained in that profession have not
come amiss in his farm work, and, again, his knowledge
gained through extensive traveling while in the employ
of various railroad companies has given him a better
view and a grasp of the bigger problems of life, which
has contributed not a little to his success.
J. J. Spicer was born December 16,
1870, in Iowa county, Wisconsin.
His parents were Francis and Margaret (Baker)
Spicer. His father was born December 15, 1833, in
Devonshire, England, while his mother was a native of
Ohio. His parents came to Sac county in March, 1880,
where his father died March 16, 1904: his mother later
married Mr. Towle of Nemaha, Sac county, and is now
living in that place, at the advanced age of seventy-two
years. Mr. and Mrs. Francis Spicer were the parents of
eight children, only two of whom are now living. Mrs.
Helen Margaret Gary, of Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and
J. J., with whom this narrative deals.
J. J. Spicer was educated in the
public schools of Wisconsin and Sac County, Iowa. He
remained with his parents until he was twenty-seven
years of age helping his father with the work on the
farm. He had been interested in surveying since a youth
and took up the scientific study of the subject with a
view of entering that profession. He became qualified to
enter the profession and entered the employ of the
Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway and for
several years followed surveying in the Northwest and
Canada.
However, his marriage, in 1899,
caused him to change his plans, and in 1900 he quit the
surveying business and returned to Sac City, where he
later purchased two residence properties. In the spring
of 1908 he bought a fine farm of one hundred and sixty
acres in Coon Valley township, and in March of that year
moved on to the farm and has continued to reside there
up to the present time. In his farming Mr. Spicer has
been as successful as he was in his civil engineering,
and having had some previous experience in agriculture,
it was not hard for him to soon adjust himself to the
latest methods of farming.
In 1914 Mr. Spicer rented his farm and expects to
move again to Sac City.
Mr. Spicer was married April 5,
1899, to Mary Fetter, of Sac City, and to this union
have been born two children, Orville, deceased, and
Fanny, who is now twelve years of age. Politically, Mr.
Spicer is a Republican, but the nature of his business
up until 1900 kept him out of politics practically
altogether. Since then he has
been taking an intelligent interest in the affairs of
his party, but has never been a candidate for any public
office, being content to serve in the ranks of the
organization. All of those qualities which go to make
ideal citizenship Mr. Spicer is well equipped with, and
among those with whom he associates he is held in high
regard. His life has been conducted along the lines laid
down by the Golden Rule and his relations with his
fellowmen has never been such as to place his good name
behind criticism.
SPURRELL, JOHN -----Many people
from many climes have found a permanent home in Sac
county, Iowa. Nearly every nation in Europe is
represented in the cosmopolitan population of this
county, among whom are a few native born
Englishmen. The citizens of
English ancestry in this county have been among the most
substantial and enterprising people of the country and
have played an important part in the development of
their adopted country.
An Englishman who became a pioneer
in Sac county, and now resides at Wall Lake, is John
Spurrell, who was born in the county of Norfolk,
England, August 18, 1848, and came to America with his
parents, James and Eliza Spurrell, in 1853. The family
lived a short time in Cleveland, Ohio, where the father
was employed on the Lake Shore railroad, but later came
to Iowa, landing at Sabula, Jackson county, January 5.
1854. The following March they moved to a farm in
section 18, Deep Creek Township, Clinton county,
Iowa.
On May 26, 1874, John Spurrell was
married to Charlotte Rossiter, the daughter of James and
Ellen Rossiter, natives of England. Mrs. Spurrell was
born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, April 21, 1834, and
accompanied her parents in 1855 from her native state to
Washington township, Clinton county, Iowa. John Spurrell
and his family removed to Sac county, Iowa, in the month
of April, 1875, settling on the southwest quarter of
section 6, Viola township, where they lived until April
16, 1912, when Mrs. Spurrell died. To this marriage six
children were born, four of whom died in infancy.
The surviving children are Ruby E. Spurrell and
John A. Spurrell.
Mr. Spurrell has a farm consisting
of almost two hundred and sixty-seven acres. He fenced
forty acres of this farm with hog-tight fencing in the
spring of 1876, and it is thought that this was the
first forty acres so fenced in Sac county. It consisted
of three boards and two smooth wires.
The lumber was all hauled from the west side of
the county and the posts from Grant City. There was at
that date only one bridge between his farm and Grant
City and that was across the Coon river.
Mr. Spurrell has been highly successful in
agriculture and stock raising, and is an excellent
citizen of the township and county in which he
resides. His son, John A.
Spurrell. has written the acceptable article on the
“Animals and Birds of Sac County.” which is found
elsewhere in this work.
STANZEL, BARNABAS C. -----One
of the younger farmers of Sac county, who is now
operating a farm of his own is Barnabas Stanzel, of
Clinton township. Sac county, Iowa.
Early in life he decided that he wished to follow
the vocation of a farmer, and with this end in view he
began to interest himself in all of those details which
in the aggregate make up the vocation of the successful
farmer.
He was born September 27, 1886, on
the farm where he is now living and has lived on this
place continuously since that time, with the exception
of about one year, which he spent in the southern part
of Iowa and one year in Lake View. He is a son of
William A. and Lavina R. (Clark) Stanzel, who were
pioneers of Clinton township.
Barnabas Stanzel was educated in
the schools of Clinton township and the high school at
Lake View. When not in school during his boyhood days,
he was assisting his father on the home farm, and when
twenty years of age began farming for himself on a farm
of one hundred and sixty acres which he received from
his father.
Mr, Stanzel was married February
10, 1909, in Ida Grove, Iowa, to Bertha Grace, the
daughter of Thomas and Olive Grace, who are now
residents of Sac City. To Mr. and Mrs. Stanzel has been
born one son, Gerald, on January 11, 1910.
Politically, Mr. Stanzel is a
Republican, but has confined his political activities to
the casting of his ballot for the candidates of his
party. Mr. Stanzel is now in the
prime of life and has a long and useful career open
before him. The record which he has made so far in his
community indicates that in the years to come he will
become a man of influence for good in his community. He
is always reasonable and just in all of his business
transactions and has never violated in the slightest
degree the confidence which his fellow citizens have
reposed in him.
STANZEL, GEORGE C.
-----Inherited traits which have been transmitted from a
successful parent to his son, who had followed in his
father's footsteps in the pursuit of agriculture, and
which have been of great assistance in determining the
course for the son, are a heritage which has a greater
value than noble or princely birth. All of us, as we
grow older, recognize the wisdom of our fathers and, in
later years, are more likely to heed admonitions long
since given than while we were permitted the personal
counsel and advice of the parent while on earth a
successful farmer of Sac county who has profited by the
example set by an illustrious parent, and who has
achieved a remarkable success of his own accord, is
George C. Stanzel, of Boyer Valley township.
Mr. Stanzel is the owner of over
eight hundred acres of land, consisting of several
farms, as follows: Two hundred and forty acres in his
home farm, which is equipped with good buildings and a
modern farm residence of thirteen rooms, erected in
1903; four hundred acres in Clinton township, with fair
improvements; one hundred and sixty acres, well equipped
for carrying on farming operations, in Delaware
township; one hundred and sixty acres in South Dakota;
only recently he was the owner of over eleven hundred
acres, but sold off a portion of his holdings. Mr.
Stanzel, being shrewd and far seeing, deals to a
considerable extent in farm lands and takes advantage of
the constantly rising values. He usually buys a farm
which is in need of improvements of a more substantial
character than it possesses, improves it himself and
then sells at an advance over the purchase price. He is
an excellent farmer.
Mr. Stanzel was born August 31.
1865, in Clinton county, Iowa, and is the son of William
A. and Lawrinda Roxana (Clark) Stanzel. His father was a
native of Germany, born in August of 1833, and died in
Sac county in January of 1911. His mother was a native
of Ohio, born in March, 1842, and now a resident of
Odebolt. William A. came to America when fourteen years
of age and settled in the timber country of Wisconsin,
near the city of Milwaukee, and moved from there to
Illinois. He came to Clinton county, Iowa, in 1863 and
was there married in 1864. In March, 1876, the family
came to Sac county and settled in Clinton township,
where William A. resided until his death in Odebolt. He
died a very wealthy man and a large land owner. An
extended account of the life of William A.
Stanzel and his esteemed widow appears in this
volume, so it is unnecessary to enlarge further
concerning them in this resume.
George C. Stanzel began for himself
when he attained the age of twenty-one years, and worked
for his father on the home farm for one year.
He then rented land of his father one year and
his father gave him two hundred acres of unimproved land
on certain conditions. He had made a practice of giving
each son an improved farm of one hundred and sixty
acres, but gave George his choice in the matter, and the
son selected an unimproved tract. William A. Stanzel
divided in all over one thousand acres of land among his
children previous to his demise, thus insuring their
success.
He of whom this chronicle is
written cultivated his farm for two years and improved
it, after which he was employed as a canvasser and
salesman for some time and gained valuable experience,
which has been of considerable benefit to him as a
result. He successfully sold lightning rods for several
years in addition to carrying on his farming operations.
On his father's retirement from the home farm to
Odebolt, George C. took charge of it and tilled the
three hundred and twenty acres with the assistance of
his two younger brothers for one year. He then lived for
one year on the Fulcher farm in Clinton township. In
1896 he removed to his farm of four hundred acres in
Clinton township. His various additions to his original
farmstead are as follows: In 1887 he added eighty acres;
in 1890 he bought one hundred and twenty acres more,
making four hundred acres in all, which cost him an
average price of thirty dollars an acre. For five years
he lived in Clinton township and then moved to Boyer
Valley township, where he had invested in eighty acres
in 1901, to which he added one hundred and sixty acres
in 1906. He secured his South Dakota land in 1912, at
which time he also bought one hundred and sixty acres
known as the Greenley place. Mr.
Stanzel has bought and sold several farms in the
meantime and practically makes a business of handling
farm lands on his own account.
Mr. Stanzel was married February
19, 1894, to Carrie Fulcher, who was born February 9,
1871, in Badingham, England, the daughter of Thomas and
Eliza (Reed) Fulcher. The Fulchers came to America in
July, 1872, and first located in DeKalb county,
Illinois, where they resided until 1895, when they
removed to Sac county in the fall of the same year. The
father of Mrs. Stanzel is deceased and the mother is yet
living. Mr. and Mrs. Stanzel are the parents of four
children, three of whom are yet living, namely; Thomas
William, born March 6, 1895, and died May 4, 1902, at
the age of seven years; George Albert, born March 10,
1896; Freddie, born August 26, 1903; Florence Mildred,
born January 31, 1907.
Mr. Stanzel is a Republican in
politics. He and his family are affiliated with the
Methodist church. His only lodge is that of the Knights
of Pythias, located in the town of Early. He is keen,
intelligent and enterprising and is universally
respected as an able and progressive citizen, who looks
carefully after his own affairs, yet is not unmindful of
his duties as a citizen of the county.
STANZEL, SILAS -----The man who
establishes a comfortable home, rears a family of
children and performs his duties as an American citizen,
is the kind of a man who makes for better civilization
and a better nation. Such a man is Silas Stanzel, who
has, by honest toil and energy, accumulated three
hundred and twenty acres of land in this county, reared
an interesting family of children and is performing
those duties which are the privilege of every American
citizen. Starting in life with
nothing, he has made a name for himself as a man of
sterling honesty and uprightness and has always so
conducted himself that he has never brought censure upon
himself or done anything which would militate against
his character.
Silas Stanzel was born November 28,
1867, in Clinton county, Iowa.
He is the son of William August and Laurinda R.
(Clark) Stanzel, natives, respectively, of Germany and
Ohio. His father was born in 1838 and died in Odebolt,
Iowa, in 1911. He left his native land with his parents
when he was fourteen years of age and had the misfortune
to lose his mother during the voyage to this country.
His father traveled considerable after reaching this
country, worked for a time in Illinois and later found
employment on the Mississippi river.
William Stanzel saved his money and
invested it in a farm in Clinton county, Iowa, and in
1876 moved to Sac county, where he first settled in
Clinton township. With the exception of one and one-half
years which he spent in Ringgold county, this state,
William Stanzel lived in Sac county from 1876 until his
death in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. William A.
Stanzel were the parents of eight children:
George, of Boyer Valley township; Silas, with whom this
narrative deals; Mrs. Eva Fuller, of Odebolt; William
A., of Odebolt; Mrs. Anna Scott, of Boyer Valley
township; Herman R., of Odebolt; Mrs. Harriet Hooper, of
Boyer Valley township, and Barnabus, of Clinton
township.
Silas Stanzel attended school in
Clinton county and in Sac county in the home of A. F.
Ray, his first teacher being Mrs. Ray. He continued to
help his father on the farm until he was twenty-one
years of age, when he made his first venture into
business. He bought a corn sheller and shelled corn for
the farmers in his locality. The next year he began
farming for himself, although he still operated his corn
sheller. He continued to prosper and a few years later
he bought a threshing machine, which proved to be a very
profitable investment for him. He bought his first farm
in Clinton township, this county, and in the spring of
1909 he bought his farm in Boyer Valley township, bought
eighty acres for seventy dollars an acre, forty acres in
Wall Lake township for ninety-five dollars an acre and
two hundred acres at ninety-seven dollars an acre. He is
now living on his forty-acre farm in Wall Lake township
and he rents his two-hundred-and-eighty-acre farm in
Boyer Valley township.
Mr. Stanzel was married August 27,
1889, to Madella Purdy, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. W.
E. Purdy. To this union have been born six children
Genia died at the age of twenty-two years, in Colorado,
in January, 1911; Bernard died at age of five and
one-half years; Bernice, Wayne, Paul and Lola.
The Republican party has always
claimed the support and vote of Mr.
Stanzel, but, beyond casting his vote for the
candidates of his party on election day, he has not had
the time to engage in political campaigns. Mr. Stanzel
is a man who has always believed in rendering what aid
he could to his neighbors and the general public; at the
same time he has been advancing his individual interests
and consequently is regarded as one of the best citizens
of his community.
 STANZEL, WILLIAM A. -----We are
taught that the immorality of the soul is the divine
gift to humanity; that life does not end when the body
ceases to breathe, and when we are no longer in the
flesh on this earth into which we are born, the immortal
soul, freed of its earthly casing, soars onward and
upward to the unknown realms wherein there is neither
strife, nor sorrow, nor travel, nor pain-there to be
judged and taken to the bosom of the great Ruler of the
Universe forever and ever. Be it so-it is a comforting
thought to those of us who remain on earth to live out
our allotted span of years and to do our work as
assigned, that we shall meet again with loved ones in
the Great Beyond from which no man has yet returned. The
departure of the soul of William A.
Stanzel from its earthly habitation marked the
close of a long and honorable career as a pioneer
settler of Sac county, a kind and provident father and a
high esteemed citizen.
William A. Stanzel was born August
31, 1833, in Schonnecow, Prussia, in the highlands of
Germany. He was the son of Martin and Eva Rosanna
Stanzel, the father being a miller by trade. In 1847 the
mother died and the father, accompanied by his family of
five sons and two daughters, set sail for America. Some
of his family had preceded him and had located near the
city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Here the immigrants likewise
settled and there William A. lived for a time. When
still a youth he left home and journeyed westward in
search of fortune. After a stay of some months in the
city of St. Paul, he came southward to Illinois. Here
things apparently did not satisfy him and opportunity
seemed remote, so he came on into Iowa and settled down
to the serious and commendable pursuit of farming in
Clinton county.
He prospered and was rewarded for
his diligence and industry and was doubly blessed when
he took to wife Mrs. Laurinda R. (Clark) Kenyon on the
27th day of August, 1864. This was a fortunate day for
him, as later events proved. Laurinda R. (Clark) Kenyon,
with whom this narrative is also intimately concerned,
was born March 13, 1842, on a farm in Delaware county of
the old Buckeye state. The parental farm was located in
Berkshire township. She is the daughter of Barnabas and
Submit (Hitchcock) Clark, and is a descendant of an old
and illustrious American family which dates its origin
back to the days of the Pilgrim Fathers and the best
blood of New England flows in the veins of her and her
children. The Clark family, according to authentic
record, begins in America with Thomas Clark, a first
mate of the historic ship "Mayflower." It is recorded in
history that he was the first of the Pilgrims to land on
the bleak shores of New England. Beginning with Barnabas
Clark, father of Mrs. Stanzel, and tracing backward, we
find that he was the son of Alvin Clark and was born
September 11, 1799; was married in May of 1824 to Submit
Hitchcock, who was born on January 2, 1801, and died May
6, 1878. Barnabas learned the
trade of wagonmaker, but also worked as a skilled
craftsman in the engraving art. He settled in Delaware
county, Ohio, and removed from there to Clinton county,
Iowa, after his marriage. He died September 27, 1890.
His children were as follows: Samuel Hall Clark,
deceased; Mary Jane Dunkin. deceased: Sabra Clapp
(Wade), of Elwood; Frederick Hanks, postmaster of
Lakeview: Mrs. Laurinda Roxana Stanzel.
It is worthy of note that Prof. Alvin Clark, the
famous telescope manufacturer and astronomer, of
world-wide fame, was a brother of Barnabas Clark.
William A. Stanzel and his capable
wife resided on a farm in Clinton county until 1876 when
they sold out their holdings and on March 1st came to
Sac county. Their welcome in the county was not a very
pleasant nor an inviting one, as they arrived here while
a blizzard was raging with all the characteristic
fierceness and extreme cold which accompanies the
northwestern winter storm. This blizzard followed an
exceptionally mild winter. They invested their capital
in three hundred and twenty acres of good land in
Clinton township. With only a small frame, unlined and
un-plastered house to shelter them, they lived here
during the terrible cold and with the thermometer
registering twenty degrees below zero. Mrs. Stanzel was
then nursing a child but six months old. Their first
year's crops were very poor, the corn being small and
the wheat very light. To add hardships to their bad
luck, the grasshoppers came in the fall and stripped the
place of everything edible and left a barren waste in
their wake. However, they saved a little from the wreck,
for Mrs. Stanzel gathered in the cabbage heads as fast
as the greedy "hoppers" stripped off the outer leaves.
\When it came time to sow the crops for next season it
devolved upon Judge Criss, ever the firm friend of the
farmers, to offer advice which was acceptable and
resulted in a good wheat crop for the ensuing year.
Judge Criss advised Mr. Stanzel and others to sow their
wheat very thick so as to prevent the "hoppers" from
getting into the field in order to eat the grain and the
plan worked to perfection.
Mrs. Stanzel recalls vividly the terrible winter
of 1880 and 1881 as being the most severe in Sac county
of all her experience. From early October to late in the
spring the snow was very deep and did not disappear from
the ground until April 17th. Another very heavy snow
came on April 20th.
Nearly all of the early settlers in Clinton
township came from Clinton county.
Iowa, and the township was named in honor of
Clinton county.
For over forty years these brave
and hardy pioneers lived on their tine farm and in May
of 1907 they removed to Odebolt, where Mr. Stanzel died
in January of 1911. Mrs. Stanzel resides
in the fine residence which they purchased. This
estimable and worthy couple have reared the following
children; George C, a prosperous farmer in Boyer Valley
township; Silas, a farmer living in Wall Lake township;
Mrs. Eve S. Fuller, of Odebolt; William A.
Jr., a prosperous farmer living in Odebolt: Mrs.
Mary Hannah Scott, of Boyer Valley township; Herman R.,
a merchant in Odebolt; Mrs. Harriet Hooper, of Boyer
Valley township; Barnabas, on the old home place in
Clinton township. The mother of these children had been
previously married and widowed before her union with Mr.
Stanzel. She was first married on July 9, 1857, to
Phineas Kenyon, a native of New York state and an early
settler in Clinton county, Iowa, coming there in about
1855. He was a Union soldier and served his country in
Company B, Twenty-sixth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer
Infantry. He was a corporal in the army and served for
one year. He died September 23, 1863, leaving fatherless
two children, Charles E., who died in 1901, and Alvan
B., a resident of Ringgold, Iowa.
Mr. Stanzel was one of the
wealthiest farmers and one of the largest landowners in
Sac county at the climax of his successful career. He
owned in excess of one thousand acres of land, most of
which was improved. Before his demise he gave each grown
son a deed to one hundred and sixty acres of improved
land and gave outright to each daughter eighty acres of
land, and gave a third daughter one hundred and sixty
acres of land on account of the fact that she remained
at home and cared for her parents in their old age.
This showed his wonderful wisdom and foresight,
as every child is a resident of Sac county, and all are
prominent and valued citizens of the neighborhoods in
which they reside.
Mr. Stanzel was a life-long
Republican in politics and capably filled the office of
trustee of his township, served as treasurer for a
number of years and was also the honored president of
the township school board. He was one of the leading
figures in the civic life of the township and county for
a long period and was universally respected and admired
by a wide circle of friends and acquaintances. He was
reared in the faith of his fathers, that of the
Evangelical Lutheran church, but during his residence in
Sac county he became affiliated with the Congregational
church. Mrs. Stanzel is a devout Christian lady who
values her membership in the Methodist church and is a
liberal giver to the cause of religion. She is one of
the kindliest and most intelligent of women, who,
despite her more than three score years and ten is.
Still vigorous and hearty and keenly alive to the
desirability of maintaining an interest in the everyday
occurrences of this progressive age.
This biographical narrative is respectfully
dedicated to the memory of her husband and as a tribute
to the wonderful record which she and her husband have
made in Sac county; again, it will prove to be a
priceless memoir to her children and grandchildren in
the years to come and serve as an inspiration to the
present and coming generations. It is of such noble
people as they of whom the historian is pleased to
write.
STANZEL, WILLIAM AUGUST
-----One of the retired farmers of Odebolt, Iowa, who
has acquired a fine farm in this county, is William A.
Stanzel, the proprietor of two hundred and eighty acres
of land in Richland township, in this county.
Mr. Stanzel was born November 27,
1872, in Clinton county, this state, and is the son of
William A. and Laurinda R. Stanzel, pioneers in Sac
county. The reader is referred to the history of William
A. and L. R. Stanzel, elsewhere in this volume, for
further details concerning the Stanzel ancestry.
William A. Stanzel was four years
of age when his parents came from Clinton county to Sac
county. He was reared on the home farm and attended the
district schools of his township, and has lived within
this county since March, 1876. When he was twenty-one
years of age his father gave him one hundred and sixty
acres of land, and on this farm he lived until 1903, at
which time he bought a farm in Jackson township, on
which he lived five years, when he sold it, and moved to
his farm in Richland town ship, and in January, 1913,
moved to Odebolt. where he is now living. He is now the
owner of two hundred and eighty acres of excellent land
in section 33 in Richland township, his farm lying about
one mile west of Odebolt. He is not now
actively operating his farm, yet he is superintending it
and has the satisfaction of seeing it yield handsome
returns each year.
Mr. Stanzel was married March 10,
1897, to Fannie S. Fulcher, of Sac county, who was a
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fulcher. Thomas Fulcher
and Eliza Reed Fulcher were natives of England and
emigrated to Illinois and to Sac county, Iowa, in 1894,
settling on a farm in Clinton township.
Thomas died March 23, 1904. He was the father of
seven children, six living: Mrs. George C. Stanzel: Mrs.
Orrie Irwin: Mrs. Burton Huftalin, of Illinois: David
Fulcher, of Michigan: Carl Fulcher, on the home farm;
one deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Stanzel have been born
three children, Candace, Clara and Mary.
Politically, Mr. Stanzel is a
Republican, but has never been prominently identified in
the councils of his party. He and his family are
attendants of the Presbyterian church and contribute of
their substance to its support.
Mr. Stanzel is well known throughout this comity,
and in the circles in which he mingles he is held in the
highest regard because of his upright life and
successful career.
STARNER, EMETT -----Every
active man of affairs looks forward in anticipation of
the time when he can retire to a comfortable home and
live in comfort for the remainder of his days, unmarred
or undisturbed by thoughts of need which intrude
themselves into the horizon of the improvident or
struggling ones whose career is yet in the making. This
is a most worthy ambition and one which should imbue
every individual head of a family in order that he might
adequately perform and complete his mission on earth.
Sometimes we find that retirement is not conducive to
contentment if the successful person has not cultivated
sufficiently the educational, mental and aesthetic side
of life as he should. Life hangs heavily upon the man
who is without diversion or aim and is left without
purpose or ability to properly exercise his faculties
after the need of bodily and mental exertion to further
enhance his fortunes has passed. Happy indeed is the man
who possesses a hobby, or several of them, in fact, for
he can spend hours in pleasurable recreation and can
continue to take a real and genuine interest in things
worth while during his days of repose. He whose name
forms the caption of this review, while retired from
active mercantile pursuits principally on account of
there being no necessity for him to longer continue in
business from a financial standpoint, takes a keen
interest in affairs and has much to occupy his mind and
attention, because of worthy and beneficial proclivities
engendered by the possession of a well trained mind and
well developed faculties along original lines.
Emett Starner, retired merchant and
pioneer of the city of Odebolt, is perhaps better versed
in the happenings in his neighborhood during his long
residence in Sac county than any living person. For
years he has kept a careful diary of daily occurrences
and has kept an accurate weather report, principally for
his own diversion, but which is now valuable.
Emett Starner was born January 8,
1852, in Adams county, Pennsylvania, the son of Isaac
and Sophia (Worley) Starner, both native born to that
state. They resided in Pennsylvania until the year 1894
and then removed to Odebolt so as to be in close
proximity to their children when old age came creeping
on them. The father died in Odebolt and the aged mother
still resides here with her son and a daughter, Mrs.
William Ream. Mr. Starner received
his early training on a farm in his native state and
managed to secure a good education in the schools of his
neighborhood. this education having
since been augmented and broadened by much private
reading. In 1876 he left home and located in Illinois
and spent four months in the town of Moweaqua. He then
went to Ames, Iowa, and located in the farming section
of Story county, there working at farm labor for nearly
two years.
On March 14, 1878, Mr. Starner
arrived in Odebolt, or rather on the site of the town
which had just been projected and planned. He was given
employment on the Wheeler ranch and remained in Mr.
Wheeler's employ for a period of fourteen years, four
years of which time he was assistant superintendent and
during the last six years of his service he was the
efficient and valued superintendent. When one considers
that this famous ranch comprised over seven thousand
acres, and even now, when it is owned by the Adams
family and consists of ten sections of land or a total
of sixty-four hundred acres, the responsibility
engendered and assumed by the head of such an immense
plant is significant. He measured fully up to the
requirements of his position, however, and was such a
favorite with his employer and had given evidence of
such pronounced executive ability that Mr.
Wheeler tried to induce him to take entire charge
of his immense ranch in southern Texas which he later
bought after disposing of his Sac county holdings.
In 1893 Mr. Starner embarked in the
furniture and undertaking business in Odebolt and was
very successful, the exercise of the same talents which
had given him success as a farm superintendent
contributing to his business success. He disposed of his
furniture and undertaking establishment in September,
1912, and retired from active pursuits, having no other
cares at the present time but looking after his property
interests, which are considerable. He is the owner of
three hundred and twenty acres of land in North Dakota
and has a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in South
Dakota. He also owns three building lots and residence
properties in the city and has recently erected a fine,
modern bungalow with every comfort and convenience
installed.
Mr. Starner's wedded life began on
February 26, 1885, when he espoused in holy wedlock to
Helen C. Sprague, a daughter of Oliver C. Sprague, a
native of New York and who settled in Sac county in the
year 1879. Oliver Sprague owned
a farm in Wheeler township and made his home in Odebolt,
residing with Mr. Starner until his death. Mr. and Mrs.
Starner have one son, Arthur V., now in Los Angeles,
California.
Politically, Emett Starner has been
allied with the Republican party.
By virtue of his birth and the Reformed church
being the faith of his forbears, he was brought up in
the Reformed faith. He is an attendant and supporter of
the Methodist denomination, of which Mrs. Starner is an
active member. He is a member of no fraternal societies
and considers his home as his club and lodge room for
all purposes of recreation.
He of whom this brief resume is recorded is one
of Odebolt's substantial and enterprising citizens. He
has seen the city grow from its very inception and has
kept a record of events and happenings in the town and
vicinity since 1876. He is genial, hospitable, well read
and an excellent and interesting conversationalist who
is well versed on many topics of interest. His
collection of antiques, gathered in the course of a
lifetime, is view valuable, among them being a
magnificent great hall clock which was brought from
England in 1795 and is very old, but in fine condition.
His library is very extensive and is adapted to a home
of culture and refinement such as he and his wife
maintain.
STATON, JAMES SHELTON -----The
reader's attention is now directed to a brief sketch of
the life of James Shelton Staton, who for the past nine
years has been superintendent of the Brookmont farm, a
ranch comprising twenty-two hundred acres located in
Cook and Richland townships, Sac county, Iowa, of
which A. E.
Cook is proprietor. In 1872 C. W. Cook, of
Chicago, Illinois, came to this county, where he
purchased seven thousand three hundred and sixty acres
and started the ranch. However, portions of this
original purchase have been sold from time to time,
until the present acreage is deemed sufficient for
operations by the present proprietor, son of the
originator of the ranch, who has had charge of the farm
for several years. The business of this ranch is
considerable, and in the discharge of the duties
devolving upon him as its superintendent Mr. Staton
exhibits rare ability. From twenty to forty men are
employed in the various departments; there are nine
dwelling houses on the ranch, numerous stables and other
buildings; two grain elevators, one having a capacity of
one hundred thousand bushels and the other a capacity of
forty thousand bushels, and ten head of thoroughbred
Clydesdale draft horses are kept on the ranch, as well
as seventy-five head of other horses and mules. Two
thousand hogs are produced and shipped annually, five
hundred head of cattle and three hundred and fifty
thoroughbred Herefords are at present on the place. The
year 1913 was considered an unusually light year for
yields, but the production for that year, nevertheless,
will give an excellent idea of the immensity of the
output of this farm. There were twelve hundred acres
planted to corn, which averaged forty-five bushels to
the acre; five hundred acres of oats were put in which
averaged fifty-two bushels to the acre; one hundred
acres were planted to popcorn, producing twenty-five
hundred pounds to the acre, and four hundred tons of hay
were harvested, Mr. Cook also owns twenty-six hundred
and forty acres of land in Monona County, this state,
which is also under the care of Mr. Staton.
J. S. Staton was born on January 7,
1874, in Jackson county, this state, near Sac City, the
son of James A. and Nellie Jane ( Tiberghien) Staton,
they being at this time the oldest married pioneer
couple of Sac county. James A. Staton was
born in Kentucky in 1827, was partly reared in Indiana
and in 1859 came to Sac county and settled on the
Raccoon river in Jackson township in the timber. Here he
built a home and has resided in the vicinity of Sac City
for the past fifty-five years. Nellie Jane (Tiberghien)
Staton was born in 1832, the daughter of Elias
Tiberghien, one of the earliest settlers of the county.
Mr. and Mrs. Staton have been married for more than
fifty-eight years and are the parents of four children,
namely: W. H. Staton, who is in Polk county, where he is
proprietor of a hotel; Elias Grant is located in Sac
City; M. D. Staton is in South Dakota and the other
child is James Shelton, the immediate subject of this
sketch.
When a youth, the subject attended
the school taught by P. M. Lewis, an old-time school
teacher, in the meantime assisting in the farm work of
the home, in which he displayed a natural aptitude. When
twenty years of age he began working for himself and has
since devoted all his energies to agricultural work. On
March 1, 1897, he entered the employ of A. E. Cook as a
laborer and just seven years later became the
superintendent of his ranch, and in 1910 assumed the
management of Mr. Cook's holdings in Monona county.
In November, 1900, Mr. Staton was
united in marriage with Grace Crowell daughter of Byron
Crowell, originally of New York state. To their union
have been given three children, namely: Mabel Irene,
aged ten years: Nellie Genevieve, aged seven years, and
Willard Shelton, four years old. Mr. Staton's political
affiliation is with the old-line Republican party of
which he is a stanch supporter, and his fraternal
affiliation is with the Independent Order of Odd
Fellows, being a member of that society through the
local lodge at Odebolt: he is also a member of the
encampment and the Daughters of Rebekah.
To write the personal record of men
who have raised themselves from humble circumstances to
a position of responsibility and trust is no ordinary
pleasure. Mr. Staton has attained his present position
through close application to the duties that lay before
him and faithfulness to trust imposed in him. In the
administration of the affairs of his business he
displays ability of a high order and at the same time
retains the confidence and respect of all with whom he
comes in contact.
STOCKER, GEORGE LUCIAN -----One
of the distinctive functions of this publication is to
take recognition of those citizens of the community who
stand representative in their chosen spheres of
endeavor, and in this connection, there is propriety in
according consideration to George Lucian Stocker. a
pioneer citizen of Sac county who has figured in the
varied life of this locality for a long lapse of
years.
George Lucian Stocker was born at
Coldwater, Michigan, March 9, 1841, and reared in
Steuben county. Indiana. He is the son of George and
Charlotte E. Brown (Lee) Stocker, the former a native of
near Rutland, Vermont. and the latter of New York state,
who removed to Steuben county, Indiana, in 1842. and
about 1867 removed to Sac county, Iowa, settling on a
farm in Douglas township. Here George Stocker died in
1885 and his wife died in 1889 at Salem, Steuben county,
Indiana, where she had gone on a visit to relatives,
after her husband's death. Mrs. Stocker had been
previously married to a Mr. Lee, by whom she had one son
Clark E. Lee who died in the service of the Union army
during the Civil War. Three children were born to her
second marriage, as follows: George Lucian, the
immediate subject of this sketch, and Mrs. Mary Carver
and John L., both of whom are deceased.
George Lucian Stocker came to Sac
county Iowa, from Steuben county, Indiana, in June.
1856. He took up the task of breaking up forty acres of
prairie land which his father had bought in 1855. During
these days he did a great deal of hunting and trapping,
varying the time with occasional trips back to his
Indiana home. In 1868 he settled on section 4 in Douglas
township. During the Civil War
Mr. Stocker enlisted for service in the Union army but
was rejected. He journeyed to Cedar county and resided
with an uncle. In the fall of 1862 he joined a
government train and went to Marshalltown, Iowa, where
he hired out for four years. He was a "bull whacker" up
and down the Missouri river and in the Dakotas, going up
the Missouri river as far as Fort Thompson.
On February 20. 1866, Mr. Stocker
was married to Mary Jane Barclay, a native of Unadilla,
Otsego county New York, daughter of Hugh Barclay, an
early settler of Sac county. She was born July 8, 1841.
In March, 1881, they removed to Sac City, where Mr.
Stocker engaged in the livery business for two years. He
served as deputy sheriff under H. L. Wilson for three
and one-half years, under Tom Beattie for one and
one-half years, under Had Allen for three and one-half
years, and under Adam Teppel for about four years. He
was also constable during this time. For five years Mr.
Stocker was night marshal of the university grounds at
Ames, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Stocker
have two children and one adopted child. Nellie died in
1882; Fred is boss of carpenter crew at the college at
Ames, Iowa, and Ebenezer Cook, an adopted son, is county
auditor at Washburn, North Dakota.
Politically, Mr. Stocker is a
Progressive, and he holds membership with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of
Pythias. He is a past chancellor of the Knights of
Pythias and past noble grand of the Odd
Fellows.
STOKES, WILLIAM W. -----In
examining the life records of self-made men. it will
invariably be found that indefatigable industry has
constituted the basis of their success.
True, there are other elements which enter in and
conserve to the advancement of personal
interests,-perseverance, discrimination and mastering of
expedients,-but the foundation of all achievement is
earnest, persistent labor. At the outset of his career
as a nurseryman Mr. Stokes recognized this fact, and he
did not seek any royal road to the goal of prosperity
and independence, but began to work earnestly and
diligently in order to advance himself, and the result
is that he is now numbered among the progressive,
successful and influential men of Sac county.
William W. Stokes, a prosperous
nurseryman of Sac City, Iowa, was born May 18, 1874, in
England. His parents were George and Jane (Bugg) Stokes,
natives of England. In 1876 the Stokes family left
England for the United States and first settled in
Illinois, a year later moved to Carroll county, Iowa,
where they permanently settled. The father was
accidentally killed at a railroad crossing June 30,
1881. Mr. and Mrs. George Stokes were the parents of
seven children: Charles, of Carroll county, Iowa :
Mrs. Ada Simpson, of
Shelby county, Iowa; George, of Petersburg, Nebraska; W.
W., of whom this narrative speaks: Mrs. Agnes Howard, of
Sac county, Mrs. Minnie Hogge, of Lake View, Iowa:
Walter, also of Lake View, and one adopted child,
Jennie.
William W. Stokes received his
education in the parochial schools of Carroll county,
Iowa. The family lived in a Catholic community and,
although they were Presbyterians in faith, they were
glad to avail themselves of the excellent schools which
were conducted by the Sisters of Charity in their home
community. Mr. Stokes received an excellent practical
education before his parents moved to Sac county in
1896. Upon coming to this county Mr. Stokes rented land
and in 1897 moved to Cedar township, where he lived on a
rented farm for seven years. In 1904 he moved to Coon
Valley township, where he remained until he moved to his
present farm. He now has one
hundred and ten acres near Sac City, which he purchased
in 1907 for seventy dollars an acre. In 1911 he
purchased a nursery and since that time has been rapidly
stocking his nursery with trees, both fruit and
ornamental, which can be grown in this locality. He now
has twenty-six different varieties of apples, five
varieties of cherries, six varieties of plums, and many
varieties of currants, gooseberries, raspberries,
blackberries, strawberries and other kinds of small
fruits. He has taken a great deal of pride in getting
only the best and hardiest trees and shrubs for his
nursery, and his rapidly-growing trade shows that he has
succeeded to a marked degree.
He is working up a parcel post business
throughout this part of the state and is already
gratified with the results which have attended his
efforts in this line. It is safe to say that his
business is well established and in the coming years
will prove increasingly profitable.
Mr. Stokes was married February 1,
1898, to Christina Hogge, of this county, the daughter
of Samuel and Elizabeth Hogge. Both of his wife's
parents were natives of Iowa and are now deceased. Mr.
and Mrs. Stokes are the parents of four children.
Elizabeth, Wilmer, Roy and Pearl.
In politics. Mr. Stokes is a
Republican, but has been so busy with his varied
interests that he has not had time to identify himself
actively with the deliberations of his party.
Religiously, the family are members of the Presbyterian
church and render to it their earnest and zealous
support. Mr. Stokes is a
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the
Daughters of Rebekah and the Modern Woodmen of America.
He is a man who has not allowed the pursuit of wealth to
warp his kindly nature, but has preserved his faculties
and the warmth of his heart for the broadening and
helpful influence of human life, and is a kindly friend
and genial gentleman whom it is a pleasure to
meet.
 STOUFFER, SAMUEL M. AND FRANK
E. ----The press is the most powerful instrument in the
shaping and molding of public opinion which we have
today. It enlightens the people and fights their battles
individually and collectively, it makes and unmakes men
at will. Likewise it creates or tears down statutes
intended for the good or ill being: of the people at
large. There is no one power its equal in the length and
breadth of the land in this respect. In this land of
free speech and the free press, it is a potent factor in
the building up of communities. It is conceded that the
newspapers of the inland cities enjoy a greater and
wider prestige in their locality of circulation and
accomplish more direct and real and lasting good than
even the great metropolitan press of today. The local
editor chronicles our successes; he soothes over our
failures; he tells us what our neighbors and friends are
doing; he advises us out of the stores of wisdom gained
through years of
Samuel M.
experience. He espouses the cause
of reform where needed: he advocates publicly in a
clarion choice the need of improvements and assists us
in pushing forward. The newspaper of today has advanced
with the times and ever keeps abreast and even ahead of
the procession. Sac County boasts one
of the best of weekly newspapers published in Iowa or
the West. Its standing reflects credit upon its editors
and publishers whose names head this biography. S. M.
and F. E. Stouffer hold high rank among the journalists
and publishers of Iowa by virtue of the success they
have made in the publication of The Sac Sun since the
year 1893, when they first came to Sac City and
purchased the newspaper. They are the sons of
Andrew and Lucinda (Rhinehart) Stouffer. natives of
Washington county, Maryland, who were married in Ogle
county, Illinois. At the age of
fifteen, Andrew removed from Maryland to Ogle county in
1845, with his parents, George and Elizabeth (Welty)
Stouffer. His wife Lucinda was the daughter of Samuel
and Sarah (Bovey) Rhinehart, who migrated from Maryland
to Ogle county in about 1845. Andrew Stouffer moved with
his family to Marshall county, Iowa, in March of 1869,
after disposing of his farming interests in Ogle county.
Here he engaged in farming, in which he was successful
to a marked degree. He insisted on the thorough
education of his children, because he realized the value
of their being thoroughly equipped and mentally
developed for the battle of life. He was very active in
church work and a stanch Methodist, having been
connected in his earlier years with the United Brethren
denomination. He died at State Center, Marshall county,
Iowa, in March, 1910 at the age of eighty years. His
wife Lucinda was born in 1841 and died in 1897. They
were the parents of the following children: Samuel M.
and Frank E. ; Elmina L., wife of William Ellis, of
State Center, Iowa; James Elmer, deceased; Raymond,
State Center, Iowa; Cora Estella of State Center; Albert
Russell, who died in youth;
Wesley Rhinehart, a teacher in the
Capital City Commercial College, Des Moines. John
Andrew, who is employed in the furniture business in
Marshalltown, Iowa; Edith Elsie, wife of Herbert G.
Monroe, of State Center, Iowa.
Samuel M., the efficient and
capable editor of The Sac Sun, was born on the Ogle
county farm November 1, 1865, and was educated primarily
in the district schools. He and his brother Frank
attended the same district school out on the Iowa
prairie at the same time. This school was then known as
the Washington Center school and is still familiarly and
affectionately known by that name in Marshall county.
Samuel M. entered Leander Clark College at Toledo, Iowa,
and graduated therefrom in the class of 1890. For a
period of two years he taught school, teaching only one
year after his graduation in the classical course of
Leander Clark College. In 1891 he became associate
editor and editorial writer of the Toledo (Iowa)
Chronicle, in which position he remained until 1893,
when he and his brother Frank took charge of The Sac
Sun. Samuel M. Stouffer is recognized as one of the
capable young men of Sac county. He is usually found in
the forefront of matters which have their origin in the
desire for the advancement and betterment of the city,
county or state. His editorial ability is recognized as
above the average and his friends are legion.
His political affiliations and
sympathies are with the Republican party, of which body
he is a stanch supporter, and he is a firm believer in
the principles as enunciated in the party platforms.
While he has pronounced progressive ideas, he believes
with all his heart and mind that the welfare of the rank
and file of the party can best be cared for by
allegiance to the party of Abraham Lincoln and his
followers. His writings in the editorial columns of The
Sac Sun are straightforward in their scope without
equivocation or denunciation of political opponents. He
has never been possessed with a desire for public office
and firmly believes that the province of the editor lies
within the sanctum of his office and is best exercised
in behalf of his fellowmen by the use of his pen in
presenting his views in a calm, impartial manner. Mr.
Stouffer likewise believes that the best way to achieve
success in his chosen profession is to give the people
within the scope of influence of his journal such a
complete newspaper as they demand, feeling sure that the
business end of the journal will profit accordingly. He
is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and has
been the efficient superintendent of the Sunday school
for the past sixteen years.
He was married September 8, 1898,
to Irene O. Holmes, of Charter Oak, Iowa. He is the
father of two children : Samuel Andrew, born June 6,
1900, and William Holmes, born April 27, 1909.
He has been the corresponding secretary and the
president of the Northwest Iowa Laymen's Association of
the Methodist Episcopal church. He has served as
secretary of the county central committee of the
Republican party. An evidence of Mr.
Stouffer's decided literary ability is found in the
press chapter of this publication, of which he is the
author and for which the publishers are indebted.
 Frank E.
Stouffer, business manager of The Sac Sun was born
February 14, 1867, on the farm in Ogle County, Illinois.
He likewise attended the Washington Center district
school, and entered Leander Clark College at Toledo,
Iowa, with his brother, graduating in the same class in
1890. For awhile their paths diverged somewhat. Frank
taking up the profession of teaching, beginning in the
country schools and rising to the position of
principal. He was called to
Kansas in 1890, and took charge of the Attica school for
one year and later became principal of the Dillon,
Montana, schools, during the years of 1892 and 1893. He
was connected in the meantime with a government
surveying corps in various parts of Montana until his
departure for Sac City in 1893 to join his brother in
the purchase of The Sac Sun.
He is active in various business enterprises in
Sac City, being a director and stockholder of the Sac
City Electric Company, of which prosperous concern he is
the president. He is allied politically with the
Republican party, and is secretary of the county central
committee. He is fraternally associated with the Ancient
Free and Accepted Masons, blue lodge, chapter and
commandery of Sac City, and the Mystic Shriners. Mrs.
Stouffer is a member of the East ern Star lodge. He was
married September 21, 1904, at Dillon, Montana, to May
Baxter, of that city, the daughter of Anson Baxter,
formerly of Sac City, but now a resident of Buhl, Idaho.
Anson Baxter was an early pioneer in Sac county.
When S. M. and F. E. Stouffer took
charge of The Sac Sun. the newspaper was a small
six-column sheet, supplied weekly with an auxiliary
service or "patent insides," with hardly one thousand
subscribers on the list. It is now published as an
eight- or twelve-page publication, with seven columns of
reading matter, all home print, with over three thousand
subscribers and enjoys an excellent advertising
patronage. Further encomium is unnecessary -the work of
the publishers and their standing in the community is
evidence of their well-deserved
success.
 STRAHN, HARRY I. -----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 sketch. The qualities which
have made him one of the prominent and successful men of
Sac county have also brought him the esteem of his
fellow men, for his career has been one of well-directed
energy strong determination and honorable methods. As a
business man he has evinced ability of a high order and
so managed his affairs as to win large material success,
while as mayor of Schaller he has so administered the
affairs of the city as to earn the hearty commendation
of his fellow citizens regardless of political
affiliations. Harry I. Strahn,
mayor of Schaller. Iowa, and prominent real estate
dealer, is a native of Sac county, having been born on a
farm in Wheeler township July 6, 1875. He is a son of
Nels Strahn, a native of Sweden, born 1843, who came to
Sac county, Iowa, in 1873. Coming direct to Iowa from
Sweden, he first located at Denison, but later secured a
farm on the Sac and Crawford county lines. He came here
without a dollar and at the time of his death, in 1883,
he owned two hundred acres of good land. A part of this
was purchased at twenty-five dollars per acre, in 1882,
and was recently sold by his son for two hundred and
twenty-fixe dollars per acre. His widow. Mrs.
Nellie Strahn. now resides at Kiron, Iowa. They
were the parents of six children, as follows: W. M.
Strahn, of Vermillion, South Dakota; H. I., the
immediate subject of this sketch; O. U. Strahn, of
Iroquois, South Dakota; O. E. Strahn, of Arthur, Iowa;
Mrs. Lillian Amos, of St. Joseph, Missouri; Nathan
Strahn of Glasgow, Montana.
Harry I. Strahn was reared as a
farmer boy and received his education in the district
schools, which he attended until he was twelve years
old. When sixteen years old he left the farm and took
employment in a store at Arthur, Iowa, where he worked
for five years for Lester & Cole. He then engaged in
the mercantile business for himself at Arthur, and was
there for one year, and also was in business at Moville
for a like period. He spent one year at Sioux City,
Iowa, and then, in 1898 removed to Ida Grove, where he
lived, while employed as a traveling salesman, until
1903. He then came to Schaller, Iowa, and engaged in the
grocery business for three years. In 1906 he engaged in
the real estate and insurance business, in which he has
been notably successful. He has had the handling of many
important and valuable properties, and his judgment of
land values is second to none in Sac county. He
represents a number of the old-line insurance companies
and does a lucrative business also in this field. In
1910 he was elected mayor of Schaller and re-elected in
1912 and 1914, which is a criterion of his
popularity.
Mr. Strahn was married in 1895 to
Augusta J. Danielson, of Denison, Iowa, and they have
two children, Horace, aged seventeen, and Audrey, aged
sixteen. Audrey graduated from the Schaller high school
in 1914, with the highest honor of a class of
sixteen.
Mr. Strahn is recognized as one of
the most progressive and enterprising citizens of the
community, a man who readily gives his aid to every
movement for the moral and material betterment of the
town. His success has been commensurate with his
enterprise and ability, and he is the owner of a fine
home in Schaller, three hundred and twenty acres of land
in North Dakota, a half interest in six hundred and
ninety acres in Minnesota, and seven hundred acres in
Florida and equities in some other properties in this
vicinity. all of which is choice property.
Mr. Strahn has been, in the most
significant sense, the architect of his own fortunes,
and the noteworthy success which he has achieved has
been entirely through his own efforts. He well
exemplifies that spirit of enterprise and
progressiveness that has conserved the splendid
advancement of western Iowa. He has ever stood exponent
of liberal and public-spirited citizenship, and
commands, both personally and professionally, a high
measure of popular confidence and esteem.
Politically. Mr. Strahn gives his
allegiance to the Republican party. He is a member of
the Methodist church, and holds membership with the
Independent Order of Odd Fellows and Woodmen of the
World.
SWEARINGEN, GUY M. D. -----One
who has won honorable distinction in the ranks of the
medical fraternity of Sac county is Dr. Guy Swearingen,
of Sac City. That his ability and skill as a successful
practitioner have been duly recognized is well attested
by the liberal share of public patronage which he enjoys
and the conspicuous place he occupies among the most
advanced professional men of the city and county where
he lives.
Doctor Swearingen is a native of
Homer, Illinois, born July 3, 1881, and he is a son of
William and Flora (Wrisk) Swearingen, both natives of
the state of Illinois, and now residing at Homer, that
state. William Swearingen was a successful farmer for
many years. He and his wife reared a family of two
children, Mrs. Daisy Eikman, of New Palestine, Indiana,
and he of whom this sketch is narrated.
Doctor Swearingen received his
primary education in the common schools of his
community. He later entered the University of Indiana
Medical College and pursued his studies at this
institution during the years 1903 and 1904. He then
entered Drake University, at Des Moines, Iowa, from
which well-known college he was graduated in 1911, after
a student term of two years. Following his graduation he
spent one year as interne at Mercy Hospital, Des Moines,
Iowa, and in the fall of 1912 located at Sac City for
the practice of his profession. Here he has built up a
substantial and representative practice, and the same
has ample basis on his unquestioned ability in both the
theoretical and practical phases of his profession.
Doctor Swearingen was married in
1903 to Flora Robbins, of the state of Minnesota, and
their home has been blessed by one son, Ralph, aged
seven years. The Doctor is a member of the Masonic
order. He is a gentleman of pleasing personality and a
loyal and high-minded citizen, whose support is
willingly given to every cause having for its object the
moral and material betterment of the
community.
The information on Trails to
the Past © Copyright
may be used in personal family history research,
with source citation. The pages in entirety may not be
duplicated for publication in any fashion without the
permission of the owner. Commercial use of any material
on this site is not permitted. Please respect the
wishes of those who have contributed their time and
efforts to make this free site possible.~Thank
you!
|
