USA > Iowa > Cedar County > A topical history of Cedar County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 18
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Enoch Mayer was reared on the farm where his birth occurred, and as there were no free schools in the locality, his educational opportunities were limited. He attended a German school for a few months and spoke that language almost exclusively during the first twenty-two years of his life, having received only three days' instruction in an English school. He was employed in connection with the public coal works for a period of sixteen years and in 1869 came to Cedar county, Iowa. Here he turned his attention to general agricultural pur- suits, purchasing and locating upon a farm of two hundred acres on section 24, Cass township, eight miles northwest of Tipton. In the cultivation and improve- ment of that property he was actively and successfully engaged until 1899, since which time he has lived retired in Tipton. He still retains one hundred and sixty acres of his farm, however. He has led the life of a quiet, industrious citizen and well merits the prosperity which has crowned his efforts.
In 1854 Mr. Mayer was united in marriage to Miss Rachel Yoder, who was born in Berks county, Pennsylvania, on the IIth of January, 1836. Her parents, Abraham and Katharine (Trautman) Yoder, were likewise natives of Berks county, Pennsylvania, and died in that state. Unto them were born five sons and six daughters. Mr. and Mrs. Mayer became the parents of fourteen chil- dren, all of whom were born in Pennsylvania with the exception of the four
MR. AND MRS. ENOCH MAYER
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youngest, who were natives of Cedar county, Iowa. The record of the family is as follows: Charles, whose birth occurred October 13, 1854, and who passed away January 26, 1862; Tobias, living in Cass township; Emma Catharine, the wife of William F. Owens, of La Harpe, Kansas; Adam, who was born Septem- ber 2, 1858, and died on the 10th of October, 1858; Ellen, born December I, 1859, whose demise occurred on the 16th of December, 1865 ; Enoch, whose natal day was July 22, 1861, and who passed away December 20, 1865; Elizabeth, the wife of John Staab of Berwyn, Nebraska; Christina, who was born April 5, 1865, and died August 6, 1866; Clara, the wife of William Weaver, of Rock Island, Illinois; Ida, who is the wife of Eugene Kopenhaver, of Cass township; Susan, who gave her hand in marriage to Clinton Corey and resides in Adair county, Iowa; Lena, the wife of William Barbe, of Topeka, Kansas; Alice, the wife of Harry Dodds, of Cass township; and Oscar, who was born December 20, 1877, and passed away December 30, 1877.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Mayer are devoted and consistent members of the Re- formed church, having been confirmed in that faith in 1849 and 1856 respec- tively. They have now traveled life's journey together for fifty-six years, their mutual love and confidence increasing as the years have passed by. Both enjoy excellent health for people of their advanced age and their faculties are largely unimpaired. Mr. Mayer joined the Independent Order of Odd Fellows in 1863 and is a member of the lodge at Tipton. He and his wife have now resided within the borders of Cedar county for more than four decades and their ac- quaintance is a very wide and favorable one.
HENRY MOLLER.
Henry Moller, who is now living retired in Bennett, was for many years a successful farmer of Inland township. He was born on the 30th of January, 1846, in Mecklenburg, Germany, and in that country was reared and educated. He served for six years in the German army, participating in the revolution of 1866 and also in the war with France in 1871. Before leaving his native land he was married, on the 12th of December, 1873, to Miss Rebecca Schultz, who was born in Hanover, Germany, November 14, 1849, and they have become the parents of five children, namely : Bertha, now the wife of John Meyer, of Cedar county ; Henry, who makes his home in Bennett; William, a farmer of Scott county, Iowa; George, who is living on his father's farm; and Lizzie, at home.
Believing that he could better his financial condition in the new world, Mr. Moller came to the United States in 1884, his destination being Cedar county, Iowa. Arriving here, he found work by the month on a farm in Inland town- ship, where he was employed for four years at two hundred dollars per year. He subsequently rented that farm for several years and then operated a rented farm in Springfield township for five years. Returning to Inland township, he purchased the Lichtenwalter farm, which he had previously rented and for many years engaged in its operation. It consists of one hundred and sixty acres on section 6 and is improved with good and substantial buildings erected by Mr.
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Moller, who continued to carry on farming there until 1908, when he retired from active labor and removed to Bennett, having purchased a nice residence in that city.
Mr. Moller is a consistent and faithful member of the German Evangelical church of Bennett and fraternally is connected with the Modern Woodmen of America and the Brotherhood of Yeomen at that place. The republican party finds in him a stanch supporter of its principles and for five years he served as road supervisor with credit to himself and to the entire satisfaction of all con- cerned. He is a man of good business ability and, having come to this country in limited circumstances, his success is due entirely to his own industry and well directed efforts.
JOHN T. MOFFIT.
John T. Moffit, a member of the Cedar county bar, practicing at Tipton, is one of Cedar county's native sons, his birth having occurred July 8, 1862, upon his father's farm near Mechanicsville. His parents were the Hon. Alexander and Martha J. (Poteet) Moffit, of whom extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume. He entered the district school and supplemented this by three years' study in the Mechanicsville high school, which he entered in 1876. In September, 1879, he entered as a student the preparatory department of Cornell College, at Mount Vernon, Iowa, graduating from the classical course on the 16th of June, 1884. He was prominent in college literary and athletic circles, holding various offices in the Adelphian Literary Society, and also serving as manager of the college baseball team for two years.
In preparation for the bar Mr. Moffit attended the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor and was graduated with the LL. B. degree on the Ist of July, 1886. In June of the following year his alma mater conferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. Following his admission to the bar he entered upon the practice of law in connection with Charles E. Wheeler under the firm style of Wheeler & Moffit, opening an office in Tipton on the Ist of November, 1887. When Judge J. H. Preston resigned his seat on the district bench on the Ist of September, 1894, he became associated with the firm under the style of Preston, Wheeler & Moffit and immediately thereafter they opened an office in Cedar Rapids to be conducted in connection with the one at Tipton. Mr. Wheeler withdrew on the Ist of September, 1897, and the firm continued as Preston & Mofin., Preston, Grimm & Moffit; and Grimm, Trewin & Moffit, until January 1, 1907, since which time Mr. Moffit has practiced alone in Tipton.
Colonel Moffit in 1885 enlisted as a private in the Iowa National Guard and rose successively to orderly sergeant and second lieutenant in 1889, captain in 1890 and major in 1894. He was in his office attending to professional duties on the 25th of April, 1898, when Governor Shaw issued his call for volunteers for the Spanish-American war. At midnight he was awakened from sleep to re- ceive a message directing him to report at Des Moines forthwith to be enrolled. At 9:30 the next morning he reported to the adjutant general, having traveled
JOHN T. MOFFIT
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halfway across the state. He was commissioned major of the Fiftieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry on the 26th of April, was mustered into United States ser- vice on the 18th of May, and on the 20th of August became lieutenant colonel of the regiment, which was the first to leave the state for the south. He was regularly mustered out with his command on the 30th of November, 1898, and on the following morning was again at work in his office in Tipton.
Colonel Moffit has always given his political allegiance to the republican party, and when but twenty-nine years of age was chosen to represent his dis- trict in the republican national convention at Minneapolis in 1892. He was the youngest of the Iowa delegation and one of the youngest of that entire body. He takes an active interest in politics.
In the spring of 1896 Tipton was organized into a city of the second class, Mr. Moffit was elected its first mayor, being nominated entirely without solicita- tion on his part. In 1904 he was elected a member of the Iowa state senate to serve for four years ; was county attorney of Cedar county for four years, 1905- 1910. He acted as president of the Republican Club of Cedar county in 1888 and also as chief presiding officer of the Mckinley Club of Tipton, in 1896. Colonel Moffit has been a member of the city council; has been a director of the Cedar County State Bank ever since its organization. He was the leading spirit in 1890 in organizing the Tipton Fair Association and was its secretary a num- ber of years. He is a member of the board of trustees of Cornell College, and has been secretary of the law class of 1880, University of Michigan, ever since his graduation. He has for a long time been a member of the Knights of Pythias. He is a Mason and has attained the thirty-second degree in Scottish Rite Ma- sonry, holding membership in Iowa Consistory, No. 2. In strictly professional lines he is a member of the Iowa State Bar Association and of the American Bar Association.
Colonel Moffit was married September 28, 1892, to Miss Winifred E. Hecht, a daughter of Fred and Margaret E. (Bossert) Hecht of Clarence, Iowa. They have one daughter, Margaret Eleanor.
HARRY R. RIPLEY.
Harry R. Ripley, who for twenty years has been connected with the news- papers in Tipton and for nine years closely associated as half-owner and man- ager of the Advertiser, one of the leading papers of the county, was born in this city, April 28, 1870. He is a son of James H. and Lydia R. (Johnston) Ripley, of whom extended mention is made elsewhere in this volume. At the usual age he entered the public schools, therein pursuing his studies to the age of fourteen years, when he began working on a farm, devoting his summer months to the labors of the fields and meadows, while in the winter seasons he continued to at- tend school.
In 1889, however, he permanently put aside his text-books and on the Ist of September entered the office of the Advertiser as "devil." He was with that paper for a year and a half and from 1891 until 1894 with the Tipton Conserva-
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tive. He then returned to the Advertiser, with which he was connected until 1900, when he went to Fullerton, Nebraska, with Edwin J. Wolf, another em- ploye in the Advertiser office, and purchased the Fullerton News. The following year Mr. Ripley sold his interest to his partner and returned to Tipton, where he purchased the Cedar County Republican, of which he took charge on the 2d of June, 1901. He changed the paper to a semi-weekly, the first to be published in the county, and conducted it until the Ist of October, 1901, when it was con- solidated with the Advertiser, with which he has since been identified as half- owner, publisher and manager. Thus he is now in close connection with the paper on which he received his initial experience and training. Entering a field of labor which he found entirely congenial, he has remained steadfastly therein and has progressed with the advancement of the times, whereby the methods of newspaper publication have been largely revolutionized. The Advertiser at- tracts many readers by reason of its entertaining discussion of public questions and also as a distributer of news of general interest, and, moreover, the paper is accorded an extensive advertising patronage.
On the 4th of June, 1902, Mr. Ripley was united in marriage to Miss Edith Casad, who was born in Tipton, Iowa, April 21, 1872, and is a daughter of John W. and Ida L. (Gilbert) Casad. Her father is now deceased but her mother is still living in Tipton. They are mentioned elsewhere in this volume. Mrs. Ripley is a member of Tipton Chapter, O. E. S.
Mr. Ripley gives unfaltering political allegiance to the republican party and in 1805 was appointed city clerk to fill a vacancy. He was then reelected to the office, which he continued to fill until 1900, when he resigned, retiring from the office as he had entered it, with the confidence and goodwill of all concerned. He holds membership in Cedar Lodge, No. II, A. F. & A. M .; Siloam Chapter, No. 19, R. A. M .; and Manitou Lodge, No. 8, I. O. O. F. He served seven years as a member of the local militia company, holding the position of orderly sergeant when he was mustered out. He deserves the somewhat hackneyed but altogether expressive title of a self-made man for from the age of fourteen years he has been dependent entirely upon his own efforts, achieving success through the recognition and careful utilization of opportunity.
HARMON P. SECHLER.
Forty-two years have come and gone since Harmon P. Sechler became identi- fied with the farming interests of Cedar county, where he was busily engaged in the cultivation and improvement of a farm of eighty acres in Fairfield township. At the present writing, however, he makes his home in Clarence, where he is now largely living retired. His life record had its beginning in Lycoming county, Pennsylvania, on the 15th of May, 1836, so that he has now attained the age of seventy-four years. He was reared on a farm there and had fair common- school advantages. He remained with his father until after he had attained his majority and later was married in his native county on the 15th of February, 1866, to Miss Candace Slenker, also a native of Lycoming county and a daughter
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MR. AND MRS. HARMON P. SECHLER
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of Jacob Slenker. Her father was born and reared in Pennsylvania and was there married to Rachel Ranck, who was born in Union county of that state. He followed farming in Lycoming county, however, and spent his last days there. His widow survived him and afterward removed westward to Iowa, settling in Cedar county in 1866. She came with her four sons, Irus, Isaac, Irad and Ira. Mrs. Slenker afterward died in this county, while Irus passed away in Missouri, he and his brother Isaac having removed to Harrisonville, Cass county, that state. Irad also left Cedar county and became a resident of Oklahoma. Ire re- moved to Missouri.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Sechler resided in Pennsylvania for two .. years, during which period he cultivated a rented farm. In 1868 they came to Cedar county, Iowa, where they joined her mother and brothers. Mr. Sechler began working here as a farm hand by the month but after a year rented land and thus carried on general agricultural pursuits for a few years, during which period he carefully saved his earnings until he felt that his capital was sufficient to justify him in the purchase of an eighty acre tract of land. This he at once began to cultivate and as the years went by he built thereon a good substantial residence together with a large barn, corn cribs, granary and a hog house. He also fenced his fields and sunk a well to the depth of two hundred and thirty feet, finding an abundance of water. His arduous labors at the time of early spring planting were rewarded in the late autumn by abundant crops, and he also found profit in raising and feeding stock. His efforts in business were at all times attended by success because guided by sound judgment. He continued on the farm until 1900, when he sold the place and removed to Clarence, where he bought a residence and nine lots. Since that time he has lived practically retired and yet indolence and idleness are utterly foreign to his nature so that he frequently engages in work suitable to a man of his years.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Sechler are enjoying good health and are of good cheer. Politically he has been a lifelong democrat and while living on the farm served as highway commissioner, also as a member of the school board. He and his wife have guided their lives according to the teachings of the Presbyterian church, in which they have long held membership, being now connected with the church of that denomination at Clarence.
JOHN W. CASAD.
The name of John W. Casad is inseparably interwoven with the history of Tipton, where he long made his home, supporting during that period all the proj- ects and movements which tended to upbuild and benefit the city. Through a half century he witnessed its growth and rejoiced in what was here accomplished. He was born in Logan county, Ohio, September 6, 1830, and was about twenty- six years of age when he arrived in Tipton. He found a small town of little industrial or commercial importance but believed that it might prove an advan- tageous field of business, for the west had entered upon an era of rapid and sub- stantial growth. He therefore joined William Gilmore in the clothing business
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under the firm style of Casad & Gilmore, and from the beginning the new enter- prise prospered. These gentlemen were in the same business at Bellefontaine, Ohio, before coming to Iowa. Year by year as the population increased the trade of the house extended, their establishment continuing as one of the fore- most mercantile concerns of the city. Mr. Casad remained an active factor in its management and control until 1878, when he withdrew from the firm to enter the field of banking, becoming one of the organizers of the Cedar County Bank. He was elected its vice president and served in that capacity for a year, or until the death of William H. Tuthill, when he was elected to the presidency. He remained as the chief directing force in that institution until 1893, when he re- signed, although he continued in the office of director up to the time of his de- mise. In connection with the management of the bank he instituted a safe, con- servative policy that insured its success and in time made it one of the leading financial institutions of this part of the state. His business integrity was un- assailable, his honesty above question. Moreover, he possessed unfaltering in- dustry and determination, never fearing to venture where favoring opportunity led the way, while his unremitting energy carried him forward to the goal of suc- cess. In the years of his active life he accumulated a goodly fortune and his business interests were at the same time of a character that contributed to public prosperity.
Mr. Casad never sought nor desired public office and aside from a term's ser- vice in the city council would never consent to accept official preferment. He was, however, a valiant soldier in the Civil war, responding readily to the coun- try's call for troops when rebellion threatened the destruction of the Union. He enlisted at Burlington, Iowa, on the 15th of July, 1861, as a member of Company A, Fifth Iowa Infantry, and on the Ist of November following was promoted to the rank of first sergeant. He was commissioned second lieutenant December 21, 1861, and his valorous and loyal service led to further promotion when on the Ist of May, 1862, he was commissioned first lieutenant. His regiment was as- signed to duty with the Army of the Tennessee, and saw much active service, participating in the expedition to Fort Fisher, the siege of Corinth, the engage- ments at Holly Springs and Jacinto and the battle of Iuka, where he was severely wounded in the side and left wrist. Because of disability occasioned by his wounds he was honorably discharged February 17, 1863.
Mr. Casad was married June 6, 1871, to Miss Ida L. Gilbert, who was born December 24, 1842, in Irvington, New Jersey, a daughter of Aaron and Abbie (Russell) Gilbert. Her parents were members of the Shaker society at New Lebanon, New York. He was superintendent of the work of gathering herbs and manufacturing medicines there in the early '30s and Miss Russell and other girls assisted him in the work of preparing the herbs. Withdrawing from the Shaker colony, they were married August 6, 1835, and in 1850 came to Tipton. Mr. Gilbert was born in Claverack, New York, April 30, 1802, while his wife was born in Cheshire, Massachusetts, October 2, 1812. She joined the Shakers when nine years of age and he was fifteen when he became a member of that sect. After leaving them he engaged in the sale and manufacture of drugs at New Lebanon, New York, and in New York city, in partnership with Moses Tilden, the father of Samuel J. Tilden. He became a pioneer druggist of Tipton, where
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he continued business up to the time of his death, which occurred December 26, 1874. Mrs. Gilbert survived him until February 3, 1896, and died in Chicago. Their daughter, Mrs. Casad, attended Cornell Seminary at Mount Vernon in 1856-57, and the Tipton union school under Professor C. C. Nestlerode. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Casad were born three children. Edith, born April 21, 1872, at- tended the Tipton school and was graduated from St. Margaret's school in Chi- cago in 1893. Anthony, born June 8, 1873, died October 15, 1874. . John Rus- sell was born April 18, 1879.
Early in life, while a resident of Bellefontaine, Ohio, Mr. Casad became a member of the Christian church and after removing to Tipton was for a number of years a member of the Universalist church. He was long a valued repre- sentative of Cedar Lodge, No. II, A. F. & A. M., having been made a Mason at Bellefontaine, Ohio, in 1852, and demitted to the Tipton Lodge soon after his- arrival here. He continued one of its prominent representatives until his death, serving as its secretary during the last twenty-five years of his life. He was also a member of Siloam Chapter, No. 19, R. A. M., and De Molay Commandery, K. T. He likewise held membership in William Beaver Post, No. 110, G. A. R., and with the Loyal Legion. He was a man of broad and liberal views, char- itable in his opinions of others, kindly in spirit, progressive in action and loyal in friendship.
FRED WAGNER.
Germany has furnished to the citizenship of Iowa many enterprising and progressive men who have left the fatherland and have sought the new world with its more progressive methods, its livelier competition and advancement more quickly secured. Among this number is Fred Wagner, whose birth occurred in Waldeck, Germany, on the 26th of September, 1859, a son of William and Louise (Stiehl) Wagner. The parents were both natives of the fatherland but the father is now deceased, while the mother still survives and makes her home with her son Fred. By her marriage to William Wagner she became the mother of four children : Fred, of this review; Henry, of Chicago, Illinois ; Christ, a resident of Davenport; and Carrie, the wife of George Hamann, of Texas.
Reared to manhood across the water, Fred Wagner attended the common schools of Germany until fourteen years of age, after which he was employed in his native country until twenty-three years of age. Although a poor boy, starting out in the world empty-handed, the strong, rugged and persevering characteristics which were developed in him by his early environment made him seek wider fields of endeavor, and he decided to come to America where he might give full scope to his ambition and industry-his dominant qualities. Accord- ingly he crossed the Atlantic and after arriving in the United States was em- ployed by the month as a farm hand. The money thus earned was used at first to bring his brother also to this country, after which he paid back the money which he had borrowed to cover his own passage. He was thus employed until 1890 when, desiring that his efforts should more directly benefit himself, he
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rented a farm, which he operated for several years. In 1902 he became the owner by purchase of his present farm of one hundred and sixty acres located on section 6, Inland township. When it came into his possession it was a wild, undeveloped tract, but with his characteristic energy and determination he set about its im- provement and within a few years' time brought his fields under a high state of cultivation. The well improved farm as it stands today, with its neat, modern residence, its substantial barns and outbuildings, its well kept fences and the atmosphere of prosperity and progress surrounding it all, speaks eloquently of a life of close application, untiring energy and of unfaltering determination to succeed on the part of the owner. He gives his attention to general agricultural pursuits, and the success which has attended his efforts in this direction ranks him among the substantial and representative farmers of Inland township.
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