Biographical history of Page County, Iowa, containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Harrison, with accompanying biographies of each; a condensed history of Iowa, with portraits and biographies of the governors of the state; engravings of prominent citizens of Page County, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families; and a concise history of the county, the cities, and the townships, Part 52

Author: Lewis and Dunbar, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis & Dunbar
Number of Pages: 946

USA > Iowa > Page County > Biographical history of Page County, Iowa, containing portraits of all the presidents of the United States from Washington to Harrison, with accompanying biographies of each; a condensed history of Iowa, with portraits and biographies of the governors of the state; engravings of prominent citizens of Page County, with personal histories of many of the early settlers and leading families; and a concise history of the county, the cities, and the townships > Part 52

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

In the fall of 1867 Mr. Sundermann re- moved to Page County, coming by rail to St. Joseph, Missouri, and the rest of the way by team. The first winter they lived with his brother Frederick, and then for two years on his brother Henry's farm. In the meantime he had begun to improve a farm of 120 acres which he had bought, paying $4 per acre. In 1869 he moved to liis present place; it was then very wild in Page County, and wolves were seen and heard everywhere. Mr. Sundermann has stnek to his farm and has added to it as his means increased, until now he owns 360 acres, all in an advanced state of cultivation. His residence is a good, substantial building, located on a charming site, surrounded by a fine grove of five acres. There are also fruit and ornamental shade trees, selected with mnuch taste and care. Among the improvements may be mentioned the barn, which is 34 x 64 feet, with a stone

basement, with posts eighteen feet high, and an addition of ten feet on the south. There is also a wind-mill that pumps an abundance of pure water and also grinds feed. Good improved farms show the character of their owners always. Every bushel of grain pro- duced is fed out on the place.

Mr. and Mrs. Sundermann are the parents of eleven children: Henry, Benjamin, Anna, Helen, Oscar, Malinda, Walter, Wilhelmina, Saralı, Otto and Ida.

Politically Mr. Sundermann is a supporter of the Democratic party. He is a member of the German Lutheran church. In religious and educational matters no man has been more active than he. He is now in the real prime of manhood, and is classed as one of Page County's most reliable citizens. He has served as church trustee, school trustee, and on all the committees of actual work connected with church or school. He is a member of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company of this county.

OHN W. DOUGLAS, of section 20, Nodaway Township, ranks among the representative farmers of Page County, where he has resided since 1871. He was born in Lawrence County, Illinois, Angust 15, 1844, and is a son of Stockley and Mary Ann (Bullock) Douglas. The father was a native of Kentucky, of Scotch descent, and the mother was born in Crawford County, Indiana, of German ancestry. When John W. was eighteen months old his mother died, and the father was again married, and now resides in Woodhull, Henry County, Illinois.

The youth of Mr. Douglas was not uulike the youth of mnost farmers' sons; he obtained a common-school education, and assisted on his father's farm. August 31, 1871, he was

493

HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.

united in marriage with Emma M. Davis, a successful teacher, who was born in the State of New York, but reared in Illinois. She is the daugliter of George and Ada (Keyes) Davis, who emigrated soon after their mar- riage to this county. A montli after mar- riage Mr. and Mrs. Douglas emigrated to Page County, Iowa, and located near the old Tarkio store; they soon after removed to a point near Villisca, where they remained abont four years. In 1877 Mr. Douglas pur- chased eighty acres of choice land, which had not been placed under cultivation. He lias claimed from nature all that she would yield, and now has one of the finest farms in the township; he has planted a fine apple orchard and shrubs and small fruits adorn the lawn surrounding the residence. The buildings are of a most substantial kind, and comfort and plenty are the rule. The farm is well adapted to raising live-stock, as Snake Creek runs through the land supplying an abun- dance of pure water.

Mr. and Mrs. Douglas are the parents of two children: Ada Margaret, born October 8, 1872, and Winnie Alberta, born May 20, 1878. In his political belief our subject is an adherent to the principles of the Demo- cratic party, but of late years he has affiliated with the Union Labor party.

The Douglas family are acceptable mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal Church, be- longing to the Summit class. Mr. Douglas has served as steward trustee. Mrs. Doug- las served for several years as assistant super- intendent, and teacher for a number of years. The daughter, Ada, is also an efficient teacher in the Sabbath-school.

Mr. Douglas is a man after whom many might well pattern; lie is accounted by his neighbors as the truest and best of men, and he and his little family are an honor to any community. In a work of this kind it is the

design to give a true account of the character as well as a family history of Page County's representative men and women, and none will say that the estimate herein recorded is over- drawn.

ENRY HAKES, of whom this biographi- cal sketch is written, is a resident of section 28, Nodaway Township, where he owns a well-improved farm of 400 acres of choice land. He may well be classed among Page County's pioneers as he has lived here since 1857, arriving in July of that year, when all was " one vast, green soli- tude."

Mr. Hakes was born June 25, 1830, in Onondaga County, New York, and is the son of Nathan Hakes, a native of Albany, New York. Albert Hakes, father of Nathan Hakes, was a native of England and a soldier in the Revolutionary war. Nathan Hakes served in the war of 1812. The mother of Henry Hakes was Margaret Bush, who was born four miles from the city of Albany, New York, at a place named Greenbush. Her parents were of German origin.

Nathan Hakes and wife were the parents of ten children, of whom Henry is the youngest. When he was four years old the family re moved to Delaware County, Ohio, where he grew to manhood. His mother died when he was twelve years of age; his father died in Seneca County, Ohio, at the age of seventy- two years.

Henry was reared on a farm, and attended school but three months of his life; but by improving his odd moments at home he has acquired a fair education. At that time Delaware County was new and wild, and the pioneer boyliood led there doubtless en-

494

HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.

couraged him to face the hardships of pioneer days in Iowa.

He was married November 27, 1852, to Anna Palmer, a native of Richland County, Ohio, and a daughter of William P. Palmer, who was a native of England; her mother was Hannalı Rose, and she too was born in England. In 1857 Mr. Hakes started with horses and a wagon for Iowa; lie was just a montlı to a day in making the journey, camp- ing out in good old style. Wheu lie landed in the new West he had but 85 cents to call his own. He settled on ten acres of the farm now owned by John Aunon, where he built a box house. Five years later he purchased sixty acres of James Reed, which he improved and made his home for two years. He then sold this and bought an improved farm con- taining thirty acres, which he sold after four years, and removed to his present place; he first bought forty acres of wild land, upon which he built a box house, which is now used as a chicken-house. Here he has lived, and from time to time lie has added to his land until to-day he owns 400 acres of as good land as Iowa affords. The place is well adapted to stock-raising, in which he has been very successful. His present residence was built in 1870, at a cost of $2,200. It stands upon a beautiful site, commanding a wide view of the surrounding country, and is of a pleasing style of modern architecture. The barn is well planned for stock and grain, and fromn end to end the Hakes farm shows thrift and good management seldom seen in any part of Iowa.

Mr. and Mrs. Hakes have five children : Alice, wife of J. M. Petterman; Willian, who married Sadie McFarland; Edward; Charles, who married Jessie B. Gorman, and Ida, wife of F. M. Fox. Mr. Hakes, who did not enjoy the educational privileges he desired, has given his children liberal opportunities.

Politically he is independent. He cast his first vote for Salmon P. Chase, " Free Soiler," for Governor of Ohio; he voted for Lincoln twice and for Grant in 1868; in 1876 he sup- ported Peter Cooper for President. In local matters lie lias been quite active, having served as township trustee for several years with credit to himself and his constituents. He is a member of the I. O. O. F., Clarinda Lodge, No. 109, and also of the Ancient Order of United Workmen.

In an early day Mr. Hakes worked at the plasterer's trade, and became quite an expert. During the "Tippecanoe campaign " he took such an active part that he was nick- named "Tip," and this name took the place of his real name, Henry, and followed him to Iowa. He is generally known as "Tip" throughout Page County. In his manner he is frank and cordial, and he has lived to be one of Page County's best citizens, ever working for its best interests.

AVID GIFFORD, one of Page County's enterprising agriculturists, a resident of Nodaway Township, has been a citizen of Page County since 1873. He was born in Cambria County, Pennsylvania, June 16, 1830, and is a son of Joseph Gifford, a native of Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania. The Giffords were of English-German origin. The mother of David Gifford was Sarah Da- vis, who was born in Hollidaysburg, Penn- sylvania.

Our subject is the second of a family of nine children, five sons and four daughters. When he was nine years old his parents re- moved to Indiana County, Pennsylvania, and thence to other parts of the State. When he was nineteen years of age he was married in Armstrong County, Pennsylvania, to Miss

495

HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY,

Joanna Martis, by whom he had three chil- dren. She died in 1854, and he was again married in 1857, in Hancock County, Illinois, to Miss Olive Tull, who died a year later. Mr. Gifford married his present wife in 1859; she was Miss Joanna M. Baily, a daughter of John and Elizabeth (Rank) Baily, natives of Pennsylvania. She was born June 17, 1838, in Marion County, Indiana, and when she was fourteen years old her parents re- mnoved to Hancock County, Illinois, where she grew to womanhood. Mr. and Mrs. Gif- ford have two children living: Martha Jane, wife of William Gordon, of Clarinda, and Ida L., wife of John W. Strickler, of Page County. Two children have died: Elizabetlı Ellen, aged six years, and Mary Frances Shearer, wife of Jonathan E. Shearer.

In 1873 Mr. Gifford came to Page County and purchased his present farm of eighty acres, where he has made a comfortable home. Politically he is a Republican, believing that the policy of that party is best suited to the needs of the masses. Mr. Gifford and his wife are both acceptable and active members of the Methodist Episcopal Church, of which he is class-leader and trustee. Although having reached three-score years Mr. Gifford is hale and hearty, and bids fair to live out the al- lotted time of man. He is frank and candid, and he and his estimable wife are truly repre- sentative types of Page County's best people, industrious, temperate, and thoroughly up- right.

BRAHAM PFANDER is truly a pio- neer of Page County, and rightfully belongs in a work of this character. It was he who made his way through the long and tangled grass of the wild and uninhabited prairie to the tract of land on which now

stands the flourishing town of Clarinda. He came at a time so early that none were before him except Judge Snyder, " sole, presiding potentate" in Clarinda.

Mr. Pfander's birthplace was among the hills of Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where he first saw the light of day, September 24, 1832. His father was Charles Pfander, a native of Germany. and his mother was Catherine Hith barger. The parents emigrated to America and settled in Pennsylvania, and later removed to Ohio, when Abraham was three years of age. The father was a wagon and carriage maker by trade, but as his family grew older he invested in land, and trained his sons to agricultural pursuits. Five of the children grew to maturity. The mother died when Abraham was ten years old, and the father in 1853.

When Mr. Pfander had attained his ma- jority he was nnited in marriage, in Darke County, Ohio, March 23, 1854, to Miss Eliza- beth Ann Colvill, who was born in Darke County, Ohio, March 18, 1835, and is a daughter of Charles and Sarah (Hort) Col- vill. After their marriage they came down the Ohio, up the Mississippi River to St. Louis, and thence to St. Joe, Missouri, iu company with Tilman Nealeigh and family, and Levi Nealeigh. Mr. Pfander bought a yoke of oxen and a wagon, aud by this mode of transporta- tion they journeyed to Page County, Iowa. He settled about one mile west of Clarinda, where he built a log house on a tract of forty acres which he had purchased; his rude cabin was after the good old style,-clapboard roof, puncheon floor and two glass windows. Here lie lived for two years and theu sold for $6 per acre, and pre-empted 160 acres, on which lie now resides. This land has been developed year after year, until it is transformed into one of the best farms of the county. There is a comfortable residence, and substantial

496

HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.

barns for stock and grain have been erected; a superb orchard of several hundred bearing trees adds very much to the value of the place. The owner does not confine himself to any one branch of farming, but deals largely in live-stock, in addition to cultivating his lands.

Mr. and Mrs. Pfander are the parents of five children: Joseph, who lives on an eighty- acre farm adjoining his father's place; Charles Franklin, who lives on eighty acres adjoining his brother Joseph; Saralı Ellen, wife of Stacy Doughit; William Henry, who owns eighty acres near his brothers' farms, and Pliebe Catharine, who died November 27, 1883, aged fifteen years.

Mr. Pfander votes the Union Labor ticket, believing that the principles of that party will ultimately be of greatest benefit to the masses of citizens. He is a member of the Christian Church, while his wife and son Joseph belong to the United Presbyterian Church. He has been a liberal patron of all religious and educational affairs. Although fifty-seven years of age he is active and full of energy, such as many a younger man might covet. Mrs. Pfander belongs to the Christian Church, and William Henry and wife are members of the United Brethren Church.

ILLIAM DUNN has been prominent- ly identified with the interests of Page County since 1868. He was born in Belmont County, Ohio, December 30, 1826, and is a son of Arthur and Sabina (Mitchell) Dunn. The father was one of the pioneer settlers and successful farmers of Bel- mont County. There were nine children in the family of Arthur and Sabina Dunn: Sam- uel, who was killed at a barn raising by one of the timbers falling upon him; Elisha, who died in the war; Jeremiah, a twin brother of

Elisha; Arthur M .; Mary, wife of Jacob Wise; Anne Elizabeth. wife of Hiram Hanes; Martha J., widow of Edward Day; James Henry, and William, the subject of this no- tice.

Mr. Dunn was married August 7, 1852, to Miss Harriet Kean, a daughter of John and Patience (Jeffries) Kean: she was born June 27, 1833. After his marriage Mr. Dunn bought an improved farm in Ohio, and lived on it for sixteen years. In 1868, when the spirit of western emigration swept over the eastern part of the United States, he removed to Page County, Iowa, where he has since re- sided. He and his wife had eight children born to them: Mary Amanda, wife of Samuel Dunn; Martha Louisa, wife of Samuel Wal- let; Patience Sabina, wife of John Saunders; Rebecca, wife of Benjamin Kendall, and Maria Ellen, Hattie, Arthur and John W. at home.

The Dunn farm is well improved, having good fencing, an orchard of bearing trees, barns for stock and grain, and a comfortable dwelling; there is a standing spring on the lower part of the farm which never fails, and there is a grove of ten acres.

The father lived happily with his wife for thirty-seven years, wlien a sad misfortune befell him: the beloved wife and mother was called from this life July 5, 1889, after a lingering illness of four years.

May 2, 1864, William Dunn enlisted in the Home Guards as a hundred-day man, and participated in the battle of Monocacy Junc- tion, Maryland. He was honorably discharged September 4, 1864, at Columbus, Ohio, re- turning immediately to his home. Politi- cally he adheres to the principles of the Re- publican party, and has been called to fill the office of township trustee, the duties of which he will faithfully perforni. He is a man of good judgment and excellent business quali-

497

HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.

fications, and has won a place among the first citizens of the County.

SAAC VAN ARSDOL, a Page County pioneer and one of the honored citizens of Clarinda, is the subject of this notice. It would require volumes to contain the actual record of the events of a man's life who had attained the age of this worthy gentleman; but for the purpose of handing down to gen- erations yet unborn some of the more im- portant events connected with his career, es- pecially as an early settler of Page County, the following sketch will suffice. There are but few of the early pioneers left. Time's hand has dealt gently with a small portion, while the majority have passed away, leaving a younger class of men to fill their places, who know but little of the self-sacrifice and real hardships endured by those who effected a settlement when this portion of Iowa's wild domain was considered the western frontier. It was but ten years prior to Mr. Van Arsdol's coming that the Indian tribes made this their happy hunting grounds, and camped by the clear streams known as the Nodaway and Tarkio.

Mr. Van Arsdol was born Angust 3, 1820, in Delaware County, Indiana, and was the first white child to see the light of day in that county. He is a son of Cornelius and Jane (McClellan) Van Arsdol, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania respectively; the father served in the war of 1812; the pater- nal grandfather came from Holland, while the maternal ancestors were from Scotland.

Cornelius Van Arsdol and his wife were inarried in Cincinnati, Ohio, and in the spring of 1820 they removed to Delaware County, Indiana, and settled on the White River in a heavily timbered section. There

they spent the remainder of their days. The father lived to be eighty-five years old and the mother died at the extreme old age of ninety-seven years. They reared ten children, of whom Isaac is the sixth; his youth was spent on the farm and in attending the common schools of that day, which were not of the present type by any means; a portion of the time it was necessary to walk five miles to obtain even these limited advantages. In connection with his agricultural pursuits he worked at the blacksmith's trade. He was married November 18, 1844, to Miss Margaret Ribble. She was born in Mont. gomery County, Virginia, March 19, 1822, and is a daughter of the late George Ribble, also a native of Virginia. George Ribble's father was a physician of much prominence in Germany and lived to be fully a hundred years old. George Ribble married Sarah Surface, who was born and reared in Vir- ginia. Mrs. Van Arsdol was eight years old when her parents removed to Delaware Coun- ty, Indiana. In 1855 her father, so well and favorably known in Page County, came to Iowa and located at Clarinda, where he died February 27, 1888, in his ninety-second year. His wife died in 1879 at the age of eighty- four years. This worthy couple reared ten children, two sons and eight daughters.

Mr. Van Arsdol remained in Delaware County, Indiana, until the fall of 1853, when he moved with teams and wagons to Iowa, stopping for a short time in Polk County. He arrived at the point where Clarinda now stands April 7, 1854. He purchased the claim held by Israel Hulbert, which he had claimed from the Government in 1853. There was a box house on the place which had been moved from the village, platted a few months before. He bought in all 500 acres of land and erected a log cabin. The family remained for a time near the

498

HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.

present site of Villisca. During all these years he has made but two moves, from the old log cabin to a frame house 18 x 30 feet, erected iu October, 1854, then looked upon as a fancy domicile, and from that to liis present dwelling, built in the summer of 1868, at a cost of $4,000. The surroundings are very attractive and indicate much care and no little taste for comfort and beauty. The present farm contains 200 acres of well improved land, 300 of the original tract having been sold.

Mr. and Mrs. Van Arsdol are the parents of five children: Mary, widow of W. W. Woods; Luther, a banker at Coin, Iowa; Cassius, a civil engineer in the employ of the Northern Pacific Railroad Company; George, and Sally, wife of Robert Burrell.

Politically Mr. Van Arsdol is a firm be- liever in the principles of the Republican party. The family were members of the old Whig party and became identified with the Republicans as soon as that party was organ- ized. In religions faith the Van Arsdol family are Methodists, Isaac Van Arsdol having been a member of this church for thirty-six years, during which period he has been class-leader and member of the official board. His father was a minister in the Christian Church. His old log cabin was a sort of headquarters for religious gatherings both of the Methodist and other denomina. tions.

Althongh our subject has been a great worker and has already seen his " three score and ten " years, yet he is still a well preserved man, capable of enjoying the fruits of his labors, knowing as he certainly must that he has done his share toward the development of Page County. He has the satisfaction of a well-spent life, ever having thrown his in- finence on the side of right and justice. He has seen great changes in this part of Iowa

since that April day in 1854 when he landed here. He helped to fashion and make the first sod-breaking plow drawn by a horse team in Page County. Before his experi inent it was deemed impossible to turn the sod of the prairie with anything else than the old-fashioned ox team; but with this new plow three horses turned a clear cut furrow, and the idea at once revolutionized prairie breaking in this section.

To meet this true-hearted pioneer and listen to his recital of the struggles of those early days is indeed of great interest. He may well be proud of Page County and of the family he has reared and educated; and on the other hand the people of Page County may well present the entire Van Arsdol family as a model type of Page County's early settlers.

ALPH H. DELAP, a resident of Noda- way Township, is among Page County's early settlers. He is a native of Ten- nessee, born July 28, 1842, at Big Creek Gap, in Campbell County, and is a son of George and Phebe (Cabage) Delap. The Delap fam- ily were of French origin, and the mother's people were of German extraction. The fam- ily came to Page County by team in 1855, and located on land which is now embraced in Nodaway Township. They remained one winter, whichi was a severe one, and went back to the sunny South the following spring. The father died in Tennessee March 18, 1877, and the mother still resides in that State.

In 1863 Ralph H. returned to Page County and remained one winter, returning to the South. He continued to live in Tennessee until December, 1865, when he permanently located on his farm in this county. December 12, 1869, he was nnited in marriage to Ma-

499

HISTORY OF PAGE COUNTY.

hala Ingram, a daughter of Silas Ingramn, a pioneer of Page County. Mrs. Delap was born in Campbell County, Tennessee, and was bnt five years of age when her parents came to Page County, where she has since made her liome.

Mr. Delap has a finely improved farm of 280 acres, 100 acres of which is excellent timber land. His buildings for stock and all his surroundings indicate the thrift and wise management of the owner. In politics he is a Democrat of the life- long stripe, and lie was a loyal mnan during the dark days of the Re- bellion. He is now in the prime of life, and is possessed of a frankness and candor which win him hosts of friends. He lias traveled extensively, is a constant reader, and is thor- oughly posted concerning the principal events of the last third of a century.

LMER G. GUILD, Postmaster at Haw- leyville, Iowa, was born April 3, 1860, and is a son of L. W. and Orissa (East- on) Guild, natives of Ohio. His father was a harness-maker in Dover, Ohio, and also op- erated a farm near that place. Elmer O. is one of a family of six children, two of whom were lialf sisters, his father having been twice married: Fayette resides in Bedford, Ohio; Helen is the wife of W. H. Tibbles; Alvin W. resides in Hepburn, Iowa; Emma and Stella Orissa are deceased.

The subject of this sketch received a com- inon-school education and assisted in his father's shop till he was twenty-one years of age, wlien he hired to work on a farm tliree miles north of Columbus, Ohio; lie remained there nine months and then went to work in a brass foundry in Lorain, Ohio; after eleven months he went to Villisca, Iowa, and accept- ed a position as clerk in his brother's furniture

store. At the end of one year he went to work in a harness shop at Villisca, Iowa, but did not continue longer than six months; lie then went to work on a farm, and in a few months he came to Hawleyville and entered his brother's general store as clerk, holding this position for two years.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

Author: Lewis and Dunbar, Chicago, pub Publication date: 1890 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis & Dunbar Number of Pages: 946

Author: Lewis and Dunbar, Chicago, pub
Publication date: 1890
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis & Dunbar
Number of Pages: 946