USA > Iowa > Audubon County > History of Audubon county, Iowa; its people, industries, and institutions > Part 48
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LEMUEL CLARK JOHNSON.
The best history of a community or state is the one which deals most with the lives and activities of its people, especially of those who, by their endeavor and indomitable energy, have made their work count in the battles of life. In this brief review may be found the record of a well-known citizen of Audubon, this county, who has made a success of the drayage business in that town and who is honored by all for his upright life and habits of thrift and industry.
Lemuel Clark Johnson was born on. May 10, 1858, at Bernadotte, Ful- ton county, Illinois, the son of Gary and Margaret (Heiford) Johnson, both natives of Illinois. Margaret Heiford was the daughter of John Heiford, an early pioneer and one of the noted Indian fighters during the pioneer his- tory of Illinois. Gary Johnson was born in 1834 and died in 1874. His wife was born in 1835 and died in 1869. He died in Arkansas, to which state he had immigrated when his son, Lemuel C., was a mere lad. He had first immigrated, in 1870, to Kansas City and thence to Ft. Scott, from which place he went to Arkansas. He was a shoemaker by trade. Subsequently,
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Lemuel C. Johnson returned to Illinois, where he lived with an uncle for one year, and at the age of fifteen years began working for himself. He farmed for some time in Illinois and was married in that state in 1882. After his marriage, he continued farming until he came to Iowa in 1889. Mr. Johnson located in Audubon in the fall of 1890 and started a dray line, in which busi- ness he has prospered, now operating three teams in that city.
On December 31, 1882, Lemuel C. Johnson was married to Sarah Hoyle, who was born in Fulton county, Illinois, on June 18, 1865, the daugh- ter of Lawrence and Pauline (Walters) Hoyle, the former of whom died on April 2, 1893, and the latter in 1868, and to this union the following children have been born : Daisy, born on August 12, 1884, in Illinois, who is the wife of Ren Phelps, of Audubon; Annetta, September 7, 1886, who is the wife of Scott Smith, of Texas; Bessie, March 4, 1888, died on February 3, 1891 ; Irvin, December 5, 1890, who is a clerk in Marquesen's department store in Audubon ; Virgil, March 5. 1892 ; Mildred, July 12, 1904, and Avis, June 18, 1908, at home. The three first named children were born in Illinois.
Mr. Johnson is identifid with the Democratic party but has never been especially active in politics, though taking a keen interest in local good gov- ernment. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson and family are identified with the Baptist church of Audubon. and Mr. Johnson is a member of the Yeomen of America.
KRISTEN LARSEN.
It is a pleasure to record in this history the admiration in which are held the law-abiding citizens who come to our shores from sturdy little Denmark. These people belong to one of the most industrious nations in the world ; they are neither afraid nor ashamed to take up that which is first offered as a means of honest livelihood. They are not slaves to the social conditions, thus maintaining that independence of thought and action which give them distinctive individuality.
Kristen Larsen, farmer and stockman, of Douglas township, Audubon county, Iowa, was born on August 15, 1863, in Denmark. He is a son of Lars Larsen and Anna (Christiansen) Larsen. His early education was secured in the country schools of his native land. He left school at the age of fourteen and worked on a farm in that country, until he was twenty-nine years of age. Being ambitious, he made up his mind to see something of the world, as well as to seek a field offering more advantages than he could find
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in the land of his birth. On coming to America, he landed at New York. thence direct to Audubon county in 1891. He worked on a farm for one year, at the end of which time he bought a farm of one hundred acres, for which he paid twenty-seven dollars an acre, in section 19, Douglas township. He sold this property in 1899, and moved to section 29, where he bought one hundred and twenty acres, and in 1907, he bought one hundred acres about one mile west of his place, and in 1911 bought eighty acres one mile north of his home, for which he paid one hundred and fifty dollars an acre. The improvements on the place have cost Mr. Larsen about ten thousand dollars. His principal crops are corn and small grain, the corn averaging about sixty bushels to the acre, and the small grain about thirty-five bushels to the acre, the most of which is fed to the stock raised on the place. Mr. Larsen offers for sale each year about one hundred head of hogs and one car- load of cattle, all of which are of an extra good grade of stock. He is a member of the Danish Lutheran church, and holds the offices of school direc- tor and trustee at the present time. In politics, he is a Republican.
Lars and Anna (Christiansen) Larsen, parents of our subject, were born in Denmark, where they were also married, and were the parents of three children : Hannah, Gertrude and Kristen. The father was the owner of a small farm in Denmark, where he lived and died. He was in the German- Danish War of 1848.
In 1890, Mr. Larsen was united in marriage to Christina, daughter of Lars Jensen, of Denmark. They are the parents of eight children, namely : Lawrence, Louis, Anna, Katie, Mary, Arthur, Lilia and Otto, all of whom are still at home, with the exception of Anna, who became the wife of Martin Larsen. They reside about a mile from her father's home.
GEORGE KYHNN.
George Kyhnn is one of the representative farmers of Hamlin town- ship, Audubon county, Iowa. Mr. Kyhnn owns a splendid farm of two hundred and fifty-five acres and carries on the various departments of the farming enterprise with that discretion and energy which are certain to find their material sequence in a definite measure of success. Mr. Kyhnn has always been a hard worker and a good manager, and of economic habits. He has been fortunately situated in a thriving farming community. It is no wonder that he stands today in the front rank of the farmers in this favored section of the great Hawkeye commonwealth.
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George Kyhnn was born on September 3, 1861, in Schleswig, Germany. He is a son of John and Mary A. (Kruse) Kyhnn, who were also natives of Schleswig, where John Kyhnn was a farmer. John Kyhnn and wife were the parents of eight children, of whom George Kyhnn was the eldest.
George Kyhnn attended school until he was sixteen years of age, during which time he received a very creditable education. After leaving school he worked out until he came to the United States. He was married in Ger- many.
In November, 1883, Mr. Kyhnn came to the United States, landing at New York city, thence coming directly to Audubon county, Iowa, where he had some cousins living. At first, Mr. Kyhnn located at Audubon, where he obtained work with the Rock Island Railway Company as a section hand. He worked for this company five years, after which he rented a farm for three years. Subsequently, he purchased eighty acres of land in section 16, of Hamlin township, and Mr. Kyhnn has gradually added to his original land holdings until he is now the owner of two hundred and fifty-five acres of land. He has erected nearly all of the buildings now standing on the farm and put upon it nearly all of the present improvements, and he now has one of the best-improved and highly-productive farms within a radius of several miles.
George Kyhnn was married on June 30, 1883, in Lygumkloster, Schleswig, to Eliza Jepsen, who was born on November 29, 1857, in Schles- wig, and who is a daughter of Soren and Christina (Petersen) Jepsen. Her father was a farmer and tax collector in his native country, in which latter capacity he worked for the Danish government.
Mr. and Mrs. George Kyhnn are the parents of eight children: John, who married Agnes Nelsen, the daughter of Rasmus Nelsen, and they have one child, George; Sherman, Anna, Christina, Chris, Ida, Arthur and Rosa. The seven unmarried children are still living at home.
Mr. Kyhnn is engaged in general farming and stock raising. He feeds quite a number of cattle and hogs each year for the market, and is also interested in the dairy business, milking about fifteen cattle. Mr. Kyhnn is a stockholder in the Elkhorn-Marne Telephone Company.
Mr. Kyhnn is a Republican, and has served as township trustee for Hamlin township for the past eight years, the duties of which office he has discharged in a most satisfactory manner and has won the praise and approval of all the citizens of the township, regardless of politics. He and his family are members of the Danish Lutheran church at Hamlin, and are active in the affairs of this church, and are liberal contributors to its support.
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CARL M. JENSEN.
In recalling the old saying that "A rolling stone gathers no moss," we can certainly bear witness to the fact that it does not apply to the subject of this sketch, for he has been amply rewarded for the risk, if we may call it such, in leaving his mother country and casting his lot into the "melting-pot" of the world-America. In the community in which he lives, Mr. Jensen is more than comfortably provided for in this world's, goods, and he is con- sidered a man of wealth.
Carl M. Jensen, farmer, Douglas township, Audubon county, Iowa, is a son of Jens Jensen and Mary Kjin. He was born in Denmark, where he attended school until fourteen years of age, when he went to work on a farm in Denmark until he was nineteen years old. He served for a time in the army in his native country, after which he again went to work on a farm. At the age of twenty-two he came to this country, landing in New York, and came directly west, stopping in Chicago a short time, and then went to Clifton, Illinois, where he worked for an Irishman for the purpose of learn- ing the English language. He worked for this man one year, then worked one year for the man's brother in the same town, going from that place to Harlan, Iowa, where he worked one summer in a brick-yard, after which he rented a farm in Shelby county, near Harlan, and lived there nine years. He then went to Erwin and rented a farm, on which he lived three years. Becoming dissatisfied with this location, he went to Audubon county in 1900, bought eighty acres of the place he now lives on, for which he paid twenty- nine dollars and fifty cents an acre, and the next fall bought another farm of eighty acres, paying thirty-five dollars an acre, and six years later, bought the balance of his farm for sixty-five dollars an acre, one hundred and ninety- nine acres, in all. He has put about seven thousand five hundred dollars' worth of improvements on the place. In 1910 he built a new and modern dwelling, at a cost of four thousand dollars and has erected a waterworks on the farm. The principal crops are corn and oats. The corn averages about fifty bushels to the acre, and the oats about thirty-five bushels to the acre. He feeds about one car of cattle and one car of hogs each year. In addition to his farm work Mr. Jensen has served as school director. He belongs to the Baptist church of Shelby county, and is Sunday school teacher, collector and treasurer. He has always voted the Republican ticket. His parents were born in Denmark, where they both died and where his father was a farmer on a small scale. They had a family of nine children, namely : Stina, Christiana, Anna, Jens, Christ, Andrew, Selius, John and Carl N.
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In 1882 Mr. Jensen was married in Denmark to Sena Rockdal, daughter of Andrew Rockdal, and they are the parents of eleven children, as follow : Carrie, Thorwald, Ella, Stella, Mattie, Anna, Evaline, Roy, Holgar, Levy and Arnold. Carrie became the wife of a Mr. Montgomery, and lives in California. Thorwald is in Oakfield township, Audubon county; Ella became the wife of a Mr. Peterson and lives in Shelby county; Stella was married to Dwight Teague and lives near Audubon ; Mattie visited the Panama Expo- sition, 1915: Anna is married to a Mr. Jensen, and lives in Shelby county ; Evaline is at home, where she attends the country school; Arnold and Levy work on their father's farm.
OL. MEASE.
After many years of hard work and close attention to business, the gen- tleman whose name captions this sketch, is enabled to enjoy the fruits of his labor, doing so with the knowledge that he has always dealt with his brother- man in an honest, straightforward manner. His life as a farmer has been eminently successful in all phases, and his unremitting industry, coupled with integrity, has been rewarded by a fair share of the world's goods.
Ol. Mease, farmer and general stockman, Lincoln township, Audubon county, was born at Freedport, Illinois, March 27. 1865. He is a son of J. J. Mease and Elizabeth (Walkey) Mease. He left Freedport with his father, when five years of age. His early education was secured in the public schools. of the county and, on quitting school at the age of seventeen years, went to work on his father's farm, where he remained until twenty-one years old. He then rented a farm in Iowa, and followed the vocation of threshing grain for twenty-four years. At the present time he farms two hundred and twenty acres, which is owned by his wife, and devotes his special attention to the breeding and sale of Percheron stallions and horses, a number of which he sells each year. He now has nine stallions and twenty-one thoroughbred mares on the place. In addition to the above, Mr. Mease is also devoting a portion of his time and attention to Duroc hogs, of which he has one hundred and eighty on the place, and of these he sells about two carloads each year. The grain raised on his farm is all fed to the stock. He has put about six thousand dollars worth of improvements on his land. His political views are Democratic.
The father of Ol. Mease lived at Freedport for ten years, where he fol-
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lowed the vocation of farming, and went from there to Nebraska for a few years, going from there to Iowa, where he rented a farm, and after remain- ing here for a time, he went to the Ozark mountains, where he now resides. He and his wife are the parents of the following children, namely: Ed., Ol., Art., Wilber, Mary, Martha, Rose.
Mr. Mease was united in marriage, on April 20, 1899, to Mrs. Eliza A. Welty, widow of Lynn Welty, and has since lived on the place where they settled at the time of their marriage. They have no children. Mrs. Mease is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
Mrs. Mease is a daughter of William M. and Eliza A. (Clark) Matson, who were natives of Ohio, where they married and later settled in Illinois, when he and she later came to Audubon county, Iowa, where she later bought land and here she died. They had seven children, Maudy, now Mrs. Kittell, and subject's wife. The other five died in infancy. She died on June 16, 1903, at Gray, Iowa.
ALBERT DAVID.
Among the representative farmers of Lincoln township, none is more deserving of praise than Albert David, the subject of this sketch. He possesses the qualities necessary for success on a farm. and has not been slow in putting his ability to a use that would give him the best possible returns. He has fully demonstrated that progress is the order of the age. He is a good manager, and keeps himself well informed on the most approved meth- ods of up-to-date farming and stock raising.
Albert David, general farmer and stockman, Lincoln township, Audubon county, is a son of John and Wilhelmena David. After carefully consider- ing the matter, he decided to branch out as a farmer on his own responsibility, and rented a farm in Douglas township, which he cultivated for two years after his marriage, and then went into partnership with his father on his farm, remaining with him until twenty-eight years old. Leaving his father, he bought a farm in Lincoln township, in section 17, where he remained six years, after which he bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 21, which at one time belonged to his father, and which he still owns and lives on. He has put in about three thousand dollars worth of improvements on the place, and has made a specialty of corn and small grain, which he feeds to hogs and cattle. He feeds, on an average, fifty hogs each year. Mr. David has done his share in filling the township offices. He was school
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director for one year, and road supervisor about the same length of time. He is a member of the German Lutheran church, and in politics, votes the Democratic ticket.
The parents of our subject were both born in Germany, coming to America in 1886, and settled in Audubon county. The father worked as a farm hand for four or five years, and then rented a farm and commenced to farm for himself. In a few years, he had accumulated sufficient money to purchase a farm of eighty acres in section 17, Lincoln township, where he lived six years, when he sold out and bought a larger farm, on which he still lives in section 21. They had six children-Johanna, Carl, Albertina, Fred, Albert and Agusta. Agusta has never married.
Mr. David was married in 1899, to Minnie Borkowski, daughter of Henry and Alvina Borkowski, by whom he has had five children, as follow : Edna, Alford, Emil, Clarence and Hugo.
Mrs. David's father, Henry Borkowski, came from Germany. Her mother, Alvina Polzin, came from Germany, also, and settled in Cook county, Illinois, for two years, after which they located in Pottawattamie county, Iowa, and later came to Lincoln township, Audubon county, where he is still living. The mother is now dead. They were the parents of the following children : Emil, Otto, Minnie, Henry, Gustav, and two daughters who died when young.
FRANK E. DUVALL.
Coming to this county in 1886 with a draft for six hundred dollars, a team of horses and a wagon, Frank E. Duvall, at that time a young man just past his majority, went to work with the determination to establish a home on the prairie of Greeley township, and now owns four hundred and eighty acres of as good land as lies in Audubon county, all of which is in an excellent state of cultivation and on which he has a house in which there is running water and all the conveniences of a city home with barns and out- buildings to match, making one of the best managed and most highly devel- oped farms in the county, his industry furnishing a fine example for the rising generation of this county.
Frank E. Duvall, was born in Washington county, Iowa, July 5, 1864, the son of Jefferson and Mary (Brown) Duvall, natives of Union county, Ohio, the former of whom was a son of Horace Duvall, a native of France and a soldier of the War of 1812, who for many years thereafter drew a pension from a grateful government for his faithful service in that struggle
Frank G. Duvall
אב
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with England. Upon Horace Duvall's death his widow was left in the care of her son, Jefferson, who was one of the first settlers in Washington county, this state. He drove through from Ohio with his wife and mother, arriving at his destination in the bleak November with three dollars in cash and a yoke of oxen. The former he gave for three bushels of wheat and the latter he traded for forty acres of virgin land, on which he made his home and where he and his wife spent the remainder of their lives. Jefferson Duvall and his wife were among the leaders among the pioneers of that section of the state. They were earnest members of the Methodist church and were prom- inent in the activities of the "underground railroad" of slavery days. Jeffer- son Duvall lived a clean, upright life and enjoyed the reputation of being one of the most level-headed men in that part of the state. He was an ardent Republican and took an active part in the political affairs of Washington county, his counsel and advice being accepted without question by the party leaders of that time and place. He and his wife were the parents of ten chil- dren : William, Reeves, Horace W., A. I., Mrs. Clea Crahil, Mrs. Emma Rushling, Frank E., Mrs. Kate Gray, Edward and one who died in infancy.
Frank E. Duvall received but little schooling in his youth, Ray's Arith- metic being his principal text-book, his boyhood being spent herding cattle on the boundless prairies. He remained at home until he was nearly twenty-two years of age, at which time he came to Audubon county, being attracted by word of the wonderful fertility of the soil in this section. He had a draft for six hundred dollars and a team of horses and a wagon. He bought eighty acres of virgin land in section 3 of Greeley township, paying six hundred dollars for the same. On this farm he built a small house, fourteen by twenty-two, eight feet in height, which by the time the plastering was finished, cost him about two hundred dollars. He later bought an eighty-acre tract adjoining, on which there had been erected a one-room house, which he moved over and attached to his house, thus giving him three rooms, and this he called "home, sweet home" until 1909, in which year he built his present handsome and commodious home of eleven rooms, with furnace, hot and cold water, bath and all the conveniences of a city home. His barns and grain cribs are on a similar scale. He has crib room for about twenty thousand bushels of corn and has modern feeding sheds with concrete floors. He feeds about fifteen car loads of cattle and about five hundred and fifty head of hogs annually. having added to his original eighty-acre range until he now possesses a fine farm of four hundred and eighty acres, well improved and up to the highest standard of cultivation.
(33)
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On November 21, 1889, Frank E. Duvall was united in marriage to Anna Maurer, daughter of Anthony and Mary (Cribbs) Maurer, prominent residents of this county, a biographical sketch of whom is presented elsewhere in this volume. To this union six children were born, five of whom are still living : Nellie, born on June 13, 1893, who married Carl Wilson and has four children, Vernon, Ruby, Wilma and Buena; Olive, born on September 24, 1900; Clark, born on July 30, 1904: Millie, born on April 15, 1906; Martha, born on September 15, 1910, and Arvie, who died when two years of age.
Mr. Duvall is a Republican and gives a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of the county, and has filled minor offices of trust and responsi- bility with credit to himself and satisfaction to the people of his township. He is an excellent citizen and fine neighbor and enjoys the full confidence and respect of all who know hin, he and his wife being held in the highest regard by all.
JOHN WAHLERT.
John Wahlert, now numbered among the prominent and successful farmers of Greeley township, this county, was born on November 22, 1866, in Moline, Rock Island county, Illinois, the son of Jurgen and Lena (Dol- meier) Wahlert, the former of whom was born in Holstein, Germany, on December 3, 1842, son of John and Elizabeth (Stormon) Wahlert, both natives of Germany. John Wahlert was a laborer and farm hand, who came to America in 1885 many years after his son Jurgen had located here. He located in Illinois and after remaining there for a short time, came to Audu- bon county, where he spent the rest of his life with his children. He and his wife were the parents of the following children, namely : Fred, Jurgen, Tenia (deceased), John (deceased), Jacob, Catherine, Margaret, Edward and August. Jurgen Wahlert was educated in the schools of his native land and "worked out," as a farm hand, by the month. He came to America at the age of twenty-four, a year after his marriage, arriving in this country on May 28, 1866, and located at Moline, Illinois, where for a time he worked as a laborer in a saw-mill and in the lumber yards of that city, later engaging in farming near Moline, and was thus engaged until 1881, in which year he came to Audubon county and purchased a farm. He now owns two hundred and forty acres which he purchased from the Rock Island Railroad Company for seven dollars an acre.
On April 16, 1865, in Germany, Jurgen Wahlert was married to Lena Dolmeier, the daughter of Jacob Dolmeier, and to this union nine children
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were born, namely: John, Bertha, Fred, August, William, George, Edward, Minnie and Gustave, John Wahlert, the subject of this sketch, being the eldest.
John Wahlert attended the public schools of Illinois until he was sixteen years old. In 1881 the family came to this county and he continued to live at home until he was twenty-three years old. He then spent a few months in Fremont county, Iowa, and in South Dakota, after which he came back to Audubon county, where he has since lived. Working out for various farmers in the neighborhood until he was twenty-seven years old, Mr. Wahl- ert then bought one hundred and twenty acres of partly improved land in section 26 of Greeley township. On this he has made many additional 'improvements, and it is now regarded as one of the best farms in the county. Mr. Wahlert has prospered and not long ago added two hundred acres more to his farm holdings, this latter farm being located in section 34 of Greeley township.
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