USA > Iowa > Audubon County > History of Audubon county, Iowa; its people, industries, and institutions > Part 50
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John E. Siemsen, after having completed his education in the public schools of Douglas township, Audubon county, attended business college at Glidden, Iowa, and upon completing a course in this institution, returned home and took up farming with his father, which vocation he followed until 1905, when he took over the complete management of the farm. At that time his father retired and moved to Audubon, where he spent the remainder of his life. About thirty-five hundred dollars have been invested in improv- ing this place, and it is now one of the many good farms of this township. Mr. Siemsen raises thirty acres of small grain, forty acres of corn and sells about one-half of his grain, feeding the remainder to stock on his own place. His corn yields an average of fifty bushels to the acre. Besides raising about forty head of hogs each year on his place, he also raises thoroughbred Short- horn cattle, and has at the present time a herd of twenty head of these fine animals.
John E. Siemsen was married in 1905 to Ethel Farnham, the daughter of Charles Farnham, and of the six children born to this marriage, three are deceased, Glynn, James and John. The living children are Bessie, Nellie and Beatrice, all of whom are at home with their parents.
Fraternally, Mr. Siemsen is a member of the Modern Woodmen of
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America, and is a member of the council in this order. He has been for several years identified with the Democratic party.
John E. Siemsen, although a comparatively young man, has made satis- factory progress thus far in life, and what is best of all, he has won the good will of the people of Cameron township, where he lives. He is a young man of progressive spirit and good moral habits, and is an honor to the township and county where he makes his home.
JOHN RILEY, M. D.
The man who devotes his talents and energies to the noble work of ministering to the ills and alleviating the sufferings of humanity is pursuing a calling which in dignity, importance and beneficent results is second to no other. If true to his profession and earnest in his efforts to enlarge his sphere of usefulness, he is indeed a benefactor of his kind; for to him more than any other man are entrusted the safety, the comfort and, in many instances, the lives of those who place themselves under his care and profit by his services. Taking the foregoing into consideration and giving due credit to this noblest of professional callings, it is undoubtedly a mark of the highest distinction to have practiced continuously for thirty-five years in one locality and to be noted as the second oldest practicing physician in the county. Such is the record of the professional gentleman whose name forms the caption of this review. He is one of the honored and successful physi- cians of this section of the state, having for years ministered to the sick and ailing of Exira and vicinity, and is still actively engaged in the practice of his profession.
John Riley was born on August 18, 1850, in Cambridge, Illinois, son of Dr. John and Abigail (Burnett) Riley, natives of Saratoga county, New York. Abigail Burnett was of colonial origin and the father of the elder Dr. John Riley was of English descent. The family left the ancestral home in Saratoga county, New York, in 1847 and came west as far as Illinois. The senior Dr. John Riley was a physician of wide repute and followed his calling in Whiteside county, Illinois, with signal success. He was a graduate of the Castleton (Vermont) Medical College and came west the year follow- ing his graduation, in 1846. At that time Whiteside county was in process of settlement and Doctor Riley, the elder, was one of the pioneer physicians of the county. In fact, it is a matter of historical record that he was the first
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physician to locate in Whiteside county and was the only one for several years. For a number of years he was located in Rock River, directly east of the city of Rock Island, his headquarters being practically in Morrison, the county seat of Whiteside county. He and his good wife now lie buried in Whiteside county.
John Riley, the younger, of whom this biography directly treats, attended the primitive schools in Whiteside county, and also studied in the Geneseo high school. He taught school for a period of six years, meanwhile pursuing the study of medicine in his father's office. Upon leaving the high school he studied at Quincy College, and later was graduated from Mussel- man's Business College at Quincy, Illinos. After completing his commercial course he was solicited to take charge of the commercial department of the Northern Illinois College at Fulton. He accepted the offer and continued his collegiate studies for two years while thus engaged. He then entered the Teachers' Training School at Clinton, Iowa, and taught in that institution while studying medicine. Continuing his preparation for the practice of his chosen profession, he was graduated from the medical department of the Iowa State University in 1880. Soon after his graduation Doctor Riley ยท came to this county, locating at Exira, where he has practiced continuously ever since, a period of thirty-five years, and is now the second oldest physi- cian in the county, in point of years of continuous practice. He has been very successful in his calling and has achieved considerable distinction as an able practtiioner.
In August, 1880, Dr. John Riley was married to Mary Jane Powers, a talented woman, who, at the time of her marriage with Doctor Riley, was a teacher in Cedar Rapids. Mrs. Riley is an Ohioan by birth and is a graduate of the famous Ohio Wesleyan University, located in Delaware, Ohio. She was noted as being a very successful teacher, and has proved a fitting and capable helpmeet for her busy husband. Doctor and Mrs. Riley are the parents of two children, John C. Riley, a jeweler located in Exira, this county, and Ethel Mary, a member of the Episcopal Sisterhood of St. Mary's, in Chicago.
Doctor Riley is a Republican in politics, and is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, being attached to the blue lodge at Exira, the chapter and commandery at Audubon, to Za-Ga-Zig temple of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine at Des Moines. He also has membership in the Audubon County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society and the American Medical Association.
The long years spent by Doctor Riley among the people of southern
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Audubon county have endeared him to them beyond measure and his friends are legion. He and his wife are devoted to the best interests of the com- munity and are active in all good works thereabout, being held in the highest regard by all who know them.
JOHN C. BONWELL.
It is by no means an easy task to describe within the limits of this review, the career of a man who has led an active and eminently useful life, and, who by his own exertions, reached a position of honor and trust in the political life of the county with which his interests are allied. The biographer finds justification, nevertheless, in tracing and recording the chief facts in such a life history and the public claims a certain interest in the career of very indi- vidual, who has occupied a position of prominence. The time invariably arrives when men of this character are entitled to the proper recognition for their work, and it is with considerable satisfaction that the career of John C. Bonwell is briefly outlined in this sketch.
John C. Bonwell is a prominent farmer of Viola township, Audubon county, Iowa, who has served his township and county in many positions of trust and responsibility. He has served as a member of the Iowa General Assembly, as county supervisor of Audubon county and, in addition to these offices, he has filled practically all of the township offices.
John C. Bonwell was born in Ohio, on November 6, 1842. He is the son of Nathaniel and Charity (Lowman) Bonwell, natives of Virginia and Pennsylvania, respectively. The paternal great-grandfather of John C. Bon- well was a soldier in the Revolutionary War. The family originally came from Scotland to Ireland and from Ireland to Virginia. Mr. Bonwell's grandfather, Arthur Bonwell, owned a plantation in Virginia and also owned many slaves. He brought them to Brown county, Ohio, and freed them when he moved north, at the same time giving each slave forty acres of land. Nathaniel Bonwell owned a farm in Highland county and there reared his family. He died in Highland county in 1864.
John C. Bonwell attended school in the Northern Normal University at Lebanon, Ohio, and here received most of his education.
John C. Bonwell was a valiant soldier in the great Civil War. He enlisted in 1862 in Company F. Sixtieth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and hav- ing served three months, was taken prisoner at Harper's Ferry and sent away to be exchanged. He came home after his parole and remained for two
Eng by E & Williams & Ber NY.
John b. Bowl
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years or until 1864 when he re-enlisted in Company A, One Hundred and Seventy-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry. He was engaged in the battles of Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, Tennessee, and was mustered out of the service in June, 1865, at Nashville.
Mr. Bonwell was married in 1869 and came west to Jasper county, Iowa, settling in Monroe township. He taught school for two years and then took the position of bookkeeper in the First National Bank at Monroe.
In 1875 Mr. Bonwell moved to Exira and engaged there in the drug and grocery business which he continued for one year. He traded the store for three hundred and twenty acres of land in Viola township and a short time later moved to this farm. It was prairie land and Mr. Bonwell has placed splendid improvements upon this farm and planted many trees. At the time he took possession of the land, there was but a small shanty and a hay stable on it; some of the land, however, had been broken. Mr. Bonwell now has a modern home and has increased his holdings until he owns eleven hundred and twenty acres in Viola township. Since 1889 he has not been actively engaged in farming. He has dealt in cattle, purchased, fed and shipped them to the extent of two hundred head annually. During the past four years, however, he has lived retired, renting out the land which he owns.
John C. Bonwell has filled a large place in the political life of Andubon county. He is an ardent Republican and has filled almost all of the town- ship offices, serving as county supervisor of Audubon county between 1899 and 1906. In 1906 he was elected representative in the Iowa Legislature. He served in the thirty-second General Assembly and in the extra session of the thirty-third. During the thirty-second General Assembly, he was a mem- ber of the various committees dealing with ways and means, agriculture, appropriations, claims, industrial schools, the state university, constitutional amendments, state educational institutions, and military affairs. During the thirty-third General Assembly, he was the chairman of the committee on roads and highways. He introduced the first good roads bill which was the forerunner of the bill now pending before the Iowa Legislature. During this session, Mr. Bonwell was a member of the different committees on ways and means; insurance, agriculture, schools and text books; the state uni- versity ; compensation of public officers; public accounting, and military affairs. During this session, Mr. Bonwell introduced the Daylight Saloon bill and another bill making it a penal offense to assault a man in order to get a winter jail sentence. The honorable John C. Bonwell established an excellent record in both sessions of the Iowa General Assembly in which he
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served; a record of which he and his constituents have reason to be very proud.
On December 27, 1869, John C. Bonwell was married to Mary Miller, who was born in Highland county, Ohio, March 7, 1846. She is the daugh- ter of Jacob and Eliza Miller, natives of Ohio. Three children were born to this union, Pauline, who is the wife of Dr. H. E. Jewell, of Coon Rapids, Iowa, and has three children, John Bonwell and Harris Lee, twins, and Thur- low ; Mrs. Gertrude Hoffman, who lives in Viola township and has one child, Violet ; and Mrs. Leora May Jewell, who lives in Magnolia. Putnam county, Illinois.
Although Mr. Bonwell's father was a member of the Quaker church, Mr. Bonwell himself attends the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the chapter and commandery, of Audubon county, and Za-Ga-Zig Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Des Moines.
JOHN FAABORG.
One of the enterprising farmers of Sharon township, Audubon county, Iowa, the owner of a hundred and forty acres of splendid farming land in this township, is John Faaborg, who was born September 15, 1858, in Den- mark, the son of Simon and Dorothy Faaborg, also natives of Denmark, who came to America in 1875, when their son John was seventeen years old, and located in Clinton county, where they rented a farm for five years. At the end of this period they moved to Shelby county, lowa, and settled in Clay township, where they farmed for a time. Simon Faaborg died in Audubon county, July 4, 1899. His wife, however, had died many years previously, in 1875, shortly after their arrival in America. She had been the mother of six children.
After receiving a good education in the schools of his native land, John Faaborg worked out as a farm hand and came with his parents to America in 1875. After arriving in this country he worked out as a farm hand, until 1881, when he moved to Audubon county, and purchased forty acres of land, practically all of which was raw prairie. Mr. Faaborg broke the sod for the first time, paying seventeen dollars an acre for the first forty acres and eventually increased his acreage until he now owns a hundred and forty acres, upon which he has invested six thousand dollars in buildings, fences, drains and other improvements. Ordinarily, he raises sixty acres of corn, which
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averages fifty bushels to the acre, and twenty-five acres of small grain, all of which he feeds to his hogs and cattle. From eighty to one hundred head of hogs are raised every year on the Faaborg farm.
John Faaborg was married in 1881 to Mary Petersen, daughter of Mads Petersen. Eleven children were born to this union as follow: Christian, Simon, Mads, Hans, Christena, Axel, Anna, Edith, Lydia, Anton and Otto. Of these children, Christian married Christena Olsen, and they have two children, Frederick and Christena; Hans married Mary Grave, and Anton married Helga Jacobsen; Christena married Martin Larson, and they have one child. After the death of Christian Faaborg's wife he was married to Dagmar Jensen, and by this second marriage there have been two children born, Mary and Rose.
John Faaborg is a member of the Danish Lutheran church, and was a trustee in this church. A Democrat in politics, Mr. Faaborg has served as school director in his township, and has always been interested in maintaining good schools in Sharon township. He is a man of modest and unassuming demeanor, who, although he is interested in public questions and the com- munity welfare, has devoted his time and efforts principally to the interests of his family and to his vocation. Possessed with a natural liking for farm- ing he has been very successful, and in his adopted country has been able to carve out a comfortable home where he will be able to live during his declin- ing years in peace and comfort. John Faaborg has the good will of all his neighbors who respect him for his sterling manhood and unfailing integrity.
LOUIS E. TRAMP.
Among the families of Audubon county, whose members have worthily discharged their duties to their fellows and to their community, no family takes higher rank than that of the Tramps, who are today prominently identified with the business and social life of Audubon and the county at large. For many years the members of this family have stood for all that is best in business, educational, moral and social life. They have wielded an influence that has been potential in the development and welfare of Audubon county, and the various members are numbered among the enterprising and progressive citizens of this county. Because of the prominence which the family has enjoyed in manufacturing circles and in the business life of this county-the close relations which they have sustained to the welfare and
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prosperity of this community-they are eminently entitled to representation in a work of this character.
Louis E. Tramp, a worthy representative of the second generation of the family in this county and the successor to the flourishing business estab- lished by his father, Charles L. Tramp, was born on March 22, 1880, in Bloomington, Illinois, son of Charles L. and Augusta D. (Damaska) Tramp. Louis E. Tramp was not yet a year old when the family moved to Audubon in 1881. He was educated in the Audubon schools, completing the high- school course, and worked for his father at making brick from the time he was a small boy. When twenty-one years of age, he and his brother pur- chased their father's brick plant and have since been engaged in operating that business.
On October 12, 1905, Louis E. Tramp was married to Anna L. McGin- nis, daughter of Lewis A. and Lavenia (Hoak) McGinnis, to which union four children have been born, Worth W., Paul E., Harold M., who died at the age of three years, and William D. Louis E. Tramp is a Mason, having attained to the chapter in that order. He also is an Odd Fellow and has attained to the encampment of that order, and is likewise a member of the Modern Woodmen of America and of the Eastern Star. In his political views he is in conformance with the policies of the Republican party and gives a good citizen's attention to the political affairs of the county.
Lewis A. McGinnis, father of Mrs. Tramp, who is now living retired in Audubon, this county, was born on a farm in Champaign county, Ohio, November 8, 1845, a son of William Lewis and Sarah ( Harbor) McGinnis, natives of Kentucky and Ohio, respectively, the former of whom was born in 1802, and died in 1882, and the latter of whom was born in 1807 and died in 1875. William Lewis McGinnis was the son of William McGinnis, a native of Kentucky, and a soldier of the War of 1812, whose parents migrated to that state from Pennsylvania. William Lewis and Sarah ( Har- bor) McGinnis were married in Ohio and spent the rest of their lives in that state, having been sixteen years old when the family settled in Champaign county in 1818. The father of William McGinnis settled in Kentucky before the Revolutionary War, and a brother of Simon Kenton, the famous pioneer and Indian fighter, was his brother-in-law. To William Lewis and Sarah (Harbor) McGinnis the following children were born: Anna, deceased; William Henry, who died in infancy ; Susanna, deceased; Samuel H., who removed to California in 1858; John N. who lives in Illinois; Thomas J., who died in Kansas, and Lewis A., the father of Mrs. Louis E. Tramp.
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On April 2, 1862, at the age of sixteen years, four months and twenty- four days, Lewis A. McGinnis enlisted at Columbus, Ohio, in Company A, Sixty-first Regiment, Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years during the Civil War, being discharged at Goldsboro, North Carolina, on April 3, 1865. He fought in the second battle of Bull Run, at Chancellors- ville and at Gettysburg. For eighteen months he was attached to the Army of the Potomac and fought at Freeman's Ford, White Sulphur Springs, Waterloo Bridge and Fairfax Court House. He also was engaged in the battle of Wahatchie, Mission Ridge, Burnt Hickory, Dallas, Kenesaw Moun- tain, Peachtree Creek and in the siege of Atlanta. From May 10 to Septem- ber 1, 1864, he was under fire constantly. He was at Montietti Swamp, Georgia ; Averysboro, North Carolina, and Bentonville, North Carolina. His captain was Fred S. Wallace and his regimental commanders were Colonel Schleich and Col. Stephen J. McGroarty. The generals in charge of the brigade in which Mr. McGinnis served were General Bohlen, who was killed at Freeman's Ford; General Schimmelpfennig, General Tindale and Colonel Robinson. The division commanders were Gen. Carl Schurz, Gen. A. S. Williams and Gen. Ward. During the battle of Bull Run, Mr. McGinnis was under General Sigel and also served under Gen. Joe Hooker, Gen. O. O. Howard and Gen. H. W. Slocum. While in the Army of the Potomac he was under Gen. John Pope, General McClellan, General Burnside and Gen. George Gordon Meade. Subsequently, he was transferred to the Army of the West and served under General Thomas. Returning home after the war he farmed for some time and in 1877 moved to Illinois, residing for some time in Vermilion county, that state. In 1901 he sold out his holdings there and came to Audubon county, locating in Audubon, the county seat, where he is living a retired life. Mr. McGinnis served as deputy county clerk of Audubon county and was elected county clerk in 1908 on the Republican ticket, and was re-elected in 1910, serving altogether four years, retiring on January 1, 1913. Mr. McGinnis is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and, fraternally, is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, the Modern Woodmen of America. and the Order of the Eastern Star.
On September 13, 1870, Lewis A. McGinnis was married to Lavenia Hoak, of Champaign county, Ohio, who was born on August 27, 1849, daughter of Lemuel and Lucretia Hoak, to which union the following chil- dren were born: Gilbert, who died in 1876; Oron C., who lives in Los Angeles, California; Mrs. May Gray, of Greenville, Texas; Mr. Cora L. Barnett, who lives in Rush county, Indiana, southeast of Indianapolis; Mrs. Anna L. Tramp, and Lewis L., who lives at Waseca, Minnesota.
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The Audubon Brick Company was started by Charles L. Tramp in the spring of 1882. He continued to operate the plant until in March, 1901, when it was taken charge of by Louis E. and Charles A. Tramp, his sons, who operated it until July, 1902, when Charles A. sold out to his brother, Benjamin F., who, with Louis E., has continued to operate the plant since that time. In November, 1909, a new and greatly enlarged plant was erected on the east side of the Nishnebotna, comprising four kilns, each with a capacity of fifty thousand bricks, the factory and drying-shed covering an area of fifty-two by a hundred and two feet, two floors. The steam dryer has a capacity of a hundred and sixty thousand three-inch drain tile, and there is a dryer, fifty-three by one hundred and thirty feet, with a capacity of ninety thousand three-inch drain tile. The third dryer, fifty-two by a hundred feet, has a capacity of forty-five thousand bricks. The operating department is run by a seventy-five horse-power engine with two boilers hav- ing a capacity of one hundred and thirty horse power, the equipment being modern in every respect and practically new. An average of twenty men are employed. The output is shipped over Iowa, Nebraska, Missouri and surrounding states. The firm manufactures building brick, drain tile and building tile, and manufactures one million five hundred thousand bricks annually, Louis E. Tramp occupying the position of general manager.
Charles L. Tramp, who established the above business, and who is now retired, was born on February 20, 1846, in the city of Waren, in Germany. the son of Frederick and Fredericka Tramp. Frederick Tramp was born in 1817 and died in 1879. He was a brickmaker by trade and also learned the trade of a hand-loom linen weaver in Germany. He came to America in the spring of 1855, landing in New York city on May 28. and reached Chicago on June 7. From Chicago he went to Long Grove, Lake county, Illinois, and on June 14 settled in Halfday, six miles south of Libertyville, and lived there until 1856, in which year the moved to Bloomington, Illinois. remaining there until 1868, when he moved to Atlanta, Illinois, where he started a small brick yard. There he resided and manufactured brick until 1874, in which year he moved to Lincoln. Logan county, Illinois, and' mani- factured brick for seven years, or until his death. in 1880. Frederick and Fredericka Tramp were the parents of six children, as follows: Mrs. Louisa Siebert, who lives at Bloomington, Illinois; Charles I ... who is referred to here variously : Mrs. Henrietta Hecker, who lives at Audubon, this county : Harmon, who lives in Louisiana, Missouri; Mrs. Helen Dixon, who lives at Hastings, Nebraska, and L. W., who lives at Kansas City, Missouri.
Charles L. Tramp moved to Audubon, this county, with his family in
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