USA > Iowa > Audubon County > History of Audubon county, Iowa; its people, industries, and institutions > Part 56
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in Cameron township, Mr. Jensen has invested in improvements upwards of five thousand dollars. He raises seventy acres of corn every year, which yields an average of fifty bushels to the acre, and all of this he feeds to his hogs and cattle, raising one hundred head of hogs every year, and selling one and one-half carloads of cattle. He raises thoroughbred Aberdeen- Angus cattle, and has been very successful with this breed.
In 1894 J. C. Jensen was married to Kate Petersen, daughter of Henry Petersen, to which union nine children have been born, namely: Anna, Hattie, Marten, Carrie, Walter, Henry, Minnie, Esther and Cecil. Anna married Chris Seiger. The remainder of the children are at home with their parents. Mr. and Mrs. Jensen are active in the membership of the Danish Lutheran church, in the faith of which their children have been reared, and Mr. Jensen is a liberal contributor to the support of the church. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and politically is identified with the Republican party.
J. C. Jensen is well known in Audubon county, not only as a successful farmer, but as a citizen whose interests are centered in the welfare of his neighbors and fellow citizens, and is deservedly popular in Cameron town- ship where he lives, he being a man whose word is known to be as good as his bond.
LUDWIG H. JOHANNSEN.
Since coming to America in 1881, Ludwig H. Johannsen, a well-known farmer of Villa township, this county, has become the owner of a splendid farm of one hundred and fifty-nine acres. He is the only member of the Johannsen family living in Audubon county.
Ludwig H. Johannsen was born in Schleswig, Germany, on January I, 1857, the son of Julius and Christena Johannsen, both natives of and resi- dents of that section of Germany, who came to America in 1881 and located in Scott county, Iowa, where Julius Johannsen worked in a saw-mill. He remained in Scott county the remainder of his life, dying in 1895. His widow, the mother of Ludwig H., is still living. In their native land, Julius . Johannsen was a ditching contractor. He and his wife lived to rear a fam- ily of five children, who are living in different parts of the country.
After having completed his education in the German schools, Ludwig H. Johannsen, worked in a tobacco factory until he came to America with his parents. Naturally, he located in Scott county with his parents and there
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he worked in a saw-mill with his father and also in a lumber yard. After remaining in Scott county for two years, he went to Wisconsin and worked as a logger in the timber until 1896, when he came to Audubon county and located in Melville township. After renting a farm in Melville township for about ten years, Mr. Johannsen purchased the farm where he now lives in Viola township. In addition to the land he owns he is also renting sixty acre of land. He raises eighty acres of corn every year and thirty acres of small grain, some of which he feeds to his hogs and cattle, but most of which he sells.
In 1885, four years after coming to America, Ludwig H. Johannsen was married to Anna Heyermann, daughter of Henry Heyermann, to which union seven children have been born, Henry, Hulda, George, Walter, Carl. William and Margaret, the latter two of whom are now deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Johannsen, although they are not members of any church, attend the Lutheran church. Mr. Johannsen is an independent Republican in politics and has served as school director in Melville township and worthily dis- charged the duties of that office.
The Johannsen family is well known and all of the members of this family are highly respected in Viola township, where they have lived for years. Mr. Johannsen is considered one of the enterprising spirits of that township and one of its most capable and successful farmers.
HOWARD G. SHOESMITH.
Howard G. Shoesmith, a well-known farmer of Greeley township, this . county, has been one of the leading citizens of that township for years. Mr. Shoesmith rents a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Greeley township, which he is cultivating with rare skill.
Howard G. Shoesmith was born on May 14, 1881, at North Branch, Iowa, the son of Stephen and Mary (May) Shoesmith, both natives of Eng- land. He was educated in North Branch and after completing his educa- tion began farming, which occupation he has followed ever since.
On January 2, 1907, Howard G. Shoesmith was married to Mary Wahlert, who was born on April 9, 1880, the daughter of Jacob and Ernes- tine (Fritche) Wahlert, to which union have been born four children, Stella, Virgil, Marvel and Rollo.
Mr. Shoesmith is a member of the Methodist church and is identified with the Republican party.
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ROBERT F. FRY.
Robert F. Fry, now a well-known and successful farmer of Melville township, this county, who owns a splendid farm of three hundred and twenty acres in this township, was born in Missouri on November 25, 1872, the son of John and Jane Fry, both natives of that state. John Fry was a farmer all his life, who removed from Missouri to Jasper county, Iowa, after his marriage, and after renting a farm in Jasper county, farmed there until 1882, when he moved to Cass county, this state, remaining there until 1885, in which year he came to Audubon county, locating in Melville township, where he rented a farm, which he managed until he retired. He is now living with his son, Robert F., the subject of this sketch. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, five of whom are living in Audubon county.
Robert F. Fry received his education in Audubon county, and after leaving school farmed with his father until he was twenty-one years old, at which time he rented a farm and started out for himself. In 1902 he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Melville township and later purchased an additional quarter section, making in all three hundred and twenty acres which he now owns. Mr. Fry raises one hundred and twenty- five acres of corn every year, which yields an average of fifty bushels to the acre. He also raises seventy-five acres of small grain, and feeds out one hundred head of hogs every year. He sells a part of the grain and feeds the balance. Several thousand dollars in improvements have been invested on the three hundred and twenty acres of land which Mr. Fry owns.
In 1898 Robert F. Fry was married to Carrie Owen, daughter of Will- iam and Mary Owen, to which union four children have been born, Marie, Harry, Lillie and Owen, the latter of whom is deceased.
Mrs. Fry's father, William Owen, was born on May 1, 1841, in Lincoln- shire, England, the son of Richard and Isabelle ( Spencer) Owen, who came to America about 1869 and settled in Audubon county, buying a farm in Melville township, being among the pioneers in that locality. Later they moved to Viola township, and still later to Leroy township, locating near Williams. Richard Owen and wife sold their land in 1889, and after a visit to England returned to Exira, this county, and died at the home of their son, William, in August, 1895. William Owen was educated in the English schools and was married in 1866 to Mary Ann Clifton and in October, of that year. set sail for America. On April 7, 1870, they came to Audubon county and purchased land in Leroy township. Mrs. William Owen was
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born on April 18, 1844, in Lincolnshire, England, the daughter of George and Jane (Spencer) Clifton, who died in their native land. A brother, now deceased, came to America with Mr. and Mrs. Owen. There have been twelve children in the family of Mr. and Mrs. William Owen, Robert J. F., William F., Richard, George Edward (deceased), Charles Clark, Worthy Earl, Carrie C., Lillie, Nancy A., Ethel M., Jane Elizabeth and George Wash- ington, the latter of whom were twins, now deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Robert F. Fry are members of the Presbyterian church. In politics Mr. Fry is a Democrat. He is one of the enterprising farmers and one of the well-known citizens of Melville township, a worthy son of a good father. Mr. Fry is yet a comparatively young man, and if his future accom- plishments are to be measured by his past success he may be expected to be, some day, one of the most extensive landowners in the county.
GEORGE J. ALT.
George J. Alt, who now owns a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Melville township, this county, and twenty acres in Sharon township, was born on January 24, 1883, in Audubon county, Iowa, a son of William and Elizabeth (Lang) Alt, the former a native of Germany and the latter of the state of Illinois. William Alt came to America when a lad and settled in Illinois, where he grew to manhood and where he was married. He was a farmer and was engaged in this occupation during his entire life. In 1880 he came to Audubon county and located in Hamlin township, where he pur- chased eighty acres of land at eight dollars an acre. He broke the sod and improved the place generally, gradually increasing his holdings to two hun- dred and eighty-four acres. He died in 1906, after having reared a family of eleven children, nine of whom are still living. Philip and Bertha are the deceased children. The living children are Albert, William, George J., Nettie, Viola, Clara, Alma, Mae and Lena.
George J. Alt was educated principally in Hamlin township, this county, and engaged in farming with his father after finishing his education. Upon arriving at the age of twenty, he began renting land and continued as a renter for six years. In 1911 he purchased the place where he is now living. It comprises one hundred and sixty acres, and in the last four years Mr. Alt has invested sixty-five hundred dollars in improving the place. He raises eighty-five acres of corn, and about thirty acres of small grain every year.
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He feeds out fifty head of hogs every year, and some twenty-five head of stock cattle. Mr. Alt sells a part of his grain and feeds the balance.
George J. Alt was married on February 21, 1906, about the time of his father's death, when he was twenty-three years old, to Lennie Hays, daughter of Frew and Marie (Reed) Hays, to which union five children have been born, Gilbert, Harley, Maynard, and two who died in infancy. Mrs. Alt also was born in this county. Her parents were natives of Illinois, who came to Audubon county in an early day and were pioneer settlers in Greeley town- ship, where they are still living, having been engaged in farming there most of their lives. Of their nine children, eight are now living, namely: Lee, Bert. Winnie, Jennie, Lora, Nina, Lennie and Mary.
George J. Alt is a Republican, but he has never been active in the councils of his party, and has never been a candidate for office. His vocation has taken up all of his time, and he has had no opportunity to engage in any- thing aside from farming. He is a highly-respected citizen of Melville township, and is well known throughout the community in which he resides, being held in high regard by all who know him.
DANIEL ARTIST.
Daniel Artist is one of the earliest settlers in Greeley township, this county. He settled here in 1877 when there were but two houses between his farm in section 25, of Greeley township, and Exira. In those early days he was compelled to ship the lumber for the small house he built on his farm from Rock Island to Adair and haul it by wagon from Adair to the farm. Mr. Artist's first house was sixteen by twenty-four feet and had only two rooms downstairs and a small room upstairs. Mr. Artist gave four years of his life to the service of his country during the Civil War and today is regarded as one of the most substantial citizens of Audubon county.
Daniel Artist was born in Connelsville, Fayette county, Pennsylvania, in 1838, the son of Isaac and Marguerite (Smitzen) Artist, who died when their son, Daniel, was a small lad. He received but a limited education and in 1858, when he was twenty years old, went to Rock Island county, Illinois, where he lived on a farm until the breaking out of the Civil War.
On August 1, 1861, Daniel Artist enlisted in R. H. Graham's company of volunteer cavalry and went to Ft. Leavenworth to go in Jim Lane's com- mand and was sent to Lexington. At the battle of Lexington, Missouri,
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on September 20, 1861, he was taken prisoner and, after taking an oath not to fight against the state of Missouri or the Confederate states, he was sent home. An interesting circumstance in connection with the battle of Lexington is here narrated. A soldier having been wounded and having asked for water, the lieutenant in active command of the company, asked for a volunteer to procure some water for the suffering man. It was almost certain death to undertake to get the water in the face of the enemy's trenches. However, Daniel Artist was a willing volunteer and was success- ful, not only in getting water for his comrade, but in escaping back to his own line, amid a rain of bullets, the land being plowed up all round him by the leaden missiles. On August 12, 1862. Mr. Artist re-enlisted under Capt. Gabriel Armstrong in Company G, One Hundred and Twenty-sixth Regi- ment, Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and served until July 12, 1865, receiv- ing his discharge at Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Though he served throughout the entire war, he was not engaged in many hard battles, the siege of Vicks- burg being the crowning incident of his military career. After the fall of Vicksburg, most of his service was performed in Arkansas, where he was engaged in fighting guerillas. At the close of the war Mr. Artist returned to Illinois and resumed farming, remaining there until 1877, when he came to Iowa and settled on the farm in section 25 of Greeley township, where he has since lived.
On October 31, 1867, Daniel Artist was married, in Rock Island county, Illinois, to Sarah A. Morgan, who was born on February 10, 1847, in Wales, the daughter of Llewellyn and Sarah (Williams) Morgan, the former of whom was a miner and stonemason by trade. He came to the United States in 1842, but returned to his native land, was married, and in 1848, came back to this country, bringing with him his family. They first settled in Pennsylvania, but later migrated to Illinois, where the father lived until his death. The mother then came to Audubon county, where she spent the rest of her life.
To Daniel and Sarah A. (Morgan) Artist eleven children have been born, as follow: Ida, who married William Newman and has four children, Mary, Clyde, Floyd and Lola; Sadie, who married Charles Marean and has one daughter, Mildred; George, who married Ella Flynn and has two chil- dren, Martha and Esther; Mary Irene (deceased) was the wife of Charles Marean and had one child, Earl, who is deceased ; John, who married Mamie Goochey and has four children, Homer, Hugh, Helen and Margery ; Clyde, deceased; Elmer, who has a homestead in Montana; Anne, who became the
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wife of Elmer Fogg; Clara, who married Dayton West; Madge, who is the wife of Wilbur Couts, and Robert, who lives at home.
Mr. Artist is a member of Morton post, Grand Army of the Republic, at Exira and is a Republican in politics. He has served as school director and as justice of the peace in Greeley township and gave satisfactory service in both positions. The Artist family are members of the Bowman Chapel Methodist Episcopal church.
A veteran of our great Civil War and a hard working, industrious and enterprising citizen in the time of peace, affable and kindly in all of the rela- tions of life, Daniel Artist is well entitled to the respect and admiration of the people of this county. Having saved from his earnings during the pro- ductive period of life, he is now blessed with a competence which he can enjoy during his declining years.
ABRAM R. ANDERSON.
Looking upon life from the common view-point, he who has wealth, friends, and social position, is held to be successful. By changing the angle a trifle, and looking at life from the standpoint of spiritual values, perhaps we would call him successful who, in the quiet and seclusion of his own hearth-stone, has attended to the duties and obligations which lay nearest him, even when doing so prevented him from becoming known in the great world of men and affairs. Abram R. Anderson, whose life history is here briefly chronicled, has had a measure of success in each of the above mean- ings of the word.
Mr. Anderson was born, August 30, 1856, in Wyandot, Ohio, the son of John N. and Zerma Anderson. His father was born in Marion county, Ohio, and his mother was a native of Pickaway county, the same state. While John N. Anderson was one of the early settlers of Audubon county, he did not live there, even during his young manhood, for he made his home in a number of places before locating permanently, and had but little oppor- tunity for schooling. He spent the winter of 1858 in Scott county, Mis- souri, following this with a brief residence in Wray and Davis counties, the same state. It was in the year 1861 that he moved to Marion county, Iowa. and bought a small farm near Attica, where he remained for fourteen years. Coming to Leroy township, he was one of the pioneers in that neighborhood. his home being in section 25. Like all pioneers, he had to be content at first with a crude mode of life, for what he called home was only a shanty con-
A.R. ANDERSON
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structed of boards, but it was on a tract of one hundred and twenty acres which he owned, and he also put up a barn of the same crude material. When he died in 1883, at the age of seventy-one, he was the owner of two hundred and eighty acres of land. In politics, he was a Republican. Not only as an "old settler," but as a man of influence in the community, he was known and respected. His wife, died in 1910, at the age of eighty-three.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Anderson, but only three of these grew up. They were, Abram R., whose name heads this sketch; Bastian J. born on January 27, 1862, and Doc, born on April 22, 1857, who is now a farmer in Hanlin township, this county. The two elder brothers, who live together, never married.
The story of Abram's youth is soon told, for he had little opportunity to obtain an education, and worked for his father until manhood, and then, continuing to live with his parents, took care of them in their old age. This story though brief, might portray to the imagination years of strenuous work and deprivation, and a devotion to duty which meant for him the sacrifice of his own happiness ; but these years were given without complaint.
Continuing in the line of his father's activities, Mr. Anderson has become the possessor of valuable land. Among his acquisitions of real estate are three hundred and sixty acres in Leroy township, two hundred acres in Greeley township, two hundred acres in Carroll county, one-half section in Lincoln county, Minnesota, one-half section in Canada, and three hundred and ten acres in Oklahoma.
Nr. Anderson has always been much interested in the subject of stock raising. He has a good grade of draft horses, usually having on his farm from forty to forty-five head, and also raises Polled Angus cattle, of which he keeps about twenty-five on the farm. He is also a breeder of full-blooded Hampshire hogs. The extent of this phase of his work is shown by the fact that from two to three carloads of cattle are shipped from his farm every year.
Among his possessions, of which Mr. Anderson is justly proud, is a modern corn-bin and granary built in 1912, its dimensions being thirty by forty-two feet. There are many other valuable improvements on this well- managed farm, including a spacious barn, forty-two by seventy-two feet, and a new hog-house twenty-four by forty-eight feet.
Although a Republican, Mr. Anderson has never been ambitions to hold public office, and so far as affiliations are concerned, has been content with his Masonic lodge in Audubon, and with his church membership in the Methodist denomination.
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Although Mr. Anderson's life has been spent "far from the madding crowd," it has been a busy life, and a useful one. Devoting many years to the care of his aged father and mother, he has fulfilled an obligation no less praiseworthy because it was self-imposed, and now that the obligation no longer exists, his thoughts may be blessed with the consciousness of a duty well done.
BENJAMIN J. BLACK.
Few farmers living in Audubon county are better known than Benjamin J. Black, who is at present serving as county supervisor of this county. Mr. Black for years has been prominent in the educational, political and civic life of Audubon county and few of the younger farmers of this county have accomplished more in the same length of time than he and few are more deserving of the confidence and esteem of the people of this county. Mr. Black owns eighty acres of land in Melville township and three hundred and twenty acres in North Dakota, and is farming a total of two hundred and thirty-two acres in Melville township.
Benjamin J. Black was born in Muscatine county, Iowa, on October 8, 1874, the son of James and Mary (Woods) Black, the former of whom was a native of Indiana, and the latter of whom came from Kentucky. When James Black was fourteen years of age he came with his parents from Indiana to Iowa, locating in Muscatine county, where he grew to manhood, remaining there until 1888, when he came to Audubon county, and located on the farm where Benjamin J., his son, is now living. He pur- chased eighty acres of land and farmed that until his death in 1908. His widow is still living. Their four children were William, Mary, Emma and Benjamin J.
Benjamin J. Black received his education largely in the public schools of Audubon county. After completing the course in the common schools he took a business course at the Capital City Commercial College at Des Moines. Thus admirably equipped for his life's vocation, he returned to his home in Audubon county, and took up farming with his father, and was thus engaged until his marriage in 1903, at which time he rented a farm and farmed rented land for three years. Upon the death of his father, he purchased the home place, and has since been living there. Since buying the farm in 1908, he has invested approximately thirty-five hundred dollars in various kinds of improvements. Mr. Black annually raises eighty acres of
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corn and feeds at least one hundred head of hogs. He also raises forty acres of hay.
On November 26, 1903, when Benjamin J. Black was twenty-nine years old, he was married to Martha J. Simmons, daughter of Joseph and Mary (Goff) Simmons, to which happy union six children, Howard W., Everett A., Lucile, William, Robert and Martha E. have been born. All of these chil- dren are living at home with their parents, and they make a very happy group, in fact one of the most popular families in Melville township.
Mr. Black is popular in fraternal circles of his county and is a member of the Masonic lodge at Audubon and of the Modern Woodmen of America. A Democrat, he is the present county supervisor of Audubon county, and has served as school director and township clerk and as road supervisor.
Few men can be said to have a wider interest in matters which concern the public generally than Mr. Black. Interested in education, in good roads, in politics, and in the improvement of community spirit, he is a worthy citizen of Audubon county and one of the leading farmers and citizens of Melville township.
ALBERT W. WESTON.
One of the enterprising and successful young farmers of this county is Albert W. Weston, the proprietor of the "Hillside Stock Farm," comprising two hundred and eighty acres of land, located in section 5 of Melville town- ship. Although Mr. Weston is not yet thirty years of age, he has made a remarkable success of his chosen vocation. He is enterprising in his methods, a careful student of the details of farm operation, and in consequence has prospered in his calling; not so much because he has confined himself to rais- ing grain, though he has won distinction as a grower of pure Reid's Yellow Dent corn, but because he has devoted a considerable portion of his attention to stockraising. He is well known in Melville township, and is highly respected by all the people of that township. Mr. Weston makes a specialty of Clydesdale horses and Shorthorn cattle, and has taken numerous prizes on some of the splendid animals on his farm. As a corn grower, Mr. Weston also has atttained an unusual distinction in this county, having won the sweepstakes prize on corn at the Audubon county fair five times in six years. In 1914 he won seventeen ribbons, including sweepstakes prize, at the Audubon county fair, and a silver loving cup at the "Big Four" county farm- ers institute, inclusive of the counties of Audubon, Adair, Cass and Guthrie;
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