USA > Iowa > Buchanan County > History of Buchanan County, Iowa, and its people, Volume II > Part 38
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Following his marriage Mr. Stumma purchased a farm of eighty acres m Jefferson township, north of Brandon, whereon he resided for twenty years, during which period he carefully cultivated his fields and added many improve- ments to the property. Annually, as the result of his practical and progressive methods, he gathered good crops and all departments of his farm work were carefully directed and brought to him a substantial measure of success. ยท After two decades spent upon the farm he sold that property and removed to Brandon, where he deals in automobiles and also conducts a garage. He is agent at this place for the Ford car and has sold many of those machines throughout this part of the county. His garage business is also profitable and his energy and deter- mination are the salient features in his growing success.
Mr. and Mrs. Stumma are parents of a son, Earl, who is still at home. In his political views Mr. Stumma is an earnest republican and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day, but does not seek nor desire office as a reward for party fealty. His entire life has been spent in this county, covering a period of forty-five years, and he is a representative of one of the old and valued pioneer families of this section of the state.
JAMES CARR.
James Carr has been engaged in the grain and produce business in Lamont for twenty years and is widely known as a reliable and enterprising man. He was born on section 36. Madison township, this county. December 26, 1863, a son of John and Anna (Kane) Carr. The former was born in County Cavan, Ireland, November 25. 1825, and when a child of four or five years was taken to Canada. The family subsequently removed to New York city, where he received the greater part of his education. From the age of fourteen to that of twenty-six he served upon a man-of-war and upon his return to the life of a civilian he pur- chased a farm in Cattaraugus county, New York. He remained upon his land for about ten years and then removed to Madison township, this county, and bought land on section 36. His first purchase was an eighty acre tract but by degrees he added to his possessions until at the time of his death he owned six hundred and seventy aeres of land. He gave each of his sons a farm and thus gave them a splendid start in their business careers. He was married in New
JAMES CARR
MRS. JAMES CARR
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York city to Miss Anna Kane, who was born near Dublin, Ireland, a daughter of Joseph Kane. Her sister's husband was a professor in a college there and she came to America with some of her sister's children, settling in New York city. She was a private tutor there until her marriage, which occurred about 1848. She became the mother of ten children, namely: Monica Rhoda, who was born June 23, 1849, and died in infancy ; Michael, who was born June 28, 1850, and is now a attorney of Manchester, Iowa; Peter, born May 25, 1852; Margaret, whose birth occurred October 29, 1853; Sylvester, who was born November 17, 1855, and passed away when a young man of twenty-five years; Mary, who was born July 21, 1857, and died when a girl of thirteen ; Joseph, who was born September 26, 1859, and is residing upon the home farm; John, born October 1, 1861, who is the proprietor of a furniture store in Lamont; James, of this review; and Ellen, born July 31, 1866.
James Carr attended the country schools until he was twelve years of age and then the public schools of Manchester for three years. Subsequently he was a student in the Manchester Academy for two years and in the University of Upper Iowa at Fayette for two years. He later taught school for about a term and then farmed for a year, after which he was employed in the postoffice of Manchester for four years. After his marriage he again turned his attention to agi culture, being so engaged for seven years. At the end of that time he rer oved to Lamont and in March, 1896, became a partner in a general produce business. He subsequently bought out the interests of the others and has since conducted the business alone. It has grown steadily in volume and he has made a reputation for fair dealing which is one of his most valuable assets.
Mr. Carr was married May 2, 1886, to Miss Jessie M. Wing, a daughter of Israel and Lydia (Jones) Wing. Her father was a native of Cherry Valley, New York, born January 17, 1833, and when a boy accompanied his parents to Indiana, remaining there for a number of years. His father was a farmer and shoemaker. Israel Wing was married at Laporte, Indiana, to Miss Lydia Jones, who was there born March 27, 1836, and was educated in her native city. They became the parents of six children: Elliott Alfred, who was born August 17, 1857, and is now a resident of Lamont; Frances T., who was born January 13, 1859, and died September 30, 1862; Alice Ann, who was born November 24, 1861, and died on the 15th of October of the following year; La Dora, who was born November 21, 1865, and resides at Lamont ; Jessie M., the wife of Mr. Carr; and Mary Eliza, who was born August 24, 1870, and resides at Wadena, Minnesota. The father died July 16, 1899, and the mother November 19, 1896. Mrs. Carr was educated in the country schools of Madison township, this county, and remained at home until her marriage. She has become the mother of twelve children : James Lowell, born February 17, 1887, who is married and resides upon a farm in this county; Reuben Israel, born October 19, 1888, who is a farmer by occupation and who married Miss Ethel Tuttle, by whom he has two children, Ronald H. and Harold James; Mary Frances, who was born August 24. 1890, and died January 16, 1895; Nellie La Dora, who was born March 23, 1892. and is teaching school in this county; Phoebe Grace, who was born February 23, 1894, and is now a clerk in the postoffice ; Jessie Mildred, who was born January 25, 1896, and is keeping house for her brother; Marion, who was born April 3, 1898, and is attending school; Elsie Almira, born April 12, 1900; Claude Eaton, Vol. II-19
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June 7, 1902; Eva Margaret, April 25, 1906; Marjorie Esther, September 19, 1907 ; and Stella Goldie, March 13, 1910.
The family are communicants of the Catholic church and do all in their power to promote the growth of its work. Mr. Carr is a democrat in polities and takes a commendable interest in all matters affecting the welfare of the community. He is quite prominent in the local councils of his party and has been a delegate to numerous county and state conventions. Fraternally he belongs to Mohawk Lodge, No. 310, K. P., Lamont Lodge, No. 656, I. O. O. F., and Solomon Lodge, No. 594, A. F. & A. M. His wife is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star. He has other business interests aside from the buying and selling of produce as he is a director in the Lamont Savings Bank. During the years that he has resided in Lamont he has cooperated in many movements that have resulted in the advancement of the material and civic interests of the town and has won many friends, who are enthusiastic in his praise.
E. F. W. LULOFF.
E. F. W. Luloff is a self-made man in the highest and best sense of the term. He started out in business life emptyhanded, having no inherited wealth or influential friends to aid him, but through his integrity and industry he has worked his way upward and is today the owner of a valuable farm property of one hundred and sixty aeres on seetion 28, Westburg township, worth one hun- dred and seventy-five dollars per acre.
Wiseonsin numbers Mr. Luloff among her native sons, his birth having there occurred in 1866. His parents were Louis and Henrietta (Gosse) Luloff. The father was born, reared and educated in Germany and eventually married Miss Henrietta Gosse. Coming to the United States, they made their way into the interior of the country, settling in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin, where the father purchased a farm of forty acres. After developing it for a time he sold that property and in 1867 came to Buchanan county, Iowa, settling in West- burg township, where he made investment in one hundred and eighty acres. He improved this by erecting substantial buildings and bringing the fields under a high state of cultivation. In fact, he added all of the accessories and con- veniences of a model farm and carefully tilled his fields until 1879, when death terminated his labors. He was a veteran of the Civil war, having served for four years with the boys in blue of the Union army. He participated in the battle of Gettysburg and a number of other important engagements, which proved the strength of the Union troops and led up to the victory that finally erowned the northern arms. Politically he was a democrat and was a member of the Ger- man Lutheran church. His widow survived him for thirty-two years and passed away on the 13th of March, 1911, upon the old home place where her son, F. A. Luloff, now resides. She spent her girlhood days in Germany and was educated there. Her religious faith was also that of the German Lutheran church.
No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of farm life for E. F. W. Luloff in his boyhood and youth, which was spent upon the home place now owned by his brother-in-law. He is indebted to the public-school
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system for the educational advantages which he enjoyed and later he took up farming, purchasing the William Polk farm. At a subsequent date he sold that property and invested in the Robert Stewart farm. He holds title to three hundred and forty acres of fine land and is a substantial agriculturist of the county.
On the 3d of February, 1892, Mr. Luloff was united in marriage to Miss Ida Ehrke, a daughter of Carl and Amelia (Ebert) Ehrke. Mrs. Luloff was born in Brandenburg, Germany, in 1873. Both Mr. and Mrs. Ehrke were na- tives of Brandenburg, Germany. They began their domestie life in that country following their marriage in 1866. On coming to the United States, Mr. Ehrke went first to Baltimore, Maryland, and on leaving the east made his way to Independence, Iowa, where he lived for two years. He then purchased a farm of eighty acres three miles east of Jesup and occupied that place for nine years. He then sold out and bought a farm five miles south of Aurora, in Buchanan county, becoming owner of one hundred and twenty-seven acres, on which he lived for ten years and then rented the property, taking up his abode in La- mont, Buchanan county, where he and his wife now reside, the former at the age of seventy-four years and the latter at the age of seventy years. Mrs. Luloff was educated in Brandenburg, Germany, and came with her parents to the new world. She is a member of the German Lutheran church and displays many excellent traits of heart and mind. To Mr. and Mrs. Luloff have been born two children : Arthur L., who was married October 23, 1913, to Miss Adelia Hart- ing, of Spring Creek township, Black Hawk county; and Clarence C. Both sons are upon the home farm.
The family is widely and favorably known in the county, the hospitality of many of the best homes being freely accorded them. Mr. Luloff early learned the lesson that industry is the foundation upon which all true and honorable success is built and therefore cultivated that quality with the result that is now seen, he being today the owner of two of the valuable and highly cultivated farms of Westburg township.
G. B. CLOSE.
G. B. Close is a resident farmer of Sumner township, where he owns one hundred and eighty-eight acres of land. His has been an eventful life with many varied experiences. He was born in this county in 1850. His father, Thomas. Close, was a native of Lincolnshire, England, born in 1803, and his father was a carpenter of Dublin, where he met his death in a fall. John Close, a brother of Thomas, became a tailor of Connecticut, and Thomas Close was for fourteen years a master tailor in the British army, on duty in both the East and the West Indies. He crossed the Atlantic to the United States when twenty-seven years of age and kept drifting westward until eventually he became a resident of Janesville, Wisconsin, where he was living at the time of his marriage to Miss Mary Hull, a native of Ohio. The Hull family came from England but was of German lineage.
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On leaving Wisconsin, Thomas Close removed to Iowa, coming with Rufus Clarke, the brewer, and several others in 1846. He carried the first mail between Cedar Falls and Dubuque and on the first trip rode a black pony and carried three letters. He afterward took up land from the government, securing eighty acres now included within the city limits of Independence, for which he paid a dollar and a quarter per acre. He afterward purchased land in the neighboring township and in the early days he was also engaged in the grocery and hotel business. At the time of his death, which occurred in 1869, he was living retired but had purchased and sold many acres of land in Buchanan county and con- tributed much to its material development and improvement. He built the first two-story brick house in Independence. at which time there was a brick kiln at Gatesville, now extinct. His political allegiance was given to the democratic party and he was once a candidate for sheriff. His religious belief was that of the Episcopal church. He was very helpful and considerate in his relations to his fellowmen and displayed many sterling traits of character which won him high regard. Throughout his life he exemplified the beneficent spirit of the Masonic fraternity, in which he held membership.
G. B. Close, who was one of five children, attended school in Independence and also became a student in the seminary at that city. When only nine years of age he began riding running horses and followed the race track for twelve years, riding in the summer months, while in the winter seasons he was employed as a farm hand at a salary of but eight dollars per month. He afterward served an apprenticeship at the cigar maker's and butchering trades and he also punched cattle and conducted other business interests of that character. He herded cattle and horses and also raised hogs in Wisconsin and Nebraska, and in 1892 built upon his farm in Sumner township. just south of Independence, a packing plant thirty by ninety-six feet and an ice house thirty-two by one hundred feet. There he employed eighteen men in the conduct of his business, which, however. he closed out in 1896. In 1898 he went to Nebraska, shipping a bunch of cattle to that state, where he ranged cattle for five years. However, he continued to make his home in Independence, where he conducted a butchering business. He is still the owner of an excellent farm of one hundred and eighty-eight acres which he keeps in a high state of cultivation and from which he derives a gratifying annual income. -
In 1886 Mr. Close was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Costello, a native of Philadelphia and a daughter of Patrick and Mary (Lawless) Costello, both of whom were natives of Ireland. Her father was fifty years of age when he came to the United States. He established his home in Newton township upon a farm near the village of Newtonville, Iowa, and after carrying on agricultural pursuits there for a number of years lived retired in Walker, where his death occurred in 1905, when he was about eighty-six years of age. Ilis wife afterward removed to Independence, where she passed away in 1910 at the very advanced age of ninety-two years. One of their daughters is a Catholic nun of Philadelphia. In the family were five children, of whom two died in Ireland, while one is yet living in Oklahoma. To Mr. and Mrs. Close have been born seven children, of whom six survive : May, a graduate nurse now connected with the Mercy Hospital of Chicago; George, who is engaged in the cattle business in Oregon : Julia. a nurse who was graduated from Merey Hospital in Des Moines: Charles, who is engaged
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in the cattle business at Boone, Colorado, representing the Thatcher Brothers of Pueblo, that state; Ella, a stenographer of Independence; and Marguerite, who is teaching in the country schools.
Mr. Close has served as a member of the city council but felt that one term was sufficient. He has always concentrated his energies upon his farming opera- tions, in which he is now actively engaged, and in addition to tilling the soil he is raising Duroc Jersey hogs. He also owned some horses during the Williams regime. He was in races all over the country when riding running horses. He belongs to the Episcopal church, although his family are of the Catholic faith, and he is also a member of the Legion of Honor. His life activities have taken him into many districts and brought him many and varied experiences, all of which he has used to good advantage, learning therefrom valuable life lessons. He early recognized the fact that industry, diligence and persistency of purpose are the salient features of success and these he has utilized in the attainment of the prosperity which is now his.
JAMES F. LAMB.
James F. Lamb, one of the prominent and leading agriculturists of Jefferson township, is the owner of an excellent farm comprising one hundred and seventy acres on section 16. He is numbered among the worthy native sons of Buchanan county, his birth having occurred in Jefferson township in 1872. His parents, Bernard and Ellen Martin Lamb, were both natives of County Cavan, Ireland. The father emigrated to the United States with his parents as a young man and located in Boston, Massachusetts, where he was successfully engaged in the shoe business for seven years. On the expiration of that period he sold out and came to Jefferson township, Buchanan county, lowa, purchasing the farm of one hun- dred and seventy acres which is now in possession of our subject. The operation of that place claimed his attention throughout the remainder of his active business career and his last years were spent in honorable retirement at Independence, this county. where he had purchased a nice home and where his demise occurred at the age of seventy-nine. He gave his political allegiance to the democracy and was a devout communicant of the Catholic church. Mrs. Lamb, who passed away in Independence six years prior to the death of her husband, had come to this country in company with her parents, who took up their abode in Boston, Massa- chusetts, and there died. She belonged to the Ancient Order of Hibernians and in religious faith was a Catholic.
James F. Lamb attended the public schools in the acquirement of an educa- . tion and has always remained on the old home farm where he was born and which he now owns and operates. The place comprises one hundred and seventy acres of rich and productive land on section 16, Jefferson township, and in its cultiva- tion he has met with gratifying success, raising the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and also devoting considerable attention to live stock.
When a young man of thirty-three years Mr. Lamb was united in marriage to Miss May Duddy, her parents being P. C. and Catherine Duddy, both of whom are natives of Ireland. They emigrated to the United States, were married at
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Philadelphia and are now residing on a farm at Clear Water, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb have two children, Ita K. and Gerald D.
In politics Mr. Lamb is a democrat and his influence is ever on the side of public progress and improvement. He was instrumental in having the new elec- tric railroad built through Brandon and his cooperation may ever be counted upon to further any movement or measure instituted to promote the general welfare. His religious faith is that of the Catholic church, and in the community where his entire life has been spent he is well known and highly esteemed as an upright, honorable and valued citizen.
CHARLES G. TRASK.
The attractiveness of Buchanan county as a place of residence is indicated in the fact that many of her native sons have remained within her borders, not caring to change the place of their abode, but recognizing the fact that they can have as excellent opportunities and advantages here as could be secured elsewhere in the country. Such a one is Charles G. Trask, of Sumner township, who was born in this county in 1864, his parents being Ami H. and Austa N. (Fry) Trask, the former a native of Chautauqua county. New York, horn November 3, 1826. while the latter was a native of Wisconsin. Ami II. Trask came from the sturdy, thrifty, intelligent and patriotic stock of New England on whom fell the brunt of the battles for American independence. When thirteen years of age he left the east and removed to Rock county, Wisconsin. He learned the brick- maker's trade in early life, but the tasks around the brickyard soon became irksome and he turned to the cabinetmaker's trade. ITis education in books was limited, but he early learned lessons of industry, economy and perseverance. When twenty-one years of age, or on the 3d of June, 1847, he started for Iowa, and took up his residence at Quasqueton, where he remained about two years. The town contained only one log house and it was no unusual thing to see buffaloes, deer and other wild animals. The forests were uneut, the prairies uncultivated and much of the county was still in just the condition in which it came from the hand of nature.
One of Mr. Trask's first tasks after reaching this state was in helping to put down the first dam across the Wapsipinicon river, where the mill now stands, and for his labors he received seventy-five cents per day. In 1847 he took a contract with Eli Phelps to carry the mail from Quasqueton to Dubuque and was thus engaged for two years. In 1849 he went to St. Paul, Minnesota, but . remained only until the following year, when he returned to Independence. He was then attacked with the gold fever and in May of that year started across the plains as one of a company of emigrants. The trip was full of incidents and thrilling experiences. On one occasion they had thirty horses in a string and saw an Indian sneaking upon them attired in a bearskin with the intention of stealing the entire number. The red man, however, forfeited his life. At length the long journey across the hot stretches of sand and over the mountain passes was completed and Mr. Trask arrived in California, where he remained for three years, visiting all the important mining camps, including
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CHARLES G. TRASK AND FAMILY
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HISTORY OF BUCHANAN COUNTY
Sacramento, Shasta, Eureka and Trinidad. On the 31st of December, 1853, he sailed on the ship Brother Jonathan for the Isthmus and was transferred at San Juan Del to the vessel Northern Light, which bore him as a passenger to New York. He then returned to Independence and afterward engaged in freight- ing between this point and Dubuque. In 1855 he established a livery stable and throughout the remainder of his life he dealt more or less in horses. He was the owner of four hundred acres of valuable land and was also one of the directors of the Peoples National Bank, which he assisted in organizing. His political allegiance was originally given to the whig party and when that organization passed out of existence he joined the ranks of the new republican party and afterward became a stanch prohibitionist. He was one of the oldest settlers and also one of the most substantial and representative men of the county. He was opposed to anything that indicated evil or detrimental tendencies and supported all measures which worked for the uplift of the individual and the benefit of the community.
Charles G. Trask, an only son, attended the public schools of Independence and also spent two years as a student in a convent of this city. He early received business training and experience under the direction of his father, and when about sixteen years of age he began buying and driving young stock for his father. Afterward he left home, traveling around the country, and at Water- loo, Iowa, he entered the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad as a brakeman. While thus engaged he lost a leg when but nineteen years of age. He then returned to Independence, where he engaged in the livery business with his father, taking charge of the barn in 1891, his father having died on the 24th of June of that year. He has always engaged in buying stock and in carrying on general agricultural pursuits and in 1891 became manager of his father's estate. While he has long owned land in the county, he did not remove to his farm until about eight years ago, or in 1907. He today has one of the finest country homes in Buchanan county and one of the best improved farms in Sumner town- ship. The place presents a most neat and attractive appearance, the fields are pro- ductive, and large crops are annually harvested, while stock-raising remains an ' important feature of the business. He handles much stock, although specializing in no particular breed. In addition to his other interests, he is one of the directors and stockholders of the Peoples National Bank of Independence.
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