USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa: a record of settlement., Volume 2 > Part 9
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In May, 1866, Mr. Rogers married Miss Julia P. Dodge, who was born in Genesee county, New York, March 15, 1843, and went to Wisconsin with her parents, Josiah and Julia Dodge, who spent their remaining days in that state. Mr. Rogers was called upon
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to mourn the loss of his wife in 1908, her death occurring in Wa- verly, Iowa, on the 23d of August of that year.
In his political views Mr. Rogers is a republican and keeps well informed on the questions and issues of the day. He is entitled to wear the Grand Army button, holding membership in Lieuten- ant Braden Post, No. 356, G. A. R., of Allison. He likewise be- longs to the Knights of Pythias lodge. What he has accomplished indicates the wise use he has made of his time and talents. The years have brought him a substantial measure of success and pub- lic opinion accords him a place with the representative and valued citizens of Butler county.
ORLANDO C. MINER.
Orlando C. Miner, a well known and prosperous hardware merchant of Greene, who has been closely connected with commer- cial interests of the city for the past sixteen years, was born in Green county, Wisconsin, November 15, 1867. He is one of a family of eleven children, of whom three live in Greene: Richard, a well known business man of the city; Emma, who makes her home with her brother; and Orlando C., of this review.
Orlando C. Miner came with his parents to Butler county, Iowa, when he was only one year old, and he was reared upon his father's farm in this locality, receiving a primary education in the district school and supplementing this by a few terms in high school. After reaching maturity he operated the homestead for a few years and in 1897 moved to Greene, where he purchased an established hardware business which he has since conducted. Being a progressive and able business man, he has met with most gratify- ing success in the conduct of this enterprise and has the confidence and patronage of the people of Greene and of the surrounding country districts. He carries a large and well selected stock of shelf and heavy hardware and his business is constantly increasing in volume and importance.
Mr. Miner and his sister are members of the Methodist Epis- copal church and Miss Miner is well known in the affairs of the church auxiliary societies. They reside in an attractive home in Greene and are well known in social circles of the city. Mr. Miner gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has served as a member of the board of aldermen and for two terms on the
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township board. He is a Master Mason, belonging to the blue lodge at Greene. From his infancy he has been a resident of Butler county and has therefore witnessed much of the growth of this locality, contributing in a substantial measure to the later develop- ment of the city of Greene: He is an able and progressive man of business and a public-spirited citizen, well worthy of the esteem and confidence in which he is uniformly held.
FERDINAND BECKER.
Germany has furnished her full quota of valuable citizens to Iowa, among the number being Ferdinand Becker of Butler county, formerly closely identified with agricultural interests, but now living retired in the enjoyment of a well earned rest. He was born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, November 30, 1837, and is a son of Johann and Wilhemina (Koch) Becker. The mother died when her son Ferdinand was but a year old. The father died in Germany, where he had learned and followed the tailor's trade, making it his life work. He was twice married and had nine children by his first wife, but Ferdinand Becker was the only child of the second marriage.
Public schools of his native country furnished Ferdinand Becker his educational opportunities. He remained in the father- land until nineteen years of age, and then, attracted by the reports which he had heard concerning the opportunities and advantages of the new world, he came to America in 1857, settling first at Guttenberg, Clayton county, Iowa, where he began working by the year as a farm hand, receiving one hundred and thirty-three dollars per annum during the two years spent in that way. He afterward operated a threshing machine for about seven seasons and through the remainder of the year engaged in farming. In 1862 he went to South Dakota and secured a claim, but after work- ing there for a short time with oxen he returned to Iowa. In 1866: he came to Butler county, settling five miles northeast of Clarks- ville in Butler township, where he purchased eighty acres of land and added thereto from time to time until he had one hundred and sixty acres. Year after year he carefully tilled his fields and har- vested his crops until he retired to Clarksville about seven years ago. He still owns the farm, which is a well improved tract of prairie land and which returns to him a gratifying annual income.
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On the 25th of March, 1863, Mr. Becker was united in marriage to Miss Louisa Buchholz, who was born in Hanover, Germany, August 30, 1844, a daughter of Henry and Caroline (Kalla) Buch- holz, and went to Clinton county, Iowa, in 1854, with her mother.
Her father died in New York soon after his arrival on this side of the water, but the mother passed away in Butler county. Mr. and Mrs. Becker have become the parents of nine children: Wil- liam, who is living on his father's farm in Butler township; Car- oline, the wife of Herman Schmadeke; Louise, who died at the age of fifteen months; Augusta, who is the wife of F. W. Meyer and makes her home with her father; Bertha, the wife of F. Fahshold of North Dakota; Anna, the wife of Henry Miller of Clarksville; Gesina, the deceased wife of Ed Klinemeyer; Ferdinand of North Dakota; and Rosa, the wife of Henry Bushing of North Dakota.
The parents are both members of the Lutheran church, loyal to its teachings, and they are today among the most respected and venerated of the old couples of Clarksville. Mr. Becker has passed the seventy-sixth milestone on life's journey and his record proves what may be accomplished in this land, where opportunity is not hampered by caste or class, but where the road to usefulness and success is open to all.
AUSTIN C. WILCOX.
Austin C. Wilcox is now living retired in Clarksville and his rest is well earned, as it follows many years of active, persistent labor in the fields when farm work claimed his attention. He was born in Binghampton, New York, December 26, 1840, his parents being Austin C. and Hannah (Taylor) Wilcox, natives of Penn- sylvania and of New York respectively. About 1848 they removed westward to Dubuque, Iowa, by way of the river route, and the father died in that city almost immediately after his arrival there, the mother surviving for only six days. They had a family of seven children, the eldest being twenty years of age and the young- est a baby of a year or two at the time of the parents' death. The members of the family, besides our subject, were: Edward, now deceased; Gilbert, who enlisted from Des Moines and served for three years in the Civil war but has now passed away; Mrs. Lucy Petty, who has also departed this life; George, who served through the war, veteranizing as a member of an Illinois regi-
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ment, but is now deceased; Mrs. Lydia Matilda Henderson Hickel, who was married twice and is now deceased, and Mrs. Emily Hickel, who has also been called from this life.
Austin C. Wilcox was the fifth in order of birth and is the only one of the children now living. Left an orphan at the age of eight years, he went to live with strangers in Jones county, by whom he was reared to the age of sixteen years. He spent the succeeding year in Dubuque county and then made his way across the plains to the Rocky mountains, where he spent a few months in 1860. In the fall of that year, however, he came to Butler county, which was still largely a frontier district, and he began breaking the prairie with four oxen of his own. He knows all of the phases of pioneer life and the hardships and difficulties inci- dent to the development of a new farm.
Interruption to his business affairs came in the shape of mili- tary service, for on the 16th of August, 1862, he enlisted as a member of Company E, Thirty-second Iowa Volunteer Infantry, from which he was honorably discharged at Mound City, Illinois, on the 3d of April, 1864, owing to disability. He was engaged in guard duty in Missouri, Tennessee and Kentucky until taken ill.
At the close of his military service Mr. Wilcox returned to Butler county, and in January, 1865, went to Blackhawk county, where he engaged in buying and feeding cattle and hogs for about three years. In 1868 he returned and bought a farm in Jackson township, where he carried on general agricultural pursuits for almost a third of a century. In 1900, however, he retired and took up his abode in Clarksville, where he now makes his home. He is still the owner of three hundred and twenty acres on sections 25 and 36, Jackson township, which came into his possession as wild prairie land and was converted by him into rich and produc- tive fields. He built a good home at Clarksville on a tract of twelve acres which he had purchased. Much of this, however, he has since sold off in city lots, retaining now only four acres. His life has been a busy and useful one. He knows what hard labor means, for he performed the arduous task of developing a new farm. He always kept up with the latest improvements in machinery and utilized progressive methods in developing his place, which he converted into one of the valuable properties of the township.
On the 14th of October, 1866, Mr. Wilcox was united in mar- riage to Miss Martha E. Champlin, who was born January 17, 1850, in Illinois, and who was taken to Blackhawk county by her parents, Mr. and Mrs. David A. Champlin, when she was ten years
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of age. Mr. and Mrs. Wilcox became the parents of seven chil- dren: David A., of Butler township, who is married and has six children; Cora, who died at the age of thirty-two years; Inzie, who is the wife of Edwin Hickel, of Waterloo, and has one child; Jay, of Massachusetts, who is married and has two children; Jennie, twin sister of Jay and the wife of E. A. R. Baxter, of Parkersburg, Iowa, by whom she has two children; Maude, the wife of Al Smith, of Dubuque county, by whom she has two chil- dren; and Herbert, at home.
Mr. Wilcox has always voted the republican ticket until a few years ago and might now be called an independent republican, for if his judgment dictates his vote is cast for candidates of other parties. His wife is a member of the Presbyterian church, to the support of which she contributes liberally. He is a charter mem- ber of Butler Post, G. A. R., of Clarksville, and greatly enjoys meeting with his old army comrades. He is a self-made man and one who deserves much credit for what he has accomplished. Not all of the days in his career have been equally bright and as recently as the spring of the present year he suffered heavy losses by fire, which destroyed most of the buildings upon his farm. But he has never allowed difficulties or obstacles to discourage him and persistently and energetically has worked his way upward and is today numbered among the men of affluence in Butler county, possessing a competence sufficient to supply him with all of the comforts and some of the luxuries of life.
LEONARD LUCAS.
Coldwater township numbers among its most progressive, able and valued citizens Leonard Lucas, who for a number of years has owned and operated a fine farm of one hundred and twenty acres on section 9, gaining wide recognition as a successful farmer and stock-raiser. He was born in the province of Quebec, Can- ada, August 29, 1859, and is a son of Leonard and Fannie (Foster) Lucas, the former born in the north of Ireland in 1818 and the latter in 1822. The father moved to the Dominion about 1833, locating in Quebec province, where he engaged in farming for a number of years. In 1869 he moved to Iowa, locating in Floyd county, where he purchased a tract of wild land and opened up a farm. From time to time he added to his holdings until he
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LEONARD LUCAS
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owned almost five hundred acres. This he later sold and moved to North Dakota. He resided there until 1890, then moved to Winnipeg, where his death occurred November 6, 1906. His wife died March 16, 1899.
Leonard Lucas came with his parents to Iowa when he was ten years of age. He was reared in Floyd county, this state, and as a boy aided in the improvement and development of the home farm. He remained with his father until he had attained his majority, and then moved to North Dakota, where he entered three hundred and twenty acres of land in Burleigh county. Portions of this property he broke and upon it built a number of buildings, continuing to reside upon the farm for four years. At the end of that time he returned to Iowa and purchased one hundred and twenty acres on section 9, Coldwater township, and upon this prop- erty has since resided. When it came into his possession in 1885 it was in part a tract of uncultivated prairie land, but with char- acteristic energy Mr. Lucas broke the soil and erected a number of buildings upon his property and turned his. attention to general farming. He has built an excellent farm house and has put out an orchard and a fine grove of fruit and evergreen trees, and he has today an attractive place, second to none in the township in beauty and value. In 1892, while still conducting his farm, Mr. Lucas took charge of and managed the flour mill and feed business of the Greene Manufacturing Company at Greene. He successfully con- ducted the enterprise for four years and then withdrew therefrom in order to concentrate his energies more exclusively upon the management of his farm. His recent improvements include a cement-block silo, with a capacity of one hundred tons, this being one of the first buildings of this kind in Butler county. Mr. Lucas raises black polled cattle, keeping pure-blooded and high-grade animals, and he breeds Poland China hogs and Norman horses, being well known as a successful breeder and dealer. He operates a large dairy, important features of which are its neatness and sanitation, and the products of the dairy command a ready sale in the local market, securing the highest market prices. Mr. Lucas was also one of the promoters of the Greene Cooperative Creamery Association, of which he is now president, and in this connection is proving himself a reliable and farsighted business man. In 1907 he was one of the organizers of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company at Greene and became the first manager of the enter- prise, which is now conducting a business of mammoth propor- tions. Mr. Lucas is likewise a director of the Butler County
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Mutual Insurance Association, which is today one of the largest county mutual insurance companies in the state. His activities also reach out along other lines, for he is vice president and director of the Butler County Fair Association and also of the Butler County Farmers Institute. He is greatly interested in any organ- ization which stimulates an interest in improved agricultural con- ditions and he has himself been the leader in bringing about many reforms and improvements in the methods of developing and culti- vating the soil and caring for stock.
In North Dakota, on the 7th of July, 1884, Mr. Lucas was united in marriage to Miss Ursula Whitten, who was born in Augusta, Maine, where she was reared and educated. She later moved west and engaged in teaching in North Dakota. Mr. and Mrs. Lucas have become the parents of eight children: Alice, a graduate of the Greene high school, married Walter McEwen, of New Hampton, Iowa. Lillian, a graduate of the Greene public school, for several years has been engaged in teaching. Gertrude, also a graduate of the Greene school is the wife of Dayton Mather,. a farmer of Dayton township. Harriet, a graduate of the Greene high school, engaged in teaching for one year. She later married Chester Elgin and they located on a ranch near Cheyenne, Wyom- ing, where she passed away December 5, 1912, leaving an infant daughter. Her body was brought back to Greene and buried in the Rosehill cemetery. Percival acquired his education in the public schools of Coldwater township and supplemented this by a short course in the agricultural college at Ames. He is now aiding in the operation of the homestead. Eugenie is a graduate from the Greene high school and is now attending Mount Vernon College. The other children born to Mr. and Mrs. Lucas are Homer S. and Darrell B.
Mr. and Mrs. Lucas are active members of the Methodist Epis- copal church, of which Mr. Lucas is now steward. He is a Master Mason, connected with the blue lodge of Greene. In former years he was identified with the republican party but since 1912 has been an enthusiastic supporter of the progressive party. Elected justice of the peace, he has now served for eight or ten years in that capacity and his decisions have ever been fair and impartial. He has also been identified with school interests in this vicinity, serving as president of the school board of Coldwater township for a number of years. His identification with party management has come through his service as a delegate to numer- ous county and state conventions and he also attended the progres-
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sive national convention in Chicago in 1912, as an alternate from the third district. He is a public-spirited and loyal citizen, who in every relation of life commands and merits the confidence and high regard of his neighbors and friends. What he has accom- plished in a business way places him among the representative citizens of his part of the state. Each step in his career has been a forward one, bringing him a broader outlook and wider oppor- tunities. He has learned to correctly value those things which go to make up life's contacts and experiences and his even-paced energy has carried him into important relations.
JOHN P. KYLE.
John P. Kyle, a prosperous and progressive agriculturist of Butler county, owning and operating a fine farm of eighty acres on section 21, Bennezette township, has been a resident of this locality since 1870, and during the intervening years has made some substantial contributions to its development and growth. He was born in Lancaster, Grant county, Wisconsin, April 4, 1859, and is a son of Adam Kyle, a native of Germany, who came to America with his mother when he was nine years of age. He was reared upon a farm in Pennsylvania and after reaching maturity came west, locating in Grant county, Wisconsin, where he pur- chased a tract of timber land. This he cleared, fenced and im- proved and afterward sold, buying another tract of forest land and opening up a new farm. In 1870 he disposed of his interests in Wisconsin and moved to Iowa, purchasing one hundred and sixty acres of land in Bennezette township, Butler county. When this tract came into his possession only a few acres were broken and the buildings consisted of a log house, a straw shed and a stable. Mr. Kyle broke more of the soil, repaired and remodeled the build- ings and steadily carried forward the work of improvement. He later erected a substantial residence, a modern barn and some good outbuildings, and set out a grove of maple and cottonwood trees. He added to his holdings from time to time, finally acquiring four hundred and forty acres of valuable land. Upon this property he spent the last years of his life, dying here about 1905. He was known as one of the representative and substantial farmers of Bennezette township and his passing was widely and deeply re- gretted. He married, in Grant county, Wisconsin, Miss Theresa
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Folk, who was born in Pennsylvania, of German parentage. She survives her husband and resides upon the old homestead with her sons.
John P. Kyle was reared upon his father's farm and from his early childhood assisted in its improvement and cultivation. He afterward assumed entire charge of the property, which he man- aged until he was forty years of age. In the meantime, however, he had purchased a farm in Bennezette township and had erected upon it a modern residence and substantial outbuildings, including a double crib, a hog house and a blacksmith shop. In 1899 he moved on to this property and there he has since made his home. He has fenced and cross fenced his fields with barbed and woven wire, has installed modern labor saving machinery and has ac- quired an enviable reputation as a practical and progressive agri- culturist. He has a blacksmith shop upon his premises and does all his own work of this character besides all the carpentering nec- essary to keep his buildings in good repair. All of these he erected himself and the entire farm stands as a testimonial to his energy and enterprise. In addition to general farming he engages also in stock raising, keeping Duroc Jersey hogs, shorthorn cattle and Percheron horses. He is a stockholder in the Greene Cooperative Creamery and in the Farmers Elevator Company at Aredale.
On the 3d of April, 1899, in Coldwater township, Mr. Kyle mar- ried Miss Mary Kohlhaas, a daughter of Henry Kohlhaas, of But- ler county. Mr. and Mrs. Kyle have an adopted son, Lowell. Mr. Kyle gives his political allegiance to the republican party and has served as road supervisor and as school treasurer. He has been a delegate to numerous county conventions, has served on the grand and petit juries and has always been found faithful and reliable. He and his wife are members of the Roman Catholic church and are held in high esteem and regard in the community in which they have resided for so many years.
GEORGE R. DENNIS.
George R. Dennis, clerk of the district court of Butler county, was born at Grape Creek Mills, Frederick county, Maryland, March 27, 1858, his parents being Samuel D. and Rebecca T. (Walker) Dennis. The father, who was born in Frederick county, Maryland, was a miller and followed the business for many years.
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He was appointed flour inspector by the Governor of Maryland and was occupying that position at the time of his death, which occurred when his son George was nearly ten years of age. The mother's birth occurred in Columbia, Pennsylvania, and she ac- companied her parents on their removal to Utica Mills, Frederick county, Maryland, where she was married. She died when her son George was about six years of age and the remains of both the father and mother now rest in the cemetery at Frederick City, Maryland, where many notable people lie buried, including Fran- cis Scott Key, author of the "Star Spangled Banner." The town of Walkersville, Maryland, was named in honor of the maternal ancestors of George R. Dennis, who was the third in order of birth in a family of five children. The others, Rebecca, Mary, Ella and Samuel D., are all now deceased.
Following the death of his parents Jacob D. Walker, an uncle, became the guardian of George R. Dennis, but after about a year the boy ran away from his uncle and made his home with John O'Leary, a hotel keeper in Washington, D. C., for about three years. The site of that hotel is now part of the capitol grounds. At the end of that time his uncle discovered the whereabouts of the boy, took him home and sent him to school at the Western Maryland College, a Methodist Protestant institution. He passed through the freshman class and then went to Poughkeepsie, New York, where he attended Eastman's Business College, completing a course there. He next went to Grand Rapids, Michigan, and was floor foreman there for two years in a mill where twelve millers were employed. He next went to Chicago and accepted a position as clerk in the Everett House, spending a year or two in that city. Later he worked on a farm for Curlis Ford, a wealthy man living near Cedar Falls, Iowa, who treated him with great kindness and consideration during the six years he spent in his service.
In 1882 Mr. Dennis married Miss Roxie A. Kaiser and five chil- dren have been born unto them: Robert Guy, living at New Hart- ford, Iowa; Miles Grafton, of San Francisco, California; Effie, the wife of A. L. Webster, also of New Hartford; Anna, the wife of Floyd Moore, of Blackhawk county, Iowa; and Harry, of New Hartford.
For a year after his marriage Mr. Dennis continued in the employ of Curlis Ford and then began farming on his own account. Two years later he removed to New Hartford, where he resided for twenty-two years and for nine years was engineer in a mill,
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