USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 13
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EPHRAIM TOWN
AOW YORK IFTARY
3
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Ephraim Town, whose name introduces this review, pursued his education in the schools of Vermont and remained in that state until twenty-two years of age. He spent the winter of 1854 in Chicago, hauling grain to the boats, and in the spring of 1855 he arrived in Shell Rock. The following year he began work at the carpenter's trade in connection with the construction of mills here. He followed carpentering for a number of years and with Hiram Ross operated a planing mill and made the first coffin used for an interment in the Shell Rock cemetery. Later Mr. Town became actively connected with merchandising as one of the proprietors of the first hardware store of Shell Rock, being in partnership with J. D. Powers. The business was established in 1873 and was conducted for three years when the firm became Town & Murray. Mr. Town next engaged in the lumber and grain business as a member of the firm of Phillips, Town & Com- pany, continuing in that line for three years and subsequently he spent a number of years in the creamery business. He has always manifested enterprise, energy and determination in car- rying on his business affairs and has ever been found thoroughly reliable as well as progressive. He always enjoyed good health until 1912, when he suffered a slight stroke of apoplexv. He is a man of splendid physique, being six feet and two inches in height and weighing usually two hundred pounds.
Mr. Town has some valuable land holdings, consisting of con- siderable town property and three hundred and sixty acres of valuable farming land. In 1895 he retired from active business, having sold out his creamery and now lives a retired life in his beautiful home on the banks of the Shell Rock river. He is a fine type of highly successful business man, entirely self-made, coming here without a dollar and now one of the most prosper- ous men in the county.
In 1860 in Shell Rock, Mr. Town was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Adair, who was born in Linn county, Iowa, Oc- tober 6, 1841, and came to this county with her parents, George W. and Elizabeth Adair. She died in Shell Rock, June 29, 1895, leaving five children; Charles, who is engaged in the hardware business with his brother, Willis, at Dumont, this county; Ella L., the wife of Arthur Austin of Shell Rock; Willis, of Dumont; Dana E., a resident farmer of Shell Rock township; and Flora E., the wife of Fred G. McInroy. Since the mother's death Mr. and Mrs. McInroy have resided with Mr. Town. In fact she has acted as her father's housekeeper from the age of thirteen.
Vol. II-9
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In politics Mr. Town has been a life long democrat. He was elected the first mayor of Shell Rock and has served for three terms since then. His administration has been characterized by needed reforms and improvements and his public record is a most creditable one. For many years he was justice of the peace and his decisions have ever been strictly fair and impartial. He has also been a member of the school board for many years and for twenty years served as its president and was a member of the building committee at the time of the erection of the new school. He has been identified with the school board altogether for thirty years and the cause of education finds in him a stalwart champion, whose labors in its behalf have been effective and far-reaching. Since the organization of the Methodist Episcopal church in Shell Rock his name has been on its membership roll. In fact he was a member of the official board when the church was organized and he was a member of the building committee at the time of the erection of the present house of worship. He belongs to Es- callop Lodge, No. 261, A. F. & A. M., of which he has been treas- urer for many years; Jethro Chapter, R. A. M., of Waverly; Baldwin Commandery, K. T., of Cedar Falls ; and El Kahir Tem- ple, A. A. O. N. M. S., of Cedar Rapids. He has also attained the thirty-second degree of the Scottish Rite and belongs to the Eastern Star. His life exemplifies the beneficent spirit of the craft and throughout his entire career he has closely followed the principles which he has adopted. He is now a venerable citi- zen of eighty-one years and receives the respect and honor which should ever be accorded one of his years whose life has been well spent. Every one in Shell Rock knows Ephraim Town and none speak of him except in terms of praise.
GEORGE BARNETT.
George Barnett, who is one of the active and prosperous farmers of Bennezette township and one of the influential and representative citizens of this locality, was born in Dubuque county, Iowa, September 21, 1851. He is a son of Longridge and Sarah (Lowen) Barnett, natives of England, the father having been born and reared in the vicinity of London and the mother being a native of that city. Longridge Barnett came to America in 1845 and settled in New York, whence after a short time he
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moved to Pennsylvania and there engaged in farming. He after- ward came west to Iowa, locating in Dubuque county, where he remained until 1866. In that year he moved to Butler county and for thirty-four years thereafter was prominently connected with agricultural interests of this locality. When he disposed of his holdings here he moved to Nebraska, where he spent the last years of his life.
George Barnett accompanied his parents to Butler county in 1866, when he was fifteen years of age, and he aided his father in improving and developing the farm in Bennezette township. After reaching maturity he remained upon the homestead for a short time, but in 1873 purchased a farm on section 11. This com- prised one hundred and sixty acres and Mr. Barnett cultivated it for a number of years, making it a valuable and productive prop- erty. About 1883 he moved to Vancouver, Washington, and there spent four years in the lumber business, moving from that city to Portland, Oregon, where he conducted a sawmill and engaged in the manufacture of lumber for some time. He later returned to Vancouver and was connected with a large lumber manufacturing company there as a log buyer for four years. In 1895 he returned to Iowa and, settling in Butler county, bought the property upon which he still resides. He owns a well improved farm of three hundred and twenty acres in sections 22 and 27, Bennezette town- ship, and upon this has erected substantial buildings and set out a grove of forest and pine trees, which forms an excellent wind- break for his buildings. In connection with general farming Mr. Barnett is also a stock breeder and dealer, keeping a herd of thirty head of pure-blood and high-grade Aberdeen Angus cattle. He raises also Duroc Jersey hogs and heavy work horses. He is a stockholder in the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Aredale and was one of the promoters of the Bennezette Tele- phone Company, of which he is president.
Mr. Barnett has been twice married. He wedded first, on No- vember 25, 1883, Miss Elvira J. Alexander, who was born and reared in Canada, coming to Butler county when she was eighteen years of age. She passed away in 1899, leaving one son, Clarence E., who is aiding in the operation of the home farm. On the 13th of January, 1900, in Bennezette township, Mr. Barnett married Mrs. Katie (Reed) De Armoun, who was born and reared in the vicinity of Dumont. Mrs. Barnett has one daughter by her former marriage, Eula, who is now the wife of E. C. Miller, a farmer of Bennezette township. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Barnett have been born
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four children, Raymond R., Ruth R., Florence May and Alice Cora.
Mr. Barnett gives his political allegiance to the republican party and stands high in its councils, having served as delegate to numerous county and state conventions and having held various positions of public trust and responsibility. He has rendered excellent service on both the grand and petit juries and is now in his fifth term as assessor, discharging the duties of this office in a creditable and able manner. He and his wife are members of the Wesleyan Methodist church, of which Mr. Barnett has been trustee for years, and they are people of exemplary character, highly esteemed and respected wherever they are known.
THOMAS BETTESWORTH.
Thomas Bettesworth is numbered among the pioneers in Iowa, his residence in this state dating from 1865. He has lived in Butler county since 1872 and during the entire period of his residence here has been closely connected with agricultural inter- ests, winning success, which places him among the men of marked ability and substantial worth in the community. He was born in England, August 24, 1837, a son of George and Mary (Marchant) Bettesworth, both natives of England. The son acquired his edu- cation in the public schools of his native country. As a young man he emigrated to America, coming directly to Iowa and settling in Lyons, Clinton county, in 1865. He made his home with his brother and sister for two years and then in 1867 moved to Jackson county, where he engaged in gardening. He later estab- lished a nursery in which he raised a variety of fruit trees as well as evergreen and ornamental trees, having at one time fifteen acres planted in nursery stock. In 1872 he moved to Butler county and purchased three tracts of land in Coldwater township, his entire holdings amounting to one hundred and thirty-two acres. He later sold portions of this property and by buying adjoining pieces has his farm now all in one tract. He has added to and remodeled his house and fenced and cross fenced his fields, erected substantial buildings and set out an orchard and a grove. The farm is today one of the most attractive and valuable in this sec- tion of the state and it reflects everywhere the many years of care and labor which the owner has bestowed upon it. In addition to
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general farming, Mr. Bettesworth engages in stock-raising, keep- ing a good grade of cattle, a number of horses and some Duroc Jersey hogs, which he considers the best species for fattening for the market.
Mr. Bettesworth has been twice married. He wedded first in Jackson county, Miss Abbie Wright, who passed away in 1890, leaving two sons; the elder, Lyman resides in Texas where he is connected with a lumber company. Walter is married and engaged in farming in Butler county. Mr. Bettesworth had another son by his first marriage, who died in childhood. In 1894 Mr. Bettesworth wedded Mrs. Louisa France, a native of Ger- many, but reared in the United States. They have become the parents of a son, George L., who is aiding in the operation of the homestead.
Mr. Bettesworth was for several years road supervisor of Cold- water township and he was for some time closely identified with school affairs. He is a progressive, public-spirited and able citi- zen and is well and favorably known in Coldwater township, with the development and growth of which he has identified his inter- ests for over forty years. Although he has reached the age of seventy-six, he is still active in the world's work and seems yet in his prime in spirit and interests. A man of high character and sterling worth, he enjoys the confidence and warm regard of all who know him.
F. H. VOSS.
F. H. Voss is engaged in the grain and live-stock business at Clarksville and close application and energy are constituting the foundation upon which he is building his success. Like many substantial citizens of the county, he is of German birth, the place of his nativity being Nienberg, Hanover, while the date is April 27, 1876. His parents, Fritz and Wilhelmina (Nordmann) Voss, were also natives of Hanover, the former born January 27, 1854, and the latter on the 4th of February, 1853. They came to But- ler county, Iowa, in 1882, and settled on a farm six miles north- east of Clarksville, in Fremont township, where they resided until they retired about five years ago, taking up their abode in Clarks- ville. The father is a carpenter by trade, following that pursuit in his native land, but after coming to America he devoted his
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energies to farming. The family numbered four children: F. H .; Louise, who is the widow of H. W. Miller, of Fremont township; Millosine, the wife of F. A. Nordmann, of Butler township; and William J., who is living on the old homestead in Fremont town- ship. The two eldest came with their parents to the United States and the two youngest were born in this county.
F. H. Voss remained under the parental roof until the time of his marriage, when he began farming on his own account, establishing his home five miles northeast of Clarksville, in Butler township. After devoting three years to the tilling of the soil he removed to the town and opened a meat market, which he con- ducted for a year. He then began buying and shipping stock, which business he has followed for the past decade. He conducted a dairy for five years which he sold out in 1910. He owns a half inter- est in the Rock Island grain elevator at Clarksville in connection with a partner, C. P. Christensen, under the firm style of Voss & Christensen, the partnership having been in existence for two years. His property interests likewise include two farms in this county, one of two hundred and forty acres and the other of one hundred and sixty acres. He also has two farms in Minne- sota, one of eighty acres in Chippewa county, together with a tract of land of two hundred acres in Yellow Medicine county. In all of his business affairs he seems to prosper. His judgment is sound, his sagacity keen and his enterprise unfaltering. He seems ever to recognize the possibility for success and discrimi- nates readily between the essential and the non-essential in all business transactions. His father had only enough to buy furni- ture and two cows when the family arrived in America and F. H. Voss has made all that he has with little assistance from his father. His determined purpose has enabled him to carry for- ward to successful completion whatever he undertakes and in man- aging his private business interests he has also contributed to the general prosperity.
On the 4th of October, 1900, Mr. Voss was united in marriage to Miss Millosine Nordmann, who was born in Hanover, Ger- many, February 4, 1880, and in 1892 was brought to Butler county by her parents, Henry A. and Caroline (Frietag) Nordmann, who are now living retired in Clarksville. Mr. and Mrs. Voss are members of the German Evangelical church and this is also the faith of the family. Throughout his entire life Mr. Voss has dis- played the sterling traits of character of the German race and has made himself a valued citizen, contributing largely to the com-
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mercial enterprise and agricultural development of this part of the state. He has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintance and no history of Clarksville would be complete without mention of him.
LEMUEL WYGLE.
Lemuel Wygle, one of the well known farmers and progress- ive and influential citizens of Dayton township, owning and oper- ating a valuable farm of two hundred acres on section 34, was born June 17, 1854, and is a' son of Corbin Wygle. The father was a native of Union county, Ohio, and grew to manhood there. He moved to Iowa in 1854, purchasing a tract of land in Dayton township, Butler county. This he cleared, fenced and improved and for many years thereafter carried forward the work of its development and cultivation, becoming one of the well known and substantial farmers of this locality. He died in February, 1898.
Lemuel Wygle was reared upon his father's farm, acquiring his education in the district schools. He made his first purchase of land in Jackson township, where he purchased eighty acres, which he was obliged to break before beginning the work of cul- tivation. At the end of five years he sold this property and bought one hundred and eighty-nine acres on Shell Rock river, in Day- ton township. He located upon this place and farmed it for twelve years, after which he sold his holdings and bought the farm which he now owns. He has two hundred acres on section 34, Dayton township, and this he has improved with a neat resi- dence, a large barn, a granary, cribs and other convenient out- buildings. He has fenced and cross fenced his fields and has a fine natural grove of native timber, making an effective wind- break around the house and buildings. He raises a good grade of Durham cattle, Duroc Jersey hogs and heavy work horses, and is also interested in dairying, all departments of his activities being important and profitable.
In Jackson township, this county, on the 18th of December, 1888, Mr. Wygle married Miss Nellie Leete, a daughter of A. N. Leete and a sister of H. A. Leete, of Greene, of whom further mention appears elsewhere in this work. Mrs. Wygle was born in Wisconsin but was reared in Butler county. She and her
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husband became the parents of six children: Abbie, Clarence, Arthur, Fannie, Bernard, and one child who died in infancy. The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Packard.
Mr. Wygle gives his political allegiance to the republican party and served for a time as road supervisor and for two terms as township trustee. A resident of Butler county during practically his entire life, he has witnessed a great deal of its growth and development and has done his full share in promoting its advance- ment. He is numbered today among the influential men of the county and his worth as a man and a citizen is widely acknowl- edged.
WILLIAM TRINDLE.
Almost every state in the union has furnished its quota of citizens to Iowa. The state that has produced the best corn crops of the country has also produced some of the strongest men of the nation, and its residents on the whole are a prosperous, contented and progressive class, who are winning success in carefully directed farm work. Of this number William Trindle is a repre- sentative and has a pleasant home on section 32, West Point town- ship. He comes of Scotch ancestry, the family having been founded in America by his grandfather, William Trindle, and his two brothers, Andrew and John, who crossed the Atlantic and settled in Pennsylvania. John, who remained single, secured a position in connection with government surveys and at the time of his death left a large fortune, but the family could not establish a claim to it; for the records of his two brothers had been destroyed. George M. Trindle, son of William Trindle, was born in West- inoreland county, Pennsylvania, February 26, 1826, and having arrived at years of maturity, there was married on the 17th of July, 1851, in Fairfield township, that county to Miss Sarah Mc- Dowell, also a native of that county, born April 17, 1832. They began their domestic life in the east, but in 1863 removed westward to Iowa, establishing their home in Butler county, where they lived for thirty years, Mr. Trindle passing away on the 16th of June, 1893. He had followed farming during much of his life and during the last twenty years was also a minister of the United Brethren church, but made his home upon his farm, having one
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM TRINDLE
RK
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hundred and sixty acres of productive land, which responded readily to the care and cultivation which he bestowed upon it. He was a most earnest temperance worker and sought in every way possible to promote the moral progress in the community in which he lived, his influence being an effective force for good among his friends and neighbors. His wife still survives and now makes her home with a daughter near Bowman, North Dakota. In their family were seven children: William; Susan Mary, the wife of Charles Coryell, of Minnesota; Almira Jane, the wife of A. J. Sylvius, of Bowman, North Dakota ; James A., living in Marshall- town, Iowa; Emily Eleanor, the deceased wife of Robert Santee; George, who died in infancy; and C. L., living in Jackson town- ship.
William Trindle, whose name introduces this record, was born in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, July 29, 1852, and there spent the first eleven years of his life, accompanying his parents on their removal westward to this county in 1863. One half cen- tury has since come and gone and during the entire period he has been an interested witness of the changes which have occurred, converting the wild prairie district into a rich farming region, dotted here and there with beautiful homes, substantial school buildings and churches and other evidences of a progressive civil- ization. William Trindle was reared as a farm lad, working in the fields when not occupied with the duties of the school room. In manhood he has been content to give his time and attention to the occupation with which he had become familiar as a boy and thus concentrating his efforts upon a single line of activity, he has won prosperity and is now the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of rich land, constituting the west one half of section 32, West Point township, upon which he has resided for a quarter of a century. The improvements upon the place are the tangible evi- dences of a well spent life characterized by energy and thrift.
On the 25th of February, 1880, Mr. Trindle was united in mar- riage to Miss Keziah Cornford, who was born in Milwaukee, Wis- consin, April 9, 1847, and is a daughter of John and Mary Ann (Ralph) Cornford, who were natives of England, born near Lon- don. Both passed away in Wisconsin, the father when but forty- four years of age and the mother in 1903 at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. They had two children born in England ere they came to America about 1845. Their family numbered nine children, of whom one son died at the age of twenty-five, while two other children have also passed away, leaving six yet living.
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Mr. and Mrs. Trindle have three children: Anna, the wife of Jesse Young, residing near Turtle Lake, Wisconsin; Nellie, the wife of S. G. Young of Turtle Lake, Wisconsin; and William Irving, who married Laura Berkley and who remains upon the old homestead and now operates the farm.
The parents are members of the Christian church of Bristow, are liberal in its support and take an active part in its work. Mr. Trindle is serving as one of its elders and does all in his power to further its cause. He holds membership with the Modern Brotherhood of America and he gives his support to the republi- can party, being now identified with its progressive wing. He has held only school and road offices nor does he desire further politi- cal preferment. Living in the county for a half century, he is largely familiar with its history, his memory going back to the time when this part of the state was mostly an unfenced prairie, upon which few houses had been built. It was a dangerous thing to travel in this district in the winter time, for there were no homes in which to seek shelter from the storms and it was not an unusual thing for a blizzard to sweep over the district. The mail was received twice a week being brought in by stage from Cedar Falls and Hampton. Farsighted men, however, recognized the natural advantages of the country and came to claim its rich agricultural lands, while the present generation, profiting by their labors, have become prosperous farmers. The country is now well developed and its attractiveness has been enhanced by the labors of such men as William Trindle, who is justly accounted one of the progressive farmers of his part of the state.
J. B. HICKMAN.
J. B. Hickman is numbered among the pioneer settlers of Butler county, having since 1865 made his home within its bor- ders. Great changes have since occurred, the labors of time and man having wrought a marked transformation in the county, which was largely undeveloped and unimproved when he took up his abode within its borders. He can relate many interesting inci- dents of the early days, for through thirty years he kept a diary, writing in it each day until his eyesight failed him. He is now in his seventy-sixth year, his birth having occurred in Lincolnshire, about ten miles from Boston, England, on the 29th of July, 1838.
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His parents were Mathew and Frances (Humble) Hickman, natives of Lincolnshire, who in 1854 came to the United States, bringing with them their seven children. They took passage on the sailing vessel Empire State and were seven weeks and two days in crossing the Atlantic. After landing at New York they proceeded by way of the water route to Kenosha, Wisconsin, and a year later the family removed to Green county, that state, where they resided until 1865, when they came to Butler county, Iowa, settling three miles northeast of Clarksville. The father made farming his life work and developed his land in this county into a rich and productive tract, residing there until his death, in April, 1886, when he was in his seventy-seventh year. His widow survived until 1898 and passed away at the age of eighty-seven years. Their children were seven in number: Mary, who died in Clarksville in 1911, was the wife of Robert Skinner and had nine sons and a daughter. Dorothy is the widow of John Carter and lives in Green county, Wisconsin. J. B. is the next in order of birth. Ann is the wife of William Hanks, of Kenosha county, Wisconsin. Frances is the wife of David Martin, of New Mexico. William died in Rockford, Iowa, and Lucy is the widow of Julius Rambo and makes her home in Clarksville.
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