USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 5
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In Ackley, Iowa, March 20, 1872, Mr. Miner was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Nary, a native of Ireland, and they have become the parents of a daughter, Mary, who lives at home. Mr. Miner is a blue lodge Mason and is connected also with the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, being past grand of his lodge,
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which he represented in the Grand Lodge of Iowa. His daughter is well known in the affairs of the Eastern Star, having served as secretary of that organization for several years. Mr. Miner is a republican in his political beliefs and since he assisted in the incorporation of Greene has taken an active part in public affairs, serving on the town board for twelve years and as a member of the board of education. He is an able business man and a public- spirited and progressive citizen and he holds the esteem and con- fidence of all who are associated with him.
JEROME SHADBOLT.
Jerome Shadbolt passed away at the venerable age of eighty- three years, six months and twenty-two days, on the 31st of October, 1906. He had long been a resident of Butler county, having arrived here in the year 1855. He was a man well known for his business integrity and enterprise and much of his admir- able character is indicated in the fact that he was in partnership with one man for thirty-two years. He was born in Stillwater, Saratoga county, New York, April 9, 1823, and when three years of age was taken by his parents to Genesee county, that state, where he remained until he reached the age of twenty-four. It was on the 3d of September, 1846, in Batavia, Genesee county, that he married Miss Louise L. Main, who was born there May 13, 1829, a daughter of William and Sophia (Briggs) Main, the former a native of Maryland and the latter, of Boston, Massa- chusetts. Mrs. Main was a daughter of Dr. William Briggs, a native of England, who after coming to America enlisted as a physician and surgeon under General George Washington at the time when he first took command of the American forces. Dr. Briggs was a prominent member of the medical profession in Boston and was a splendidly educated man. Following the war he took an active part in governmental affairs. His daughter Sophia was left an orphan at the age of nine years, at the age of nine- teen was a teacher in a high school of Boston and at twenty-two years of age was married, becoming the wife of William Main, a merchant of that city. She died in Batavia, New York. In their family were eight children who reached adult age but Mrs. Louise Shadbolt is the only one now living.
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In the year 1847 Jerome Shadbolt and his young wife emi- grated westward to what was then the territory of Wisconsin. They arrived in Milwaukee on the 14th of October but Mr. Shad- bolt did not believe the little village by the lake would ever amount to much and made his way northward a distance of twenty-one miles, to Grafton, Wisconsin. There he purchased the water power rights and erected a large factory for the manufacture of chairs. The business proved very profitable and he made money in that connection until he sold out to his partner preparatory to coming to Iowa. He arrived in Clarksville on the 4th of July, 1855, and was thereafter a resident of Butler county. He was a contractor and builder by trade and here entered into partner- ship with John Madigan, the relationship between them being maintained most harmoniously and profitably for thirty-two years, during which period they erected many substantial structures in and around Clarksville. Mr. Shadbolt also operated a steam sawmill here for some time.
The only interruption to his business career came when in 1864 he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting in the Fifteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he went to the front. He participated in the celebrated march to the sea under Sherman and was in the grand review in Washington, D. C., where thousands of victorious Union soldiers marched through the streets of the capital city from which hung a banner emblazoned with the words: "The only debt that the country owes which she cannot pay is the debt that she owes her soldiers." With the close of the war he was honorably discharged at Davenport, Iowa. In his later years he held membership with the Grand Army of the Republic and took great delight in meeting with his old army comrades. He returned from the war and again resumed his place as a business man of Clarksville and in connection with his build- ing operations he engaged in farming for five or six years.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Shadbolt were born seven children: Jerome, who enlisted at the age of fifteen years for service in the Union Army, being at the front at the same time as his father, died December 15, 1871. Ida M. is the wife of William Walsh, of Clarksville. C. Sumner is living at Minneapolis, Minnesota. Al- bon B. is a resident of Bremer county. Rouen is the wife of J. P. Martin, of Butler county. Jessie O. is the wife of H. E. French, who is mentioned elsewhere in this volume, and Charles P., died in infancy. Mr. and Mrs. Shadbolt united with the Presbyterian church on the 15th of April, 1900. Mrs. Shadbolt is a charter
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member of the Women's Relief Corps and is the oldest living mem- ber of that body. She is at this time eighty-four years of age and a most remarkable woman for her years, still hale and hearty, physically and mentally. Mr. Shadbolt was ever a man of unas- sailable integrity and during his long residence in Clarksville he made many friends by reason of his enterprise, perseverance and reliability in business and his trustworthiness in other relations of life. He lived to witness many changes during the period of his residence here, covering more than a half century, and at all times he bore his full share in the work of general development and improvement.
FRANCIS E. NEWBURY.
Francis E. Newbury, a resident of Bristow, where he is now engaged in buying cream, has been more or less actively identi- fied with agricultural interests in Butler county for; forty-six years. He was born in Kenosha, Wisconsin, January 8, 1844, and is a son of H. A. and Catharine (McCay) Newbury, natives of Connecticut, in which state they were married. They removed westward to Wisconsin during its territorial days and their remaining days were spent in Kenosha, where the father fol- lowed the carpenter's trade and also carried on farming in that locality. They had a family of three sons: John C., now deceased, who served for about eighteen months in the Civil war; H. F., living in Brooklyn, New York ; and Francis E.
The last named spent his boyhood days under the parental roof in his native city and in 1864 responded to his country's call for troops, enlisting as a member of Company G, Forty-third Wis- consin Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for a year, being mustered out at Milwaukee in July, 1865. He held the rank of corporal and participated in several engagements, including the last battle of the war.
For a year after the close of hostilities Mr. Newbury worked on his father's farm in Wisconsin and was married there in the fall of 1866. In the spring of the following year he brought his young wife to Butler county, settling in West Point township, where he purchased a farm which he cultivated and improved until 1881. In that year he opened a hotel in Bristow which he conducted until 1885 and then returned to the farm, upon which
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he lived for fifteen years, or until 1900. Since then he has made his home in Bristow and still owns the farm, comprising one hundred and sixty acres of rich and productive land which yields to him a good annual income. During the past three years he has been engaged in buying cream in connection with his son.
As previously stated, it was in the year 1866 that Mr. New- bury married, the lady of his choice being Miss Sophia Zemira Pierce, who was born in Wisconsin in April, 1848, a daughter of R. C. Pierce. The three children of this marriage are: H. C., who is operating his father's farm; Floyd I., of Bristow; and Lela C., the wife of W. A. Richards, a merchant of Bristow. The family is well known in Butler county and its members are held in high esteem.
In politics Mr. Newbury is a republican, voting for the party since casting his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln in 1864. He was then in the army and was but twenty years of age but the right of franchise was accorded all soldiers. For much of the time during the past forty years he has filled the office of justice of the peace and is the present incumbent of that posi- tion in Bristow. He was also county supervisor for one term and has held a number of school offices, the cause of education finding in him a stalwart friend. He belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and to the Grand Army of the Republic and of both organizations is counted a valued representative. The long years of his residence in Butler county have made him widely known and his many sterling qualities have gained him the high regard of friends and acquaintances alike.
HENRY DRALLE.
A fact that is not always given due recognition is that Ger- many has furnished to Butler county a large percentage of her substantial citizens, men who have adapted themselves to changed conditions in this country and have become progressive and sub- stantial residents of the communities in which they live. Such a one is Henry Dralle, who was born in Westphalen, Germany, on the 8th of August, 1862, his parents being William and Sophia (Schmidt) Dralle, who were likewise natives of Westphalen. Their last days, however, were spent upon a farm in West Point township, this county, where the father died in 1910, at the age of
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HENRY DRALLE AND FAMILY
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HISTORY OF BUTLER COUNTY
seventy-one years, having long survived his wife, who passed away in 1887, at the age of fifty-four. They came to the United States in 1885, Henry Dralle making a trip back to the old country to bring them to the new world. The father was a miller by trade and followed that pursuit in Germany, but after coming to the United States gave his attention to farming and was the owner of one hundred and sixty acres, which he left to his family at the time of his death. There were six children: Henry; Minnie, the wife of Herman Niehaus, of West Point township; Lottie, the deceased wife of Conrad Jakel; Wilhelm, of West Point town- ship; Sophia, the deceased wife of William Rhodenback; and Marie, the wife of Hico Folkers, of West Point township.
Henry Dralle was the first of the family to cross the Atlantic to the new world, arriving in 1878, when a youth of sixteen years. He first made his way to Grundy county, Iowa, and was employed by the month for three years, after which he came to Butler county. Here he again worked by the month as a farm hand for two years and for three years he rented land. During that period he carefully saved his earnings until his thrift and economy had brought him sufficient capital to enable him to purchase eighty acres on section 24, West Point township. To this he has added from time to time as his financial resources have increased until he now has two hundred and forty acres in the home place on section 24, together with a farm of similar size on section 2. He personally operates both tracts of land successfully, carrying on general farming and stock-raising. The fields present a neat and thrifty appearance and give every indication of the practical and progressive methods of the owner.
On the 18th of February, 1888, Mr. Dralle was united in mar- riage to Miss Lottie Schmidt, who was born in Westphalen, Ger- many, January 9, 1867, and came to Butler county with the Dralle family when her future husband returned to Germany for his parents. They are own cousins and were schoolmates in the fatherland. In 1907 they made a trip back to the old country, spending two months there. They have had ten children: Min- nie, the wife of Folkirt Folkers, of West Point township; Henry, also living in West Point township; Annie, the wife of Will Fick, of Jackson township; Willie, Mary, Lottie, August and Matie, all at home; Sophia, who died at the age of four months; and Her- man, who completes the family.
In his political views Mr. Dralle is a democrat and he and his wife are members of the German Lutheran church. Mr. Dralle is Vol. II-4
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a self-made man and deserves much credit for what he has accom- plished. He came to the United States with his uncle, Conrad Wallbaum, who paid his passage, and Mr. Dralle had to work for a year in order to repay the money. He has seen many ups and downs in life and has met many hardships and difficulties, but at length has triumphed over these. That notable changes have occurred is shown in the fact that in early days he sold hogs for three dollars per hundred and oats for ten cents per bushel. He now has as good a farm as can be found in the county and receives substantial prices for his products. He bought his first land at twenty-five dollars per acre and at his last purchase, made three years ago, gave one hundred and thirteen dollars per acre, paying twenty-seven thousand dollars for his last farm of two hundred and forty acres, upon which his son Henry now resides. Although Mr. Dralle had a hard struggle in the early days, he enjoyed good health, was resolute and energetic and has steadily worked his way upward until he is now one of the prosperous farmers of the county, and all who know him acknowledge that his success is well merited.
JOHN PIERSON NEAL.
John Pierson Neal occupies an attractive home in Clarksville situated in the midst of a forty acre tract of land within the cor- porate limits of the town, which he personally cultivates and improves. He is also the owner of two hundred and forty acres elsewhere in the county, which he leases. He is an energetic, wide- awake business man alert and progressive and his present success is the merited reward of his earnest and honest endeavor. He was born in Greene county, Pennsylvania, April 4, 1846, and is a son of William and Rebecca (Murray) Neal, the former a native of Virginia and the latter of Ohio. They were married in the Key- stone state and in 1849 became residents of Green county, Wis- consin, where they remained for fifteen years. In 1864 John P. Neal arrived in Butler county, Iowa, and the following year was joined by the others of the family. The parents both died upon their farm in Jackson township, two and a half miles southwest of Clarksville, the mother passing away in 1868 and the father in January, 1889. He was a cabinet-maker and in the early days made all the coffins needed in his neighborhood. In this state he
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carried on general farming and was the owner of one hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive land, from which he annually gathered good crops. His religious faith was that of the Baptist church and in politics he was a democrat. His family numbered ten children: Sarah Jane, now deceased; Lindsey Elziver, who died in 1910; Mrs. Delilah Ann Johnson and Mrs. Mary Ellen Morrison, both of whom have passed away; William A., living in Jackson township; Frances Caroline, who is the wife of J. Y. Tilford and resides with her brother, John; James Estep, of Clarksville; John Pierson; Robert Judson and Thomas Albert, both now deceased. All of the children reached adult age.
John P. Neal has made his home in or near Clarksville since 1864. He was a youth of eighteen when he arrived in this county. His education had been acquired in the schools of Wisconsin and he there became familiar with all branches of farm work. He resided on a farm in this county until 1900, when he left the old home place in Jackson township and took up his abode in Clarks- ville. He is still the owner of a tract of two hundred and forty acres on section 24, that township, which he brought under a high state of cultivation. He cleared away the stumps, brush and rocks and prepared the land for the plow, making the farm a richly productive one from which he annually gathered good har- vests as a reward for the care and labor he bestowed upon the fields. He and his wife own one-half interest in the old homestead of the Telford estate consisting of two hundred and forty acres in Jackson and Butler townships. He also owns forty acres within the corporation limits and this he personally operates. He also conducted a dray and livery business in Clarksville in 1887. His life has been one of intense and well directed activity and what he has accomplished is the fitting reward of his labors, making him one of the substantial citizens of this part of the state.
Mr. Neal has been married twice. In 1873 he wedded Alvira Wamsley, who was born in this county, July, 1855, and died in August, 1885. To this union were born four children: Alice Myrtle, who died at the age of twenty-two years; May, who passed away at the age of one and a half years; Harlan Ray, twenty-two years of age at the time of his death; and one son who died in infancy. The eldest daughter had completed the third year work in the state normal school and afterward taught until her death. The son, Harlan, was a graduate of the Waterloo business college and was billing clerk for the Fowler wholesale house in Waterloo. In 1889 Mr. Neal was joined in wedlock to Miss Cora May Til-
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ford, who was born in Benton county, Iowa, September 16, 1861, and remained there until nineteen years of age, when she went to Mediapolis, Iowa, where she spent two years. She is a daughter of John Young Tilford, a native of Indiana, who spent a greater part of his life at Vinton, Iowa, as a farmer. He died in Clarks- ville in 1912, after having resided there for several years. His widow, who was Frances Caroline Neal, now makes her home with her brother, John Pierson Neal. Unto our subject and his wife have been born one child, Mary Lavenia.
Politically Mr. Neal is a democrat. He has held no political offices, but for many years has been officially connected with the schools and does all in his power to further the interests of educa- tion. He and his wife and daughter are members of the Pres- byterian church in which he is serving as an elder and he takes active and helpful part in the church work, being ever loyal to the teachings of the denomination. Honor and integrity have guided him in all of life's relations and have commanded for him the confidence, good-will and respect of those whom he has met.
HERMAN SCHMADEKE.
Herman Schmadeke is a retired grain and lumber merchant of Clarksville, who owes his success not to any fortunate combination of circumstances or to the assistance of wealthy kinsmen, but to his own unaided efforts and business enterprise. He was born in Hanover, Germany, January 6, 1859, his parents being Frederick and Dorothy (Hasemeyer) Schmadeke, who came to the United States in 1871 with three of their children, one son having preceded the family to the new world. They settled in DuPage county, Illi- nois, and in 1876 Mr. Schmadeke went to Freeman township, Bremer county, Iowa, where he took up his abode on a farm, both he and his wife passing away on that place. He was a manu- facturer of rope in the old country, but after coming to the new world continuously followed farming. He never took any active part in public affairs, devoting his time to his business interests and his family and to his duties as a member of the German Luth- eran church. He was in his eightieth year at the time of his death, for he was born in 1814 and passed away December 8, 1893. His wife, who was born in 1824, died October 22, 1895. Their children were Frederick, who was born in November, 1851, and now lives
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in Fremont township, Butler county; Henry, whose home is in Fremont township, Bremer county ; Herman; and Louise, the wife of Frederick Stradtmann, of Fremont township, Bremer county.
Herman Schmadeke was a youth of thirteen years when the family crossed the broad Atlantic. He remained under the par- ental roof until fifteen years of age and then began working by the month as a farm hand being thus employed for two years. He afterward learned the carpenter's trade, which he followed for about twenty years, at the end of which time he entered the lum- ber and grain business. In 1884 he came to Butler county and has resided in Clarksville for thirty years. During seventeen years of that period he was engaged in the lumber and grain busi- ness and had three partners within that time. He built up an ex- tensive trade, handling large amounts of grain and lumber each year, while his annual sales brought him a gratifying income. He is now practically living retired, although he takes some contracts for building. For four years he was also a representative of mer- cantile interests, conducting a general merchandise store which he afterward sold to his son. He has ever been a man of deter- mined purpose, carrying forward to successful completion what- ever he has undertaken, and brooking no obstacles that could be overcome by persistent, energetic and honorable effort.
In 1886 Mr. Schmadeke was married to Miss Caroline Becker, who was born in Clayton county, Iowa, March 2, 1866, and came to this county with her parents in early childhood. She is a daugh- ter of Ferdinand and Louise (Buchholz) Becker, natives of Ger- many, and now residents of Clarksville. Mr. and Mrs. Schmadeke have become the parents of six children: Alfred; Olinda, who died August 6, 1913, at the age of twenty-three years and five months; Bertha, a teacher in the rural schools of the county ; Carrie, a high school graduate; Arthur; and Esther.
Mr. Schmadeke votes with the democratic party and his fel- low townsmen, appreciative of his worth, ability and public spirit, have called him to public office, his service as a member of the. city council covering about ten years. For eight years he was also a member of the board of education and the school system of the county has found him a stalwart and helpful friend. He be- came one of the charter members of the Evangelical church of Clarksville and has served on its official board. The foregoing indicates that he is interested in all that pertains to the material, intellectual, social, political and moral development of the com- munity. He has lived to see many changes in the county since he
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arrived here. Land which could be purchased at a very low figure, today commands high prices for the country has become thickly settled. Mr. Schmadeke owns two good farms, one in this county and the other in North Dakota. He started out in life for himself empty-handed when fifteen years of age and gave his wages to his parents until he reached the age of twenty-five. All has not been smooth sailing. At times he has met hardships and difficulties, but he has never faltered and his industry and perseverance have at length brought him to the goal of success. He is proud of his adopted country and his citizenship here and he believes that every man in America has opportunity to make a good home if he is but industrious and honest. His own life is a verification of this belief and proves that success and an honest name may be won simultaneously.
THOMAS HUNT.
Thomas Hunt is the oldest resident of Clarksville and there- fore no history of the town would be complete without extended reference to him. He participated in some of the troubles with the Indians here in the early days and knows every phase of pio- neer life. He arrived in Butler county in 1854, so that almost six decades have since come and gone in which he has witnessed the changes wrought by time and men. A venerable citizen of eighty-one years, he was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, October 2, 1832, a son of Samuel and Sarah (Falconer) Hunt. The mother's birth occurred in the same township in which her son, Thomas, was born and her natal year was 1806. She was a repre- sentative of an old Virginia family. The father, Samuel, was born in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1800. His father, Thomas Hunt, was a native of New Jersey, whence he removed to Pitts- burg, there organizing the first Presbyterian church of that city. Subsequently he went to Jefferson county, Ohio, where he engaged in preaching for twenty years at two different appointments, spending his last days in that county. The ancestry of the family can be traced still farther back. The Hunts came of English line- age, three brothers of the name having come to America in colonial days, settling in New Jersey and Virginia. Jonathan Hunt, the great grandfather of Thomas Hunt was born in Eng- land and after coming to the new world took part in the war for
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independence, in which he was captured. In the maternal line Thomas Hunt comes of Holland Dutch ancestry and the family was early established in Virginia. Samuel Hunt and Sarah Fal- coner were married in Ohio and following his death, which occurred there when he was eighty years of age, she came to Iowa and spent her last days with her son, Thomas, passing away at the remarkable old age of ninety-four years. In the family were the following children: William and H. D., both deceased; Thomas; Mrs. Sarah Miller, now a widow living at Wilmont, Minnesota ; Mrs. Mary Husband, a widow living at Shell Rock, Iowa; C. F., also of Shell Rock; Mrs. Minerva Nelson, a widow whose home is in Washington Springs, South Dakota, and Mrs. Elizabeth Fansaler, of Ohio.
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