USA > Iowa > Butler County > History of Butler County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 9
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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
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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spending the greater part of the remainder of the time as a painter. He also occupied the position of assessor of New Hartford for fourteen years. On the 1st of January, 1913, he came to Allison and took up the duties of clerk of the district court, to which position he had been elected in November. 1912. He was a demo- crat in politics until 1896 and since that time had been a stalwart. supporter of the republican party. The offices of assessor and clerk are the only ones that he has ever filled. It was his unpreju- diced support of the primaries that secured him his nomination and brought about his later election. In his fraternal connections Mr. Dennis is a Mason, holding membership in Beaver Lodge, No. 472. A. F. & A. M., of New Hartford, in which he has held all of the offices save that of master. He also belongs to Dumont Lodge, K. P. While difficulties and obstacles beset him in his early career he has worked his way upward, has proven his worth in various connections and is now accounted one of the substantial citizens and capable officers of the county.
EMIL W. PARNO.
A residence of over thirty years in Greene, during which time his interests have extended to many fields of activity, has brought Emil W. Parno into prominence in business and political circles of the city, and has given him an important place among men of marked ability and substantial worth. During all this time he has been engaged in the jewelry business, and in the course of vears has built up a large and representative patronage and formed valuable trade relations, so that today he is one of the leading representatives of his business in Butler county. He was born in Guttenberg, Clayton county, Iowa, March 12, 1860, and is a son of August Parno, a native of Germany. The father grew to maturity in that country, where he studied chemistry, and as a young man crossed the Atlantic to America, locating in Clayton county. There he secured employment as chemist for a manu- facturing concern, holding his position until the outbreak of the Civil war, when he joined an Iowa regiment, serving two years. He was discharged on account of disability and returned home, but he never recovered his health, dying two years later, in 1866. August Parno married Mrs. Sophia (Muller) Boller, a native of Germany, whose father was the incumbent of various positions
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of public honor and trust. Mrs. Parno survived her husband for many years. She had six children by her first marriage and one son, Emil W., of this review, by her second union.
Emil W. Parno acquired his education in the common schools of his native county and afterward learned the jeweler's trade in Dubuque. He was for a time employed in the store conducted by his brother-in-law and afterward came to Greene, where he took charge of the business owned by his half brother, who had died here. Emil W. Parno bought the stock of this enterprise and closed the business, returning to Dubuque, where he secured a position as manager in a jewelry concern. About 1884 he again moved to Greene and established here a retail jewelry business which he has since conducted. He carries one of the largest and best selected stocks of jewelry in Butler county and he has built up a large and representative patronage, for his business methods are at all times straightforward and practical and his integrity beyond question. He is also an optometrist of considerable repu- tation, having made a special study of this science, and he gives a great deal of attention to this department of his business. He belongs to the Iowa and National Associations of Optometrists and his ability in examining eyes and fitting glasses is widely recog- nized.
In Charles City, Iowa, on the 14th of January, 1884, Mr. Parno was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Bernhard, a native of Madison, Wisconsin, but reared in Charles City. Mr. and Mrs. Parno have become the parents of two children. Their son, A. W. Parno, was reared and educated in Greene and learned the jewelry trade under his father. He is now carrying on a large business of this character in Clarksville. Their daughter Irene was also reared in Greene and is a graduate of the Greene high school. She later took a musical course in a conservatory in Los Angeles and is now engaged in teaching music in Greene. Mr. and Mrs. Parno and their daughter made a trip to California in February, 1913, visiting most of the coast cities and spending several months in Los Angeles.
Mr. Parno is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, having joined the local lodge in 1882. He is identified also with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks. He is a progress- ive and public-spirited citizen and has always been interested in public affairs, having been one of the first to secure a franchise for the installation of an electric light plant, this having later been developed into the present Electric Light & Power Company. He
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is independent politically and has held various positions of trust and responsibility, serving for one term on the town board and for two terms as mayor of Greene, and his record is one of disin- terested and able work in the public service. He is widely and favorably known in Greene and holds the confidence and regard of all with whom business, political or social relations have brought him into contact.
WALTER E. WEST.
The wealth of Iowa lies in her soil and in its intelligent develop- ment and among the enterprising citizens connected with agricul- tural interests is Walter E. West, whose home is on section 13, West Point township, not far from Allison. The consensus of public opinion numbers him with the progressive, farsighted busi- ness men and along various lines his labors have contributed to public progress and prosperity. He was born in Blackhawk county, Iowa, a mile north of Cedar Falls, on the 12th of June, 1867, and is a son of Thomas and Deidamia (Davis) West. The father, a native of Ohio, died in Blackhawk county when his son Walter was seventeen years of age and the mother afterward came to live with her son, spending her remaining days in his home. Both were married twice and by his first union the father had eleven children, while the mother had several children by a former marriage. There were but two children of the second union, Wal- ter E. and William W., the latter living near Granite Falls, in Yellow Medicine county, Minnesota.
Walter E. West spent the days of his boyhood and youth in the place of his nativity, acquiring a public-school education which served as a foundation for his later success and advancement along both intellectual and material lines. He arrived in this county in 1889, when a young man of twenty-two years, and has here since resided. His entire life has been devoted to farming and the early training of his youth in the work of the fields enabled him to care- fully direct his labors when he began farming on his own account. He is today the owner of eighty acres on section 13, West Point township, and the remaining sixty acres lie just across the road in Jackson township, on section 18. His place is well developed and most of the improvements have been made by Mr. West, who is a progressive farmer and keeps abreast with the most modern meth-
MR. AND MRS. WALTER E. WEST
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ods in tilling the soil and caring for the crops. His farm presents a most attractive appearance, being divided into neat fields of con- venient size by well kept fences, while the farm work is accom- plished with the aid of the latest improved machinery. In other connections he is recognized as a man of sound business judgment and his cooperation is considered a valuable factor in the success- ful management of his other interests. He is now vice president of the Farmers Cooperative Elevator Company of Allison and is a stockholder in the Farmers Cooperative Creamery Company of that city.
On the 22d of December, 1887, Mr. West wedded Miss Linnie E. Shields, who was born in Blackhawk county, March 2, 1867, and is a daughter of Samuel Shields. They have three children : Lloyd E., of Clarksville; Grace O., the wife of Roy Neal, of Clarksville; and Hazel, at home. The parents are members of the Congrega- tional church of Allison, contributing generously to its support and taking a helpful interest in its work. Mr. West has ever exer- cised his right of franchise in support of both the men and meas- uies of the republican party and feels a citizen's interest in questions of vital concern to the county and to the state. He does not seek nor wish for office, feeling that his time is fully occupied by his business affairs, which are of growing importance and are bringing to him gratifying returns.
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