USA > Iowa > Howard County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume II > Part 62
USA > Iowa > Chickasaw County > History of Chickasaw and Howard counties, Iowa, Volume II > Part 62
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In 1884 Fred J. Maurer was united in marriage to Miss Emma Burr, of Winneshiek county, Iowa, and immediately thereafter they removed to Vernon Springs township, Howard county, where Mr. Maurer and his brother rented a farm which they cultivated for four years. He next took up his abode in Kendallville, Iowa, where he resided for three years upon rented land and then in Chester township, settling on his present farm. For fifteen years he continued to cultivate leased land and afterward purchased the farm upon which he now resides, comprising one hundred and sixty acres situated on section 13.
To Mr. and Mrs. Maurer were born six children, of whom one has passed away, while five are yet living, namely: Alfred J., at home; Edwin F., who is married and resides at Ottumwa, Iowa; Claude S., who is married; and Herbert E. and Edna Remona, both at home. The deceased child was Elmer, who died at the age of six months.
Mr. Maurer is a republican in politics and is a substantial citizen, loyal to the best interests of the community and giving hearty support and cooperation to any well defined plan or measure for the general good. He has in his business career made wise use of his time and opportunities and the success which has come to him is the direct reward of his diligence and determination.
LOREN PADDEN.
Loren Padden, deceased, was a well known and substantial citizen of Fredericksburg and Chickasaw county. He was born in Pennsylvania in 1846, a son of Robert and Lu- vina (Todd) Padden. In 1857, when eleven years of age, he came to Iowa with his mother and at the age of eighteen offered his services to his country in defense of the . Union cause, enlisting as a member of Company F, Ninth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry. This was one of the hard fighting regiments of the war and was with Sher- man on the celebrated march to the sea. Mr. Padden remained in active service until the close of hostilities and was honorably discharged in July, 1865, when he returned to his home with a most creditable military record.
Subsequently he laid the foundation of his later modest fortune through his specula- tions in what was then cheap Iowa farm land. In 1880 he engaged in the implement busi-
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ness, also handling pumps and windmills and in the latter line probably did a larger busi- ness than any other dealer in northeastern Iowa. As he prospered in business he built a number of residences and business blocks on Main street and the two largest brick business buildings in Fredericksburg stand as monuments to his enterprise and pro- gressive spirit. In 1900, in company with Shaffer Brothers of New Hampton, he pur- chased the banking business of Charles A. Moody, which they then conducted as a pri- vate bank until 1905, when it was incorporated as the First State Bank of Fredericks- burg and Mr. Padden became its first president. He was preeminently a business man, alert and energetic, ready for any emergency and at all times displaying keen discern- ment in recognizing opportunities that others passed heedlessly by. He may well be termed one of Fredericksburg's foremost citizens. He was a true friend and good neighbor, who ever held friendship inviolable. He counted character as far more valu- able than wealth or fame and he would never sacrifice the interests of public concern or his friends in the slightest degree. He was most loyal in citizenship and the many splendid traits of character which he displayed caused him to be esteemed and loved by all who knew him.
On the 1st of August, 1874, Mr. Padden was married to Miss Clara Tisdale, a daugh- ter. of Gilbert J. Tisdale, who came to Chickasaw county about 1857. He served through- out the Civil war, enlisting as a member of Company B, Seventh Iowa Volunteer In- fantry, on the 21st of July, 1861. He was wounded at the battle of Pea Ridge, Arkan- sas, and after recovering from his injuries he rejoined the regiment, with which he re- mained until honorably discharged in 1864. The following year he was chosen to repre- sent his district in the state legislature and proved an able member of the general as sembly of Iowa. His widow is now living, in her eighty-fourth year, and is a well preserved woman, retaining her mental faculties as well as many women twenty years her junior. She makes her home with her daughter Mrs. Padden. The latter became the mother of seven children: Cora, who died August 8, 1880; John, a prominent farmer of Fredericksburg township, Chickasaw county; Nellie, the widow of James Eckenrod and a resident of Springfield, Missouri; Harry, an automobile dealer of Waterloo, Iowa; Tillie, the wife of James McCook, of Pendleton, Oregon; Edith, the wife of Howard Fuller, of Mason City, Iowa, who is state bank examiner and whose father filled the office of attorney general under President Roosevelt; and Marjorie, at home.
At the time of his death Mr. Padden owned extensive and valuable property in Fred- ericksburg and had excellent farm holdings. He was not a fraternity man; his home served as his lodge and his club. His tastes were simple and he preferred above all else to spend his time with his family, to whom he was a most loving and devoted hus- band and father. He felt that the greatest blessing in life was the companionship of a true wife and a family of happy children, who always had a warm welcome for the master of the house. Mr. Padden passed away November 8, 1910, his death being the occasion of deep regret not only to the members of his immediate household but to all who knew him and recognized in him the possessor of many sterling traits of charac- ter.
ROBERT HERD FAIRBAIRN.
Robert Herd Fairbairn was born in Napanee, Ontario, Canada. October 9, 1842, and with his parents removed to St. Mary, in Perth county, Ontario, where he resided until 1848, when they crossed the border into the United States, establishing their home in Winnebago county, Wisconsin. They afterward removed to Waushara county in the same state, and there, in 1867, Mr. Fairbairn's health became so impaired that his phys- icians ordered him to try the west coast, and he went to California, where he remained for more than two years. He then returned to the east and for a brief period resided in Stratford, Canada. In 1872 he came to Chickasaw county, Iowa, where he has since re- sided with the exception of a year spent in Minneapolis, Minnesota. For several years he engaged in the practice of law at Nashua, Iowa, but became imbued with an uncon- querable desire to enter upon newspaper work, having previously been correspondent for
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newspapers both in the east and the west. In 1884 he purchased the New Hampton Courier, which he has owned and published for almost a third of a century. He has made of the Courier a clean paper and has been quite influential in promoting various reforms. Along this line he has done notable work in securing school books at a lower price, and, moreover, Mr. Fairbairn was the first to openly advocate through the columns of his paper the consolidation of rural schools in order to give the boys and girls of the rural districts just as good opportunities as those of the villages, towns and cities.
As a public speaker he is quite well known, having been employed by the state central committee to canvass Iowa in the interests of the republican party. He has an extensive acquaintance with the public men in the state, particularly men of ripe years who do not feature as prominently in politics as at a former period, but who have left the mark of their impress for good upon the public history of the state.
While never accumulating wealth, for he has never made that the end and aim of his existence. he has been generous in extending a helping hand to others and has been in- strumental in sending more young men and women to college or to commercial schools perhaps than any man in the county where he resides. Not a college man himself, he has felt the handicap of a limited education all his life and has eked out with hard work that which would have been comparatively easy had he been more thoroughly equipped for the activities in which he has engaged.
Such is the man and such has been his work. Notwithstanding the handicap men tioned, he is yet found a virile writer, with a clear mind and good memory, his state ments noted for their accuracy and for the broad charity that silences captious criticism. Perhaps the best criterion of his life is found in the fact that the friends of his youth are still his friends. To any work that he undertakes he gives most careful attention, and his knowledge of men, his memory of events, his industry and his desire to procure re- sults constitute a desirable equipment for such a work as he has undertaken in the preparation of his history of Chickasaw and Howard counties.
TIMOTHY DONOVAN, SR.
Timothy Donovan, Sr., deceased, was born in Ross, Carberry, County Cork, Ire- land, April 20, 1822, and died upon the old Donovan homestead in Jacksonville township, Chickasaw county, on the 17th of March, 1890. He came to the United States in 1837, when a youth of fifteen years, and first made his way to Boston, Massachusetts, where he became identified with railroad work, in which connection he rose to the position of roadmaster.
On the 1st of July, 1854, he was united in marriage in the Immaculate Conception church at Lawrence, Massachusetts, to Miss Abbie Harrington, who was born at Castle- town, County Cork, Ireland, on the 20th of April, 1835. While she was still a small girl her parents died and at the age of fourteen years she came to the United States to make her home with a sister, who resided at New Market, New Hampshire. For a time after their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Donovan lived in New Hampshire but on account of failing health he brought his family to Iowa, where he arrived in 1858, settling first on Crane creek, in Chickasaw county. Two years later he removed to what became the old family homestead in Jacksonville township and there he resided until his death.
Mr. Donovan was born to poverty in a land where, while men are not exiled to Si- beria, many of them are at least deprived of the opportunity for education and culture and left to do as best they can the tasks incident to drawing their support from the earth. While Mr. Donovan had little chance of educational advancement. he seems to have over- come his lack of this advantage to a large degree. Nature endowed him with keen and quick perceptions and he was a close observer and a student of all that came within his grasp. He realized, however, the value of educational training and gave to each of his children the opportunity to obtain a good knowledge of the branches of learning neces- sary as a basis for business advancement. He qualified them for the duties of citizenship and instructed them concerning their obligations and responsibilities. He taught them to fear debt and despise shiftlessness, and he ever looked upon dishonesty with abhor-
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rence. He endured uncomplainingly the privations and hardships of early pioneer life and practiced frugality and industry. He was a man of clean life, honorable in all of his dealings with his fellowmen and by reason of his carefully directed labors he won a place among the substantial farmers of Chickasaw county. The old homestead is today one of the well improved farm properties of Jacksonville township. It may well be said that the world is better from the fact that Mr. Donovan lived. He was a Christian gentle- man of Catholic faith, who throughout his life held to high principles and sought to advance toward the highest ideals. His wife departed this life June 3, 1913, and when they were called to their final rest Chickasaw county lost two of its most worthy and esteemed pioneer residents.
P. E. McGINN.
P. E. McGinn, a well known figure in the business circles of New Hampton, is con- ducting an insurance and real estate office and has gained a good clientage along both lines. He is numbered among the native sons of Chickasaw county, for his birth occurred in Utica township, April 18, 1869, his parents being James and Bridget (Hard- mon) McGinn, who were natives of Ireland. They came to the United States in young manhood and womanhood and were married on Staten Island, New York, in 1854. There they resided for two years and on the expiration of that period removed westward to Illinois. They settled first in Ogle county, where they resided for a decade. The father was a poor boy when he came to the United States and for years he worked as a day la- borer or by the month as a farm hand. But he was ambitious to engage in business on his own account and made the most of his opportunities toward that end. Eventually he began farming for himself in Ogle county upon rented land and in 1865 he removed from Illinois to Chickasaw county, Iowa, where two years before he had purchased one hundred and forty acres of land in Utica township, buying this from the man for whom he had worked in Ogle county, Illinois. His farm was situated on sections 30 and 31. Utica township, and upon this place he took up his abode, making it his home to the time of his death or for a period of thirty-five years. He passed away September 17, 1900, at the venerable age of eighty-four years, leaving to his family not only a comfort- able competence but also the priceless heritage of a good name. His wife survived him for about seventeen years, her death occurring June 26, 1917, when she had reached the age of eighty-nine. During her later years she made her home with her two sons, P. E. and Frank McGinn. The record of the father is one which should well serve as a source of encouragement and inspiration not only to his sons but to all who read his life his- tory. Starting out in the business world a poor boy without capital and without the aid of influential friends, he steadily worked his way upward and ultimately became the owner of six hundred acres of the most fertile land of Chickasaw county and was numbered among its men of affluence.
P. E. McGinn has been a lifelong resident of Chickasaw county. He was educated in the district schools near his father's farm, in the public schools of New Hampton and in the Breckenridge Institute at Decorah, from which institution he was graduated with the class of 1891. When his school days were over he took up educational work and for ten years devoted his time to the profession of teaching. He also engaged during that period in farming and more and more largely concentrated his efforts and attention upon agricultural pursuits and stock raising. He began specializing in the breeding of thoroughbred Percheron horses, black polled Angus cattle and Chester white hogs and his live stock interests have constituted an important branch of his business, bringing to him gratifying success. At the time of his marriage he was deeded one hundred and twenty acres of land by his father, this tract constituting a part of the old homestead upon which he was born. Subsequently he bought one hundred and forty acres more, on which was located the old family residence and farm buildings, and he continued to reside upon the farm until December, 1914, when he removed to New Hampton, where he has since made his home. He still owns the farm of two hundred and sixty acres, however, and it is now being further developed and cultivated by tenants under his direction. Since taking
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up his abode in the city Mr. McGinn has given his attention to the real estate and insur- ance business and has gained a very large clientage. He was one of the organizers of the Saude Cooperative Creamery Company and a member of the committee that drafted its by-laws. For ten years after its organization he served as president and placed the business upon a substantial basis.
Mr. McGinn has always been an earnest democrat in his political views and for many years was chairman of the Utica township democratic central committee, thus being very active in formulating the policy and directing the interests of the party in Chickasaw county. He has served as a member of the board of township trustees and was acting in that capacity when the board introduced the first tractor into the county for the purpose of road grading. He likewise served on the school board for a number of years and for eleven years was secretary of the school board. In the November election of 1914 he was chosen for the office of county auditor of Chickasaw county and it was in the fall of that year that he took up his abode in New Hampton in order to more easily discharge his duties. He filled the position for four years and upon his retirement from office entered upon the real estate and insurance business.
On the 19th of September, 1899, Mr. McGinn was joined in wedlock to Miss Mary Commerford, a daughter of Terrence and Mary Commerford, who are numbered among the earliest of the pioneer settlers of Utica township, there being but two families in the township at the time of their arrival. Mr. and Mrs. McGinn are the parents of five children: Irene, James, Olivette, Ambrose and Virgil. All are yet at home and are being accorded excellent educational advantages. The religious faith of the family is that of the Catholic church and Mr. McGinn is identified with the Knights of Columbus. His position in Chickasaw county is that of a representative citizen, honored for his sterling worth, for what he has accomplished in a business way and for what he has done in behalf of public progress.
JOHN TRASK.
More than a century ago George Washington said that "agriculture is the most useful as well as the most honorable occupation of man." This statement is as true today as when uttered, it being a well known fact that farming is the basis of all business development and material progress. To the work of tilling the soil John Trask has confined his attention from early life and he is classed with the pioneer settlers of northern Iowa, although he was born in Franklin county, Massachusetts, near the town of Deerfield, August 19, 1845. He is a son of S. B. and Rebecca H. (Eaton) Trask, the former a native of Franklin county, Massachusetts, while the latter was born in New Hampshire. They became acquainted in Franklin county, Massachusetts, where they were married, and in 1854 they made arrangements to try their fortune in the growing west. Iowa was made their destination and in the old town of Chickasaw they lived for a year. During this period Mr. Trask was building the first frame house in Deerfield township-across the road from the present site of the home of John Trask. With the early development of the com- munity the family became closely associated and with the passing years representa- tives of the name have ever borne their part in the work of general improvement and upbuilding.
John Trask was but eight years of age at the time the family home was estab- lished in Iowa and his education, begun in the common schools of Massachusetts, was continued in the graded schools of Waterloo, this state. He remained with his parents until they were called to the home beyond, both the father and mother dying at the home which John Trask now owns, the former departing this life at the advanced age of eighty-nine years, while the latter reached her eighty-seventh birthday. On the pages of pioneer history their names are emblazoned. The father was one of those who secured land from the government, obtaining one hundred and twenty acres as a preemption claim, for which he paid a dollar and a quarter
JOHN TRASK
MRS. JOHN TRASK
S. B. TRASK
MRS. S. B. TRASK
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per acre. This tract is situated in Deerfield township and when he died he still had one hundred acres of the original farm, having sold but twenty acres.
Under the parental roof John Trask was reared and his boyhood experiences were those of the farm lad reared upon the frontier. Having arrived at adult age, he married Lucy A. Jenkins, a daughter of John and Lydia Jenkins, both of whom have departed this life. Her father died in New York city, while her mother's death occurred in Deerfield township, Chickasaw county, to which she had removed at an early day. The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Trask was celebrated on the 23d of October, 1868, and they became the parents of six children: William Henry, who is now married; Mrs. Ethel Fredreci; Mrs. Hattie Nyham; Mrs. Eva Michaels; and Emily and Charles E., both deceased.
At the time of his mother's death John Trask came into possession of the one hundred acre farm which his father had entered as a claim from the government. He still owns and occupies this place, which is situated on section 30, Deerfield township, and its productiveness is the result of his careful cultivation and super- vision. He has worked diligently to enhance the value of his land and has added to his farm many modern improvements. In politics he is a democrat and has held practically all of the offices in Deerfield township, while for three years he served as a member of the board of supervisors of Chickasaw county, proving a most capable and efficient officer in that connection. He has ever been loyal to public interests and the trust reposed in him and has earnestly promoted every project which he has regarded as of public worth. He has now passed the seventy-fourth milestone on life's journey but is still an active factor in farming circles and is a well known citizen in this district, with which he has so long been associated.
E. W. LOOMIS.
E. W. Loomis is successfully engaged in business at New Hampton as a member of the firm of Loomis Brothers, cream buyers and dealers in poultry, eggs, hides, fur and wool, which has had a prosperous existence of sixteen years. His birth occurred in Charles City, Floyd county, Iowa, on the 23d of February, 1879, his parents being J. M. and Laura (Brown) Loomis, who were born, reared and married in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. In 1857 the father came west to Iowa, locating at Spirit Lake in Dickinson county, where he followed general agricultural pursuits for about six years. At the end of that time ne removed to Charles City and after a short period devoted to farming he took up car- pentering and building, which pursuits claimed his attention for many years and in which he won substantial success. In 1915 he removed to Wells, Minnesota, where his demise occurred two years later. His widow is still living and makes her home in Charles City.
E. W. Loomis acquired his education in the schools of his native city and in early manhood was variously employed for about four years. On the 5th of April, 1898, he enlisted for service in the Spanish American war as a member of Company D. Forty- ninth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he was on active duty in the Cuba campaign. After being honorably discharged on the 5th of May, 1899, he returned home and was in the employ of the firm of Waller & Waller, produce dealers of Charles City, until 1902. He then embarked in the produce business on his own account at Charles City but the following year came to New Hampton and founded the firm of Loomis Brothers in association with his brother William. Later they established branch houses at Lyle and Kenyon, Minnesota, and at Bridgewater, North Dakota. They are crean buyers and dealers in poultry, eggs, hides, fur and wool and during the past sixteen years have built up an enterprise of extensive and profitable proportions. In 1918 their business amounted to more than a half million dollars. The continued growth and suc- cess of the concern is attributable in no small measure to the sound judgment and un- faltering enterprise of E. W. Loomis, who has won a well merited reputation as one of New Hampton's foremost business men and substantial citizens.
On the 6th of April, 1906, Mr. Loomis was united in marriage to Mrs. Harriett Spen-
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cer, who bore the maiden name of Harriet Mills and who is a daughter of Robert H. Mills, a well known retired farmer and representative resident of New Hampton. By her first husband Mrs. Loomis had two children, Allison and Ulia Spencer.
Mr. Loomis is independent in his political views and has never been an aspirant for public office, preferring to concentrate his time and energies upon his business affairs, in the careful management of which he has gained a gratifying measure of pros- perity. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias, belonging to Lancelot Lodge, No. 183. Those who know him, and he has a wide acquaintance, entertain for him warm regard, for his life has measured up to high standards in every relation.
FRANK PROCHASKA.
Frank Prochaska, now living retired in Protivin, spent his early days on the other side of the Atlantic, for he was born in Bohemia on the 4th of December, 1842, and was reared and educated in that country, attending the parochial schools there. He is a son of Jolin and 'Anna Prochaska. His parents spent their entire life in Bohemia.
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