USA > Iowa > Clay County > History of Clay County, Iowa, from its earliest settlement to 1909 > Part 65
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ELMER D. SMITH.
Elmer D. Smith, a prosperous farmer and well known auctioneer of Logan township, whose ancestors have long been in this country and some of whom served with distinction in the Revolutionary war. is a native of Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, born March 21, 1870. Abraham Smith, his grandfather, was a native of New Jersey, and when a boy eighteen years of age located in Pennsyl- vania, where he operated a large farm and constructed a brick residence in the year 1816, in which the subject of this sketch was born and the house, which
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is an old landmark, is still standing and is in fair condition. Mr. Smith was a prominent and influential man in his day and served during the Revolutionary war in the capacity of major, and after the conflict was for several years com- missioner of the county in which he resided. Among his children was Abraham Smith, Jr .. a native of the Keystone state, whose birth occurred in Luzerne county and who was united in marriage with Mary C. Snyder, a native of Columbia county, Pennsylvania, where she now resides. In his native county Mr. Smith lived until the year 1892, when he moved to Kingsley, Plymouth county, Iowa, and thence to Gaza, O'Brien county, in 1894. There he engaged in mercantile pursuits and also served for one year as postmaster. Giving up his business in 1895, he became proprietor of a hotel, filling that position for a year, when he located on a farm in Palo Alto county, Iowa, where he resided until four years ago, when he came to this county. His life has been such as to deserve the confidence and respect of his fellow citizens, and his long years of honest labor have placed him in a position in which he can spend his remaining days in comfort. He has always been a supporter of the democratic party, and belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church. He reared the following children: Bertram S., a jobber of Goodell, Iowa; Maud and Mert, twins, Maud being the wife of Wilbur R. Coldren, a barber of Denver, Colorado, and Mert the wife of Oscar W. Peterson, a farmer of Booth township, Palo Alto county; Olive; Dora, who wedded George A. Frazee, who has extensive agricultural interests in Booth township, Palo Alto county ; May C., deceased ; and Elmer D.
On his father's farm Elmer D. Smith spent his boyhood days, meeting with the usual experiences of the country lad, engaging in the general routine of the farm and during the winter season attending the district schools. Under the parental roof he remained until he was nineteen years of age when he came to Iowa, locating in Kingsley, where he at once began to farm for monthly wages, at which he continued for a time, and after spending four years in Plymouth county he worked for two years in Pocahontas county, and thence went to Palo Alto county, where he rented and cultivated a farm for seven years, at the termination of which period, in the year 1901, he came to this county, locating in Lake township, where he remained until 1902. He then returned to Palo Alto county, but remained there only until 1904, when he again entered Clay county and established himself on his present farm in Logan township. Here he owns three hundred and twenty acres in section 25, which he keeps under a high state of cultivation, carrying on his farming by the most modern methods and having all conveniences with which to make the enterprise a lucrative one. In addition to raising large quantities of hay he also produces corn, wheat, oats and other crops and at the same time pays considerable attention to stock-raising and keeps on hand a number of high grade horses, cattle and sheep. Aside from his farming interests he is also a stockholder in the Farmers Elevator and Creamery at Ayrshire. He also is an auctioneer and his services are in great demand.
On November 28, 1891, Mr. Smith was united in marriage to Miss Mary H. Alexander, a resident of Palo Alto county, and to this union were born Hazel Mildred and William A. Vryon. Politically he is a loyal supporter of the repub- lican party and while he is not an active politician, he keeps well informed upon the political issues of the day and regularly casts his vote for the candidates of his
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party. While a resident of Palo Alto county he served the township as a trustee but since taking up his residence here his business affairs have been too pressing to allow him time to devote to public offices. He attends the Presbyterian church, of which he is a member, and belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, meeting in Ayrshire. Mr. Smith is one of the township's most enterprising and aggressive men and his straightforward dealings, together with his industry, have won him an excellent reputation and enrolled him among the county's substantial and desirable citizens.
PETER LIENEMAN.
Peter Lieneman, who carries on general farming on section 6, Riverton township, and is also engaged in raising and feeding stock, came to this state more than half a century ago. The traveler who rides over Iowa today can scarcely realize the conditions that then existed, for it seems hardly possible that it is within the memory of living men when much of Iowa was an uncultivated waste-a barren prairie and wide marsh. Mr. Lieneman, however, has noticed with interest the changes which have come as the progressive citizens have wrought along well defined lines of labor until they have won for Iowa leadership in certain departments of agriculture and gained for her a high place in all those things which make for good citizenship. Mr. Lieneman had been a resident of America for only two years when he arrived in the state. He was born in Germany, November 19, 1847. His father, Michael Lieneman, was also a native of that country where he was reared to manhood. Three children were born unto them ere they crossed the Atlantic. The opportunities of the new world attracted them and in 1855 they made the ocean voyage which brought them to American shores. They did not tarry in the east, however, but continued on their westward way to Menard county, Illinois, where for two years the father worked as a farm hand. On the expiration of that period he came to Iowa, settling in Jackson county, among its early residents. Later he purchased a farm there and reared his family upon the place which he cultivated and developed. His death was caused by a railroad accident on the 20th of September, 1904. For six years he had survived his wife, who passed away in the fall of 1898.
Peter Lieneman was reared to manhood on the home farm in Jackson county and though his educational opportunities were limited his training for farm labor was not meagre and he remained on the old home place, assisting his father. until thirty-one years of age. Lessons of industry, thrift and integrity were early impressed upon his mind and have constituted factors in his success since that time. Soon after his marriage, which occurred in 1879, he removed to Ford county, Kansas, bought land and opened up a new farm of three hundred and twenty acres, making his home thereon for ten years. He then traded his Kansas property for land in Clay county and has since lived there upon the farm which is now his home. When he took possession of it there was an old house upon it which he has converted into a good home, making additions and remodeling the place until it is a substantial farm residence. In the rear stand good barns and
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outbuildings, and these in turn are surrounded by well tilled fields which gener- ously bring forth good harvests. He has fenced his land, has put out fruit and altogether has made a valuable farm, the raw prairie land being. transformed into a tract of rich property. He practices rotation of crops and makes a study of the soil and the needs of different cereals. Moreover he is raising and feeding stock and is a stockholder in the Farmers' Elevator at Spencer. His home place now comprises three hundred and sixty acres, constituting a gratifying source of income to him for his annual sale of grain and stock brings to him a substantial yearly return.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Lieneman have been born three children who are yet living: John M., who is married and follows farming in Clark county, South Dakota ; Louis F. and Jesse, who are assisting in the improvement of the home farm. They also lost two daughters, Emma, who died in her second year, and Clara, who died at the age of six years.
Politically Mr. Lieneman is a democrat and, as every true American citizen should do, keeps well informed on the issues and questions of the day, but has had little desire for office although he served for nine years on the school board. He was reared in the Lutheran faith, is a member of a fraternal insurance order, and is a business man of progressive spirit and a citizen of loyal devotion to the public good. Well known in Spencer and Clay county, he has the good will and trust of those with whom he has been associated.
CARL WALSTROM.
Representatives of foreign countries are doing much toward peopling the great west and among them are many Germans and Swedes, who have taken the raw prairies and by their energy and industry transformed them into fertile fields. thereby adding greatly to the country's wealth. Carl Walstrom, who for a number of years has been identified with the agricultural and stock-raising interests of Spencer, this county, is a native of Sweden, where his birth occurred August 21, 1859, and a son of Andrew and Annagreta (Johnston) Walstrom. His father was born in 1824 in Sweden, where he engaged in general farming in connection with which he ran a sawmill until his death which occurred in 1897. His mother was also a native of Sweden, where her birth occurred in 1817 and there she died at an advanced age. Among their children were Christina, who became the wife of Mr. Johnston, a progressive agriculturist in Sweden: Bettie, who passed away in that country: M., who is engaged in agriculture in Lincoln township; Carl: Tilda, who became the wife of G. H. Green, the couple residing here ; and Ivan, who departed this life in Sweden.
The common schools of his native land afforded Carl Walstrom his education and he remained at home, assisting his father on the farm until he was twenty years of age, at which period of his life he came to the United States, locating in Spencer. For a period of five years he hired out at farm work, at the expiration of which time he began agriculture for himself on section 6. Sioux township, where he now resides and where his success from year to year has been such that
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he now possesses two hundred and forty acres of excellent land which he has provided with a fine residence, capacious barn, and with every convenience neces- sary to successfully pursue his occupation. In addition to this large farm he also owns another containing one hundred and sixty acres in Chippewa county, Minne- sota, both farms being. in excellent condition and under a high state of cultivation. He produces general crops and in addition to raising hay and the various grains he also pays attention to stock-raising and, particularly, to the breeding of Hereford cattle, for which he has quite a reputation throughout the state.
On April 26, 1886, he wedded Gusta Borgloff, a native of Sweden, who is the mother of eleven children, namely: Minne M., deceased; Ray; Edith C .; Albert Charles; Henry, deceased; Frederick; Ringhold, deceased; Oscar Ben- hart; Teckla S .; Harold O .; and Francis A. Mr. Walstrom's political faith is in the principles of the republican party, and, while he is not active in public affairs, yet, he keeps himself well informed with regard to the paramount issues of the day and is always ready with his vote and influence during campaigns to aid the candidates of his party to secure the offices they seek. In the township he has held several offices and is now an efficient member of the school board, of which he is secretary, and also a township trustee. He is faithful to his religious obligations and is a member of the Swedish Lutheran church of which, for a period of fifteen years, he served as secretary and of which he is treasurer and also a deacon, having, served in this capacity for the past six years. He is a man of high moral purpose and is not only ardent in the work of the individual church to which he belongs but he does all he can to preserve the moral and spiritual standing of the community in which he resides. Mr. Walstrom is a good man ; his industry has surrounded him with prosperity and his upright walk has merited him the respect of his neighbors.
FRANKLIN FLOETE.
The business development of Spencer has been greatly conserved through the efforts and enterprise of Franklin Floete, whose sound judgment and keen sagacity enable him to successfully control the interests with which he becomes identified. He is now president of the Citizens National Bank and also of the Floete Lumber Company and belongs to that class of representative American men who, in promoting individual success, also contribute to public prosperity. He was born in Guttenberg, lowa, April 6, 1855, a son of Charles Floete, a native of Germany. The paternal grandparents spent their entire lives in Germany, where they reared a large family and remained until past middle life when they were called to their final rest.
Charles Floete, reared in the land of his birth, pursued his education in the schools there and afterward learned the cabinet-maker's trade. Coming to America in 1848 he settled in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he followed cabinet-making for about two years. In 1850 he removed westward to Clayton county, Iowa, and purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, giving his time and energies to its cultivation and development until he brought his fields into a state of rich
CLAY 33.
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fertility. After about eight years spent on the farm, however. he abandoned agricultural pursuits and removed to Guttenberg. Iowa, where he engaged in the lumber business. His wife passed away in 1856. Both were consistent members of the Lutheran church and their upright, honorable lives gained them the con- fidence and good will of all with whom they were associated. Their family numbered three children: Charles E., of Armour. South Dakota: Anna, of Los Angeles, California : and Franklin, of this review.
The last named was reared in his native town and the public schools afforded him his early educational privileges, while later he entered the Kentucky Uni- versity. at Lexington, and was graduated therefrom in 1877. In September, 1878, he arrived in Spencer and became manager of the lumber yard of Stauer & Danbenberger. of McGregor, Iowa. After remaining in that employ for some time he bought out the business, which he has conducted continuously since. In the intervening years he has constantly extended the scope of his interests and activity until, in addition to his large and profitable business in Spencer, he also owns and conducts lumber yards at Milford and Hartley, Iowa, and at Armour, South Dakota. Eventually the business was incorporated under the name of the Floete Lumber Company, with Franklin Floete as the president and treasurer and his brother, C. E. Floete, as vice president and secretary. Each year has registered a marked development in their business and, believing this section of the country to be an excellent field for business enterprises of this character. they have established altogether twenty yards in Iowa and South Dakota. They. there- fore, handle lumber on a very extensive scale and their business interests are among the most important industries of this section of the state. The name of Franklin Floete has long been an honorable one on commercial paper and he today figures prominently in financial circles. Some years ago he became a director in the First National Bank, at Spencer, later was elected its vice president and when the Citizens National Bank was organized he became its president and has so continued to the present time, with J. H. McCord as the cashier. They also control the Citizens Savings Banks of Royal. Webb and Fostoria, with Mr. Floete as president of the Fostoria Bank and vice president of the one at Webb. He is also the president of the Floete, Cory & Bemis Company, a real- estate and land company, handling important and extensive interests. Whatever he has undertaken he has successfully controlled, neglecting no detail that promises to contribute to success. Moreover. he has recognized that the present and not the future holds his opportunity and has thus made each hour count for the most possible and in the attainment of success has followed the strictest lines of commercial honor and integrity.
On the 26th of January, 1896, was celebrated the marriage of Mr. Floete and Mrs. Mary (Thayer) Snow. the widow of Sumner Snow and a daughter of John and Hannah (Green) Thayer. Mrs. Floete was born in Vermont and by her former marriage had one daughter, Florence, while by this union there is one son, Franklin Thayer Floete. She is a member of the Episcopal church and is well known socially, while over her home she presides with gracious hospitality. Mr. Floete belongs to Evening Shade Lodge, No. 312, A. F. & A. M .: Clay Chapter. R. A. M .; Esdraelon Commandery. K. T .; and Za-Ga-Zig Temple of
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the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine. He has thus attained high rank in Masonry and is in thorough sympathy with the principles and purposes of the craft. His political support is given the republican party but the demands of his business have left him no time for public office even had he inclination to seek its honors and emoluments. His life has been characterized by orderly progression under the steady hand of one who is a consistent master of himself. He is a man of well balanced capacities and power and capable of mature judgment concerning. the people and citizens that make up his life contacts and experiences. With the growth of his business he has been called upon to assume the discharge of com- prehensive duties requiring physical and mental strength immediately at command. His record embodies all the elements of what in this country we term a "square man"-one in whom to have confidence. His quietude of deportment, his easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address, with the total absence of anything sinister or anything to conceal, foretoken a man who is ready to meet any obli- gation of life with the confidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.
THOMAS E. DELANEY.
With the coming of Thomas E. Delaney to this part of the northwest in 1887 and his settlement on two hundred and sixteen acres of land on section 36. Garfield township, Clay county, Iowa, there was added to the strength and character of the county a man destined to take part in the development of that rich and promising section. He was born in Smithfield, Jefferson county, Ohio, September 27, 1830, a son of Michial and Mary (Livingstone) Delaney, natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania respectively. They both went to Ohio at a very early day, were there married and spent almost their entire lives in that state. The father died in June, 1874, having reached the ripe old age of eighty-nine years. He had served his country as a soldier of the war of 1812 and was always loyal and progressive in citizenship. In January, 1874, his wife passed over the border-land into the great beyond. There is little known concerning the ancestry of the Delaney family save that the paternal grand- father of our subject was buried at sea and that his maternal grandfather was a native of Pennsylvania.
Thomas E. Delaney is the youngest member and the only survivor of his father's family of six children. At the age of twenty-one he started out in life for himself and leaving his Ohio home made his way to Illinois. There he remained for only four years, and during that time had some varied experiences. After saving a little sum of money he made a visit to Chicago where he was offered real estate at a very low figure, but it was no temptation to him and he returned to Bureau county and engaged in raising wheat. For the first year he prospered and garnered a big crop, the sale of which brought him a consider- able amount of money. The following winter he made a visit home and advised his father, if he wished to win wealth, to go to Illinois and raise wheat. The visit over, Mr. Delaney returned to the Prairie state and engaged in wheat rais-
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ing on a larger scale than before, but the venture did not prove successful, owing to the failure of crops, and after three years of hard labor he lost every dollar of his former earnings and was forced to commence all over again. In his vocabulary, however, there is no such word as fail, and he did not allow himself to become discouraged over his loss, but resolutely continued his work and was soon again on the road to prosperity.
On the 22d of September, 1856, there occurred an important event in the life of Mr. Delaney, for on that date was celebrated his marriage to Miss Hannah Gilles. She was a daughter of Ruben and Pamelia (Blanchett) Gilles, the former a native of Kentucky and the latter of Pennsylvania. They were married in Princeton, Illinois, where Mrs. Delaney's family had located at an early date. Her uncle, John Blanchett, platted the town of Blanchett, Ohio, and it was named in his honor. Her father, Ruben Gilles, was a soldier of the war of 1812. Her parents spent their married life in Clinton county, Ohio, where her father passed away September 4. 1883, at the age of ninety-three years, his life record covering almost the entire century that is the most remarkable in the world's history, taking in events that have shaped the civilization of the universe. Mrs. Gilles had long previously passed away, her death occurring April 14, 1842, when she was fifty-one years of age. Thomas Gilles, the grand- father of Mrs. Delaney, was brought to America from Ireland when he was only six weeks old, but nothing more is known of the ancestral history of the fam- ily. Thomas Gilles married Ruth Perkin, who lived to the very venerable age of one hundred and four years. Joseph Blanchett, the maternal grandfather, was a native of France and came to America at an early age, serving as a patriot soldier in the Revolutionary war, remaining with the army for seven years, or throughout the entire period of the struggle. His wife, Mrs. Olive Blanchett, lived to a very advanced age.
After his marriage Mr. Delaney lived in Illinois until 1874, when he came to Iowa, living in Story county until 1887. He then emigrated further west and eventually settled in Clay county. He had experienced considerable loss in Story county through the extended drought and he determined, if possible, to find some part of the country where there would be plenty of water and good grazing grounds for stock. When he left Story county and started out to seek a new location he did not anticipate that he would find that for which he was seeking so near at hand. But fate seemed to favor him for in company with others he came across the site of his present home, situated upon the banks of a beautiful lake. For miles on either side was the wide expanse of unbroken prairie, affording: unlimited range for grazing. This seemed to him the exact spot that he had long desired, and having succeeded in making a purchase of the land, he began the development of the new home. In 1894, however, his expectation for a permanent water supply was somewhat shattered. This was known as the year of the great drought and Pickerel Lake, upon whose shores Mr. Delaney had builded his home, was more than half reduced in extent, the water line receding for a long distance. The following winter was one of extreme cold and in many parts of the lake the water was frozen to the bottom. When the ice melted in the spring and the warm winds from the south drifted
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the ice toward the northern shore, there was a serious condition confronting the few inhabitants around the lake. It is estimated that tons and tons of decay- ing fish covered the shores and soon the odor was almost unendurable for miles around. The health officers of the county were appealed to and many attempts were made to haul the fish away, but the task had finally to be abandoned. The water of the lake soon became contaminated yet it was the only supply for the stock and they were compelled to drink it throughout the long summer. Strange to say, the fear of an epidemic of illness from these conditions was not realized, and the season was unusually healthy in the vicinity of the lake.
Mr. Delaney possessed the same spirit of patriotism which governed his ancestry and was one of the first to answer to his country's call, and on August 12, 1862, he enlisted at Bradford, Stark county, Illinois, as a member of Com- pany B. One Hundred and Twelfth Regiment of Illinois Infantry under Captain James B. Doyle and Colonel Thomas J. Henderson, the regiment being assigned to the Third Brigade, Third Division of the Twenty-third army corps. The first active service of the regiment was in Kentucky and later they were on duty in and around Nashville, participating in the battle of Franklin, one of the most desperate battles of the regiment up to that time. Afterward they were ordered
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