USA > Iowa > Clayton County > History of Clayton County, Iowa : from the earliest historical times down to the present : including a genealogical and biographical record of many representative families, prepared from data obtained from original sources of information, Volume I > Part 59
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Highland, John Keeling
Mendon, M. O'Brien
Monona, P. P. Olmstead
Clayton, S. L. Peck Marion, J. C. Rounds Giard, James Tapper Buena Vista, L. E. Tucker Sperry, Henry White Garnavillo, G. W. Beach
1868
Boardman, R. C. Place Farmersburg, C. F. Hall Lodomillo, Richard Edmonds Millville, Wm. Blake Jefferson, Jas. Schroeder
Read, Michael Uriell Grand Meadow, H. S. Humphrey Volga, John Garber Wagner, R. L. Knight Cox Creek, Charles Wentzell
1869
Garnavillo, G. W. Beach Mallory, J. H. Bowman Highland, Michael Callaghan Elk, Elijah Gates Giard, L. R. Gilbert
Sperry, A. T. Lawrence Monona, Luther Nichols Mendon, Amos Pearsall Clayton, S. L. Peck Marion, J. C. Rounds
Cass, H. B. Taylor
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STATISTICAL TABLE OF ELECTIONS
1870
Millville, William Blake Volga, Michael Eberhard Wagner, G. A. Gooding Jefferson, C. P. Goodrich
Farmersburg, C. F. Hall Buena Vista, C. L. Hoffman Grand Meadow, H. S. Humphrey Lodomillo, Jas. Newberry
Cox Creek, Fred Peick
1871-O. W. Crary, P. P. Olmstead, Michael Uriell. 1872-P. P. Olmstead, Michael Uriell and Gilbert Cooley.
1873-Michael Uriell, Gilbert Cooley and P. P. Olmstead.
1874-Gilbert Cooley, P. P. Olmstead and Michael Uriell.
1875-P. P. Olmstead, Michael Uriell and William Thoma.
1876-Michael Uriell, William Thoma and Isaac Otis. William Thoma died in this year and P. P. Olmstead was appointed by the county clerk, auditor and recorder to fill the vacancy.
1877-P. P. Olmstead, Isaac Otis and Andrew Eberhard. 1878-Isaac Otis, Andrew Eberhard and P. P. Olmstead.
1879-Andrew Eberhard, P. P. Olmstead and G. H. Scofield. 1880-P. P. Olmstead, G. H. Scofield and Helmuth Brandt. 1881-G. H. Scofield, Helmuth Brandt and A. F. Nichols. 1882-Helmuth Brandt, A. F. Nichols and G. H. Scofield. 1883-F. Schoulte, A. F. Nichols, G. H. Schofield. 1884-F. Schoulte, James Mckinley, G. H. Schofield.
1885-F. Schoulte, James Mckinley, John Welch. 1886-F. Schoulte, James Mckinley, John Welch.
1887-F. Schoulte, James Mckinley, John Welch. 1888-F. Schoulte, James Mckinley, John Luther. 1889-John W. Welch, James Mckinley, John Luther. 1890-John W. Welch, James Rogers, John Luther. 1891-John W. Welch, James Rogers, Joseph Andres. 1892-Charles Mentzel, James Rogers, Joseph Andres. 1893-Charles Mentzel, James Rogers, Joseph Andres.
1894-Charles Mentzel, James Rogers, William Monlux. 1895-George H. Schofield, James Rogers, William Monlux. 1896-George H. Schofield, J. F. W. Kaiser, William Monlux. 1897-George Schofield, J. F. Kaiser, William Monlux. 1898-H. G. Jenkins, J. F. W. Kaiser, William Monlux. 1899-H. G. Jenkins, Henry Meder, William Monlux. 1900-H. G. Jenkins, Henry K. Meder, John Splies. 1901-H. G. Jenkins, Henry Meder, John H. Splies. 1902-H. G. Jenkins, Henry Meder, John Splies. 1903-H. G. Jenkins, Henry Meder, S. H. F. Schoulte. 1904-A. S. Houg, Henry Meder, S. H. F. Schoulte. 1905-A. S. Houg, L. S. Fisher, S. H. F. Schoulte. 1906-A. S. Houg, L. S. Fisher, S. H. F. Schoulte. 1907-A. S. Houg, L. S. Fisher, H. A. Mallory. 1908-A. S. Houg, L. S. Fisher, H. A. Mallory. 1909-A. S. Houg, L. S. Fisher, A. B. Albrecht.
1910-C. E. Witt, L. S. Fisher, A. B. Albrecht. 1911-C. E. Witt, Fred Groth, A. B. Albrecht. 1912-C. E. Witt, Fred Groth, A. B. Albrecht.
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MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY
1913-C. E. Witt, Fred Groth, A. B. Albrecht. 1914-C. E. Witt, Fred Groth, A. B. Albrecht.
1915-C. E. Witt, Ed. Kregel, A. B. Albrecht. 1916-George Pixler, E. W. Kregel, Charles Meder.
LIST OF PLATTED TOWNS OF CLAYTON COUNTY WITH DATE AND NAMES OF FIRST OWNERS
Bismarck (extinct), December 18, 1875, Johnston Campbell.
Buena Vista, October 31, 1848, William Stevens.
Clayton, May 2, 1850, Timothy Davis et al.
Clayton Center, June 27, 1857, Frederick Hartmann.
East Elkport (Garber), July 7, 1873, John Garber.
Edgewood (Yankee Settlement), February 27, 1856, John Gibson.
Elkader, June 22, 1846, John Thompson et al.
Elkport, June 24, 1853, Frederick Hartge.
Farmersburg (Windsor), October 8, 1856, John C. Russell.
Garber (East Elkport), July 7, 1873, John Garber.
Giard, May 25, 1871, Daniel F. Bickel.
Garnavillo (Jacksonville), April 14, 1844, County Commissioners. Graham (Jefferson), March 25, 1852, P. C. Bolsinger, E. C. Jeffries.
Gunder, April 5, 1899, John Halgorson.
Guttenberg, August 5, 1848, Western Settlement Society.
Hardin, March 1, 1854, Jos. Collins, L. B. Hodges.
Jacksonville (Garnavillo), April 14, 1844, County Commissioners.
Jefferson (Graham), March 25, 1852, Bolsinger, Jeffries.
Keeleroy, December 14, 1848, J. M. Powell, Orrin Keeler.
Littleport, May 21, 1860, Dennis Quigley.
Luana, January 7, 1868, William S. Scott.
Mederville (St. John), October 5, 1868, H. Meder, Louis Reuther.
Millville, July 3, 1856, Isaac H. Preston.
Monona, May 28, 1853, P. P. Olmstead et al.
Motor, August 5, 1875, J. O. Crosby.
McGregor, July 24, 1850, James and Duncan MacGregor.
National (Farmersburg), March 12, 1858, S. T. Woodard et al.
North McGregor, July 21, 1858, Thomas Osborne.
Osborne, November 15, 1879, Thomas Osborne.
Osterdock, July 20, 1877, J. H. and J. N. Bowman.
Prairie la Porte (Guttenberg), December 4, 1839, County Com- missioners.
St. Johan (Mederville), October 5, 1868, H. Meder, L. Reuther.
St. Olaf, March 7, 1874, Thomas Thompson. Springfield (extinct), February 16, 1869, John P. Reed. Strawberry Point, December 16, 1854, Eleazer Gardner. Turkey River, June 8, 1880, Peter Keinie.
Volga City, January 8, 1852, W. H. and A. L. Gould.
West McGregor, July 23, 1857, H. S. Granger et al. Windsor (Farmersburg), October 8, 1856, John C. Russell.
Yankee Settlement (Edgewood), February 27, 1856, John Gibson.
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STATISTICAL TABLE OF ELECTIONS
Froelich, Beulah, Woods and some other post offices were never platted.
CENSUS RETURNS
FROM STATE AND NATIONAL CENSUS REPORT
Township
1915
1910
1900
1890
Boardman
624
636
775
938
Buena Vista
302
298
434
311
Cass
675
725
764
743
Clayton
557
570
763
848
Cox Creek
788
826
IIO
1046
Elk
906
968
1130
1189
Farmersburg
592
625
825
977
Garnavillo
440
464
894
1051
Giard
843
847
III7
1147
Grand Meadow
625
697
830
826
Highland
576
623
677
793
Jefferson
790
841
989
980
Lodomillo
863
887
1055
1305
Mallory
862
946
1156
1269
Marion
878
934
986
993
Mendon
986
970
1000
1195
Millville
798
800
881
936
Monona
724
960
1054
1015
Read
585
669
792
804
Sperry
592
621
763
1128
Volga
769
842
874
I288
Wagner
656
687
763
970
Total
15,431
16,436
19,632
21,752
Village
1915
1910
1900
1890
Clayton
141
145
Edgewood
313
297
340
Elkader
1215
1181
1321
745
Elkport
212
210
326
Farmersburg
283
259
143
....
Garber (4)
126
131
....
....
Garnavillo (I).
368
342
..
....
Guttenberg
1873
1873
1620
1160
Littleport (1)
205
166
Luana
166
...
....
....
McGregor
I240
1259
1498
1160
Monona
965
792
674
460
North McGregor
573
588
616
509
Osterdock (3)
97
97
....
St. Olaf
145
170
124
....
Strawberry Point.
1158
1052
1012
947
....
....
North Buena Vista (1)
164
162
...
....
....
....
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MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY
Volga City
456
416
444
....
Total
9700
9140
8118
4981
Grand Total
.25131
25576
27750
26733
(1) Incorporated in 1907; (3) Incorporated in 1904; (4) Incor- porated as East Elkport in 1904; name changed to Garber in 1907.
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HISTORY OF CLAYTON COUNTY IOWA
FROM THE EARLIEST HISTORICAL TIMES DOWN TO THE PRESENT
INCLUDING A GENEALOGICAL AND BIO- GRAPHICAL RECORD OF MANY REPRE- ŠENTATIVE FAMILIES, PREPARED FROM DATA OBTAINED FROM ORIGINAL SOURCES OF INFORMATION
EDITED BY REALTO E. PRICE
IN TWO VOLUMES ILLUSTRATED
VOLUME II CHICAGO Robert O. Law Company 1916
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VOLUME II.
The personal sketches in this volume are arranged in alpha- betical order, thus rendering an index unnecessary. Following is a list of illustrations :
Facing
Embert Bergemeyer
43
Henry H. Clark, M. D
68
D. J. Crain and Wife.
75
Francis T. Davis and Wife.
85
Martin Dittmer
89
Ernest Enderes and Wife
109
E. O. Glesne.
145
Peter B. Green
147
David G. Griffith.
148
John G. Hempel.
175
John H. Hill
179
L. L. Hulverson. 187
Otto O. Johnson. 199
Frederick W. Kann and Wife. 204
M. E. Knight and Wife ..
217
S. H. Knight Family Group, 1855
219
George J. Lenth.
247
Henry Luehsen 255
264
W. C. Meyer and Wife.
276
John H. Moellering and Wife. 282
Ole Nelson 294
Col. George H. Otis
312
Henry Pust and Wife.
336
J. G. Reidel 341
H. S. Rittenhouse. 351
Xavier Schaefers and Wife.
360
Althea R. Sherman. 376
E. Amelia Sherman, M. D.
377
Mark B. Sherman. 380
379
S. Melissa Sherman
Sherman Home, Built 1845 381
G. R. Turner. 416
J. A. Wilder and Wife. 443
F. X. Wolters and Family 452
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James McGuire
HISTORY OF CLAYTON COUNTY
BIOGRAPHICAL
Charles S. Adams has been for nearly thirty years one of the representative business men and popular and influential citizens of Volga, where he has been engaged in the general merchandise busi- ness since 1888, as senior member of the well-known and represen- tative firm of Adams & White, in which his coadjutor is Edward W. White. He has been a resident of the Hawkeye state since he was a lad of six years and is a scion not only of one of the promi- nent and influential families of this commonwealth but also one that was founded in New England in the early colonial era of our national history. Mr. Adams was born in the city of Lowell, Massachusetts, on the 7th of May, 1851, and is a son of Captain Shubael P. and Lydia E. (Stetson) Adams, both likewise natives of the historic old Bay State, where the latter passed her entire life, her death having occurred in 1853, and the subject of this review being the younger of her two children; the older child, Mary, is now in San Francisco, Cal. Captain Adams was reared and educated in Massachusetts, where he became a successful representative of the legal profession and where he served as a member of the state legis- lature from 1845 to 1857. In the latter year he became one of the pioneer representatives of his profession in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, where he built up a practice that gave him distinction as one of the leading members of the bar of this state. He united with the Republican party at the time of its organization and was one of the most prominent and influential advocates of its principles and policies to be found in Iowa at the time of the climacteric period leading up to the Civil War. He was a specially forceful and effec- tive stump speaker and did yeoman service in stumping Iowa in support of Abraham Lincoln when that great man became the Republican candidate for president of the United States. He gained his military title as provost marshal, Third Dist. Iowa, in the great conflict through which the integrity of the Union was perpetuated, and he was one of the venerable and honored pioneer members of the Iowa bar at the time of his death, which occurred in
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MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY
1894. Charles S. Adams continued his studies in the public schools until he had completed the curriculum of the high school and sup- plemented this discipline by a course of higher study in Bayless College, at Dubuque. In 1872, shortly after attaining to his legal majority he entered railway service, in the employ of the C. D. & M. Railroad Company, now part of the C. M. & St. P. system, and for a period of sixteen years he was in active service as a skilled locomotive engineer. In 1888 he established his home at Volga, Clayton county, where he has been engaged in the general merchan- dise business during the long intervening years and where the high reputation of the firm of Adams & White has ever constituted its best commercial asset. Mr. Adams has been liberal and loyal in the supporting of those enterprises and measures that have con- tributed to the civic and material prosperity of the community, is a Republican, though never a seeker of political preferment. He served as a progressive and valued member of the board of educa- tion of Volga for the long period of twenty-six years and has other- wise been quietly but effectively influential in local affairs. He is affiliated with the Knights of Pythias, Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers, the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and the Modern Brotherhood of America. On the 12th of May, 1880, was solemn- ized the marriage of Mr. Adams to Miss Emma E. Crain, who was born in this county on the 23d of May, 1861, and who is a daughter of James and Harriet Crain, who were born and reared in England and who became pioneer settlers of Clayton county, Iowa, where they established their home on a farm near Volga in the year 1854, both passing the remainder of their lives in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Adams became the parents of four children, of whom the first was Harriet, who was born July 8, 1881, and whose death occurred in the following month; William J., who was born November 2, 1882, was a student in U. I. University for four years and is now one of the principals in the Collier-Adams Manufacturing Company, at St. Joseph, Missouri; Shubael P., who was born June 18, 1885, was graduated in U. I. U., class '07, also in historic old Yale Uni- versity, 1910, and he likewise is with the Collier-Adams Manufac- turing Company, of St. Joseph, Mo .; and Edna, who was born Sep- tember 30, 1889, was graduated in the Volga high school, after hav- ing made a record of twelve years' attendance in the village schools without a single mark of absence or tardiness: she was later in the Upper Iowa University and she is now at the parental home, a popular figure in the representative social life of the community.
Albert Allen, an automobile dealer of Elkader, is a native of the Hawkeye State, having been born in Clayton county, Iowa, September 20, 1872, and is a son of Hans and Annie (Olson) Allen, who came from Norway to America, locating in Clayton county, Iowa. Mr. Allen passed to the other life in the year 1896. They were the parents of twelve children, and eleven of them still sur- vive. Albert Allen was reared on a farm, and after reaching young manhood, began the occupation of drilling wells with his brother, Ole, and then ran threshing machines through the harvesting sea- son. In 1902 he went to Elkader, his brother, Ole, joining him a
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BIOGRAPHICAL
year later, where they organized the firm of Allen Bros., which has grown to such large proportions that they have erected a building sixty by one hundred and twenty feet in size, and two stories in height, to house their machines. They deal specially in the Buick machine, but also handle the Oldsmobile and Cadillac automobiles. He is united in marriage with Nettie Hirsch, who was born in Clayton county, and three children, two sons and a daughter, have been born to them, Raymond, Alvin and Maurine. Mr. Allen is a Republican, though not particularly active in political work ; he is affiliated with the Congregational church, and is a member of the fraternal order of Masons, and of the Modern Woodmen.
S. C. Ainsworth, M. D., has secure vantage-place as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of Clayton county, where he has been engaged in the practice of his profession since 1901, with residence at Volga, from which village he controls a large and influential practice that extends throughout the splendid ter- ritory normally tributary to the village. The doctor is upholding most effectively the high prestige gained by his honored father in the medical profession, in which his success has been unequiv- ocal and in connection with which he insistently carries forward the study and research that keep him in close touch with the ad- vances made in medical and surgical science. Dr. Ainsworth was born in the city of Syracuse, New York, on the 6th of January, 1877, and is the elder of the two children of Dr. E. A. and Ellen (Stanton) Ainsworth, both of whom were born and reared in the state of New York. The younger of the two children is Fannie L., who is the wife of Charles W. Dickens, with whom she is success- fully associated in the practice of law at West Union, the judicial center of Fayette county, Iowa, both having been graduated in the law department of the University of Iowa. Dr. Ainsworth of this review was about seven years old at the time when his parents came to Iowa and established their residence at West Union, Fayette county, in 1882. There his father continued in active practice as one of the leading physicians and surgeons of that sec- tion of the state, until 1914, since which time he has there lived virtually retired, though many of the families to which he long ministered with all of ability and unselfish devotion still insist upon having recourse to his counsel and professional attention. His cherished and devoted wife was summoned to eternal rest in 1903, secure in the affectionate regard of all who had come within the compass of her gentle and gracious influence. At West Union Dr. S. C. Ainsworth was reared to adult age and after profiting duly by the advantages afforded in the public schools, including the high school, he became imbued with the earnest ambition of emulating his father in the choice of a career. His preliminary study of medicine was carried on under the effective preceptorship of his father and to fortify himself still further he then entered the well-known medical college in the city of St. Louis, Missouri, in which institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1899, and from which he received his well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. His professional novitiate was served at West Union,
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MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY
Fayette county, where he continued to be associated in practice with his father until 1901, when he came to Clayton county and established himself in practice at Volga. Here he now controls a large and representative practice, based alike on his recognized ability and the unqualified personal popularity which he has gained. The doctor is one of the wideawake and loyal citizens of Clayton county and is found aligned as a staunch supporter of the cause of the Republican party. He is an active member of the Clayton County Medical Society and the Iowa State Medical Society, and at Elkader is affiliated with Lodge No. 72, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons. He and his wife are popular figures in the leading social life of their home community and Mrs. Ainsworth is a zealous member of the Presbyterian church. In September, 1901, was sol- emnized the marriage of Dr. Ainsworth to Miss Katherine Hart- man, who was born at Fayette, in the Iowa county of the same name, and who is a daughter of M. J. and Emma (Weber) Hart- man, whose five children all survive the honored father. Mr. and Mrs. Hartman were born and reared in Germany and upon coming to the United States they established their home in Chicago, where they met their full share of hardships incidental to the great Chi- cago fire of 1871, and whence they came a few years later to Iowa and established their home at Fayette, where the death of Mr. Hartman occurred in 1915, and where his widow still resides. Dr. and Mrs. Ainsworth have three children, whose names and re- spective dates of birth are here indicated : Dortha E., February 5, 1903; Sidney E., December 3, 1908; and Katherine L., December 17, 1913.
Oley Allen, who with his brother, Albert, a sketch of whose life appears in another portion of this work, was born near McGregor, Clayton county, November 28, 1865. He is a son of Hans Allen and Anna (Olson) Allen. Hans Allen accompanied his parents to America as a boy of sixteen years, the voyage con- suming over five months, which, in this day of six-day steamers, helps us to realize the difficulties and hardships they endured to make living easier for their descendants. They came direct to Iowa via rail as far as Galena, Illinois, the end of the railroad in the west, thence up the Mississippi to McGregor's landing, where his father took up a government claim of 160 acres about six miles from what is now the town of McGregor. Hans Allen assisted his father in reclaiming the land and later he took up a claim on his own account near his father's land and reclaimed it, and having improved it, sold it at a considerable profit, afterward returning to the home farm, which he continued to work until his father's death, at which time he bought the other heirs' interests and con- tinued on the domain until his death, in the year 1896. In 1864 occurred the marriage of Hans Allen and Anna Olson, whose par- ents were also pioneers of Clayton county, coming to Iowa in the early '60's. There were born to them 12 children, Oley, Carrie, Anna, Albert, Mary, Christine, Andrew, Lemuel, Helma, John, Esther and Katherine. They are all living with the exception of Anna, who passed to the other life in 1904. Oley Allen had his
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BIOGRAPHICAL
early education in the Mendon district school, walking over two miles in winter, often when the thermometer was thirty degrees below zero. Later a new school was built in Clayton township, nearer his home, which he attended until he was nearly twenty years of age. It is interesting to note that in the early days of Clayton county the boys and girls could only attend the winter term of school, being too busy helping their parents during the summer season. After leaving school, in conjunction with his brother, Albert, they entered business life by operating a drilling outfit, and also owned three threshing machines, which they ran during the harvest season and they also owned and operated a sawmill near McGregor. In 1903, the brothers disposed of their interests in these outfits and Oley Allen came to Elkader, Iowa, being preceded by his brother Albert, who arrived in Elkader in 1902. They started a machine repairing shop, making repairs on all kinds of machinery and coming into contact with the majority of the farmers in Clayton county. They gradually drifted into the automobile business, beginning by making repairs on the single cylinder machines, which were practically the only ones on the market; later they took the agency of the Oldsmobile car, and in 1907, accepted the agency of the Reo car; also, in the spring of 1910, they secured the agency for the Buick automobile. Their business grew so rapidly that they were forced to build to meet its require- ments and erected a two-story structure with a floor space of about 18,000 feet and in 1916 put in a sprinkler system which was the first one installed in Clayton county. They are the largest automobile dealers in Clayton county and, on the Buick machines, do the larg- est business of any county agency in the Chicago territory. On Dec. 20th, 1895, Oley Allen was united in marriage with Emma Hulverson, a daughter of Gustav and Gertrude (Peterson) Hulver- son, both of whom were pioneers of Clayton county and to them were born two children, William, age 18, and Ruth, 16 years of age. Mr. Allen is a member of the Modern Woodmen and of the Odd Fellows lodges, and both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church.
William M. Allyn is a sterling representative of an honored pioneer family given to Clayton county by historic old New Eng- land, and holds prestige as one of the vigorous and upright citizens who aided in laying broad and deep the foundations for the fine superstructure of civic and industrial prosperity now in evidence in this attractive division of the Hawkeye State. He whose name initiates this paragraph has been a resident of Clayton county for more than sixty years and is now one of its venerable and highly esteemed citizens, the while he has not only been a prominent figure in connection with the development of the agricultural resources of the county, but his also is the distinction of having been one of the gallant patriots who represented Iowa as a soldier of the Union in the great civil conflict through which the nation's integrity was perpetuated. Though he has relegated to others the morearduousand exacting labors and responsibilities that were long his portion as one of the world's productive workers, he still resides on his fine
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MEMOIRS OF CLAYTON COUNTY
homestead farm of 280 acres in section 2, Garnavillo township, and his residence is within easy access of the village of St. Olaf, from which he receives service on rural mail route No. 2. William M. Allyn was born in New London county, Connecticut, on the 28th of December, 1828, and in that staunch commonwealth of New England his parents, Abel and Polly Allyn, passed their entire lives, both having been representatives of fine old colonial stock. Of the eight children Mr. Allyn is the younger of the two now living, and his sister, Margaret, is the widow of James Billings, and now a resident of New London county, Connecticut. Mr. Allyn was reared and educated in his native state, where he gained his early experience with the work of the home farm and where he continued his residence until he had attained more than his legal majority. In April, 1859, when 32 years of age, he came to Clayton county, Iowa, where he secured a Mexican soldier's claim in Garnavillo township, and on this original place he has continued to live and labor during the long intervening years, which have been marked by his faithful stewardship and by his successful achievement in connection with the basic industries of agriculture and stock- growing. His financial resources when he came to Iowa were merely nominal, and through his own well ordered endeavors he has gained large and worthy success, as indicated by his ownership at the present time of a valuable and specially well improved landed estate of two hundred and eighty acres. It is a far cry to revert to the primitive log cabin which he erected for his original abiding place to the fine modern residence which he now occupies, and all other permanent improvements which he has made on his farm are of the best type. When the dark cloud of civil war cast its pall over the national horizon, Mr. Allyn was one of the loyal and patri- otic citizens of Clayton county who subordinated all other interests to go forth in defense of the Union, and his service during the great fratricidal conflict was such as to reflect perpetual honor upon his name and memory. In the spring of 1862 he enlisted as a private in Company E, Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front and in which he rose to the office of sergeant. His regiment was assigned to the army of Tennessee and within his service of nearly three years he took part in numer- ous engagements, including a number of the sanguinary battles marking the progress of the war. In an engagement at Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, he received a severe wound in his left foot, and after having been confined to a hospital for several weeks he was mustered out and received his honorable discharge. He then returned to his farm and during the long years that have since elapsed he has here continued as one of the staunch and influential representatives of the agricultural and live-stock interests of Clay- ton county, with inviolable place in popular confidence and good will. He is a stalwart in the local camp of the Republican party and has shown a loyal interest in all things pertaining to the com- munal welfare, but he has had no desire for public office, his only service having been that of school director, of which office he was the incumbent for several years. Soon after his service as a sol-
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