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 63
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the attractive home circle are here designated in respective order of birth; Edward, Hilda, Raymond, Melania and Eugenia.
James M. Berry owns and conducts the Berry Hotel at North McGregor, and has proved himself one of the efficient and popular exponents of this line of enterprise in Clayton county. His hotel caters to a large and appreciative patronage and is maintained at a high standard of excellence, while he has a wide circle of friends among the traveling public as well as in his home county. He is one of the substantial and progressive citizens of the county and is well entitled to representation in this publication. Mr. Berry is a scion of fine old Irish stock in both the paternal and maternal lines and claims the Badger State as the place of his nativity. He was born in Waukeshaw, Wisconsin, on the 16th of November, 1868, and is a son of John and Bridget Berry, both of whom were born in Ireland and both of whom were children at the time of the im- migration of the respective families from the Emerald Isle to Amer- ica. The marriage of the parents was solemnized in Waukeshaw, Wisconsin, and they removed to Prairie du Chien when the sub- ject of this sketch was but one year of age. Later they moved to North McGregor, where the mother passed into the other life De- cember 31, 1915, after a residence in North McGregor of twenty- two years. The venerable father is still alert and vigorous of mind and body, and now has the distinction of being the oldest employee of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul R. R. Co., he having given a life time of faithful service to this great corporation. He main- tains his home at North McGregor, and of his nine children, six are living. James M. Berry was a lad of ten years at the time of the family removal from Wisconsin to Allamakee county, Iowa, and he was there reared at Waukon, the county seat. In 1885, while still in his teens, he made his way largely by stage coach, to the Black Hills of South Dakota, and for three years followed the free and invigorating life of a cowboy. With the advent of the railroad, he embarked in the restaurant business at Oelrichs, South Dakota, and subsequently at Hot Springs, and he has been engaged in the restaurant and hotel business since that time. The winters of 1891 and 92 were spent as clerk in the hotel San Marino, "South- erland," Florida. He was engaged in hotel business at Chicago during the World's Fair and, on August 27, 1894, he purchased from the late Charles Huffschmitt the furniture and lease of the C., M. & St. P. R. R. hotel and lunchroom at North McGregor, which he successfully conducted for fourteen years. Careful and effective service brought to him decisive success and he finally erected the handsome three-story brick hotel that bears his name and that is conducted by him according to the most approved mod- ern standards. This hotel has the unique distinction of being the most valuable property of the kind in a town of less than six hun- dred population in the United States that is conducted on the European plan. The hotel is well equipped in all departments and has a large and representative patronage, being especially in favor with the commercial travelers who have occasion to visit North- eastern Iowa. Adjacent to the village Mr. Berry owns a well im-
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proved farm of fifty-seven acres, besides which he is the owner of a good farm in Allamakee county. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party, which he has served as precinct commit- teeman for the past fifteen years, and he is now a member of the Democratic State Finance Committee. For fifteen years also he has been a member of the City Council of North McGregor. Broad-gauged and progressive in his civic attitude, Mr. Berry has been especially prominent and influential in the promotion of the National Park which it is hoped to have established near North McGregor, on the shores of the Mississippi River. It is not too much to say that he has been foremost in the agitation of this im- portant project, and has spent much of his time and means bring- ing it before the State and nation. In recognition of his ability and enthusiasm in this matter, he has been made chairman of the Ex- ecutive and Publicity Committee of the Mississippi Valley National Park Association. He is also interested in the good roads move- ment and is superintendent of the northern division of the Eastern Iowa Scenic Highway, and is a committeeman of the Upper Mis- sissippi River Improvement Association. In the city of Dubuque he holds membership in the lodge of the Benevolent & Protective Order of Elks. In his youth he attended St. Johns, now Campion College at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, and in later years, in rec- ognition of many sterling qualities, he was made an honorary alumnus of that famous school. In the city of Chicago, on the 16th of October, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Berry to Miss Anna D. Brophy, who was born and reared in Clayton county, Iowa, and who is a daughter of Thomas and Mary (Sweeney) Brophy. She received excellent educational advantages in her youth and graduated from St. Mary's Academy at Prairie du Chien, Wis .; both she and her husband being communicants of the Catholic Church. Mr. and Mrs. Berry have four children, Donald John, James Stanton, Margaret Virginia and Elizabeth Marie.
Hiram C. Bishop has wielded large influence in the forming and directing of popular sentiment and action in Clayton county, both through his services in public office and through his editorial utterances as in the columns of the Clayton County Democrat, of which representative paper of northeastern Iowa he was the founder and of which he is still editor and publisher. He served with marked efficiency and progressiveness as superintendent of schools of Clayton county for six years and later represented his district in the Iowa State Senate for two successive sessions. He gained definite prestige in the pedagogic profession, of which he continued as a representative for a long period and as an exponent of which he first came to Clayton county. The former Senator is a native of northeastern Iowa and stands definitely exemplar of the fine element of citizenship that has made this one of the most advanced and opulent portions of the Hawkeye commonwealth. He is a scion of an honored pioneer family of Iowa and this fact emphasizes the consistency of according to him a special tribute in this publication, for it has been his to lend much of distinction to a name that has been signally prominent in this part of Iowa since
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the time when this portion of our great national domain was vir- tually on the very frontier. Hiram Crusan Bishop was born on a farm near West Union, the judicial center of Fayette county, Iowa, on the 10th of March, 1852, and is a son of Franklin Park Bishop and Cynthia Ann (Commack) Bishop, the former of whom was born in Kentucky, on the 31st of March, 1818, and the latter of whom was born in Virginia, on the 18th of June, 1819, she having been a child at the time of her parents' removal to Kentucky, where she was reared and educated and where her marriage to Mr. Bishop was solemnized. In the year 1839 Franklin P. Bishop came with his family from the old Bluegrass State to Iowa and became one of the early pioneers of Fayette county, where he obtained a tract of government land, near West Union, and where he eventually reclaimed one of the valuable farms of the county. As a man of sterling character and strong mentality, he was an influential figure in connection with the social and material development and upbuilding of Fayette county, and both he and his wife were vener- able and revered pioneer citizens of that county at the time of their death, he having passed away in 1902 and she in 1909. Both were zealous members of the Baptist church and in politics he was first a Whig and later a Democrat. Their marriage was solemnized in the year 1839 and they became the parents of twelve children, whose names are here recorded in the respective order of birth: Susan Mary, James Thomas, Sarah Ann, Elizabeth Matilda, William Hamilton, Hiram Crusan, Solomon Wayne, Sabitha Jane, Martha Catherine, Eliza Adelaide, Harry Wilson, and Franklin. Of the children six sons and three daughters are now living. The vigilant and resourceful pioneers of Iowa early made the best pos- sible provisions for the education of their children, and it is matter of record that there have been few states in the Union that have continuously maintained so low a percentage of illiteracy. Thus it was the privilege of Hon. Hiram C. Bishop, the immediate sub- ject of this review, to receive in his youth the best of- scholastic advantages. He was reared under the invigorating influences of the home farm and while contributing his quota to its work he applied himself diligently to his studies in the district school near his home until he was eligible for the initiating of higher academic study. At West Union he attended Ainsworth Academy, and after leaving this institution he prosecuted his studies in Upper Iowa University, at Fayette. He put his scholastic attainments to ef- fective test and utilization by entering the pedagogic profession, in which he gained unequivocal success and popularity. He taught seven terms in the rural or district schools and thirty-one terms in town public schools, in which connection his services finally became enlisted in Clayton county. That he made his benignant influence felt in connection with educational affairs in this county needs no further voucher than the statement that he served from January 1, 1888, to January 1, 1894, as county superintendent of schools, his administration having been diligent in advancing the general stand- ard of the work of the schools and by progressive policies that did much to conserve this end. Mr. Bishop has always been a stalwart
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advocate of the principles and policies for which the Democratic party stand sponsor, and he has given yeoman service in further- ance of its cause in northeastern Iowa. He served as a member of the State senate from 1900 to 1905, and was recognized as one of the dominating figures in the deliberations on the floor of the upper house and in the councils of the various committees to which he was assigned. On the 4th of July, 1893, he founded the Clayton County Democrat, at Elkader, the judicial center of the county, and during the intervening period of nearly a quarter of a century he has maintained for his representative paper a high standard as an exponent of local interests and a director of popular sentiment. He and his wife are members of the Universalist church of Elkader, and he is affiliated with the local organizations of the Brotherhood of American Yeomen, the Knights of Pythias and the Modern Woodmen of America. June 14, 1882, recorded the marriage of Mr. Bishop to Miss Emma Kern, who was born at Elgin, Fayette county, this state, on the 13th of March, 1864, and the four children of this union are: Arthur C., Max B., Clint G., and Ruth. All of the children were graduated in the Elkader high school, in which the only daughter was a member of the class of 1916, besides being also a graduate of St. Joseph's Musical School at Elkader. All of the sons maintain editorial association with newspaper publishing, and Max and Clint are graduates of the law department of Drake University, in the city of Des Moines.
Verner F. Blake is one of the popular and influential business men of the younger generation in his native county, and in the thriving village of Volga he has for the past fifteen years had the control and management of the well-established furniture and un- dertaking business that was founded by his mother, who is now one of the honored and venerable pioneer citizens of this county. Ver- ner F. Blake was born in Sperry township, Clayton county, Iowa, on the 3d of March, 1880, and is a son of Morris L. and Cynthia C. (Hawthorne) Blake, the former of whom was born in the state of Vermont and the latter of whom was born in Clayton county, Iowa, where her parents settled in the very early pioneer days. Morris L. Blake came to this county when a young man, has been prominent in connection with business and civic affairs and is now living virtually retired in the village of Volga. He and his wife be- came the parents of four children, all of whom are living, and both Mr. and Mrs. Blake are well known and highly esteemed pioneer citizens of Clayton county. In the public school Verner F. Blake continued his studies until he had completed the curriculum of the high school, and since leaving school he has been actively asso- ciated with the properous furniture and undertaking business of which he now has the sole management. He is affiliated with the Modern Woodmen of America, he and his wife attend and support the Presbyterian church in their home village, and for the past twelve years he has been giving most loyal and efficient service as a member of the village council of Volga, his political allegiance being given to the Republican party. On the 11th of January, 1905, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Blake to Miss Elsa Wal-
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tenbaugh, who was born in Howard county, this state, and who is a daughter of James E. and Caroline (Perkins) Waltenbaugh, who now maintain their home at Rockford, Minnesota. Mr. and Mrs. Blake have two sons, Russell Eugene, who was born October 9, 1906; and Merton James, who was born September 26, 1915.
Sven Blockhus .- In a spot far removed from the fair North- land in which he was born, a scion of a long line of sturdy and upright Norse ancestors, it has been given to Sven Blockhus to achieve through his own ability and efforts the well earned rewards of independence and definite prosperity. He is one of the enter- prising and successful farmers of Marion township, where he ex- emplifies excellent judgment and progressiveness in the carrying on of his diversified agricultural operations and in the raising of good grades of live stock, and he is a sterling citizen who is en- titled to definite recognition in this history of the Hawkeye state. Mr. Blockhus was born in Norway, on the 30th of November, 1872, and is a son of Ole and Mary Blockhus, the former of whom passed his entire life in Norway, where he followed the mason's trade, his widow having continued at the old home since his death. Of their eleven children all are living except one and seven of the number are residents of America. The subject of this sketch gained his early education in the schools of his native land and remained at the parental home until he was fifteen years of age, when he found employment at farm work. To this vocation he applied him- self until he had attained to the age of nineteen years, when he came to the United States and made Iowa his destination. In the early period of his residence here he found employment on farms in Fayette and Clayton counties during the summer months and gave evidence of his ambition and good judgment by attending school during the winter terms for the purpose of gaining effective knowledge of the English language and otherwise extending his education. During two winters he was a zealous and appreciative student in Breckenridge Institute, at Decorah. Applying himself diligently to the work to which he set his hand, Mr. Blockhus care- fully saved his earning and finally, in 1900, he was able to institute independent operations as a farmer. He purchased in that year his present farm, which comprises one hundred and forty-one and one-half acres and which is situated in section 7, Marion town- ship. Here he has since continued his vigorous and successful activities as a general farmer, and he made his place give forth patent evidence of thrift and prosperity. He is a man of strong mentality and well fortified opinions, is a Republican in politics, and has served six years as justice of the peace, besides which he has been assessor of Marion township since 1914. Both he and his wife are active members of the Norwegian Lutheran church. On the 13th of March, 1903, Mr. Blockhus wedded Miss Gina Holt, and they have six children, all of whom remain at the parental home-Ida, Otto, Severin, Bessie, Fridjof and Herbert.
Albert Boleyn .- In America the true patent of nobility that is viewed with the greatest respect is that held by the man who has depended upon his own powers and exertions in making his way to
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the goal of worthy success, and such achievement has significantly characterized the career of Albert Boleyn, who became virtually dependent upon his own resources when he was a mere boy and who has pressed forward to the mark of large and well ordered prosperity. The evidences of his temporal success are shown in his ownership of one of the large and well improved landed estates of Clayton county, by his prominence as a buyer and shipper of live stock on a large scale and by his being a stockholder and director of the Volga Savings Bank, with which he has been thus identified from the time of its organization. He is one of the substantial and honored citizens of Clayton county, a man whose life has been guided and governed by integrity and resolute pur- pose, and none is more clearly entitled to recognition in this history. Mr. Boleyn was born on a farm near Wadena, Fayette county, Iowa, on the 17th of December, 1866, and is the eldest of the three children born to Joseph and Mary (Poor) Boleyn, both natives of Pennsyl- vania. The second child, Amelia, is now the wife of Frank Jones, of Oelwein, Fayette county ; and the third child, Inez, died in infancy. The subject of this review was not yet three years old at the time of his mother's death, which occurred in May, 1869, and his father continued to reside in Fayette county until his death, at the age of about sixty years. Joseph Boleyn was a young man at the time when he came from the old Keystone state and numbered himself among the pioneer settlers of Fayette county, Iowa, where he was long actively identified with agricultural pursuits, as one of the sub- stantial farmers of the county, and he passed the closing years of his life in the village of Oelwein, where he died on the 8th of April, 1904. Albert Boleyn may consistently be said to have been gradu- ated in the college of his own practical and varied experiences, and such were the exigencies of time and place that in his youth he was enabled to attend the schools of his native county in only a desul- tory way. When but seven years of age he began to provide for his own maintenance, and his early compensation for his work on a farm was the princely stipend of five dollars a month. During the summer seasons he thus worked for wages during his boyhood and youth, and in the winters he worked for his board and availed him- self of the privilege of attending the district schools. On the 21st of September, 1886, about three months prior to his twentieth birth- day anniversary, he married Miss Margaret Lowe, the devoted young woman who was to be his helpmeet and zealous coadjutor in his efforts to achieve independence and enduring prosperity, she having been born and reared in Clayton county, where their mar- riage was solemnized and where they have maintained their home during the long intervening years. During the first year after his marriage Mr. Boleyn was employed at farm work by his wife's father and he then purchased one hundred and fourteen acres of land in Sperry township, where he instituted his independent opera- tions as an agriculturist and stock-grower. It will not strain the imaginative powers to appreciate that in the years that followed in their course Mr. Boleyn was found applying his energies with unstinted zeal and circumspection, with the result that increasing
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prosperity attended his efforts and he was able to make appreciable advancement. All this is most clearly demonstrated in his owner- ship at the present time of a finely improved landed estate of three hundred and fifty-six acres, in Sperry and Highland townships, where he has long stood well to the front as one of the most pro- gressive and energetic agriculturists and stock-growers of this county. Though.he still gives his general supervision to the opera- tions of his farm property he and his devoted wife have maintained their home in the village of Volga since October 17, 1906, when they took possession of their newly erected and modern residence, which is one of the most attractive in the village, with fine grounds comprising an entire block, and with a genuine hospitality that equals its physical charm. Since his retirement from the farm Mr. Boleyn has not permitted his energies and activities to wane, as he has developed a large and prosperous business in the buying and shipping of live stock. The extent of his operations along this important line of industrial and commercial enterprise may be appreciated the better when it is stated that during the months of August and September, 1915, he bought and shipped stock to the value of $127,576, the incidental financial transactions having been effected through the medium of the Volga Savings Bank, of which, as previously noted, he has been a stockholder and director from the time of its incorporation. Mr. Boleynisastalwartadvocateofthecause of the Republican party and while he has not been troubled by office-seeking proclivities he has given most effective service in the position of justice of the peace. He is affiliated with the Modern Brotherhood of America and both he and his wife are zealous mem- bers of the Methodist Episcopal church of Volga, of which he is a trustee. David and Elizabeth (Dempster) Lowe, the venerable parents of Mrs. Boleyn now maintain their home at Volga and are honored pioneer citizens of Clayton county. Of their children Mrs. Boleyn is the eldest; Daniel likewise resides at Volga; Clarence, Harry and Susana are deceased. Of the five children born to Mr. and Mrs. Boleyn all remain at the parental home except the third, Walter M., who was born August 21, 1896, and whose death occurred November 21, 1898. The names and respective birth-dates of the surviving children are here noted : Benjamin H., July 15, 1888; David E., November 4, 1891; Vena, September 21, 1898; and Neva, September 11, 1903.
Henry C. Bothmer is able and gratified to pay to the Hawkeye state the allegiance and loyalty of a native son and he has been a resident of Clayton county since his childhood, being one of the six surviving children of a family of seven born to Henry and Caroline (Lozier) Bothmer, both of whom were born and reared in Germany, whence they immigrated to America in 1852 and were married in Pennsylvania. The parents first established their home in Pennsylvania, but a few years later they came to Iowa and num- bered themselves among the pioneers of Fayette county. At West- field, that county, as a practical miller by trade, the father operated one of the pioneer flour mills of northeastern Iowa, and a few years later he came with his family to Clayton county and assumed charge
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of the mill in the village of Clayton, where he passed the residue of his life, his wife having died here also. He whose name introduces this article was reared to manhood in Clayton county, availed him- self consistently of the privileges afforded in the public schools of the locality and period, and as a youth he initiated his independent career by assuming a position as clerk in a general store at Clayton. Here he later engaged independently in the farm implement busi- ness, and since about 1885 he has given the major part of his time and attention to the buying and shipping of live stock, of which important line of industrial enterprise he is one of the prominent, successful and popular representatives in this section of the state, his operations involving the shipping of an average of sixty car- loads of live stock each year. In addition to owning a fine modern residence at Clayton and a farm of thirty acres in Clayton town- ship, this county, Mr. Bothmer has a valuable tract of seven hundred and forty acres of land in the State of Michigan and a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in South Dakota. He has manifested no desire for public office or political activity, but gives his support in national and state affairs to the Democratic party. At Garnavillo he is affiliated with Garnavillo Lodge, No. 90, Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and his wife is a communicant of the Lutheran church, which he attends and supports. In 1888 Mr. Bothmer wedded Miss Kate Specht, who was born in Grant county, Wisconsin, and who is a daughter of Herman and Sarah (Spiese) Specht, both now deceased. Of the three children of Mr. and Mrs. Bothmer the second child, a daughter, died in infancy ; Benjamin H. is now a resident of Montana ; and Clyde H. is employed as a clerk in a Clayton mercantile establishment.
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