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 84
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the community life, with secure place in the confidence and good will of his fellow men. His cherished and devoted wife passed to the life eternal a number of years ago, and of their children the subject of this sketch, Calvin P., is the eldest; Mary is the wife of George Kreglow, of Foley, Minnesota; Ella is the wife of John Stoeffler, of Seattle, Washington; John E. is a resident of the city of Spokane, Washington; Bertha E. is the wife of William Wilson, of St. Louis, Missouri; William, the youngest of the chil- dren, likewise resides in St. Louis. After profiting fully by the advantages afforded in the public schools of Guttenberg, Calvin P. Luther entered upon a practical apprenticeship to the blacksmith trade, under the able and punctilious direction of his father, and he continued his active association with the operations of his father's shop for a period of about fifteen years. In the meanwhile he had so ordered his course as to retain the unequivocal confidence and good will of the people of his native place, and thus he was dis- tinctly eligible when he was chosen the incumbent of the office of city marshal, in which position he continued his effective adminis- tration during the protracted period of ten years. Thereafter he served three years as deputy state game warden, and in February, 1916, there came to him still higher official preferment, in his ap- pointment to the position of postmaster, in which he is giving a most efficient and satisfactory administration. Mr. Luther has further honored his native city by former service as a member of its municipal council and by equally effective work during his in- cumbency of the office of justice of the peace and county constable. He has been vigorous and influential in the local councils of the Democratic party, in behalf of whose cause he has given yeoman service. He is affiliated with the time-honored Masonic fraternity and also with the local organization of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. When a young man of twenty-one years Mr. Luther wedded Miss Ruth Morlend, daughter of the late Jacob Morlend, of Colesburg, Delaware county, and she passed to the life eternal after but three years of wedded life, her only child, Getsie, having been accidentally burned to death at the age of eighteen years. In 1886 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Luther to Miss Annie Stoeffler, who was born and reared at Guttenberg, where she was afforded the excellent advantages of the Catholic parochial schools. She is a daughter of Frank and Annie Marie (Gerner) Stoeffler, who still reside at Guttenberg and both of whom are earnest com- municants of the Catholic church. Mr. Stoeffler was born in Ger- many and was a youth when he came with his parents to America and settled at Guttenberg, where he became associated with his father in the operation of a lime kiln. Several years later he en- gaged in farming, to which line of enterprise he gave his active attention for many years. He is now living practically retired and is one of the highly esteemed citizens of the county, his political support being given to the Democratic party. Mr. and Mrs. Luther have a fine family of twelve children, whose names are here entered in the respective order of birth: Frank, Bertha, Harold, Jodina, Leroy, Lillian, Reuben, Evelyn, Raymond, Margaret, Bernice, and
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is a man of circumspection and progressiveness, and his reputation for fair and straightforward dealing in all transactions constitutes a business asset of indubitable value. Mr. Maiers was born in Dubuque county, Iowa, on the 4th of October, 1876, and is a son of John N. and Mary (Ries) Maiers, both natives of Germany and both young at the time of the immigration of the respective fami- lies to America. John N. Maiers was a boy when he came with his parents from the Fatherland to the United States, and his father became a pioneer settler in Dubuque county, Iowa, his parents there passing the remainder of their lives in close association with the basic industry of agriculture. John N. was reared to manhood on the pioneer farm, received the advantages of the common schools of the locality and period, and he has continued to the present time his residence in Dubuque county, where he is a substantial farmer and a representative citizen of his home community. His political allegiance is given to the Democratic party and he served for years as township trustee, besides being otherwise influential in public affairs of a local order. Both he and his wife are earnest commu- nicants of the Catholic Church. Of the children, John A., of this review, is the eldest; Nicholas V. is a successful representative of agricultural enterprise in Dubuque county; Anna is the wife of John V. Kluesner, of that county; Frank D. likewise remains in his native county ; Michael M. is a resident of Tracy, Minnesota; Emil maintains his home at Luxemburg, Dubuque county, Iowa; Mathew remains at the parental home; and Benjamin died in child- hood. John A. Maiers gained his preliminary education in the public schools of his native county, and thereafter he pursued a higher academic course in St. Joseph's College, in the city of Du- buque, where also he attended Bayless Business College, in which he was graduated in 1898. He was graduated in pharmacy in the college at Highland Park, a suburb of the city of Des Moines, as a member of the class of 1901, and for ten years thereafter he was successfully engaged in the drug business at Monona, Clayton county. He then turned his attention to the real estate business, in which his success has been of unequivocal order and in which he now holds prestige as one of the leading exponents of this im- portant line of enterprise in Clayton county. He has a large busi- ness of most substantial order, and his real estate operations touch Iowa, Minnesota, North Dakota, South Dakota and Wisconsin. Mr. Maiers is progressive and loyal in his civic attitude as well as in his business affairs, and takes a lively interest in all things per- taining to the welfare of his home community and native State. He has served as treasurer and also village clerk of Monona, and is aligned as an unwavering supporter of the cause of the Demo- cratic party. He and his wife are zealous communicants of the Catholic Church and he is affiliated with the local organizations of the Knights of Columbus, the Modern Woodmen of America, and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. On the 21st of January, 1902, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Maiers to Miss Ida Walsh, who was born and reared in Clayton county and who is a daughter of Andrew and Frances Walsh, well known citizens of
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the most modern appliances and the approved scientific methods, but he has also been specially successful in the raising of high-grade live-stock, including Durham cattle and Jersey Red swine. He has not hedged himself in with the interests of mere personal advancement but has shown a loyal and public spirited concern in all things pertinent to the communal welfare, the while he has been distinctively influential in public affairs in his township and county. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party, and he was for two years a member of the board of county supervisors, on which he served with characteristic discrimination and loyalty, as did he also in the offices of township clerk and assessor and in that of secretary of the school board of his district. At Colesburg he is affiliated with the lodges of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and in the time-honored Masonic fraternity he is affiliated also with the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Greeley and with the consistory of the Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite in the city of Clinton. The name of Mr. Mallory is still enrolled on the list of eligible bachelors in Clayton county.
James L. Mathews, Jr., is one of the progressive and repre- sentative business men of the younger generation in his native county, where he is associated with his father and brother Leigh in the conducting of a flourishing garage and general automobile business at Farmersburg. He was born on a farm in Wagner township, Clayton county, on the 24th of November, 1877, and is a son of James L. and Iona (Layton) Mathews, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Indiana, the parents being now numbered among the sterling pioneer citizens of the county, where their circle of friends is limited only by that of their acquaintances. James L. Mathews, Sr., was reared and educated in the Buckeye State and came to Iowa about the year 1856, when he was a youth. In Wag- ner township, Clayton county, he acquired a tract of wild land, which he developed into one of the excellent farms of this section of the state, and in connection with which he gained substantial success. He became the owner of a large landed estate and con- tinued to give his attention to agricultural industry until 1890, when he removed from his farm to the village of Farmersburg, where he engaged in the pump business. From this line of enter- prise he was gradually drawn into the automobile trade, in which he is associated at the present time with his sons, under the firm name of James L. Mathews & Sons. In 1916 this progressive firm completed the erection of a substantial and attractive building for the accommodation of its large and constantly expanding business, and this building is of hollow brick and steel construction. It is fireproof and is fifty by one hundred feet in dimensions, the large floor space being well arranged for general garage purposes and for the display of automobiles. The firm handles the celebrated Overland, Hudson and Hupmobile motor cars and keeps a full com- plement of repairs and accessories, with the best of garage facili- ties. He whose name initiates this article is the eldest in a family of five children; Ruth is the wife of Louis Raaloff, a prosperous
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wife are communicants of the Lutheran church at McGregor, which village is their postoffice address. The year 1903 recorded the marriage of Mr. Matt to Miss Etta Gossman, who likewise was born and reared in Clayton county, as were also her parents, who are well known citizens of Clayton township, and of whose six children five are living. Mr. and Mrs. Matt are the parents of three children, whose names and respective dates of birth are here noted : Florence Mary A., February 7, 1905; Jackson M., October 27, 1910; and Lillian Caesara, April 12, 1915.
William J. McGrath, M. D., has been engaged in the successful practice of his profession at Elkader, the judicial center of Clayton county, for slightly more than twenty years, and through his able and effective ministrations as well as his personal popularity he has gained definite prestige as one of the representative physicians and surgeons of this part of the state. The doctor was born in Lafayette county, Wisconsin, on the 17th of October, 1871, and is a son of James and Mary (Ryan) McGrath, both natives of the Emerald Isle and representatives of fine old families of Ireland. James McGrath was a lad of ten years when he accompanied his parents on their immigration to America, and he was reared to manhood in the city of St. Louis, Missouri. As a young man he went to the state of Wisconsin, where he eventually became one of the substantial agriculturists of Lafayette county. There he passed the remainder of his life, and he was about fifty years of age at the time of his death, his widow being now a resident of Darlington, that county. Of the eight children the eldest is Kate, who is the wife of John Egan, their home being in the state of Montana; Margaret is the wife of Albert H. Doyle, of Berkeley, California; James is a resident of the state of Oklahoma ; Dr. Mc- Grath, of this review, was the next in order of birth ; John is a suc- cessful buyer and shipper of live stock at Darlington, Wisconsin; Mary is the wife of Patrick J. Daley, of Warren, Illinois; Jessie is the wife of Joseph Kelly, of Richland Center, Wisconsin ; and Ella is the wife of William J. Riley, of Darlington, that state. Dr. William J. McGrath is indebted to the excellent public schools of his native state for his early educational discipline, which was sup- plemented by a course in a normal school in the state of Indiana. In consonance with his ambitious purpose he was finally matricu- lated in the celebrated Rush Medical College, in the city of Chicago, and in this institution he was graduated as a member of the class of 1895 and with the well earned degree of Doctor of Medicine. Through close and appreciative study and effective post-graduate work within the intervening years he has kept in touch with the ad- vances made in medical and surgical science, and he has recourse to the best standard and periodical literature of his profession, be- sides which he vitalizes his interest in his work and that of his confreres by means of active affiliation with the Clayton County Medical Society, the Iowa State Medical Society and the American Medical Association. Within a few months after his graduation in Rush Medical College Dr. McGrath established his residence at Elkader, where he has since continued his earnest work as a phy-
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proprietor, for he is the owner of a well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres in South Dakota, and a valuable tract of two hundred and forty acres in the Province of Alberta, Canada. He has ever given his allegiance to the Democratic party and is well fortified in his convictions concerning matters of public import. He served for a full quarter of a century as clerk of Clayton town- ship, six years as clerk of the village of Clayton and five years as secretary of the school board-preferments that indicate alike his ability and the popular estimate placed upon him. Mr. McGuire was one of the organizers of the Clayton Savings Bank and is still a member of the directorate of this well ordered institution. At Garnavillo he is affiliated with Garnavillo Lodge, No. 90, Ancient Free & Accepted Masons, in which he has passed various official chairs, and he is affiliated also with the Brotherhood of American Yeomen and with Oakleaf Camp, No. 2875, Modern Woodmen of America, in which latter he has served in each of the official chairs. His devoted and venerable mother, to whom he accords the deepest filial solicitude, still presides over their pleasant home in Clayton.
Hugh Mckellar, late the owner of the fine old homestead farm upon which his father established the family home more than sixty years ago, maintained his residence there from the time he was a lad of five years. Mr. Mckellar was born in Tioga county, New York, on the 8th of October, 1848, and was a son of Hugh and Mary (McKuenan) Mckellar, both natives of Scotland and representa- tives of sterling old families of the land of hills and heather. Upon coming to America, about the year 1842, Hugh Mckellar, Sr., first located near the city of Albany, New York, and later established his residence in Tioga county, that state, where he remained until 1853, when he came with his family to Iowa and became a pioneer settler of Clayton county. He obtained a tract of land in Section 16, Highland township, where he reclaimed and developed a fine landed estate of two hundred and forty acres. He was a black- smith by trade, and on his farm he maintained a well equipped blacksmith shop, in which he found ample demand for his services. He was one of the sturdy and upright men who contributed mate- rially to the civic and industrial development and progress of the county, and he remained on his old homestead until his death, which occurred July 4, 1877, his widow having passed to eternal rest on the 22d of May, 1879. They became the parents of six children, concerning whom the following brief data are given: Archibald died in childhood; Peter resides at Elgin, Fayette county ; Sarah is deceased; the subject of this sketch was the fourth in order of birth; Maria is the wife of Jerome N. Robbins, of Highland town- ship; Roxie is the widow of John Service and resides at Elgin, Fayette county. He to whom this brief review is dedicated gained his youthful education in the district schools of Highland township, and the stage of his activities during the long intervening years was the old homestead farm on which he was reared from childhood and which now comprises three hundred and thirty acres. Mr. Mckellar never wavered in his allegiance to the Republican party and, though he was loyal and liberal in his civic attitude, he was
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substantial old structure that is still in an excellent state of preser- vation and that is still operated as a flour mill, the property being owned by Schmidt Brothers, who are representative business men of Elkader. Soon after his arrival in Clayton county, which was then virtually on the frontier, Mr. Mclaughlin purchased eighty acres of government land, in what was then known as the Scotch settlement of Highland township. He reclaimed this farm to effect- ive cultivation and there was maintained the family home until 1869, when this industrious and sterling pioneer sold the property to advantage and purchased another farm, of one hundred and twenty acres, in the same township. On this latter homestead, which he made one of the valuable farms of the county, he passed the remainder of his life, his death having occurred March 15, 1887. His cherished and devoted wife passed to the life eternal nine days previously, both having been earnest communicants of the Catholic church. Their marriage was solemnized in 1853, at DeKalb, Illi- nois, where Mrs. McLaughlin had established her residence upon coming to America, in the early '40s, in company with her uncle and his family, she having been born at Ballinrobe, County Mayo, Ireland, where she was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Laughlin became the parents of five children : John, who was born in 1854, is now residing at Elkader, the judicial center of Clayton county ; Mary A., who was born in 1856, is the wife of Thomas Mulligan, of Aberdeen, South Dakota; James H., of this review, was the next in order of birth; and Margaret, who was born in 1859, and who passed to eternal rest in 1895, was the wife of Will- iam Kelleher ; she became the mother of four children, two of whom were reared in the home of her brother James, of this sketch. Of the two children thus reared and educated by Mr. and Mrs. Mc- Laughlin, the elder is Stella, who is now the wife of Thomas Grady, of Monona, this county, and the younger, Katherine, is the wife of Joseph Roerig, who is, in 1916, serving as postmaster at Adrian, Minnesota. James H. Mclaughlin was reared under the influence of the pioneer farm and early began to aid his father in the work of the same, the while he profited duly by the advantages afforded in the district schools of his native township. At the age of twenty years he left the parental home and initiated his independent career by turning his attention to railroad construction work, in the employ of Flynn & Williams, contractors in connection with the extending of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. He remained with this firm four years, and his sturdiness and competency then gained to him the position of foreman with James Brooks, a contractor in railroad grading. Two years later Mr. McLaughlin resigned this position to accept a similar and more remunerative post with the firm of Foreman & Prockelton, with whom he remained one year. He severed this alliance to avail himself again of a better opportu- nity, as at that time he entered the employ of the Michel Brewing Company, of La Crosse, Wis., in the responsible and confidential position of auditor. That his efficient services and broad executive ability have not lacked appreciation is vouchsafed by the fact that he has continued his active association with this company during
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and rented the old Quigley farm, which comprised one hundred and fifty-six acres and which is an integral part of his present fine farm property of two hundred and sixty acres. His success is indicated in the excellent returns which he has received from his well ordered operations as an agriculturist and stock-grower and by his having accumulated one of the valuable farm properties of Clayton county. His political allegiance is given to the Republican party and men- tion has already been made of the various public offices in which he has been called upon to serve in Highland township. His at- tractive home receives service on rural mail route No. 2 from the village of Elgin. On the 27th of December, 1895, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Medberry to Miss Rosetta Rothlisberger, who was born in Switzerland, and who was summoned to the life eternal on the 16th of April, 1914. She is survived by four children, all of whom remain with their father on the old home farm, namely : Aden J., Rex R., Lena E. and Walter K.
Edwin Meder was born at Communia, Clayton county, Iowa, on a farm consisting of eighty acres. When he was ten years old he and his parents moved to Clayton township on a farm which he now owns and successfully operates, and the same comprises two hundred and ten acres of most fertile land of that enduring integ- rity that is so pronounced a constituent of the soil of this favored section of the Hawkeye state. This farm, or the most of it, has been in the possession of the Meder family since the early pioneer era in the history of Clayton county. Edwin Meder was born on the 9th of March, 1856. He is the only child of Frederick and Al- bertina (Gade) Meder, who were born and reared in Germany. In 1853, they immigrated to the United States, and became pioneer settlers of Clayton county, Iowa. They were married in Garnavillo, Iowa. Here the father gave his attention zealously to the achieving of worthy independence and prosperity through association with the basic industry of agriculture, and in 1866 he purchased the farm now owned by his only son, the immediate subject of this review, this having continued as the abiding place of both him and his wife until the close of their long and upright lives, and the names of both meriting high place on the enduring roll of the sterling pio- neers of Clayton county. Experience in connection with the work of the home farm was gained by Edwin Meder in his boyhood and youth, and he acquired his early education in the pioneer schools of a county and state that have always maintained a high standard of literacy. Upon attaining to adult age he began to relieve his father more and more of the work and responsibilities involved in the op- erations of the farm, of which he eventually assumed the active management and of which he became the owner after the death of his parents. He has kept the old homestead up to the highest stand- ard of productiveness, employs scientific methods in all depart- ments of his farm enterprise and gives special attention to the breeding and feeding of live stock of the best grades. He is known and honored as one of the loyal citizens and progressive farmers and men of affairs of his native county, is a Democrat in his polit- ical proclivities, and has served continuously since 1900 in the office
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Frederica (Sauerbray) Meder, the former of whom passed his entire life in Germany and the latter of whom, after the death of her hon- ored husband, came with her children to America and established her home at Guttenberg, Clayton county, Iowa ; she passed the re- mainder of her life in Valya township. Both she and her husband were earnest members of the German Lutheran church. Of their ten children the first five, Sophia, Frederick, Mary, Hannah and Augusta, are deceased; Caroline is the widow of Ferdinand Albrecht and resides in Cox Creek township, this county; the subject of this review was the next in order of birth ; Frederica maintains her home at La Crosse, Wisconsin; Louisa is deceased; and Charles was in Capetown, Africa, at the time of his death. In the schools of his native province Henry Meder acquired his early education, and he was a youth of nineteen years when he came to the United States with his mother and three other of the children. They arrived in the city of Chicago on the 4th of July, 1853, his mother providing the money to defray the cost of his transportation to the new home at Guttenberg, Clayton county. Upon arriving at his destination he forthwith turned his attention to whatever honest work he could obtain, and the harvesting of grain with an old-time cradle repre- sented one of his early experiences in the pioneer community. He finally purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land in Cox Creek township, and later he gave eighty acres of this property to one of his brothers-in-law. He proved successful as a farmer and finally became associated with two other enterprising citizens in the purchasing of two hundred acres of land in Cox Creek township, this tract including the site of the present village of Mederville. The three far-sighted men erected at Mederville a grist mill, and later Mr. Meder purchased the interests of the other two and asso- ciated his sons with him in the operation of the mill. The plant was finally destroyed by fire, but he promptly rebuilt the mill and resumed operations. His courage and self-reliance were shown forth in bold relief at this time, for the loss of his mill had crippled him financially and he was paying also ten per cent interest on an indebtedness of $13,585. His energy and good management proved equal to the heavy responsibilities thus placed upon him and he in due time paid every dollar of his obligations and was once more on a firm financial footing. A second disaster came to his mill, a cottonwood tree being carried through the mill flume and greatly damaging the machinery, as well as the building itself. This dam- age likewise failed to check his ambitious purpose, and he has not only been a leader in the material upbuilding and business activities of his home village and county, but has also been influential in the advancing of those things that contribute to the social welfare of the community. To him more than all others is due the develop- ment and upbuilding of the village that bears his name, and the history of the county should record that he donated to Mederville four acres of ground for its present cemetery, a half acre of land as a site for the public school building, and about four acres to the railroad company for the freight and passenger station. He still owns a valuable tract of one hundred and sixty acres and he still
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