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 91
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John E. Stainaker .- When it is stated that this well-known and highly esteemed citizen was born in Lodomillo township on the 2d of April, 1853, the incidental information that transpires is that he is assuredly a representative of one of the pioneer families of Clayton county. This is a distinction in which he may well take pride, but through his own volition and ability he has done much to confer new honors on the name which he bears and the county that has ever been his home. In this section of the state of Iowa it is safe to say that no member of the pedagogic profession has labored more earnestly and effectively or gained more secure van- tage-place in popular confidence and esteem. Further than this there are few teachers in the Hawkeye commonwealth who can claim a record of so prolonged service as can Mr. Stalnaker, who in a period of forty-three years has missed but one term of teach- ing consecutively in the public schools, his native county having been the stage of his successful endeavors during all these years, and his angle of benignant influence being one that continues to broaden in value through the lives and services of those upon whom it has been impressed. Mr. Stalnaker has at the present time, in the summer of 1916, the remarkable record of having taught one hundred and twenty-two terms of school, and continuously since 1908 he has been the executive and academic head of the school in district No. 5, Lodomillo township, where his continued tenure of the position virtually is contingent only upon his personal willing- ness to serve. In addition to his work as a teacher, Mr. Stalnaker is likewise an effective exponent of agricultural and livestock indus- try in his native county, and he resides upon his well improved farmstead of one hundred and twenty-five acres, in section 17,
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where he died in the year 1885, his widow having passed the clos- ing period of her life in Seward county, Nebraska, where she died in 1895. In conclusion is given brief record concerning the chil- dren of Mr. and Mrs. Stalnaker: Ella is the wife of Charles L. Sauerby, of Lodomillo township; Raymond E. has practical super- vision of the home farm of his father ; Eva died in infancy ; and Frank H., who was graduated in the veterinary college at St. Joseph, Missouri, as a member of the class of 1916, is now established in the practice of his profession in his native county, with residence and headquarters in the village of Edgewood. All of the chil- dren were given good educational advantages and were further favored in being reared in a home of distinctive culture and high ideals.
Silas M. Stalnaker is a scion of a family whose name became identified with Iowa history nearly three-fourths of a century ago and there can be no measure of doubt or uncertainty in pronounc- ing as to the value of his service during the long years of a signally active and worthy career. He achieved distinctive success as a representative of the pedagogic profession, which he followed for forty years, has served twenty-eight years in the office of justice of the peace and his knowledge of the law is such that he has proved far more eligible for admission to the bar than many who have gained this distinction. He has long handled legal matters of a minor order and his advice and counsel have been sought in connection with the adjudication of matters of much importance. He maintains his home in the village of Littleport, where he has served consecutively in the office of justice of the peace since 1878 and where he has the distinction of being the oldest incumbent of such magisterial office in the county, in point of years of service. He has held practically all other offices in Lodomillo township and is now the efficient township clerk. Silas Marion Stalnaker was born at Greeley, Delaware county, Iowa, on the 18th of March, 1849, and is a son of James and Elizabeth (McLane) Stalnaker, both natives of Virginia and representatives of sterling families early founded in the historic Old Dominion. The lineage of the father includes both English and German strains, and that of the mother traces back to staunch Scotch-Irish origin. James Stal- naker was one of the very early pioneer settlers of Iowa, as he established his residence in Scott county, this state, in the year 1842, when the state was still on the very frontier of civilization. Later he went to Grant county, Wisconsin, where he remained about eighteen months, and at the expiration of this period, in 1846, he returned to Iowa and established the family home at Greeley, Delaware county, near which place he obtained land and engaged in farming, as one of the early exponents of agricultural industry in that section of the state. He was a man whose sterling attributes of character well equipped him for the responsibilities and vicissitudes of pioneer life, and his name merits a place of honor on the pages of Iowa history. His death occurred on the 7th of September, 1875, and his wife, who had been his devoted helpmeet, was summoned to eternal rest on the 28th of June, 1877.
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a farm near Sandusky, James and Mary (Stroud) Steward were married March 18, 1858, at Lime Ridge, Wisconsin. They were both raised and obtained their education at the schools in that vicin- ity. They continued their residence in the Badger state until June, 1875, when they came to Clayton county, Iowa, and settled on a farm in Cass township, where they passed the remainder of their lives. He whose name introduces this article gained his rudimen- mentary education in the schools of Wisconsin and after the re- moval of the family to Clayton county he here continued his studies in the public schools until he had fortified himself in the learning that has proved of definite value to him in connection with the prac- tical affairs of a successful career. He remained at the parental home until he had attained to his legal majority and thereafter he was engaged for several years in independent farming operations on rented land. In 1900 he purchased the land which he has de- veloped into his present fine farm of fifty-five acres. The land was still covered with timber when it came into his possession and he has not only cleared the farm and brought it under effective cul- tivation, but has also provided it with substantial and modern buildings, including an attractive residence, and has shown much discrimination and enterprise in keeping the place up to a high standard. Mr. Steward is a Republican in his political adherency and is serving in 1916 as township assessor. At Strawberry Point he is affiliated with lodge No. 75 of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, and in the same he has passed all of the official chairs. He takes loyal interest in those things that touch the community welfare and served several years as a school director of his dis- trict. In 1887 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Steward to Miss Ida Stringer, who was born in Kane county, Illinois, and who is a daughter of John J. and Hattie M. (Joy) Stringer, natives respec- tively of New York state and Vermont. The parents of Mrs. Stew- ard became pioneers in Kane county, Illinois, where the death of the mother occurred, the father later bringing his family to Clayton county, Iowa, where he passed the remainder of his life. Of the family of twelve children Mrs. Steward was the third in order of birth, and of the number, eight are still living. Mr. and Mrs. Stew- ard attend and give support to the Methodist Episcopal church at Strawberry Point. They have three children; Nellie is the wife of George Stamp, of this county; Howard, who was graduated in the high school at Strawberry Point, is associated in the work and management of the home farm; and Helen is (in 1916) a student in the high school.
Arthur H. Stickford is one of the vigorous young native sons of Clayton county who is here bringing to bear the most approved scientific methods and effective facilities in carrying forward his well ordered activities as an agriculturist and stock-grower, and he is the owner of one of the fine landed estates of Garnavillo town- ship, where he stands forth as a progressive and loyal citizen and business man of the younger generation and where he has the ideal civic status that renders most consistent his specific recognition in this history of his native county. Mr. Stickford was born on the
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of this review was born was a modest log cabin of the true pioneer type, and the structure had little to foreshadow the splendidly im- proved farm which the old homestead place now represents and which the only son of this sterling pioneer couple still owns. John H. Stiehl was well equipped in mental and physical powers to bear the burdens and responsibilities of pioneer life and under his ener- getic and well ordered control and management he developed a fine farm and became one of the substantial and influential citizens of Clayton county, where he continued to reside on his old homestead until his death, which occurred when he was 63 years of age, his devoted wife, who had been his loyal help-meet, having passed to the life eternal at the age of 75 years. He whose name initiates this review was reared to maturity under the invigorating discipline of the home farm and in the meanwhile he profited duly by the advantages afforded in the common schools of the locality. After the death of his honored parents he came, as the only child, into sole ownership of the home farm, which he still has in his posses- sion and which is endeared to him by the gracious memories and associations of the past. This fine domain is known as Cedar Brook Stock Farm, is eligibly situated in Section 23, Garnavillo township, comprises 200 acres and has the best of modern improvements of a permanent order. Mr. Stiehl gave special attention to the raising of high-grade stock in connection with diversified agriculture, and he still maintains a general supervision of his farm, which is one of the model places of the county and on which he and his wife continued their residence until 1914, when he purchased an attrac- tive home in the village of Garnavillo, where they still reside and where he finds demand for his time and attention in the position of manager of the Garnavillo Co-operative Commission Company, of which he is one of the principal stockholders. He is a staunch adherent of the Democratic party, has been influential in public affairs of local order, served for a long term of years as a member of the school board of his district and is now the efficient and valued incumbent of the office of trustee of Garnavillo township. He was prominently identified with the organization of the Garnavillo Creamery Company and served nine years as its treasurer. He and his wife are zealous communicants and liberal supporters of St. Paul's Lutheran church in their home village, and in their native county the number of their friends is virtually equal to that of their acquaintances. In the year 1883, shortly after attaining to his legal majority, Mr. Stiehl wedded Miss Mary Brandtmann, who was born in Volga township and who is one of the six survivors of the family of eight children born to Henry and Mary (Ties) Brandtmann. The parents were born in Germany and came to America and to Clayton county in 1861, the father being now one of the venerable pioneer citizens of the county, and having celebrated his eighty-eighth birth- day anniversary in 1916, his wife having been about 80 years of age at the time of her demise. Mr. and Mrs. Stiehl are the parents of six children, concerning whom brief record is given in conclusion of this article: Anna is the wife of O. F. Schumacher of this county ; Dr. William J. is a dentist by profession and is engaged in
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Stoecker to Miss Elsie Capelle, daughter of Gottlieb and Eva Capelle, of Adele, Wisconsin, and they are popular factors in the representative social life of their home community. They have no children.
Rudolph J. Stoehr is a native son of Clayton county and a repre- sentative of the fine .German element of citizenship that has played a most important and benignant part in the development and prog- ress of the county along both social and material lines. He is now engaged in the hardware business at Luana and is one of the lead- ing merchants and popular and valued citizens of this vigorous vil- lage. Rudolph Joseph Stoehr was born at Garnavillo, this county, on the 18th of April, 1860, and is a son of George A. and Rosalind (Good) Stoehr, both natives of Germany, the father having been born in the Kingdom of Bavaria, August 26, 1833, and the mother having been born in Alsace-Lorraine, which was at that time a French province, but which became a part of German territory at the close of the Franco-Prussian war. George A. Stoehr came as a young man from his native land to America, about the year 1850, and became one of the pioneer settlers of Clayton county, Iowa. He established his residence at Garnavillo, where he engaged in the jewelery business, as he had learned the jeweler's and watchmaker's trade effectually prior to his immigration to the United States. It is a matter worthy of definite historical record that he was the first jeweler to be engaged in business in Clayton county. In 1865 he disposed of his stock and business and removed to Elgin, Fayette county, where he engaged in the same line of enterprise and where also he eventually developed a substantial general merchandise business. There he remained as a representative business man and honored and influential citizen until 1914, when he met a tragic death in a runaway accident. His political allegiance was given to the Democratic party, he was affiliated with the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and his religious faith was that of the German Lutheran church, of which his wife likewise was a devout com- municant, she having been summoned to the life eternal in 1904. Of the children the eldest is Eugene, who is engaged in the jewelry business at Elgin, Fayette county ; Rudolph J., of this sketch, was the second child; August A. is engaged in the drug business at Elgin ; Lilla is the widow of L. B. Matton, and maintains her home at Elgin ; George is deceased. He whose name introduces this article was about five years old at the time of the family removal to Elgin, where he was reared to adult age and where he gained his early education in the public schools. As a lad he was employed for a time in driving omnibus for an Elgin hotel, and thereafter he served as a clerk in his father's store. He then learned the art and trade of telegraphy, and for some time was employed as an operator by the Burlington, Cedar Rapids & Northern Railroad Company. After severing this connection he held a position as an extra operator for the Northern Pacific Railroad, his services being in requisition at various points, when emergency demanded such interposition. In 1888 Mr. Stoehr returned to his native county and established his residence in the village of Luana, where for one year he was em-
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residence at Luana, where he remained two years. For the next year he was engaged in farming near the mouth of Turkey river and he then established his home at Edgewood, where he engaged in the grocery business for a short time, and then entered the hotel business, which he followed many years here in Edgewood, and where he has maintained his home during the long intervening years, during many of which he was actively identified with farm ownership and management in this part of the county. He has lived virtually retired since the early '90s. He is a veritable sage, whose advice and counsel have been sought by many younger men, to whom he has given aid through the medium of his long and varied experience and mature judgment. He served many years as justice of the peace and made the office justify its title. He has given unswerving allegiance to the Republican party and has always shown the courage of his well-taken opinions con- cerning matters of public import. He has long been an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, as was also his wife, who was his devoted companion and helpmeet until her death in 1893. In 1850 was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Story to Miss Mary Howard, who likewise was born and reared in Vermont and who was a daughter of Calvin and Abigail Howard, who there passed their entire lives. Mrs. Story died, secure in the affec- tionate regard of all who had come within the compass of her gentle influence, and she is survived by three children-Albert, who is a resident of Iowa Falls, Iowa, and Anna, who remains with their venerable father in the pleasant home at Edgewood; and Mertie Peters, the wife of Andrew J. Peters of Edgewood.
Charles A. Strien has been a resident of Clayton county since 1894, and here has achieved through his own energy and well ordered efforts a large measure of success in connection with the basic industries of agriculture and stock-growing. He is now the owner of one of the fine farms of the county, the same compris- ing one hundred and one acres and being eligibly situated in Sec- tions 7 and 8, Farmersburg township, with rural free mail service from the village of Farmersburg. Mr. Strien was born in Germany on the 31st of December, 1863, and is a son of Henry and Wilhel- mina (Schade) Strien, who maintained their home in their father- land until 1872, when the family came to the United States. The father first established a home in Nebraska, but two years later he removed to Missouri, where he continued his residence four years. He then returned to Nebraska, where he became a suc- cessful farmer and where his loved and devoted wife passed to the life eternal about seventeen years ago. He now maintains his resi- dence in Nebraska, where he is living practically retired. Of the six children four are still living. Charles A. Strien acquired his rudimentary education in his native land and was a lad of about eight years at the time of the family emigration to America. He continued his studies in the schools of Nebraska and Missouri and carly learned also the lessons of practical industry. He continued to be identified with agricultural pursuits in the state of Nebraska until 1894, when he came to Iowa and established his permanent
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chase of land was that of a tract of eighty acres, and as prosperity has attended his earnest and industrious efforts he has added to his possession from time to time until, as previously intimated, he is the owner of one of the extensive and valuable landed estates of Clayton county. Both he and his wife are zealous communicants of the Catholic church at Monona and his political views are indi- cated by the staunch support which he gives to the cause of the Democratic party. Of the ten children all are living except the first and the last born-Mary and Michael; John is a resident of North McGregor, this county; Joseph and Benjamin are repre- sentatives of agricultural enterprise in Giard township; Freder- ick is a farmer in Monona township; Anton, Jr., is now a resident of the city of Dubuque; Jacob J., of this sketch, was the next in order of birth; Frank is identified with agricultural pursuits in Giard township; Elizabeth is the wife of William Kozelka, of Post- ville, Allamakee county. The excellent public schools of Giard township supplied Jacob J. Tayek with his early educational ad- vantages, and he began when a mere boy to assist in the work of the home farm. Later he found employment on other farms in his native county and after being thus engaged for a period of four years he rented land in Giard township and initiated his career as an independent farmer. Later he removed to the city of Du- buque, where he remained until February, 1914, when he returned to Clayton county and became associated with his brother-in-law, Alonzo M. Burlingame, in the purchase of the general merchandise stock and business of T. F. Ruth at Froelich. They have since conducted the enterprise with marked vigor and progressiveness and their fair and honorable dealings have combined with effective service to gain to them a substantial and appreciative patronage, the junior member of the firm being individually mentioned on other pages of this publication. Mr. Tayek is a liberal supporter of those things that tend to advance the general prosperity of the community, is a Democrat in his political adherency and both he and his wife are communicants of the Catholic church. June 16, 1908, recorded the marriage of Mr. Tayek to Miss Marjorie Bur- lingame, who was born and reared in this county and who is a daughter of Benjamin and Elizabeth (Kostle) Burlingame, who still maintain their home in Giard township. Mr. and Mrs. Tayek have one child, Reuben, who was born April 4, 1914.
Michael Thein has passed virtually his entire life thus far in Clayton county and is an honored representative of one of the earliest of the pioneer families of this favored section of the Hawk- eye state, his parents having established their home on an embry- onic farm near the present thriving little city of Guttenberg, Clay- ton county, in 1850, and his father having been one of the stalwart and worthy sons of Germany who contributed in generous measure to the early development and progress of this county along both civic and industrial lines. He whose name initiates this paragraph has most effectively upheld the prestige of the family name, has for many years been one of the prominent and successful exponents of agricultural industry in Clayton county, and his was the dis-
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there came to him the call of higher duty, when he tendered his aid in defense of the nation's integrity. On the 14th of August, 1862, when twenty-two years of age, he enlisted as a private in Company D, Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, with which he proceeded to the front and with which he continued in active service until final victory had crowned the Union arms. He was mustered out at Clinton, Iowa, on the 8th of August, 1865, with the rank of corporal and with a record that shall reflect lasting honor on his name. He took part in many engagements, including a num- ber of the important battles marking the progress of the great fratracidal conflict. He was in the battle of Nashville, Tennessee, on the 15th and 16th of December, 1864, and on the latter day re- ceived a wound in the left arm. He assisted in the capture of Little Rock, Arkansas, on the 10th of September, 1863, and a brief record of the other actions in which he took part with his gallant regiment is here given: Fort De Russy, Louisiana, March 14, 1864; battle of Pleasant Hill, Louisiana, April 9, 1864; Old Oak, Louisiana, May 18, 1864; Lake Chevot, Arkansas, June 1, 1864; Tupelo, Mississippi, July 14, 1864; Old Town Creek, Miss- issippi, July 15, 1864 ; Nashville, Tennessee, December 15-16, 1864; siege and capture of Fort Blakely, Alabama, April 9, 1865. In later years Mr. Thein has perpetuated the more gracious mem- ories and associations of his military career by retaining active affiliation with the Grand Army of the Republic, in which he holds membership at Elkport. It is interesting to record that he cast his first presidential vote for Abraham Lincoln, and that during the long intervening years he has not wavered in his allegiance to the Republican party. After the close of the Civil war Mr. Thein returned to Clayton county, where he has continued to the present time as a prominent and resourceful representative of the great basic industry of agriculture, though he has now virtually retired from the more active and onerous labors that so long engrossed his time and attention, as he has sold his farm near Elkport and only retains a small plat of land. He is a broad-minded, loyal and public- spirited citizen who has inviolable place in the confidence and es- teem of all who know him. As before stated, he is a Republican in politics. On the 12th of June, 1875, was solemnized the marriage of Mr. Thein to Miss Katherine Berks, who was born in Germany, and who came with her parents, John and Sophie Berks, on their immigration to America, in 1867, the family home being estab- lished on a pioneer farm near Elkport, Clayton county, Iowa, and the parents having passed the residue of their lives as honored and valued citizens of this county. Of the children the eldest is Anton Berks, who now resides in Kossuth county, this state; Henry is deceased ; Gerhardt resides at Wesley, Kossuth county ; Mrs. Thein was the next in order of birth, and Ann'e is deceased. Concerning the children of Mr. and Mrs. Thein brief record is entered in the concluding paragraph of this review. Annie is the wife of Peter White, of Cedar county, this state; Josephine is the wife of Louis Benschneider, of Elkport, Clayton county; Bertha is the wife of Larkins Rutledge, of Elkport; Katherine is the wife of Henry Ort-
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