USA > Iowa > Hamilton County > History of Hamilton County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 35
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Carl Sparboe was only nine years of age when he came to America with his mother, and has ever since been a resident of Scott town- ship. He acquired an education in the district schools, but he early terminated his student days and assisted in supporting the mother and younger members of the family. His energies have always been
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devoted to agricultural pursuits in which he has met with a good measure of success, being the owner of one of the best improved farms in the county. In connection with diversified farming he is extensively engaged in raising shorthorn cattle and a high grade of horses and hogs, thus substantially increasing his annual income. Mr. Sparboe takes great pride in his farm on which he has erected a fine residence, barns and other buildings and has installed about the prem- ises many modern conveniences. He is very considerate of the com- fort of his family and the home is liberally supplied with an abun- dance of good literature, musical instruments and everything else which will add to its attraction.
In this township on February 27, 1892, Mr. Sparboe was married to Miss Nellie Nelson, whose birth occurred in Grundy county, Illi- nois, on January 31, 1864. Her parents, Kanute and Ella (Tystal) Nelson, were born and reared in Norway, the father's natal year be- ing 1832, and that of the mother 1829. They came to America in early life, locating in Grundy county, Illinois, in 1854, and there were born their five eldest children. After ten years residence there, they came to lowa, settling in Scott township, where they both passed away, the mother's death occurring in 1895 and that of the father in 1898. To this couple were born ten children, in the following or- der: Betsy, who is a resident of Scott township; Mrs. Carrie Kas- sem, who is deceased; Mrs. Sarah Romsdahl, who makes her home in St. James, Minnesota; Mrs. Ella Weltha, of Ellsworth township; Mrs. Carl Sparboe; John, a resident of Scott township: Emma, now Mrs. Resting, of Ruthton, Minnesota; Ida, of Scott township; Mrs. Mary Hotchkiss, M. D., of Webster City, Iowa; and Nelson, of Scott township. The six last named are natives of Hamilton county, where the entire family was reared and educated. Mr. and Mrs. Sparboe have had seven children, but their first born, Bennett, is deceased. In order of birth the others are as follows: Elvira, whose birth occurred May 29, 1895; Carter, who was born October 6, 1896: Anton, whose natal day was June 21, 1900; Carl, whose birthday was January 14, 1902; William, who was born on the 6th of December, 1904; and Irvin. whose birth occurred April 15. 1906. The parents are giving their children good advantages, but they are being trained to become use- ful members of society, and each is assigned regular tasks about the home and farm, the girls thus becoming familar with the duties of a housewife, while the boys are becoming proficient in the work of the fields and care of the stock.
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The family hold membership in North St. Peter's Norwegian Lutheran church of Scott township and are regular attendants of the services. Mr. Sparboe is a democrat in his political views, but in local elections he often casts an independent ballot. He has al- ways taken an active interest in the affairs of the township and for fifteen years held the office of justice of the peace while he has also served as school director. He belongs to the broad-minded, progres- sive type of citizen and despite the many exactions of his business man- ages to keep in touch with the vitål issues of the day, and strives to keep his community abreast with the times by supporting every move- ment that will promote its development.
FRANKLIN J. DRAKE, M. D.
Dr. Franklin J. Drake, engaged in the practice of medicine ac- cording to the precepts of the homeopathic school, won his degree in 1895 and has since been an active representative of the profession in Webster City. He was born October 4. 1869, at Kingsville, in the province of Ontario, Canada, and is a son of Joseph H. and Sarah P. (Haynes) Drake. The mother died at the birth of her son Frank- lin, and two years later the father, who was a physician and surgeon, removed to Mount Vernon, Iowa, and practiced his profession there and in other places in this state to the time of his death, which oc- curred in 1906.
Dr. Drake, whose name introduces this review, was educated in the public schools and in the Iowa Wesleyan University at Mount Pleasant, gaining a liberal education to serve as the foundation upon which to build his professional learning. His medical course was pursued in the Chicago Homeopathic Medical College, from which he was graduated in 1895 with the degree of M. D. Immediately afterward he located in Webster City, where he has since remained. A liberal practice is accorded him and gives evidence of the confidence reposed in his skill and ability. He is very careful in the diagnosis of his cases and keeps in touch with the most scientific methods of the present day.
On the 2d of May, 1895, Dr. Drake was united in marriage to Miss Eda E. Smith, a daughter of the Rev. Samuel C. Smith, a Methodist minister of Mount Pleasant. Iowa. They were separated by death, however, on the 8th of September, 1896, when Mrs. Drake
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passed away. On the 2d of November, 1898, Dr. Drake was again married, his second union being with Miss Emma Handel, of Web- ster City. They reside at No. 613 First street and theirs is a hos- pitable home, always open for the reception of their many friends. Dr. Drake is a member of the Universalist church, active and promi- nent in its work, and is now president of the Iowa State Universalist Convention. He has attained high rank in Masonry and is a worthy exemplar of the craft. He belongs to Acacia Lodge, No. 176, F. & A. M., and to Des Moines Consistory, No. 3, S. P. R. S. He has likewise crossed the sands of the desert with the nobles of Za-Ga-Zig Temple of the Mystic Shrine at Des Moines. He is a member of Elmo Lodge, No. 62, I. O. O. F., of Webster City, and of Webster City Camp, No. 416, M. W. A., and he likewise belongs to the Country Club. He has a very wide acquaintance in the county seat and throughout the surrounding districts and is held in high regard, both socially and professionally. He is a dependable man under all cir- cumstances and his quietude of deportment, his easy dignity, his frankness and cordiality of address, with the total absence of any- thing sinister or anything to conceal, foretoken a man who is ready to meet any emergency or any obligation of life with the confidence and courage that come of conscious personal ability, right conception of things and an habitual regard for what is best in the exercise of human activities.
GEORGE W. COOPER.
George W. Cooper, the present mayor of Blairsburg, where he also engages in the real-estate business, was born in Stark county, Illinois, on the 9th of August, 1856. He is a son of John and Mary (Hazelbaker ) Cooper, natives of Pennsylvania, both of whom are deceased, the father having passed away in 1870 and the mother in 1907. The early years of their married life were passed in the Key- stone state, whence they subsequently removed to Illinois. They were the parents of seven children: William Valentine, born August I, 1821, who served in the Civil war as member of Company C, Eighty- sixth Regiment, Illinois Volunteers, and died in Nashville, Tennes- see, January 13, 1863; Mrs. Margaret Griffith and James Fenimore, both deceased: Cassius C., who passed away in June, 1911 : Apollos, a resident of St. Joseph, Missouri; George W., of this review; and
MR. AND MRS. G. W. COOPER
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Mrs. Eva Kinney, who makes her home in Seattle, Washington. The five eldest members of the family were born in Pennsylvania but the two last named are natives of Illinois.
The boyhood and youth of George W. Cooper were passed on the old homestead in Illinois, his education being obtained in the common schools. As his parents were among the pioneer settlers of Stark county he well remembers when the country surrounding their home was nothing but unbroken prairie. At the age of twenty-two years he left the parental roof and started out to make his own way in the world, first locating in Nodaway, Missouri, which was his place of residence until 1893. In the spring of 1893 he removed to Furnas. county, Nebraska, coming from there to Hamilton county. He de- voted his time to agricultural pursuits until 1897, when he moved to Blairsburg and engaged in shipping stock until 1903. He then went into the real-estate business, continuing therein until the spring of 1907, when he removed to Ames, Iowa, where he resided for four years. In 1911 he once more became a resident of Hamilton county, locating in Blairsburg, which has since been his home. Mr. Cooper engages in the real-estate business, dealing in property in Blairsburg and the vicinity and is meeting with success. He owns his residence and is numbered among the town's substantial citizens.
In August, 1877, Mr. Cooper married Miss Carmelia Phillips, who was born in Marshall county, Illinois, in 1858, and is a daughter of John and Evaline (Sickles) Phillips, the former a native of New Jersey and the latter of Illinois. In his early manhood Mr. Phillips removed to Illinois and there he passed away in 1909. He is survived by the mother, who resides at Speer, Stark county, that state. Their family numbered four: Hamilton, who is a resident of Speer, Illi- nois ; Mrs. Della Saggers, who lives in Chicago; Mrs. Ollie Nickerson, who lives at Lawn Ridge, Marshall county, Illinois ; and Mrs. Cooper. Mr. and Mrs. Cooper have two sons : Clifford W., who was born in Nodaway county, Missouri, September 21, 1885, and who after completing a common-school course studied electrical engineering at the Iowa State College at Ames, of which institution lie is a graduate, and is now employed in the switching station of the Public Service Company at Evanston, Illinois ; and Edison W., who was born Octo- ber 14, 1887, and terminated his student days upon the completion of the grammar grades and is now engaged in the restaurant business in Blairsburg.
In political matters Mr. Cooper is a republican. He has served both in the council and on the board of education of Blairsburg, and
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in March, 1912, was elected mayor, the duties of which office he dis- charges most creditably. The family attend the Congregational church of which Mrs. Cooper is a member, and figure prominently in the social life of the community.
CHARLES ADELBERT HOWD.
For more than forty years Charles Adelbert Howd has been iden- tified with the progress and development of Cass township, where he lives on a farm of two hundred and eighty acres located on section 19 and engages in general agricultural pursuits and stock-raising. He is a native of Madison county, New York, his birth having oc- curred on the 7th of January, 1846, and a son of Eli S. and Phoebe A. (Kenyon) Howd, who passed their entire lives in the Empire state. They were the parents of five children, our subject being the eldest of the family.
Charles Adelbert Howd was reared on a farm and educated in the common schools. He remained at home until he was twenty-six years of age and then came to Iowa, locating on the place where he now lives. The entire farm is fenced with barbed wire, twenty acres of it hog tight. Wherever needed the land is tiled, and one hundred and twenty acres of it is in a high state of productivity and is largely planted to such cereals as can be used in the feeding of stock. Mr. Howd has always made a specialty of stock-raising and he also buys and feeds cattle for the market.
On the Ist of November, 1871, Mr. Howd was married to Miss Sarah Ann Sears, who was born in Madison county, New York, on the 12th of May, 1847, and is a daughter of Louis and Mary (Sev- erance) Sears. The parents, who were also natives of the Empire state, came to Iowa in early life and located on the farmn Mr. Howd is now cultivating. continuing to reside here until their death. Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Howd, as follows: Mary Phoebe, who married G. D. Thompson, an attorney at Webster City, and is the mother of four children; Hattie, the wife of F. H. Abbey of Iowa Falls, by whom she has had two children; Eli L., a resident of Fremont township, who is married and has two children; Arthur S., who is married and living in Independence township, this county; F. S., a resident of Hancock county, who is also married; and Otto O., who is a civil engineer in Webster City.
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Mr. Howd is a member of the Iowa Legion of Honor, and gives his political support to the republican party. He has served the town- ship at various times in the capacity of assessor, trustee and clerk, and in 1874 he was elected county superintendent of schools, which office he held for five years, while he has been secretary of the school board for twenty-eight years. He is one of the highly esteemed citizens of Cass township, where his enterprise and progress have been domi- nant factors in promoting the community welfare and the develop- ment of various public utilities.
HENRY T. YUNGCLAS.
Henry T. Yungclas is a farmer on section 32, Fremont town- ship, Hamilton county, Iowa, where he is cultivating four hundred and fifty acres of land and is bringing it constantly to a higher de- gree of improvement. He was born in Connecticut in 1862, and is a son of John H. and Katherine (Kober) Yungclas. His father was born in Hesse, Germany, in 1835 and came to the United States by sailing vessel in 1854. The journey across the Atlantic took forty- seven days. Upon its completion John H. Yungclas settled in Con- necticut where he married, and removed to Tama county, Iowa. on November 1, 1862. He remained in that vicinity and cultivated the soil successfully until 1868, when he removed to Hamilton county. Here he bought two hundred and forty acres of land in Fremont township and spent his active life in its cultivation. Gradually adding to his holdings he now owns six hundred and thirty acres as a result of extensive investments and was one of the representative and pro- gressive agriculturists in the state of Iowa. He has now retired and is living with his wife in Webster City.
Henry T. Yungclas received his education in the common schools of Tama and Hamilton counties and pursued the usual course of study until he laid aside his books. In 1883 he rented land from his father and started an independent agricultural enterprise. He was a practical farmer and had gained a knowledge of the details of his occupation in the efficient school of experience. He was success- ful upon his rented land and was enabled in 1887 to purchase a farm of his own. He bought one hundred and sixty acres on section 32, Fremont township, paying for his land ten dollars per acre. He has subsequently made substantial increases in his holdings by purchas-
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ing adjoining farms and his property now aggregates four hundred and fifty acres of the most fertile land in Hamilton county. He is responsible entirely for all the improvements upon his holdings. In 1904 he built his present barn, one hundred and twenty-eight feet long by thirty-six feet wide. The posts which he constructed twenty feet high gave him ample space for one hundred tons of hay and capacity for sixty-five head of stock. The barn is equipped with all the most modern farm machinery. There is a twelve-horse-power gasoline engine which puts the hay into the barn automatically and no new development in mechanical farm implements escapes Mr. Yungclas' attention. His farm is a model enterprise in every respect. His harvests increase in quality and abundance every year in pro- portion to more intense and scientific cultivation. His stock is thor- oughbred and is an important source of Mr. Yungclas' prosperity. He keeps a large herd of graded horses, cattle and hogs and gives careful supervision to this branch of his enterprise.
In 1886 Mr. Yungclas was united in marriage to Miss Emma Stahl, of Geneseo, Illinois, who died in 1888, leaving one daughter, Florence. In 1890, Mr. Yungclas was again married. His second union was with Miss Anna Argubright, a daughter of J. W. Argu- bright, one of the early pioneer settlers of Cass township, Hamilton county. His period of residence in that section dates from 1869 and he is one of the representative citizens at the present day. To Mr. Yungclas' second union have been born three children, James, Wil- liam, and Claire, who all reside with their parents on the home farm. Science and a progressive spirit are the basis of prosperity in any active line and to these qualities Mr. Yungclas owes his success. His advancement in agriculture has been along lines of development and his present farm is the natural culmination of well directed labor in fields of economic agriculture.
THOMAS ARTHUR LISTER.
Thomas Arthur Lister, who was one of Williams' first settlers, having located here in 1869, was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, on the 30th of January, 1852, and is a son of Thomas Arthur and Helen (Stevenson) Lister, who were born, reared and married in Fifeshire. They emigrated to America with their family when our subject was a babe of three months, locating in Dunleeth, East Dubuque, Illinois.
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This continued to be their place of residence for some years, during which time the father, who was a stone cutter and mason, was em- ployed in building the wharves then in course of construction along the Mississippi. They subsequently removed to Farley, Dubuque county, going from there to Anamosa, this state, where for some time Mr. Lister was engaged in quarrying and cutting the stone for the state penitentiary at that point. He was a very efficient and capa- ble workman, excelling as a stone cutter, and he and his son David were awarded the contract for cutting the stone for the foundation of the courthouse at Webster City, and they were employed in a similar capacity on the capitol at Des Moines. The latter years of both parents were passed in this county, the father's death occurring in Rose Grove township, while the mother died in Williams on the 7th of September, 1896, at the age of seventy-one years, her natal day having been the 12th of December, 1824. Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Lister, as follows: James, who is deceased ; Jane, the wife of D. O'Neill, of Barnum, Minnesota; David, who is deceased : Thomas Arthur, our subject ; Mary, now Mrs. J. N. Hough- talling, of Webster City; Ellen, who was born on the 12th of No- vember, 1857, the wife of A. J. Simpson, of Williams, Iowa; Mar- garet, the deceased wife of J. P. Tuttle: John, who resides in the vicinity of Iowa Falls; and George, who is also deceased. The four first named were born in Scotland, but the others are natives of this country.
Thomas Arthur Lister was reared and educated in Illinois and Iowa, the greater part of his life having been spent in Hamilton county. He was only a youth of seventeen years when he first be- came a resident of Williams, which at that time was just a railway station. For two years he made his home at Jowa Falls, being then engaged in the construction of the railroad between that point and Fort Dodge.
On the 26th of August, 1880, Mr. Lister was married to Miss Ella J. Coppher, whose birth occurred at Mendota, Illinois, on August 9, 1855. She is a daughter of A. B. and Rachel ( Meeker ) Coppher, the father born in the province of Lorraine, France, his natal day be- ing the 20th of May, 1829, and the mother born in Homer, Illinois, on the 24th of November, 1835. Mrs. Lister accompanied her parents on their removal to Alden, Hardin county, this state, in 1865, and completed her education in the public schools of that place. There the mother passed away on October 31, 1869, but the father was living in Williams at the time of his death. Six children were born
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to Mr. and Mrs. Coppher, Mrs. Lister being the eldest. In order of birth the others are as follows: La Fayette, who was born on the 13th of February, 1857, and died six days later; Charlie, who was born July 15. 1860, and died September 15, 1881; Elizabeth, who was born on July 6, 1862, now Mrs. W. H. Milnes, of Clarion, this state; Belle, who was born November 13, 1867, the wife of R. B. Johnson, of Des Moines, Iowa; and Albert, who was born on the 30th of September, 1869, and died on November 14, 1869. The four eldest were born in Illinois, and the remaining ones in AAlden. The father, who was a carpenter by trade, erected many of the early resi- dences and buildings in this section of the state.
To Mr. and Mrs. Lister were born two sons. The elder, Charles William, was born on July 12, 1881, and died in Williams township on April 8, 1910. He was married on the 22d of August, 1906, to Miss Minnie Bratnober, who was born in Canada on the 12th of February, 1883, and to them was born one daughter, Ruth Ella Marie, whose natal day was May 21, 1907. Since the death of her husband, Mrs. Minnie Lister and her daughter have resided with our subject and wife. A second son was born to Mr. and Mrs. Lister on September 23, 1884, but he died at the age of nine days.
The family affiliates with the Presbyterian church of Williams, and fraternally Mr. Lister belongs to Jungle Camp, No. 1844, M. WV. A. He accords political support to the democratic party and has served as constable of Williams for the past ten years. He owns his residence and has always taken an active and helpful interest in forwarding the progress and development of the town, among whose citizens he numbers many friends. Both Mr. and Mrs. Lister are well read and own a carefully selected collection of books, one of their most highly prized volumes being a Bible that has been in the possession of Mrs. Lister's family for three generations.
ENOS GEORGE HOWES.
Enos George Howes, the owner of a highly cultivated and valu- able farm of two hundred and one acres in Williams township, has been identified with the agricultural development of Hamilton county for thirty-nine years. He was born in Ashfield, Massachusetts, on October 9, 1844, and is a son of Enos and Bathsheba ( Vincent ) Howes, both of whom were born in Ashfield in 1800, the father's
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natal day being July 19 and the mother's being March 30. They passed their entire lives in Massachusetts and attained a ripe old age, the father's death occurring September 23, 1880, and that of the mother on the 16th of March, 1891. The Howes family is de- scended from the old English house of De Huse, the form of spelling used in 1066, which was changed from time to time until, in 1457, it appears in the record as Howys and subsequently took its present form. Our subject possesses a genealogical record from 1637, which is two years prior to the settlement at Yarmouth, now Dennis, Mas- sachusetts, of Thomas and Mary (Burr) Howes, who became mem- bers of that colony in March, 1639. There Thomas Howes passed away in 1665, at the age of seventy-five years. Mr. Howes is very proud of his descent from this worthy couple, who were among the first settlers of the Massachusetts colony, and furnished many worthy citizens to the commonwealth. The family of Mr. and Mrs. Enos Howes numbered six, of whom our subject is the youngest. In order of birth the others are as follows: Mary, subsequently Mrs. Elisha Wing, who was born November 8, 1828, and died on the 2d of November, 1897; Olive, the wife of Cyrus Allan Hall, who was born February 28, 1830, and died August 12, 1911; Francis S., born on the 30th of May, 1832, died December 10, 1904; Rachel T., whose natal day was August 24, 1837, the wife of Charles L. Hubbard, of Wilbraham, Massachusetts; and Elisha B., a veteran of the Civil war, who was born on the 23d of July, 1839, and died August 27, 1909.
The boyhood and youth of Enos George Howes were passed in his native town, his education being obtained in the public schools and Sanderson Academy. Having been reared on a farm, he was early trained to the work and duties of the agriculturist. which vocation together with that of lumbering he followed until he came to Illinois in 1867. For six years thereafter he resided in Bureau county, that state, devoting his entire time and attention to farming. At the expiration of that time, in 1873, he removed to Hamilton county, and located on a farm one-half mile east of Wil- liams, which at that time contained but seven houses. He diligently cultivated this place for four years and then removed to a farm two and one-half miles from the village, where he remained until he set- tled on his present place in 1880. Here he has ever since engaged in general farming and stock-raising, meeting with more than average success in his undertakings, and is numbered among the substantial and capable agriculturists of the community.
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