USA > Iowa > Jefferson County > History of Jefferson County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Volume II > Part 40
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natives of Germany. On coming to America the father located in Marion county, Ohio, where he lived for eight or nine years, and in 1836 he arrived in Jefferson county, Iowa, settling in Walnut township, where he entered one hundred and sixty acres of government land. Later he secured an- other claim of forty acres and with determined purpose began clearing the land and turning the first furrows in the field. The work of further development and improvement was continued by him throughout the re- mainder of his days but death claimed him when this was still a frontier district. He passed away in 1848 and his wife survived him many years, her death occurring in 1906.
Julius Crile was reared and educated in Walnut township and always remained with his mother. He was but two years of age when his father died and when twenty-two years of age he began farming on his own account, joining his brother in the purchase of the old homestead property of two hundred acres. They farmed this in partnership for six years, at the end of which time Julius Crile sold his interest to his brother and invested in one hundred and ninety-four acres, since which time he has carried on farming independently. With resolute purpose he began the task of developing his property and that he has prospered is indicated in the fact that from time to time he has added to his holdings until he now has in his possession ten hundred and sixty acres of valuable land, of which one hundred and forty acres lies in Henry county, while the re- mainder is situated in Walnut and Lockridge township, Jefferson county. Whatever he has undertaken he has carried forward to successful com- pletion and that his methods are practical and progressive is manifest in the excellent appearance of his place, with its well tilled fields, its sub- stantial buildings for the shelter of grain and stock and a pleasant and commodious residence. He raises about sixty head of hogs each year and keeps eleven head of cows and twenty-two head of horses. He also deals largely in horses and is well known as a breeder, having four Perch- eron stallions and one Shire. He is likewise a stockholder in the Pleasant Plain Savings Bank and in the State Bank of Brighton and has become widely known in financial circles.
In August, 1871, Mr. Crile was united in marriage to Miss Minnie Hankammer, a daughter of John and Mary (Holbiser) Hankammer, both of whom were natives of Germany. The father came to the United States in 1883, settling in Keokuk county, Iowa, where he purchased and im- proved a farm, continuing in its operation until about a year prior to his death. His last year was spent in the home of Mr. and Mrs. Crile and here he passed away in 1893. His wife died in 1889. Mr. and Mrs. Crile have become the parents of eight children: Emma. now the wife of George Diers; George, who died in 1905; Lizzie, the wife of Frank
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Diers; Ida, the wife of Dave Powell; John; Ben; Clara, the wife of Earl Smith, who is operating a farm in partnership with her father ; and Minnie, at home. After an illness covering two years the wife and mother passed away in 1898 and her death was the occasion of deep regret to many friends as well as her immediate family.
Mr. Crile exercises his right of franchise in support of the men and measures of the democratic party and his religious faith is that of the Lutheran church. His record is notable by reason of the success he has achieved and the honorable, straightforward business policy which he has ever followed. He has never sought to take advantage of the necessities of his fellowmen in any trade transaction but through industry and wise investment has won the prosperity that places him now among the most extensive landowners of Jefferson county.
WILLIAM H. DUTTWEILER.
William H. Duttweiler, owning and cultivating a fine farm of seven- teen acres within the corporation limits of Pleasant Plain, has remained a resident of Jefferson county from his birth to the present time and has devoted his time and energies to agricultural pursuits throughout his active business career. He was born in Walnut township, on the 30th of Novem- ber, 1850, his parents being Lewis and Sarah (Hetzel) Duttweiler, the former a native of Germany and the latter of Greene county, Ohio. Lewis Duttweiler crossed the Atlantic to the United States when a youth of eighteen years, locating in Ohio, where he worked as a farm hand for several years and was likewise employed in a sawmill. In 1840 he came to Jefferson county, Iowa, entered eighty acres of land in Walnut town- ship and undertook the task of clearing and improving the property. As his financial resources increased, owing to his untiring industry and capable management, he purchased an additional tract of forty acres in Walnut township and later bought a farm of seventy acres in Lockridge township, whereon he made his home until called to his final rest in 1891. The period of his residence in this county covered more than a half century and in his passing the community lost one of its respected pioneer agriculturists. The demise of his wife occurred in 1878.
William H. Duttweiler obtained his education in the district schools of Jefferson county and remained under the parental roof until twenty- four years of age. He then devoted his attention to the cultivation of rented land for fifteen years and at the time of his father's death came
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into possession of the latter's farm of seventy acres in Lockridge town- ship. After he had improved the property to quite an extent he was attacked by rheumatism and suffered therefrom for ten years. At the end of that time he again resumed the active work of the fields, operating his farm in Lockridge township until 1905. In that year he sold the place and purchased seventeen acres of land within the corporation limits of Pleasant Plain, paying five thousand dollars for the property. The farm is well im- proved in every particular and the well tilled fields readily respond to the care and labor which is bestowed upon them. Mr. Duttweiler has won a gratify- ing measure of prosperity in his undertakings as an agriculturist and has long been numbered among the substantial and esteemed citizens of his native county.
In July, 1878, Mr. Duttweiler was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Allred, a daughter of James and Mary (Cummins) Allred. The father took up his abode in Henry county, Iowa, at an early day and followed farming as a life work. He also ran a ferry boat on the Skunk river. His demise occurred in 1864. while his wife, long surviving him, passed away in Missouri, on the 29th of November, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Dutt- weiler have four children, as follows: Emma, the wife of John Williams, a carpenter of Mount Pleasant. Iowa : Mary, residing in Walnut township, who is the wife of Rapier Duttweiler, a second cousin; and Lydia and Henry F., bothı at home.
Mr. Duttweiler gives his political allegiance to the democratic party, and has served as road supervisor of Lockridge township for two years. His fraternal relations are with the Yeomen, while his religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Lutheran church; to which his wife also belongs. In social relations he is held in the highest regard and has a circle of friends almost coextensive with the circle of his acquaintances.
LEVERETTE K. WALLACE.
Leverette K. Wallace, a retired farmer who now resides in Packwood, was born in Athens, Athens county, Ohio, August 7, 1856, his parents being John and Mary (Peabody) Wallace, who were residents of Illinois for many years. John Wallace was born in Arbroath, Scotland, April 15, 1832, and came to America with his parents when but eleven years of age, settling in Washington, Tazewell county, Illinois, and engaging in farming. Here, on the 17th of November, 1853, he married Miss Mary Peabody, who was born in Pennsylvania of Yankee descent, August 20,
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1833, and here, where later on Leverette K. Wallace became a successful and prominent agriculturist, they remained until 1856, when they came to their present place in Washburn. They were the parents of twelve chil- dren, namely: Laura M., Leverette K., Clara F., Fidelia, Thomas, Jean- ette, Minnie, John F., Myra A., May, Charles and Bennie. In 1861 John Wallace commenced dealing in live-stock and his business increased so rapidly that he soon was conceded to be the largest dealer in this line in the vicinity. He always took great interest in political affairs and filled the office of assessor, collector, school director and supervisor, which lat- ter position he held for seventeen years. He also was a candidate on the republican ticket for county judge. His demise occurred January 12, 1907, while his wife had preceded him in death, on February 2, 1898. While John Wallace prepared a home for himself and was building the house, Mrs. Wallace went to Ohio, and it was on this trip, when she was the guest of her sister, Mrs. Jeanette Burnham, that her son Leverette was born. The following autumn she rejoined her husband.
Leverette Wallace spent his early life at home, attending the district school and assisting his father on the farm. At the age of twenty-two years he began his independent career by leaving the home place and renting an adjoining farm from his uncle, which he worked for one year. At the end of that time he rented for five years a two hundred and sixty- acre farm about five miles from his father's property, but before the ex- piration of this' lease he purchased one hundred acres of it and later on, the remaining one hundred and sixty acres, and this was his home from the spring of 1881 until 1894, when he sold it and came to Iowa, locating on the farm of two hundred and forty acres, one and three-quarters miles northwest of Packwood, Polk township, Jefferson county, which he had purchased, and later added to it two hundred and forty acres, so he now owns four hundred and eighty acres in all. For sixteen years he success- fully cultivated this property but in 1910 he rented it and moved to Pack- wood, where he is now living in the comfortable home he remodeled and improved. Outside of his land interests Mr. Wallace is a stockholder in the Farmers Savings Bank of Packwood, of which institution he serves as a director.
Mr. Wallace was married December 10, 1879, to Josephine Stephens, the daughter of Edward and Susan (Kniffen) Stephens, who were both born near Albany, New York, and were of Yankee descent. In the early '50s Mr. and Mrs. Stephens came to Illinois but after a short sojourn returned to New York from where they again removed to Illinois, settling in Peoria county. Here Mr. Stephens engaged in farming, the occupation for which he had been trained in his youth, and he continued it until he retired from active life and removed to Washburn, Illinois, where he is
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now residing with his daughter, Mrs. L. B. Owens. Mrs. Stephens' death occurred in 1895, in Washburn, Illinois.
To Mr. and Mrs. Leverette K. Wallace four children have been born. Dora, the eldest, is the wife of Curtis Woolums, a prominent farmer of Black Hawk township, and they are the parents of three children, Velna, Lilah and Edward. Mary died at the age of eighteen years. Nora is the wife of Loren White, a tea and coffee merchant of Fairfield, and to them one child has been born, Wallace Hazen White. John Edward, a resident of Burnside, Illinois, is a graduate of the Franklin high school, of Fair- field and was a student at Parsons College and at Elliott's Business Col- lege at Burlington, Iowa. After having received this training he became assistant cashier in the Burnside Bank.
Mr. Wallace is a republican, firmly believing that the principles of that party are most conducive to good government. He has always been interested in all projects which will serve the general welfare of his com- munity and for ten years he acted as school director in Polk township, an office which he filled conscientiously and ably. Both he and Mrs. Wallace are members of the Christian church, the latter being active and prominent in the Willing Workers' Society of the church. Packwood has in Mr. Wallace a citizen who is well known and esteemed for his integrity, pro- gressiveness and advocacy of what is best in moral and social development.
JOHN CARR.
John Carr, who is carrying on general farming on section 22, Polk township, was born on the farm, upon which he is now residing, on the 2d of April, 1875, his parents being Samuel and Martha (Smales) Carr, whose marriage occurred in 1850. The former, who was born in Fayette county, Ohio, was the fourth in a family of nine children, his birth oc- curring May 25, 1825, and the latter was a daughter of John Smales, a native of Virginia. The paternal grandparents of John Carr, Jehu and Sarah (Foltz) Carr, were both natives of Virginia. Jehu Carr removed to Jefferson county, Iowa, in 1840, locating in Fairfield township, and four years later removed to Polk township, where he remained for many years before coming to Oregon, where his death occurred in 1870. Mrs. Jehu Carr passed away while they were residing in Ohio. Samuel Carı came to Iowa with his parents when fifteen years of age and assisted in the opening and clearing of the farm which his father undertook to cultivate. Until he was twenty-five years of age he was employed as a farm laborer by the month but, having saved sufficient money to start in
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a more independent career, he rented a farm in Locust Grove township for five years and subsequently in 1861 purchased his first land, a sixty- one-acre piece, which he cultivated until 1875, when he disposed of it and purchased the farm where John Carr is now residing. Among the improvements which he made upon his farm was the building of a home costing fourteen hundred dollars, which at that time was a costly farm residence for Jefferson county. His death occurred here, on the 6th of September, 1904, his wife having passed away on the 2d of March of the same year.
John Carr remained at home until twenty-one years of age. He at- tended school in Polk township in district No. 6 and assisted his father in his agricultural pursuits but on attaining his majority his father gave him forty acres of land, which he began cultivating independently and at the same time doing some farming for his father. After the latter's death he purchased one hundred and forty acres from the estate and is still engaged in farming this in addition to his original tract. In his manage- ment he has shown skill and ability in both general farming and feeding stock and is recognized as one of the progressive and successful younger farmers of his township.
On the 10th of January, 1906, Mr. Carr was married to Miss Nora Dollie Kenyon, a daughter of Robert Burns and Mary (Cline) Kenyon. In politics Mr. Carr has always given his support to the republican party and, although he is actively interested in the success of its measures and its men, he has never sought office for himself. The demands made upon his time by his agricultural pursuits and the pleasures which he finds in his own home are so great that he has never desired lodge connections or fraternal affiliations. Mrs. Carr is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Packwood. By indefatigable energy and constant application to the scientific development of his farm Mr. Carr has won a good measure of success and is today accorded a high place among the ranks of agri- culturists of his district.
THOMAS M. LINDER.
Thomas M. Linder owns and cultivates a thirty-five acre farm at Linby, Polk township, and by constant application has achieved a good degree of success. His birth occurred in Washington county, Virginia, on the 16th of May, 1854, his parents being Abram and Elizabeth (Vance) Linder, both of whom were natives of Virginia, where the father was engaged in agricultural pursuits until his death in 1881. The following
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spring the mother removed to Jefferson county with her family and located upon a farm near Abingdon, which her sons cultivated until 1890, when they removed to the newly acquired property of T. M. Linder, situated west of Linby.
Thomas M. Linder attended the district school in Virginia until he came to Jefferson county with his mother. After she had leased a farm for nine years he purchased his present property in 1891 and has made this his home up to the present time, his mother and brothers C. H. and James A. also residing with him. This property is attractively situated adjacent to the town of Linby and is a comfortable place of residence, where Mr. Linder may spend his later life with more leisure than he was accorded in youth, for, being the eldest son, there was much responsibility for him to assume after the death of his father and he has spent many years laboring for those dependent upon him.
James A. Linder, one of the brothers of our subject, is married to Miss Clarinda Steele, a daughter of W. H. Steele, who was a pioneer of Polk township. Nine children have been born to this union: Margaret. who is the wife of L. V. Brown, a farmer near Linby; Jessie, who resides at home; Dora, who died at the age of fourteen years; and Sallie, Mary H., Alice D., Nellie, Ruth and Clara Belle, all living at home.
In politics Thomas M. Linder is a democrat and for the past fourteen years has been serving as treasurer of school funds in his home district. While his life has been passed quietly, his record contains lessons of value and is worthy of emulation, for it shows how much can be accomplished by persistent effort and diligent labor.
J. ADAM MESSER.
J. Adam Messer is the owner of much valuable farm property in Jefferson county, his holdings including two hundred and seventy-five acres in Walnut township whereon he resides, and two hundred acres in Penn township. All this is the visible evidence of a life of well directed energy and thrift for he started out empty-handed and through his own labor has become the possessor of valuable holdings. He was born in Germany, June 2, 1839, so that he has passed the seventy-second mile- stone on life's journey. His parents, George and Magdalene (Snyder) Messer, were also natives of Germany, in which country the father fol- lowed farming until he determined to try his fortune in the new world, settling in Jefferson county, Iowa, in 1855. His first purchase of land made him owner of one hundred and sixty acres in Penn township. It
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J. ADAM MESSER AND FAMILY
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was wild and uncultivated and he at once began the arduous task of clear- ing it and making it a productive tract. He afterward added eighty acres more to this place and continued the further cultivation of his farm throughout his remaining days. His death occurred in Feburary, 1885, and his wife passed away in 1880.
J. Adam Messer was a youth of sixteen years when the voyage was made across the Atlantic and he came with his parents to Iowa. He early assisted his father in the work of the fields and continued at home until twenty-five years of age when, desirous of making a start in the world on his own account, he began farming for himself. He first purchased eighty acres of land from his father of which ten acres was cleared. He cleared the timber on this land and improved it, making a wonderful change in the appearance of the place. His labors have further continued its de- velopment and later purchases have extended the boundaries of that prop- erty until he now has in the old homestead two hundred and seventy-five acres. He also has purchased two hundred acres in Penn township and thus has become one of the extensive farmers of his part of the county. In addition to his agricultural interests Mr. Messer has become well known in other business connections, being now a stockholder in the Iowa State Savings Bank of Fairfield and one of its directors, and a stockholder in the East Pleasant Plain Telephone Company. He has made a monthly crop report to the government since 1882 and is much interested in what statistics are shown concerning the development of the state and its pro- ductiveness.
In March, 1865, occurred the marriage of Mr. Messer and Miss Rebecca Roth, a daughter of Joseph and Mary (Klopfenstein) Roth, who were natives of France and of German descent. The father came to Jefferson county, Iowa, in 1838, and entered one hundred and sixty acres of land from the government. He afterward returned to Ohio where he was married, and then came to his farm in Iowa, taking up the arduous task of transforming wild prairie into richly cultivated fields. He devoted his energies to the further development and improvement of the property throughout the remainder of his active business life. He passed away in 1897, having for about eleven years survived his wife, who died in March, 1886. In the family of Mr. and Mrs. Messer are five children: Mary M., now the wife of Alvin Knorr, a resident farmer of Walnut township; Anna Lizzie, the wife of Bernard Diers, who follows farming in Buchanan township ; Cora M., living at home; John E., who is cultivating his father's farm in Penn township; and Fred W., who is operating his father's farm in Walnut township and is serving as township trustee.
For ten years J. Adam Messer has filled the office of township trustee and for fifteen years has been a school director. The cause of education Vol. II-24
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has ever found in him a stalwart champion whose efforts to promote the standard of the schools has been practical and effective. His political indorsement is given to the democratic party and he and his wife hold membership in the First Lutheran church at Fairfield. He is also president and treasurer of the Mutual Insurance Company and has held this office for twenty years. He has now passed the seventy-second milestone on life's journey and for fifty-six years of this period has been a resident of Jefferson county, so that he well deserves to be numbered among its early settlers and merits the credit that is due to those who have been active factors in the work of general progress and improvement. In his business life he has never taken advantage of the necessities of others but has depended upon his own labor and enterprise for his success and as a result of these qualities has gained a place among the prosperous farmers of Walnut township.
JAMES FREDERIC CLARKE, M. D.
Dr. James Frederic Clarke is one of Fairfield's native sons, born Febru- ary 23. 1864. His parents were Dr. Charles Shipman and Sarah Louisa (Wadsworth) Clarke. The father was born in Marietta, Ohio. December 15. 1814, and the mother's birth occurred in Pittsfield, Vermont, November 28, 1815. They were married in Frederickstown, Ohio, October 7, 1834. and subsequently became residents of Maysville, Kentucky, where they remained four years. They then came to Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1843. Dr. Charles Clarke was a graduate of the medical school of Cincinnati, Ohio. He was a careful student, a diagnostician of unusual ability, gener- ous to a fault, and he had the respect and esteem of all who knew him. While in Mt. Pleasant he was appointed by Governor Grimes as a member of a commission to study the insane hospitals of the country and to estab- lish Iowa's first institution of that character.
The horseback-riding and hard night-and-day professional work of a large practice in a sparsely settled country, undermined the Doctor's health. He was compelled to give up active practice and this was only possible by leaving the community. For this reason he moved to Fairfield, in 1852, where both he and his wife spent their remaining days. Dr. Charles Clarke's life's labors were ended in death, March 4, 1882. Mrs. Clarke survived him until November 29, 1905, when she also passed away in Fairfield.
They were both actively interested in the welfare and progress of the community. Although Dr. Clarke was too old to enter the army at the
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time of the Civil war, he gave freely of his means and Mrs. Clarke gave all her time and labors, to aid in the equipment of the soldiers. Both were active workers in the public library-the first of such institutions in Iowa- and for all other public institutions. Both were members of the Univer- salist church, thoroughly believing in universal salvation. Dr. Clarke left the republican party at the time of the Greeley independent movement and thereafter usually voted with the democracy. The democratic party made him, on one occasion, its candidate for the state legislature.
Unto Dr. Clarke and his wife were born five children: Emma Wads- worth, now living in Fairfield; Charles Ansyl, who after serving thirty years in the United States navy, is now a retired lieutenant commander, living in California; George Danforth, who succeeded his father in the drug business, in Fairfield, where he died in 1902: Mary the wife of J. W. Sampson of Weldon, Iowa; and James Frederic.
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