USA > Iowa > Jones County > History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present, Volume II > Part 39
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ROBERT PAUL CLARK.
The agricultural interests of Scotch Grove township find a worthy represen- tative in Robert Paul Clark, who is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and sixty acres located on section 21, to the cultivation and improvement of which he is directing his entire energies. He was born in this township on the 9th of July. 1880, and is a son of Robert and Alicia Clark, extended mention of whom is made on another page of this volume. Spending the period of his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm, he acquired a good common school education and when not busy with his text-books assisted in the work of the fields, early becoming familiar with the tasks that fall to the lot of the country lad. He remained under the parental roof until attaining his majority, and then located upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres which had been given to him by his father. Thus he started out in the business world on his own account and has since been identified with agricultural pursuits, in which line of activity he has been most successful. He practices rotation of crops, makes a thorough study
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of the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and is progressive and up-to-date in his methods, so that he has gained for himself a place among the substantial and prosperous agriculturists of the community. He also owns one hundred and sixty acres of land in Canada, and this forms an additional source of revenue to him.
It was on the 18th of March, 1908, that Mr. Clark was united in marriage to Miss Ella M. Nelson, a native of Scotch Grove township, born on the 23d of May, 1878. She is a daughter of M. J. and Nancy E. (Overley) Nelson, natives of Ohio and Kentucky, respectively. Both are now deceased. In their family were three children, of whom Emeline F., the eldest, has now passed away. The others are Mrs. Clark and a brother, Charles. The former was but three years old when her mother died in 1881, while her father passed away on the 22d of March, 1900. She attended the common schools until thirteen years of age, and then laid aside her text-books in order to take charge of the house- hold. Both Mr. and Mrs. Clark are well known in Scotch Grove township, where their entire lives have been passed, and they have a circle of friends which is almost co-extensive with the circle of their acquaintances. In politics he gives his allegiance to the republican party, and his influence is ever found on the side of improvement, advancement and progress in all matters of citizen- ship.
FRED FREY.
Fred Frey, one of the successful farmers of Greenfield township, was born in Wurtemberg, Germany, April 13, 1849, and is a son of Jacob and Anna (Stab) Frey, both of German nativity. In 1882 Mr. Frey's parents emigrated to the United States, and after landing in New York went to the vicinity of Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they passed the remainder of their days and died. In that vicinity Mr. Frey's two brothers, and his four sisters still reside, being farming people.
Fred Frey was seventeen years of age when he came to this country and went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where he followed the trade of a cabinet-maker, which he had learned in the land of his birth. In 1872 he came to Jones county, Iowa, and in Greenfield township began his life as a farmer. In 1878 he purchased eighty-five acres and as success rewarded his efforts he added forty-two acres more and then in a few years bought eighty acres in Rome township. This two hundred and seven acres of some of the best land in the county represents his own endeavors aided by the thrift and economy of his wife. The land in Green- field township is situated on sections 25 and 36, while that in Rome township lies on section 31. He follows general farming and maintains a high grade of work. He has built a very modern residence and erected outbuildings and made other improvements that show him to be a man who is not unaware of the best means of preserving the value of his possessions.
On the 5th of December, 1878, Mr. Frey married Miss Minnie Siever, a daughter of Louis and Frederika (Rekemeyer) Siever, both natives of Han- over, Germany, and both now deceased. Mrs. Frey's parents came to this coun-
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try and settled in Cedar county, Iowa. On the home place their son, Henry, and daughter, Mary, now live. Another daughter, a widow, Mrs. Shrope, also lives in Cedar county, while the other daughter, Mrs. Caroline Kettering, lives near Lisbon, Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Frey have four children: Carrie B., born January 23, 1880; John E., born April 19, 1882; Emma Edith, born February 1, 1893 ; and Almeda, born September 23, 1894. The eldest has taken up the profession of teaching, in which she has been successful, and John is at home interested with his father in the work on the farm, while the two younger chil- dren are attending the high school at Mechanicsville, from which they hope to graduate in 19II.
Mr. Frey gives devoted allegiance to the Lutheran faith: while Mrs. Frey, although her parents were members of the church of that denomination in Lisbon, has joined the Presbyterian congregation in Mechanicsville. Miss Carrie Frey is also a member of this latter church and takes part in all its work. Polit- ically Mr. Frey is a republican, though he takes little interest in party affairs and has never sought public office.
JAMES YOUNG.
James Young, an enterprising and progressive farmer of Madison township, Jones county, was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on the 14th of Jan- uary, 1841, a son of David and Eliza (Davidson) Young, both natives of Cum- berland county, Pennsylvania. He comes of Scotch-Irish ancestry, the Young family having been founded in America about the middle of the eighteenth century by William and Mary (White) Young, natives of Scotland. They came to this country from the north of Ireland, where they were wealthy land- owners and where his ancestors were said to have been baronets. In their religious faith they were Presbyterians and they came to the new world in order to escape the persecutions to which they were subjected by the Roman Catholics. Mr. and Mrs. David Young, the parents of our subject, were mar- ried in Mercer county. Pennsylvania, and in 1843, after selling their farm, came west to Iowa, making their way down the Ohio River to Cairo, Illinois, and thence up the Mississippi to Bellevue, Jackson county, Iowa. Mr. Young found a mill site on Brush creek, where he erected a mill and built a log house, with punch- eon floors and clapboard roof held in place by weight poles, no nails being used in the construction of the cabin. The mill had but one iron wheel, the others being made of wood, the wooden cogs for which were boiled in lard three of four days. The father continued the operation of the mill until his death, which occurred in 1846. The mother died at the home of our subject in 1889.
Coming to Iowa when but two years of age, James Young has therefore spent almost his entire life in this state and is indebted to the school system of Jack- son county for the educational privileges enjoyed. Under the parental roof he was reared to manhood and he worked in the mill until 1867, in which year he was united in marriage to Miss Amanda Prince. In the spring of the follow- ing year he came to Jones county, locating in Scotch Grove township, where in
JAMES YOUNG AND FAMILY
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company with a brother, David D. Young, he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land and eighty acres of timber land. This they operated in conjunction until 1870, when they divided the property, and our subject con- tinued to reside upon his portion of the land until 1882. In that year he removed to his present farm, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres on section IO, Madison township, and he later acquired one hundred and thirty acres in Scotch Grove and Madison townships, which he recently sold to his son, E. R. Young. He had since devoted his energies to the development of his home farm, which he has brought under a high state of cultivation, and in his agricultural pursuits has met with marked success, becoming one of the successful farmers of his locality.
With the passing of the years the home of Mr. and Mrs. Young has been blessed with seven children, namely: Eliza M., the wife of Rev. A. B. Fickle, of Shellsberg, Benton county; E. Ray of Madison township, mention of whom is made elsewhere in this volume; Dr. J. M., practicing medicine in Center Junc- tion; David L., an attorney of Boise City, Idaho; John Arthur, a Methodist Episcopal minister of Ridgeway, Iowa; William Harvey, who is attending Grin- nell College; and T. Ross, who is still under the parental roof.
Mr. and Mrs. Young hold membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, on the official board of which he has served for several years, while for many years he has been most active in Sunday-school work. He has served as justice of the peace for two terms, and in politics is strong in his advocacy of the prin- ciples of the prohibition party, for he fully realizes that the liquor traffic is one of the worst evils against which the country today has to contend. His entire career has been characterized by high ideals and noble principles and in every relation of life his record has ever measured up to a high standard of honorable manhood.
BERNHARD W. STREEPER.
Bernhard W. Streeper one of the native farmers of Jones county, who has attained a success of no mean proportions in the vocation he has pursued dili- gently for a number of years in Clay township, was born December 28, 1860. His father. Stephen Russell Streeper, became one of the prominent and well known men of this county, to which he came in the pioneering days. Born in Montgomery county, Pennsylvania, January 14, 1820, he was married there July 1, 1843. to Miss Isabel H. Todd, also a native of that county, born March 17, 1822. Shortly after their union, in 1844, the couple removed to Indiana, where they lived for about sixteen years, coming to Iowa in 1860. Several years before that date in 1854, Mr. Streeper had come to Jones county, where he entered the tract of government land on which his son Bernhard W. now lives. Although the hardships of the first years after he took up his residence here were those which usually fall to the lot of the men who brave the difficulties of pioneer life, yet Mr. Streeper overcame these and made success of his life's work. He was able to give his children the best educational advantages the public schools af-
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forded in those days and became a man highly regarded in his locality. He had learned the trade of a stone-mason in early manhood, and after his sons were of an age to assume some of the responsibilities of the farm, he worked at it to a considerable extent. A republican in his political views, he was elected on its ticket to the positions of township trustee, school director and school treasurer, in which capacities he served for a number of years, always with honor to him- self and to the satisfaction of those who had wisely placed confidence in his judgment, honesty and discrimination. In the work of the Presbyterian church he was very active, being a constant attendant upon its services and an elder for a number of years. He died March II, 1896, leaving eight children, eighteen grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. He and his wife were the parents of eight. Mrs. Hannah M. Johnson, deceased; William, a resident of South Dakota, who first married Miss Jennie Gowing and after her death married Emma Taylor; James M., who wedded Miss Sadie Coder and lives in North Dakota; Stephen P., who married Miss Wealtha Smith and lives in Hancock, Iowa; Arabella H., who became the wife of Merritt Osborn and makes her home in Minnesota; Robert H., who wedded Miss Etta Coburn, and resides in this county ; Bernhard W., the subject of this sketch ; and Sheridan Grant, who mar- ried Miss Emma Coburn and also lives in this county. Mrs. Streeper died Feb- ruary 10, 1908.
Bernhard W. Streeper was reared under the parental roof, entering the public schools, from which he derived his first training in the English branches. Later he spent one year at Onslow and another at Hopkinton, completing his education in the latter place. When he entered upon the serious business of life he chose farming as his vocation and has pursued it ever since. For a number of years he worked in the western part of the state but in 1895 he returned to the old homestead, which he operated during the remaining years of his father's life, caring for him with filial solicitude. After his death he managed the farm for his mother, and finally, April 12, 1908, bought it from the other heirs. It embraces one hundred and sixty acres, and at the time of its purchase, in 1854, Mr. Streeper's father had paid a dollar and a quarter an acre for it. Today it is worth just one hundred times that price, for it has been improved according to the best methods, is a rich and arable tract that makes large returns for the amount of thoughtful labor expended upon it. In addition to his purely agri- cultural interests, Mr. Streeper handles a large number of cattle and horses, from which he derives a most gratifying income. He has attained a pronounced suc- cess ; his farm is one of the valuable tracts of Clay township. His prosperity and his good fortune have been obtained solely through his own efforts, through a persistence and industry that cannot fail to derive the very best results from the cultivation of the soil.
Mr. Streeper was married November 28, 1900, to Miss Sadie Orr, who was born in Jones county, May 26, 1871, and they now have two children, Mabel and Mildred, twins, born November 27, 1904. Although the record of his life is one that bespeaks the unwearying devotion of Mr. Streeper to his own con- cerns, he has not been without a large measure of public spirit and generosity, for he has served his township most efficiently during a long period as trustee and as school treasurer. A republican in his political views, he has received the
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support of the voters of that party when he expressed a willingness to devote some of his time to the interest of his fellow citizens. His religious adherence is given to the Presbyterian faith.
JOSEPH A. HANNA.
Having as his heritage the sturdiness of the pioneers of Jones county, Joseph A. Hanna has pursued farming in Clay township with a perseverance that has been productive of large results. His life, too, has known its measure of hard- ships, for he was one of the valiant sons of this state to give his service in sup- port of his country during the Civil war, having experiences not only on the field of battle but in the loathsome prisons of the south. A native of Holmes county, Ohio, he was born in the year 1844, and is a son of William Hanna, who was also born in Ohio in 1804 but came to this county in early manhood, taking up eighty acres of land near the village of Canton. He prepared the ground for cultivation and built a log house, which served him for shelter until better con- ditions enabled him to erect a frame home in which he spent the rest of his life. He devoted himself to farming and died very suddenly in 1857. His wife, who was Miss Elizabeth Jane Blackburn before her marriage, was born in 1806 and through her marriage became the mother of eleven children, four of whom are living: William, a resident of Cedar county, Iowa; Pheness A., of Clay county, Iowa; Joseph A., the subject of this sketch; and Mrs. Minerva E. Vasser.
Joseph A. Hanna was reared under the parental roof and he attended the district schools, from which he received a fair training for the responsibilities of life. Although he was but seventeen years of age at the outbreak of the Civil war he enlisted in Company K, Twenty-fourth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Colonel Byam. The first engagement in which his regiment participated was that at Grand Gulf, the next, Fort Gibson, and then followed battles or skirm- ishes at Willow Springs, Bolton Station, Jackson, Mississippi, Champion Hill, Mississippi and the siege of Vicksburg. After the surrender of that city the regi- ment went back to Louisiana, where they joined General Banks and then went up the Red river to Sabine Crossroads, where they encountered the enemy in a severely contested engagement. It was important to him also, from the fact that there he was taken captive and subjected to the hardships of the southern prisons of which he had never dreamed. In the first place the prisoners were marched from the scene of battle to Camp Ford at such a rate of speed that they accomplished the distance of one hundred and fifteen miles in two days. At the camp he was confined for a period of two hundred and forty-eight days. During that time the daily food of the captives consisted of a pint of corn meal, ground with the cob, a slice of raw bacon, about the size of two fingers, and water, a bill of fare that was calculated quickly to reduce the strength of the men. Indeed, when Mr. Hanna was paroled from prison he weighed only sixty-five pounds and was so weak that he could move about only by crawling upon his hands and knees. Having been paroled, the prisoners went to New Orleans, where they procured a furlough and returned home. On the
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3d of July, 1865, Mr. Hanna received his honorable discharge from the army, having rendered valiant service in the defense of the Union for three years.
When his country no longer needed his aid Mr. Hanna returned to the old homestead in Clay township, on which he toiled for about two years, when he married and established a home of his own. Accordingly he bought one hun- dred and thirty acres of land in Clay township, the same farm on which he now resides. In the forty odd years during which it has been his home he has cultivated it with a care that bespeaks the good husbandman, winning a fair return for his labor. He has made all of the improvements with which his place is adorned and which, like the cultivation of the fields, show that he is a good manager as well as a clever and skillful tiller of the soil.
On the 23d of March. 1866, Mr. Hanna wedded Miss Mary Perry, a daughter of Thomas and Isabelle (Barr) Perry, both natives of Ireland, where they were reared and married. Mr. Perry was a tailor by trade and after crossing the Atlantic established himself in New York city, where he lived and died. He is buried in Greenwood cemetery, Brooklyn. After his death his widow, with her two children, Joseph and Mrs. Hanna, came to Clay township, Jones county, Iowa, where her younger brother, John Barr, had entered one hundred and sixty acres of land. Here she spent the remainder of her life, her death occurr- ing in 1893. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Hanna, six of whom are living. They are Mrs. Jennie B. Mead, Mrs. Minerva A. Shroyer, James L., Mrs. Katharine A. Walter, Mrs. Mary E. Neelans, Mrs. Nellie C. Alexander and George A. Mrs. Shroyer died April 9, 1899. All the family were educated at the district schools, while Mrs. Neelans finished at Hopkinton and Mrs. Alexander at Monticello.
Mr. Hanna has always given his support in political matters to the republican party, his allegiance to its cause being strengthened by the fact that it stood for the preservation of the Union during the Cival war. His religious adherence has been given to the Presbyterian church, in harmony with whose teachings he has attempted conscientiously to order his life. A good citizen, a noble man, and one whose life may bear examination, he enjoys a well deserved respect among those with whom he has associated during a long period.
JAMES B. SKAHILL.
Among the more prosperous and prominent farmers of Washington town- ship is numbered James B. Skahill, who at one time owned six hundred acres of excellent land here. He was born July 23. 1852, a son of Patrick and Mary ( Murray) Skahill, both natives of Ireland. The former was born in 1815 and came to America in 1850, seeking to better his fortunes in a land which was not subject to the oppression which then visited the land of his birth. After spending a few years in the east. Mr. Skahill came to Jones county, where he purchased two hundred acres of wild land. This he improved and cultivated with considerable success, for although he had come to this country a poor man. he worked his way upward by industry and determination. until at his death he
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was in the enjoyment of a large competence. He was not long permitted to enjoy the comforts of the new world, for his death occurred in 1867. In the fifteen years or so that he spent in this county, however, he left his impress upon his township, for he rendered efficient service as trustee. His wife, who was about ten years his junior, also died in 1867. Of their six children, James B. Skahill is now the only survivor.
James B. Skahill, who was not fifteen years of age when he and his brothers and sisters were left orphans, the oldest being only sixteen, joined his efforts with those of his sister, a maid of twelve, with the intention of operating the farm and keeping the family together, being the youngest children in the county to conduct a home at that time. They succeeded in their undertakings for about seven years, when one of the children having died and others married, it was de- cided to sell the property and divide the proceeds. In the years of the struggle, Mr. Skahill had received some education in the public schools of the township, but it was very meager in comparison with the practical training he obtained from meeting squarely and unflinchingly the problems of life as they presented themselves. After the separation of the family he bought a farm of his own and now owns upwards of six hundred acres, although he has given two hun- dred acres to his two sons, that they might have a substantial start in life. While he pursues a general line of agriculture he has many other interests, besides mere farming. He aims to keep twenty-five or more cows in his dairy, hauling, during the best seasons, as much as five hundred pounds of milk to the creamery. He also carries the milk for neighbors, so that his dairy receipts average about five dollars a day. He feeds yearly about one hundred head of cattle and from seventy-five to one hundred hogs, besides having about sixteen horses of various ages. From sixty to eighty acres he plants in corn and each year he cuts about one hundred acres of hay. From all these various interests he derives a most gratifying return, which is a tangible evidence of his skill, his thrift and his industry. The characteristics which secured the advancement of his father along the highway of this world's progress, have been his heritage; but no man, who when scarcely more than a boy was inspired with ambition such as would have done credit to maturer years, could devote himself to what he believed to be his calling without winning from it a good fortune commensurate with his determina- tion to succeed.
Mr. Skahill has been twice married, his first wife being Miss Eliza Kenney, by whom he had three children, namely : Willie, who married Mary McNiff, of Danbury ; Anna, the wife of Thomas Evers, of Ryan; and Mary. After her death he was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Durigan, a daughter of James and Mary Durigan, residents of Jones county, where Mr. Durigan secured a fair competence from the tilling of the soil. Five children were born of this union . Frank, James, Katie, Harry and John. All the children were given an education in the district schools, while James, Mary and Harry pursued their studies farther. Mary attended the public school at Temple Hill. then taught for ten years and is now the wife of Thomas Hollihan, a livery man of Ryan, Iowa. James completed his education at Cedar Rapids and is now in the employ as bookkeeper, of the Cedar Rapids Oil Company. Harry is now a student at St. Joseph's College, Dubuque, Iowa.
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A democrat in his political affiliations, Mr. Skahill has been elected by that party to the office of township assessor, which he filled for five years; that of clerk, which he held for ten years; and that of secretary of the school board, administering his duties in that capacity for seventeen years. He is a devout member of the Catholic church.
ALOIS STRATILEK.
Alois Stratilek, prominent as a representative of the Bohemian element in the citizenship of Oxford Junction and this section of Jones county, is proprietor of a general mercantile store and his business activity and diligence are impor- tant factors in promoting the substantial growth and upbuilding of the district. Widely and favorably known, his record cannot fail to prove of interest to many of our readers. He was born at Wysoke Myto, Bohemia, June 21, 1851, and is a son of Frank and Katharine Stratilek. The father died when his son Alois was but six years of age. He was a teamster in his native country and also owned a small tract of land there. In the year 1871 the mother came to the United States, where she joined her son, Alois, passing away in his home in September, 1908. She always remained true to her husband's memory, living as a widow for more than a half century. In the family were seven children : Frank, who died at the age of two years ; John, who died in Bohemia : Mary and James, who also passed awy in the old country ; Joseph, who died in Buffalo, New York; Rosa,. whose death occurred in Buffalo : and Alois.
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