USA > Iowa > Jones County > History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present, Volume II > Part 40
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After the father's death Alois Stratilek remained at home with his widowed mother until thirteen years of age, when he began learning the cabinetmaker's trade, thus preparing for the practical and onerous duties of life which must devolve upon him in consequence of the necessity of providing for his own sup- port, as the father had left the family in limited circumstances. In 1867, at the age of sixteen years, he accompanied his brother Joseph to Buffalo, New York, where he worked at his trade for six years, being successful there as second fore- man in a furniture factory, after which he made his way to Chicago, spending ten months in that city, working for H. Andrews and Company. He was for two months a resident of Davenport, Iowa, and in 1874 he came to Oxford Junction, where he has since made his home. It was in April of that year that he established his present general mercantile business. which he has now con- ducted for more than a third of a century. He purchased his present building twenty-one years ago and has remodeled it, stocking it with a large line of general merchandise, for which he finds a ready sale as his business methods are reliable and his prices reasonable. He also has a warehouse in connection with the store and his is one of the largest commercial enterprises of the town. He is also extensively engaged in the packing of poultry in the winter seasons, and for about twenty years conducted a furniture and undertaking business, but has disposed of it, concentrating his energies upon his general store. He manufac- tured considerable furniture by hand in the earlier days, while later he stocked his store with goods from the factory. At all times he has manifested the modern
ALOIS STRATILEK
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spirit of enterprise and progress in the conduct of his interest and his success is the well merited reward of his labor. In addition to his mercantile interest Mr. Stratilek is a director in the Oxford Junction Savings Bank, of which he was one of the organizers.
In 1874 Mr. Stratilek was united in marriage at Oxford Junction, Iowa, to Miss Anna Bokorny, who was born in Bohemia in 1853 and at eighteen years of age became a resident of Buffalo, New York, having accompanied her uncle to the new world. The living children of this marriage are: Anna, the wife of John Sobotka. of Oxford Junction : Helen, the wife of Charles Seaton, an editor of Clarence, Iowa; Otto, who relieves his father of the management of the store ; Mary, the wife of Henry Louisfield of Oxford Junction; and Tillie, at home. They also lost seven children, one dying in infancy, while the six who passed away in childhood were Aggie, Louisa, Elenor, Gusta, Edith and Victor.
In his political views Mr. Stratilek has been a stalwart democrat since 1867, having changed from a republican to democrat in that year and is active in the party, filling various village and township offices. He has been elected mayor, councilmman and township trustee. He has been active in educational affairs; serving for eighteen years on the school board, for though his own opportuni- ties in educational lines were very limited he has always been a stalwart cham- pion of the public schools, doing everything in his power to promote the intellec- tual development of the community. His fraternal relations are with the Knights of Pythias. He was for many years the foremost representative of the Bohemian- life of the community but is now from choice living retired to some extent. He came to Oxford Junction a stranger with a capital of only one hundred and twenty-five dollars. He made and lost a fortune here but is again in substantial circumstances, having acquired a competence which is sufficient to enable him practically to live retired, at the present time leaving the management of mer- cantile interests to his son. His energy and determination have been salient factors in his record and his history shows what may be accomplished by one who has perseverance combined with a will to dare and to do.
WILLIAM MILLS.
Some of the bravest and most devoted defenders of the Union during the dark days when dissolution seemed iminent were men who were born on foreign soil but attracted to the cause on account of their love of justice and fair deal- ing and for the reason that they knew that the north was in the right. One of the native sons of Canada who came to the rescue of the country which is now his adopted land is William Mills, of Hale township. He was born near St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada, October I. 1825, and is a son of David and Ruth Mills, natives of Nova Scotia, who spent their lives in Canada. They had a family of five children, as follows: John. who died young; George; Nathaniel, who passed away forty-eight years ago; Sarah Eberly, also is deceased; and William, the youngest of the family.
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The father of this family died when William Mills was only thirteen months old but the mother brought up her little family and William remained with her until he was fifteen years old. At that age he went to Palmyra, Ontario, and learned the blacksmithing trade with a brother-in-law and followed it until about 1897, with the exception of the time he spent in the service of the United States. Mr. Mills was still a resident of Canada when he enlisted at Detroit, Michigan, in Company E, Fifteenth Michigan Volunteer Infantry and served during the last five months of the struggle. In the fall of 1865 he came to Wyoming, Jones county, Iowa, with his wife and four children and resided there for seven years, when he removed to Hale township and this has since been his home. Being an excellent workman Mr. Mills always had plenty to do and he took a pride in being one of the best blacksmiths in Jones county.
On February 22, 1854, Mr. Mills married Amanda Whitesell, who was born in Streetsville, Ontario, January 5, 1837, a daughter of John and Elizabeth Whitesell, natives of Pennsylvania and Ontario, respectively. Mr. and Mrs. Mills have had four children: John, who lives at Geneva, Nebraska ; William J., who lives at Anamosa; Elizabeth, who married Edward Lewis; and Cora, who married Peter Markey, of Milwaukee; Elizabeth died in Texas, April 11, 1909. Cora was born in Wyoming, and the others in Canada.
Mr. Mills is a stanch republican and has always been interested in the suc- cess of the party for which he has done so much. He is a member of the Dan Carpenter Post, G. A. R., of Olin, Iowa, and takes a great deal of pleasure in his association with it and the opportunities it gives him to meet his old comrades. A man of simple tastes. he has always striven to do his full duty and has won and held the respect of his community.
GEORGE W. COLEMAN.
With each year the work of farming is becoming more and more profitable and for this reason those who have been engaged in it are continuing to devote their energies to the tilling of the soil, while others are leaving the crowded cities and going out into the freer and happier life. George W. Coleman, of Hale township, is one of the sensible and prosperous farmers of Jones county who realizes the worth of Iowa land and is doing a general farming and stock- raising business. He was born near Tipton, October 31. 1860, a son of Adney and Sarah A. (Simmons) Coleman. The father died in 1898 but the mother survives, living now at Olin. A complete sketch of her is given elsewhere in this work. There were eleven children in the family of whom George W. is a member, and of them five daughters and three sons survive.
In 1864 George W. Coleman was brought to Jones county by his parents and it has since been his home, and he is proud of it and of the changes he has seen take place. Until he was twenty-two years old he remained with his parents and then worked out by the month among the different farmers for some twelve years. He afterward rented the home place, buying his present farm from his father's estate in 1898 and it is now one of the best managed in the township.
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
He has eighty-five acres of rich farming land on section 8, Hale township, and he has found that general farming and stock raising pay him best.
On February 17, 1904, Mr. Coleman married Elizabeth R. Devol, of Olin, the widow of Frederick Devol, and a daughter of Albert and Sarah Clymer. By her first marriage. Mrs. Coleman had one son. Irving, and she has borne Mr. Coleman a daughter, Laura Margaret. The home life of Mr. and Mrs. Coleman is delightful and they welcome their many friends to their hospitable board upon numerous occasions.
Fraternally Mr. Coleman belongs to the Olin Lodge. No. 245, K. P. He is a member of the Free Will Baptist church at Pleasant Hill. In political mat- ters he is a republican but has devoted his time to his farming and so has not been active in public matters. He understands his work, makes it pay and is not only successful but also commands the respect of his neighbors because of his straight, honorable methods of doing business.
C. A. LEFFINGWELL.
That farming in Iowa is a profitable business is evidenced by the life of C. A. Leffingwell, who through the cultivation of its rich lands has derived the competence that now enables him to put aside business cares and live retired in a beautiful home in the village of Oxford. He was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, November 14, 1850. a son of Edwin and Louise M. (Fitch) Leffingwell, the former born in Ohio and the latter in the Keystone state. In 1851 the father made a business trip to Iowa and while on his way back to Ohio his death occurred. Subsequent to his death the mother, with her family of four children, came to Jones county, lowa, the year of her arrival here being 1854. She entered one hundred and sixty acres of land in Oxford township and after improving the tract made her home thereon until 1868. Then, selling the farm, she pur- chased another in the same township, remaining there until her death, which occurred in 1874. As stated her family numbered four children, but only two are now living, the sister of our subject being Sarah L., the wife of Milo Lathrop. of New Market. Taylor county, Iowa. Mary E .. the other sister, died in 1874. at the age of twenty-eight years, while the brother. Henry E., was drowned in 1875, at the age of thirty-one years.
C. A. Leffingwell was a little lad of four years at the time of the removal from Ohio to Jones county. At the usual age he entered the common schools, wherein he mastered the branches of learning that fitted him to face the respon- sibilities of life in later years. He remained with his mother until the time of her death and after reaching mature years assisted her materially in the manage- mient and operation of the home place. On the IIth of February, 1879, he was united in marriage to Miss Mary I. Rathbone, the only child of George and Mary Rathbone and a native of Jones county. Her parents were both natives of England and are now deceased.
Following his marriage Mr. Leffingwell continued to engage in farm work and he and his wife are now in possession of two hundred and seventy acres of
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valuable farm property in Oxford township. . After leading a busy, useful and active life for many years, Mr. Leffingwell removed to Oxford, where he owns a fine residence on Fifth avenue. He still retains possession of his farm, from which he secures a good rental that supplies him with all the comforts of life.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Leffingwell have been born one son and two daughters: George Edwin, of Oxford; Agnes M., the wife of L. F. Zeller; and Grace A., who is a graduate of the Oxford high school and is at home. A democrat in principle and practice, Mr. Leffingwell was nominated on that ticket to the state senate in 1899 but met with defeat. He has served as township trustee and has filled a number of minor offices, in all of which he has discharged his duties faithfully and conscientiously. He belongs to the Knights of Pythias Lodge, No. 88, at Oxford. His labors in former years were of a character that contributed to general progress and prosperity as well as to individual success and now he is living a contented and happy life and enjoying the rest which he so well deserves.
MIKE MAREK.
Mike Marek is a progressive and enterprising agriculturist of Cass township who through the careful management of his business affairs is meeting with creditable success. As the name indicates he is of foreign birth and belongs to a family that, like many another that has come from across the water, sought the opportunities of the new world that advancement might be made in business lines and better advantages given to the members of the household. He was born in Bohemia on the 6th of January, 1851, a son of Martin and Kate Marek, also natives of that country. The family came to America about 1853 and located first in Davenport. Iowa, where they remained for about eight years. Removal was then made to Jones county. the family residence being established in Castle Grove township. Mrs. Kate Marek, the mother of our subject, passed away about two weeks after the arrival of the family in Davenport, and later the father was again married. Mike Marek of this review was the only child born unto the first union, while by his second wife Mr. Marek had three sons, Charles. John and Martin, the latter of whom is mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The father passed away in 1906 when he had reached the eighty-third mile- stone on life's journey.
Mike Marek was but two years of age when the family took up their abode in America, and consequently almost his entire life has been spent here. The common schools of Davenport and Jones county afforded him a fair knowledge of the common branches of English learning. and he remained on his father's farm in Castle Grove township until he was about twenty-four years of age. when he was married. He then entered business on his own account as an agriculturist, operating a farm in the capacity of renter for two years, at the expiration of which time he purchased forty-five acres of land in Linn county. Four years later he bought thirty-five acres, making eighty acres in all, and at the end of another four years he purchased a tract of twenty acres in Jones
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
county, so that he then owned one hundred acres. He located on his Jones county property, which was located in Castle Grove township, and made his home there for four years. At the expiration of that period he rented his farm and removed to Monticello, living there for five years while working on the railroad. The next five years were spent on his farm in Castle Grove township but at the end of that time he sold the place and purchased one hundred and forty acres in Cass township, where he now resides. He is directing his efforts toward its further development and under his excellent management it has become a highly improved farm. He has closely studied agriculture in all its various phases, prac- tices rotation of crops, knows the cereals best adapted to soil and climate and has so conducted his business as to gain for himself a most creditable place among the substantial and representative farmers of the community.
It was on the 14th of November, 1874, that Mr. Marek was united in mar- riage to Miss Anna Lawrence, who was born in Bolder township, Linn county, on the 25th of May, 1856. Her parents were Andrew and Barbara Lawrence, natives of Germany and Bohemia respectively. Although no children came to bless their union, Mr. and Mrs. Marek have raised four children, three girls and one boy, and they also have an adopted son, Wensel.
Althoughi Mr. Marek has won a most creditable degree of success in agricul- tural lines, he is perhaps better known to his fellow citizens by reason of the active and helpful interest which he has taken in community affairs. He is a stalwart supporter of the republican party and for the past six years has filled the office of township trustee. In this capacity he has under his supervision and care twenty-six miles of township roads, for the condition of which he is respon- sible. He is also serving as a member of the school board and the cause of edu- cation finds in him a stanch champion. His influence is ever upon the side of improvement, advancement, progress and reform and these qualities constitute him a citizen of worth in the community in which he resides. He is a member of the Catholic church of Anamosa, the teachings of which form the guiding influence of his life, and his salient characteristics are such as have gained for him the respect, confidence and good will of his fellowmen.
GEORGE DANIEL JAMES.
The pioneers of lowa suffered many privations and faced real dangers in their work of redeeming the wilderness, and what they accomplished is remarkable viewed from the standpoint of today. Among the names associated with the early history of Jones county is that of James, and representatives of this well known family are to be found throughout the various townships, the majority of them engaged in tilling the soil. George Daniel James, a native of the county, belongs to this family. He was born in Jackson township, where he still resides, September 17, 1870, being a son of Walter and Mary (Sherman) James, and grandson of Walter James. The latter, a native of Wales, emigrated to Vir- ginia and after some time spent in that state pushed on to Jones county, Iowa, where he was one of the early settlers. He had a family of ten children.
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Walter James, Jr., the father of George Daniel James, was born in Virginia on the same day as John D. Rockerfeller. He now resides in Wyoming, having retired from active life. His wife was also born in Virginia and both were brought to Jones county when young and were married here. For many years they resided upon a farm, which he operated, and which contained one hun- dred and sixty acres. There were six children in their family, as follows: Ida May, who married J. Juzeler, of Washington; Philip G., who lives at Wayne, Nebraska; Charlotte, who married Frank Porter, of Jackson township; Sarah E., who married James Keglog, of Wyoming, Iowa; Olive, who lives in San Francisco, and George Daniel James.
Until his marriage. George Daniel James remained at home and then bought his present farm of two hundred and forty acres on sections 25, 26 and 23, Jack- son township. Here he carries on general farming and handles a large number of cattle, doing his work by the latest methods and with improved machinery. The land is highly cultivated, and he has made many desirable improvements.
On January 29, 1895, occurred the marriage of Mr. James and Elizabeth Stivers, who was born in Jackson township. March 9, 1875. She is a daughter of James and Elizabeth (Clark) Stivers, the former of whom was born October 20. 1825, in New York state, and the latter born October 31, 1824. in Virginia. They were married in Ohio, in 1853, and came to Jones county in 1855. Mr. Stivers passed away July 25. 1884, but his widow survives him and lives on the old homestead. Ten children were born to them. Mr. and Mrs. James have two children : Harvey Stivers and Esther Eloise.
The James family made a good record during the Civil war. Walter James, Jr., enlisted from Jones county, August 12, 1861, as corporal, and received his promotion to the rank of first lieutenant January 16, 1865. He served until the close of the war, in all of about four years, being a brave and gallant soldier, who was willing to risk his life in the service of his country. Mr. James has borne his part in public matters by serving faithfully as assessor of Jackson town- ship for one term, having been elected on the republican ticket. He is a man of strong convictions, is popular, and is often cited as one of the representative farmers of his township.
JAMES LISTER.
Numbered among the men whose memory is cherished because of the active and honorable part which they displayed in the history of the county in former years is James Lister, one of the leading representatives of agricultural interests of this community. He was born in Scotland. January 5, 1832, and spent his youthful days in the land of hills and heather, of mountain crag and lake and glen. He there learned the stone cutter's trade and in 1854, when twenty-four years of age, emigrated to America, seeking the more favorable business oppor- tunities offered by the new world. For a short time he resided at Dunleith, now East Dubuque, Illinois, and in 1856 came to Iowa, establishing his home near Farley, where he turned his attention to general farming. He devoted four and
Wann
JAMES LISTER
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HISTORY OF JONES COUNTY
one-half years to the cultivation of the soil and then removed to Dubuque. He was among the first to respond to President Lincoln's first call for troops to crush out the rebellion in its incipiency, enlisting as a member of the Third lowa Volunteer Infantry. As the state quota was full, however, the regiment did not go into the field but Mr. Lister remained in the government service for several years, being engaged in the construction of bridges and forts.
Soon after the close of the war, in April, 1866, Mr. Lister came to Jones county and subsequently removed to Cedar Rapids, where he engaged in busi- ness for a few years. When the work of the building of the state penitentiary at Anamosa was begun, he was made foreman in charge of the erection and was employed by the state as chief stone mason for the Iowa state penitentiary for many years. He built the first cell house of that institution and was employed altogether as boss stone cutter at the penitentiary for twenty-one consecutive years. His life was one of marked activity, thrift and usefulness and he be- came the possessor of four hundred acres of fine farming land just west of the city of Anamosa whereon his family long resided.
In 1864, Mr. Lister was united in marriage to Miss Jane Perry, a native of England, and unto them were born four children: Jane, Thomas, George and Arthur. Of these, Thomas and Arthur are mentioned elsewhere in this volume. The death of the husband and father occurred in 1899, when he was about sixty- eight years of age. He had been a member of the school board for several years and was ever most loyal to the public trusts which were given into his care. He fornied a wide acquaintance during his long residence in the county and all who knew him esteemed him for his genuine worth and his many substan- tial traits. He had been a resident of the state. for almost forty years at the time of his demise, having lived to witness much of its growth and develop- ment, while in many ways he had materially aided in its progress and upbuilding.
HARBISON ORR.
Harbison Orr, a part of whose farm is included within the bounds of the village of Onslow, was born in Massachusetts, March 10, 1867. His parents, Samuel and Sarah Orr, were natives of Ireland and came to the United States in the early '50s. After a few years spent in the east they located in Jones county, Iowa, settling upon a farm in Clay township. There the father died in 1875, and there his widow is still residing, being in the seventy-sixth year of her age. Nine children were born to them, six of whom are now living.
Harbison Orr remained at home until he was twenty years old, having re- ceived a fair education in the common schools of his locality and practical ex- perience in the tilling of the soil through working upon the farm. About 1887 he began working by the month for neighboring farmers, and then took a trip to California, where he lived for about ten months. Upon his return to Jones county, he worked as a farm hand for a time and then rented the old home- stead. which he cultivated for several years, afterward, purchasing the place he now owns. It consists of one hundred and seventy-four acres, twenty of
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which lie within the village of Onslow. Here he has successfully engaged in agricultural pursuits and has also engaged in the stock business to some extent and has given some attention to dairying. He maintains his fields in a high state of cultivation, employing the most advanced methods, while his buildings are well constructed and in accordance with the modern ideas of sanitation and effectiveness for the purposes for which they are designated. This progressive spirit, united with the industry which has made possible the generous harvests which have yearly rewarded his efforts, has made him one of the more success- ful farmers of Wyoming township.
On the 22d of June, 1898, Mr. Orr wedded Miss Mary Dennison, a native of Jones county and a daughter of John and Mathilda (Campbell) Dennison. a sketch of whose lives appears elsewhere in this work. No children have been born of this union. Mr. and Mrs. Orr are consistent members of the Presby- terian church and actively interested in its work. Politically he affiliates with the democratic party, feeling convinced of the value of its principles, and in the capacities of assessor and school director has rendered the township invaluable service, for he is a man who accepts his responsibilities seriously and has ever promoted the best interests of his fellow citizens. Fraternally he is a member of Wyoming Lodge. No. 206. A. F. & A. M., and the chapter of the Mystic Workers located in Onslow.
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