USA > Iowa > Jones County > History of Jones County, Iowa, past and present, Volume II > Part 9
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On the 9th of February, 1897, at Olin, Iowa, Mr. Harper was united in mar- riage to Miss Ada Belle Easterly, a daughter of Jonathan and Sarah Jane (McConkir) Easterly, who were natives of Ohio and came to Iowa at an early date, settling in Jones county near the town of Olin. The father died in 1907 at the age of eighty-five years, while the mother still resides at Olin. Mr. and Mrs. Harper have but one child, Eugene Austin, who was born April 9, 1899, in Chicago, Illinois. In his fraternal relations Mr. Harper is a Mason, belonging to Anamosa Lodge, No. 46, A. F. & A. M., and De Molay Consistory, No. I, of Clinton, Iowa. He joined the lodge in 1907 and in 1908 was appointed senior dea- con and in 1909 was elected senior warden. He is also connected with the Mystic Workers, his membership being in Anamosa Lodge, No. 171. He and his family attend the Congregational church and he is now serving as director of the choir. His salient qualities are those of honorable manhood and progressive citizenship, and he is held in high regard wherever he is known and most of all where he is best known.
WILLIAM O. SHAFFER.
William O. Shaffer, a successful and enterprising merchant of Wyoming, dealing in clothing, shoes and men's furnishings, was born in Center county, Penn- sylvania, on the 3d of November. 1862. His parents, Nathan and Mary (Durst) Shaffer, are likewise natives of the Keystone state, the former having been born in Columbia county in September, 1823, while the latter's birth occurred in Center county in 1833. Nathan Shaffer was a minister of the Methodist church and in 1863 removed with his wife and two children to Buchanan county, Iowa, where he preached the gospel for three years. On the expiration of that period he went to Canton, Jackson county, this state, where he likewise labored in a ministerial ca- pacity for three years. At the end of that time, in 1869, he came to Jones county, purchasing a farm in Madison township on which he made his home until 1896, since which time he has resided at Wyoming. Ilis wife also still survives and they are well known and highly esteemed throughout the community. Their children were five in number, namely : Harriet B .; William O .; of this review; Charles B .; Margaret ; and Arthur, who is deceased.
William O. Shaffer was reared to manhood on the home farm in Madison township, this county, obtaining his education in the country schools and also at Wyoming. After putting aside his text-books he assisted in the cultivation of the home place and when his father retired from active life he took charge of the farm, managing it successfully for a number of years. In 1899 lie came to Wyoming and purchased the interest of R. S. Williams in the firm of Fishwild
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& Williams, being thus identified with mercantile affairs until 1906, when he bought the interest of Mr. Fishwild and has since conducted the enterprise alone. He deals in clothing, shoes and men's furnishings and has built up an extensive and profitable trade along these lines, owing to his reliable and straightforward business methods. His establishment is up-to-date in every particular and he is widely recognized as one of the progressive and representative merchants of the county.
In March, 1891, Mr. Shaffer was united in marriage to Miss Amy Brush, a daughter of William Brush, who was an early settler of Jones county. They have become the parents of four children, as follows: Berdale; Wallace; Dillon, who died at the age of four years ; and Elizabeth.
At the present time Mr. Shaffer is capably serving his fellow townsmen as a member of the city council. He is a valued and consistent member of the Meth- odist church and also belongs to the Masonic fraternity, of which he is a worthy exemplar. A resident of the county for four decades, he is widely known within its borders and the substantial qualities which he has displayed in the varied re- lations of life have gained him a high place in the regard and good will of all with whom he has come in contact.
C. A. SCHATZ.
C. A. Schatz, who is a successful representative of the agricultural interests of Lovell township, is a native of this county and was born June 15, 1858. His par- ents were August and Eliza (Altmans) Schatz, both of German birth. In 1854, shortly after their marriage, they came to America, locating first in Dubuque county, Iowa, and three years later coming to Jones county. Here Mr. Schatz pursued the life of a farmer until he retired from active participation in his voca- tion and took up his residence in Monticello, where he and his wife are still liv ing. Five children were born to them : Dora, who is the wife of Fred Kellogg, of Center Junction, Iowa; C. A., who is the subject of this sketch; Bertha, who has remained at home ; one who died in infancy ; and Anna, who is also deceased.
C. A. Schatz was reared at home and in the common schools of the township learned the practical lessons which would fit him for the responsibilities of life. At the age of twenty-seven he married, and being desirous to establish a home of his own bought eighty acres of land in Lovell township, which is part of the place on which he now lives, for as the years brought rich returns to his diligent and unremitting industry he has been able to add to the original tract until he has now tripled its acreage, owning two hundred and forty acres in Jones county. He also has one hundred and sixty acres in Texas, a fact which serves to show that he is a man to seize every opportunity for advancement that presents itself. On his farm in Lovell township, in addition to the raising of cereals, he devotes consid- erable time to dairying, obtaining from both industries an income that is a gratify- ing reward for his many hours of hard labor and serves to place him among the substantial men engaged in like pursuits in his locality.
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Mr. Schatz was united in marriage to Miss Anna Harms, a native of Illinois and a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Herman Harms who are now deceased. Eight children have been born to the couple, namely : E. A., Mary, Dora, Harm, Carl, Anna, Eliza and Clara. The youngest has passed away, and Mary is now the wife of Adolph Egger, of Delaware county, Iowa, but the others live at home.
Mr. and Mrs. Schatz are members of the German Lutheran church, that being the faith in which they were reared, while Mr. Schatz gives his support in poli- tical matters to the democratic party, placing all confidence in the principles enun- ciated in its platform. While he cannot be called a politician in the sense of be- ing a seeker for office, the success he was won in his own private concerns naturally suggested to his fellow citizens that he would be a man in whose judgment they might place reliance when it was exercised in their behalf. Accordingly through a period of twenty-seven years he was called upon to serve them as a school di- rector and is now one of the trustees of the township. His duties have ever been administered with care and honor, so that he enjoys the respect and good will of those who have come in contact with him in a business way or as a representative of the people.
JOHN MATHIAS RUMMEL.
John Mathias Rummel, second son of George P. and Mary Stouffer Rummel, was born in Adams county, Pennsylvania, April 19, 1828. Seven years after his birth, in 1835, the father moved his family to Richland county, Ohio, locating in Worthington township, where John M. Rummel remained until 1846, with the exception of three summers, living with his five brothers and one sister. The latter was the youngest, and he was second in order of birth, having one brother older.
In the fall of 1846 Mr. Rummel went to Mansfield, Ohio, to learn the tanning business, at a time when the town had but one railroad, the New York & San- dusky. It was at Mansfield that he saw his first train of cars drawn by an engine and curious it looked to the country-bred lad. He remained with the firm of Lake & Hooker until November, 1848, when they dissolved their business. The fol- lowing spring Mr. Rummel embarked in a tannery business for himself with R. W. Hazlett and they remained together until the fall of 1853. In the mean- while he had lost his mother, on February 26, 1849, after an illness of but a few days, and he had devoted some time to assisting his father on the farm.
On July 26, 1853, Mr. Rummel married Margaret Ann McConkie, the oldest daughter of Jolin and Margaret (Watts) McConkie, born in Richland county, Ohio, August 13, 1832. John McConkie was born September 13, 1800, in West- moreland county, Pennsylvania, and married Margaret Watts, January 4, 1827. She was born near New Lisbon, Ohio, April 20, 1808. They had nine children, namely : Thomas, who is deceased; Margaret Ann, who married John Rummel; Sarah Jane, who married Jonathan Easterly; Catherine, who married Calvin Hazlett ; Samuel, who is deceased ; James, who is the sixth in order of birth; and Mary Ellen, who is also deceased ; Harriet, who married William Robinson; and Hannah, who married John D. Frink.
JOHN M. RUMMEL
MRS. JOHN M. RUMMEL
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From the time of his marriage, Mr. Rummel began preparing for his removal to Iowa, being greatly attracted to this state. He sold his stock in the tanyard and by September 1, 1853, had an outfit consisting of a span of horses, a wagon and a few boxes of necessities. In company with his wife and his brother Andrew he set out for what was then considered the far west, September 20, 1853. With them were John and William Moffitt, John Law, R. W. Hazlett and several others, it being the custom to travel in bands for protection and company. They came through Indiana, crossed the Mississippi River on a ferry-boat and landed in Rome, now Olin, Iowa, October 15, 1853.
On May 29, 1854, occurred the birth of their first child, Mary C., who is now the wife of C. W. B. Derr, of Anamosa, and seven others were later born, they being: John Albert, who lives at Lebanon, Missouri; Oliver Clark, who resides at Baxter Springs, Kansas ; George Franklin, who lives at Chicago; David Sher- man, who makes his home in Olin; Ella May, who died September 22, 1869; Fannie Rosetta, who married Wilbur Starry of Olin; and Margaret Jane, who lives at home. There are now five grandchildren in the family: George Franklin Derr, Ella Mabel Rummel, Roscoe Renne Rummel, Clarice Bernice Starry and Marguerite Rummel Starry.
A memorable event in the Rummel family was the celebration of the golden wedding of Mr. and Mrs. Rummel at their home in Olin, July 26, 1903. Seventy- eight near relatives attended the reception and assisted in making happy the two who had lived together for so long. Unfortunately in less than three years after- ward the earthly ties that bound them were severed, when on Monday morning, April 9, 1906, Mr. Rummel breathed his last, and passed peacefully away to the God whose service he had entered on February 18, 1848, when he was converted in the old Methodist church at Mansfield, later joining that denomination and remaining true to its teachings for over half a century. At the time of his demise he lacked but ten days of the seventy-eighth anniversary of his birth. Mr. Rum- mel left three brothers, George W., Josiah and David, and his widow, children and grandchildren as well as a wide circle of friends to mourn his loss. His other brothers were Andrew, who died March 27, 1905, and Jacob, who died October II, 1900. The sister, Nancy Jane died near Olin, June 19, 1861. Prior to his demise, Jacob Rummel completed a very valuable genealogy of the Rummel fam- ily, dating it back to John Rummel, May 30, 1774.
The subject of this review lived on his farm until March 15, 1894, when he retired to Olin, locating in the home now occupied by Mrs. Rummel and there the remaining years of his happy life were spent. He was a man of careful habit, possessing a somewhat retiring disposition, unquestionable integrity, a benevo- lent spirit and a most sacred devotion to his family. He always treated his brothers with exceptionable kindness. Mr. Rummel was a great lover of God's house and all His people of whatever name or faith and was punctual in his at- tendance upon the services. While true to the teachings of the Methodist church, in 1857 he united with the United Brethren denomination on account of there being no church of his faith in his locality. This class was organized by Samuel Easterly in a schoolhouse south of Olin, and afterward formed the St. John class. Later when he removed to Olin, Mr. Rummel transferred his membership to the
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United Brethren class of this place, with which communion he remained until his death.
"And thus the noble of this life Are bidding us adieu ! To join the faithful gone before, And beckon us there too."
HENRY C. PRESTON.
Henry C. Preston, the owner of a valuable and well improved farm of one hundred and fifty-five acres in Madison township, has now made his home within the borders of this county for forty-five years. His birth occurred in Defiance county, Ohio, on the 7th of December, 1831, his parents being William C. and Acenath (Butler) Preston, the former a native of New Hampshire and the latter of Michigan. Locating at Fort Defiance, the father there conducted a trading post for ten or twelve years, on the expiration of which period he removed to Williams county, Ohio, where he entered a quarter section of land and turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits. This farm afterward became the site of the town of Edgerton. The death of William C. Preston there occurred in 1837, when he had attained the age of fifty-two years. His political allegiance was given to the whig party and he served for two terms as sheriff of Defiance county. He was a worthy exemplar of the Masonic fraternity and the weight of his in- fluence was ever given on the side of right, truth, justice and progress. His widow, long surviving him, removed westward in 1854 and throughout the re- maining years of her life made her home among hier children in Iowa. She lived to attain the ripe old age of eighty-five years, passing away in April, 1888. At the time of Hull's surrender she was a resident of Detroit.
Henry C. Preston was reared amid rural surroundings, in a sparsely settled and still undeveloped district. The schoolhouse in which he obtained his education was a primitive log structure with slab benches and puncheon floor. He lost his father when but five years of age and was thus early thrown upon his own re- sources, working for neighboring farmers when a little lad of ten years. He was employed as a farm hand and also in other capacities until 1856, when he was married and the following year started out as an agriculturist on his own account. The young couple began their domestic life in an old log cabin, their furniture con- sisting of a Jewsharp stove, a half dozen handmade chairs with split bottoms, a bed and some minor effects. The farm on which he located, consisting of fifty acres in Williams county, Ohio, had been purchased prior to his marriage. There he carried on the work of the fields energetically and successfully for eight years and in the spring of 1864 made his way to Iowa, locating in Madison township, Jones county, where he has since continued to reside. The farm which he now owns and occupies came into his possession in 1880 and has been his place of abode from that time to the present. It is a very productive and valuable property and indicates in its neat and thrifty appearance the practical and progressive spirit of
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the owner, who has long been numbered among the substantial and respected citi- zens of the community.
Mr. Preston has been twice married. In 1856 he wedded Miss Helen Parker, of Bridgewater, Ohio, who was called to her final rest in the year 1870. Unto them were born four children, three of whom still survive, namely: Estella, the wife of William Stingley, of Center Junction, Jones county ; William H., who operates the home farm; and Helen A., the wife of Eugene Woodburn, of Jersey City, New Jersey.
In April, 1884, Mr. Preston was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Olive Collier, the widow of Joel Collier. Her parents, Horace and Humility (Evans) Bartow, came to Iowa from the state of New York in 1854 and took up their abode on Bear creek in Madison township, this county, on a land grant which had been given the father in recognition of his services as a soldier in the war of 1812. Subsequently he entered more land until his farm in Madison town- ship comprised two hundred and forty acres, while he also owned a quarter sec- tion in Tama county, Iowa. He passed away in 1880, at the age of eighty-five years, and two years later his wife was also called to the home beyond, being at that time eighty-two years of age. The family has been a patriotic one, Mrs. Pres- ton's father not only served in the war of 1812, but her maternal grandfather, Benjamin Evans, fought for American independence in the Revolutionary war, and her brother served two years and eight months in the Civil war, being a mem- ber of Company G, First Iowa Cavalry, and was discharged at Davenport. By her first marriage Mrs. Preston became the mother of four children, three of whom are yet living. as follows: Henry, a resident of Center Junction, Jones county ; Ida, the wife of George Andrews, of Madison township, this county ; and Ella, the wife of William H. Preston, who operates his father's farm.
Politically Mr. Preston is a stalwart advocate of the democracy, while his re- ligious faith is indicated by his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, with which his wife is also identified. He has now passed the seventy-seventh milestone on life's journey and receives the veneration and respect which should ever be accorded one who has traveled thus far on this earthly pilgrimage and whose career has been at all times upright and honorable.
JOHN PASHEK, JR.
John Pashek, Jr., an enterprising agriculturist of Oxford township, owning and operating a farm of one hundred and seventeen acres on sections 22 and 23, was born in that township, on the 24th of February, 1884. His parents, John and Barbara Pashek, who were natives of Bohemia, emigrated to the United State in the year 1879 and, coming to Jones county, Iowa, purchased and located on the farm which is now in possession of our subject. They now make their home in Oxford Junction and are well known and highly esteemed residents of the com- munity. Their children are two in number, namely: John, of this review; and Mamie, who is still under the parental roof.
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John Pashek, Jr., attended the common schools in pursuit of an education and early in life became familiar with the duties and labors which fall to the lot of the agriculturist through the assistance which he rendered his father in the work of the home place. When twenty-one years of age he purchased the old homestead farm, comprising one hundred and seventeen acres on sections 22 and 23, Oxford township, and has since devoted his time and energies to its further cultivation and improvement with gratifying success. The neat and attractive ap- pearance of the place indicates his careful supervision and practical and progres- sive methods, and he has already gained recognition among the substantial and representative agriculturists of the community.
In February, 1906, Mr. Pashek was united in marriage to Miss Matilda Wos- oba, a native of Oxford Junction, this county, and a daughter of A. J. and Mary Wosoba. The father was born in Bohemia and crossed the Atlantic to the United States at an early day. The mother is a native of Iowa and is still a resi- dent of Oxford Junction, but her husband has passed away. Their children were three in number.
In politics Mr. Pashek is a democrat but has no desire for office, preferring to give his undivided attention to his business affairs. Both he and his wife are faith- ful communicants of the Catholic church and their many good qualities have won them an extensive circle of warm friends throughout the county in which they have spent their entire lives.
J. P. SCROGGS.
J. P. Scroggs needs no introduction to the readers of this volume, for his record is largely a familiar one to the citizens of Jones county. He has figured long and prominently in the public life of the community, and over the record of his official career there falls no shadow of wrong nor suspicion of evil. He has recently retired from the mayoralty, having given Anamosa a public-spirited, businesslike administration, characterized by both reform and progress. He was born in Greene county, Ohio, in 1841, and is a son of Allen and Eliza (Ryan) Scroggs, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Pennsylvania. In the year 1849 they left the Buckeye state and removed westward to Jones county, Iowa, making the journey by boat and landing at Dewitt, while the remainder of the way was covered with ox-teams. Eventually they reached Anamosa, which was then a small but growing town. The father was a physician, becoming one of the first practitioners in Jones county, and in the early days, when this district was but sparsely settled, he rode for long miles across the prairie to minister to the sick and suffering. He remained for many years the loved family physician in many households and at the ripe old age of eighty-five years passed away honored and respected by all who knew him. His wife died at the age of seventy-seven years. Comparatively little is known concerning the ancestral history of the fam- ily save that the grandfather, Allen Scroggs, was of Scotch descent, while his wife was of German lineage. In the father's family there were the following children : Samantha, the deceased wife of C. L. Niles, a resident of Anamosa; Lena, who
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became the wife of Linas Pitcher, who resided in Anamosa for some years and then went to Boston, and is now deceased, his widow making her home in Bos- ton ; Nellie, the wife of C. L. Niles, of Anamosa, by whom she has one son, Clif- ford; Maude, the wife of William Louden, of Seattle, Washington, by whom she has five children ; J. P., of this review; John, who married Miss Hattie Streeter, resided at Anamosa, Iowa, and finally at Kirkman, this state, where his death oc- curred when he was forty-five years of age, his widow and one child, Lewis sur- viving ; and L. A., who lives in Beatrice, Nebraska, and has six children.
J. P. Scroggs remained at home through the period of his minority and pursued his education in one of the old-time log schoolhouses which were a common fea- ture in pioneer days. He went through the usual experiences, hardships and pri- vations of frontier life, and his memory covers the period when much of this dis- trict was a wild and unsettled prairie, covered with the native prairie grasses through the summer months, while in the winter seasons it presented the appear- ance of an unbroken and dazzling sheet of snow. He was only twelve years of age when his father sent him to Muscatine with the vigilance committee. The father was much interested in raising and selling horses, and the vigilance com- mittee was the protection of the stock-raisers against the thieving band who roamed over the country and stole the stock. After attaining his majority J. P. Scroggs engaged in clerking for a year. He was quite young when he began to work at the carpenter's trade, but later turned his attention to buying and selling horses, which he shipped to Boston and New York. He is now one of the oldest horse dealers in the county and his business has been scarcely equaled in extent by that of any other dealer. In a measure he still continues in the same line of business, though not so actively as in former years. In all of his undertakings he has manifested a spirit of enterprise that has enabled him to overcome difficulties and obstacles and work his way steadily upward in business lines.
In the spring of 1865 Mr. Scroggs was united in marriage to Miss Eliza Graves, a daughter of William and Electa Graves, natives of New York. They came to Iowa about 1860 and established their home in Jones county. It was in that year that Mr. Scroggs went to Pike's Peak, attracted by the gold discoveries in that section of Colorado. He traveled westward with four yoke of oxen and remained for a year in the mines, after which he returned to Jones county, where he has resided continuously since. Unto him and his wife was born one son, Charles P., who married Miss Mamie Burke, a daughter of Thomas Burke, and now resides in Dallas, South Dakota. They have two daughters, Ethel and Ruth. Mrs. Eliza Scroggs died in 1896 and in 1898 Mr. Scroggs was again married, his second union being with Mrs. Nina S. Hales, a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Duncan, who were natives of Illinois.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Scroggs is an Odd Fellow, having become a member of the order in 1864. He was a charter member of the lodge at Earlville. Iowa, and now belongs to Anamosa Lodge, No. 40. In politics he is an indeperi- dent republican, usually supporting the candidates of that party yet not consider- ing himself bound by party ties. He has been active and influential in political circles, and that he has the entire confidence of the public in matters of citizen- ship is indicated in the long period in which he has been retained in office through the vote of his fellow townsmen. He served for about a quarter of a century
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