USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county, Vol. II > Part 39
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His family numbered four sons and four daughters: William John, who resides in Valley township; J. C., who is living in Douglas township; Anna, who became the wife of James Dyke and died in Kansas ; Jennie, the wife of E. M. Fleenor, also living in Valley township; Carrie, the wife of Ed Bolen, of Valley township: Charley A .; Ernest, who likewise is a resident of Valley township ; and Minnie, the wife of Frank McNeil of the same township.
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Charley A. Williams was only a year old when his parents bade adieu to the land of their birth and sailed over the broad Atlantic to the new world. He came with them to Page county when a little lad of five years and was reared in Valley township on a farm. At the usual age he entered the public schools and through the winter months mastered the branches of learning taught in his home locality, while in the summer months he did such work as his years and strength qualified him for. Later his entire life was devoted to the development and improvement of the farm and he continued to live with his parents until thirty-five years old, when he pur- chased his present farm. This comprises one hundred acres of land on section 5, Nodaway township. In the midst of well tilled fields stands a good residence and substantial barns and outbuildings, so that the farm presents an excellent appearance owing to the improvements he has made upon it and in the well kept condition of the fields, which are devoted to the raising of the various cereals best adapted to soil and climate.
On the 9th of May, 1900, Mr. Williams was united in marriage to Miss Katharine Sunderman, who was born in Douglas township, Page county, on the 30th of April, 1867, and is a daughter of Henry and Sophia (Fosbrink) Sunderman. The father, who was born in Hanover, Germany, October 14, 1834, went to Jackson county, Indiana, with his parents when four years of age. In 1854 he removed westward to Page county, Iowa, and entered from the government a tract of wild prairie. He then returned to Indiana, where he was married in 1858 to Miss Sophia Fosbrink, and with his bride he once more came to this state. As the years passed he prospered in his undertakings and, making judicious investment in land from time to time, was the owner of over fourteen hundred acres at the time of his death. This was all well stocked and improved with several sets of buildings upon it. His widow, who was born in Jackson county, Indiana, February 15, 1843, still resides on the old home place and is num- bered among the estimable ladies of the community. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Sunderman were born eight children: John, who resides at Fort Morgan, Colorado; Mrs. Williams; Hannah, the wife of William Enderbrock of Brownstown, Indiana; Rosina, who became the wife of William Mosher and died May 29, 1909; Elvina, who is the wife of Fred Roberts, living in Douglas township; Henry, also of Douglas township; George, who was drowned in the Nodaway river when seventeen years of age; and William, who died in his second year.
From her father Mrs. Williams inherited one hundred and sixty acres of land in Douglas township. In addition to their home place Mr. Wil- liams owns a seventy acre farm in Valley township, which he received from his father. They make their home, however, in Nodaway township, where Mr. Williams is extensively engaged in the breeding and raising of Percheron horses, Durham cattle and Poland China hogs, being among those who are doing much to establish Iowa's reputation as one of the live-stock centers of the country. In all of his business affairs he is diligent and persevering, and the capable direction of his business interests is bringing to him substantial success. In politics he is a democrat but is not active in
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the work of the party aside from casting his ballot for its candidates. Both he and his wife are members of the United Brethren church at Rosehill and their Christian faith constitutes the guiding force in their lives.
JOHN F. COULTER.
An excellent farming property of one hundred and sixty acres situated on sections 14 and 23, Amity township, pays tribute to the industry and enterprise of John F. Coulter, whose life has been spent mostly in the county of his nativity. One of Iowa's native sons, he was born in Shambaugh, Page county, on the 3d of September, 1872, a son of Robert and Jennie M. (White) Coulter. The father, who is of Irish ancestry, was born in County Antrim, Ireland, and came to American when nineteen years of age, locating in Ohio, where he remained for three years. At the expiration of that period he came to Iowa, where he operated a farm in Amity town- ship as a renter for four years. He then purchased forty acres of land, upon which he erected a home and which he continued to cultivate for nineteen years. Later he bought another forty acres and a few years after- ward he acquired forty acres more, while he removed his house upon the last tract of forty acres and made that his home for eight years. Subse- quently he traded this farm for two hundred and twenty-three acres of land in Monroe county, Iowa, and upon that property he and his wife are now residing. He had married Jennie M. White, who was born near Zanesville, Muskingum county, Ohio, and came to Iowa shortly after her marriage. Upon the roth of August, 1909, she and her husband cele- brated their fortieth wedding anniversary, which was attended by all of the children and grandchildren.
John F. Coulter of this review spent the period of his boyhood and youth upon his father's farm and during the winter months he attended the district schools, while during the summer seasons he was busily engaged in assisting his father in the cultivation of the fields. Subsequently he at- tended Amity College, at College Springs, Iowa, where for several winters he pursued a general course of study. After leaving that institution he was employed for two years, and then, when twenty-six years of age, he took up the occupation of farming on his own account, renting a farm of eighty acres near Service in Monroe county, Iowa, he was thus engaged for three years. He then removed to Lincoln township, Page county, where he operated a rented farm near Coin for four years, after which two years were passed in the operation of a rented farm in connection with his brother-in-law, J. M. McKee. His capital then enabled him to purchase a farm of his own, and for the past three years he has been residing upon a farm of one hundred and sixty acres, located on sections 14 and 23, Amity township. The soil is naturally rich and productive and responds readily to the care and labor bestowed upon it, while through energy and diligence intelligently directed Mr. Coulter has brought his fields under a
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high state of cultivation and his place is now one of the well improved and valuable properties of the township.
It was in the spring of 1898 that Mr. Coulter was united in marriage near Braddyville, Page county, to Miss Mary E. McKee, a native of this county and a daughter of William and Eliza (Hall) McKee. The former, a farmer by occupation, passed away in 1886. The mother, who was born in New Brunswick, New Jersey, came to Iowa in the early '6os, locating in Amity township, this county, upon a farm which she made her home for one year, and then she removed to a farm of one hundred acres near Braddy- ville, which her husband had purchased and upon which she now resides with her grandson, William McKee. The home of Mr. and Mrs. Coulter has been blessed with two children, William and Francis, aged respectively seven and five years.
Mr. and Mrs. Coulter are members of the United Presbyterian church of College Springs, Iowa, in the work of which they are deeply and ac- tively interested, while Mr. Coulter is one of the elders thereof. He gives his political allegiance to the republican party, but has never sought nor desired office for himself, preferring to direct his entire energies to his private business interests, which, carefully controlled, are bringing to him a substantial measure of success. In this county where his entire life has been spent he has gained the reputation of being an honorable and upright gentleman, whose business integrity is unquestioned and whose salient characteristics are such as have won him the unqualified regard and esteem of an extensive circle of friends.
O. W. FREED.
O. W. Freed, living on section 6, Tarkio township, is well known as a representative farmer of that locality, and that his fellow townsmen regard him as one worthy of public trust is indicated in the fact that he is now serving as a member of the board of county supervisors. He was born in Sweden on the 6th of October, 1865, and is a son of Andrew and Anna Freed. The father was a soldier of Sweden, serving in the standing army in that kingdom for thirty-three years. Both he and his wife are now deceased.
O. W. Freed was reared at home, acquiring his education in the public schools of his native land, which he attended until fourteen years of age, when he faced the responsibility of business life, starting out upon a course that has eventually led him to success. The path that he has followed has not been a devious one for throughout the intervening years his undivided attention has been given to farming and kindred interests. He was first employed at farm work by the year but feeling that there was little future for him in his native land when compared with the opportunities offered in the new world he bade adieu to friends, family and country when twenty years of age and crossed the briny deep to the United States.
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Page county was his destination and in that year he arrived in Hep- . burn, where he worked by the month for three or four years. His diligence and industry enabled him to command good wages, which he carefully saved until he felt justified in starting out in farm life for himself. He first rented land and in 1830 purchased a farm of one hundred and forty acres in Nodaway township. Immediately afterward he located thereon and made it his home until the spring of 1893, when he sold that property and purchased his present farm, a fractional quarter section on section 16, Tarkio township. He has since resided thereon and is busily employed in cultivating the soil, raising the various crops best adapted to climatic con- ditions here. He also owns four hundred acres of land in Miner county, South Dakota. He has made a business of general farming, in which he has been very successful, and for several years he has been feeding from one to three carloads of cattle yearly, his live-stock interests being an in- portant source of revenue to him. He is also vice president and one of the directors of the Farmers Savings Bank of Essex.
In 1881 Mr. Freed took to his home as his bride Miss Mary J. Ander- son, of Douglas township, Page county, but a native of Sweden. The children of this marriage are eight in number: Victor, who is assistant cashier of the Farmers Savings Bank, of Essex; Frank, who follows farm- ing in Miner county, South Dakota ; Albin, also a farmer of Miner county ; Alice, Hilda, Paul, Harold and Mildred, all at home.
The parents are members of the Swedish Lutheran church, in the work of which they are deeply interested, Mr. Freed serving as one of the deacons. He votes with the republican party, which he has loyally supported since becoming a naturalized American citizen. For some years he has been rec- ognized as an influential factor in local politics and served for three terms as township trustee and in other minor offices. In 1906 he was nominated and elected a member of the county board of supervisors and received hearty endorsement for his official service in that capacity in his reelection in the fall of 1908, his second term beginning January 1, 1910. Citizenship is to him merely no idle farce and there is no native son of America more loyal to the stars and stripes. While he does not seek to become widely known in politics, in his home locality he never hesitates to do what he can for his party and the community at large and has made a most creditable record through his devotion to the public good.
J. W. MYERS.
J. W. Myers, who is now living retired in Shenandoah, where he has made his home for the past eleven years, was formerly identified with the farming interests of the county and the ability and energy which he dis- played in carrying on his business affairs now enable him to live retired in the enjoyment of the fruit of his former toil. He was born in Monmouth, Warren county, Illinois, and in the paternal line comes of German ancestry,
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his grandparents having been born in the fatherland. George Myers, his father, was born in Brown county, Ohio, and having arrived at years of ma- turity, he married Ann Gooday, also a native of that county. They were married, however, in Decatur county, Indiana, Mrs. Myers having accom- panied her parents to that place when about eighteen years of age. George Myers became an extensive dealer in live stock in Warren county, Illinois, and was an active and enterprising business man whose well directed efforts brought him substantial success. In the year 1865 he removed with his family to Fremont county, Iowa, where he died twenty years later, while his wife passed away in 1881.
J. W. Myers of this review was educated in the district schools of Warren county, Illinois, and in his youthful days engaged in herding cattle. He also worked upon the farm in the various branches of labor which fall to the lot of the agriculturist. He remained at home until his marriage and then in 1865 went to Fremont county, Iowa, where he carried on general farming and stock-raising for thirty-three years. In all of his business affairs he was diligent and persistent, meeting with the success that crowns earnest and indefatigable effort. As the years went by he harvested good crops and was also particularly successful in raising and handling live stock. His judgment regarding all business matters of that character was sound and reliable and prompted his safe investment and profitable man- agcment of his business affairs. While he has left the active operation and control of his farm to others since 1898 he still owns the old home property of two hundred and forty acres in Fremont county, Iowa. His name is also an honored one in financial circles, for he is a stockholder in the Com- mercial National Bank of Shenandoah. Ever reliable in his business trans- actions, his word has ever been considered as good as any bond solemnized by signature or seal. While living upon the farm he fed much stock and also made extensive shipments so that he became recognized as one of the leading representatives of the live-stock interests of this part of the state.
It was in 1859 that Mr. Myers was united in marriage to Miss Maria Lowe, the wedding being celebrated in Warren county, Illinois. Mrs. Myers was born in Pennsylvania but in her girlhood days accompanied her parents to Illinois, the family arriving in Warren county, about 1843. On the 18th of January, 1909, this worthy couple celebrated their golden wedding, for they have traveled life's journey together for a half century. Eighty friends and relatives gathered on that memorable occasion to celebrate with them this day of rejoicing and left many substantial tokens of high estcem. Of the four children born to them two died in infancy, the birth of both occurring in Warren county, Illinois. Albert Andrew, now living one mile south of Shenandoah, married Miss Katie J. Woods and they have three children. Emma Maria is the wife of Thomas Beardsley living three miles southwest of Shenandoah and they have four children. Both Mr. and Mrs. Myers have long been devoted and faithful members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which Mrs. Myers has served as class leader and Mr. Myers has been vice president of the board of trustees for sixteen years. He is a stockholder in the Shenandoah Hospital and is interested in the
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various measures and movements which are factors in the life and develop- ment of the city, along social, material, political, intellectual and moral lines. Although they resided for many years in Fremont county they have for nearly a half century been witnesses of the growth and progress of Shenan- doalı and of Page county. In the carly days Mr. Myers mowed grass in what is now the center of the town. Nearly all of this portion of the state was wild prairie and there was little indication of the rapid changes which were to occur and transform southeastern Iowa into a populous district with splendid business possibilities, while its rich prairie lands were to be transformed into productive fields, its farms today equaling those found in any part of the country. With the work of general improvement Mr. Myers has been closely associated, taking an active interest in everything relative to the public good.
WILLIAM J. KNOX.
William J. Knox is a most public-spirited citizen of Pierce township, taking a prominent part in affairs which affect the public welfare. He is also a general farmer and stock raiser, owning a valuable property of two hundred acres located on section 20, Pierce township. Mr. Knox is a native of the Emerald Isle, born April 7. 1853, and is one of the six children of John and Ellen ( Anderson) Knox, who were likewise natives of Ireland. In 1864 the father emigrated with his family to the United States and located in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, where he engaged in farming until 1877, in which year he took up his abode in Page county, Iowa, on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres which he bought. In 1882 he sold that farm and purchased five hundred and twenty acres in Otoe county, Ne- braska, to which place he removed, and there he made his home until his death, which occurred in 1900, when he had reached the age of seventy- seven years. The mother survived for only a few years, her death occurring in 1904, when she was seventy-six years old.
William J. Knox was a lad of twelve years when he accompanied his parents on their emigration to the new world. His education was acquired in the public schools, wherein he mastered the branches that fitted him for life's practical and responsible duties. In 1876 he came with the family to Page county and engaged in farming on rented land which he leased from James Martin in Pierce township. In the spring of 1885 he purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres on section 20, Pierce township, on which he at once took up his abode. Later he bought an additional tract of forty acres, so that his place now embraces two hundred acres. Mr. Knox has made many improvements on the farm and now has a good country resi- dence, substantial barn and various other outbuildings to shelter grain and stock, while his fields have been placed under a good state of cultivation. For the past several years in addition to carrying on general farm work, Mr. Knox has fed about two carloads of cattle for the market each year,
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and this branch of his business has proved profitable. Besides his home farm lie owns a half section of land in Sully county, South Dakota. In 1902, when the Commercial Bank of Essex was reorganized as the Com- mercial National Bank, Mr. Knox became a stockholder of the institution and was also elected to its board of directors on the Ist of January, 1903.
On the 22d of March 1887, Mr. Knox was married to Miss Mary Dean, of Pierce township, and this union has been blessed with four sons and one daughter, namely: Floyd A., Earl J., Robert R., Dean W. and Wilma F. The eldest son, Floyd A., was graduated from the business department of Simpson College at Indianaola, lowa, with the class of 1909. All the chil- dren are still at home.
In his political views and affiliations Mr. Knox is a republican and for thirteen years served as trustee of the township, while for sixteen years he most acceptably filled the position of road supervisor. At the present time he is serving as treasurer of the school board and is numbered among the most influential and substantial men of Pierce township. He is a mem- ber of Mountain Lodge, No. 360, A. F. & A. M. at Essex, and Mrs. Knox is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. Positive and aggressive, Mr. Knox is always found on the right side of all public questions where the best interests of the community are involved. To him has been entrusted important public service, which has been discharged with the same degree of promptness and fidelity as he displays in his private business affairs. He has been successful, as is evidenced by the fine farm of two hundred acres of which he is today the owner.
LEE F. COWGER.
Lee F. Cowger, one of the most prominent and esteemed citizens of Coin, where he has made his home since 1900, is the proprietor and owner of the Merchants Hotel and also the present mayor of the town. His birth occurred at Sidney, Fremont county, Iowa, on the 4th of March, 1878, his parents being William A. and Mary E. (Huffer) Cowger, the former being a native of Martinsburg, Iowa, while the latter was born near London, Indiana. The paternal grandparents of our subject were James and Susan Cowger, and the grandparents on the maternal side were Daniel and Jane Huffer. William A. Cowger, the father of Lee F. Cowger, followed the barber's trade in early manhood, later was connected with general agricultural pur- suits for a number of years and then became a dealer in hardware and implements at Northboro, Iowa, conducting an establishment of this char- acter in association with his son, Lee F., until he passed away on the 8th of August, 1906. His widow, who still survives him, makes her home at Riverton, Iowa. Unto this worthy couple were born five children, as fol- lows: Lee F., of this review; David C. and George W., who are resi- dents of Missouri; Arien B., who is the wife of Wallace C. Johnson and lives in this state ; and William A., a resident of Coin.
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Lee F. Cowger attended the common schools at Riverton, Iowa, until fourteen years of age and then learned the barber's trade, which he fol- lowed for a period of seven years. Since 1900 he has lived in Coin, Page county, being now the proprietor and owner of the Merchants Hotel at that place. He is a most popular and genial host, doing everything possible for the comfort of his guests and the hostelry therefore receives an ex- tensive patronage.
On the IIth of April, 1900, Mr. Cowger was united in marriage to Miss Emma R. Weland, a daughter of Fred and Augusta (Gruner) Weland, who are farming people of this state. Their children are six in number, namely: George; Lena, the wife of James Chesnut ; John W .; Charles; Edward: and Mrs, Cowger. The last named is now the mother of three children : Minnie L., born December 2, 1902; David L., whose birth oc- curred September 3, 1904; and William A., whose natal day was De- cember 3. 1906.
In his political views Mr. Cowger is a firm and unfaltering republican and as the candidate of that party was elected mayor of Coin, the duties of which office he is now discharging in a most capable and highly satis- factory manner. Fraternally he is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Coin and in religious faith is a Methodist. Though still a young man, he has already attained an enviable position in political and business circles and is today recognized as one of the most influential, public-spirited and enterprising residents of his community.
THOMAS WILLIAM KEENAN.
Thomas William Keenan is actively connected with the profession which has important bearing upon the progress and stable prosperity of any sec- tion or community and one which has long been considered as conserving the public welfare by furthering the ends of justice and maintaining in- dividual rights. The public, recognizing his ability in his profession, has accorded to him a liberal clientage and thus he has been connected with much important work of the courts since his admission to the bar.
A native of Noble county, Ohio, he was born March 3, 1875, of the marriage of Thomas and Maria (Reed) Keenan. His father was born near Pittsburg in 1833 and as a boy accompanied his parents to Belmont county, Ohio, where he attained his majority and was married, his bride being a native of that county. Two or three years later they removed to Noble county, Ohio, where Mr. Keenan engaged in general farming, there mak- ing his home up to the time of his death, which occurred in 1888. His wife survived until 1896 and passed away at the age of sixty-one years. They were both consistent members of the Methodist church and Mr. Keenan was a stalwart democrat in politics.
Thomas William Keenan was reared at home, acquiring his education in the district schools and in the Batesville (Ohio) high school, from which
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