USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county, Vol. II > Part 55
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Mr. Finley has been a lifelong member of the United Presbyterian church and has continuously served as an elder since in the thirties. He came from a family identified with the same denomination since its organ- ization. Always opposed to oppression and favoring reform, he was a stanch advocate of the abolition cause in antebellum days and has always been a stalwart supporter of the temperance movement. He held various township offices during his residence in Illinois but since coming to Iowa has never sought nor desired political preferment. He is a man of many sterling traits of character, loyal to every trust reposed in him, and at all times manifesting business integrity that has won him the good will of his associates.
W. B. BOYD.
W. B. Boyd, a representative business man, imbued with the alert and enterprising spirit characteristic of the middle west, is conducting a success- ful mercantile enterprise in Shenandoah as a member of the firm of Boyd & Quist, dealers in clothing and men's furnishings. He was born in Menard county, Illinois, on the 13th of March, 1857, and is a son of John W. and Mary ( Harrover) Boyd. The father was a mechanic, who spent his active life in Athens, Illinois, devoting his energies to mechanical pursuits. Hc died in 1872 at the age of fifty-six years, while his wife passed away in Shenandoah in 1891, the family having removed to this city soon after the death of the husband and father.
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WV. B. Boyd spent the first fifteen years of his life in the county of his nativity and then accompanied his mother to lowa. He had previously ac- quired his education in the common schools and following his arrival in Shenandoah he began herding cattle on the prairies here. In this way he was employed for several years, interspersed with work on the farm. From 1879 until 1882 he was employed in surveying on the Wabash railroad, the Kansas City Railroad and the Iowa Central Railroad and in the latter year he secured a position in the grocery store of Trotter & Lancy, of Shenan- doah, by whom he was employed for four years. Subsequently he spent one year in a general store in northwestern Kansas, after which he returned to Shenandoah and secured a position with R. B. & C. F. Crose, general mer- chants. He there remained until 1892, in which year he went to Hamburg to accept a position in the shoe department of the store of S. Goldberg & Son. For eleven years he continued in that establishment as one of the most trusted and capable representatives of the house. Severing his con- nection with the firm in 1903, he once more came to Shenandoah. where he organized the present well known business firm of Boyd & Quist, opening the store on the 10th of October, 1903. The firm handles an up-to-date stock of clothing, men's furnishings, trunks and valises and does an extensive busi- ness. The trade of the house is large and is constantly increasing as the result of the capabilities, business management and spirit of enterprise dis- played by these partners.
In 1891 occurred the marriage of Mr. Boyd and Miss Rose Swift, of Grant township, Page county, Iowa. Unto them have been born two chil- dren : Bernard F., who is attending high school ; and Kenneth B. Mr. and Mrs. Boyd are prominently and favorably known throughout Shenandoah, occupying an enviable position in the best social circles of the city. In his political views Mr. Boyd is an earnest republican, although never an aspirant for public preferment. His fraternal relations connect him with Page Camp, No. 1049, M. W. A., and he is a member of the Commercial Club and active in support of all interests relating to the public welfare or giving promise of substantial worth in connection with general progress and improvement. His ready recognition and utilization of opportunity has been one of the chief sources of his success. Gradually he has worked his way upward, placing his dependence upon close application, persistency of purpose and un faltering commercial integrity, and his probity as well as his enterprise stands as an unquestioned fact in his career.
W. B. MILLER.
The agricultural interests of Tarkio township find a worthy representa- tive in W. B. Miller, who is living on section 29. It was in this township that he was born May 30, 1855, his parents being George and Aletha (Hill) Miller, both of whom were natives of Tennessee, where they were reared and married. Further mention of the family is made in connection with
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the sketch of J. N. Miller, a banker of Clarinda, who is mentioned else- where in this volume.
W. B. Miller lost his father when ten years of age and he was reared at home by his brothers Isaac and John. He was still comparatively young when he and his junior brother, M. H. Miller, with two sisters to keep house for them, purchased and located upon the northwest quarter of sec- tion 32, Tarkio township. Later the sisters were married and the brothers kept bachelor hall for a time. Subsequently, however, Mr. Miller com- pleted arrangements for having a home of his own by his marriage on the 4th of October, 1877, and not long afterward he purchased his brothers' interest in the farm. He continued its cultivation and made his home thereon until March, 1903, but in the meantime had purchased his present property of two hundred and six acres, cornering on his previous place. In 1903 he took up his abode upon the tract which he now occupies, situated on section 29, Tarkio township. He still retains his former farm, however, so that his present holdings include three hundred and sixty-six acres. This land is now valuable and productive, the fields responding to his care and cultivation in generous harvests which find ready sale on the market. He practices the rotation of crops and carries on his work along the lines of scientific farming, having made a close study of the nature of the soil and the plant food which is necessary in the raising of good crops. He also raises white-faced Hereford cattle and has produced some fine stock.
As previously stated Mr. Miller was married in 1877, the lady of his choice being Miss Elizabeth Dutton, of Tarkio township, Page county. Their children are six in number: Vera A., who was educated in the Clar- inda high school; Alva D., who was educated in the state normal school at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and now cultivates and occupies his father's farm on section 32, Tarkio township ; Oren, who supplemented his high-school course in Clarinda by a commercial course at Lincoln, Nebraska. and is now located at Fruita, Colorado; Fred I., who pursued a commercial course in the Western Normal College and is at home; Harley W., a student in Simpson College, at Indianola, Iowa; and Irma M., who is now a senior in the Clarinda high school.
The cause of education finds in Mr. Miller a stalwart champion. He has provided his children with excellent advantages in that direction and has done much to further public progress along educational lines, acting for some time as president of the school board. He is also clerk of Tarkio township, which position he has filled for ten years, his long incumbency indicating clearly his fidelity in office and the confidence and trust reposed in him by his fellow townsmen. His political allegiance is given to the republican party, while fraternally, he is connected with Columbia Camp, No. 1896, of Yorktown.
In 1804 Mr. Miller was called upon to mourn the loss of his wife, who passed away on the 6th of August of that year, in the faith of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which she was a member. Mr. Miller also belongs to that church and has found in its teachings the incentive of a righteous. upright life, while in his membership relations he has gained warm friends.
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whose lives are permeated with the same belief that has stimulated and upheld him. His sterling worth and capability have made him an influential citizen and an analyzation into his career shows as its salient features those qualities which in every land and clime awaken confidence and high regard.
HUGH O'NEILL.
After a life of continuous and well directed energy and activity, in which has been accorded due recognition of honest labor, Hugh O'Neill is now living retired in Shenandoah, enjoying in merited rest the fruits of his for- mer years of toil. A native of Ireland, he was born in County Derry on the 22d of April, 1833, a son of Barney and Catherine (Flannegan) O'Neill, also natives of the Emerald isle. The mother passed away when the sub- ject of this review was but four years of age, and in 1847 the father brought his family of two daughters and four sons to the United States, landing in New York city on the 23d of April, after a voyage of six weeks and three days. Continuing his journey southward he settled in Memphis, Ten- nessee, where he was employed on the levee, loading and unloading boats. He remained in this city up to the time of his death, which occurred dur- ing the period of the Civil war.
Hugh O'Neill was fourteen years of age when he accompanied his father to the United States, and his education, begun in Ireland, was con- tinued in the common schools of Memphis. He resided at home until twenty years of age when he left Memphis and went to Scranton, Pennsyl- vania, where he was employed in the mines. For a period of thirty years he was engaged in mining in Pennsylvania, Missouri and Illinois, remain- ing in La Salle of the latter state for nineteen years. The year 1876 wit- nessed his arrival in Iowa, locating in Nodaway township, Adams county, where he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres upon which he located. He at once directed his energies toward the cultivation and further improvement of this property and was so successful in his under- taking that three years later he was able to purchase two hundred acres more adjoining his original tract. Subsequently he acquired eighty acres in Taylor county and later added forty acres, so that eventually he became the owner of four hundred and twenty acres of valuable land. Although he had divided a portion of this property among his children, he stills holds two hundred and forty acres in Adams county, which return to him a substantial annual income. Energetic and persevering in his labors and progressive in his methods, he brought his fields under a high state of cul- tivation and the success which crowned his efforts gained for him a place among the substantial and representative agriculturists of his section of the county.
In 1854, on the 28th of October, Mr. O'Neill was united in marriage to Miss Margaret Collins, of Scranton, Pennsylvania, who passed away in 1897, and they became the parents of eleven children. Ten of this number
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lived to maturity, while seven are still living, namely: Patrick, a farmer of North Dakota : John, the editor of the Miners Magazine of Denver, Colo- rado: Michael, a barber residing in St. Paul, Minnesota: Charles, em- ployed on Senator Warner's ranch in Wyoming; Hugh; Mary, the wife of Frank M. Sayer, of Seneca county, New York; and Margaret, who is holding down a claim in Glasgow, Montana.
Mr. O'Neill enjoyed only the meager educational privileges offered by the common schools, and, recognizing the value of thorough education as a preparation for the practical and responsible duties of life, has supplied his children with liberal educational advantages, the success to which he at- tained in his business interests making this possible. He is a member of the Catholic church, while in politics he is independent, voting for the men and measures which in his opinion will best subserve the general welfare and prosperity of the country. He belongs to that class of men who achieve success through untiring energy and constant application, and his former labor now enables him to retire from active life. He is public-spirited in his citizenship, lending his influence to all matters which tend toward the substantial and permanent growth and prosperity of the community. while in private life his salient characteristics are in accord with the principles of true and upright manhood. He enjoys to the full the esteem and re- spect of his fellowmen.
ORANGE B. STEVENS.
Orange B. Stevens has long been a resident of Page county and since 1896 has conducted a profitable and growing business as proprietor of the Shenandoah Greenhouses. His time and energies are given to the upbuild- ing of the business and he recognizes the fact that to do this he must keep abreast with the modern ideas of trade and carry stock of a most attractive quailty. His greenhouses, therefore, present much of beauty, his flowers being noted for size and color, a result of careful propagation.
Mr. Stevens is a native of the middle west and the spirit of enter- prise which has been the dominating influence in the rapid upbuilding of the Mississippi valley finds expression in his business career. He was born in Knox county, Illinois, January 15, 1855, and is a son of Samuel O. and Ma- rinda ( Burge) Stevens, natives of the state of New York and Ohio re- spectively. They were married, however, in Knox county, Illinois, to which place they had removed in childhood days. The father acquired a farm through the purchase of a land patent given by the government to a Mr. Kilpatrick, who was a soldier of the Mexican war. Coming into possession of that property he devoted his remaining days to its cultivation and im- provement, transforming it into a valuable and productive farm, on which he lived until his death, on the 23rd of August, 1899. In 1886 he went to Sherman county, Kansas, where he homesteaded a quarter section of land and also took up a timber claim across the boundary line in Colorado. Both
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tracts are now owned by Orange B. Stevens. The wife and mother passed away about four years prior to her husband's death, her demise occurring January 25, 1895.
On the home farm in the county of his nativity Orange B. Stevens was reared and largely acquired his education under his mother's instruction, at- tending the district school for only a limited period. However, his mental discipline and training were thorough and comprehensive and at the early age of fifteen years he secured a school, which he taught for one term. While he was quite young he had studied higher algebra and was well ad- vanced in that and in other branches of learning. Desiring, however, to enjoy still better educational privileges, in the fall of 1873 he entered Whea- ton College, in which he completed a classical course in 1878, at which time the Bachelor of Arts degree was conferred upon him. During his senior year in college he also taught in the west side schools of South Elgin, Illinois. Three years after his graduation from college that institution con- ferred upon him the Master of Arts degree. He continued his educational work for some time and in the summer of 1878 accepted a school below Mary- ville, Missouri, where he taught until the following spring. He then came to Shenandoah and for six years followed the profession of teaching in Page and Fremont counties, spending two years of that time as principal of the Blanchard school.
He then resigned his position on account of his health and thinking that outdoor life and exercise would be beneficial he turned his attention to farming in Page county, first renting land seven miles southeast of Shen- andoalı. He thus carried on general agricultural pursuits for seven years and during the last three years of that time also followed gardening to some extent. In 1892 he took up his abode in Shenandoah and concentrated his energies upon gardening, in which line of business he continued for four years. On the expiration of that period he purchased his present place and gave his attention to horticultural pursuits. In connection with his greenhouse business he continues gardening to some extent but gives most of his attention to the cultivation of flowers and shrubs, having well equipped greenhouses in which are found the finest varieties of plants suitable for outdoor and house cultivation. He now enjoys a large trade in surround- ing towns as well as Shenandoah, his business having reached very grati- fying proportions.
It was on the 28th of June, 1883, that Mr. Stevens completed his ar- rangements for having a home of his own by his marriage to Miss Amanda J. Stake, a resident of Page county, Iowa, but a native of Franklin county, Pennsylvania. She came to this state in 1873 with her parents, Eli and Savilla Ann (Rea) Stake. Unto Mr. and Mrs. Stevens have been born four children: Blanche Iona, who is principal of the schools of Castleton, North Dakota ; Elmer Orange, who is a certified expert accountant, of New York state; Josiah Avery and Verna May, both deceased.
Mr. Stevens is an independent voter with republican sympathies. He does not feel himself bound by party ties, however, but supports the meas- ures which he deems for the best interests of the community at large. He
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belongs to the Commercial Club and both he and his wife are members of the Congregational church, in which for the past twelve years he has served as deacon. His wife is also greatly interested in the temperance move- ment and belongs to the Woman's Christian Temperance Union and to the Political Equality Club. Mr. Stevens is a self-made man who, starting out in life empty-handed, has worked his way steadily upward. He early rea- lized the fact that in the individual and not in his environment is success to be found and, working along well defined lines of labor, he has made steady progress in his agricultural and commercial interests and is now conducting a constantly increasing and prosperous business. He gives his wife great credit for the success he has achieved as she has always aided and encour- aged him in his work and at present she designs most of the floral pieces at the greenhouses.
F. O. PETERSON.
Among those who have come from foreign lands and become identified with commercial interests in Page county, is numbered F. O. Peterson, who is conducting a general mercantile establishment in Essex. He was born in Sweden, July 23, 1864, a son of P. J. and Anna C. Peterson, who were likewise natives of Sweden, where they were married ere their emigration to the United States in 1873. Upon their arrival in the new world, the father made his way with his family to Page county, Iowa, and purchased forty acres of land in Fremont township, to which he later added a tract of forty acres. He was there engaged in general farming until the time of his death in December, 1896, when he was eighty years of age. On com- ing to America, Mr. Peterson found there were so many people of the same name here, he changed his name to Skarstrom, which was the name of the place on which he made his home in the old country, and during his residence in Page county he was known by the latter name. He was sur- vived by his widow for several years, hier death occurring in March, 1908, when she had reached the age of eighty-three years.
F. O. Peterson was reared on the liome farm in Page county, being a lad of nine years at the time the family emigrated to the United States. lle acquired his education in the district schools near his home and therein mastered the common branches of English learning. In 1887 he went to Colorado and homesteaded one hundred and sixty acres of land in Phillips county. He lived on his land there until the fall of 1888, when he returned to his home in Page county and remained until 1890. In that year, having decided upon commercial pursuits as a life work, he entered the Western Normal College at Shenandoah, where he pursued a business course. He then secured a position as clerk in the establishment of A. Nieustedt, of Clarinda, remaining with him six years. During this time he made a close study of business conditions and methods and also carefully saved his earn- ings in the hope of some day engaging in business on his own account.
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In 1897 he came to Essex and opened a general mercantile establishment, which he has conducted to the present time. He now owns the leading store in this thriving little city and his success may be attributed to his modern methods, push and square dealing. He also has other financial 111- terests, being a stockholder and a director of the First National Bank of Essex.
Mr. Peterson was married in 1902 to Miss Carrie Anderson, of Essex, and their marriage has been blessed with a little daughter, Clara Viola. Mr. Peterson is a republican in his political views and at the present time is serving as city treasurer. He belongs to Essex Camp, M. W. A., while both he and his wife are members of the Lutheran church. His enter- prising and progressive spirit have made him a typical American in every sense of the word. By constant exertion and good judgment, he has raised himself to the prominent position which he now occupies, having the friend- ship of many and the respect of all who know him either in business or social circles.
SAMUEL BENGTSON.
Samuel Bengtson is one of the worthy citizens that Sweden has furnished to Page county and he dates his residence here from 1885, during which time he has been closely identified with agricultural labors. He is now the owner of three hundred and forty-three and a half acres in Pierce township, his home farm being a tract of one hundred and sixty acres on section 10.
His birth occurred in Sweden on the 29th of May, 1850, his parents being Bengt and Mary (Johnson) Bengtson, both of whom spent their entire lives in that country. Mr. Bengtson of this review obtained his edu- cation in the public schools of his native land and on reaching manhood secured a position as coachman for a wealthy family. thus serving for about fifteen years, during which period he had the honor of driving the king a couple of times. The year 1885 witnessed his emigration to the United States and after landing on the shores of the new world he made his way at once to Pierce township, Page county, Iowa, where he has since resided.
For three years he worked as a farm hand by the month and then started out as an agriculturist on his own account, being successfully engaged in the cultivation of a rented tract of land for eight years. On the expiration of that period, by dint of unremitting labor and capable management, he had accumulated capital sufficient to enable him to purchase property of his own, and in 1896 he came into possession of a farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 10, on which he has since made liis home. In 1905 he bought a farm of one hundred and eighty-three and a half acres across the road from his home place, so that his landed holding's now embrace three hundred and forty-three and a half acres. He well merits the proud American title of a self-made man, having worked his way steadily upward from a humble position until he is now numbered among the substantial, progressive and representative citizens of the community.
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Mr. Bengtson has been married twice. About the year 1873, in Sweden, he wedded Miss Clara Magnerson, by whom he had six children, as follows: Beda, the wife of Frank Sederburg, of Essex : Charlie, who fol- lows farming in Pierce township : Annie, who is deceased ; Ellen, the wife of Bert McClintock, of Pierce township. Page county; Erick, at home; and Mary, the wife of Flay Jackson, of Fremont county, lowa. The wife and mother passed away on the 19th of June, 1906, and in 1907 Mr. Bengtson was again married, his second union being with the widow of Gust Burg, who in her maidenhood was Miss Selma Ring. To this union was born one child, Emanuel, August 16, 1909.
At the polls Mr. Bengtson casts his ballot in support of the men and measures of the republican party, being convinced that its principles are most conducive to good government. He is a member of the board of trus- tees and also treasurer of the Methodist Episcopal church, of which his wife is also a devoted member. They are both highly esteemed in the com. munity and have an extensive circle of warm friends, who entertain for them the kindliest regard and to them extend the hospitality of their homes.
PORT H. KING.
Four decades have been added to the cycle of the centuries since Port H. King came to Page county with his parents. He has here lived since the fall of 1869 and from pioneer times to the present has been an interested witness of the changes that have been wrought and the work that has trans- formed the wild prairie of the western frontier into one of the leading coun- ties of a great country. He was but six years of age at the time of the arrival of the family in Iowa, for his birth occurred in Somerset county, Pennsylvania, August 2, 1863. He is a son of James K. King, of whom ex- tended mention is made elsewhere in this volume.
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