USA > Iowa > Page County > History of Page County, Iowa : also biographical sketches of some prominent citizens of the county > Part 35
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In the "good old times" there were but two townships in the county. Buchanan, including the land drained by the creek of that name and run- ning up the divide, and Nodaway, which embraced the balance of the county. Buchanan in those days contained the larger portion of the population and included in its number some men of "rare humor and infinite jest." Between 1860 and 1865. they had abundant room and plenty of opportunities to ex- ercise their inclinations and nourish their infirmities, for between those years there was an increase of but nine people in the population of the county.
The carly settlers located their claims up and down Buchanan creek, and along and about the forks of the Nodaway and were composed princi- pally of Indianians, Tennesseans, Kentuckians, Virginians and Missourians, but Jacob, with that eccentricity peculiar to genius, must be different from his neighbors, and was born in Ohio.
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Among the neighbors of Jacob may be included the following families: Davidsoms, Thompsons, Nashs, Scotts, Frienmouths, McCandys, Berkey's, Behouts, Smodgrasses and Groves. All these families at a later time con- tained one or more members of the Masonic fraternity, belonging to this or adjacent lodges. According to the legends and traditions of that day, in the wicinity mentioned, in all its griefs, joys, jokes amd sorrows of that time, Mr. Botenicht was oft time the hero and frequently the victim. Such a man is invariably libed and it goes far to justify the reputation he had for being a good man, a true mam and a square man.
The old time song rum "That Father Grimes wore a long tailed coat all Intomod down before." Jacob mever wone his in that style. It was manally mohuttomed amd faring, neither was it of many colors, like the coat the saint he was named after gave to his son Joseph, yet it hore the singes, stains amd fading of my winters. The thing that impressed itself upon the youth of that day was the tremsors that he wore on state occasions and when he came to town. They were made of corduroy, of buckskin tit, amd were open on the outer side of the linh, from the pocket to the instep amd were fastened with a new of bright, flat, shiny Irraes buttons all the way down. They were fashioned I imagine om the plan of the directoire goum, for I Ihave soon them in me when unbuttoned and open to even above the Inces. Pictme in your mind's eye, a man some firme fost, ten inches in Iheight, weighing sume hundred and eighty parmds, rather stooped shoulders, a well developed head covered with Mack or dark brown hair, with a full beund of the same color, with duok hmmm kindly eyes, wearing a sindh That either black or white, with a heavy pair of story hosts on his fert and an cid fashioned pair of saddle lings on his arm, and you will have a fair conception of Jkaoub Rotemfelt.
During the Civil war the country in strictly a military sense was depriund of Mr. Bottonicht's services except singlly in the direction of manning com and supplies for the aumies. This was mot by reason of amy lack of physical courage om his part, fur om more than ome occasion it has been nehod of him tutt his pugiliistic prowess was safffint to clean out the crowd he was in. Ikke sinply diedbrod att the beginning of the war amd consistently maintained his position to the end, tilatt he was met going south to he shot at, or to shoot, Butt tutt he could and would Fick amy member of the Gunfoderacy who was intenestkerd «mough in the problem to call om him. None who knew him darted for a moment but he would make good if opportunity presentadi
Mr. Botufet was odd and munt in lhis ways and Ihad more than oudin- any ttullentt iin the dirtfim off qper suings, witty espressions and humorous suggestions, many off which are momentbered amd quoted hy those with wham the was apnited. Hke purewod the confidence and good will of his meigfb- Bens aid auxexitties and mumy ane the funny instanors tihtt ame ndutad of him and his inminutes. Pages world he written of their exploits. It is diffadk tho resist tthe thongttatiem to neuund some of them hutt the truth is that mumy off the ewentts with which the was commuted in the firm multiing lline, would att tfhis diistant dhy giive am emumennes impression off the man. The fact is that
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JOBS BEAM'S HOTEL IX THE EARLY 7, CLARINDA
CLARINDA HIGH SCHOOL, INNA
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the men of the present scarcely appreciate the lonesomeness and want of entertainment that beset the pioneer. Their neighbors were remote, their friends necessarily few, their labors arduous and thir life to a great extent one of drudgery. In shaping their character they had no criterion but their own innate sense of right and wrong, and no example to profit by except such as was set by rough and uncultured men, who were aggressive in their determination and combative in their tendencies. Even the dissemination of the teachings of Holy Writ were confined to the exhortations of itinerant preachers, whose visits, like angels, were few and far between, funeral sermons in many instances being delivered months after the interment of the deceased.
In considering this sketch of Mr. Botenfelt it should not be taken as making light of the character and life of the subject. Outside of the ques- tion of his real worth and merits as a man, he was selected for the reason that he was more than a fair representative of his day and vicinity. Many years ago through an accumulation of ill fortune of various kinds, Mr. Bot- enfelt became financially involved and had to dispose of his holdings in this county. He moved with his family into what was then known as the cattle country, skirting the Platte river valley in Nebraska, and died there a few years since.
Jacob Botenfelt was elected to initiation in this lodge on the evening of March 2. 1860. James S. Scott, a near neighbor, was also elected that night. They practically took their degrees as near as possible together and were the first from that neighborhood which afterwards afforded many mem- bers to this institution. They were friends and of a kindred spirit. In the vernacular of the day, in the events of that time they were a "full team." Scott went from here to Colorado, where he afterwards developed into the position of road master and master mechanic of a railroad. When last heard from he was conducting a bee farm in California. Both these gentlemen, while members of this lodge, considering the distance and roads they had to travel, were more than average attendants.
JOHN BEAM'S HOTEL.
In the early days of Clarinda, the commercial traveler was a scarce article. his visits were few and far between. The bulk of the transient guests were people seeking a location, or desirous of purchasing, locating or disposing of lands.
In considering the hotels of Page county from 1857 to 1869, the West- ern Stage Company is an important factor. This company began opera- tions in central Iowa in 1854. A few years later a line of stages was put on through the southern tier of counties and Clarinda became a station ; another was established out at the residence of George Miller some ten miles .west of town, and still another at Manti, some two miles south of the present city of Shenandoah. The stage line was under the supervision of such division superintendents or route agents, as Firm Ogden, George Babcock and "Buckskin" Tracey. In those days the fare was ten cents a
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mile, and it was said, that the passengers left Ottumwa, then the terminus of the Burlington road, in a four-horse coach, and by the time he got to the Nishnabotna he was walking and carrying a mail sack.
The Delevan House, afterwards known as John Beam's, was the first started, in 1855, by George Ribble, who sold it in 1857 to E. Keeier and he disposed of it to Joseph Cramer, and Cramer in the same year, or possibly a year later, turned it over to C. Winkler, and late in 1858 or early in 1859 Jacob Butler became the owner. Butler soll to Anderson, Anderson to Wash Rawlings, Rawlings to George Baker, and Baker to Smith. During the different ownerships, the building had developed from a log house of the days of George Ribble, to practically as shown in the illustration. John Beam became the purchaser, and took possession on the Ist day of April, 1866. In those days it was seldom if ever called a hotel; it was generally known as John Beam's, or the tavern, and became, possibly, the best known stopping place in southwestern lowa. Beam's first transaction as landlord and stage agent was the sale of two tickets over the line from Clarinda to Ottumwa at sixteen dollars and a half each, which was then the regular fare, and about the next transaction-and be continued the habit to the end- was impressing the fact upon the traveling public and the regular boarder that it was his hotel, that he was the landlord and was entitled to have something to say about its management. This, to some extent, was a new feautre in the affairs of the hostelry, but Beam was persistent and deter- mined, and had a tongue that was characterized by a very rough side. There was more or less friction for a little time, but the Boniface had justice on his side as well as the fact that he had the only hotel, or stopping place, and it wasn't long before the education of the traveler was complete. Mr. Beam, at the very first, placed on a cottonwood tree out cast of the house, what is generally known as a farm bell, and there were rung two bells, thirty minutes apart, for all meals. If the guest, or boarder, was not there soon after the ringing of the second bell, Beam usually hunted him up and im- pressed upon the delinquent that Beam's Hotel did not propose to wait for him : or, that he (Beam) was afraid that his patron had been taken sick. A few visits of this kind was ample for the purpose, and the rule once estab- lished gave but little trouble thereafter. Many a guest discovered to his dis- confiture that it was not his place to poke the office stove, being informed that he knew but little if anything about a soft coal stove; or, that the land- lord preferred to poke it himself and not have the point of the poker dulled. This, of course, caused explosions other than from the stove, but the wit and humor of the landlord generally left the victim in a fair condition of mind; but he did not poke the stove a second time.
Mr. Beam was the first landlord in this section of the country to use side dishes in serving meals. It was an innovation that did not set well with some of his patrons; however, the dissatisfaction came near reaching a culminat- ing point, when the rule was established that no guest would be admitted to the dining room in his shirt sleeves, and many were the contentions over it. The landlord, to appease the wrath of his patrons, kept a supply of coats of various sizes, some old, and some new, so that none need go away hungry.
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If this did not satisfy the kicking guest, he was told he could go up to the grocery, get some cheese and crackers, take a sort of pepper sauce, rua around the square and call it a warm meal. No man with John Beam's ideas of running a hotel carried a lighted lamp upstairs in his house. The guest could have a candle for illuminating purpores, or he could go in darkness. The line was drawn on the kerosene lamp. John did not propose to have a confiagration on account of some man's carelessness or infirmities. In those days amusements had to be conjured up by the people who wanted to be amused, and Mr. Bean was ever ready to contribute to his own as well as his friends pleasures. There was an old colored man in town in those days, whose remote ancestors were matives of that section of Africa known as Guimea, and this old man had a halit peculiar to his race of "toting" things on his head. It was a part of his avocation to thus carry the washing to certain families who were customers of his wife to and from their homes to his own. One day old Jack came along in front of the hotel with a large wash, or clothes basket on his head, and excited the remarks of some of the guests, when Mr. Bean said to them, "see me scare the coon," and immedi- ately jumped out and yelled, "boo" at the old man, who jerked his head, and in place of a family washing encumbering the sidewalk it was strewn wind the choicest lot of china at that time in Clarinda, the property of the then editor of the Herald, who was having it taken home from a church fair. The loss, which Mr. Bean grinningly paid, amounted to between forty and fifty dollars.
In 1881 Mr. Bean sold the hotel and with the proceeds thereof and the accumulations of his business, for some years thereafter enjoyed the owner- ship of one of the best farms in Page county, and which is today a part of tibe state farm morth of the city. During the time Mr. Bean was in the hotel, mo other hotel or eating house was able to compete with him, and a number went to the wall. Notwithstanding his peculiarities of temper and character he made a friend of practically every customer; the rough side of him was the outside. At heart he was the kindest and most generous of men; mo hungry man was ever turned away from his doorway ; his wants were pro- wided for and, if mecessary. John gave himm money. If a guest was sick, or unfortunate, Johe gave him aid, sympathy and care, and it is no matter of wonder that even in late years, when the patrons of the long ago comme thuis way, about the first inquiry they make is in regard to Mr. Beam. Some years simce he became an invalid, and for the most part of the year is confined to his room. Yet his knowledge of the present and his recollections of the post, make him an exceedingly interesting personage to converse with. His memory is tenacious, and the events of the days that are gone are as fresh to him as the happenings of yesterday. He has a good home and with auf- ficient of this world's goods to meet all his wants.
THE LEME MANUFACTURING COMPANY.
Im tthe spring of ngo3 S. C. Powers came to Clarinda, mon invitation of an investigating committee of the Clarinda Commercial Chia, and megothia-
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tions with him proceeded to the stage where it was decided to accept certain propositions of Mr. Powers', which culminated in the organization of the Powers Manufacturing Company, with the following officers : S. C. Powers, president ; R. L. Powers, vice president; Edwin Lisle, secretary ; L. W. Lewis, treasurer.
Ground was at once purchased for the proposed plant, consisting of two lots, on the corner of Main and Eighteenth streets, and the main building was erected, equipped and ready for occupancy by October 1st of that year. This building is of brick, one story in height, seventy-two feet in width and one hundred and forty feet in length.
During the year 1904 the business gradually developed and in Janu- ary, 1905, Mr. Powers retired from the concern and a reorganization was consummated: C. A. Lisle was elected president ; W. E. Biggs, vice presi- dent : Edwin Lisle, secretary; William Orr, treasurer. The name of the plant was changed to the Lisle Manufacturing Company and from this time on the business prospered greatly.
In the summer of 1906 the Lisle Manufacturing Company began the development and manufacture of the Monarch Cream Separator, which is now the principal product of the factory ; but at the inception of the busi- ness, the primary object was the manufacture of well boring and well drilling machines, which are today no inconsiderable product of the com- pany's shops.
In 1906 another brick building was erected, fifty-four by one hundred feet, two stories in height and of brick. This is devoted to the manufacture of the Monarch separator. The foundry building went up in the fall of 1907 and is composed of cement. In dimensions the structure is fifty- four by one hundred and twenty feet. Here all the castings for the ma- chines are turned out. A warehouse, forty-four by ninety feet was erected in the spring of 1905. These buildings occupy one-half block. The ware- house is reached from the Burlington's main track by a private switch.
The Lisle Manufacturing Company employs over one hundred men in the shops and twelve on the office force. The shops since the beginning have run on full time the year round and in 1908 the business amounted to $150,000. The company's products go over the entire western and north- western dairy regions and Canada and through its means a number of high class workmen have been attracted to Clarinda, and bringing their families with them, now make the city their permanent homes.
The following gentlemen compose the official list and board of direc- tors: C. A. Lisle, president ; P. B. Woolson, vice president : Edwin Lisle. secretary ; William Orr, treasurer: W. S. Alger, E. R. Bailey, George Ferris, C. A. Lisle, William Orr, P. B. Woolson, directors.
THE ELECTRIC LIGHT WORKS.
The electric light plant of Clarinda is one of the most important indus- trial institutions within the confines of Page county, as it furnishes not only light, but heat, power. artificial ice and refrigeration for the city and its
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CLARINDA A.
LISLE MANUFACTURING COMPANY, CLARINDA
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CLARINDA POULTRY, BUTTER AND EGG COMPANY
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patrons. This plant was built and put in operation in the fall of 1902 and from the start to the present has been a pronounced success.
The plant furnishes to the city of Clarinda eighty are lights that burn every night and until one o'clock in the morning. In September, 1905, day service was added, which furnished continuous light and power day and night.
The central steam heating system was installed in the fall of 1904 and now practically all of the business houses around the public square, in- cluding the court house, are depending on the company for heat. The steam beating main has been extended to the new Carnegie library and it is anticipated the new federal building will be heated from the central station. Every manufacturing concern in Clarinda with one exception is using elec- tric service for power, and every business house in the town is a patron of the company.
In 1906 a fifteen-ton ice factory was put in operation and has many pa- trons, both wholesale and retail. In 1908 two cold storage rooms were fitted up and this feature of the plant has met every anticipation of the builders and patrons.
The Lee Electric Light Company is the name of the concern doing all these things, and Rufus E. Lee is the general manager. The company was first a copartnership, consisting of J. Ren Lee and Rufus E. Lee. In 1905 this was changed to a corporation, with the original name. The present oficers are: William Orr, president : G. William Richardson, vice president ; Rufus E. Lee, general manager, secretary and treasurer. These, together with A. F. Galloway and J. Ren Lee, make up the board of directors.
This company has at the present time seven thousand lights connected, and fifty motors, aggregating two hundred horse power. The plant occu- pies one-fourth of a block and is crowded for room. The main building is brick. Twenty people are given employment.
CLARINDA POULTRY, BUTTER AND ECC COMPANY.
In 18/14 the above organization came into existence and in 1900 was incorporated and capitalized at two hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The business was first started on the square at Clarinda and later as it developed, it was necessary to locate near the railroad tracks. Still later this concern built plants at Creston, Leon, Shenandoah, and Lincoln, Nebraska, and today it maintains forty branch houses in the best towns in southern Jowa and northern Missouri and in addition thereto has offices in Chicago and New York city. The products are marketed in various cities through- out the United States, in Liverpool, London, Birmingham, England, and Glasgow and Edinburg. Scotland. The affairs of this great institution have so developed that it markets annually in the neighborhood of three mil- lion dollars worth of products. The pay-roll annually amounts to about two hundred thousand dollars.
The business of this concern was started by W. T. S. White, who is now president of the company and resides in Chicago, having charge of market-
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ing the products. Mr. White was associated with S. P. Bond of Keokuk, lowa, who was one of the pioneers in the produce business. Mr. White is also president of the S. P. Pond Company of Keokuk, lowa, and the lowa Cold Storage Company of Clinton, Iowa. These are separate corporations but all do a large business in poultry, butter, eggs and cream, also cold storage.
THE A. A. BERRY SEED COMPANY.
A. A. Berry, the originator of the A. A. Berry Seed Company, came to Page county with his parents, who settled in Amity township on a farm, when he was six years of age. On this homestead he began writing for agricultural papers when twenty years of age and in 1894 he started rais- ing and selling seeds, and from the start his mail order business was a success. Two years later he purchased the Van Arsdol farm, southwest of the corporation line, and since then has devoted its one hundred and four acres to the raising of seeds for the market, the principal products being onion sets, sweet corn and vine seeds. He rented a store room and employed one stenographer and three clerks. This was the beginning of the great Berry Seed Company.
Mr. Berry's business increased and for several years almost doubled in volume each succeeding year. In 1899 he erected his first warehouse, a two-story brick, thirty by eighty feet. The following year an office and mail order building was put up. It is a two-story brick, with basement, twenty-five by one hundred and twenty feet. He has since built two more warehouses and a corn elevator, having a capacity of five hundred bushels of assorted and shelled seed corn. The warehouses and elevators cover five lots, and a private switch from the Burlington tracks reaches them.
This concern ships on an average of two carloads of seeds from the warehouses a day and has for territory all parts of the United States and foreign countries.
The business became so great that five years ago, 1904. the concern was incorporated under the name of the A. A. Berry Seed Company and capitalized at $75,000, with the following officers: A. A. Berry, president ; R. M. Ansbach, vice president ; W. C. Affold, secretary ; A. F. Galloway. treasurer.
The present officers are: A. A. Berry, president; F. R. McKee, vice president ; J. F. Sinn, secretary ; A. F. Galloway, treasurer. The office force consists of twelve people. There are twenty-five packers in the ware- house and on the farm. in the busy season, from one hundred to two hundred hands are employed. The company secures its seeds from ali parts of the world.
CLARINDA LAWN MOWER COMPANY.
Having secured a patent on a front-cut, high-grass lawn mower, G. A. Culver, Charles Tunnicliffe and Lon Swisher. in March, 1908, formed a copartnership for the manufacture of the new machine. At once work
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was commenced on the erection of a suitable factory building and in the fall of that year the machinery in the building was running and forty men employed, who soon were turning out forty finished mowers a day. The buildings are of cement and brick. The main building is twenty-four by sixty feet and two stories. A wing to this biulding is cement, two- story and sixteen by forty-eight feet.
This concern started out under the most favorable auspices. It made its first shipment January 1, 1909, and the orders have come in such num- bers as to make it necessary for the plant to run night and day. The shop is fitted with the latest designed and most expensive machinery made for the purpose and is in charge of expert mechanics. The front-cut mower is an innovation in machinery of that class and the demand for it is very gratifying to the company manufacturing it. As its designer says: "It is different from all other machines."
HOTEL LINDERMAN.
The Linderman is one of the modern hotels of southern lowa and is under the management of Wilson Reed. It is a three story brick, steam- heated and electric-lighted and contains fifty rooms. The location of this hotel is unsurpassed, being on a corner of the public square, at Clarinda. and in the heart of the business district.
THE HAWTHORNE HOTEL.
The Hawthorne at Clarinda is a popular house, both with the traveling public and the people of the county who come to Clarinda. The hotel has twenty guest rooms, which are nicely furnished and the cuisine is very satisfactory. T. J. Hawthorne has been the manager since 1905.
THE HENSHAW HOUSE.
Oscar F. Henshaw came to Clarinda from Erie county, New York, and about 1874 started a boarding house in a small cottage that stood on the grounds now occupied by The Henshaw House, which gave way later to the present building. Mr. Henshaw conducted the hotel until 1900, when he leased the property to G. W. Koons, who conducted the hotel five years and then bought the property. In 1905, Mrs. Annie Taylor, daughter of Mr. Henshaw, returned to Clarinda, and has been in charge of the hotel ever since.
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