USA > Iowa > Pottawattamie County > History of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, from the earliest historic times to 1907, Vol. II > Part 13
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Mr. Holst was married in Council Bluffs, March 21, 1874, to Miss Eliese Kiel, a native of Germany and a daughter of Christian Kiel. She came to this country in 1872 and was married two years later. Three chil- dren have been born of this union: Harry, now a farmer and stockman of Washington township; Maggie, the wife of Henry Schnapel, of the same township; and Mary, the wife of Adolph Goos, who is residing in Silver Creek township.
Mr. Holst is the founder of Treynor, which was laid out upon his land. Here he and his wife have made their home for the past thirteen years and have many friends in the town and throughout the surrounding country. When he became a naturalized American citizen he cast in his lot with the republican party and has never seen occasion to change his political allegiance. Upon its ticket he has been elected trustee of Keg Creek township and he is now a member of the council of Treynor, exercising his official prerogative in support of various progressive measures which are introduced for the benefit of the village. He is likewise treasurer of the German Lutheran church in which he holds membership. His life history if written in detail would furnish many an interesting chapter, especially in regard to his early experiences as a sailor, when upon the high seas he made his way to various European and American ports. In later years his life has been more quietly
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passed but at all times it has been characterized by a diligence and care in the control of business affairs that have made him one of the prosperous residents of the county.
A. J. GRACE.
A. J. Grace, deputy sheriff of Pottawattamie county and a resident of Avoca, was born in the town of Dixon, Scott county, Iowa, March 16, 1861. His father, Daniel Grace, was a native of the state of New York, born April 30, 1827, and with his parents he went to Ohio in childhood days, while in 1839 the family came to Iowa, which was then largely a frontier distriet and under territorial rule. They located in Allen's Grove, Scott county, where Michael Grace, the grandfather of our subject, entered government land upon which he built a log cabin. It was in this home that A. J. Grace was born. The grandfather died upon the old homestead farm there and after living for many years in that county Daniel Grace removed with his family to Crawford county, Iowa, where he purchased a farm and carried on general agricultural pursuits until 1890. To his original holdings he added from time to time until he be- came the owner of four hundred and twenty acres of land. However, he met with financial reverses and in 1890 he removed to Pottawattamie county, set- tling in Knox township. He afterward took up his abode in Valley township, where he died on the 26th of August, 1903. He was an ardent republican and a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln, James A. Garfield and other noted leaders of the party. He was a broad reader, was familiar with all the noted speeches and addresses of the party's leaders and thoroughly informed on the questions of the day. He never sought or desired political preferment for himself, his interest being that of a public-spirited citizen who recognizes the obligations as well as the privileges of citizenship. A consistent Christian man. he held mem- bership in the United Brethren church. His wife bore the maiden name of Rebecca E. Connor and is now living with her son, A. J. Grace.
They had a family of eight children: Ellen, the wife of C. R. Talcott, of Harrison county, Iowa; Daniel W., deceased; John M., living in Anita, Iowa; A. J., of this review; Steward G., a resident of Sheridan, Wyoming; Margaret J .. who became the wife of J. A. Carlisle and now makes her home in Tilden, Nebraska: Isaac H., who resides in Madison county, Nebraska; and Elmer E., who has also passed away.
A. J. Grace is indebted to the public school system of the state for the cdu- cational privileges he enjoyed. He received ample training in farm work in connection with his father, being thus engaged at a time when much of the labor of the farm was performed by hand, making it an arduous task such as the farm boy of today little understands. Later he and his brother, John M. Grace, engaged in farming and the cattle business on their own account, while the parents retired from business life and made their home with the sons. 1. J. Grace was thus continuously connected with general agricultural interests until 1904, when he gave up farming to accept the position of deputy sheriff
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of Pottawattamie county with headquarters at Avoca, having charge of all of the duties in connection with the office in this section of the county. He is still single and his mother resides with him. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he does everything in his power to promote its growth and insure its success.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Grace is connected with Mount Nebo lodge, No. 297, A. F & A. M .; Avoca lodge, No. 220, I. O. O. F .; the Farmers encamp- ment, No. 142, I. O. O. F., of Hancock; and Avoca camp, No. 165, M. W. A. He is a man of genuine worth whose word is as good as his bond and the con- sensus of public opinion is that A. J. Grace is one of the sterling residents of Avoca and this part of the county.
CAPTAIN JAMES J. BROWN.
Captain James J. Brown, vice president of the park commissioners, of Council Bluffs, Iowa, was born in County Kerry, near Killarney, Ireland, on the 15th of August, 1827, and has therefore attained the age of eighty years. Although of foreign birth, the greater part of his life has been spent in America. He came to this country in 1838 with his parents who located in Springfield, Massachusetts, where he resided until 1849. In that year he be- came a resident of Chicago, Illinois, which at that time was a city of only five or six thousand population, and the most far-sighted could not have foreseen the immense development which was to make it the second city in the nation and one of the largest in the world. For three years he remained in Chi- cago employed as a salesman in a grocery store and also for Troop & Hub- bard, Indian agents there, selling large quantities of blankets, beads and other commodities to the Indians who still visited the city for supplies.
In 1852 Captain Brown began railroading in the engineer's department of the Illinois Central Railroad and was so employed for about two years. On the expiration of that period he came to Iowa, settling at Dubuque in 1854, making his residence in that city until 1861, when, at the outbreak of the Civil war, he offered his aid to the government. He had watched with interest the progress of events in the south and had noted the threatening attitude of the slave-holding states and had determined that if a blow was struck to over- throw the Union he would strike one in its defense. Hardly had the smoke from Fort Sumter's guns cleared away when he entered the service. In fact, he enlisted as a private in Company I, Twelfth Iowa Volunteer Infantry on the 28th of March, 1861, and on the 18th of April this company was mustered into the United States service for three years. He continued at the front until mustered out at Davenport, Iowa, in November, 1865, having for almost four and a half years been in military service of the country. He participated in the battles of Shiloh and Corinth, after which he returned to Shiloh, where he was captured, being sent thence to Mobile, Alabama, where he was incarcerated for three months in a tobacco warehouse, after which he was exchanged. Later he was commissioned second lieutenant of Company I, Twelfth Iowa Volunteer
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Infantry, and returned to Dubuque, but the regiment had been greatly deci- mated at Shiloh and Mr. Brown upon his return to Dubuque found that the Sixth Iowa Cavalry was being organized. He was therefore commissioned first lieutenant of Company M, of that command, with which he served until No- vember, 1865. The Sixth Cavalry was sent to Dakota to guard against Indians and there Captain Brown remained until the war was over. Leaving the vol- unteer service in November, 1865, he entered the regular army and located at Fort Russell, Wyoming, where he remained for a year when he resigned.
When his soldier life was ended, Captain Brown began railroad contracting, continuing in the business for many years or until 1890, when he retired. At one time he was a member of the firm of Douglass, Brown & Company, large railroad contractors. In 1866 he became a resident of Council Bluffs, where he has since made his home, and he is today one of the venerated and respected residents of the city, having a large circle of friends and the high regard of all who know him. He is now serving for the second term as park commissioner and his political allegiance is given to the democracy.
In 1867 Captain Brown was married in Council Bluffs to Miss Mary Ryan, and they have one daughter, Nora. He and his wife are members of the Catho- lic church. His has been a somewhat eventful life in its varied experiences in the middle west and in the south and upon the frontier as a soldier, and he relates many interesting incidents of his military experience. He has made his home in Council Bluffs for over four decades and is therefore one of its old settlers, having witnessed most of its growth and development. He is a self- made man who through his own well directed efforts has met with success in business affairs, having acquired a comfortable competence.
LEWIS CUTLER.
Though the gentleman whose name introduces this sketch has been a citizen of Council Bluffs but six years he is already well and favorably known as a very efficient funeral director of this city. His birth occurred in La Porte county, Indiana, on his father's farm, in 1852. It was in that rich farming district that he spent his boyhood and that he received his early education in the county schools. The county has always been of unusual interest to Mr. Cutler because of its history, its growth and its fertility. When the early set- tlers came to that section they found a natural opening in the forest and named the town and county by the French name, La Porte, meaning "the door." With its rich fields and its surrounding forests, which are always in sight no matter where you may drive, the county so appealed to Mr. Cutler that he made it his home until the year 1901. His mother spent her last years in the city of La Porte in a large and beautiful home, where she passed away in the winter of 1906-7.
The elder Mr. Cutler was so successful a farmer that his son followed in his footsteps and had one of the best equipped farms in the county. His adop- tion of the progressive methods and implements and his practical straight-
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forwardness made him one of the representative agriculturists of the county. He entered into the furniture business in La Porte at one time and conducted it successfully for three years but was eager to return to his farm. This is not surprising, for his was a beautiful home which lay some four miles from La Porte on the old government road which led from Detroit to Chicago and over which the mail was carried in the days of the stage coach. Mr. Cutler's brother, as well as his father-in-law, were sucessful funeral directors in La Porte and through them he became interested in that business. He was indirectly con- nected with it in his native city and in January, 1901, removed to Council Bluffs, where he opened a business of his own and where he has met with a marked degree of success.
In 1877, Mr. Cutler was married, in La Porte, to Carrie Weir, a daughter of Henry B. Weir. Their union has been blessed with four splendid sons, all of whom are now living. Mr. Cutler is a member of the Elks lodge, the Tribe of Ben Hur, the Maccabees and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He and his family have always been active members of the Baptist church, of which he is a deacon and to which they have always given a hearty support. In his political relations he is a stanch republican and though he has never sought its offices or honors he has given his active assistance to those who have. In his private life and among his friends and family he is a most genial, agree- able and companionable gentleman, kind, tolerant and loving, and it has al- ways seemed that he could not do too much to promote the welfare or enhance the happiness of his family. His sons have received unusual educational op- portunities and have made the most of them. Mr. Cutler is a gentleman in the true sense of that word, always sympathetic and displaying a helpful spirit, which has made him a great success in the business in which he is now en- gaged.
LOVERIDGE S. AXTELL.
Although Loveridge S. Axtell has passed the Psalmist's allotted span of three score years and ten he is yet active in the management of farming in- terests in Boomer township. He was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, November 24, 1832. His father, Samuel Axtell, was a native of Washington county, Pennsylvania, where his early years were spent, and in Mercer he en- gaged in the practice of medicine for fifty years, becoming the loved family physician in many a household. There at Sheakleyville, Mercer county, his death occurred when he had reached the age of seventy-five years. His wife, Mrs. Mary (Loveridge) Axtell, was born in Pennsylvania of German parentage and died at the very advanced age of ninety-four years. In their family were eleven children but only three still survive, namely: Loveridge S .; Hutton, a Methodist Episcopal minister who for years has labored in behalf of the church in Chicago; and J. M., living in Boomer township.
As boy and youth Loveridge S. Axtell remained with his parents in Mercer county and his preliminary education, acquired in the public schools, was sup-
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plemented by three years' study in Allegheny College. He thus became well equipped for life's practical and responsible duties. In 1854 there was much discussion concerning an emigration colony and about two hundred families planned to remove to the west. At a meeting which was held an agent for a New York land company appeared before them and made a speech, telling them of land owned by the company in the central part of the state of Kansas and claiming that the capital was sure to be located there in the future. He offered big inducements to get the colony to remove to the Sunflower state. IIe said that the company would allow them to send two persons to Kansas as a locating committee and the two selected were Dr. Owens and Mr. Axtell of this review. At a meeting held in the afternoon, however, Mr. Axtell made his maiden speech against joining this concern, saying that they were then free to do as they pleased and he did not consider it good policy to join with any one. He carried his point, although some, however, were disappointed and in the evening called another meeting, voting then to join with the New York com- pany. Mr. Axtell went with the locating committee to the west and spent five weeks in looking over the country. He found it all to be a swindle, that noth- ing was as it had been represented and that in place of a settlement there was only a wilderness. In some way he came into possession of a New York Tribune and found in it a big advertisement in which the same company of- fered lots for sale at ten dollars. Mr. Axtell and Dr. Owens then wrote out a statement of the facts, sent it to Horace Greeley, then editor of the paper, and in that way the true condition of affairs became known to the public and noth- ing more was ever heard of the company. The party of Pennsylvania emi- grants, however, came on to the west and finally settled about one hundred miles from Kansas City. Mr. Axtell was among those who removed to that section and was prominent in the pioneer development there. He was one of the judges of the first general election of Kansas and the polling place was mobbed by a party who were attempting to make Kansas a slave state. Later Mr. Axtell went to Missouri, where he engaged in teaching school and in 1856 he made his way to Council Bluffs, which was then a small frontier town of lit- tle commercial or industrial importance. Here he worked at the carpenter's trade for a year and then engaged in teaching school for nine years, being thus closely associated with the early educational development of the district. Dur- ing two years of that time he taught in the old log courthouse, which was the first one in Pottawattamie county, and he was also superintendent of schools during a part of the time that he was engaged in teaching.
In 1865, however, Mr. Axtell turned his attention to general agricultural pursuits, purchasing one hundred and twenty acres of land where his home now stands. He gathered up the remains from the old Mormon log cabins in the neighborhood and thus built a dwelling for himself. In true pioneer style he began life on the farm and as the years passed transformed it from an un- developed tract of prairie into rich and productive fields. He now owns two hundred and sixty acres of land in Boomer township and one hundred and sixty acres in Rockford township. Upon the home place he has a fine resi- dence and outbuildings, all of which were erected by him, he performing the labor necessary for their construction.
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On the 24th of April, 1856, Mr. Axtell was married to Miss Sarah Hollo- way, a native of Pennsylvania, who died in 1858. Their only child died in in- fancy. In 1862 Mr. Axtell again married, his second union being with Fannie Wade, who was born in England in 1840 and in 1850 accompanied her parents to St. Louis, Missouri, whence they came to Council Bluffs in 1855. She was one of four children, the others being: Mrs. Mary Peters, now of Osage county, Missouri; Mrs. Rosanna Vincent, of Hazel Dell township; and Mrs. Isabelle Bateman, of Boomer township. Unto the second marriage of Mr. Axtell eight children were born: Loveridge H., who married Elizabeth Goodchild and is living in Oregon; Charles M., who wedded Clara Driver and is a farmer of Boomer township; Ida, the wife of Lewis Peters, also of Boomer township; Aggie, who married George Nusum and is living in Boomer township; Henry W., an architect of Seattle, Washington; Walter G., who wedded Mary Ander- son and resides in Woodbine, Iowa; Spencer B., who married Lena Reel and operates the home farm; and Frank, who died at the age of one year.
For a long period after coming to this county Mr. Axtell engaged in farm- ing and with excellent success but for several years past has rented his farm and is now living with his daughter, Mrs. Nusum. He became a republican soon after the organization of the party, identifying his interests therewith in Kan- sas, when the question of making that state slave or free was under discussion. He has been secretary of the school board for a number of years and that he is one of the prominent and influential residents of the county is indicated by the fact that in 1873-4 he represented the district in the state legislature. Few men can show a history of pioneer experiences which parallels that of Mr. Axtell. Leaving his old home in Pennsylvania, he became one of the early settlers of Kansas and later of Pottawattamie county and at all times shared in the difficulties and dangers incident to frontier life. Ever bearing his part in the work of development and progress, he aided in laying broad and deep the foundation upon which the present prosperity and advanced condition of the county is based.
ELMER L. FEHR.
Elmer L. Fehr, a practitioner at the bar of Council Bluffs and vice president of the Benjamin-Fehr Real Estate Company, was born in Stephen- son county, Illinois, in 1864. He lived there to the age of sixteen years and was a student in the schools. He then accompanied his parents to Pot- tawattamie county, Iowa, in 1880 and again the family home was established upon a farm, where he lived until 1896, meeting the usual experiences of agricultural life, as he assisted in the labors of field and meadow. At length coming to the conclusion that he would prefer a professional to an agricultural career he took up the study of law in 1897 and in 1899 was graduated from the law department of the State University at Iowa City. Having thus qual- ified for the bar he located at Oakland, Pottawattamie county, where he opened an office and spent five years, when, seeking a broader field of labor, he
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removed to Council Bluffs in 1904. Here he has demonstrated his ability in legal lines by his careful and successful conduct of important litigated inter- ests, gaining favorable comment as a lawyer from the general public and from the profession. In the year of his removal to Council Bluffs the Benjamin- Fehr Real Estate Company was organized, with Fremont Benjamin, as presi- dent; Wallace Benjamin, as treasurer; and Verne Benjamin and Mr. Fehr, as vice presidents, and thus Mr. Fehr is connected with property interests of the city, the firm conducting an extensive and successful real-estate business.
In his fraternal relations Mr. Fehr is a Modern Woodman. His political views are in harmony with the principles and policy of the republican party and he served for three years in the city council at Oakland. As every true American citizen should do, he has thoroughly informed himself on political questions and in stanch manner advocates those ideas and measures which he deems to be of greatest benefit to the community and the country at large.
WILLIAM NEUMANN.
William Neumann, who is successfully engaged in gardening in Avoca, is a native of Germany, his birth having occurred in old Stettin, Prussia, on the 18th of December, 1842. His parents were John and Christine Neumann, who were also born in the fatherland, the father passing away there in 1846. His widow came to America in 1871, her death occurring at Avoca in 1905. when she had attained the venerable age of ninety-one years. She had become the mother of three children, namely: William, of this review; Albert, a resi- dent of Davenport, Iowa; and Minnie, the widow of Mandel Kow, living in Avoca, Iowa.
William Neumann was educated in the common schools of his native country and there grew to manhood. In 1869, at the age of twenty-seven years, he determined to come to America, having heard favorable reports of the broader business opportunities and advantages of the new world. On his ar- rival in this country he located first at Cleveland, Ohio, being there employed in a brickyard for five years. On the expiration of that period he removed to Carroll county, Iowa, where he operated a rented farm for two years. He then took up his abode in Avoca, Pottawattamie county, Iowa, and remained a resi- dent of this place until 1893, when he removed to Seattle, Washington, and there worked for a year as a laborer. At the end of that time, however, he again came to Avoca, purchasing five acres of land, which he improved and on which he has since carried on gardening. He has met with success in this un- dertaking, his products finding a ready sale on the market by reason of their good quality and uniform excellence.
In 1865 Mr. Neumann was united in marriage to Miss Frederica Wendt, whose parents were both natives of Germany. The mother died in that country but the father came to America in 1871, taking up his abode in Cleveland, Ohio, where he passed away. Mrs. Neumann was one of a family of ten chil- dren and by her marriage has become the mother of the following children :
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Max and William, both residents of Avoca, Iowa; Augusta, the wife of Fred Dunham, also living in Avoca; one who has departed this life; Minnie, living in Avoca; and Helene, who married J. C. Marquardt and lives in Avoca.
In his political views Mr. Neumann is a democrat, while in religious faith both he and his wife are members of the German Lutheran church. They are known throughout the entire community as people of genuine personal worth and have won the warm regard and esteem of all with whom they have come in contact. The hope that led our subject to leave his native land and seek a home in America has been more than realized. Through the utilization of the larger business opportunities here offered, he has become a representative and enterprising citizen of his county and is a credit alike to the land of his birth and that of his adoption.
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