USA > Iowa > Poweshiek County > History of Poweshiek County, Iowa: a record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 29
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Before leaving the fatherland Mr. Kelm was united in marriage, in 1866, to Miss Julia Poleske, who was born in Prussia, Germany, on the 28th of March, 1849, and unto them have been born five children, as follows: Emma, who is. now the wife of Henry Rix, of Grinnell township; Mary, who married Herman Evoldt, of Washington township ; Gustav, a resident of Malcom township ; Otto, at home ; and Julia, now Mrs. Fred Bingham.
Prior to coming to the United States Mr. Kelm served for two years and eight months in the Prussian army as an infantry soldier, and during that period received an injury which destroyed the sight of his right eye. He has never regretted his determination to come to this country, for here he has gained a most creditable degree of prosperity. The country has at the same time gained a val- ued citizen, for during his connection with American interests and institutions he has been as loyal in citizenship as any native born resident. He gives stalwart support to the republican party and holds membership in the Lutheran church, and the sterling worth of his character has won for him the respect, confidence and good will of all with whom he has come in contact.
EUGENE W. FISHER.
A native of Poweshiek county and from his earliest recollection identified with agricultural interests, Eugene W. Fisher, whose name stands at the head of this sketch, has continued in this county all his life and is now one of its pros- perous farmers. He was born in Chester township, July 9, 1865, and is a son of Edward and Mary Ellen (Davis) Fisher, both of whom were born in Vermont and were married in that state. The father, as a young man, came to Iowa in 1860 and located in Poweshiek county. At the breaking out of the Civil war he enlisted in the Fourth Iowa Cavalry and served for sixteen months. After re- ceiving his honorable discharge he went to his old home in Vermont and was mar- ried February 16, 1863, soon afterward bringing his bride to this county. He died April 30, 1875, having attained a position as one of the prosperous farmers of the county. He served for several years as town clerk of Chester and was one of the original sixteen members of the Congregational church at that place. Mrs. Fisher is now living at Grinnell. In their family were five children, three of
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whom survive: Eugene W., of this review; Elizabeth A., who is now a teacher in the Grinnell high school; and Fannie O., a teacher in Grinnell Academy.
Eugene W. Fisher attended the district schools and Grinnell Academy, thus laying a foundation for an education which he has greatly broadened by reading and contact with the world. After leaving school he devoted his attention to the cultivation of the home farm of two hundred and thirty acres, of which he is now the owner. He has succeeded through industry, unfaltering determination and indefatigable energy, applying to his business a practical judgment which has made him one of the substantial citizens of the county and a worthy successor of his father.
In 1903, in Chester township, Mr. Fisher was united in marriage to Miss Emma Dempster, a daughter of John E. Dempster, a well known farmer, a record of whom is found elsewhere in this work. Three children have been born to this union : Esther E., who is now attending school: Ruth M., also a pupil in school : and Dorothy E.
Politically Mr. Fisher is a supporter of the principles of the republican party and in religious belief he is a consistent adherent of the Congregational church, being a member of the church at Chester Center. All his life he has adhered to what he believed to be right and true and thus he gained the confidence and re- spect which is freely accorded him by his fellow men.
EPHRAIM E. LAMB.
Agricultural pursuits of Malcom township are well represented by Ephraim E. Lamb, whose entire life has been given to that vocation. He was born in Keo- kuk county, Iowa, on the HIth of December, 1870, a son of Tobias R. and Ra- chel ( Humes ) Lamb. The father, who was born in Greene county, Ohio, in 1841, went with his parents in early childhood to Bureau county, Illinois, and resided there until he was nineteen years of age, when he came to Iowa, locating in Keo- kuk county. He was a farmer by occupation and was well known in political circles, being a member and one of the organizers of the greenback party in this locality. Later, however, he supported the democratic party. He was married, in Keokuk county, to Miss Rachel Humes, who was born in Tippecanoe county, Indiana, in 1845, and when a little maiden of three years went to Keokuk county. Iowa, with her parents. She now makes her home in Brooklyn, Poweshiek county, her husband having passed away in Malcom township on the 29th of No- vember, 1899. They were the parents of twelve children, as follows : Linas E .. of Poweshiek county : Jeremiah, who passed away at the age of thirteen years ; James H., who passed away at the age of eleven years : Ephraim E., of this re- view : William Lewis, operating the home farm in Malcom township; Ralph F., of Grinnell township ; Myrtle, who married Herman Jantzen, of Grinnell : Sylvia, the wife of William Bolen, of Madison township: Addie, who married Theo. Mehlin, of Sheridan township; Hattie, residing with her mother in Brooklyn : Sadie, who married Friend Kensinger, of Bear Creek township ; and Harrison, of Brooklyn.
Vol. II-15
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Ephraim E. Lamb, whose name introduces this review, spent the early period of his life in his native county, where he acquired his education, and was four- teen years of age when he came with his parents, in 1884, to Malcom township which, with the exception of one year, has since remained the place of his resi- dence. Reared to farm life, he has continued to engage in that pursuit, and for about five years after the death of his father he operated the home farm. He then rented a farm in Madison township, upon which he remained for one year, when he removed to his present home, where he has resided for the past five years. The place, known as the Charles Hatcher farm, which he is operating in the capacity of renter, consists of three hundred and twenty acres, located on sec- tion 15. Mr. Lamb gives his attention mostly to his stock-raising interests, which are extensive and carefully conducted, according to the most practical, progres- sive methods, and which are proving a most gratifying source of revenue.
Mr. Lamb was married, on the 21st of February, 1905, to Miss Viola Eisele, a native of Malcom township, born on the 13th of May, 1884. She is a daughter of J. E. Eisele, of whom extended mention is made in another part of this vol- ume. Mr. and Mrs. Lamb have one son, Earl F., who was born on the 14th of June, 1906, and who is the life and light of the household.
The parents are members of the Methodist Episcopal church of Malcom, in the work of which they take a deep and helpful interest, and fraternally Mr. Lamb belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, in which he has held all of the chairs. Early in life he became interested in the politics of the country and, forming his own opinions and rules of conduct, has given his support to the democratic party. He is now serving his second term as township assessor and has ever been a loyal worker for the best interests of Malcom township, where he is widely known as a man of high principles and noble manhood.
ROBERT G. COUTTS.
Prominent among the building contractors of Iowa, Robert G. Coutts, of Grinnell, has attained a wide reputation for the excellence of his work and his straightforward business methods. He owes his success to indefatigable perse- verance and industry-traits inherited from a long line of worthy ancestry. He was born at Aberdeen, Scotland, June 25, 1856, a son of Adam and Helen (An- derson) Coutts, both of whom were natives of Scotland. The parents came to Poweshick county, Iowa, in 1875 and settled near Ewart, where the father died less than eight weeks after his arrival. The mother is still living and makes her home with a daughter who lives three miles south of Grinnell. She celebrated her ninetieth birthday on December 23, 1910, and notwithstanding her advanced age still retains in a remarkable degree her mental and physical faculties.
Robert G. Coutts received limited opportunities of education in his native land, as he attended school only in his early boyhood, being obliged to assist in the support of the family after reaching his ninth year. At the age of eighteen. in 1874, having decided to seek his fortune on the opposite shore of the Atlantic, he crossed the ocean to Quebec, Canada, and on June 25-his birthday-arrived
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at Port Huron, Michigan. He traveled westward to Poweshiek county, Iowa. and went to work at the stone-mason's trade. After completing his apprentice- ship he worked as a journeyman until 1884, when he began as a contractor, a line of business with which he has ever since been prominently connected. He has erected more stone and brick buildings in Grinnell than any other contractor, among which may be named the Grinnell high school building, the Stewart Li- brary building, the Methodist Episcopal church and many of the handsomest pri- vate residences in the city. He is president of the Grinnell Brick & Tile Com- pany and a member of the Grinnell Stone Manufacturing Company, both of which enterprises are highly successful financially. He is also a member of the Iowa Association of Cement Users and was the first president of that organ- ization.
On the 15th of September, 1881, Mr. Coutts was united in marriage to Miss Alvaretta Farley, who came to Poweshiek county with her parents, from New York state, in 1880. Eight children blessed this union, seven of whom are now living : Ross V., a graduate of the engineering department of the Iowa State Col- lege at Ames, and now in the employ of the Union Pacific Railway at Omaha, Nebraska ; Harry G., also a graduate of the engineering department of the Iowa State College and now in the employ of the United States Steel Corporation at Chicago, Illinois ; Dwight R., of Omaha ; and Hazel R., Helen J., Grace D. and Ray C., all of whom are at home.
In politics Mr. Coutts is identified with the republican party. He was a mem- ber of the city council when the water-works and sewer systems were under con- struction and in 1905 was elected mayor of the city, serving for two years. As a public official he was highly efficient and he succeeded in a marked degree in ad- vancing the cause of honest government. Fraternally he is connected with Her- man Lodge, No. 273, A. F. & A. M., and Grinnell Lodge, No. 358, I. O. O. F. He and his wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, in which he is serving as trustee. He has spent many of the best years of his life at Grinnell and the high place he occupies in the estimation of the people is due to his un- sullied character and a worthy ambition to accomplish to the best of his ability everything that his hands find to do.
EDWARD L. GARING.
An energetic and progressive farmer of Union township, the appearance of whose homestead bespeaks capable supervision, is Edward L. Garing, who was born in that township on the 7th of September, 1870. His father, John Garing, was a native of Germany, and the mother, who prior to her marriage was Mary M. Johnson, was born in Ohio. The former emigrated to the United States in his early manhood, locating in Ohio, where he was later married. When the Civil war broke out he enlisted in the Union army, going to the front where he remained for three years. After receiving his discharge he came to Iowa, buy- ing a farm in Union township, Poweshiek county, which he operated until his retirement to Montezuma, where he died on the 14th of November, 1893, at the
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age of fifty-five years, his birth having occurred in Wittenberg on the 23d of Feb- ruary, 1838. The mother still survives and continues to make her home in Mon- tezuma. In politics Mr. Garing was a republican and he was a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. In the family were five children, as follows : Viola Geneva, the wife of Elzie Meeker, of San Diego, California ; Clara Caroline, who passed away on the 28th of May, 1890; Edward L., our subject ; John Henry, of Barnes City, Iowa ; and Gertrude, who died in 1902.
Edward L. Garing was reared on the homestead where he was born, acquir- ing his education in the district schools of that vicinity. Ambitious and energetic, he was impatient to assume the heavier responsibilities of life and laying aside his text-books at an early age began fitting himself for an agriculturist. At the age of nineteen years he felt he had sufficient knowledge of farming to begin for himself, so he rented his present farm, which contains one hundred and sixty acres. He later purchased the property and has ever since continued its cultivation, in addition to which he runs a threshing outfit and sinks wells. Success has at- tended the various enterprises undertaken by Mr. Garing, and he has accordingly improved his farm, having erected a nice residence and various outbuildings.
Mr. Garing was married on the 24th of November, 1889, to Miss Rosie T. Mackie, a daughter of Jesse S. and Wealthy J. (Skeels) Mackie of Union town- ship. The father was a native of North Carolina and the mother of Ohio. When a lad of sixteen years Mr. Mackie came to Poweshiek county, where he later pur- chased a farm, being identified with agricultural pursuits until his retirement. He and Mrs. Mackie continue to live upon their homestead, although he is no longer actively engaged in its operation. They are members of the Christian church, and he votes the democratic ticket. Mrs. Garing, who is also a native of Union township, was born on the 27th of November, 1870. To Mr. and Mrs. Garing have been born the following children: Lela, who was born on the 15th of June, 1890, and died on the 24th of September, 1897: Edward Leland, born on the 2d of February, 1899; Adrian Ward, who was born on the 22d of Decem- ber, 1902 ; and Wilbur Mackie and Willard, who were born on the 14th of June, 1905. but the latter died on the 16th of the same month.
His political support Mr. Garing always gives to the republican party, and for the past eight years he has been constable and he is also a school director. Such success as has fallen to his lot has been the result of his own industry and capably directed efforts, as he started out practically empty-handed in his youth.
ELBERT WARREN CLARK, M. D.
There are in every community men who stand in the forefront as political leaders and guide the machinery of government, men who are foremost in busi- ness circles and control the arteries of trade and commerce. There are still others none the less capable in a chosen line of work who have as a dominating characteristic a recognition of the obligations of man to his fellowmen that is manifest in a broad humanitarianism and a helpful spirit that reaches out to
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all his humankind. Of the latter class Dr. Elbert Warren Clark was a repre- sentative. He was recognized as a learned and skillful physician and had among his patrons many of the most prominent and prosperous residents of Grinnell and the surrounding country, but he responded as quickly to a call for professional service from the poor as from the rich, ministering as conscien- tiously to the needy as to the prosperous, and in fact gave to them even greater inspiration and aid as he felt that their need was greater. He might well have made the request "Write me as one who loves his fellowmen," and in doing this, as the old legend runs, "proving his love of God."
Dr. Clark came to Grinnell a young man in the '6os. He was born in Glover, Orleans county, Vermont, February 22, 1842, of Scotch-American parentage, and after spending twelve years in New England accompanied the family on their removal to Bureau county, Illinois, where he was reared amid rural sur- roundings, spending the period of his minority upon the home farm. He was a pupil in the public schools and completed a course in the high school at Kewanee, Illinois. No financial resources awaited him when he started out in life for himself, leaving the farm in 1865 at the age of twenty-three years. In fact he knew that if further educational advancement was his it must be obtained through his own efforts, and his labors therefore provided the means that enabled him to become a student in Rush Medical College in 1866. He con- tinued his course in Chicago as opportunity offered until graduated from that institution in February. 1871.
Dr. Clark arrived in Grinnell in May of the same year and almost from the beginning a liberal practice was,accorded him. He soon proved his ability, gave evidence of his wide knowledge and in a professional capacity was called to many households not only; in Grinnell but also throughout the surrounding district. He entered upon his profession with the determination to serve the people who needed him and he never hesitated, whether his patients were near at hand or far out on the prairie. No night was too dark, no storm too fierce, no cold too penetrating for him to face. With the growth of the city and the settlement of the county his practice continuously grew and he became particu- larly brilliant in surgical work. He was made one of the staff of surgeons for the Rock Island and lowa Central Railroads and he was frequently called in consultation or asked to assist in some difficult surgical or medical case.
Dr. Clark had been a resident of Grinnell for only three years, when, in 1874, he was united in marriage to Miss Martha Brainerd of this city, a daugh- ter of the Rev. Timothy and Harriett Poor (Cilley) Brainerd. Her father was a Yale graduate of the class of 1830 and of the Andover Theological Seminary of 1839. He was also at one time a law student of the New Haven Law School and on leaving college found himself in poor health. Soon afterward he was offered and accepted the principalship of the Randolph Academy, which posi- tion he occupied for some time and then turned his attention to ministerial work. For many years he filled the pulpit in Londonderry, New Hampshire, and later in Halifax, Massachusetts, but after coming to the west retired from the ministry. His wife was a direct descendant of General Enoch Poor, of Exeter, New Hampshire, and General Joseph Cilley, of Nottingham, New Hampshire, both of Revolutionary war fame. The death of the Rev. Timothy G. Brainerd
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occurred in 1894. His daughter Martha, as previously stated. had become the wife of Dr. Clark and unto them was born a son, E. W. Clark, Jr.
Throughout the period of his residence in Grinnell Dr. Clark was a prominent man is the public life of the community, not because he sought distinction or desired public honors but because his fellow townsmen recognized his aptness for positions of public trust. He was very deeply interested in the cause of education, served as a member of the school board of Grinnell and was elected a trustee of Iowa College in 1898, after which he gave much time to the trouble- some questions which came to the local trustees and especially to the executive committee for settlement. He desired that the college should give to the pupils the best possible instruction, should surround them with the best influences and hold them to loyalty and to the high moral ideals which had been before the college from the beginning. He also served as a trustee of the Stewart Public Library and in 1893 was chosen mayor of Grinnell, filling the position for four years. Many substantial public improvements were incorporated during that period, sewers were laid, water-works were installed and much other practical work was done.
His political allegiance was always given to the republican party from the time when he cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He was an active and influential worker in party ranks and he was twice sent to the gen- eral assembly, becoming representative of Poweshiek county in the thirty-first session of the state legislature, while in 1906 he went to the state senate from the twelfth district, composed of Poweshiek and Keokuk counties. His ser- vice in the legislature was marked by untiring devotion to duty. He rarely missed a session and even during the winter of 1908-9, when his physical con- dition was causing him much suffering, he was always in his place. High pro- fessional honors had come to Dr. Clark for the State Medical Society in 1907 had elected him as their president.
One of the local papers at the time of his death said: "Of late years Dr. Clark's friends have noted that the efforts of long years of arduous practice were beginning to tell upon him. He had never spared himself. Time and again when the condition of his own health should have forced him to be in bed he had gone out at night to answer the call of some one in distress. In July, 1907, he made a trip to Carneyville, Wyoming, where he had property interests, and while there suffered a heavy fall, striking his side and fracturing a rib. The injury was not in itself serious but the shock was great and soon after his return to Grinnell his condition became such as to cause great alarm. He was taken to California for the winter and when he returned to Grinnell in the spring he was apparently much improved. Declining to retire entirely from the work to which his life had been devoted, he persisted in his general practice during the summer but in September he was forced to put aside all such and on February 16, 1910, passed away." Something of the high respect entertained for him throughout the community is indicated by the fact that at the time of the burial services all business houses of the city were closed as a silent tribute to the good man who was gone.
We quote again from the Grinnell Herald, which said: "A whole city paid homage to a man who has exemplified to so great a degree the possibilities of
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a life of service. He practiced with a devotion and a self-sacrifice that few realized, it was considered so much as a matter of course. No difference what his own ailment, no matter how wearied he might be from previous calls, he was always ready to answer the summons of those who needed him. He kept abreast of his profession, possessed an unerring sense of diagnosis and went to the seat of the trouble with a sound judgment rarely mistaken. No better parallel can be found to the light in which he was considered by the people of Grinnell than that of Dr. McClure, the loved physician of Drumtochty."
Iowa College closed a memorial resolution with the words: "He passed from us, from the work in which he delighted, from the community he loved, from the institutions which had profited much by his advice and his benevolence, on the 16th day of February, 1910, having lived nobly and served his genera- tion with sacrificial and Christly whole-heartedness in Grinnell for thirty-nine years."
FRANCIS M. OHMART.
A good soldier when the life of the republic was assailed and an energetic and progressive citizen in times of peace Francis M. Ohmart, of Washington township, is recognized as one of the highly respected men of Poweshiek county. He was born in Clark county, Ohio, January 12, 1842, and is a son of Christian and Mary (Snyder) Ohmart. The father was born in Clark county March 8, 1819, and the mother in Westmoreland county, Virginia, March 24, 1824. In his early manhood Mr. Ohmart, Sr., engaged in the milling business, but later took up farming in Jefferson county, Iowa, subsequently engaging in the hotel busi- ness at Trenton, Missouri. He died at Galt, Missouri, March 6, 1909, the mother having been called away two years previously on December 25, 1907. Politically he gave his support to the republican party, and although he took no active part in politics he served as a member of the school board. Both he and his wife were members of the Christian church. In their family were sixteen children : Francis M., of this review : Newton J., deceased; George W., of Oklahoma ; Mary E., Martha E., John W., Alice C., Virginia B. and Samuel, all of whom are deceased ; Flora, the wife of Melvin Bingham, of Galt, Missouri; Charles O., Grant and Winifred, all of whom are deceased; and three who died in infancy.
Francis M. Ohmart came to Iowa with his parents and was educated in the schools of Jefferson county. At the outbreak of the Civil war he was nineteen years of age and in response to his country's call enlisted as a private in Company K. Thirteenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry. September 28, 1861. For three years he faithfully performed his duty as a soldier, being advanced to the position of corporal. He participated in many of the important battles and movements of the war and was honorably discharged from the service at Chattanooga, Tennes- see, November 2, 1864. Returning home, he assisted his father in the farm work and later rented a place in Van Buren county, Iowa, for seven years. He came to Poweshiek county in March. 1875, and purchased eighty acres in Wash- ington township where he now lives. He has added one hundred and twenty acres to his original farm and by the application of systematic modern methods has at-
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