USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 42
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Among the hills of Racine county, Wisconsin, Fred Winkler grew to manhood. He had already received the rudiments of an education in Germany and was given but little schooling after reaching this country. He married in 1869 and then, wishing to better himself, he and his young wife decided to move to Sac county, having heard that it was a fertile coun- try and one which was bound to become prosperous. The year 1870 found them with eighty acres in Jackson township, for which they paid six dollars and twenty-five cents an acre. The hand of man had never been turned on this eighty acres, no buildings had ever been erected, and this barren tract of eighty acres must have seemed a dreary prospect to this young couple, but they were not to be discouraged and in the course of a few years they not only had the eighty acres under a good cultivation, but had trees planted. buildings erected, the fields drained and were able to purchase one hundred and twenty acres adjoining them. In 1883 they purchased one hundred and twenty acres for ten dollars an acre, and now this land is worth twenty times as much as they paid for it in 1883. It is needless to say that Fred Winkler and his wife have been hard workers, that they have been thirfty and economical. He has now reached a position in life where they can take things easy and spend the remainder of their days surrounded with every convenience and luxury.
Fred Winkler was married in 1868 in Raeine county, Wisconsin, to Mary Keil and to this union have been born three children : Albert F., who was born in 1869 in Wisconsin and married in 1898 to Bertha Bell, of Brooklyn, Wisconsin: he owns one hundred and twenty acres of good land and also operates his father's farin. He is a Mason, a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen, and at the present time he is president of the Jackson township school board. Albert F. and wife have one son, Drexel. Eliza, the second child of Mr. and Mrs. Winkler, is deceased, while Katie, the youngest child, is now at Storm Lake, Iowa.
Politically, Mr. Winkler is a Democrat, but has never had the time to engage in the game of politics. His wife died in 1893 and since then he has made his home with his son, Albert F., on the old home farm. Mr. Winkler has many admirable qualities of head and heart and the high regard
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in which he is held by his fellow citizens indicates that he has led a most exemplary life in this community. He can record many interesting stories of the early days in this country and often compares the conditions under which he started to housekeeping in 1870 with the conditions at the present. His life has been a busy one and yet he has taken his part in all the affairs of the community which he thought might better the welfare of his fellow citizens.
Mr. Winkler enlisted, in the fall of 1861, in the Ninth Regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and served until his honorable discharge in the spring of 1866. He was captured and held as a prisoner for six weeks while in the state of Arkansas.
HIRAM B. SMITH.
When a good man goes to his reward and departs this life, the com- munity mourns, his family grieves and the niche which he occupied for years remains unfilled. A distinct personality is sadly missed and his place diffi- cult to fill. There is consolation, however, in the fact that the loved one has been a good and useful citizen and a kind provider for his family. The demise of a pioneer settler of Sac county in the person of Hiram B. Smith on February 1, 1914, was deeply felt by a host of friends and acquaintances, and a long and useful life came to a peaceful end.
Hiram B. Smith was born December 7. 1846, on a farm near Wauke- gan, Illinois, and was the son of J. Z. and Ruth ( Scott ) Smith, natives of Dutchess county, New York, and who were of Holland descent. His mother was a native of Genesce county, New York. Hiram B.'s father left his native state and settled in Ohio. Later he moved further West to Illinois and again came back to Ohio. In the year 1851 he made the long overland trip to the gold fields of California, and returned home, dying on his farm in Wood county, Ohio. Hiram B. enlisted in the Sixtieth Ohio Regiment of Sharpshooters, which was an independent organization. This regiment was known as the new Sixtieth to distinguish it from the old Sixtieth Regiment, which had been decimated by the ravages of war. Mr. Smith's enlistment in the Union army took place in February of 1864 and he served until April of 1865. When he was distant from home cleven days he caught his first glimpse of a real battle, and had the opportunity of viewing the great battle of the Wilderness, while his regiment was held in reserve because of the fact that the new soldiers were all young, raw and
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untrained troops. Instead of being ordered to the front in this engagement. they were marched away. He later took part in a great many engagements and skirmishes, and his regiment was kept constantly on the move, going from place to place where expert riflemen were needed on the outposts and in the forefront of the firing line. While the sharpshooters were stationed before Richmond he was severely wounded in June of 1864 and sent to the Federal hospital at Indianapolis, where he recovered. On August 17, he received a wound which disabled him for life and he was sent home and honorably retired from the service on account of permanent disability.
Returning home to Wood county, Ohio, Mr. Smith was married, in December, 1870. to Jennie Marsh at her home in New York state. She is the daughter of Nelson and Amanda ( Barker) Marsh, both natives of New York. After marriage the newly wedded couple settled on a farm in Wood county, where they resided until February of 1880, when they journeyed westward and located in Wheeler township. Sac county, lowa. Mr. Smith had previously, in the year 1876, made the journey to Sac county and bought three hundred and twenty acres of prairie land in west Wheeler township. Not a furrow had been turned on this land and no houses were in sight. On his first visit to the land he had set out a number of trees, which at this day have grown to be monarchs in size and whose welcome shade is much appre- ciated. They brought with them a small house ready to put up, which was succeeded, fourteen years later, in the year 1893, by a comfortable mansion, modern in many respects and which is to this day one of the finest farm residences in Wheeler township.
No children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Smith, but they have reared four, two nephews and two nieces, namely: Burt, somewhere in the West : Maury, of South Dakota; Ada Smith, of Clinton, Iowa; Mrs. Lenore Marvin, residing at the Smith home and whose husband assists in tilling the farm. The Smith home is a cultured and refined one and evidences of education and marked skill along certain lines are seen on every hand. Mrs. Smith has what is probably the only museum of the kind in Sac county. An entire room of the large residence is set apart for the housing of relics and stuffed animals and birds, both Mr. and Mrs. Smith being skilled taxi- dermists, and spent considerable time in creating works of art and preparing animal and bird exhibits in life-like positions. During the latter years of Mr. Smith's life his health was poor and his work was necessarily confined to light and agreeable labor, which called for definite skill, and the evidence of his handiwork is seen in many fine creations. Owing to the condition of his health it was necessary for him, accompanied by his wife, to spend his
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winters during later years at Port Orange, Florida, and it was here that his dlemise occurred on February 1, 1914. Mr. Smith was a member of Colonel Goodrich Post, Grand Army of the Republic, and belonged to no other lodges or fraternal societies. He was essentially a home man, who took a great pride in his handsome residence and the beautiful grounds surrounding it and was continually improving the appearance of the farm. He was a Republican in politics and a great admirer of Abraham Lincoln and General Grant of Civil War fame. He was a kindly disposed gentleman who was at peace with his neighbors and whose friends were legion.
PETER G. LUNDELL.
The biographer finds it an easy task to describe a man who has led an eminently active and busy life, and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. In the tracing of such a career, biography finds its most perfect justification and it is with a full appreciation of all that is demanded, and also with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task of touching briefly upon the details of such a record as has been that of the respected subject of this sketch. At one time a stranger in a strange land, unacquainted with its customs in every particular. Mr. Lundell possessed that inherent ability which has enabled him to overcome all handicaps and has elevated him to a place of prominence and influence in his chosen locality.
Peter G. Lundell was born on May 14, 1859, in Sweden, the son of Andrew and Anna Lundell, who, with their family, emigrated to America in 1869, arriving at the port of New York in December of that year. They remained with friends in that city until the New Year, when they came west- ward into Illinois, locating near Princeton, where they resided on a farm and proceeded to carry on farming. There the family remained and pros- pered until 1878, when they again came westward. this time locating in Sac county, Iowa, settling on the land where the subject of this sketch now lives, which was railroad land when they purchased it. There the family lived for several years, Andrew the father dying on February 1, 1896, and the mother passing into the great beyond in February of 1900. Two daugh- ters were ill in New York harbor as the family were waiting for admittance to the country; one died in the harbor and the other in Princeton, Illinois, and at the death of the parents there were four children remaining, being
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August, of Wheeler township, John and Anna ( Mrs. Lindskoog ), in addi- tion to the immediate subject of this sketch, who succeeded to the home- stead and has always resided there. In later years he has made many addi- tions and improvements, greatly adding to the value of the place. This homestead consists of one hundred and eighty acres of excellent land and is known as the Pine Lane farm, deriving its name from the long lane of pine trees which leads from the public highway to the farm residence, situ- ated some distance back in the tract. The house sets on a hill and is sur- rounded by a grove of pines and spruces and is in every way an ideal home, combining beauty and convenience.
Mr. Lundell received his elementary education in the district schools of Illinois, where the family first resided upon coming to America, and this was supplemented in later years by much earnest study on his part. For a number of years he taught schools in Wheeler township during the winter season and engaged in farming in the spring and summer. He is looked upon as one of the leading men of his nationality in the community and is a man of marked characteristics which readily place him in the forefront of those desiring the best and most lasting good to the community. In politics, Mr. Lundell is a Republican of marked progressive ideas and has ever exerted a worthy influence in local politics. He has served Wheeler township both as trustee and clerk and at the present time is secretary of the township school board. He was recently elected secretary of the Kiron Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company, of which his brother August is presi- dent. This company does business in Crawford, Sac, Ida, Woodbury, Mo- nona, Harrison, Shelby and Carroll counties, this state. Mr. Lundell ren- dlers these public services in addition to capably managing the business of his farm and throughout the years has won for himself such an enviable repu- tation as a man of faultless integrity and excellent judgment, that much more is demanded of him in this line than his own affairs warrant him in assuming.
Mr. Lundell chose as his wife Amanda Berg, daughter of Carl and Caroline Berg, natives of Sweden who had settled in Wheeler township, and their marriage was solemnized on March 11, 1882. Mrs. Lundell was born in Sweden on November 10, 1865. and was a child of four years when her parents emigrated to this country. To Mr. and Mrs. Lundell have been born twelve children, namely: Mabel Delphine, wife of E. N. Sandstrom; Edna Rosene, a stenographer in the city of Des Moines; Abbie Dorothea, a teacher in the public schools: Edith Arline, George Willard, Edward Martin, Eliza- beth Elfreda. Edmund Gustavus. Mildred Evangeline, Harold Tennyson.
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Constance Muriel and Bayard Royal, all of whom are at home, while Ed- ward Martin has attended an automobile school at Kansas City, Missouri. Mr. Lundell holds his religious affiliations with the Swedish Lutheran church and in the tenets of that faith he is carefully rearing his family.
Mr. Lundell is one of those solid men of brain and substance so essen- tial to the best growth and prosperity of a community and stands before the younger generation as an example of a self-made man who has attained to worldly success and the unqualified respect of all who know him by the operation of correct principles of life coupled with indomitable will and the determination to succeed. He has always been especially desirous of ex- tending a beneficial influence over the youth with whom he came in contact and is most conscientious and painstaking in the rearing of his own family. In every relation of life he has proven himself every inch a man and adds another name to the already long list of honorable and high-minded Amer- ican citizens of Swedish origin.
ROBERT MCKEE LONG.
The farmer of today is radically different from the farmer of vester- day. To use a well-known phrase which aptly fits the case, "the American farmer has come into his own". The whole world of necessity bows to the farmer, figuratively speaking. His productive land is the basis of values and the source of the greatest wealth. It is he who feeds the multitudes of people who exist in the cities and towns which have multiplied in this broad land of ours during past decades. He is at present the most prosperous and among the most enterprising of our citizenship. Where formerly he seemed a nonentity to the masses of the people, today he is universally re- spected and envied in his possession of a fine farm and the comforts of life in abundance. Then, too, although the farmer's life is secluded to a certain extent, he is no longer deprived of the comforts and luxuries of life which formerly belonged solely to the city dweller. In Sac county we find many handsome and modern country homes occupied by well-to-do and pro- gressive agriculturists who endeavor to keep pace with the world's affairs and take an active part in the onward movements of the times. A well- known representative of this enterprising type of farmer is found in the person of Robert McKee Long, of Cedar township.
Mr. Long has a farm of three hundred and sixty acres, two hundred
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ROBERT MCKEE LONG
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acres of which lie in section 9, and one hundred and sixty acres is located in section 16 of Cedar township. He has a large commercial orchard, cover- ing seven acres of ground, and which has yielded five hundred dollars worth of fruit in a single year.
He was formerly engaged in cattle raising and kept from eighty to one hundred and twenty-five head on the place. His son, Robert M., is now actively engaged in cultivating the land and has charge of the farming operations. In 1912 Mr. Long completed a fine, modern residence of ten rooms fitted with all conveniences, with the necessary adjunct of large. commodious barns. This home is situated on a commanding site above the stream which flows through his land and is surrounded by great forest trees. It was erected at a cost of over two thousand six hundred dollars. but the home and building cost to exceed five thousand dollars.
This cultivated and enterprising gentleman was born October 6, 1853, in Cedar county, lowa, the son of Robert W. Long, whose wife was Mary M. Lyle, both of whom were natives of the Southland. Robert M., the father, was born near Hagerstown, Maryland, in 1818, and was the son of Samuel and Isabella (MleKee) Long. He died in 1863. Mary M. Lyle was born in 1824 and died in 1876. They were united in marriage in 1844. The Lyles are natives of Virginia. Mary Al. Lyle was the daughter of William Reid Lyle, of Virginia, who was the son of John Lyle. The father of John Lyle was also named John and was the son of James Lyle. a native of Lorne, in county Antrim, Ireland. It is recorded that the Lyles emigrated to Rockbridge county, Virginia. in 1740 or thereabouts. There were three brothers who were pioneers in the settlement of the town of Timber Ridge, Rockbridge county.
Robert McKee, the first, was the son of Samuel and Isabella ( McKee) Long. His father was of German descent on his father's side and Scotch- Irish on his mother's side. Isabella Mckee was the daughter of Robert McKee, a native of county Down, Ireland, who traveled to the Isle of Man and there married Mary Downey. He was born December 15, 1760, and was married in 1788 and settled at Hagerstown, Maryland.
Robert McKee Long, the first, with whom the biographer is in part con- cerned, was born February 22, 1818, near Hagerstown, Maryland, and later settled in Tipton, lowa, where he was a well-known merchant. He died in 1863, on the eve of his acceptance of a colonel's commission in the Union army. His children were: Alfred R., a resident of Tipton, Iowa; Edwin G., a citizen of Omaha: Flora E. Porter, who lives in Tipton : Robert M., (28)
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of Sac county; Mrs. Mary L. Moreland, of Blairstown, lowa: Mrs. Ida Belle Shinn, living also in Blairstown ; William L .. of Tipton, Iowa.
Robert McKee, the second, to whom this review is directly devoted. received his primary education in the Tipton high school and pursued his classical course in Cornell College. Ile taught eighteen terms of school in Cedar county and made his own way in life from the time he was ten years old. He resided in various towns for a period of thirty years and followed divers occupations in order to obtain a livelihood, while always looking ahead for something better. He worked for the Illinois Central Railroad Company as brakeman: drove the stage from Tipton to Daven- port and also from Tipton to Stanwood. He is self educated, working his way through school and college and paying his own expenses. In 1883 he turned his attention to farming in Johnson county, Iowa, where he and his brother operated a farm in partnership for three years. This farm embraced a total of nine hundred and thirty-six acres and required con- siderable labor and attention to successfully operate. He then went to Benton county and farmed for sixteen years as a tenant farmer, in the meantime saving his money so as to make a final and lasting investment in land for himself. In 1900 he came to Sac county and purchased his Cedar township farm of three hundred and sixty acres, at a total cost of fourteen thousand five hundred dollars. He has since refused offers of twenty-six thousand four hundred dollars for one hundred and sixty acres of this fine piece of land and it is easily worth one hundred and seventy- five dollars an acre. Ile removed his family to Sac county in 1900 and has since taken a prominent and influential part in township and county affairs.
Mr. Long is a pronounced Progressive in his politics and is chair- man of the Progressive organization in Cedar township. During his resi- dence of fourteen years in the community he has held all township offices and has several times refused to become a candidate for county office. although he has generally taken an active part in county affairs and has wielded his large influence in behalf of better government. For three years past he has been president of the Sac County Mutual Insurance Company. He has served for a period of seven years as secretary of the Cedar township school board He is affiliated with the Methodist church and is frater- nally connected with the Modern Woodmen, Modern Brotherhood of Ameri- ca, the Mystic Toilers and the Ancient Order of United Workmen.
Mr. Long's wedded life began in 1883 when his marriage with Minnow Melvina Weston, of Norway, lowa, was solemnized. His wife was born in Norway, lowa, in 1864 and is the daughter of John HI. and Ellen ( Mummey)
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Weston. They are the parents of the following children, eleven in number : Bessie Ellen, born 1884 and is the wife of Louis M. Dawes, of Sac City; Mrs. Maud Brobeil, of Cedar township and who was born in 1886; Robert McKee Long, the third, born in 1888, farmer, married Martha Alice Rhoads ; Edwin Garfield, born May 29, 1890, and was married November 1, 1911, to Elsie Pearl Witt, daughter of William Witt; Frank Otis, born 1892 and married in October of 1913, to Lola Cress and resides in Lavinia, Iowa; Ralph Henry, born in 1894 and resides at home; Glenn Herbert. born 1896; Ada Pearl, born in 1898; Charles Alfred, whose birth occurred in 1900; Mary Belle, who was born in 1902; Edith Emily, born in 1904.
This brief resume of the life of Robert McKee Long is presented herein with the conviction that it will be esteemed as a memoir of great value by his children. descendants and friends. It is an epitome of the life of a self-made man who has not only achieved a comfortable competence solely through his own efforts but has the enviable distinction of having reared a large and interesting family of children who are being brought up in the surroundings of a Christian and cultured home. It is an epitome of a self- made man of gentle birth and who is proud of his Germanic and Scotch- Irish ancestry. Having the advantages of gentle birth and the inspiration of a long line of sturdy ancestors to inspire his efforts, he has become a citizen of wide influence in his adopted county. From newsboy and bootblack to being the owner of a valuable Sac county farm, the father of a large and in- teresting family, and to being a leader among his fellow citizens, along the paths of good government. is a long step forward and credit sufficient. It is the records of the lives of such men as Mr. Long that make interest- ing reading and furnish inspiration to the readers of this valuable volume.
Mr. Long has never been an office seeker, though time after time he has been solicited to become a candidate for various offices. At the earnest solicitation of the leaders of the Progressive party and yielding to the importunities of his many friends throughout Sac county, he became the candidate of the party for the important office of representative to the state Legislature. in the spring of 1914. His strength as a candidate is indis- putable and recognized by the great agricultural class of his home county. His ability as a public speaker of note is attracting wide attention for the clearness of his logic and the force of his arguments as coming from a man of sound and honest convictions. His many friends view his candi- dacy with optimistic predictions and he is receiving firm support which will enable him to make a strong race for the position which will land him in the halls of the state Legislature if successful at the November election.
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MARION MOCK.
One of the substantial and enterprising citizens of Sac City and one who has achieved marked success, first as an agriculturist and then as a miller, is Marion Mock, proprietor of the grist and flour mill operating in the west part of the city. This mill was established in 1897 and was pur- chased by Mr. Mock in 1908. The mill has an output and a capacity of five hundred bushels of grain daily. It is fitted with two grinders and one assist- ant is employed to operate the machinery.
Mr. Mock was born May 28, 1860, in Polk county, Iowa, and was the son of Daniel and Catharine ( Hart) Mock, natives of Ohio and Pennsyl- vania, respectively. Daniel Mock migrated to Iowa as early as 1845 and settled in Polk county when Des Moines consisted of only a fort and a cluster of houses and was a trading station in the wilderness. For some years he teamed from Keokuk to Des Moines, and made the first trip to the new country from Indiana. He purchased a farm about twelve miles north of Des Moines, and became the owner of a quarter section of river bottom land, over which there was considerable litigation for a number of years, but he eventually secured a clear title to the same and then disposed of it. Mr. Mock had a government title to this tract, but it was claimed by the River Land Company and the consequent litigation ensued. After disposing of his first farm, he bought another quarter section, ten miles north of Des Moines, but sold this seven years later and moved to Springfield, Missouri, for awhile. Returning to Iowa, he settled near the state fair grounds, in the vicinity of Des Moines, and died in 1910.
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