USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 60
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SAC COUNTY, IOWA.
a farmer ; Carl, a farmer : Clarence, a farmer : Hulda, deceased : Emma, the wife of Augustus Buth, of Lytton; Mary, the wife of Chris Arndt. an im- plement dealer : Mrs. Matilda Thielhorn, of this county ; Mrs. Elizabeth Thielhorn, of this county, and Zelma and Clara, who are still at home with their parents.
Politically, Mr. Brehm is a stanch Democrat, but has never been solicit- ous as to political honors. He and all of the members of his family are loyal attendants of the German Lutheran church and give freely of their means to its support. Mr. Brehm is a man who has won success because he has applied those principles of honesty and integrity in all lines of his work. He has lived a very useful and busy life, having divided his interest between his implement store, farming and the live-stock business. For years he has been an extensive dealer in live stock, buying and shipping hogs and cattle by the car load. He is genial in his manner and is highly respected by every one with whom he comes in contact. He is interested in the welfare of his com- munity and is always ready to lend his hearty support to all commendable measures which are directed toward the public good.
GEORGE B. WILLHOITE.
Specific mention is made in the following paragraphs of one of the worthy citizens of Sac county, Iowa, one who has figured in the growth and development of this favored locality and whose interests have been identified with its progress, contributing in a definite measure in his particular sphere of action to the well-being of the community in which he resides and to the advancement of its normal and legitimate growth. Earnest purpose and tire- less energy, combined with mature judgment and every-day common sense in the banking business, have been among his most prominent characteristics, and he has merited the respect and esteem which are accorded him by all who know him.
George B. Willhoite, the present cashier of the Farmers Savings Bank. of Lytton, lowa, was born October 24, 1885. in Cisco, Piatt county, Illinois. son of R. S. and Elizabeth ( Taylor ) Willhoite, natives of Kentucky and Tennessee, respectively. The parents of the Willhoite and Taylor families settled in Illinois in about 1850, and R. S. Willhoite and Elizabeth Taylor were married in that state. R. S. Willhoite was the son of Thomas Willhoite and came to lowa in 1803, settling in October of that year in Wall Lake.
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where the father managed a harness manufacturing establishment, and they remained here until 1905, when they moved to Schaller, this county. In 1907 they went to Owanka, South Dakota, where they are now living with a daughter. Mr. and Mrs. R. S. Willhoite were the parents of five children : A. P. and Gertrude live in Owanka. South Dakota: P. M. is a farmer of Wall Lake, Iowa ; G. S. is a civil engineer at Aztec, New Mexico, and George B., whose history is here presented.
George B. Willhoite was educated in Wall Lake, where he completed the common and high school courses in that town, after which he clerked in stores in the town and did office work. His first banking experience was in the German Bank of Wall Lake, and from there he came to Lytton, in this county, as assistant cashier of the Farmers Savings Bank in 1906. He applied himself to his new duties and showed such a commendable spirit in grasping the details of his new position that he was promoted by the stockholders of the bank to the responsible position of cashier in the spring of 1913. In this position he is giving satisfactory service to the bank and he is becoming in- creasingly useful to the success of the financial institution.
The Lytton Savings Bank was organized in 1902 by F. Schug and H. H. Fitch, with Mr. Fitch as president and Mr. Schug as cashier. The bank was started with a capital stock of ten thousand dollars, and continued to operate until June 1, 1906, when it was taken over by the Farmers Savings Bank, of Lytton, which had been organized only a few months previously, with a capital stock of fifteen thousand dollars. Upon the organization of that bank, C. F. Brobiel became president and F. A. Ayers, cashier. When the Lytton Savings Bank was liquidated and taken over by the Farmers Savings Bank Frank Corey was elected president : John L. Hamilton, vice-president ; F. A. Avers. cashier; G. B. Willhoite, assistant cashier. The present officers are Frank Corey, president ; F. A. Ayers, vice-president ; G. B. Willboite, cashier ; C. H. Castor, assistant cashier. The bank now has a capital stock of twenty- five thousand dollars and in 1913 had a surplus and undivided profits of five thousand dollars, with deposits of two hundred and twenty-five thousand dollars. The capital stock had been increased from fifteen thousand dollars to twenty-five thousand dollars upon its incorporation in 1910. The bank is now located in its own brick building, where it has commodious and con- venient quarters.
Mr. Willhoite was married in December, 1907, to Mabel L. Trumbauer, of Lytton, the daughter of Peter B. and Lovina J. Trumbauer. The Trum- bauer family were old settlers of Sac county, and among the most prominent citizens of the county. They came to Sac county in 1883, and owned the
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land on which the town of Lytton was built. They sold the townsite to the Milwaukee Land Company and platted the Trumbauer Addition. Mr. Trum- bauer died in 1909, and his widow is now residing with her daughter. Mr. and Mrs. Willhoite have one son, Robert B., who is now four years of age.
In politics, Mr. Willhoite votes the Republican ticket and works in har- mony with the principles of that party. Mrs. Willhoite is a member of the Presbyterian church. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and also the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Willhoite keeps well informed on all the current topics of the day, and is a well-mannered, genteel, highly intelligent gentleman, who has gained the respect of all with whom he has been associated during his comparatively short residence in this county.
CHARLES NUEHRING.
A business man of Lytton who has in the past two years built up a lucrative trade in the harness business is Charles Nuehring, one of the many sons of Germany who have made this county their home. The remarkable part of Mr. Nuehring's career is the fact that he left the farm in middle life and came to Lytton without previous experience of any kind in the harness-making business and made a success of his new profession. He had never had any experience which might apply to his new profession except what he had been taught by his father to operate a tailor's sewing machine.
Charles Nuehring, a successful harness-maker and merchant of Lytton, lowa, was born in Clayton county, Iowa, in 1868, the son of Frederick and Louisa ( Bohlmann ) Nuehring. both of whom were natives of Germany. Frederick Nuehring and wife were born, reared and married in Germany, coming to this country in 1865, and in the same year located on a farm in Clayton county, lowa. In 1870 they located in Butler county, this state, where they remained for twelve years. In 1882 they moved to Sac county and purchased two hundred and forty acres of land in Cedar township. sections 25 and 26. Here Frederick Nuehring died in 1903, at the age of seventy-seven, and his wife five years later, at the age of seventy-two. Mr. and Mrs. Frederick Nuehring were the parents of eleven children : Mrs. Wilhelmina Ehlers, of Cedar township, this county; Henry and Carolina, of Minnesota ; Fred, of Wisconsin ; Mollie, of Buena Vista county, Iowa; Will- iam, of Calhoun county, this state ; Mrs. Annie Albinger, of Cedar township. this county; Charles, whose history is here presented; Mrs. Christina Helni-
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brecht. of Calhoun county, this state, and Lewis and Augustus, of Cedar township, Sac county.
Charles Nuehring began to work for himself at the age of twenty-one years, and until 1912 farmed in this county, and still owns a fine farm of eighty acres in Cedar township, which he rents at the present time. On May 9. 1912, Mr. Nuehring purchased an established harness business in Lytton, and has made a pronounced success of his new oeenpation in the short time which he has had control of it. It is not often that a man of his age can enter a new line of business and manage it successfully, but that Mr. Nuehring has done this is evidenced by the business which he is now doing day by day.
Mr. Nuchring is a Republican in polities, although he has never taken an active interest in the deliberations of his party. He is a member of the German Lutheran church and subscribes liberally to its support.
Mr. Nuehring was married in 1903 to Freda Fletcher, of Buena Vista county, this state, and to this marriage have been born two children, Walter and Rose. Mr. Nuehring is well known throughout the township and has many excellent qualities of head and heart, which have won for him many friends, and consequently he is one of the representative men of his town and community and well merits a place in this biographieal volume.
WILLIAM W. HENNING.
Among the prosperous farmers of Jackson township. Sac county, Iowa, is William W. Henning, who embodies all of those characteristics which are the marks of the progressive farmer of the twentieth century. Although he has been in this county only a comparatively short time. yet he has impressed his individuality upon the community where he settled, by virtue of the fact that he is a man of strong convictions and upright character. Coming here from the state of Illinois, he made the change because he felt that this was one of the best agricultural sections of the country, and that this county offered the farmer as good or better opportunity for a successful career than could be found any place in the United States.
William W. Henning, of Jackson township, was born August 7, 1860, at Plano, Illinois, and is the son of William and Marinda ( Brown) Henning, natives of New York. William Henning. Sr., is the son of Cornelius Hen- ning, who left his native state of New York and came by the lakes through Chicago. Cornelius and his family then traveled by wagon to Plano, two
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miles distant from Chicago. They settled on a farm in the immediate vicinity of that city. William Henning, Sr., was a prosperous farmer and stock raiser in Illinois and was one of the most substantial citizens in the locality where he lived. Half of the present city of Plano was built on the Henning farm. William Henning, Sr., died in 1886, at the age of seventy-two and his wife died ten years later, at the age of sixty-nine. Nine children, in- cluding three sets of twins, were born to Mr. and Mrs. William Henning, Sr. : Loren, of Plano, Illinois; Gilbert, deceased : Mrs. Clara Cox, of Aurora, Nebraska: Herschell, of Marengo, Illinois: Hattie, deceased: William W .. whose history is here recorded; Mrs. Eva Laurie, of Aurora, Nebraska : Clarence, deceased; Wallace, deceased, who was a twin of the subject.
William W. Henning was educated in the Plano public schools and later attended Aurora Seminary, a Methodist institution. He assisted his father on the home farm until he was twenty-three years of age and then managed the family farm of three hundred and twenty acres near Steward, Illinois, where he resided twelve years. In 1895 he sold his farm and moved to Plano, Illinois, where he served as city marshal for three years. In 1901 he came to Sac county, having purchased, in 1900, his present farm of one hun- (red and ninety acres for fifty-five dollars an acre. He has spent nearly six thousand dollars in improving the farm since he purchased it, putting one thousand dollars on the house, three thousand dollars in tiling and one thou- sand dollars for stock and machinery. He now has the farm in excellent con- dition and values it at two hundred dollars an acre. In 1913 he had seventy- five acres of corn, which averaged fifty bushels to the acre. That year he also raised twenty-five head of cattle, forty head of hogs and ten head of horses.
Mr. Henning was married February 14, 1884. to Adah Wilcox, of Plano, Illinois. She died in January, 1909, leaving three children, Bertha, Davis and Dorothy. Bertha and Dorothy are with their father, while Davis is managing the farm for his father. Davis married Irene Masteller, of Sac county, and has one son, Verlin. On April 24, 1913. Mr. Henning was mar- ried to Agnes Bock, a former teacher of Sac county, the daughter of J. A. and Hetty \. Bock, both natives of Pennsylvania. The Bock family came from Pennsylvania to Carroll county, lowa, in 1877, and moved to Sac county in 1809. where they have since resided.
Mr. Henning is a progressive Republican and, while interesting himself in the various political questions of the day, he has never been an aspirant for any public office. His family are members of the Presbyterian church, while, fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and Modern Woodmen of America, having been a member of the latter order
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since he was twenty-five years of age. Mr. Henning has been a man of action and has lived a life which has been in accord with the Golden Rule. He has carried forward to successful completion whatever he has undertaken, and his business methods have been in strict conformity with the standard ethics of commercial life. He has never shrunk from his duties as a citizen, his obligations to his church, his neighbors or his friends.
WILLIAM W. RHOADS.
It was once remarked by a celebrated moralist and biographer that "there has scarcely passed a life of which a judicious and faithful narrative would not have been useful." Believing in the truth of this opinion, ex- pressed by one of the greatest and best of men, the writer of this review takes pleasure in presenting a few facts in the career of a gentleman who, by indus- try, perseverance, temperance and integrity has worked himself from an humble station to a successful place in life and won an honorable position among the well-known and highly esteemed men of the locality in which he resides.
W. W. Rhoads, a prosperous farmer of Wall Lake township, was born May 25. 1865, in Zena, now known as Woodward, Dallas county, Iowa. His parents were Louis and Jane ( McCracken ) Rhoads, natives of Ohio and Pennsylvania, respectively. Louis Rhoads was born in Ohio in 1845 and died in September, 1909, in Dallas county. He came with his parents to Dallas county, Iowa, in 1852. The McCrackens were also early settlers in Dallas county.
W. W. Rhoads received his education in Dallas and Calhoun counties, and lived with his parents until he was married, at the age of twenty-one. He continued to reside in Dallas county until 1893. and then moved to Calhoun county, where he farmed for eight years. In 1901 he came to Sac county and bought his present farm of one hundred and thirty-two acres in Wall Lake township. His farm is well improved, and during the twelve years in which he has lived on it he has brought it to a state of cultivation where he re- ceives a handsome return on his yearly crops. He is fortunate in having fifteen acres of timber land upon his farm, and has an attractive residence, substantial and well-arranged barns and other outbuildings. He is a pro- gressive farmer in every sense of the word and in the matter of rotation of
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM W. RHOADS
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crops and the other incidental features of successful agriculture, he shows an attitude which stamps him as a man of good practical judgment.
Mr. Rhoads was married on Christmas day, 1886, to Dora Bean, of Jasper county, lowa, daughter of Enoch and Helen Beam. To this union have been born five children : Mrs. Effie Peyton, of Sac City; Mrs. Mattie Alice Long, of Cedar township, this county; Donald, who is now in the United States navy, on battleship "Montgomery ;" Neil and Wesley, who are still at home with their parents.
Mr. Rhoads has been voting the Republican ticket since he cast his first ballot, and while taking an active interest in the welfare of his party, he has never been an aspirant for any public office. The family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and to it they contribute liberally of their means. Fraternally, he is a member of the Yeomen and the Modern Woodmen of America. During the more than a half score of years which he has lived in this county, Mr. Rhoads has lived a life which has brought him the friend- ship and esteem of all who know him. While successful in his own private affairs, he has also interested himself in the welfare of others and gives his unreserved support to every enterprise which is for the advancement of the welfare of his fellow citizens.
DAVID CORSAUT.
One of the most prosperous farmers and stock men of Sac county is David Corsaut, of Jackson township. He has built up a reputation as one of the leading horse men in the state of lowa. He has been interested in the breeding of Percheron thoroughbred horses for the past seven years, buying his first brood mare in 1907 at Sioux City, for which he paid six hundred and sixty dollars. The following winter he bought the champion brood mare of Iowa, "Victorine." He now has three of the finest Percheron stallions in Iowa, one of which he imported in the spring of 1913 at the cost of eighteen hundred dollars. This stallion, "Cato," is three years old and weighs one thousand, nine hundred and sixty pounds. He now has over twelve head of thoroughbred Percheron horses on his farm and has had the gratification of taking sweepstakes at the state fair in Des Moines on more than one occasion.
David Corsaut was born February 10, 1840, in London, Canada, and
(39)
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is the son of James and Millicent ( Farrar) Corsaut. His father was born in New York state, his mother in Connecticut. His mother came from the famous Farrar family of preachers, who trace their ancestry back to John Knox, a reformer of the Middle ages. Mr. Corsaut also traces his ancestry back to the Corsauts of colonial times. His grandparents came from Hol- land and first settled in New York. James and Millicent F. Corsaut were the parents of eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. Five of these children are still living, namely: Ebenezer, of London, Ontario; James, of Anderson, Indiana: William, of Dakota; Charles, of New York, and David, whose history is portrayed in this connection. Both of the parents of David Corsaut died in Canada, his mother living to the advanced age of ninety-one.
David Corsaut received all of his education in the schools of Canada and lived at home until he was twenty-three years of age. In 1863 he left Canada and came to Michigan, where he hired out as a farm hand for two years, then settled in St. Clair county, Michigan, where he married and bought a farm, on which he lived until 1886. He then moved to Butler county, lowa, and the year following went to Hamilton county, in the same state, where he lived on a rented farm for six years. He saved his money with the intention of investing in land at the first opportunity and in 1892 he came to Sac county and purchased three hundred and twenty acres of land for twenty-three dollars an acre. Since purchasing this land he has erected all the buildings, thoroughly tiled and fenced the farm. In 1899 he bought three hundred and twenty acres in Cedar township at forty-five dollars an acre and now owns six hundred and forty acres in Sac county, which is worth two hundred dollars an acre.
Mr. Corsaut was married April 15, 1867, to Sarah Hunt, the daughter of John and Mary ( Wilcox ) Hunt, and was born in Exeter, England. Her parents came to America in 1870 and settled in London, Ontario, where they lived and died. To John and Mary W. Hunt were born twelve children, nine of whom are now living: Grace, Thomas, William, Elizabeth, Harry, Sarah, Fanny, Hunt, Mary Jane, and Ann. Robert and Samuel, deceased.
Mr. and Mrs. Corsaut have reared six children, one dying in infancy : William and Charles are at home with their parents; James is a farmer of Cedar township, married and has four children, Frances, Dwight, Zada and Loren; Mrs. Emma Hendrickson, of Sac City, who has two children, Fern and David; Mrs. Zada Keir, of Spencer, Iowa, who has children, Robert and Ferris ; Hannah died at the age of twenty-two months in Michigan.
Politically, Mr. Corsaut is a Republican and, while taking an intelligent interest in the political issues of the day, he has never been an aspirant for
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any public office. He and his family are loyal members of the Presbyterian church, and ally themselves with various interests of that denomination. Mr. Corsaut has all of those qualities which go to make up ideal citizenship. Among those with whom he associates he is held in high regard. His strong character, farseeing judgment and high purposes have won for him a large circle of friends and acquaintances, who admire him for the life of strict integrity and usefulness which he has led since coming to this county.
FRANK E. PRATT.
Specific mention is made of many of the worthy citizens of Sac county within the pages of this book, citizens who have figured in the growth and development of this favored locality and whose interests are identified with its every phase of progress, each contributing in his sphere of action to the well-being of the community in which he resides and to the advancement of its moral and legitimate growth. Among this number is he whose name ap- pears at the head of this article, who has long been recognized as one of the leading and substantial citizens of his locality.
Frank E. Pratt, proprietor of a prosperous furniture and drug business in Lytton, lowa, was born August 6, 1874, in Benton county, this state, about four miles from Shellsburg, the son of Morgan S. and Mary Pratt, natives of Vermont and Indiana, respectively. Morgan S. Pratt came to Jowa when about fourteen years of age with his parents, reaching this state in 1856. In 1905 Morgan S. Pratt and wife moved to Cedar Rapids, this state, where they are now living.
F. E. Pratt received his education in the common schools and in the Iowa State University, from which institution he graduated in the de- partment of pharmacy in May, 1902. He started in the drug business at Cedar Rapids, and came to Lytton in 1908, where he purchased a drug store which was already established in that town, and has continued to reside here since that time. In addition to his drug business he also handles furniture and is engaged in the undertaking business. He has two floors completely stocked with a good assortiment of furniture and all of the ordinary articles which are found in all first-class drug stores. He has an excellent business and is rapidly coming to the front as one of the substantial business men of the town and vicinity.
Mr. Pratt was married April 5. 1905, to Iva Simpson, of Cedar Rapids.
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Politically. Mr. Pratt is a Republican, while in his church relations he is allied with the Presbyterians. Fraternally, he is a member of the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks at Huron. South Dakota, where he worked as a pharmacist for a year and a half after his graduation from college. Mr. Pratt is a pleasant and genial man to meet and by his tact and courtesy is rapidly enlarging his patronage. He is a thorough pharmacist in every sense of the word and carries a line of drugs which enables him to compound pre- scriptions without any difficulty. He and his wife are the centers of a wide circle of friends and acquaintances, and their home is a favorite gathering place of these friends.
CLARK COX.
The Union soldier during the great war between the states builded wiser than he knew. Through four years of suffering and wasting hardships, through the horrors of prison pens and amid the shadows of death, he laid the superstructure of the greatest temple ever erected and dedicated to human freedom. The world looked on and called those soldiers sublime. for it was theirs to reach out the mighty arm of power and strike the chains from off the slave, preserve the country from dissolution, and to keep furled to the breeze the only flag that ever made tyrants tremble and whose majes- tic stripes and scintillating stars are still waving universal liberty to all the earth. For all the minmeasured deeds the living present will never repay them. Pension and political power may be thrown at their feet; art and sculpture may preserve upon canvas and in granite and bronze their unselfish deeds ; history may commit to books and cold type may give to the future the tale of their sufferings and triumphs, but to the children of the genera- tions yet unborn will it remain to accord the full measure of appreciation and undying remembrance of the immortal character carved out by the American soldiers in the dark days of the early sixties, numbered among whom is the gentleman whose name appears at the head of this sketch.
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