USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 67
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WILLIAM AUGUST STANZEL.
One of the retired farmers of Odebolt, Iowa, who has acquired a fine farm in this county, is William A. Stanzel, the proprietor of two hundred and eighty acres of land in Richland township. in this county. Mr. Stanzel was born November 27, 1872, in Clinton county, this state, and is the son of William A. and Laurinda R. Stanzel, pioneers in Sac county. The reader is referred to the history of William A. and L. R. Stanzel, elsewhere in this volume, for further details concerning the Stanzel ancestry.
William A. Stanzel was four years of age when his parents came from Clinton county to. Sac county. He was reared on the home farm and attended the district schools of his township, and has lived within this county since March, 1876. When he was twenty-one years of age his father gave him one hundred and sixty acres of land, and on this farm he lived until 1903, at which time he bought a farm in Jackson township, on which he lived five years, when he sold it, and moved to his farm in Richland town-
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ship, and in January, 1913, moved to Odebolt, where he is now living. He is now the owner of two hundred and eighty acres of excellent land in sec- tion 33 in Richland township, his farm lying about one mile west of Ode- bolt. He is not now actively operating his farm, yet he is superintending it and has the satisfaction of seeing it yield handsome returns each year.
Mr. Stanzel was married March 10. 1897, to Fannie S. Fulcher, of Sac county, who was a daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Fulcher. Thomas Fulcher and Eliza Reed Fulcher were natives of England and emigrated to Illinois and to Sac county, Iowa, in 1894, settling on a farm in Clinton town- ship. Thomas died March 23, 1904. He was the father of seven children, six living : Mrs. George C. Stanzel: Mrs. Orrie Irwin: Mrs. Burton Huftalin, of Illinois; David Fulcher. of Michigan; Carl Fulcher. on the home farm; one deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Stanzel have been born three children, Candace, Clara and Mary.
Politically, Mr. Stanzel is a Republican, but has never been prominently identified in the councils of his party. He and his family are attendants of the Presbyterian church and contribute of their substance to its support. Mr. Stanzel is well known throughout this county, and in the circles in which he mingles he is held in the highest regard because of his upright life and successful career.
JOHN DINGES.
The prosperity of the agricultural sections of our country is due to a considerable extent to the honest industry, the sturdy persistence, the un- swerving perseverance and wise economy which so prominently characterize the farming element of the Hawkeye state. While this population is made up of cosmopolitan elements in many localities, it is found that in many sections of the west, the German-Americans form a large and important quota of the general total and have exerted a preponderant influence in shaping and de- veloping the resources of this rich and fertile region. No better class of in- telligent, wide-awake German-American farmers are to be found in this broad land than those who have had the distinction of settling up certain portions of Sac county. A prominent and worthy representative of this diligent class of citizens is John Dinges, of Odebolt.
Nr. Dinges is one of the pioneer farmers of the southwest part of the county and is one of the prosperous and well-to-do retired citizens of the city of Odebolt. He was born February 6, 1846, in Prussia, German empire, and
MR. AND MRS. JOHN DINGES
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is of High German extraction. He is the son of John and Christian (Port) Dinges, who emigrated to America in 1854, and first settled in Lee county, Illinois. They were pioneer settlers of Lee county and formed a component part of a large German settlement. The father died in Lee county in June of 1908. They were the parents of four sons and three daughters, namely : Peter. the eldest ; John; Mrs. Gertrude Geiers, of Illinois; Frederick, residing in Illinois ; Mrs. Caroline Henrich, Odebolt ; Mrs. Mary Burkhardt, of Illinois ; and Joseph, also residing in Illinois. John was reared to young manhood on the Lee county farm and there received his schooling in the district schools of the neighborhood. He tilled the soil in his home county until the year 1874, when he made a trip to Sac county and invested his savings in an entire section of land in Richland township, which cost him six dollars an acre. He made his first payment on this land and then returned to Illinois, to await the building of the projected railroad through the southern part of Sac county. In 1879 he again came to Sac county and erected his house and barn on the land. In the following year he moved his family and household goods to his new ranch and proceeded to develop his broad acres. How well he succeeded is attested by the fact that he has given each of his grown sons a farmi of eighty acres and is possessed of considerable property in addition. He is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of the best Sac county land and also owns one hundred and sixty acres in Dickinson county, Iowa. Since March, 1905, he has made his residence in Odebolt, where he has one of the finest residences in the city. Mr. Dinges specialized in cattle raising while engaged actively in agriculture and was a well-known horse breeder for many years.
Mr Dinges is a stanch exponent of the principles of the Democratic party, and has filled the office of trustee of Richland township. He is affil- iated with St. Martin's Catholic church of Odebolt.
Mr. Dinges was married January 3, 1869, in Lee county, Illinois, to Katharina Beitz, a native of Prussia, born November 22, 1845, and who came to America with her parents in the same ship which carried her future hus- band in 1854. The Beitz family likewise settled in the same neighborhood in Lee county and were neighbors of the Dinges family. John Dinges and his estimable and capable wife are the proud parents of eight children, and probably has a greater number of grandchildren than any living citizen of Sac county. His children are as follows: Joseph, residing on the home farm, is the father of nine children, Alfred, Edward, Romaine, Pearl, Irma, Marie, Burnet, Joseph and George; John, Jr., who resides on a farm in South (43)
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Dakota, has ten children, Gertrude, Florence, Agnes, Frank, Fern. Clarence, John, Dorothy, Edna and Ruth ; Peter, who tills a portion of the old home- stead, and is the father of the following children, Joseph, Helen, Theo, William. Clement, Mary, Esther, Florence, and Rena; Mrs. Margaret Kel- mer, deceased May 7, 1908. was the mother of five children, Isabelle, Ber- nice, Hazel, Leslie and Floyd; Mrs. Julia Keeler, a resident of Odebolt. is the mother of eight children. Raymond, Hilda, Miriam, Lulu, Eva, Esther, Harold and Paul; Fred and Katharine, the youngest of the family, are at home with their parents. All the foregoing offspring have enjoyed excep- tional advantages and are intelligent and well fitted for the spheres of life in which they are engaged or for which they are preparing. They are proud of their parentage, and well they may be. for a more whole-souled. genial gentleman than John Dinges is not to be found anywhere.
CHARLES A. BURNQUIST.
Far-away Sweden has contributed some of the most enterprising citizens who are now living in Sac county, Iowa. The people of Sweden are known the world over for their honesty in business and good citizenship, and Sac county today boasts of 110 better citizens than the native sons of Sweden. Among the men who have come from that far-away land and made their home in this county, there is no one who deserves more honorable mention in this biographical volume than Charles A. Burnquist, who was born Octo- ber 4, 1854. in Sweden. His parents were Peter and Betsy (Johnson) Burnquist, who came to America in 1863 and located at Andover, Henry county, Illinois, on a farm. About five years later they moved to Webster county, Iowa, where Peter Burnquist died about the year 1879. Ilis widow is still living with her son, Charles A., in Odebolt. She was born August I, 1825, and is now in her eighty-ninth year. Mr. and Mrs. Peter Burnquist were the parents of five children, four of whom are living: Charles A., with whom this narrative deals; Mrs. Caroline Wamberg, of Marshalltown, Iowa; Mrs. Matilda Chinburg, of Sioux City, Iowa, and John, a farmer of Ida county.
Charles A. Burnquist received part of his education in Sweden before coming to this country and later attended school a short time in Webster county, Iowa. He moved from that county to Marshall county in 1878, settling on a farm. Later he operated a mercantile establishment at Dillon,
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Iowa, for three years. In 188: he came to Odebolt and purchased a mer- chandise store which he conducted for the next twelve years. He then sold out and became interested in the real estate business, buying and selling land throughout this section of the state. He bought an entire section of land in Battle and Logan townships in Ida county and has four hundred and eighty acres in Cook township, this county, now owning over one thousand acres. Mr. Burnquist has a handsome home on Lincoln avenue in Odebolt and for several years has not been actively engaged in business.
Mr. Burnquist was married November 25, 1886, in Marshalltown, Iowa, to Jessie Johnson, the daughter of John and Elizabeth Johnson. Her parents were natives of Sweden and came to America in 1879. They first settled in Chicago, but two years later moved to Wall Lake, where they both died. Mr. and Mrs. Burnquist have four children : Edward, a merchant of Grinnell, Iowa ; Jessie, a student in Ames College : Ellinor, a student in Ames College, and Fern, who is in the high school at Odebolt.
Mr. Burnquist is a Republican in politics and has served his party as city alderman of Odebolt for six years. He and his family are members of the Swedish Lutheran church and give liberally of their means to its support. Mr. Burnquist possesses a pleasing personality and is easily approached; strong and forceful in his relations with his fellow men, he not only makes his presence felt, but has also gained the good will and confidence of both his associates and the general public. He has always maintained his reputa- tion among men for integrity and high character and has never lost that dignity which is the birthright of the true gentleman.
JOHN H. WAGNER.
One of the men who, for the past thirty years, has been prominently identified with the business life of Odebolt and Sac county is J. H. Wagner, who is now living at Marshall, the county seat of Lyons county, Minnesota. Mr. Wagner has been identified with the business interests and agricultural interests of Sac county since 1881, and in that time has built up a repuation as a man of honesty and uprightness in all of his financial transactions. This county lost a most excellent citizen when his business interests called him to Minnesota.
John H. Wagner was born September 15, 1855, in Berks county, Penn- sylvania, and is a son of John S. and Mary (Haag) Wagner, both of whom
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were natives of Pennsylvania and spent all of their lives in that state. John S. Wagner and wife had a family of eight children. five of whom are living : J. H., with whom this narrative deals, Frank, James, Jacob and Isabella. The deceased children are Elias, Benjamin and Mary.
J. H. Wagner received a good. practical education in the schools of his home county in Pennsylvania, and in 1881 came to Toledo, Ohio. A few months later he came west to Sac county, Iowa, and settled in Odebolt, arriv- ing here in January. He took employment in a retail meat market as a meat cutter and continued in the meat business until 1897, at which time he engaged in the business with P. O. Edwards, and for the next fourteen years they operated a retail meat market in Odebolt. However, this has only been one of Mr. Wagner's interests. He has always been engaged in the buying and selling of farm lands since coming to this county, and he now owns two hundred and seventy-eight acres in Lyons county, Minnesota, which is located one-half mile from Marshall, the county seat of that county. He also owns one hundred and sixty acres in Yellow Medicine county, Minnesota. Until recently Mr. Wagner also owned one hundred and sixty acres in Wheeler township, this county, but recently sold this tract. He is also the owner of a handsome residence on Park avenue in Odebolt.
Mr. Wagner was married February 28, 1884. to Rose Rorabaugh, a native of Jasper county, Iowa, the daughter of Lewis and Elizabeth ( Weaver ) Rorabaugh. Her parents were natives of Pennsylvania and migrated to Jasper county, this state, about 1863. In 1880 Mrs. Wagner's parents left Jasper county and located on a farm in Cook township, this county. Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Lewis Rorabaugh. Rebecca. Agnes, Rose. Emery, Phoebe, Mary, and Harry, deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Wagner are the parents of seven children: Frank Earl, of Lytton. Iowa; Edith Pearl, a teacher of Clarion, Iowa ; Mary Alice, also a teacher : Edna Harriett ; Iva Lillian ; Florence Marian and Bessie Maude. The three youngest daugh- ters are still in school.
Politically, Mr. Wagner has been a life-long Republican, and has been prominently identified with his party in this county. For six years he served as a member of the city council of Odebolt, and while in that position he rendered faithful and efficient service to the city. Mr. Wagner was reared to the Lutheran belief, while his wife is a member of the Methodist Epis- copal church. Fraternally, Mr. Wagner is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and he and his wife are both affiliated with the Daughters of Rebekah. Mr. Wagner and his family will be missed from Odebolt, where they have a large circle of friends and acquaintances, who
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admire them for their many good qualities. Their hospitable home was always open and they entertained their many friends with that kindliness which marks people of culture and refinement.
JAMES L. BRUCE.
Among the enterprising business men of Odebolt, who are assisting in the development of the industrial and commercial life of this town and com- munity is J. L. Bruce, of the firm of Reuber & Bruce, dealers in grains and seeds. This firm, which is one of the largest of its kind in this section of the state, is of immense benefit to the farmers of Sac county, and it annually distributes several thousand dollars to the farmers of the county.
James L. Bruce was born May 10, 1873, in Delaware county, Iowa, and is the son of J. S. and Nettie O. (Younie) Bruce. J. S. Bruce was born in 1851 in Scotland and came to America in 1854 with his father, John Bruce, who first settled in Schenectady, New York, but three years later came to Delaware county, Iowa, and became one of the pioneer settlers of that county. In 1871 he came to Sac county, where he bought land in Wheeler township, but did not move his family from Delaware county until the spring of 1874. John Bruce was one of the first settlers in Wheeler township and died in Odebolt April 7, 1895, at an advanced age. Four sons accompanied John Bruce to Sac county: John, deceased; Robert, deceased ; Andrew, who lives near Kingsley, lowa, and J. S., father of the subject of this brief review.
J. S. Bruce was married in Delaware county, lowa, and settled on his farm there. He lived on this farm of two hundred acres for about one year, and, then, in the spring of 1874, removed to Sac county and lived on his farm in Wheeler township until he moved to Garber, Oklahoma, in the fall of 1900. He added to his land holdings from time to time and when he left this state he was the owner of six hundred acres of fine farming land in Wheeler township, and has since acquired four hundred and eighty acres in Oklahoma. The children born to Mr. and Mrs. J. S. Bruce were as fol- lows: James L., whose life history is here given ; Lewis Edward, of Garber, Oklahoma : Mrs. Jennie Potter, wife of Dr. W. L. Potter. a dentist of Garber, Oklahoma : Verrian. of Garber, Oklahoma; Bertha, of Fort Worth, Texas; Mrs. Blanche Brunken, of Garber, Oklahoma : Harry, of the same place.
James L. Bruce was reared on his father's farm in Wheeler township,
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this county, and received a limited education in the district schools of his township. In 1896 he began farming for himself, purchasing part of the old home place. In the fall of 1904 he sold his farm and in the spring of 1905 he moved to Odebolt, where he took employment in the hardware store of Mattes Company. After working for this firm for two years, he was manager of the Trans-Mississippi Grain Elevator for three years, and in the fall of 1900 he purchased a half interest in the grain business of A. H. W. Reuber, which is noted in detail elsewhere in this volume in the sketch of Mr. Reuber.
Mr. Bruce was married January 3, 1900, to Nellie Johnson, the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. A. W. Johnson, of DeWitt, Iowa, and they are the par- ents of one daughter, Rosmer Loraine, who was born October 6, 1901. Mr. and Mrs. Bruce are loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while Mr. Bruce is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons.
Politically. Mr. Bruce has been identified with the Republican party and is now a member of the city council of Odebolt. He is a man of high ideals and clean character and is well worthy of mention in a biographical volume of this nature, which is intended to include the representative men of Sac county.
HENRY FREY.
One of the earliest German settlers of Sac county, lowa, was Henry Frey, who came to this county forty years ago, and he has been a witness of the remarkable change which has come about in this county from the time that the first land in this county was tilled down to the present time, when it is covered with some of the finest farms to be found any place in the world. He was born February 17, 1836, in Germany, his parents, John and Katharine (Schwartz) Frey, belonging to the class known in Germany as High Germans. His parents were farmers and his father. John Frey, was ambitious for his children to make a success in life. Accordingly, in the antunın of the year 1851, John Frey and his whole family, consisting of his wife and six children, John. Henry. Phillip, George, Christina. Barbara and Katharine, crossed the ocean and landed in New York on November 8, 1851. They came over in an old-fashioned sailing vessel and their voyage was nine weeks in length. They came direct from New York City to Chicago, landing there in the midst of winter. They at once settled in Lake county, twenty- two miles out of Chicago, where John Frey bought a forty-acre farm. A
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year later he moved to Lee county, Iowa, where he bought another farm. In this county John Frey and his wife both passed the remainder of their days.
Henry Frey was fifteen and one-half years of age when his father decided to come to this country with his family. He had received the best education which the local schools of his community in Germany afforded, and upon coming to this country he began to help his father upon the farm. He was married in Lee county, Illinois, and lived there until 1874. On April 30th of that year be bought three hundred and twenty acres of land in Clinton township. Sac county, paying five dollars an acre for the land. Eleven years later he bought eighty acres more, for which he paid twenty- five dollars an acre, and still owns the four hundred acres which he pur- chased in this township. He has two complete sets of buildings on his land. When he first purchased these tracts. the land was raw prairie and the hand of man had never touched it. His nearest trading place was Storm Lake. and in order to get the lumber to build his first home he had to haul it from Vail, lowa. As he was the first settler in his part of the township. he was looked upon as a man of judgment when it came to advising other farmers what to do and how to manage their crops in the new locality. Many people came from Lee county and settled in Sac county, and the Frey home became the center of many new incoming families. Mr. Frey continued to reside upon his farm until 1903, when he moved to Odebolt, where he has since lived, having a pleasant, modern home in that city, equipped with all the latest conveniences.
Mr. Frey was married in 1860 to Katrina Luft, a native of Germany, whose death occurred in 1908, at the age of seventy-two. They were the parents of ten children, only one of whom is living, George Henry, who was born in Lee county, Illinois, March 11, 1874. He is the owner of the automobile shop and garage in Odebolt, and married Katharine Mehlbrech, and they have two daughters, Florence and Anna. The children who are deceased are Jacob, William, Mary, Katharine and five who died in infancy.
Mr. Frey has long been identified with the Republican party in this county and was one of the early trustees of his township. Religiously, he and his family have long been members of the German Methodist Episcopal church, and render it substantial assistance in every way. The career of Mr. Frey in this county has been one well worthy of emulation, because it shows what can be accomplished by a man who applies himself with the proper determination.
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WILLIAM A. STANZEL.
We are taught that the immortality of the soul is the divine gift to hu- manity : that life does not end when the body ceases to breathe, and when we are no longer in the flesh on this earth into which we are born, the immortal soul, freed of its earthly casing, soars onward and upward to the unknown realms wherein there is neither strife, nor sorrow, nor travail, nor pain- there to be judged and taken to the bosoni of the great Ruler of the Universe forever and ever. Be it so -- it is a comforting thought to those of us who remain on earth to live out our allotted span of years and to do our work as assigned, that we shall meet again with loved ones in the Great Beyond from which no man has yet returned. The departure of the soul of William A. Stanzel from its earthly habitation marked the close of a long and honorable career as a pioneer settler of Sac county, a kind and provident father and a highly esteemed citizen.
William A. Stanzel was born August 31, 1833, in Schonnecow, Prussia. in the highlands of Germany. He was the son of Martin and Eva Rosanna Stanzel, the father being a miller by trade. In 1847 his mother died and the father, accompanied by his family of five sons and two daughters, set sail for America. Some of his family had preceded him and had located near the city of Oshkosh, Wisconsin. Here the immigrants likewise settled and there William A. lived for a time. When still a youth he left home and journeyed westward in search of fortune. After a stay of some months in the city of St. Paul, he came southward to Illinois. Here things apparently did not satisfy him and opportunity seemed remote, so he came on into Iowa and settled down to the serions and commendable pursuit of farming in Clinton county. He prospered and was rewarded for his diligence and industry and was doubly blessed when he took to wife Mrs. Laurinda R. (Clark ) Kenyon on the 27th day of August, 1864. This was a fortunate day for him, as later events proved.
Laurinda R. (Clark) Kenyon, with whom this narrative is also intimately concerned, was born March 13, 1842, on a farm in Delaware county of the old Buckeye state. The parental farm was located in Berkshire township. She is the daughter of Barnabas and Submit ( Hitchcock ) Clark, and is a descend- ant of an old and illustrious American family which dates its origin back to the days of the Pilgrim Fathers and the best blood of New England flows in the veins of her and her children. The Clark family, according to authentic record. begins in America with Thomas Clark, a first mate of the historic ship
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"Mayflower." It is recorded in history that he was the first of the Pilgrims to land on the bleak shores of New England. Beginning with Barnabas Clark, father of Mrs. Stanzel, and tracing backward, we find that he was the son of Alvin Clark and was born September II, 1799; was married in May of 1824 to Submit Hitchcock. who was born on January 2, 1801, and died May 6, 1878. Barnabas learned the trade of wagonmaker, but also worked as a skilled crafts- man in the engraving art. He settled in Delaware county, Ohio, and re- moved from there to Clinton county, Iowa, after his marriage. He died September 27, 1890. His children were as follows: Samuel Hall Clark, deceased; Mary Jane Dunkin, deceased; Sabra Clapp (Wade), of Elwood; Frederick Hanks, postmaster of Lakeview ; Mrs. Laurinda Roxana Stanzel. It is worthy of note that Prof. Alvin Clark, the famous telescope manufacturer and astronomer, of world-wide fame, was a brother of Barnabas Clark.
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