USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 76
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Mr. Kramer was born August 21, 1887, in Platteville, Wisconsin, the son of William A. and Dora (Jackson) Kramer, natives of Wisconsin and Indi- ana respectively. William A. Kramer followed the trade of barber and re- moved from Platteville to Schaller with his family in 1901, conducting a barbering establishment there until his death in 1903. He was the father of three children: Mrs. Rosa Rigge, of Appleton, Minnesota; Leona, who is assistant postmistress, and Ozro.
Ozro Kramer was graduated from the Schaller high school in 1906. Later, he entered Buena Vista College, Stormi Lake, Jowa, and graduated from the commercial department in 1908. In June of the same year he became assistant postmaster of Schaller and was appointed to take full charge of the office in May, 1912. This office is now a third-class office and maintains three rural routes for the convenience of the patrons in the farm- ing section surrounding the town.
Mr. Kramer is a Republican in politics. He is a member of the Meth- odist Episcopal church and is affiliated with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen. He is unmarried and makes his resi-
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dence with his mother and sister. He is a young man of exemplary habits, clean cut, honest, thorough in his discharge of his obligations to the public, and is destined to make his way in the world on the rising path of upward progress.
GUST HAMMERSTROM.
To a great extent the gratifying degree of prosperity which reflects from the broad and smiling acres of Sac county, Iowa, is due to the honest industry, the sturdy persistence, the unswerving perseverance and the wise economy which characterize that portion of the farming element of this county which traces its origin to the land of Sweden, across the seas. Among the natives of that land who have won a pleasing measure of success for them- selves and at the same time conferred honor and dignity upon their chosen locality by their commendable course in life, may be mentioned the subject of this sketch.
Gust Hammerstrom, residing on his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in section 19. of Wheeler township. Sac county, Iowa, has made something of a name for himself as a breeder of live stock. He favors the Shorthorn breed and keeps on hand twelve animals of this pure strain, having at the present time about fifty head altogether. He also has about seventy-five hogs and makes a specialty of the Chester White strain, supplying the demands of the breeders in Sac. Crawford and Ida counties.
Mr. Hammerstrom was born in Sweden on January 20. 1869, being a son of John and Anna Haminerstrom, both of whom died in their native country. The elder Hammerstrom was a farmer in that country, and Gust was, there- fore, reared on a farm, coming to America in 1889. when twenty years of age. He located first in Minneapolis, where he remained only for a short time and then came to Wall Lake and thence to the southwestern portion of Sac county. Here he engaged in farm work for some time, and in 1892 went to Denver. Colorado, where he secured employment with the street railway company of that city. He remained there for two years, returning to this county, where. for six years, he rented farming lands. About the year 1900 he saw his way clear to make an investment in land for himself and purchased a tract con- taining eighty acres, lying across the line in Ida county, for which he paid fifty dollars per acre. This he sold in the spring of 1909 at one hundred and forty dollars per acre, when he purchased his present farm, for which he paid one hundred and thirty-five dollars per acre. Since obtaining possession of this
GUST. HAMMERSTROM AND FAMILY
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land he has greatly improved it and today it stands worth much more than the amount at which he obtained it. For a time he and his brother, August, owned a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Union county, South Dakota, but after retaining it for about three years they disposed of it to advantage.
On December 11, 1891, Mr. Hammerstrom was united in marriage with Emma Linquist, born in Sweden, the daughter of Jonas Anderson and Caro- line Larson, who came to America in the fall of 1888 and located in Ida county. To their union have been born five sons and one daughter. Roy, the eldest, is a student at the Ames Agricultural College and has studied at the Sac City Institute, having also completed courses at the Buena Vista College. The other members of the family, namely: Ralph, a student in the Dennison University, Russell, Howard, Wesley and Garnett remain under the parental roof. Mr. Hammerstrom is a man who keeps himself fully informed on cur- rent events, and at the birth of the Progressive party he endorsed the platform laid down by its leaders. His religious affiliation is with the Swedish Baptist church at Arthur, and he is considered one of the best members of that society.
It would be impossible to touch fully upon the struggles of the earlier years Gust Hammerstrom passed in this country and the many hardships he endured in order to get a start, but his later successes have justified whatever sacrifices he may have made at the beginning. He is a man of sterling quali- ties of character, even-tempered, patient and scrupulously honest in all the rela- tions of life, hospitable and charitable, and he has gained the approval and high esteem of his fellow citizens because of his upright life.
FRANK H. McCRAY, M. D.
Sac county, Iowa, has reason to take pride in the personnel of her corps of medical men from the earliest days in her history to the present time, and on the roll of honored names that indicates the services of distinguished citizens in this field of endeavor there is reason in reverting with gratification to that of Dr. Frank H. McCray, of Schaller, who has attained eminence in his chosen calling and for a number of years has stood among the scholarly and enterprising physicians in a community long distinguished for the high order of its medical talent. He realized early that there is a purpose in life and that there is no honor not founded on worth and no respect not founded on accomplishment. His life and labors have been eminently worthy, be- cause they have contributed to a proper understanding of life and its problems.
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Dr. Frank H. McCray, of Schaller, Iowa, was born November 30. 1866, in Henry county, this state, the son of Francis and Esther (Van Vost) Mc- Cray. Francis McCray was born in Warren county, Ohio, in 1815, and his wife was a native of Indiana. Her mother's maiden name was Carroll, her grandfather being a Revolutionary soldier. In 1844 Francis McCray and family came to Iowa. settling in Henry county, and were among the pioneer families in that county. As a youth Francis McCray taught school in Mississippi, and as a result of his interest in education he gave all of his children a good, practical educational training himself. Francis McCray and wife reared a family of seven children: Albert, deceased : Orlando. of Great Falls, Montana; Mrs. Sarah Phoneta, deceased, who left two sons, Carl and Earl, and a daughter, Lulu: John N. is now living on the old home- stead place in Henry county, Iowa ; Mrs. Mary Hart, whose husband is a professor in Amherst College, Massachusetts, and she herself was a former teacher in the State Normal School of Iowa; Martha, deceased at the age of seventeen years; Joseph G., of Trenton, Iowa, and Dr. Frank H. The mother of Doctor McCray was born on November 25. 1832, and died in 1905.
Doctor McCray was educated in the high school at Trenton, Iowa, and then took a course in the college at Sioux City and Elliot's Business College, Burlington, Iowa. He then entered the Northwestern Medical College, Morningside, Sioux City, and took the three years' course offered by that institution, at the same time being interne at Samaritan Hospital. Upon his graduation April 1. 1896, he immediately began the active practice of medi- cine in Sioux City, and continued in the practice there for one year, at the end of which time he came to Schaller and has been in continuous practice here since April, 1897. He is a member of the Sac County, Iowa State and American Medical Associations and has been secretary of the Sac County Medical Society for the past four years. He takes a great deal of interest in all of the associations which have to do with his profession and keeps well informed upon all the latest developments in medical science. He has a large and lucrative practice and a full share of the business of his community.
Doctor McCray was married in 1896 to Elizabeth Nicholson, who was formerly a nurse in the hospital at Sioux City. She is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Alexander Nicholson, of Holstein. and was born in Scotland. Mr. and Mrs. McCray are the parents of one son, Francis F., who was born October 12, 1899.
Doctor McCray is a Republican in politics and has served on the city council for the past six years. He and his wife are loyal and consistent
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members of the Methodist Episcopal church and give to it their zealous sup- port at all times. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons and was master of the local lodge for three years. He is also a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. In addition to his credit- able career as a member of the most useful and exacting of professions, he has also proved an honorable member of the body politic and has gradually risen in the confidence and esteem of the public of this community since becoming a resident.
GEORGE W. JOHNSON.
The life of a veteran pioneer is full of interesting details which are not usually discernible in the writings concerning the commonplace and mediocre. The story of the settlement of Sac county and western Iowa will always have a fascinating effect upon the discriminating reader. What at one time was ignorantly referred to as the Great American Desert has been transformed into a garden of luxuriant fertility unsurpassed in the American continent. Many of the early pioneer settlers were Union veterans, who, becoming restless with the environments of their earlier homes, moved westward with the tide of empire and became important fixtures in stable conditions which later followed the redemption of a wilderness and its subsequent transforma- tion. One of these who has lived a useful and honorable life and is still en- joying the power of enjoyment and possessing a keen zest for all that is good and desirable in living is George W. Johnson, of Schaller, Iowa.
Mr. Johnson was born September 10. 1836, on a farm in Franklin county, Ohio. His father was William Johnson, a native of New York, and who died in July, 1890, at the great age of one hundred and one years. His mother was Mahala Thomas, whose nativity was in the state of Pennsyl- vania. She lived to the age of ninety-four years, dying in March, 1893. In the year 1838 William Johnson migrated to Belmont, Grant county, Wiscon- sin, and erected the first territorial capitol building for Wisconsin in the town of Belmont. He then traveled to what is now Sauk county, Wiscon- sin. across the Wisconsin river, and settled upon an immense prairie farm. Habitations were few and far between in the early days, but William John- son was a pioneer by virtue of his upbringing and ancestry and he had a broad and favorable outlook of what the future would eventually bring to him and his. They, the father and sons, cultivated an entire section of land in Sauk county, and in time built a beautiful and substantial home in the
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midst of the estate. William became very wealthy and was one of the influ- ential and commanding figures of his part of Wisconsin. He and his eight stalwart sons tilled their land with oxen, as horses were not plentiful in those days and the ox was the best beast of burden on many pioneer farms. He was the father of the following children: John : Benjamin : Roswell, de- ceased : George W .; Thomas, deceased; William and Joseph, of Baraboo, Wisconsin : James, a resident of Rice Lake, Wisconsin. George W. was a member of the Twenty-third Indiana Regiment; Benjamin was a member of the Third Regiment of Union Volunteers; William was a soldier in the Eleventh Wisconsin Regiment, and Joseph enlisted in the Forty-seventli Wisconsin Infantry Regiment.
George W. Johnson enlisted August 13, 1862, in Company K. Twenty- third Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, and served for two years and eleven months, or until the close of the conflict. He participated in sixteen im- portant engagements, among them being the great battle of Vicksburg, Sa- bine Cross Roads, Carrion Crow Bayou, Jackson, Mississippi, Jackson, Louis- iana, Fort Blakely and the battle of Mobile Bay. It can be truthfully said of him that he was a faithful and willing soldier who uncomplainingly bore the hardships of the soldier's life and was ever ready to take his place in the fighting ranks of the army.
In September, 1865. Mr. Johnson came to lowa and located on a farm near Grinnell, Poweshiek county, where he resided until 1877. He then mi- grated to Sac county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in section 23. Cook township, for a consideration of one thousand seven hun- dred dollars. He later invested in eighty acres in section 25, just over the line in Boyer Valley township, paying fourteen dollars and fifty cents for his second investment. In the fall of 1892 he disposed of his land holdings at forty-five dollars per acre and moved to Alta in the spring of 1893, but one year later he removed to Schaller and has here made his home. Mr. John- son's wealth is wisely and safely invested in desirable residence properties located in Schaller and Storm Lake, which yield him a good income from rentals. He devotes much of his time to personal supervision of his prop- erties and to keeping them in good repair. He and his faithful wife have traveled extensively of late years and enjoy their winters in California and Florida each season.
Mr. and Mrs. Johnson are both members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Johnson is a Progressive Republican, and is a member of Price Post No. 392, Grand Army of the Republic, and is fraternally connected with the
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Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and Eastern Star, of the latter of which Mrs. Johnson is an active member.
Mr. Johnson was married March 20, 1861, to Mary L. Baldwin, a daughter of Philander and Charlotte Baldwin, natives of New York, and who migrated to Wisconsin in 1836 and became pioneer settlers of that great commonwealth. This worthy and progressive couple are the parents of the following children: George, a prominent citizen of Sioux City, who served as chief government inspector of the Sioux City stock yards for over sixteen years and who is now engaged in the cereal manufacturing business; Mrs. Myrtilla .A. Satchell, of Schaller, Iowa; Orville C., who died in June, 1903. at the age of twenty-eight years. He was the father of one child, Orville C., who was born four months after his father's death. This son followed the illustrious example of his father and enlisted as a soldier in the Union army for services in the Spanish-American War. His lamented death was caused by his contraction of typhoid fever on the eve of his embarkation for service in the Philippines and which weakened his health to such an extent that he never recovered.
In the plenteous and even serenity of enjoyment of their declining years, secure and peaceful in the knowledge that they have lived a useful and hon- orable life, we leave this grand old veteran pioneer and his faithful wife to live many, many years more in the esteem of their fellow citizens. This tribute is given with the hope that a perusal of this review will be an inspira- tion to the reader.
HERMAN HAHNE.
This land of ours owes a debt of gratitude to the stalwart and hardy European races whose sons have come in large numbers, especially during the past half century, where there was a crying need of fearless men to assist in the work of winning and developing the Western states from their primi- tive wildness. The people of Germany have formed a large contingent and have ever been most welcome owing to their willingness to give their best ef- forts to this work, being, almost without exception, industrious and law- abiding, willing to upbuild and support our institutions and, while hokling in grateful remembrance the native land, yet at the same time cherishing the Stars and Stripes. In their ranks were numbered Herman Hahne, one of Schaller's best known business men and one of Sac county's highly respected citizens.
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Herman Hahne, a retired farmer of Schaller, Sac county, Iowa. was born October 19. 1855, in Sheboygan county, Wisconsin. His parents were Frederick and Sophia ( Dohmeier ) Hahne, who were born, reared and mar- ried in Germany. Shortly after their marriage they came to America and settled in Sheboygan county in 1848. In 1863 the Hahne family moved to Allamakee county, Iowa, and ten years later settled in Sac county on section 17 in Eden township. They were among the first settlers of the township, and lived here until their death, Frederick dying in 1890 and his wife in 1882. Eleven children were born to Frederick and Sophia Hahne, of whom two died in infancy. The other nine are: Frederick H., deceased: Simon C .. deceased : Mrs. Sophia Schorer, of California : Henry J., of Storm Lake, Iowa: Herman: Mrs. Mina Luhman, of Schaller; August, a farmer of Eureka township. this county; Mary, deceased, and William, who is now farming the old home place.
Herman Hahne was seventeen years of age when his parents came to Sac county. He received a good common school education and remained with his father on the farm until he was twenty-three years of age. He then moved to the farm which he now owns, being the southwest corner of sec- tion 6 and the northwest quarter of section 7. Part of this first farm was given him by his father, being swamp land which he had bought for two dollars and a half an acre. Herman put up a shack on the farm and "bached" for three years, residing on the farm until the fall of 1882, and then lived with his brother Fred in Schaller until the spring of 1886. He then moved to Kansas and ranched for four years, returning to Schaller in 1890. He went out to Kansas during its boom days, but after some experiences in that state he decided that Iowa was a better state, so he returned to his farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Eureka township and cultivated it until 1902. He then lived in Schaller for a couple of years where he engaged in the stock business, then spent fourteen months in California, two years at Beatrice, Nebraska, six years in Lincoln, Nebraska, while his son, Ernest Herman, was in the State University. He then returned to Schaller, where he is now living. At the present time he owns two hundred and sixty acres in Sac county, two hundred and forty acres in Osceola and three hundred and twenty acres in Jefferson county, Nebraska.
Mr. Hahne was married March 4. 1889, to Virgie Kitchen, of Russell county, Kansas. She died March 27, 1912, at the age of forty-eight, leav- ing one son, Ernest Herman, who was born October 20, 1890. Ernest H. Hahne graduated from the University of Nebraska in the law department
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and is now, 1914, a student in Harvard University at Cambridge, Massachu- setts. In his politics, Mr. Hahne is an Independent Republican. He is a member of the Presbyterian church.
ROSS MAYHALL.
Good newspaper men, like poets, are born, not made. The complex duties of a newspaper man require the utmost in energy, courage and judg- ment, as well as that indefinable quality we call tact. A journalist has many opportunities denied those in other walks of life. His relation to the com- munity is peculiarly one of responsibility. His profession makes him a pub- lic man, in a sense, and his opinion upon current topics becomes ofttimes of paramount importance to his community. A chronicler of events, a dis- penser of news. he is also the greatest single factor in moulding public opinion.
One of the enterprising young journalists of western Iowa whose heart and brain and versatile pen are readily enlisted in behalf of every worthy cause of the community, is Ross Mayhall, editor and publisher of the Sac County Bulletin, of Sac City, lowa. Mr. Mayhall is a native of Missouri, having been born at New London, Ralls county, that state, on November 8, 1875. He is the son of W. S. and Sarah Jane ( Ross) Mayhall, natives, re- spectively, of New London, Missouri, and Ohio, Illinois.
W. S. Mayhall removed to Illinois in 1872. where he lived three years. and then returned to New London, Missouri, where he remained one year, after which he located on a farm near Ohio, Illinois, where the family made their home until 1895. Removing then to Walnut, Illinois, W. S. Mayhall there conducted the Walnut Motor. Disposing of this, he originated the Mail and Express, which he also later disposed of, and in 1904 he removed to Tamarack, Minnesota, where he now resides.
Ross Mayhall was educated in the public school near Walnut, Illinois. and the Walnut high school and at Eureka College, pursuing special work and taking a commercial course. After completing his schooling he worked for one year in the office of the Mail and Express. He then accepted em- ployment as a clerk in the Chicago postoffice, where he was employed for a period of seven years. In 1907 he purchased the Sac County Democrat, and in roIo he changed the name of the paper to the Bulletin.
Mr. Mayhall was married in June. 1903. to Anna Throne, of De Pue,
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Illinois, and to them two children have been born. One child died in in- fancy. and J. Ogden Mayhall was born in July, 1906.
Mr. Mayhall is a member of the Christian church, and holds membership with the Modern Woodmen and the Mystic Workers. Politically. he is a progressive Democrat. Through the Bulletin he expresses his views in an able and fearless manner and champions all things for the betterment of his community.
ANDREW E. JOHNSON.
Andrew E. Johnson, proprietor of the Forest Hill stock farm, located in section 19 of Wheeler township. Sac county, Iowa, is one of the most widely known farmers of the county, having resided in the one township for almost forty years. He is one of the more prominent members of the Swedish colony and, like many others, has reached his present station through his own efforts. His large, attractive residence is thoroughly modern in every respect and is most beautifully situated, being placed on a beautiful hill and sur- rounded by trees, mostly evergreens, which have been artistically grouped and arranged by the proprietor, some of these trees having been brought over from his native country. In addition to the material attractiveness of this home, it breathes an air of genuine hospitality which is extended to friend and casual stranger alike.
Mr. Johnson was born in Sweden on August 12. 1846, being a son of John Engleson and his wife Essina. The father died in the home country and the mother emigrated to America with the children, locating in Pennsyl- vania, where she died. The subject still has two sisters residing in that state. It was in 1871 that Mr. Johnson came to America, landing at the port of New York with but thirty-five cents in his pocket, representing the full amount of his worldly goods, but he had other assets upon which no monetary estimate can be placed, attributes of character and marked characteristics which have enabled him, alone and unaided. to attain his present enviable position. His first work in this country was obtained at Smithville, New Jersey, where he stayed for a few months, later working several months in Franklin, the same state. Then he was in New York state for a short time and then went to Canada, where for a time he worked not far from the town of Niagara Falls. It was in 1874 that he first came to this state and, in company with Henry Hanson (an account of whose career will be found elsewhere in this volume ). he purchased a tract of land containing three hundred and twenty acres. This
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they owned and operated in partnership for four years, when they separated, the subject taking the northeast quarter of section 19 and Mr. Hanson taking the balance. For this land they had paid six dollars and sixty cents per acre. Mr. Johnson continued to work for others, and in 1878 moved on the land which has since been his home. His first residence was a small house with a floor space of fourteen by twenty-two feet, which he later enlarged as he prospered, and this a few years since was superseded by the handsome home the family now occupies. This home farm consists of four hundred and sixty acres and running through it is a fine stream of water, a most coveted object, especially where much live stock is raised. Mr. Johnson raises for the market about fifty head of Aberdeen-Angus cattle annually and one hundred or more hogs. To assist in the work of the farm he keeps eighteen head of fine Percheron horses, and for the proper housing of his live stock he has three large buildings, with all possible equipment, as well as numerous other farm buildings. Mr. Johnson approves modern methods of agriculture and this. together with the excellent management he displays, results in uniformly fine crops. In addition to the acreage of the home farm, he also owns two hundred acres in section 20 of Wheeler township, on which his son Emil resides, which brings his total possessions in land up to six hundred and sixty acres.
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