USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 77
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In October of 1880 Mr. Johnson was united in marriage with Augusta Lundberg, also a native of Sweden, born April 14, 1861, and to their union have been born twelve children, out of which family two daughters, Josephine and Lillian, are deceased, the latter dying May 29, 1914, at the age of twenty- nine years. Emil is married and resides on the farm in section 20, as above stated; Seth is also married and is engaged in farming in Wheeler township. The rest of the family are still at home, namely: Elmer, Mabel, Esther. Henry, Enoch, Minnie, Evaline and Joseph. There is one grandchild. An- drew, the son of Emil. Mr. Johnson is a man of marked domestic traits and finds in his home and family his truest enjoyment. To the rearing of his family he gives the most careful and earnest consideration, greatly desiring to fit both sons and daughters for useful lives as they pass from under his guidance to assume their individual places in the world.
Upon becoming a citizen of this great republic, Mr. Johnson found the principles laid down by the Republican party most closely approaching his ideals, and for many years was a stanch supporter of that party, but of late he has been disposed to favor the more progressive attitude. He has ever taken an active interest in politics as related to his community, and for thirteen years served as a school director. His religious affiliations are with the Bap-
(49)
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tist church, of which he is an active and consistent member. Throughout the years of his residence here, Mr. Johnson has proven himself to be of the highest type of manhood, trustworthy and high-minded in every respect. His accomplishments and the high regard in which he is held by all, prove beyond any question his true qualities, and throughout his community his influence has been only for the best and highest in every phase of life.
SILAS STANZEL.
The man who establishes a comfortable home, rears a family of chil- dren and performs his duties as an American citizen, is the kind of a man who makes for better civilization and a better nation. Such a man is Silas Stanzel, who has, by honest toil and energy, accumulated three hundred and twenty acres of land in this county, reared an interesting family of children and is performing those duties which are the privilege of every American citi- zen. Starting in life with nothing, he has made a name for himself as a man of sterling honesty and uprightness and has always so conducted himself that he has never brought censure upon himself or done anything which would mnilitate against his character.
Silas Stanzel was born November 28, 1867, in Clinton county, Iowa. He is the son of William August and Laurinda R. ( Clark ) Stanzel, natives, respectively, of Germany and Ohio. His father was born in 1838 and died in Odebolt, Iowa, in 1911. He left his native land with his parents when he was fourteen years of age and had the misfortune to lose his mother during the voyage to this country. His father traveled considerable after reaching this country, worked for a time in Illinois and later found employment on the Mississippi river. William Stanzel saved his money and invested it in a farm in Clinton county, Iowa, and in 1876 moved to Sac county, where he first settled in Clinton township. With the exception of one and one-half years which he spent in Ringgold county, this state, William Stanzel lived in Sac county from 1876 until his death in 1911. Mr. and Mrs. William A. Stanzel were the parents of eight children: George, of Boyer Valley town- ship; Silas, with whom this narrative deals: Mrs. Eva Fuller, of Odebolt; William A., of Odebolt; Mrs. Anna Scott, of Boyer Valley township; Her- man R., of Odebolt ; Mrs. Harriet Hooper, of Boyer Valley township, and Barnabus, of Clinton township.
Silas Stanzel attended school in Clinton county and in Sac county in
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the home of A. F. Ray, his first teacher being Mrs. Ray. He continued to help his father on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age, when he made his first venture into business. He bought a corn sheller and shelled corn for the farmers in his locality. The next year he began farming for himself, although he still operated his corn sheller. He continued to prosper and a few years later he bought a threshing machine, which proved to be a very profitable investment for him. He bought his first farm in Clinton township, this county, and in the spring of 1909 he bought his farm in Boyer Valley township, bought eighty acres for seventy dollars an acre, forty acres in Wall Lake township for ninety-five dollars an acre and two hundred acres at ninety-seven dollars an acre. He is now living on his forty-acre farm in Wall Lake township and he rents his two-hundred-and-eighty-acre farm in Boyer Valley township.
Mr. Stanzel was married .August 27, 1889. to Madella Purdy, the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. W. E. Purdy. To this union have been born six chil- dren : Genia died at the age of twenty-two years, in Colorado, in January, 1911 : Bernard died at age of five and one-half years : Bernice, Wayne, Paul and Lola.
The Republican party has always claimed the support and vote of Mr. Stanzel, but, beyond casting his vote for the candidates of his party on elec- tion day, he has not had the time to engage in political campaigns. Mr. Stan- zel is a man who has always helieved in rendering what aid he could to his neighbors and the general public; at the same time he has been advancing his individual interests and consequently is regarded as one of the best citizens of his community.
W. K. WHITESIDE.
No calling, save the ministry alone, has been such a potent factor in the upbuilding of our modern civilization as that of journalism, and certainly no calling exacts such manifold qualifications. Even the humble and unpre- tending newspaper that goes regularly into the home contributes impercepti- bly, but none the less mightily, to the moral and intellectual growth of all the people therein. The modern newspaper molds public opinion, crystalizes sentiment and influences definite action, and is usually the largest single in- fluence in any community.
W. K. Whiteside, editor and publisher of the Schaller Herald, of Schal- ler, lowa, is one of the enterprising and progressive newspaper men of west-
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ern Iowa, and his Herald is a power to be reckoned with in local affairs, al- ways fighting valiantly for every public enterprise. Mr. Whiteside is a native of the Buckeye state, born at Seville, Medina county, Ohio, January 7, 1859. and the son of James R. and Maria (Cotton) Whiteside, both also natives of the state of Ohio. James R. Whiteside was born in the year 1835 and mi- grated to Huntington, Indiana, in 1866, and later to Ft. Wayne, Indiana. He was a carpenter by vocation. When a young man he went to Grinnell, Towa, and there he assisted in building the first house erected in that city. Ilis father, AAbram Whiteside, was an old citizen of Ohio, who also located at Iowa City. James R. Whiteside returned to Ohio after a few years in Iowa, and was engaged in furniture and cabinet making. He also followed this business in Huntington, Indiana, and later was employed in the car shops in Ft. Wayne, Indiana. In September. 1880, he again removed to lowa, and was employed at Iowa City and at Cedar Rapids. He later spent a few years in the state of Kansas. He then returned to Ohio, and after his wife's death located at Batavia, New York. Here he spent five years as a rural free delivery carrier. In 1911 he made a trip overland in his automo- bile from Buffalo, New York, and he died at the home of his son at Wake- field, Nebraska, in November, 1911. His wife, who was born in 1836, died in 1803. Of the seven children born to them only two are now living, the subject of this sketch and E. A. Whiteside, of Emerson, Nebraska.
W. K. Whiteside was educated in the public schools of Huntington, In- diana. As a boy he was employed for a few years in his father's cabinet factory there. His first experience in the printing business was in Hunting- ton, where he secured a small amateur outfit, for which he traded a pistol and two dollars. He soon found employment in Ft. Wayne, Indiana, where he worked for some time, and in 1881 came with his parents to Iowa City, Iowa. He was employed as a printer at Wilton Junction and at West Lib- erty. He came to Sac City, Iowa, December 31, 1885, and was employed in the office of the Sac Sun until October, 1892, when he purchased the Schal- ler Herald. He was employed, however, at one time as foreman of the Re- publican office at Harlan, Iowa.
Mr. Whiteside was married in 1886 to Ida Faires, of Shelby county, Iowa, and they have two children, Walter and Merle. He is a member of the Baptist church, and holds membership in the Masons, Odd Fellows and Mod- ern Woodmen. Politically, he is a Progressive Republican.
Mr. Whiteside is held in high esteem, not only for what he has done for the community through the medium of the Herald, but also for his hon- orable and upright life.
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HON. JOSEPH MATTES.
Eminent business talent is composed of a combination of high mental and moral attributes; although these are essential, there must be sound judg- ment, breadth of capacity and rapidity of thought, justice and firmness, the foresight to perceive the drifting tides of business and the will and ability to control them to the individual's advantage. It is often found that the successful business man becomes a faithful public official. It is an oft-re- peated maxim among our people that if more of our men of business turned their attention to governmental affairs and there applied the same tenacity and grasp of purpose, and exercised their talents on behalf of good govern- ment to an equal extent with that which is so necessary to insure their success in a competitive line of business, we would enjoy much better government and have laws more in sympathy with the general welfare at large. As a merchant and legislator, Hon. Joseph Mattes, of Odebolt, Sac county, has attained a certain eminence which has firmly been established in the esteem of his fellow citizens. He ranks as one of the pioneer merchants of this pro- gressive and hustling city, and has made a marked record in the legislative halls as a true representative of the people. Ile is self-made, as are practi- cally all of our citizens who are born of German parents, and endowed with but little of this world's goods at the outset of their career in this land of opportunity.
Joseph Mattes was born October 1, 1855, in the town of Comanche, Clinton county, Jowa, the son of Roman and Mary ( Moore ) Mattes, natives of Germany. They were born, reared and married in the fatherland, and emigrated to America in the year 1854, settling in Comanche, where the fa- ther conducted a grocery business until 1861, when they removed to Lyons, Iowa. Roman and Mary Mattes reared a family of nine children: Mrs. F. P. Motie, of Spokane, Washington ; Mrs. B. Stoessenger, also of Spokane ; Mrs. George Keiser, of Eureka, California: J. R. and Joseph, of Odebolt, and four deceased. The mother of these children died in 1904, and the fa- ther in 1905. Joseph was educated in the public schools of Lyons, Iowa. After leaving school he was in the employ of Armstrong & Company for a period of seven years. He came to Odebolt in 1879 and was employed for the first five months by Mr. Van Dusen, the hardware merchant. He then became a partner of J. H. Ketterer, the new firm purchasing the stock and good will owned by Van Dusen. This partnership continued until 1887, when Mr. Mattes became the sole proprietor of the business which has de-
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veloped into one of the largest in the county. In 1891 he erected a large two-story brick building in which the business is conveniently located. In 1899 he became a stockholder of the First National Bank of Odebolt and was elected vice-president of this institution in 1901. He served as vice- president until 1907, when he was elected president of the bank, a position which he holds at the present time.
Politically, Mr. Mattes is a Republican. He has held, during his resi- denee in Odebolt. several minor offices such as school treasurer for a term of eleven years, and has served as a member of the school board for over six- teen years. He was elected a member of the Legislature in the fall of 1900 and served as representative in the twenty-ninth, thirtieth and the thirty- first General Assemblies. In 1906 he was elected to represent the people in the Iowa State Senate, and was re-elected in 1910. He was a member of the committee on retrenchment and reform in the thirtieth, thirty-first, thirty- fourth and thirty-fifth General .Assemblies and was chairman of the commit- tee on appropriations in the thirtieth and thirty-first General . Assemblies. He was also chairman of the Senate committee on appropriations during the thirty-fourth and thirty-fifth sessions of the General Assembly.
Mr. Mattes is a member of the Presbyterian church, and is fraternally connected with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Modern Woodmen at Odebolt. He was married in 1870 to Catharine Shelley, of Lyons, lowa. To this union have been born four children, namely: Grace E., wife of Joseph .\. Young, of Bellevue, Iowa; Howard J., a lumber mer- chant of Rearden, Washington : George H., who is associated with his father. and Hattie E., who died in 1894.
L. B. RAKE.
Success is only achieved by the exercise of certain distinguishing traits and it can not be retained without effort. It is often found that heredity has an important bearing upon the destiny of the individual, but, in the main, his success depends to the great extent upon the cultivation of his talents and the exercise of persistent and indefatigable energy toward a certain goal in life. Those who have succeeded in reaching a place of prestige and have re- tained the esteem of their fellow men have begun early in life the struggle for supremacy. Nowadays men usually attain official position in their home community through being the known possessors of ability such as will com-
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mend them peculiarly to the successful conduct of the duties to which they are assigned by the people. A man of this class is L. B. Rake, treasurer of Sac county, who is a pronounced example of self-made manhood and who enjoys the reputation of being a conscientious, dignified and honest public official throughout the length and breadth of the county.
Mr. Rake was born January 29, 1861, on a farm in Hunterton county, New Jersey, and is a son of Izer G., who was born in 1833, and died in 1875, and who took to wife Amy Buchanan, of New Jersey. Amy Buchanan was the daughter of German parents. She became the wife of William Swallow after the death of Mr. Rake's father, departing this life at Trenton, New Jersey, in 1905. Her parents took up their residence in the city of Trenton in 1857. There were nine children in the Rake family: Andrew H., of Detroit, Michigan; L. B .; Mrs. Amy C. Horton, of Trenton, New Jersey; Aaron R., of Trenton, New Jersey : William C., a resident of Los Angeles, California; Sarah Etta Cezar, also a resident of Trenton; Theo- dore, of Chicago; Lewis B:, who resides in Rice Lake, Wisconsin ; one child died in infancy. Izer G. Rake was a Union soldier. He enlisted in the Thirty-first New Jersey Volunteers, along with two brothers, John and Aaron, and served throughout the war, participating in many battles. It is a remarkable fact that the father of Izer G., who was named Elias, was also a soldier in the same regiment. The brothers of Mrs. Rake and her brothers- in-law also fought for the Union in the Thirty-first New Jersey Regiment. It is very evident that L. B Rake comes of a race of brave and patriotic forbears, which is a distinction of which any American can well be proud.
L. B. Rake was educated in the schools of Locktown, New Jersey. During his youth he worked on farms for five dollars per month and board. Before attaining his majority he traveled in the Carolinas and the South in the employ of a commission firm engaged in the purchase and selling of game, poultry and produce. At the age of twenty-one years he left the scenes of his boyhood days and journeyed to Illinois where he was employd as a farm hand for a period of two years at twenty dollars per month. He again turned his attention to the poultry and produce business, and in season purchased and shipped farm products, including poultry and hay, for the Eastern markets. He eventually formed a partnership with his brother-in- law. George Glass, and the firm did a thriving business in the purchase and shipment to Boston of produce, poultry and hay, which they purchased in southern Illinois and Indiana in quantities to make up carload lots. This business was not without its frequent trials and reverses. At one time, while buying produce in the South, an entire stock shipment was spoiled and he
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suffered a severe loss which discouraged him to such an extent that he aban- doned the business and returned home. His accuracy in guessing weights and determining quality became proverbial while engaged in stock buying. While waiting around his home town for something to turn up. he was one of a group gathered around a shipment which included fifteen hogs. Vari- ous persons proclaimed their ability to guess accurately the weight of the hogs and he was invited to participate. As was the custom, the men pooled guesses at ten cents each. Mr. Rake won the pool by guessing the exact weight of the fifteen porkers which totaled five thousand nine hundred and thirty-one pounds. This good fortune marked the turning point in his ca- reer. He received the sum of fifteen dollars and sixty cents, which amount was sufficient to defray his expenses to Morris, Illinois. On his arrival in the Illinois town, he immediately sought and obtained employment at good wages.
In the spring of 1892 Mr. Rake left Illinois and journeyed to Sac county for the express purpose of investing his savings in a farm. Very soon after his arrival he invested in one hundred and sixty acres of undrained land west of Sac City, in Jackson township, at thirty-five dollars an acre. He at once set about the task of improving his land so as to increase the yield and en- hance its value as a farm proposition. He did this by ditching, laying tile and thoroughly draining every rod where it was possible to do so. In doing this, he profited by the experience gained during his residence in Illinois. It is no exaggeration to state that to the incoming farmers from the drained sections of Illinois belongs the credit of introducing a new era of farming progress in Sac county. Mr. Rake soon added eighty acres adjoining his holdings, which he bought for fifty-seven dollars and fifty cents an acre. The Rake farm is one of the finest in Sac county. It is fully equipped with all modern conveniences for successful and profitable farming, and is out- fitted with a fine set of buildings which have all been erected and remodeled by the owner. The farm residence is situated upon an eminence which gives a glimpse of the city in the distance and is surrounded by beautiful evergreen and deciduous trees, which were planted and grown on the place. The farm land is devoted principally to the production of grains and is very produc- tive. The yield averages, in corn, from sixty to ninety bushels to the acre. Until recently. Mr. Rake was the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of land in Minnesota, which he sold at a considerable profit.
Politically, Mr. Rake is aligned with the Republican party. He has served the public in various capacities and has held several township offices He served for nine years as assessor of Jackson township and was secretary
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of the township school board for the same length of time. He has served as president of the Sac County Mutual Insurance Company for a number of years and is at present secretary of the Farmers Lumber Company and the Farmers Elevator Company, all of which are co-operative concerns. He is also a director in the First National Bank of Sac City. The foregoing are but evidences of the confidence imposed in him by his fellow citizens and an illustration of the rewards which are destined to accrue to a man of ability and concentration of purpose. He was elected county treasurer in Novem- ber, 1910, and re-elected in 1912. His performance of the duties of this very important and responsible office have been eminently satisfactory. Mr. Rake is a stanch member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Sac City and is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He was married in the year 1885 to Nellie A. Glass, of Illinois. They have no children.
ROBERT LEIGH McCORD.
A member of the bar of Sac county who has shown ability in and de- votion to his profession is Robert Leigh McCord. Mr. McCord is a native of Toulon, Stark county, Illinois, born March 13, 1875. to the marriage union of Robert Leeper and Helen ( Hopkins) McCord, both natives of the state of Illinois and descendants of Scotch-Irish ancestry. His paternal grandfather, James Bennett McCord, was a native of Georgia, representa- tive of that fine old Scotch-Presbyterian stock that settled numerously in that state in an early day.
Robert Leeper McCord removed to Calhoun county, Iowa, in 1892, and he died in December, 1909. Of the six children born of his marriage with Helen Hopkins three sons are living. These are Joel H. McCord, of Spen- cer, Iowa: James B. McCord, of Durban, South Africa, and Robert Leigh the immediate subject of this sketch.
Robert Leigh McCord was educated at Oberlin College, Oberlin, Ohio, and the Iowa State University at Iowa City, Iowa, receiving from the latter institution the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1897, and the degree of Bache- lor of Laws in 1809. In October, 1900, he came to Sac City, lowa, where he has since been engaged in the practice of law, a profession which he has ever found worthy of his best efforts and unqualified allegiance. Mr. Mc- Cord was appointed county attorney in 1908, and was twice elected after- ward by the people to this locally important office.
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Mr. McCord was married in June, 1910, to Lily Jane McArthur, for- merly of Lake City, Iowa, and to them have come two children, Helen and Ruth Eleanor.
Fraternally. Mr. McCord holds membership with the Masons and the Knights of Pythias. Politically. he is a Republican. He is a high-minded, progressive citizen who takes pleasure in assisting every worthy enterprise that will advance the moral and material well-being of the community.
J. WILBUR NEAL.
Among the strong and influential citizens of Sac county, Iowa, the record of whose lives have become an essential part of the history of this sec- tion, J. Wilbur Neal occupies a deservedly prominent place. He has exerted a beneficial influence in this locality for many years, and is at present serving as auditor of Sac county, the duties of which responsible position he is filling to the satisfaction of all, irrespective of party affiliations. He is a representa- tive of one of the oldest and best known families in Sac county, and a citizen whose honor and integrity is unassailable.
J. Wilbur Neal was born in Marion county, Iowa, May 3. 1868, the son of James A. and Susan Emily ( Cleveland) Neal. the former a native of Illi- nois and the latter of, Wisconsin. James A. Neal was born in 1842 and is the son of Granville D. Neal, who was a pioneer settler in Illinois and who married Julia Balch, a native of Kentucky. James A. Neal migrated from Illinois to lowa about 1857, locating in Marion county, where he bought a farm. In March, 1881, he came to Sac county and bought a farm in Coon Valley township. Here he became a prosperous and successful farmer and in due time became the owner of about five hundred acres of valuable land. He gave to each of his children eighty acres of this land, retaining two hun- dred and forty acres. He served as county supervisor for six years, from 1892 to 1898. The following children were born to James A. and Susan Emily ( Cleveland) Neal: Frank, deceased: Mrs. Elgie E. Comstock, of Wall Lake township, Sac county. Iowa: George D., who lives on the old homestead, and J. Wilbur, the immediate subject of this sketch.
J. Wilbur Neal was educated in the district schools, the Sac City high school and Shenandoah College at Shenandoah. Iowa. He followed the active life of a farmer until his removal to Sac City, except one year and a half when he was a resident of Auburn, where he conducted a lumber yard.
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He was elected auditor of Sac county in 1910 and re-elected in 1912, and he has made one of the best officials the county ever had, a fact readily con- ceded by all who are familiar with the history of the county.
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