USA > Iowa > Sac County > History of Sac County, Iowa > Part 80
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A. Cunningham was born in 1860 on a farm in McLean county, Illinois. His parents were J. M. and Eliza ( Buxton ) Cunningham, natives of the great state of Pennsylvania. J. M., the father, settled in McLean county on a farm of considerable area in the year 1858 and there reared his family and departed this life. His family numbered four sons and four daughters, as follows: Adeline, deceased: William, of DeWitt county; Mrs. Elizabeth Hubbell, of Illinois ; Mrs. Hannah Carr, of Illinois; Frank Cunningham, de- ceased : Absalom; Cora. deceased.
He of whom we are narrating these facts was married in 1880 to Jennie Ellis, of De Witt county. After a wedded season of twenty-five years. the wife died. in March, 1905, leaving eight children, namely: Clovis, now de- ceased : Mrs. Clotilda Pullen, of Sac county : Clem E., a resident of Sac City ; W. . Ashley. also a resident of Sac City : Carl A. ; Helen and Josephine. After leaving DeWitt county, Mr. Cunningham resided on a farm upon which he removed in 1862. In 1898 he removed to Sac county and in the spring of that year he made a purchase of three hundred and twenty acres of fine land in Cook township, located four miles west of the town of Early. Ile used the skill and a natural aptitude for agriculture in its highest sense which is possessed by the greater number of the Illinois farmers who have located in Sac county of late years and brought his farm land up to a high state of cultivation. It is well improved with excellent buildings and is known favor- ably as one of the best crop-producing tracts of land in a county famous for its fine farms. In 1912 Mr. Cunningham decided to retire and he came to Sac City and purchased a fine residence in the west part of the city. In December of the same year he was united in marriage with Mrs. Ida ( Pren- tice ) Willard. the daughter of Hosea Prentice, a native of Vermont and a descendant of an old New England family which traces their ancestry back to colonial days. Hosea Prentice early migrated to southern Wisconsin, and thence to Illinois. He came to lowa in the year 1874 and settled in Sac City where he became prominently identified with the upbuilding of the city. He was both farmer and merchant, succeeding well in both lines. He broke prairie land when he first located in the county and later engaged in mercantile pur- suits in the city. In 1869 he made a trip to the county and purchased the land where the town of Early now stands -- in fact, the town is located on the original Prentice farm. Hosea was married to Diantha Surdam, of New York. who died in 1887. He again married and was the father of eight children, tout of whom were reared to maturity: Harlow Prentice, of Cleg- horn, lowa; George W .. of Bakersfield, California: Ann Eliza Stafford, now deceased. and Mrs. Cunningham. Mr. Prentice was the second mayor
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elected in Sac City and was a member of the town council for a number of years. He was a useful and influential citizen who is yet remembered as one of the best men who assisted in bringing the city to the high prestige which it now enjoys. He died December 5. [910, at the age of ninety-one years. It is such men as Mr. Cunningham that have been instrumental in bringing the agricultural possibilities of Sac county to the front among the fertile counties of western lowa and words fail in this instance to express the biog- rapher's appreciation of his capable and useful life as exemplified by his accomplishments.
WILLIAM QUIRK.
From the little isle of Man, which lies between England and Ireland, there have come to this country some very enterprising and successful citizens. The Quirk family is probably the only family in Sac county who were born in this island. William Quirk, pioneer settler, was born on March 6, 1848, and is the son of Thomas and Eleanor Quirk, who also were natives of the isle of Man. When Mr. Quirk was nineteen years of age he decided to leave his native land and come to America. He had already received a good, practical education and had saved up enough money to pay for his passage to this country. Accordingly, in 1867, he crossed the ocean and went direct to Chicago, where he worked for three years. He was in that city at the time of the great fire, having previously lived in Davenport, Iowa, for a short time. While in the latter city he was a market gardener. Later he went to Omaha, where he worked for a year, and in 1874 came to Sac county and remained here for a few months. Then he returned to the isle of Man, and in 1875 he permanently settled in Sac county, renting a farm in Levey township. A year later he bought eighty acres of railroad land at a cost of six dollars an acre, and in 1876 he bought forty acres and in 1883 he added one hundred and twenty acres to his farm, and he is now the owner of two hundred and forty acres of fine farming land in Clinton township. in section 34. He erected an attractive home in 1886, which is set back from the road amidst a large grove of evergreen and deciduous trees. He has set out a grove of evergreen and deciduous trees and an orchard and his woods has now grown to such an extent that he is now supplied with firewood and lumber from the trees which he had planted nearly forty years ago. He raises and feeds a large number of cattle and hogs each year. In 1913 he had about one hundred head of cattle and seventy-five head of hogs for the market.
Mr. Quirk was married in 1880 to Margaret Christian, who died four
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM QUIRK
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years later, leaving four children, Charles, Walter, Maud and Minnie. Maud is a nurse in Marshalltown, Iowa, and the other three children are still living in this county, Walter and Minnie being with their father. In 1886 Mr. Quirk crossed the ocean and was married to Elizabeth Hudson, who also is a native of the isle of Man, the daughter of William and Elizabeth Hudson. Mr. Quirk returned to his home in Sac county in the summer of 1886 with his bride after his second marriage, and there they have since resided. To this second marriage have been born six children: Madge, a trained nurse of Marshalltown, Iowa; Archie, a farmer living in Clinton township, this county : Ella, who is attending the Teachers College at Cedar Falls, Iowa, and Percy, Harry and Francis, the last three named being still at home with their parents.
Politically, Mr. Quirk has always been identified with the Republican party and has taken an active interest in politics since becoming a resident of this township. He has held no less than four different offices in his township. a fact which testifies to the high esteem in which he is held by his neighbors and fellow citizens. He served as justice of the peace, assessor, township trustee and school director, and in all of these four official positions he has discharged his duties in a manner highly satisfactory to his constituents. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Wall Lake, and, religiously, he and his family are earnest and loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church, and are interested in the various activities of that denomination. Mr. Quirk represents that type of men who push their way to a position of affluence solely through their own efforts. He came to. this county with practically nothing, and is now one of the enterprising and substantial citizens of his community and township.
Mr. Quirk has twice visited the scenes of his boyhood in Europe or Eng- land and has crossed the ocean five times during his lifetime, a distinction which has been conferred on but few Sac county pioneers.
WILLIAM HENRY CRISS.
The history of Sac county. as an integral part of the great common- wealth of Iowa, reveals the handiwork of many a great and noble soul who wrought heroically and unselfishly. Her splendid homes, her fine institutions, her happy, prosperous people speak volumes of some one's steadfastness of purpose, of some one's strength of arm, courage of heart, activity of brain-
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of some one's sacrifice. But time, that grim obliterator, before whose de- stroying fingers even the stubborn granite must, in the end, succumb, is ever at his work of disintegration. Beneath his blighting touch even memory fails, and too often a life of splendid achievement and good works is for- gotten. "Lest we forget." then, these words are written in tribute to the late Hon. Eugene Criss, distinguished father of William Henry Criss, whose name heads this sketch. Hardy pioneer, successful farmer, trusted public official, brave, kindly, generous man, it must be the desire of all who knew him that his deeds and his character be recorded for the benefit of those who follow after. He was rich in a thousand thronging memories of the early rugged days in Iowa, when hardy men stood shoulder to shoulder and fought for the best interests of their community. Those who survive him are blessed in the memory of this good man, whose long life in this community was a blessed benediction on those who came under its influence.
Hon. Eugene Criss was born in Preston county, West Virginia, July 27, 1822, and he was a son of Michael and Maria (Armstrong) Criss, the for- mer a native of Virginia and the latter of Ireland. Michael Criss was a Methodist Episcopal minister. Maria Armstrong was reared in the city of Philadelphia, whither she had accompanied her parents from Ireland when she was three years of age. Judge Eugene Criss was educated in the common schools of Maryland. He came west in 1844 and settled in Galena, Illinois, where he worked in the lead mines for five years. He then farmed for two years. He later opened a general merchandise store at Shullsburg, Wiscon- sin. In August, 1855, he came to Sac City, Iowa, making the trip from Wis- consin in a wagon and traveling four months on the journey. He erected the first log building in Sac City, sixteen by twenty feet in size, hauling the doors and windows from Dubuque, a distance of two hundred and seventy miles. He also built a saw mill and a flour mill. He pre-empted a claim of one hun- dred and sixty acres of land in Sac county, and by thrift and good manage- ment added to his holdings until his landed estate consisted of one thousand five hundred acres. He was one of five men who entered the land where Sac City now stands. He donated the land for the first cemetery in Sac City. In the early days he was an Indian trader, and was the first fur buyer north of Des Moines. He helped organize the First National Bank of Sac City, and for many years was its vice-president. Politically, he was first a Whig and later a Republican, and he took an active and influential part in the political affairs of his county and state. He served as provost marshal during the Civil War. and at different times served as county supervisor and sheriff of Sac county. He also served one term as county judge. and in 1868 repre-
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sented the northwestern Jowa district in the Legislature. Judge Criss was identified with nearly every important movement of his day in Sac county- in fact, his life was so closely interwoven with all the vital forces of civic welfare that to lay stress upon any particular achievement would be but random acknowledgment of a career singularly fruitful of just and honorable deeds.
Judge Criss was married March 9, 1843, to Frances Hall, of Preston county, West Virginia, who was born May 16, 1823, in Monongahela county, West Virginia, the daughter of Jesse and Sarah Hall. Six children were the fruits of this marriage, named as follows: Mrs. Mary Jane Wine, born February. 1846, lives at Mason City, Iowa; James S. Criss, born November, 1846. lives at Omaha, Nebraska: Mrs. Helen B. Davis, born 1848, is de- ceased ; Mrs. Nancy Emeline Lamoreux, of Houston, Texas; William H. Criss, of Sac City : Mrs. Lola M. Beimer died in December, 1897.
Judge Eugene Criss died March II, 1903, in his eighty-first year. His eightieth birthday was celebrated by a big barbecue at the fair grounds, which he then owned. Thousands of people attended this gathering as a testimonial of their affection and esteem for their fellow townsman, full of honors and rich in the wealth of a legion of friends. Judge Criss fed this entire assembly, whose merriment during the day made him very happy. He died with his splendid individual powers matured to the point of large and worthy accomplishment, and to those who follow he left the priceless heritage of a good and honored name.
William Henry Criss, the son of Judge Eugene and Frances ( Hall) Criss, was born in Sac City, Iowa, July 17, 1857. He received his education in the schools of Sac City, and when a young man he assisted his father in his farming operations and cattle raising. He was the only one of the chil- dren to remain at home. With a wisdom worthy of emulation, he has never caught the lure of wanderlust, but has been content to make the most of the opportunities that may always be found at home. For fifty-six years he has lived in Sac City, and during this long and eventful time he has not been out of the town but about six weeks. He is regarded as one of the best and most substantial citizens of the community. He has a farm of eighty acres near Sac City, well stocked and well improved, and was formerly an extensive stock raiser.
William H. Criss was married October 24, 1886, to Alice L. Bechler, who was born in 1864, daughter of George and Hannah Bechler, natives of Pennsylvania, who emigrated to Illinois in 1867, and eight years later, in 1875, came to Sac county, Iowa, and settled on a farm five miles north of
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Sac City. George Bechler died September 10, 1905, and Hannah Bechler. his wife, died September 3, 1913. These parents had eight children, two dying in infancy. The others are: Mrs. Emeline Emmett, who lives in Pennsylvania: Calvin Bechler, who resides in the north part of Sac City; Mrs. Sarah Staley, who lives in Illinois ;. Robert Bechler, a farmer in Doug- las township. Sac county: Mrs. Elizabeth Neitherworth, of Sac City, and Alice L .. , the wife of the subject of this sketch.
William H. Criss and wife have six children, as follows: Leon is at home; Mrs. Una Chapman. of Kearney, Nebraska ; Eugene and Georgia are twins, and the former is at home and the latter lives at Kearney, Nebraska ; Glen lives at home, as does also Verlyn.
Politically, Mr. Criss is a Republican, and he and his wife and children are members of the Presbyterian church. Mr. Criss also holds membership with the Mystic Workers. Measured by the true standard of worth, Mr. Criss belongs to that praiseworthy class which has furnished much of the bone and sinew of the country. Personally, he is whole-souled and genial, a man who all are always glad to meet, and he is held in the highest regard in the community which has been honored by his residence for over half a cen- tury.
ERNEST L. AHRENS.
Self-educated and self-trained men in all walks of life are usually found to be of a high type of individual in practically every community. Their horizon has been broadened; their faculties have been highly developed : their mental calibre is found to be of the strongest, and their business ability is generally recognized as above the average. Wherever we find a successful merchant, it is discovered that the results of his attainments are due to his close application to the details connected with his business and his success due in a great measure to his personal integrity and energy in overcoming obstacles which may have during the past placed themselves in his path. E. L. Ahrens, senior member of the firm of Ahrens & Lowry, Sac City, belongs properly in the highest class of progressive men of business. To his fore- sight and business acumen we can safely give the credit for the establishment of one of the most successful and prosperous establishments in a city noted for its fine and well stocked stores. Although not born nor reared to a life of mercantile pursuit, he has demonstrated that he possessed the necessary ability to establish and build up a thriving concern which is a credit to the community.
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The hardware business of Ahrens & Lowry was begun in a limited way by Mr. Ahrens in the year 1899. when he left the farm and started a plumb- ing shop on the main thoroughfare of the city. This shop met with instan- taneons success, and a line of hardware was gradually added to accommodate the ever-increasing patronage. L. P. Lowry became a partner in the year 1906, and additional capital provided by his entrance into the partnership enabled the new firm to branch out and install a larger and more varied stock of goods. The firm owns its own handsome brick building, the main show room being twenty-two by one hundred and thirty-two feet in extent. They carry a complete and modern stock of hardware, plumbing and heating ap- paratus and supplies. A completely fitted plumbing shop is also maintained, the business requiring the services of five employes.
Biographically speaking. E. L. Ahrens was born on February 2, 1860, at Belle Plain, Iowa. He is the son of German parents, his father, Christian Ahrens, having been born and reared in the fatherland. His mother was Amelia Schroeder. likewise a native of Germany. His parents emigrated. with their respective families, to Iowa in an early day. They met and were married in the same neighborhood of the original place of settlement. Both died in the town of Belle Plain. Christian was the father of six children, namely : Mrs. Amelia Tischer, of Sac City; W. W., of Plain View, Ne- braska : Ernest L. ; Samuel, of Belle Plain, Towa : C. A., of Marshall, Minne- sota, and G. R., also a resident of Belle Plain. Jowa. E. L. Ahrens received his primary education in the district schools near Belle Plain and was reared on a farm, learning the secrets of soil cultivation from his German parents. In the year 1880 he removed to Sac county and established himself on a farm in Wall Lake township, consisting of one hundred and sixty acres, which his father had previously purchased in his behalf with the understand- ing that the son was to repay him from the proceeds of his farming opera- tions. This was an excellent arrangement, which is deserving of emulation by every father who has sons whose desire it is to succeed along agricultural lines. We minst credit Christian Ahrens with remarkable foresight and a keen parental desire to see his children prosper while the father was yet among the living. E. L. did not belie the parental expectations, and it is to his credit that he soon paid off his indebtedness and has added to his original acreage from time to time. He is now the owner of four excellent farms in Sac county, consisting of the original farm of one hundred and sixty acres, one of eighty acres, one of one hundred and thirty acres, and another very good one of one hundred and forty acres, making a total acreage of five hundred and ten acres. All of these farms are well improved and are provided with
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good buildings and fencing. Mr. Ahrens has them rented out to responsible tenants. So diligently did he apply himself to the task of cultivating his land that his health gradually failed him and he found it necessary to discontinue farming and removed to Sac City in the year 1897. During his residence in the country he had taken up the study of penmanship, bookkeeping and com- merce, so that he came to the city well fortified to engage in a pursuit for which he had a natural aptitude. During his spare time and of evenings he studied diligently and increased his knowledge so that he would be better prepared to embark in a business pursuit when it would become necessary for him to abandon agriculture permanently.
Politically, Mr. Ahrens is allied with the Republican party. He takes an active interest in municipal affairs and believes it to be the duty of every citizen to assist in every possible manner in pushing forward the growth and progress of his home city. He has served as school treasurer of Wall Lake township and has filled the office of city councilman. He is one of the best known members of the Christian church of Sac City. Fraternally, he is affiliated with the Brotherhood of American Yeoman, the Odd Fellows and the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, in which he is a Knight Templar.
Mr. Ahrens was married in 1883 to Emna Dart. a daughter of C. J. Dart, one of the pioneer settlers of Sac county. He is the father of the fol- lowing children: Pearl, the wife of Homer B. Ford, merchant of Seattle, Washington : Ida V., a student in the State Agricultural College, at Ames, Iowa.
JAMES WILLIAM TIBERGHIEN.
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. Additional interest at- taches to his career from the fact that his life from boyhood until now has been passed within the borders of this county. Earnest purpose and tireless energy, combined with mature judgment and every-day common sense, have been among his most prominent characteristics and he well merits the respect and esteem which are accorded him by all who know him.
J. W. Tiberghien, one of the well-known farmers of Jackson township,
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Sac county, Iowa, was born in Montgomery county, Indiana, March 17, 1838, the son of Elias and Harriet Melville ( Harrison) Tiberghien, the for- mer a native of Ohio and the latter of Kentucky. Elias Tiberghien was born in Miami county, Ohio, in 1810, and he was the son of Zacheus Tiberghien, a native of France, who settled in Ohio in 1822. He subsequently removed to Jasper county, Iowa, and later to Sac county, arriving May 19, 1855, making the journey overland by ox teani. Four families and part of another family, twenty-one people in all, made the trip, which required nineteen days, a distance of one hundred and thirty-five miles. He settled in Jackson town- ship and became one of the substantial citizens of his locality. His death occurred December 19, 1883. His wife, Harriet Melville Harrison, was born in Shelby county, Kentucky, August 18, 1815, and died August 10, 1895. She was the daughter of Eli Harrison, a cousin of President Benjamin Harrison and who fought in the War of 1812.
J. W. Tiberghien was a boy of seventeen years when the family settled in Sac county, and he has thus lived to witness the wonderful transformation that has taken place in western Iowa. He came here in a primitive day, when the red-skinned Indians roamed the country and when the opening up of a new country required the utmost bravery and persistence. Reared on the farm, he vividly recalls the great sport of hunting in that early day. He re- mained at home until he was twenty-eight years old, helping clear the land and developing a farm from the wilderness.
On March 9, 1862, Mr. Tiberghien enlisted in Company H, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served three years and twenty-five days. He was in the battle of Farmington, Mississippi, when his regiment and four companies of another regiment under Colonel Purcell were ordered out to move the Union picket line. The first time he was under fire was at Vicksburg, Missis- sippi. He was in the hospital at the time, but begged his captain to allow him to fight one day. He was afterward sent to Jefferson Barracks and then transferred to the invalid corps, forming the reserve in Company D, and served to this corps until mustered out in Chicago. April 5, 1865.
Mr. Tiberghien returned to Sac county, Iowa, after the war, and on January 10, 1867. he was married to Louisa Travis, who was born in LaPorte county, Indiana, October 15, 1839, a daughter of Curtis and Mary Ann ( Miller ) Travis. She came to Sac county in 1861. on a visit to her sister, and here met Mr. Tiberghien. Louise Travis Tiberghien was one of the first school teachers in Sac county and is the oldest living pioneer teacher at the present time residing in Sac county. Settling on his own farm of two hundred acres in Douglas township, Mr. and Mrs. Tiberghien lived there for
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some time, but finally rented their farm and removed to town in order to better educate his children. He spent three years ranching in Kansas. In 1899 he sold the farm and in 1900 removed to his present place in Jackson township.
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Tiberghien, only three of whom are living. Willie J. died August 12. 1889, at the age of twenty-one years, five months and fifteen days. Lee Velda and Emmett R. were twins. Lee Velda was born July 15, 1868, and died April 9, 1912. Emmett R. died in infancy. Dr. Eugene Tiberghien, who was a soldier in the Spanish- American War, is an osteopath at Julesburg, Colorado, and is the father of three children, Ruth, Helen and Ione. Mrs. Pearl Ellis resides at Bakers- field, California, and is the mother of five children, Ruby, Mary, Opal, James IV and Ernest. James Earl, who was a twin brother of Pearl, is deceased. Garland Travis lives at Bakersfield, California.
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