USA > Iowa > Taylor County > History of Taylor County, Iowa; from the earliest historic times to 1910, biographical sketches of some prominent citizens > Part 41
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In 1853. Mr. Leonard married Miss Jane Heath, who was born in Washing- ton county. Ohio, in 1833, and for fifty-six years she was his companion. With the courage that some loving women possess she never faltered before the diffi- cult life to which her husband brought her, but without complaint assumed her duties. Her example of hard work and her cheerfulness were the encourage- ment for many, while her virtues and the Christian spirit which prompted her many acts of kindness made her well beloved by all, but especially by her own family. Nine children were born to them: Mary, who died at the age of eight-
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een months; William, who is living in Grove township; Guy, a resident of Holt township; Charles, who is at home ; Arthur, Smith and J. W., who are living in Holt township; Luzanne, who died at the age of fourteen years; and Harry, who was killed when but fourteen years old. Mrs. Leonard was taken from this world June 23, 1909, but her memory is still a strong factor for good, though she was never a member of any church.
In the early days Mr. Leonard had helped organize a Methodist church in the neighborhood, of which he became a member and a class leader. There were but five professing Christians in north Taylor county then, and his de- scriptions of the first meetinghouse contrasts strangely with the edifices pre- pared for worship today. He says: "It was a log building, one end out for the chimney, the other end for the door, the sides out for the windows. Split linn tree logs on pegs formed the seats." For fourteen years he regularly attended the services at that church, but his ideas gradually broadened and today he would be considered liberal, subscribing to no creed. His rule of life has always been, "Do as I would be done by," and he says repeatedly, "That if people would follow the Golden Rule, they would need no other religion." It has prof- ited him well in a worldly way and three years ago he was able to take a trip to California and the Pacific Slope, on which his wife accompanied him.
Politically Mr. Leonard is a republican, attending and participating in the first convention held in Taylor county. Indeed, he has always wielded a wide influence in shaping the public opinion of this section of the state and has been active in the local affairs for time and again he has held township offices and has served on the board of supervisors for two terms. Having seen the county grow from its earliest days, it is but natural that he should be actuated by a large pub- lic spirit for its welfare. Times have advanced since the pioneer days, and he has been largely instrumental in bringing about the progress.
JOSEPH H. OSBORN.
It is a well known fact that agriculture is the basis of all prosperity ; that the failure or success of crops affects in great measure all business conditions, and that no country is prosperous in marked degree that does not have rich agricultural resources at her command. Iowa, although a comparatively recent settlement, is recognized today as one of the foremost farming states of the Union, having attained leadership in the production of corn per acre, while the yield of her fields is almost equally large in other crops. Actively and success- fully associated with the task of tilling the soil in Taylor county is Joseph H. Osborn, who lives on section 14, Polk township, where he is busily engaged in the cultivation of one hundred acres of the old Osborn homestead. He was born in Polk township on the 10th of November, 1870. His father, Jason H. Osborn, was a native of Erie county, Ohio, where his youthful days were passed. In early manhood he responded to the country's call for troops, enlisting as a member of Company G, Fifty-fifth Ohio Volunteer Infantry, with which he served for nearly four years. He had veteranized on the expiration of his
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first term and at the close of the war was honorably discharged with a most creditable military record. He came to Iowa in 1868, settling in Taylor county and was married here to Miss Emily Baker, who was also a native of Ohio, born in Sandusky county. She came to Iowa to join a sister who was living here. Jason H. Osborn took up the occupation of farming in southwestern Iowa, be- coming owner of eighty acres of land, which he carefully tilled and improved. As the years went by he became recognized as a diligent and persevering farmer and a citizen whose value to the community was widely acknowledged. He spent his last years here, passing away in March, 1905. He had served as a member of the county board of supervisors in Polk township, also filled the office of justice of the peace and occupied other local positions of honor and trust. He was ever loyal to the interests of the community and discharged his duties with a faithfulness and fidelity that none questioned. Long an exemplary representative of the Masonic lodge, he was buried with Masonic honors and his death was the occasion of deep regret to his brethren of the order as well as to his associates in other walks of life. His widow survives him and some time after his death she added to the home place twenty acres of land. Upon this farm she now resides with her son, Joseph H. Osborn, who is one of three children. The brother, Jason W. Osborn, is a carpenter by trade and now resides in Sheridan, Wyoming. His sister, Mary Osborn, is the present county recorder of Taylor county.
Joseph H. Osborn has known no other home than the farm upon which he now lives. At the usual age he was sent to the public schools of the neighbor- hood and he has also largely supplemented the knowledge which he thus gained by further reading, study and experience. He remained upon the old homestead until twenty-three years of age, when in 1894, he went to Ohio and there oper- ated a farm belonging to his grandfather, Sanford G. Baker, who was a cousin of Ethan Allen, of Revolutionary fame. After five years spent in the Buckeye state, Mr. Osborn went to Reading, Pennsylvania, where he was employed in the iron and steel works for six years and later he spent one year in driving a fire team of Reading, having charge of the best equipped hose line then in the state. Returning to Iowa in September, 1905, he took charge of the old home farm and the business connected therewith and has since carried on the work of the place, which in its appearance indicates the life of unremitting diligence and energy which he is leading. Following the early spring planting and the cultivation of the crops in midsummer he gathers abundant harvests in the late autumn and for his products finds a ready sale on the market. He also raises high grade stock and is very busy with his daily duties, yet finds time to cooperate to some extent in public affairs. He served his township as con- stable before going to Ohio and he has been officially identified with the schools, acting at the present time as president of the school board. In 1908, he was elected assessor of the township. He is quite independent politically, supporting the candidate whom he regards as best qualified for office without considering the party affiliation. His mother is a member of the United Brethren church, to which the father also belonged. Joseph H. Osborn is a member of Plumb Lodge. No. 285. A. F. & A. M., in which he is now serving as an officer. He likewise has membership in Clay Lodge No. 584. I. O. O. F., and also in the
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encampment, and is in thorough sympathy with the beneficent purposes of these organizations which recognize the brotherhood of mankind and attempt to be of service to their fellowmen.
THOMAS A. FERGUSON.
One by one the soldiers of the Civil war are answering to the last roll call. All honor is due to those who remain and the country should never lose sight of the fact that her greatness is based upon the sacrifices which they made dur- ing the darkest hour in her history. Among the residents of Taylor county who were numbered with the boys in blue is Thomas A. Ferguson, of Lenox, who for nearly thirty years has been associated with the business interests of the city in which he makes his home. He is a native son of Iowa, having been born in Washington county on the 23d of January, 1847. His father, John Ferguson, was a native of Tennessee and was there reared and married, the lady of his choice being Miss Jane Moore, who was also born and reared in that locality. Because of his opposition to slavery Mr. Ferguson left the south and removed to Washington county, Iowa, taking up his abode there in 1843 among the first settlers. There he entered land from the government and opened up a new farm, upon which he reared his family. He was closely associated with the pioneer development of that part of the state for about thirty years or until his death in 1871. His wife had passed away in 1867. In their family were two sons and two daughters: Samuel, residing in Washington county ; Elizabeth, who is the widow of James McCahan and lives in Lenox; Mary, the wife of Andrew Ferguson of Washington, Iowa; and Thomas A., of this review.
No event of special importance occurred to vary the routine of farm life for T. A. Ferguson in his boyhood and youth up to the age of sixteen years when, aroused by a spirit of patriotism, he enlisted in 1864 for one hundred days' serv- ice. He joined the Forty-fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry and was assigned to Company B and then went south to Tennessee. The regiment brigaded with the Thirty-third Iowa and was engaged in guarding supply trains and in warfare with the guerillas and bushwhackers. Mr. Ferguson served until the close of the war, when he was mustered out and honorably discharged. Although so young he was a loyal and faithful soldier, never faltering in the performance of any military task assigned him.
When the country no longer needed his aid Mr. Ferguson returned to the farm and there remained until after he attained his majority. Subsequently he carried on the farm and afterward purchased the old home place, which he operated until 1879. He then sold out and removed to Ringgold county, where he rented land for a year. In 1881 he located in Lenox, where he engaged in clerking for several years, after which he established a business of his own in connection with a partner. In less than a year, however, the store was destroyed by fire, after which Mr. Ferguson again engaged in clerking for several years. Here he was appointed postmaster under President Mckinley and filled the posi- tion for four years. He had previously served as deputy postmaster and had
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managed the affairs of the office for two years, so that practical experience qualified him for the work that then devolved upon him. He discharged his duties in a prompt and creditable manner and on his retirement from the office was engaged for a few years in raising small fruits for the Lenox market. He owns two residence properties in the town and also has five lots near his home. His business affairs have been capably controlled and have constituted a source of substantial success which has won him classification with the men of affluence in the county.
In 1869. in Washington county, Iowa, Mr. Ferguson was united in marriage to Miss Clementine Dodds, a native of Ohio, who was reared in Iowa. The death of Mrs. Ferguson occurred in Lenox in November, 1895, and in 1897, in Jefferson, Iowa, Mr. Ferguson was again married, his second union being with Mary Neiderheiser, who was born in Ohio and came to Iowa during her girlhood days, being reared in Washington county.
In his political views Mr. Ferguson is a stalwart republican and has been called to several local offices, serving as assessor for a number of terms and also as census enumerator. He has been a delegate to various conventions of the party and his opinions carry weight in their councils. He and his wife are members of the United Presbyterian church and he belongs to the Grand Army Post in which he has served as commander for one or more terms. His wife is a member of the Relief Corps. His first wife was for years president of the Relief Corps. Mr. Ferguson is widely known in Lenox and his part of the county and at all times manifests a spirit of enterprising citizenship while the salient qualities that he has displayed in business connections have made him a man whom to know is to esteem and honor.
SILAS SHELEY.
Silas Sheley is a self-made man, who owes his success entirely to his own efforts. He had no special advantages to aid him at the outset of his career and received no financial assistance but with persistent spirit he has worked his way steadily upward and is now one of the well known stock feeders and shippers of Taylor county and one of the prosperous farmers of Polk township, where he owns one hundred and ninety-two acres of rich and well cultivated land in the home place and also another farm of two hundred and thirty acres. Moreover he is one of the early settlers of the county, dating his residence here from 1865. He was born in Sullivan county, New York, May 29, 1842. His parents were Jacob E. and Nancy Sheley, also natives of Sullivan county, where the father followed farming and where both he and his wife spent their entire lives, and Silas Sheley, during the days of his boyhood and youth, remained in the Empire state. Eventually he removed to Illinois, settling in De Kalb county, where he spent two years, working there by the month as a farm hand. His life has been one of unremitting toil and diligence and as the years have gone by he has made steady progress, owing to his laudable ambition and firm purpose.
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It was while a resident of De Kalb county that Mr. Sheley was united in marriage on the 23d of March, 1865, to Miss Elizabeth Young, who was born in Kane county, Illinois, but was reared in De Kalb county. For about two years the young couple remained residents of Illinois and in 1865 drove across the country to Nebraska. Not liking the district to which they went, they returned as far as Taylor county, Iowa, and Mr. Sheley here purchased and located upon land in Ross township. He first became owner of eighty acres, on which was a little house while a few acres had been broken. With characteristic energy he began to break the sod and till the fields and within a year or two was harvesting good crops from the land which was hitherto wild and undeveloped. He then bought another tract of forty acres which he farmed for several years but about 1874 he sold that property and purchased eighty acres of the farm, upon which he now resides. It was a raw tract, covered with hazel brush which he had cleared off preparatory to cultivating the fields. His first home there was a. small house but subsequently he added to and remodeled the place, converting it into an attractive and comfortable residence. He also built two big barns, a granary, cribs and sheds and from time to time he purchased more land until he became the owner of one hundred and ninety-two acres in the home place. Subsequently he invested in one hundred and thirty acres in another place and has thus become one of the extensive land owners of the community, now owning. four hundred and thirty acres. He is also known as one of the leading stock- raisers and feeders, making shipments from Hopkins, Missouri, which he has made his headquarters for buying stock. He also owns a residence property in Hopkins. He is an excellent judge of stock and this enables him to make judicious investments and profitable sales.
Mr. and Mrs. Sheley have become parents of seven children: M. J., a farmer of Polk township; Fred, who is engaged in the hardware business in Hopkins, Missouri; Ed, who carries on general farming in Nodaway county, Missouri ; Albert L., who is filling a position in a lumberyard at Parnell, Missouri; Cora, the wife of J. O. Jackson, a resident farmer of Ross township; Kate, the wife of Ed Mendenhall, a resident farmer of Polk township; and Lillie, the wife of Ben Mendenhall, also of Polk township. In his political views Mr. Sheley is a republican although he was reared in the faith of the democratic party. His mature judgment, however, did not sanction the policy of the latter and he, therefore, cast his first presidential vote for General U. S. Grant in 1868. He has served as road supervisor and as a member of the school board but has never been a politician in the sense of office seeking. He has become a Master Mason and his life is in harmony with the teachings and purposes of the craft. His well spent life has made him the owner of a good home and a tract of valuable land and has cast him with the leading and successful farmers and stock raisers and shippers of this part of the state. For years he was to be found nearly every day in Hopkins, where he bought stock. In the morning he would drive to the town and there spend the entire day but of later years he has not deemed it essential to give so much time to the business and usually spent only the after- noons there. He is well known both in Nodaway county, Missouri, and Taylor county, Iowa, and he and his wife are among the best known residents of this part of the state, their home being the abode of warm-hearted and generous
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hospitality which makes it a favorite resort with their many friends. Mr. Sheley deserves great credit for what he has accomplished and his record proves, that success may be won by persistent, earnest and honorable effort.
FRANKLIN G. JOHNSON, M. D.
In the history of the medical profession of Taylor county Dr. Franklin G. Johnson deserves mention, for his thorough preparation and native talents have made him an able physician and one who is conscientious and faithful in the performance of his professional duties. Widely known throughout Taylor, Ring- gold and Worth counties, his history cannot fail to interest many of the readers of this volume.
One of Iowa's native sons, Dr. Johnson was born in Mahaska county on the 23d of December, 1874, and is a son of M. F. and Emma C. (Durham) Johnson. The father, who was a native of New York, was one of the early settlers of Mahaska county, who later moved to Adams county, where he passed away in 1876. His wife, who was also born in the Empire state, survived for some time and was again married, since which time she and her second husband have both been called to their final rest.
Dr. Johnson was but two years of age when he lost his father, and he was. reared to manhood in Afton, Iowa, where he attended the common schools in the acquirement of his preliminary education, passing through consecutive grades until he was graduated from the Afton high school in 1891. After his graduation he learned telegraphy, and then, deciding to make the medical profession his life work, he began reading medicine under Dr. M. B. Coltrane, of Afton. His first course of lectures was pursued at the university at Iowa City during the scholastic year 1897-98, while later he pursued a course of study at the Kansas City Medi- cal College, graduating from the medico-chirurgical department with the class of 1901. He immediately located for practice at Gault, Grundy county, where he remained for only a few months however, and then removed to Conception, Missouri. He followed his profession there until the spring of 1904, in which year he arrived in Athelstan, where he has since continued in the active practice of medicine. During the five years of his residence in this city he has been accorded a large and steadily increasing patronage, and he has become recognized as one of the efficient and eminent physicians of his section of the state, keeping in touch with the trend of general progress in professional lines and by his own investigation and research also adding much to his knowledge and ability. He is well fitted for his chosen calling, both by natural endowment and by thorough training, and anything that serves to bring to man the key to that mystery which we call life is of deep interest to him.
It was on the 20th of September, 1899, that Dr. Johnson was united in mar- riage to Miss Laura Burgess, a native of Union county, Iowa, where she was reared and educated. She is a daughter of Nathan Burgess, one of the old settlers of Union county, now engaged in agricultural pursuits on a farm near
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Afton, Iowa. Unto this union have been born three children, namely, Nathan L., Hazel and Earl.
In politics Dr. Johnson is a stalwart supporter of the republican party. He and his wife are members of the Baptist church, in the work of which they are both deeply and helpfully interested, while fraternally he holds membership with the Masons, belonging to Blockton Lodge, A. F. & A. M. He likewise belongs to Athelstan Lodge, I. O. O. F., in which he has filled all of the chairs, and is a past grand, and served as district deputy one year. He has become a very suc- cessful practitioner, for realizing fully the obligations that devolve upon him in his professional capacity, he performs all duties with a sense of conscientious obligation and has won favorable regard by reason of his skill and his personal worth. He is widely recognized as a well known physician throughout Taylor, Ringgold and Worth counties, the consensus of public opinion according him prominence, while the profession recognizes his worth in the chosen field of his practice.
JACOB J. WALTER.
Success, whether it is won in professional lines or through commercial, indus- trial, or agricultural activities, always results from the same causes. It is the legitimate outcome of close application and intelligently directed energy. In this manner Jacob J. Walter has won his prosperity, becoming known as a leading farmer and stock feeder of Taylor county, where he owns and cultivates three hundred and sixty acres of rich and arable land. His place, which adjoins the corporation limits of Lenox, is a well improved and valuable farm, giving evi- dence in its attractive appearance of the careful supervision of the owner.
Mr. Walter is a native son of Iowa and was born in Adams county, November II, 1870. His father is Henri Walter, of whom mention is made elsewhere in this work.
Jacob J. Walter was reared to manhood in Adams county, spending his youth on the home farm and in the common schools he mastered the elementary branches of learning, but he is largely a self-educated man. He remained with his father until his marriage, which important event in his life was celebrated in Adams county on the 4th of March, 1904, the lady of his choice being Miss Minnie Florence Brokaw, who was born in Monroe county, Ohio, a daughter of James S. Brokaw, now of North Dakota. After their marriage the young couple located on a farm two miles west of Lenox and there carried on general agricul- tural pursuits for eight years. They then removed to his father's piace east of Lenox and resided there until 1907, when Mr. Walter purchased their present home. He has made many notable changes in the appearance of the place since that time, has repaired the buildings, fenced the fields and tilled the land, and in connection with general farming has successfully engaged in raising, feeding and shipping stock. He fattens about twenty carloads of cattle and hogs for the market each year, and in the year 1909 has sold over twenty carloads of his own fattening. He also buys and ships some stock and is one of the foremost dealers in live stock in this part of the county. He not only cultivates his own place,
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which comprises three hundred and sixty acres of rich and productive land, but also farms his father's place of four hundred acres. He is a stockholder and director in the Citizens Bank of Lenox and is a business man of keen discern- ment and unfaltering enterprise which has wrought his success along well defined lines of labor.
Unto Mr. and Mrs. Walter have been born two sons and two daughters, Marie, Roland, Harry and Dorothy. The family are well known in Lenox and this part of the county where they have a large circle of warm friends. Mr. Walter has spent his entire life in Adams and Taylor counties and has been closely associated with their growth and development. He is now numbered among the most prosperous farmers of the latter county and is known and esteemed for the success he has achieved and for the honorable, straightforward business methods he has ever followed in the conduct of his agricultural interests.
E. L. BOWERS.
Since locating in Taylor county in 1899, E. L. Bowers has so directed his energies along agricultural lines that today a valuable farm of three hundred and twenty acres on sections 20, 29 and 30, Marshall township, gives evidence of the success to which he has attained. He was born in Monongahelia county, West Virginia, January 16, 1855, was there reared to farm life and acquired his edu- cation in the schools of that county. He remained on the old home place until he came to Iowa. He was married in Greene county, Pennsylvania, February 25, 1877, to Miss Sarah A. Russell, who was born and reared in Greene county.
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