USA > Iowa > Wright County > History of Wright County, Iowa, its peoples, industries and institutions > Part 48
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WRIGHT COUNTY, IOWA.
the place and set out a splendid orchard. He raised eighty acres of corn, fifty bushels to an acre, and eighty acres of small grain, selling one-half of the grain, and feeding the other half. . At the time he moved to Black Hawk county he was worth about fifteen hundred dollars.
Jacob W. Baker and Virtue Reynolds were married in 1858, the bride being the daughter of Nels and Elizabeth ( Pells ) Reynolds. Mrs. Baker was a native of Franklin county, Vermont, having been born there on August 13, 1836. Her father was born in Canada, where his wife lived after the birth of Mrs. Baker. Mrs. Baker's parents moved to Canada, where her father farmed until his death. The mother afterward married Madison Miller, the marriage taking place in Vermont, to which state the widow had returned after the death of her husband. After her second marriage, they moved to Stevenson county, Illinois, in 1854, farming there until the husband retired from active work and they returned to Vermont, in which state both subsequently died. The mother of Mr. Baker had five children, four by her first husband and one by her second.
The children born to Mr. and Mrs. Baker are five in number, George, Edson, Heber, Sarah and Nora. George became the husband of Sarah Lealand, and after his first wife's death, married Mand Lealand, to whom one child, Hazel, was born. Edson has never married. Heber married Sadie Lesure, and they became the parents of one child, named Vera. Sarah is Mrs. George Gilley and the mother of one child, named Herbert. Nora married Roy Comstock, and in this home two children were born, Kenneth and Winfield.
The subject of this biography is much interested in subjects relating to ยท military training, and was for five years a member of the "home guards" of Illinois. He holds his membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, of which denomination he was trustee while a resident of Black Hawk county, holding this position for a number of years. He is a "stand-pat" Republi- can.
It may be seen from the above that Mr. Baker possesses many fine characteristics. One is that he refused to be content with conditions as he found them, but had a strong desire always to improve them. No piece of land remained what it was when he bought it. By the expenditure of money, time and work, all of his property increased in value. Nor in mat- ters of patriotic or civic welfare is he wanting, as is evidenced by his mem- bership in the national guard and his interest in the movements for better local conditions.
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WRIGIIT COUNTY, IOWA.
JOIN W. MCGRATH.
Perhaps no greater tribute can be paid to a lawyer than that his own code of ethics is higher than any written law. In a profession in which one's moral and ethical standards are so frequently and so severely tested, a man of whom this can be said is strong indeed, and deserving of the high- est praise. To such there is but one ideal of right and justice, and to this he must hold himself as rigidly as he would hold others. The bench and bar of Iowa has been honored by having as one of its members John W. MeGrath, who was born in Whiteside county, Illinois, on October 30, 1861. His parents are James and Ellen ( Mellmoil) McGrath.
The father of John McGrath was a native of Ireland, where he grew to manhood. He left his native country when a young man, and sought a new field for his activities in America. He was first attracted to Chicago, and soon after his arrival in its vicinity became an employee of the railroad How called the Chicago & Northwestern. He was employed at the time when the road was being built from Chicago to Cedar Rapids, lowa. He afterwards bought two hundred acres of land in Whiteside county, and there engaged in general farming until his retirement in 1880. From that time until his death, in 1903, he lived in Morrison, Illinois. His wife, who was born in Swanton Falls, Vermont, shared all of his early hardships, sorrows and joys. Mr. and Mrs. McGrath are the parents of six children, all of whom except one are still alive. Of these, John W. and Dr. W. C. both live in this county, and both are prominent in its life.
John McGrath was ambitious from his early boyhood, his early school days in the Whiteside county schools preparing him for his later course in the Valparaiso Normal College, at Valparaiso, Indiana. He then attended the Towa State University, receiving his LL. B. degree from that institu- tion in 1887. He then came to Eagle Grove to live, practicing law the first eight years by himself. He then formed a partnership, which proved to be successful, with Enegen Brown, the partnership existing for another eight years. In 1900 Mr. MeGrath was associated in the law business with I .. Archard, the firm name becoming McGrath & Archard. This firm also has an office in Clarion, where the firm name is Petersen, McGrath & Archard.
It is interesting to compare Mr. McGrath's spacious office and its well- selected books with the handful of books with which he started his library soon after he left college. And he delights to tell his friends of his joy in acquiring the latter when his means were so limited that it was necessary to purchase them on the installment plan.
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WRIGHT COUNTY, IOW.A.
John W. McGrath was married to Mary Treadgold in 1886, his wife being the daughter of Anthony T. and Elizabeth Treadgold. Their home has been blessed by four children, three of whom are living. These are Edith, Earl and Everett. Earl is married to Blanch Smith. Edna, the eldest daughter, is deceased. Mr. and Mrs. McGrath are devout members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. McGrath is a Mason, a Yeoman and a stanch Republican "stand-patter." Mrs. McGrath is an active member of the Eastern Star.
Mr. McGrath is a man of sturdy moral character. Because of his high principles, and his honest methods in the practice of his profession, he has become one of the most successful attorneys in the county. He has been a member of the city council and has been city attorney for two terms. Whether in private life or public office, Mr. McGrath can be depended upon to exemplify those traits of character which always caused their possessor to forge to the front ranks of citizenship. He has never been untrue to a trust imposed upon him, nor to a duty with which he was charged, and it may be said that he holds the respect, the confidence and the admiration of the people whom he has served.
J. H. TANCK.
A record of progress and achievement in our country would be less one of its greatest elements without the effort of those citizens who have come from Germany. Men who are industrious, thorough and who have keen insight for business, they have been of real value in the affairs of American life. J. 11. Tanck is a fair example, one whose efforts have brought results, not only in his own material welfare, but in the aid that he has offered for general good.
1. 11. Tanck was born in Germany, September 12, 1862, being the son of John and Christina ( Letjne) Tanck, natives of Germany. Ilis father was a gardener who came to the United States, with his family, in the year 1866, landing in New York with twenty-five dollars in his pocket, after a voyage of nine weeks across the Atlantic ocean in a sail-boat. He immedi- ately went to Davenport, Iowa, where he secured a position as a gardener. which position he held for five years, subsequently conducting a dairy for nine years and then coming to Wright county in the year 1881, where he
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WRIGHIT COUNTY, IOWA.
purchased two hundred acres of land in Liberty township, section 6, paying for it the sum of nine dollars per acre. The next year he acquired one hun- dred and forty more acres of land paying seven dollars per acre. The land purchased was prairie and John Tanck set out to break up the sod and add those things necessary to make it productive. An orchard was planted, three flowing wells were started and a home was established where the elder Tanck lived for fourteen years, retiring then to Renwick, at which place he lived until his death. To John and Christina Tanck were born three children, Emma, Mary and J. H., the subject of this sketch.
J. H. Tanck received his early education at Davenport, Iowa, attending school until he was seventeen years of age, at which time he left his classes to aid his father on the farm and with whom he remained until the father's death on March 5. 1907. J. H. Tanck inherited the land hollings of his father, provision being made that the sisters should be paid their share in cash. As a progressive farmer Mr. Tanck proceeded to place on his farm about eight thousand dollars in improvements. Five acres of grove was set out, one acre of orchard was planted, one thousand dollars worth of tile was laid and a section of a large county ditch was put through his farm. Today the principal crops raised on the farm of Mr. Tanck are corn and small grain, his corn averaging about fifty bushels to the aere and his oats about forty bushels to the acre. Most of the grain produced is fed to stock, about two carloads of Shorthorn cattle and one hundred and fifty Poland China hogs going to market at Renwick, about one mile away, each year.
During the year 1895, J. H. Tanck moved from his farm to the town of Renwick where he became a butcher, in which business he remained for four years, after which he took up a position as a stock buyer for the next twelve years, later returning to the butcher business.
Mr. Tanck has a beautiful modern home in Renwick, the building cost- ing abont seven thousand dollars; in size is thirty-two by thirty and is equipped with electric lights, bath and hot-water heating plant.
. On February 24, 1889, J. HI. Tanck was married to Netta Callesen, daughter of Calla Callesen, a farmer of Humboldt county. Mrs. Tanck was born in Germany, in which country she received the greater part of her education. To Mr. and Mrs. Tanck were born the following children : Laura, who married Irwine Peer, a school teacher of Renwick: Calla, who was graduated from the Renwick high school and who was a student at the State College of Agriculture, at Ames; Lilian, who is a graduate of the Ren-
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wick high school, is pursuing a course in home economics at Ames; Metta and Norma.
Mr. Tanck has been honored in his county. For a term he served the important office of township trustee and as an evidence of the esteem in which he is held, he has occupied all the chairs in the Modern Woodmen of America, at Renwick. He is also an appreciated member of the Indepen- dent Order of Odd Fellows of his home town. Mr. and Mrs. Tanck are well-known members of the Lutheran church of Renwick.
WILLIAM CYRUS MCGRATH, M. D.
One of the most successful physicians in this section of the state is William Cyrus MeGrath. Doctor McGrath owes his popularity to the fact that besides possessing a natural fitness for his profession, he has received the most careful and thorough scientific training, and has a genuinely sym- pathetic nature. Not content with past achievements, Doctor McGrath has been progressive, both in study and practice, with the result that he has attained great professional success. Both in his general practice and in the management of his hospital he has applied modern methods, with a pleasing degree of success. Doctor McGrath was born on a farm near Morrison, Illinois, December 26, 1862. He is the son of James and Ellen ( McElmoyl) McGrath, the former being a native of Ireland, the latter a native of Ver- mont
William C. McGrath was educated in the graded schools and high school of Morrison, Illinois, and later had a one-year course in the Dixon Business College, Dixon, Illinois. . At the end of that time he came west and was employed on his father's farm in Sioux county, lowa; for three years. Ile was ambitious, however, for a broader career than that afforded the average farmer, and began laying foundations for his future profession by matriculating in the medical college of the Iowa State University, at Iowa City. There he remained for one year and then went to the Chicago Medical College, where he received his doctor's degree in 1891. Thirty days later he opened an office in Eagle Grove, and has practiced here ever since. In addition he has occupied the position of division surgeon of the Northwestern railroad for the past fifteen years. In 1908 he and Dr. C. H.
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Morse built the Eagle Grove hospital, and so complete is its equipment that it is considered the most modern hospital in this section of the state.
Doctor MeGrath has always kept abreast of the times. In late years he has taken several post-graduate courses, these including a course along general lines of study in the Chicago Polyclinic, in the year 1900. Seven years later he became a student at the New York Post-Graduate Medical School, and in 1915 studied under Dr. R. C. Cabot, the famous physician, at the Massachusetts General Hospital, at Boston, Massachusetts.
As might be expected of one so progressive, Doctor McGrath has allied himself with the various societies of his profession. He is a member of the County, State and American Medical Societies, also of the American Association of Railway Surgeons. He is a Mason, a member of the blue lodge, and in politics is a Republican.
Dr. W. C. MeGrath was married to Blanche Fort, a daughter of J. S. Fort, the ceremony having taken place on July 1, 1896. One child, Robert, has been born to Doctor and Mrs. MeGrath, born on February 19, 1903.
As is the case with all prominent physicians, this doctor has combined professional training with a natural aptitude. It has been his custom to keep "the open mind." a necessity especially in the medical profession in modern time -. when the science of medicine is continually changing through the application of modern methods. Doctor MeGrath has thus become a leader among his colleagues, and has built up one of the most extensive practices in the state.
NICHOLAS C. DUERST.
As a retired farmer, who after a successful business life, has laid down his active duties for the more quiet walks of life, Nicholas C. Duerst is one of the respected and honored men of the county. With a modest start and the application of keen judgment. he has illustrated well the results of fair dealing and business integrity and is now able to live a life of quiet satisfaction, with the knowledge that his days have been of service, resulting not only for his own welfare, but that in public office and in the little duties of life his efforts have been of true value.
Nicholas C. Duerst was born in the state of Wisconsin, July 5. 1856, the son of Mathias and Rosena ( Kundort) Duerst, who were natives of Switzerland, but who were married in Wisconsin. The father was a factory worker in his native land, where he worked until twenty years of age, when
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he came to this country, reaching New York in 1854, and going to Wiscon- sin, where he worked on a farm for a number of years. He purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in that state, where he remained until the year of 1861, and then, at the outbreak of the Civil War, enlisted in the Ninth Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteer Infantry, with which command he did not see active service in battle but was able to appreciate the hardships of service as the result of contracting a fever, from the effects of which he never fully recovered. With his regiment Mathias Duerst served until 1865, when he was mustered out.
Mathias Duerst then returned to Wisconsin and worked on his farm until the year 1872, at that time leaving and coming to Wright county. On arriving in Boone township he rented a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, where he lived for a term of four years, and then took up a home- stead in South Dakota, at which place he lived for the next twenty years, returning then for a life of retirement with his son, his wife having died during the year 1808. To Mathias and Rosena Duerst were born twelve children : Nicholas C., Sarah, Mary, Rosa ( deceased ), Rosa, Dora, Abra- ham, Ella. Mathias, Fannie, Katy and Henry.
Of these children, Nicholas C., who is the only one residing in this county, received his education in the country schools of Wisconsin and of Wright county. . At the age of eighteen years he left school and farmed with his father until the age of twenty, when he came, in the year 1876, to Wright county, where he worked for one year and a half on a farm and then rented one hundred and sixty acres. He then purchased forty acres of land, paying for this the sum of six dollars per acre. After three months' time he sold this land and bought eighty acres of prairie land in Humboklt county, which he broke up and on which he placed about seven thousand dollars' worth of improvements. This farm he cultivated for five years and then purchased eighty acres more adjoining, living there until the year 1900, when he secured a small farm on the outskirts of Goldfield and moved to that place, renting his farm in Humboldt county.
The farm of Mr. Duerst, near Goldfield, produces mostly corn and small grain, the corn averaging about fifty bushels to the acre and the small grain about thirty-five bushels to the acre. Most of this grain is fed to stock, Mr. Duerst marketing each year about one-half carload of cattle and about seventy head of hogs. This progressive farmer has placed about three thousand dollars' worth of improvements on his farm near Goldfield, and among other conveniences has supplied himself with an automobile.
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During the year of 1878, Nicholas C. Duerst and Sarah E. Griffith were married. She is the daughter of Chauncey and Polly ( Davis) Grif- fith, her father being a farmer of Liberty township. Mrs. Duerst was born in Wright county and received her education in the Goldfield public schools. She was the only girl in a family of five children.
To Mr. and Mrs. Duerst were born four children, as follow: Henry married Florence Reister, and lives on his father's farm in Humboldt county, with two children. Ethel and Alta; Jessie is the widow of John Hanson, and has three children, Leland, Ruth and Kenneth, the latter dying in infancy; Ansel and Inna are deceased.
Nicholas C. Duerst has served his township well and conscientiously as township school director during eight years, and by his counsel and efforts as a private citizen has shown himself to be of no small value in the affairs of Wright county and Liberty township. He has been a prominent man in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, having generously served through all the chairs of that organization. He is a Mason and has been an active member. Mr. Duerst is a Democrat in politics.
WILLIAM W. MCCURRY.
From a modest beginning to the position of a successful farmer, exten- sive stock raiser and large landowner, William W. McCurry has demon- strated himself to be a man of unusual ability, entitled to the high esteem in which he is held in this county. Never too busy to devote a portion of his time to the public welfare and an office-holder who served his consti- tuents well, he is worthy of a place in a record of the foremost citizens of the community.
William W. McCurry is a native of New York state, having been born there on November 24, 1861. He is the son of James and Ruth ( Duell) McCurry, both of whom were born in the state of New York. His father was a farmer until the year of 1861 when he left his home and enlisted in the army for the defense of the Union, as a member of the One Hundred and Twenty-first Regiment, New York Volunteer Infantry, in the commis- sary department. Many an interesting tale was told by the elder McCurry as to the narrow escapes with his life and as to the times when his lantern was shot out while serving at his duties. James McCurry served until the end of the war and then returned to New York state, where he remained
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until the autumn of 1865, at that time going to Wisconsin. Early in the spring of 1866 he moved to Winneshiek county, lowa, later coming to Wright county, where he bought eighty acres of land for ten dollars per acre, without the necessity of paying down the consideration. On this land he set up, near the Boone river, a log cabin, and prepared a home for his family whom he brought out in July of the same year. He continued to buy land in the vicinity until he had four hundred and eighty acres in Liberty township, in sections 7 and 8. He lived on the farm until his death, January 27, 1892.
The family of James and Ruth McCurry consisted of six children, Henry, James, William W., Sarah, John and Albert.
William McCurry received his education in the country schools of Liberty township. At the age of nineteen years he decided to leave school and for six years taught school in the winter and farmed in the summer. Until he was twenty-two years of age he remained on his father's farm. At that time he purchased eighty acres of land and rented one hundred and sixty acres more for a period of one year. At the end of that time he pur- chased forty acres more and farmed it together with his one hundred and twenty acres. Upon the death of his father he received forty acres of land from the father's estate.
Later, desiring to enter business, he invested in a lumber yard at Luverne, Iowa, but the attraction of farm life was too strong and after six months he sold his business interests and returning to his farm bought, for seventy-five dollars per acre, one hundred and sixty additional acres. Here he has remained to the present time.
Mr. McCurry has one of the best-improved farms to be found in the county. Improvements to the amount of eight thousand dollars have been placed in a modern home, with electric light, etc., and in a spacious barn which also has electric lights. A beautiful two-acre grove, set out by Mr. McCurry, is a desirable feature of his farm. Many fruit-bearing trees are to be found on this attractive place, which is located about two miles from Renwick, Iowa.
The principal crops of his farm are corn and small grain. Mr. McCurry realizes about sixty bushels of corn per acre and about forty bushels of oats from one hundred acres planted to that grain. Most of his grain he feeds to his stock, feeding each year about two carloads of hogs and about one carload of cattle.
In 1884 William McCurry married Fannie McQuade, daughter of Silas
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and Amanda ( Bishop) McQuade. Her parents were born in Ohio but she was born and educated in Iowa county, lowa, where her father was a farmer. She was one of a family of nine children, five boys and four girls. She attended school until eighteen years of age.
To Mr. and Mrs. McCurry were born three children, Roy II., Pearl E. and J. Howard. Roy married Helen Packard and lives on a farm in Liberty township. Pearl married Andrew Martin and lives at Renwick, lowa. Howard is a student of agriculture at the State College of Agriculture, Ames, lowa.
Mr. MeCurry has served his township as school director for a term of four years, was justice of the peace for one year and for two years served as township trustee. He is a Mason, a member of the Modern Woodmen of America, and in politics is a Republican.
EDWARD A. SIMPSON.
A figure of dominating force in the agricultural life of Wright county, Iowa, is Edward A. Simpson, who, as a man of unusual attainments, has long held precedence as one of the authorities on farm life in his com- munity. \ member of one of the pioneer families of lowa, he has con- tributed in no small way to the prosperity of that state as a thriving center of industry. His life has been marked with large and definite accomplish- ment and by reason of his strong attributes of character he is held in, high regard by those in his profession. The success which has come to him has been well deserved.
Edward A. Simpson was born in Hamilton county, Iowa, on the 22nd of December, 1879, and is the son of Adam and Hattie ( Farrell) Simpson, natives of Ireland. Adam Simpson before his emigration, was a farmer in the Emerald Isle where he owned forty acres of land. A landowner in Ireland in his day was considered a man of no little distinction but this fact alone was not strong enough to hold Mr. Simpson to his native soil, and during the great exodus of Irishmen to this country he left the scenes of his boyhood and came to the United States. Ile arrived in New York in 1867 and from there went directly to Webster City, lowa, where he bought a farm and continued to work in his chosen field of endeavor until 1900. After selling the farm near Webster City, he retired to Duncan, Iowa, where he
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WRIGHIT COUNTY, IOWA.
remained until his death, which occurred in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Simpson reared a family of fourteen children : Myra, Jennie, Adam, George, Meady, Emma, John, Maud, Bertha, Edith, Charles, Edward, Walter and Hattie.
The common schools of Hamilton county, Iowa, furnished the early educational advantages for Edward Simpson, who was a pupil there until he was seventeen years old when he quit school to begin to work for his father. Two years before his marriage he worked on the farm and then at the age of . twenty-three, rented a farm in Wright county, Iowa, where he continued in the occupation of farming for seven years. At the end of that time he was able to purchase a farm of his own, and chose Boone township. in the same county, as a favorable place for investment. In that locality he bought one hundred and sixty acres at sixty-eight dollars an acre. The farm has proved to be one of agricultural wealth and Mr. Simpson has been able to make all the improvements necessary for the success of its manage- ment. - The land is well tiled and over seven thousand dollars have been spent in modern improvements. Corn and small grain are the principal crops the corn averaging forty bushels to the acre and the grain, thirty-five. Most of the grain is used for feeding the large number of hogs, of which a carload is sold annually. Throughout his residence in Wright county, Mr. Simpson has given evidence of his ability and love of industry and has fully proved that he understands his vocation.
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