USA > Iowa > Johnson County > Leading events in Johnson County, Iowa history, biographical > Part 23
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David H. Thomas married Miss Elisa Bemister on Decem- ber 30, 1856, who was born June 1, 1839, at Wilshire, England, and came with her parents to America when she was eleven years of age. The Bemister family also settled at Marcy, New York, and the parents lived and died there. There were nine children in the family, of whom three died in infancy. The survivors are: Ann, Eliza, Harriet, Emma, Alfred. and Nettie. David H. and his wife had eight children: Edward L., married and living in Lone Tree; Clara, now Mrs. C. B.
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Andrews, living at Oakland, California; Frederick, married and living in Fremont township; Arthur and Alfred, living at home; Louisa, the oldest, died when she was three and one-half years old; Cornelia, died at the age of four and one-half years ; Jennie, died when three and one-half years of age.
Mr. Thomas was a strong republican. He was lieutenant and captain of the New York National Guards at Utica, New York, for about thirty years. He was a member of the Knights of Pythias at Lone Tree, and was honored with the highest office in his lodge. His character was unimpeachable, and the
RESIDENCE OF MRS. DAVID H. THOMAS
universal verdiet at this death was that Lone Tree had lost one of its best citizens. His widow, beloved by her children and friends, is a resident of Fremont township.
HARRIS CHILDS BUELL
On February 29, 1904, the cashier of the Lone Tree Savings bank, at Lone Tree, Iowa, committed suicide, and the question of a competent successor for this important position became at once important. The president of the Lone Tree bank tele- graphed to the Cedar Rapids National bank for its advice as to a candidate for the vacancy. The latter institution replied by sending at once one of its trusted employes, Harris Childs Buell, who had been in its service three years under the tutor-
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ship of that able banker, Ralph Van Vechten, who is now vice- president of the Continental & Commercial National bank, of Chicago, the largest bank of that city. Mr. Buell appeared at Lone Tree the next day, and was at once engaged for the posi- tion. The judgment of his sponsors has been abundantly vin- dicated, for he is now in his ninth year of service as cashier, and during his incumbency the deposits of the Lone Tree bank have increased fourfold and the stock has doubled in value.
Harris Childs Buell is a native son of Iowa : born at Mar- shalltown, July 10, 1879. He received his education in his
RESIDENCE OF HARRIS CHILDS BUELL
native town and at Mechanicsville, graduating from the high school at the latter place in 1897. The fall following his gradu- ation he began teaching in the public schools of Jones county, an occupation which he continued in the same neighborhood for three years. In 1900 he entered the employ of the Cedar Rapids National bank, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, with the result above stated.
Samuel Thompson Buell, father of our subject, was born at Detroit, Michigan, May 4, 1838, and Della Henrietta Childs, his mother, was born at Suffield, Connecticut, October 26, 1848. The elder Buell heard and responded to the first call of Abra- ham Lincoln for 75,000 volunteers to serve three months in defense of the Union, and enlisted as a private in Captain Ripley's Tenth Company, First Vermont Regiment of Volun-
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teers, serving the full time. Afterwards he enlisted for three years in the Seventh Vermont Regiment of Volunteer Infan- try, and served as quartermaster sergeant and lieutenant in Company D. At the close of the war he came to Iowa and engaged in merchandising at Mechanicsville and Marshall- town.
The genealogy of the Buell family in America dates from William Buell, "the immigrant," who was born in Chesterton, Huntingdonshire, England, in 1610, and came to America in 1630, settling at Dorchester, Massachusetts. In 1635 he re- moved to Windsor, Connecticut, where he died. His wife, Mary, died at Windsor, September 1, 1684. From William Buell the line of descent is as follows :
Samuel Buell and Deborah Griswold.
Captain Peter Buell and second wife, Martha Huntington, widow of Noah Grant.
Major Elias Buell and Sarah Turner.
Elias Buell and Catherine Thompson.
Samuel Thompson Buell and Jane Briggs.
Samuel Thompson Buell and Della Henrietta Childs.
On March 14, 1906, Harris Childs Buell and Miss Gladyce Elizabeth Stoffel were married at Mechanicsville, Iowa. The bride is a daughter of Henry P. Stoffel, born in Prussia June 30, 1846, and Louisa Elizabeth Jennings, born in Licking county, Ohio, December 12, 1850. Gladyce Elizabeth was born at Mechanicsville, Iowa, October 28, 1884. Mr. Stoffel came to America with his parents in 1855, and settled at Racine, Wis- consin ; thence came to Iowa in 1866 and engaged in the boot and shoe business.
One child, Louise Gladyee, born at Lone Tree, July 11, 1937, is the fruit of the marriage of Harris Childs Buell and Gladyce Elizabeth Stoffel. The couple are now occupying a modern new home in Lone Tree, to which they removed in December, 1911, from the residence which Mr. Buell purchased at the time of his marriage.
Mr. Buell has a brother, Samuel Kenneth, who is married and residing at Independence, Iowa. They are the only chil- dren. On both sides of the Buell household the ancestors were participants in the Revolutionary War. Samuel Thomp-
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son Buell is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, as well as the Grand Army of the Republic.
Our subject is a stockholder in the Lone Tree Savings bank and owns considerable real estate in the village. He has been honored with publie office, having been elected treasurer of the town of Lone Tree, Iowa, in 1912, to serve for two years. He joined the Masonic fraternity in 1904, and has held the office of treasurer in his lodge for four years. In 1903 he united with the Modern Brotherhood of America, and bas served as secretary of his lodge for seven years; was elected a delegate to the supreme convention of this order, held in Denver in August, 1911. He joined the Knights of Pythias in 1905, has attained the Past Chancellor's degree and is at present Keeper of Records and Seal. He is a member of the Royal Arch Masons at Iowa City. Mr. Buell and his family are attendants at the Reformed church. He is universally respected, and takes a pardonable pride in his home and home town.
JAMES W. LUX
One of the successful young business men of Lone Tree, Iowa, is James W. Lux, lumber merchant, who was born in Germany June 18, 1877. His parents, John and Mary ( Kubi- chek) Lux, came to America when he was eight years of age and went direct to JJohnson county, Iowa, where they located at Iowa City. The father was a cabinet maker, and secured immediate employment at his trade in the State University, where he worked for thirteen years. Thereafter he took up carpenter work. In his childhood days young James, who was the only child, attended the public schools of Iowa City. When he had grown to sturdy youth he worked in a grocery store in that city. Thus he early imbibed the principles of merchan- dising which have enabled him to make a success as a business man. Concluding that knowledge of craftsmanship would be a distinct advantage, he learned the moulder's trade, working thereat for six years. An opportunity presenting for entering the lumber business at Lone Tree, he took up this line and has been engaged therein ever since, doing a thriving and prosper- ons business.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
In 1899 Mr. Lux was married to Miss Clara B. Syble, a native of Iowa City, daughter of Michael and Barbara Syble. Their pleasant home life attests the happiness of their union.
Politically Mr. Lux is a democrat and takes a true citizen's interest in matters affecting the welfare of government, both
RESIDENCE OF JAMES W. LUX
local and general. He is an active worker in the fraternal orders of Lone Tree, being a member of Omega lodge No. 728, I. O. O. F., Lone Tree lodge No. 334, K. of P., and Wapashiek tribe No. 122, Imp. Order Redmen, Iowa City. Socially and commercially he stands high in his community, being esteemed and respected by all.
JOHN MUMM
One of the sons of Germany who has made good in America is John Mumm, son of Henry and Christina ( Rague) Mumm. He was born June 1, 1826, and left the Fatherland for the new world when twenty-four years of age. Both his parents died in Germany. John Mumm first settled near Chicago, Illinois, and later in Rock Island county, Illinois. He lived in the lat- ter county about twenty years. In 1872 he removed to John- son county and purchased a farm of eighty acres. This he cultivated for ten years, when he sold it, immediately buying another farm of 276 acres.
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In 1866 he was married to Margaret Messer, a native of Germany, who bore him eleven children, two of whom died in infancy. The surviving children are: Minnie, now Mrs. Ed- ward Price, living in West Liberty ; Edward, married and liv- ing in Lone Tree ; John, married and living in St. Paul, Min-
RESIDENCE OF JOHN MUMM
nesota, where he has a government position, was a soldier in the Spanish-American war; Louis, living in Moline, Illinois; May, now Mrs. Gustaf Herring of Lone Tree, Iowa; Emma, living at home; Nellie, living at home; Harry, living in Can- ada ; Gertrude, a teacher for four years in West Liberty.
Mrs. Mumm died in 1895. Her husband, at the advanced age of eighty, is a resident of Lone Tree, respected by all who know him and beloved by his children.
CHARLES PETRU
Charles Petru, a retired farmer of Lincoln township, now ยท residing at Lone Tree, was born in Bohemia, in October, 1857. He is a son of John and Katherine (Thomas) Petru, natives of Bohemia, and came with his parents to America when a lad of fourteen. The family first settled in Chicago, where they resided something over two years. There the elder Petru worked at his trade of cabinet making. This occupation he also continued a few years later when the family removed to
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
Iowa City. Tiring of town life and feeling a desire to pursue the business of agriculture. John Petru bought a farm in New- port township and moved thereupon. There he and his good wife spent the remainder of their lives, he dying in 1907 and she in 1908. They had five children: John, living in Chicago ; Frank, living in Chicago; our subject; James, who was acci- dentally killed upon the farm in Newport township a good many years ago: Mary, now Mrs. Jake Schonfelder, living in Graham township.
When a lad our subject learned the watchmaker's trade. He worked at this business two years in Chicago, but on his arrival at Iowa City worked at the gunsmith trade temporari-
RESIDENCE OF CHARLES PETRU
ly. Later he took to farm life, and worked at that business until he retired in the spring of 1911. He bought his home farm in Lincoln township in 1888, which he still owns. In July, 1887, he was married to Miss Mary Parezek, born in Johnson county in October, 1871, daughter of Joseph and Annie (Hradek) Parezek, both natives of Bohemia. Mrs. Petru's parents both came direct to Iowa City on landing in America from their native country. They at once settled upon a farm in Newport township, where they lived about twelve years and then bought a farm in Lincoln township. They re- sided on the latter place until 1906, when they removed to Iowa City, where they now reside. Mr. and Mrs. Parezek had
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nine children: Joseph, living on a farm in Pleasant Valley township; Frank, living on a farm in Big Grove township; Charles, living on a farm in Lincoln township; James, living on a farm in Scott township; Emil, living on a farm in Lin- coln township; John, living on a farm in Scott township; Mary, wife of our subject ; Annie, now Mrs. John Nuizel, liv- ing about seven miles northwest of Iowa City ; Anna, now Mrs. Fred Timmerman, residing with her parents at Iowa City.
Mr. and Mrs. Charles Petru have five children: Charles, living on his father's farm in Lincoln township; George, Bes- sie, Ernest, and Arthur, all living at home. Mr. Petru is a member of the democratic party. Fraternally he is affiliated with the M. W. A. of Lone Tree. The family are members of St. Wenceslaus Catholic church. Mr. Petrie is the owner of a beautiful residence at Lone Tree, and is enjoying the fruits of his toil while vet in the noonday of life.
PROF. WILLIAM A. WILLIS
Professor William A. Willis, principal of the Iowa City Academy, has had wide experience as a principal and superin- tendent of public schools in addition to his long service as the administrative head of Iowa City's famous preparatory school. He is an alnus of Beloit College, A. B. 1862, A. M. 1865, and began his publie school work at La Salle, Illinois, in 1864, where he was superintendent of city schools from 1864 to 1868. From 1868 to 1870 he was principa! of West Des Moines schools, and from 1873 to 1884 (11 years) was superin- tendent of schools at Baraboo, Wisconsin. In 1884 he became superintendent of schools of Iowa City, an office which he held until 1891, when he became principal of the Iowa City Acad- emy, a position which he now holds, having just entered upon his twenty-first year of service. Professor Willis is widely known and esteemed as a schoolmaster; he is a member of the Johnson County and the State Teachers Associations, in both of which he takes an active interest, and is a life member of the National Educational Association.
Professor Willis was born in Madison county, New York. He is the son of Rev. E. D. Willis, who was a Presbyterian
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
minister. His father removed to Rockford, Illinois, in 1851, where our subject spent his boyhood days. Following his graduation at Beloit in 1862, young Willis enlisted in Angust of that year in Company K, Seventy-fourth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry. He went to the front, but was discharged in 1863 on account of disability. This was a great disappoint- ment to him, for his heart was set on serving his country in that great struggle for freedom and the preservation of the Union. However, his friends who have taken note of his great services and usefulness as an educator are inclined to the opinion that nowhere else could our subject have performed a greater work for his country or his fellow men than he has been permitted to perform during his long service in the schoolroom. With no purpose of jest, they insist that his long training of the "young idea how to shoot" has done more to preserve the citadel of liberty than he possibly could have done by observing the manual of arms on a southern battlefield.
Professor Willis married Miss Laura R. Rehkopf, a sister of the Grand Recorder of the A. O. U. W. of Iowa. Seven chil- dren have blessed their home, all living at this writing. Six are graduates of the State University of lowa. One daughter is the wife of Professor Nutting of the S. U. I. Three sons are professional men, one an electrical engineer, another a civil engineer, and a third a physician. Miss Bertha Willis, B. S., assists her father as a teacher of botany, zoology, his- tory, and economy in the Iowa City Academy.
Our subject is the only descendant of his parents, both of whom died in Baraboo, Wisconsin. Like his father, he chose the Presbyterian elmurch. His interest in religious work is proven by the fact that he is an elder of the First Presbyterian church of Iowa City, of which he has been a member since his arrival in the city. Professor Willis resides at 308 Church street, which has been his home for a number of years.
MALCOLM GLENN WYER
The present efficient librarian of the Iowa State University, at Iowa City, has been prepared by years of study and expe- rience to fill his present responsible position. He holds the degree of B. L. S., which he received in 1903, upon completing-
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a course in the New York State Library School at Albany, one of the best institutions of its kind in the United States. He had previously received other degrees, having won that of B. A. when he graduated from the State University of Minne- sota in 1899, and that of M. A. from that institution in 1901. For two years after completing his classical education he held a position in the First State Bank at Red Lake Falls, Minne- sota, but did not feel satisfied with his environments and fu- ture prospects, so decided to take up the library course, in which he felt a strong interest, and for which line of work he has proven himself peculiarly well fitted. He has thus gravi-
RESIDENCE OF MALCOLM GLENN WYER
tated to the class of work for which his personal gifts and abilities have given him a strong attraction, and for which he has received the most thorough training. During 1903 and 1904 he was librarian of Colorado College at Colorado Springs, and assumed the duties of his present position in Sep- tember, 1904, through appointment. He is a member of the American Library Association, the Iowa Library Association, of which he was elected president in October, 1910; of The State Historical Society, and of the Beta Theta Pi, a univer- sity fraternity. He has a good standing with the community and is highly regarded among members of university circles.
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HISTORY OF JOHNSON COUNTY, IOWA
Mr. Wyer is a native of Concordia, Kansas, born August 21, 1877, son of James I. and Ella E. (Glenn) Wyer, now living at Excelsior, on Lake Minnetonka, Minnesota. When he was about four years of age his parents moved to Red Lake Falls, where they lived from 1881 until 1890, then went to Minne- apolis. Malcolm G. Wyer attended the public schools in the latter city and graduated from Central high school in 1895. The parents have lived at Excelsior some seventeen years. The father was formerly engaged in banking, having spent the larger part of his life in this occupation, but is now a hard- ware merchant. There were seven children in the family.
In 1906 Mr. Wyer was married, in Wisconsin, to Miss Char- lotte M. Spalding, of Lincoln, Nebraska, daughter of F. M. and Julia (Kingman) Spalding, the former a son of Dr. Phineas Spalding, a noted physician of New Hampshire. Dr. Phineas Spalding practiced many years in New Hampshire, and be- came one of the leading physicians of his part of New Eng- land. F. M. Spalding was born at Haverhill, New Hampshire, and his wife in Vermont. One daughter has been born to Mr. and Mrs. Wyer, Madeline. They are members of the First Presbyterian church, Mr. Wyer being superintendent of the Sunday school. They are well known in various circles and have won many warm friends in the city. Mr. Wyer is much interested in matters of a historical or literary nature, being especially mindful of the work of The State Historical So- ciety. which has done much to preserve and perpetuate early history which is of great value to present and future genera- tions.
JOSEPH A. SHALLA
It has passed into a proverb that the Bohemian-Americans of eastern Iowa are setting the pace of success. On the farm, in the storeroom, in the counting house, in craftsmanship, in manufacturing, in the arts, in education, the story is the same - unceasing, exceptional, unanimous snecess. It is a situation commanding the attention of economists and their admiration likewise. Historians of racial characteristics and the congenial influences of American conditions thereupon will find data for interesting theses in the rise and progress of
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the Bohemian people in Iowa. It is not within the province of the biographical writer to enter upon a discussion of the sub- ject. He can only wonder at its aspects in passing. For pur- poses of timely illustration it is sufficient to refer to the several biographical sketches of successful Bohemians contained in this History of Johnson county. The histories of adjacent counties will be found to illumine the subject still further.
Joseph A. Shalla is a native of Iowa City, and is proud of the fact; but it is inconceivable that he is not also proud of the companion fact that his parents were born in Bohemia. In his
RESIDENCE OF JOSEPH A. SHALLA
own person he combines the elemental ingredients of the suc- cess of his race above referred to - Iowa and Bohemia. The working out of his life story, after this first statement, be- comes essentially mere detail. It is like a simple deduction in logic : Bohemians are successful; Iowa is the place of their success ; therefore, a Bohemian born in Iowa must become a success. Enough for deductive reasoning. Back of the pre- mise, the sequence, and the conclusion, however, there must stand the personal equation, and that takes us from logie to algebra in the analysis of our subject, which is changing text-
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books in the middle of our biographical semester with a ven- geance.
Joseph A. Shalla is worthy of this rhetorical flourish. He is one of the really self-made young men of Iowa City. The comparison is commonplace, but not odious. There is no point of shame along the highway of honorable success through self effort. The purpose of every original, ambitious, dynamic man is to achieve victory - and the way is open, the pathway clear, the honors transparent - just as certainly today as they have ever been in the yesterdays. Mr. Shalla has trod a beaten path, but his footsteps are discernible, because like every other traveler on that highway, he has walked alone.
The parents of Mr. Shalla are Anthony and Mary (Maley) Shalla, humble but honest and industrious natives of Bohemia. The father has pursued the blacksmith trade in Iowa City dur- ing all his residence here. The mother came overland in a wagon from Burlington, Iowa, with her parents. Three sons and one daughter constitute the family of Anthony and Mary Shalla, all born in Iowa City. Joseph A. received his educa- tion in the Iowa City public schools, and supplemented this with a commercial course in the Business college, graduating in the class of 1886.
Mr. Shalla began and has continued his career as a banker in the Johnson County Savings bank. His first position was that of clerk of collections, from which he was promoted to bookkeeper. January 1, 1907, he was further promoted to the position of assistant cashier, which office he now occupies. His constituents in the democratic party saw fit to select him as their nominee for the office of city treasurer. He was elected and served from 1905 to 1909, two terms.
Mr. Shalla is happily married to Miss Anna M. Parizek, of Iowa City, of which union one daughter has been born, Edna Mildred. The Shalla family are members of the Catholic clinrch of Iowa City. Our subject owns his beautiful residence on Church street. Young, energetic, resourceful, the future is before him with inviting possibilities. He is on the highway, the end of which is competence, peace, and honorable old age. Every friend of his, and they are legion, will wish him God- speed to the terminus.
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DANIEL CORLETT
Among the hardy band of pioneers who "beat the railway builders into Iowa City" was Daniel Corlett, the subject of this sketch. Mr. Corlett utilized the iron horse in his west- ward journey from Ohio to Davenport, Iowa, in 1855, as far as the steed traveled at that time; but from Davenport to Iowa City he was compelled to continue his journey by wagon. Even this was a great improvement on the round-about steamboat rides and ox-team journeys of the first settlers, and Mr. Cor- lett reckoned himself quite an up-to-date traveler in his day. But, even with all the modern prestige of a railway journey from Ohio to Davenport, Mr. Corlett reached Iowa in time to be registered among its pioneers and to write his name in honorable letters upon the page of its history. The- briefness of duration when expressed in terms of development seems amazing. Mr. Corlett outran the iron horse in the race to Iowa City by a year, and yet in the fifty-six years intervening between his arrival and the date of this writing, the entire continent has been spun over with the "unbreakable webs of steel," and the most distant outposts of what was in his day the dim frontier of the nation have became mighty cities, shrieking with the clamor of the descendants of the first loco- motive. It seems fortunate that Pioneer Corlett and his brave compatriots reached the safe and solid ground of Iowa City when they did; for in view of the wonderful speed with which the mighty railway giant has stretched his tentacles across the continent, it seems marvelous that they were not run over and obliterated.
Daniel Corlett was born on a farm near Cleveland, Ohio, in 1833, and was the fifth in the order of birth of the seven chil- dren of William Corlett and Ann Kinley, all of whom grew to maturity. His early education and training were received in Ohio. Mr. Corlett left the farm when seventeen years of age. He spent two years in Cleveland, where he learned the car- riage-making trade. He worked a year as a journeyman that he might earn enough to pay his way to Towa. Young Corlett became an expert carriage maker in connection with his at- tainments at the district school. This knowledge stood him in good play on his arrival at his new Iowa home, and for a good
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