USA > Iowa > Allamakee County > Past and present of Allamakee county, Iowa. A record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 10
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Mr. Ericson married in Center township, March 16, 1892, Miss Hannah Swenson, a native of Allamakee county and of Swedish parentage, her father, P. J. Swenson, having been born in that country and having come as a pioneer to Allamakee county. Mr. and Mrs. Ericson are members of the Baptist church of Waukon and are well known in religious and social circles of the city. Mr. Ericson is a musician of great talent and ability and is entirely self-educated in this art, having studied it by himself after he reached maturity. He has been
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identified with several bands which were well known in this section of the state and for years was a member of a cornet band. He was for three years with the band connected with the Fifty-third Regiment of Iowa and was the organizer of the Center Band, of which he was the director for nine years. This was composed of from twelve to sixteen musicians. Politically Mr. Ericson gives his allegiance to the republican party and is intelligently interested in public affairs, although not a politician in the sense of office seeking. Having lived in this section since his childhood, he is widely and favorably known here, and in the course of an honorable and upright life has gained the respect and esteem of all who are associated with him.
FRED H. STOPPERAN.
Among the younger generation who are making their mark in agricultural circles of Allamakee county is numbered Fred H. Stopperan, who was born in Grand Meadow township, Clayton county, Iowa, January 23, 1879, and who is now conducting an excellent farm near Postville. He is a son of Carl and Elizabeth (Schroeder) Stopperan, natives of Mecklenburg, Germany, the former born in 1835 and the latter in 1845. The father crossed the Atlantic about the year 1860 and located in Pennsylvania, where for some time he worked as a deck hand on a boat. He later came to Iowa, settling in Grand Meadow town- ship, Clayton county, where he rented land, which he developed and improved for four years, later purchasing a farm. He bought at that time one hundred and twenty acres and upon it he continued to reside until 1903, when he retired from active life and removed into Postville, where he died about three months afterward. His wife survives him and makes her home in that city. They were the parents of ten children, of whom eight are yet living, the subject of this review being the seventh in the order of birth.
Fred H. Stopperan acquired his education in district school No. 7, Grand Meadow township, and in his childhood divided his time between his books and work upon his father's farm. He remained in Clayton county until he was twenty-two years of age and then went to St. Paul, Minnesota, where he spent one summer in the employ of others. Returning to Postville, he secured a position as driver of an ice wagon for Mr. Buecher, for whom he continued to work for three years, resigning his position in order to learn the cement and mason's trade. At this he became very proficient and he continued to give his entire time to it for five years, after which he turned his attention to farming, purchasing ninety-seven acres of land, which he now owns. His farm is highly improved, being provided with a fine barn and the necessary outbuildings, to- gether with adequate labor-saving machinery. In addition to tilling the fields he also pays considerable attention to stock-raising and keeps on hand a number of fine cattle and hogs, which he feeds for the market. His fields are very productive and the excellent condition and attractive appearance of the entire farm is an evidence of the careful supervision and practical labor he has ex- pended upon it. He is a shareholder in the Farmers Mercantile Association at
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Postville and is well known in the city as a reliable and straightforward busi ness man.
Mr. Stopperan was married on the 17th of March, 1910, to Miss Lena Brockmeyer, who was born in Westphalia, Germany, April 8, 1888, a daughter of Carl and Henrietta ( Lampa) Brockmeyer, also natives of that part of Ger- many, the former born January 28, 1843, and the latter February 13, 1849. The father was a butcher, a farmer and a weaver in his native country but after he came to America in 1896 he gave his entire attention to agricultural pursuits, purchasing a farm in Fayette county, Iowa, and later moving to Post township, Allamakee county, where he and his wife now reside. They are the parents of five children, of whom the wife of the subject of this review is the youngest.
Mr. Stopperan is a member of the German Lutheran church and politically gives his allegiance to the republican party, serving at present as school director. He is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America and is well known in local fraternal circles. He inherited the industry and integrity of his German ancestry and aside from being num- bered among the substantial farmers of the community he is also acknowledged to be one of the representative citizens of his township.
EVAN SWENSON.
An unflagging purpose, strength of character, industry- and perseverance, combined with, a firm determination to achieve an honorable destiny, have actuated Evan Swenson in all the activities of his varied and eventful career and have brought him such substantial and well merited success that today no history of the agricultural development of Allamakee county would be complete without the record of his life. Starting at the bottom of the ladder, penniless, friendless and in a strange country, he has steadily worked his way upward to prosperity, constantly overcoming almost overwhelming obstacles and difficulties and stand- ing today among the substantial and representative farmers and able business men in the vicinity of Postville, where he makes his home.
He was born near Christiania, Norway, on the 20th of June, 1849, and is a son of Swen and Maria (Olson) Swenson, also natives of that country. The father was a tailor by trade and also cultivated a small tract of land in Norway and, although he was crippled from the time he was one year old by the loss of an arm, was a man of remarkable strength and accumulated a comfortable com- petency. The mother passed away in 1863 and in 1871 the father came to America, locating near Postville, Iowa, on a farm in Post township, where he died in 1898. He had a family of nine children, of whom the subject of this review is the youngest.
Evan Swenson attended school for a short time in Norway but his advantages along this line were limited, for at the early age of fourteen he began working as a farm laborer, and the independence and self-reliance thus developed in him remain important elements in his character at the present time. For a while he received eight cents per day for hard work in the fields, his wages never going
MR. AND MRS. EVAN SWENSON AND FAMILY
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above ten cents a day, and after two years he was hired out to a farmer for a period of eighteen months, receiving at the end of that time six dollars in money and a suit of homespun clothes. Afterward he spent a similar period working by the day and then rented a small piece of land, which he operated for one season, giving all of the proceeds of the farm in payment for six months' rent. His crop of hay he did not harvest, selling it all at public auction. The season of 1867 was late and Mr. Swenson did not get in his crops until the 7th of June and when harvested he realized for his summer's work only sixteen dollars. In view of these conditions and the hardships which surrounded his life in Norway he determined to leave the country and, having spent all of the money he had made in the summer for living expenses during the winter, he borrowed in the spring of 1868 enough to purchase a ticket to Quebec, Canada. He left Norway with enough food to live on during the ocean journey and with a little over one dollar and twenty-five cents in money and he landed in Quebec on the 20th of June, 1868, on his nineteenth birthday, without one cent in his pocket. Mr. Swenson was unfamiliar with the English language but borrowing ten dollars, he managed to make his way west to Chicago, the journey consuming ten days, and there met a cousin, who loaned him five dollars and gave him his supper. From Chicago he pushed on to Madison, Wisconsin, where he borrowed seventy- five cents to take him to Black Earth, and from that point he walked twenty miles to Perry township, Dane county, where he hired out to a farmer for twenty-five dollars a month. After two months he received eighteen dollars a month until the winter time and he then continued with his former employer, working for his board and lodgings. During the next season he again received eighteen dollars a month and he continued to hold this position until November I, 1869, when he came to Iowa, having with the exception of a short time since remained a valued resident of this state. He located in Postville but in the fall of the same year went to McGregor, where he obtained a position chopping cord wood on what is called Bloody Run for Mr. Lonsburg. After three weeks at this work he returned to Postville and made his home with the family who were operating Judge Williams' farm in Grand Meadow township, Clayton county, remaining there until the spring, when he became a hired laborer in the employ of Duncan McDonnell, for whom he worked for two months. In April of the same year he returned to Judge Williams' property, working upon it for one year thereafter at twenty dollars per month, and at the end of that time he re- entered Mr. McDonnell's employ, remaining with him for six months. After spending another period on Judge Williams' farm Mr. Swenson purchased a yoke of oxen and went with it to Rock county, Minnesota, where he took up a homestead claim two and a half miles from the county seat. It was a raw and unimproved tract and Mr. Swenson broke two acres of the soil, dug a well and erected a sod shanty. He, however, did not continue the development of this farm but after a month sold his outfit, gave up his title to the land and walked to Worthington, whence he took the railroad to Mankato and came from there to Postville. In the following fall he took charge of Judge Williams' farm, then comprising twenty-three hundred acres, one of the largest agricultural properties in this section of the country. He continued to superintend this place for two years, earning during that time forty dollars per month, the highest salary he had yet received. He married in 1875 and afterward rented Mr.
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McDonnell's farm of five hundred acres for two years and at the end of that time realized a long cherished ambition, buying one hundred and twenty acres for fourteen dollars an acre. He cleared it of scrub and timber and with char- acteristic energy and ability carried forward the work of its development and improvement for nineteen years, selling it at the end of that time for fifty-three dollars per acre. He afterward bought a farm two miles north of Postville, then known as the Perry farm, paying for it sixty dollars per acre and selling it after a three years' residence at a profit of ten dollars per acre. When he disposed of this property he bought a farm near the Bethel church, the property being known as the J. M. Harris farm, and he paid for this sixty dollars per acre. Upon this property he has since resided, his holdings now comprising two hundred and eight acres, and by his careful management, practical methods and unremitting industry he has made it one of the finest farms in this part of Iowa, his success following many years of earnest and well directed labor. Upon his farm he has made substantial improvements in buildings and equipment and has the entire tract under a high state of cultivation. His attention is given for the most part. however, to his stock-raising interests, which are extensive and important, his high grade shorthorn cattle and Poland China hogs commanding high prices and a ready sale upon the market. Mr. Swenson is connected with the Cooperative Creamery Company of Postville and is a stockholder in the Citizens State Bank, and his ability is widely recognized in business and financial circles.
On the 6th of February, 1875, Mr. Swenson was united in marriage to Miss Eliza McWilliams, who was born near Edinburgh, Scotland, on the 6th of December, 1856, a daughter of Nathaniel and Isabel McWilliams. Mr. and Mrs. Swenson became the parents of twelve children: Arthur W., who is operating three hundred and fifty-eight acres of land in Franklin township; Maria, wife of Arthur A. Dresser, a farmer in Post township ; John F., who resides near Frank- ville, Winneshiek county ; Harry S., engaged in farming in North Yakima, Washi- ington ; Katie, who married Jerome Van Allen, a mail carrier in Chicago; Amy, the wife of Chester B. Davenport, now a resident of Roseville, Illinois, and for- merly teller of the First National Bank in Lincoln, Nebraska; Frank L., a soldier in the regular army, stationed at San Francisco, California; Alma, formerly engaged in teaching, who resides at home; Hall L., who is attending the Postville high school ; Allison E., a student in the same institution ; and Ethel and Lillian, who are also attending school.
Fraternally Mr. Swenson is affiliated with the Masonic order, holding member- ship in Brotherly Love Lodge, No. 304. He has been a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen since 1875 and of the Modern Woodmen of America for the past seventeen years. His political allegiance is given to the republican party and he has always been interested and active in public affairs, rendering his township and county able service in various capacities. He was for thirty years a justice of the peace and has done a great deal of far-reaching and beneficial work on the school board, having served as president and director of that body and now as treasurer. He is one of the most prominent, representative and successful men of this part of Iowa, where he has resided since pioneer times and to the development and upbuilding of which he has made such tangible and substantial contributions. His life furnishes splendid examples of the value of industry, determination and honorable purpose in the achievement of success,
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for by his own unaided exertions he has reached the goal of prosperity, his success and the methods by which it was attained having gained him a high place in the confidence and esteem of all who know him.
JOHN BARTON JONES.
John Barton Jones needs no introduction to the readers of this volume, for he is well known in Waukon and Allamakee county, where he has resided since 1875. He is one of the active business men and public-spirited citizens of the community, where for a number of years he has been in the grain and coal business, winning in the conduct of his affairs that success which always follows earnest and persistent labor.
John Barton Jones was born in Newport, England, of English and Welsh parentage, and was left an orphan when he was four years of age. At the age of eighteen years a friend of the family from Wisconsin visited England and persuaded him to come to America and he accordingly crossed the Atlantic, ac- companying his friend to the vicinity of Bloomington, Wisconsin, where he worked upon the farm. He subsequently clerked for a short time in a store, continuing at that occupation until 1875, when he left Wisconsin and moved westward seeking a favorable locality to make a permanent location. However, not liking the country, he began his return journey to Wisconsin, but on his way east arrived in Waukon. He was at that time obliged to work at anything which would bring him an income. He secured a position as a member of the construction department of the narrow gauge railroad then being built into Waukon and he later worked with Mr. Hale on the surveys, aiding also in im- portant bridge construction work. He continued in this line of employment until the spring of 1876, when he joined C. O. Howard and George Stoddard in the building of an elevator in the city. After the completion of this building he took charge of Mr. Howard's grain business and from 1880 until 1890 worked ably in his interests. In the latter year he resigned in order to enter the county auditor's office and after serving one term was reelected, acting as auditor for four consecutive years. After leaving the office he formed a partnership with M. W. Eaton and they purchased the elevator known as elevator No. I in Waukon, Mr. Jones taking charge of the grain and elevator business. The firm also deals extensively in coal and building material and has secured an exten- sive patronage. Much of the credit for the expansion of the business is due to Mr. Jones' energy and enterprise and he is known in Waukon as a resourceful, far-sighted and progressive business man, whose judgment is seldom if ever at fault.
Mr. Jones married, in Waukon, Miss Ada J. Goodrich, who was born and reared in Allamakee county. Her father, Lyman W. Goodrich, was one of the pioneers in this section of Iowa, having located here in 1852. He was a native of New York, born in Chautauqua county in 1824, and in his early youth moved with his parents to Ilinois, residing in Cook and later in Kane county. He married, in 1850, Miss Julia Merrian, a native of Canada, and after his mar- riage turned his attention to farming, coming in 1852 to Allamakee county,
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where he resided until his death. Mr. and Mrs. Jones became the parents of three children : Alfred G., who makes his home in North Dakota ; Stella F., who is a teacher in the public schools in Montana ; and Lyman B., who died at the age of five years. Mrs. Jones is a member of the Presbyterian church of Waukon.
In politics Mr. Jones is a stanch republican and has supported the party since casting his first vote. Aside from his service as county auditor he has also done able work on the board of township trustees and is progressive and public-spirited in matters of citizenship. Fraternally he is identified with the Knights of Pythias in Waukon and his religious views are in accord with the doctrines of the Episcopal church. He is numbered among the successful and prominent men of Waukon and his prosperity is the more creditable to him since it has been attained through his own determination, energy and enterprise, for he started out in life empty handed and, by the force of these qualities in his character has worked his way upward to success. His business enterprise has carried him forward into important commercial and financial relations and his friendly spirit has gained him the warm and lasting regard of those with whom he has been brought in contact.
CHARLES HERBERT RATHBUN.
Although yet a young man, Mr. Rathbun has already entered the ranks of the landowners of Allamakee county by purchasing, in 1912, an eighty-acre farm, upon which he engages in general agricultural pursuits, giving consider- able attention to the raising of high grade shorthorn cattle. A native of Winne- shiek county, lowa, he was born three miles west of Postville, November 4, 1885, and is a son of Bradshaw Rathbun, a native of New York state. His mother, who bore the maiden name of Hall, was born in Iowa. In 1843 the father became a resident of Iowa, locating on the farm upon which our subject was born and on which he settled with his father, Bradshaw Rathbun, Sr., thereby establishing title to the family as early pioneers of the state. Upon this farm the father grew to manhood and there he continued in his agricultural pursuits until he retired to Postville. Mr. and Mrs. Bradshaw Rathbun had six children: May, a resident of Los Angeles, California, where, in connection with her brother, she conducts a mercantile establishment ; Hall, of Los Angeles; Frederick, who resides in Winneshiek county, Iowa ; Bessie, the wife of Welton Cornell, who owns a farm on the Military road, near Ossian, Winneshiek county ; Blake, on the home farm ; and Charles Herbert, our subject.
In the acquirement of an education Charles H. Rathbun attended the dis- trict school in his home township in Winneshiek county. He remained at home until the age of twenty-one and then worked as a farm hand, saving his earnings so that he was enabled in the spring of 1912 to purchase the eighty-acre farm upon which he now resides and which is highly improved and cultivated. Sub- stantial buildings can be found upon his place and he has installed the latest machinery to facilitate the farm labor. He makes a specialty of shorthorn cattle, as his father did before him, and keeps a number of high-grade stock on
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hand. Practically all of his attention is given to the improvement of the farm and he has already succeeded in such a measure that a bright future may be prophesied for him.
On February 23, 1912, Mr. Rathbun was united in marriage to Miss Hattie Nancy Huffy, who was born in Clermont, Fayette county, Iowa, January 3, 1890, a daughter of Charles and Ella (Gordon) Huffy, both natives of this state. The mother, however, is at present residing in Allamakee county.
The political views of Mr. Rathbun are independent, his support being given to the best candidates available, irrespective of party lines. He shows a deep interest in the cause of education and at present efficiently serves as president of the school board of the Highland district in Post township. Yet a young man, he has already attained to a position of financial independence and is as highly esteemed and respected for the success he has attained thus far as for those qualities of his character which have made that success possible.
FRED J. HEINS.
Among the most prominent, able and deservedly successful of the younger farmers of Allamakee county is numbered Fred J. Heins, who owns and oper- ates a fine property of one hundred and fifty acres in Post township. He was born in Grand Meadow township, Clayton county, Iowa, October 5, 1884, and is a son of Fred and Dora (Schultz) Heins, natives of Germany, the former born in Hanover, September 15, 1847, and the latter in Mecklenburg, May 30, 1851. In his early manhood the father crossed the Atlantic to America and settled immediately in Clayton county, Iowa, where he purchased land. When he disposed of his interests in that section he removed to Allamakee county and here in 1890 he bought the farm upon which the subject of this review now resides, devoting all of his attention to its improvement and develop- ment until his death, which occurred on the 31st of December, 1900. He and his wife became the parents of seven children, of whom the subject of this review is the sixth in the order of birth.
Fred J. Heins was reared in Clayton county and acquired his education in the district schools. In his childhood he divided his time between his studies and work upon the homestead and when he was twenty-one assumed entire management of his father's farm, having since ably carried forward the work of development and owning today one of the best managed and most valuable properties in the locality. He has one hundred and fifty acres of improved land and in addition to the work of the fields engages extensively in stock-raising and dairying, disposing of his cream to the Cooperative Creamery Company, of Postville, in which he is a large stockholder. He is connected also with the Farmers Cooperative Mercantile Company and the Postville Canning fac- tory and is well known in that city as a thoroughly reliable, straightforward and progressive business man.
Mr. Heins married, on the 27th of February, 1906, Miss Anna Neuhring, who was born in Grand Meadow township, Clayton county, July 16, 1887. She is a daughter of Dietrich and Louise ( Fischer) Neuhring, natives of Germany,
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who after their marriage came to America, locating first in Clayton county. There the father engaged in farming in the employ of others for a number of years, later renting land and finally purchasing a farm, which he continued to develop and improve until he retired from active business life. He is now a resident of Postville. Mr. and Mrs. Heins became the parents of four children : Edna, who was born on the 3d of May, 1907: Harland, born November 8, 1908: a twin to Harland who died in infancy ; and Aurelia, born January 7, 1913.
Mr. Heins gives his political allegiance to the democratic party and is now a member of the school board, being actively interested in educational affairs. He is still a young man but has already left his impress upon the agricultural development of this section of lowa, and he possesses in his energetic, progressive and enterprising spirit a guarantee of continued progress in his chosen field.
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