USA > Iowa > Allamakee County > Past and present of Allamakee county, Iowa. A record of settlement, organization, progress and achievement, Vol. II > Part 15
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methods are practical and, therefore, productive of good results and his pros- perity places him today among the substantial and representative farmers of the community.
In 1893 Mr. Marti married Miss Emma Roth, who was born upon the farm where she and her husband now reside. They have nine children, Clara Elizabeth, Selma Catherine, Walter Jacob, Roy Henry, Elsie Sophia, Harry William, Albert Herman, Willard George and Mildred Emma, all of whom live at home. The parents are devout members of the Congregational church.
Mr. Marti is not affiliated with any political party, preferring to vote inde- pendently according to his personal convictions. He is especially interested in educational affairs and has done much to promote the cause of educational advancement through his able service as school director. He is connected with business interests of this section as a director in the Cooperative Creamery Com- pany. A man of broad experience, his labors have not only proven an element in his own progress and prosperity but have also constituted a feature in the development of the township, while his genial and social disposition and his unfailing courtesy have made him very popular among his fellow citizens and have gained for him their warm regard and friendship.
LEWIS DRAKE.
Lewis Drake, now serving as clerk of Center township, is not only a popular and able official but also one of the most progressive and successful farmers of Allamakee, his native county. He owns two hundred acres of land on section 23 and upon this farm he was born March 9, 1871. His father, John Drake, was a native of Canada but was reared in New York state, where he remained until he was twenty-four years of age. From New York he went to Michigan, working in the lumber camps in the winter and in the sawmills in summer and continuing thus until 1868, when he came to Allamakee county. Here he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of slightly improved land, erected thereon good buildings and engaged in general farming until his death, which occurred March 17, 1908, when he was seventy-three years of age. He was a republican in his political beliefs and active in local politics, holding various important township offices and acting as township clerk at the time of his demise. He married, in Michigan, Miss Sarah J. Curley, who was born in Canada but reared in the Wolverine state. They became the parents of five children : Frank, engaged in the real-estate business in Minneapolis, Minnesota; Lewis, of this review; Jennie, who died at the age of twenty-four; C. C., a traveling salesman with headquarters in Sedalia, Missouri; and Clarence, who died in childhood. The mother passed away February 5, 1904. She was a member of the Presbyterian church.
Lewis Drake acquired his education in the district schools of Center township and grew to manhood upon his father's farm, learning at an early age the various details connected with the operation of the homestead. After his father's death he purchased the interests of the other heirs and is now sole proprietor of the home place, which is called Lyndale and which is today one of the finest farms
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in this locality. Since the death of his father Mr. Drake has been serving as . township clerk and has proven eminently well qualified for the office, discharging his duties in a conscientious, able and progressive way.
Mr. Drake married Miss Grace M. Phipps, a native of Allamakee county and a daughter of M. T. Phipps, a prominent farmer of La Fayette township. They are the parents of a daughter, Myrtle E., and a son, John Lewis. Mr. Drake gives his political allegiance to the republican party and in matters of citizenship is progressive and public-spirited, taking an active interest in everything pertain- ing to the general growth and development. He has spent his entire life in this part of Iowa and his honorable connection with its official life and its agri- cultural interests, combined with his many excellent personal characteristics, have gained him an enviable reputation in the regard of those with whom he is associated.
HENRY ENGELHORN.
Henry Engelhorn, an enterprising farmer and stock-raiser of Allamakee county, is a native of the county and was born on the farm he now occupies, June 13, 1875. He is a son of Mathias Engelhorn, a native of Germany, who was brought to America by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Engelhorn. They were among the early settlers of Lansing township, residing for many years upon a farm adjoining the place now owned by the subject of this review. Mathias Engelhorn grew to manhood there and afterward engaged in farming on his own account, purchasing two hundred acres of land slightly improved. The old log house which he erected upon his holdings still stands but he later built a larger frame dwelling, now occupied by his son. The father died upon this farm April 16, 1896. He had been twice married. His first wife was in her maidenhood Miss Margaret Schmidt, by whom he had three children: Abraham, who makes his home in Fond du Lac, Wisconsin; Sam, who died in Oregon; and George, who passed away when he was a child. Mathias Engelhorn's second wife was Miss Dora Westphal, a native of Germany, who died at the home of her son on the 7th of March, 1911. She was the mother of six children: Henry, the subject of this review; Elizabeth, the wife of Theodore Beyer, of Oshkosh, Wisconsin; Bertha, who married J. W. Wendel, of Lansing township; Emma, who died in childhood; Annie, the wife of Ben Decker, of Church, lowa; and Sophia, the deceased wife of William Mueller, of Davenport, Iowa.
Ilenry Engelhorn spent his childhood on his father's farm, dividing his time between his studies at the district school and the work upon the homestead. Having been reared upon a farm, he naturally turned to agricultural pursuits for a life work and after the death of his father purchased the interests of the other heirs to the property and assumed the ownership and control. He owns two hundred and twenty-two acres on sections 31 and 32, Lansing township, a valuable property with good improvements all made by himself and his father. lle is a practical and progressive agriculturist and his well directed labors have been rewarded by a substantial degree of success, placing him among the men of prominence in this community.
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On the 23d of December, 1902, Mr. Engelhorn married Miss Frances Spieler, a daughter of Jacob Spieler, of whom further mention is made elsewhere in this work. Mr. and Mrs. Engelhorn became the parents of three children : Clarence, who died in infancy ; and Walter and Oscar. The parents are members of the Congregational church.
Mr. Engelhorn is one of the well known men of this township, where his entire life has been spent and where his upright and honorable qualities of character and his genuine personal worth are known and honored. A republican in his political beliefs, he has never sought to figure prominently in public life but in business has proven capable and reliable, and his intense and well directed activity is now bringing him a gratifying measure of prosperity.
FRANK GALLAGHER.
Among Hanover township's extensive landowners and prosperous farmers and among Allamakee county's most progressive and prominent native sons is numbered Frank Gallagher, who owns and operates six hundred and fifty-three acres of fine land, the neat and attractive appearance of which is a visible evidence of his life of industry and thrift. He was born in 1866 and is a son of Patrick and Ellen ( Butler) Gallagher, natives of Ireland, who came to America at the age of twenty-six and eighteen respectively. Shortly after their arrival in this country their marriage occurred and they settled in New York state, where they continued to reside for fourteen years. In 1854 they moved to Iowa and settled in Union Prairie township, Allamakee county, where the father purchased land, which he operated until 1879. In that year he disposed of his holdings and came to Hanover township, where he again purchased land, operating this farm, which comprised one hundred and fifty-three acres, until he retired from active life. He was one of the early settlers in this part of Iowa and when he first took up his residence upon his farm in Hanover township his nearest market was at Lansing, twenty-seven miles away. He still makes his home in Iowa and is one of the venerable men of this state, having passed the age of one hundred years. He has long survived his wife, who died in 1890. Seven children were born to their union, of whom five are still living: Johanna, the wife of James Ryan, of Frankville, Iowa; Mary, at home; Thomas, of Allamakee county ; Eliza, the wife of James Martin, also of this county ; and Frank, of this review.
The last named acquired his education in the public schools of Allamakee county. He was reared at home and by assisting with the work of the farm acquired at an early age a practical knowledge of the details of farm operation. When he was twenty-eight he assumed the conduct of his father's homestead and has managed this property since that time, although he has added largely to his holdings. At present he owns six hundred and fifty-three acres of well improved land, with four hundred acres in a high state of cultivation, besides an interest in a two hundred and forty acre tract in Minnesota. The Iowa farm lies on sections 28 and 33, Hanover township, and is an excellent property in every par- ticular, equipped with a fine residence, barns and outbuildings and the necessary machinery. Mr. Gallagher devotes practically his entire time to its cultivation
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and has been very successful, standing today in the front ranks of able and prosperous agriculturists.
In 1890 Mr. Gallagher was united in marriage to Miss Maria Collins, who was born in Allamakee county, a daughter of James and Mary Collins. Mr. and Mrs. Gallagher have become the parents of five children: Patrick, who was born in 1892 and is at home; Loretta, born in 1895, the wife of A. Goshie, of South Dakota; James, whose birth occurred in 1896; and Francis and Leo, both deceased. Mr. Gallagher is a member of the Roman Catholic church and he gives his political allegiance to the democratic party. He has served his township capably as trustee and is always ready to cooperate in progressive public move- ments. There are few men in Allamakee county more widely and favorably known than he, for he has made his home in this part of Iowa since his birth and his upright and straightforward life has gained him the warm and lasting regard of all with whom he has been brought in contact.
ALONZO MARTIN MAY.
Alonzo Martin May was born in the village of Scio, Allegany county, New York, on the 20th of March, 1838. He is a descendant of Sir Thomas May, of Mayfield, county of Sussex, England, located about forty miles south of London. In the family records the name has been written Mayes, Mays, Maies and May. Dorothy May, of this family, was the wife of William Bradford, who became governor of the Plymouth colony. She died on the voyage to America. The line of descent is: Thomas May, born at Mayfield, England, in 1590; John ; Samuel ; Samuel, second of the name; Eleazer; Theodore; Ellis; Philander Franklin ; and Alonzo Martin. Theodore moved from Dedham, Massachusetts, to Washington county, New York, served in the Revolutionary war and was present at Burgoyne's surrender. Ellis followed farming at Union Village, Washington county, until 1832, when he moved to Allegany county, New York. He married Mary Wells and their fifth child was Philander Franklin. In 1835 he married Laura Ann Matthews, of Wyoming county, New York, a descendant of one of the Pilgrim fathers and also of Revolutionary stock. To them were born seven children, the second being Alonzo Martin, of this review. When he was five years old his family moved west, the trip being made from New York overland in a prairie schooner, a covered wagon drawn by two horses. The party passed through Canada from Lewiston to Detroit, the Niagara and Detroit rivers being crossed on horse ferry boats. They reached Will county, Illinois, thirty-five miles south of Chicago, in August, 1843, and there with five hundred dollars in silver the father purchased a quarter section of land and built upon it a fourteen by twenty frame house, one and a half stories high, the lumber having been hauled from Chicago. In 1846 he moved to Rock county, Wiscon- sin, and engaged in the manufacture of steel plows at Janesville, the first steel plows in the country having been made by his brother Harvey H. May, of Galesburg, Illinois. Disposing of this business in February, 1851, the father went to Green Lake county, where he again turned his attention to farming. There Alonzo Martin May completed a common-school education when he was
ALONZO M. MAY
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fifteen years of age, having begun his studies in a select school over a wagon shop in New York state. The first school which he attended in Illinois was in a house made by setting up small trees or bushes, ten or twelve feet high, around a space about fifteen feet square, the roof being leafy branches of trees. Mr. May afterward attended Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin, and from there went to Beloit College, completing the course in that institution in 1864. In April, 1861, when the news came that Fort Sumter had been fired upon by the rebels, he with a large number of other students tendered his services to the government under the call for three months' men, and his company was assigned to the Second Regiment, Wisconsin Volunteers. Under the call the regiment did not see service in the field and Mr. May was afterward sworn in as a member of a regimental band at Beloit. He was taken sick when this band went to the front and secured a substitute, being, however, held to fill a vacancy should one occur. At the end of a year the regimental bands were mustered out and he went to Janesville, Wisconsin, to enlist, failing, however, to pass the medical examina- tion. Again, early in 1864, with a large number of students and professors in the colleges, he enlisted in Company B. Fortieth Wisconsin Volunteers, his regi- ment being widely known as the "Students Regiment." Mr. May was at that time a member of the senior class, the seniors enlisting having passed their final examinations ahead of time for the purpose of going to the front and finding upon their honorable discharge their diplomas waiting for them at Beloit. Alonzo Martin May's father also served for some months in the Union army and a brother. Isaac M. May, was for three years at the front, dying in a military hospital in Chicago while on his way home after having been mustered out.
In 1867, having completed the course of study in the Union Theological Seminary in New York city. Alonzo Martin May was ordained by Bishop Potter of New York to the ministry of the Protestant Episcopal church and came west. locating in Waukon, Iowa, as rector of St. Paul's Protestant Episcopal church in that city. The membership, small at that time, was soon further depleted by removals and, Waukon being more than adequately provided for in the number of churches, Mr. May discontinued his services at the end of five years and transferred his membership to the Methodist Episcopal church, of which he has since been an active member. He has been leader of the music and a chor- ister for more than fifty years and occasionally has served as a substitute for other pastors. He has always taken an active interest in the cause of education and has done much to promote its spread in Waukon, especially during the year of 1868-9, when he had charge of the Waukon public schools.
In January, 1868, Charles B. McDonald brought a newspaper plant from Blairstown to Waukon and established in this city the Waukon Standard. Mr. May, being familiar with the newspaper printing business, at once became identified with it and at the end of three months bought the outfit and may, therefore, properly be called the founder of the paper. He continued its principal proprietor and its editor for thirty-three years thereafter, making it one of the greatest forces in the promotion of municipal progress and growth. At the end of that long period, on account of nervous prostration, he sold the plant to his son, Robert Bruce May. During the first year after Alonzo M. May assumed control his brother-in-law, R. L. Hayward, was associated with him in the busi- ness and afterward for nine years E. M. Hancock, who had learned the printing Vol. II-8
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business in the office, was associated with him as a partner, taking principal charge of the operation of the journal, while Mr. May filled the position of official shorthand court reporter for the tenth judicial district of Iowa, compris- ing six counties. This office he resigned after thirteen years of capable service. During the last four years of this time his wife had principal charge of the edi- torial work and proved herself a capable and far-sighted business woman. Mr. May was admitted to the bar, having passed the required examinations in June, 1872, but never actively entered upon the legal profession.
At Beloit, Wisconsin, on the 26th of July, 1865, Mr. May was united in marriage to Miss Augusta Mary Hayward, the second daughter of Hon. Paul Davis Hayward, who was born at Port Hope, Canada, although his parents were natives of the United States. A member of the family to which he belongs served in the Revolutionary war and signed the Declaration of Independence. Paul Davis Hayward married on October 14, 1837, at Norwalk, Ohio, Miss Anna Langford, a native of Ireland, and in 1841 they moved to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and thence to Kingston, in the same state, where Mr. Hayward was register of the U. S. land office and also county recorder of deeds. He became very prominent in state politics and was afterward elected to the legislature, serving for two terms with great ability and efficiency. He was in the Civil war as a member of the Union army and died at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. R. J. Alexander, in Waukon, November 24, 1890. He had long survived his wife, who passed away in Canada, May 6, 1863. Their eldest son, George Washington Hayward, was born in Huron, Ohio, August 31, 1838, and was graduated from the United States Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1861. He served in the Civil war, attained the rank of captain and died while on duty at Alexandria, Egypt, January 16, 1886. Their eldest daughter, Anna E. Hayward, is now Mrs. J. S. Gray, of Detroit, Michigan. Mrs. May, the wife of the subject of this review, was born at Green Bay, Wisconsin, June 8, 1842. For seventeen years the family resided at Kingston, Wisconsin, where she attended the public schools, and she was also afterward a student at Ripon College. The next daughter, Ella M .. was born August 5, 1844, and was for some time a resident of Waukon. She married Hon. D. F. Morgan, of Minneapolis, Minne- sota, a member of the state senate for some years. Both have passed away. Richard L. Hayward was born August 5, 1846, and in the Civil war fought as a member of the Fortieth Wisconsin Infantry, and was afterward connected with the first Wisconsin Cavalry. In 1869, after a year as foreman of the Standard office and partner in the controlling company, he went south on account of failing health and died in Texas in 1882. Paul Davis Hayward, Jr., was born at Kingston, Wisconsin, in 1849, attended college at Beloit and in 1870 located in Chicago, where for twenty years thereafter he was prominently connected with a wholesale paper firm. He died in Broekville, Ontario, June 7, 1890. Emma E. Hayward was born August 15, 1851. Sarah V. was born September 25, 1852. They are now residing in Detroit, Michigan. Carrie L. was born June 30, 1857, and came to Waukon with her sister Mrs. May in 1867. She was a student of Cornell College, Iowa, and at Olivet College, Michigan. She married R. J. Alexander at Waukon, June 27, 1883. For more than a third of a century Mr. Alexander has been one of the most successful clothing merchants
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of the country and for many years has been an active member of the school board.
Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo M. May became the parents of eight children. Frank Hayward, the eldest son, was born in New York city, May 8, 1866. He learned the printing business and for some years was a partner in the Standard at Waukon. For the past twelve years he has held an important position with the Northwestern Newspaper Union of Chicago. Anna Laura was born in Floyd county, Iowa, August 4, 1867. She was graduated from the Waukon high school and afterward learned the printing business. She married, November 20. 1888, Rev. G. N. Keniston, of the Methodist Episcopal church, and she died at Elkader, April 29. 1890. Jessie Ella was born in Waukon, October, 15, 1868, and acquired her education in the Waukon grammar and high schools. For ten years she has been confidential secretary to the New York manager of the United States Steel & Wire Company in New York city. Robert Bruce was born June 20, 1870. After completing his education in the public schools he learned the printer's trade and for some years thereafter was associate publisher and editor of the Standard and is now foreman of the Iowa Falls Sentinel. He married, October 4, 1893, Miss Lucy Taylor Stoddard, of Waukon, and they have one son, Robert Bertrand. Winifred was born September 21, 1874, and after graduating from the Waukon high school attended the Nora Springs Seminary and Cornell College. She also learned the printing business On the 5th of October, 1899, she married Ben D. Helming, one of the successful, progressive and substaintial farmers of this county. He is a son of Simon Helming and was born on the home farm, three miles west of Waukon, January 29, 1874. Their children are as follows: Carolyn Elizabeth, born June 30, 1900; Dorothy Hager, born January 6, 1902; Paul Hayward, July 15, 1903; Benjamin David, Jr., August 10, 1905: Robert Bruce, February 20, 1907 ; Frederick, April 25, 1910; and John Albert, March 28, 1912. Paul Davis was born March 18, 1876, and after completing a high-school course was for some years connected with the Washburn-Moen Company of Chicago, after which he spent one year as purser of the United States ship Tacoma during the Spanish-American war. For three years he had charge of over three hundred miles of telegraph and telephone lines as a member of the United States signal service in the Philippines and he was for three years government clerk and storekeeper in the Panama canal zone. For a similar period of time he has been clerk in the United States adjutant general's office in Washington. He married in 1908 Miss Caroline Hansen, of Chicago. Langford was born in Waukon, February 5, 1878, grad- uated from the Waukon high school and took a two years' course at Cornell College. He was for several years in the employ of the Washburn-Moen Com- pany at Worcester, Massachusetts, and upon leaving that connection went to Meriden, Connecticut, where he became associated with the Columbia Roller Shade Company, acting as supervisor of construction of plants for that concern in Chicago and in Oswego, New York. In the summer of 1912 he became superin- tendent of construction of an immense plant for the H. W. Johns-Manville Manufacturing Company at Finderne, New Jersey. He married at Worcester, Massachusetts. Miss Florence Scott, and they have two children. Marian, the youngest child of Mr. and Mrs. Alonzo M. May, was born March 7, 1880, and after graduating from the high school took a course in domestic science in Drexel
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Institute, Philadelphia. On the 26th of December, 1908, she married Dr. Einar Onsum and after residing for a few years in North Dakota they went to his native city, Christiania, Norway, where he has now a large practice. They have one son, Einar Frederick, born February 6, 1911, and one daughter, born January 19, 1913.
Politically Alonzo M. May came into the republican party "on the ground floor," though not yet a voter when the first republican club, the beginning of the party, was organized March 20, 1854, at Ripon, Wisconsin, by Major A. E. Bovay. Mr. May has been in sympathy with the progressive element in the party represented in Iowa by such men as Larrabee, Cummins and Kenyon, and he has been at all times active and public-spirited in matters of citizenship. For some fifteen years he has served as clerk of the grand jury and at Des Moines was elected bill clerk of the house of representatives of Iowa for the 1906 session. During the session of 1911 he served as chief doorkeeper and was doorkeeper for the 1913 session, but these offices have been tendered to him without his seeking, for he has never been an active politician in this sense, although he has taken an active part in temperance work and in everything relating to the public welfare. Fraternally he is connected with the Masonic lodge and Independent Order of Odd Fellows, organizations of which he has been an active member for some forty-three years. In 1883 he became a charter member of John J. Stillman Post, No. 194, G. A. R., and has been adjutant of the post for about thirty years, thus keeping in touch with his comrades of fifty years ago. Throughout a period of residence in this section of the state dating from pioneer times Mr. May has firmly entrenched himself in the respect and confidence of his fellow citizens and has taken an active, helpful and worthy part in the work of upbuilding and development. He has steadily adhered to the highest principles of business, personal and public integrity and has behind him a record of service that has been varied in activity and faultless in honor.
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