USA > Iowa > Buena Vista County > Past and present of Buena Vista County, Iowa > Part 30
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The marriage of Mr. and Mrs. Bodholdt has been blessed with ten chil- dren : Hans C., who is cultivating one of his father's farm, married Mettic Sorensen and they have one daughter, Sine; Emil N., who also follows farm- ing, married Amelia Peterson, and they have a daughter. Esther; Carrie E. is the wife of A. Peterson and has one daughter. Mabel; Lizzie is the wife of Albert H. Peterson ; Annie and Mettie are both at home; Lena died at the age of three years ; Ida. Lena and Askel are all yet with their parents.
Mr. and Mrs. Bodholdt hold membership in the Lutheran church. Ilis political support is given to the democratic party and his fellow townsmen. recognizing his worth and ability, have frequently called him to public office. Ile has served as school director. as assessor and trustee, and in these various positions he has discharged his duties with promptness and fidelity. He is
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well known in Buena Vista county, where he has now made his home for ahnost three decades. During this period the country has largely emerged from pioneer conditions and taken on all of the evidences of a modern progressive civilization. Mr. Bodholdt has assisted materially in the advancement of the county, his large holdings indicating most clearly that his life has been a very busy, active and useful one. In all of his dealings he has been thoroughly reliable, and his energy and integrity are perhaps his most salient characteristics.
GEORGE A. DALZIEL.
George A. Dalziel. a prominent and influential citizen of Buena Vista county, resides on his neat and well improved farm of one hundred and sixty acres on section 35. Nokomis township, in the cultivation of which he is sue- cessfully engaged. He likewise has a tract of eighty acres in Washington township and a highly improved farm of two hundred and forty aeres in Cher- okce county. Moreover, he is numbered among the pioneer settlers of the county, the year of his arrival being 1875. His birth occured in Penobscot county, Maine, January 13, 1850. Ilis eductional advantages in early life were very limited but through reading, observation and experience he has become a well informed man. When eighteen years of age he made the jour- ney westward to Illinois, locating in Rutland, La Salle county, where he operated a farm until 1874. In that year he removed to Buena Vista county with a mule team and purchased the farm on which he now resides. The fol- lowing year he located thereon and gradually converted the raw land into rich and productive fields, fenced the property and erected a small house. Later, however, he built a commodious and substantial residence, four good barns, windpumps, feedmills and all necessary outbuildings for the shelter of grain and stock. Subsequently he bought an eighty-acre farm in Washington town- ship, and later was given a farm in Cherokee county by his father-in-law. Mr. Dalziel was the principal promoter and organizer of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company of Buena Vista county in 1887, since which time he has continuously served as its secretary. For the past fifteen years he has devoted his time and attention to the interests of the company. which carries risks amounting to three million dollars. He is likewise a stockholder in the city heating plant and the opera house, having been interested in the erection of the latter. Few men are more prominent or more widely known in Buena Vista county than Mr. Dalziel. He has been an important factor in business circles and his prosperity is well deserved, as in him are embraced the charac- teristies of an unbending integrity, unabating energy and industry that never flags. He is publie-spirited, giving his cooperation to every movement which tends to promote the moral. intellectual and material welfare of the community.
On the 26th of February. 1880, occurred the marriage of Mr. Dalziel and Miss Mary E. Shaffer, a native of Macon county, Illinois, and a daughter of
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George Shaffer, who came to this county in 1875. Mrs. Dalziel, who was at that time thirteen years of age, accompanied her parents on this removal. Into our subject and his wife has been born one son, Frank Ira Dalziel, who operates the home farm and also keeps about forty head of Hereford cattle.
In his political affiliation Mr. Dalziel is a supporter of the labor party, vot- ing for the man whom he believes best qualified for office. He is now past grand of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and has served through the «hairs, having joined the fraternity at Alta. The Knights of Pythias lodge at Alta also numbers him among its worthy exemplars.
When he first arrived in this county Mr. Dalziel found Storm Lake but a crossroads village containing one store, and Alta also boasted but one merean- tile establishment. During the first year of his residence here he went to Storm Lake and purchased every pound of meat to be had in the town. There was not a pound to be bought in Alta. In the third of a century which has since elapsed he has been an interested witness of and also an active partici- pant in the work of development that has transformed this part of the state from a pioneer region into a thickly populated district, in which all the evi- dences of our modern civilization abound.
ISAIAH T. HOLLINGSWORTIL.
It has been the endeavor of the publishers of this volume to collect and place in enduring form a history of the lives of those who have aided in the growth and development of this section of Iowa, and to preserve their recollee- tions of pioneer days. Years roll by so rapidly that time is already thinning the ranks of those who were the vanguard of civilization in the northwest, and only as the participants in the events of early days tell the tale of life here when Buena Vista county was a pioneer distriet, can we hope to have an anthentie record. No one is more deserving of honorable mention in the annals of the county than Isaiah T. Hollingsworth, who has been most closely connected with the early development and the later progress. It is therefore with pleasure that we prepare his life record, knowing that it will be received with interest by many of our readers.
He was born on the 8th of March. 1842. in Grant county, Indiana. His father, Michael Hollingsworth, was a farmer by occupation and was born in Indiana, May 2, 1812. Ilis wife, a native of Ohio, was born JJuly 4, 1814, and they were married August 19, 1831. The former was a son of Richard and Sarah Hollingsworth, both natives of South Carolina, while the mother of our subject was a daughter of Isaiah and Elizabeth (Cox) Thomas, who were like- wise natives of South Carolina but came to Ohio at an early date and there spent the remainder of their lives. The Hollingsworths came of a family noted for longevity and are of German descent. The parents of our subject are both now deceased. The father died February 22, 1889, at the age of seventy-seven years, and the mother passed away March 19. 1904. Their children were as follows: Harriett, born June 6, 1834, was the wife of Richard Ridgeway and
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I. T. HOLLINGSWORTH AND FAMILY
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resided for a time in Sioux Rapids, Iowa, but later removed to Kansas. She died May 22, 1887, leaving three children : Loretta, born in Miama county, Indi- ana, died in the same state. Enella died in Sioux Rapids in May, 1875; Edwin S. is living in Wichita, Kansas. Nellis F. makes his home in Gettysburg, South Dakota. Nettie J., twin sister of Nellis, is the wife of James Goucher and lives in MeLouth, Kansas. Joseph, who was born July 24, 1857, is a resident of Callaway, Nebraska.
Isaiah T. Hollingsworth was reared in his native state and is indebted to its publie school system for the educational privileges which he enjoyed. He assisted in the work of the home farm and at the age of twenty years took the preliminary steps toward having a home of his own in his marriage to Miss Mary E. Brown on the 7th of September, 1862. Mrs. Hollingsworth is a daugh- ter of Jacob and Hannah (Martin) Brown, both of whom were natives of Chester, Pennsylvania, and are of English descent. In early life they became residents of Richmond, Indiana, and in 1856 removed to Cedar Rapids, Iowa. In a brief time, however, they went to Madison county, Iowa, where their remaining days were passed. The mother died May 6, 1858, at the age of forty- one years and the burdens and responsibilities of earing for the family largely devolved upon Mrs. Hollingsworth, which duties she cheerfully assumed. His father died in 1878 at the age of sixty-eight years. Mrs. Hollingsworth was born August 27, 1844, in Wayne county, Indiana, and is the third in order of birth in the following family : William S. and Ruth N., who are now deceased; Mrs. Hollingsworth ; John M., who married Hannah See and resided in College View, Nebraska; Benjamin Franklin. who is living in Taylor county, Iowa; Sydney A., Sarah I., and Rebecca, all now deceased; and Amanda L., the wife of Lafayette Moore, a resident of Clarke county, Iowa.
Following their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth settled on a farm in Madison county, Iowa, where they remained until 1864, when, in company with Mr. Hollingsworth's parents, they came to Buena Vista county. The Little Sioux river was then the boundary line of the white settlement toward the northwest. Beyond were roving tribes of Indians, while the government troops were stationed at different forts along the frontier to guard the pioneers. The Indians were then at peace but the settlers lived in a constant state of dread, not knowing when the red men would break faith. Around stretched the boundless prairies with only two houses between Sioux Rapids and Fort Dodge, a distance of seventy-five miles.
It was a summer day in the latter part of June that the Hollingsworth families halted on the site of Sioux Rapids under the shade of a big willow tree which is still standing. There they prepared and ate their first meal. They lived for about a year in a double log house which had been used as a fort. Mr. Hollingsworth secured a government claim comprising the northwest quarter of section 18, Barnes township, and in the fall of 1865 removed to that place. It was slow work bringing the land under cultivation but each year he would break and plant a few acres. There was no object to cultivate much more than would supply the family as the long distance from market made it impossible to dispose of farm products to advantage. Some time later, however, the rail- roads were built, bringing the people into closer communication with the
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places where sales could be made. It was after that that the thousands of set- tlers came into this favorable region, selected farms and made improvements. The rich soil yielded abundant erops and it seemed that prosperity would be the rule in the county hereafter, but the financial panic of 1873 proved a set- back and this was followed by the grasshopper plagne, which proved almost more disastrous than the Indian massacre. Great swarms of grasshoppers covered the fields, destroying every vestige of the erops. and this occurred through three successive years. Times were then very hard. Unable to raise enough to supply their needs, thousands of the settlers left, and those who were unable or unwilling to leave and abandon their elaims engaged in trading, seeuring muskrat skins and other furs which served as legal tender. There was no sale for the land, but when the grasshopper plague was over conditions soon became better and from that time the county has enjoyed an unbroken period of prosperity.
As the years passed Mr. Hollingsworth brought his farm under cultivation and met with snecess in his undertakings. The rich soil yielded abundant erops, for which he found a ready sale on the market. In 1889, thinking that a change of climate might prove beneficial to his impaired health, he moved with his family to Willow Springs, Missouri, and for two years conducted a trading post at Sterling in the mountains. He next went to Mountain Grove, Missouri, and purchased a small tract of land, on which he lived until April 16, 1894. ITe devoted part of that year to study in the Bible Institute at Kansas City, and in Springfield, Arkansas. In the autumn of 1895 he returned to Sioux Rapids, for after much wandering, he came to the conclusion that there was no better place of residence than lowa. The family had resided in Missouri for six years and during much of that time Mr. Hollingsworth had devoted his attention to mis- sionary work. He is now living in a comfortable residence just outside of Sioux Rapids, where he owns a good tract of land and is engaged in raising fruit. vegetables and poultry.
Mr. Hollingsworth and his family have borne their full share in the growth and development of the county. They have seen the ox-teams and prairie schooners replaced by a net work of railroads, while the log cabin and dugout have given way before fine modern residences. The days of want and privation have long since passed and Buena Vista county is now the abiding place of a contented and prosperous people. Where were onee wild prairies covered with the native grasses there are today seen richly cultivated fields and orchards, while the pastures are filled with large herds of cattle and other livestock. Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth have done much to bring about the present prosperous condition of the county and, moreover. they have always stood for law and order. justice and righteousness.
As the years passed their home was blessed with seven children: John G., their eldest son, born May 20, 1864, was married November 22, 1884, to Rhoda Christy and has two children, Leroy and Ray; Charles W., born August 17, 1865, was married Jaunary 1, 1887, to Gussie V. Clark and had three children : Effie E., Ethel, who is now deceased, and Chester, who died when he was nine years of age ; Benjamin F., born April 11. 1867, was married July 29, 1887, to Fanny Mathers and has two children : Edua and Ethel; Anne, born May 22,
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1870, is the wife of B. F. Christy, of Clark county, South Dakota, and their chil- dren are Leslie L., Carl, Floy, Loren, Granville and Rhoda ; William, who married Bertha Patterson, is living in Gettysburg, South Dakota; Mary Edna is the wife of Andrew Brown, also of Gettysburg; Addie became the wife of William Johnson, May 5, 1904, and they reside with her parents.
Besides rearing their own family Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth have reared and educated two other children who are now happily situated in homes of their own. Most people of their age would feel that they had done enough for others, but Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth have recently adopted a young boy from the Orphans Home at Ottumwa, Iowa. The little fellow is indeed fortu- nate in coming into such a good home, where he will receive all the eare, attention and love which any child has the right to expect from parents. Mr. and Mrs. Hollingsworth are both well known for their kindly nature and gen- erons spirit and truly the world is better for their having lived. No one holds a more enviable position in the regard of the general public and of their friends than do these worthy people and it is with pleasure that we present their record to our readers.
W. E. PARTRIDGE.
W. E. Partridge, now living retired in Alta, is numbered among the old settlers of Buena Vista county and is one of the few remaining veterans of the Civil war. He is a native of England. born in Berkshire, June 3, 1833, a son of James and Anne (Edwards( Partridge, who spent their entire lives in that country. The father was a mechanic. being a wheelwright by trade, and he also engaged in farming. His family numbered thirteen children, of whom twelve grew to years of maturity.
W. E. Partridge, whose name introduces this review, spent the years of his boyhood and youth in his native land and when fifteen years of age aceom- panied a brother to the United States. He first located in Maryland and secured work on the construction of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad in that state, after which he spent two years in working on the canal. He then took up his abode in Pennsylvania, and from that state removed to Illinois, where he engaged in farming until 1882. when he came to Buena Vista county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land on section 34, Nokomis town- ship. This was an unenltivated and unimproved tract when it came into his possession but he at onee began to develop the land,' erected a good house, barns and outbuildings, and now has a well improved and valuable farm prop-
erty, whereon he made his home for twenty-seven years. He planted a good orehard, which is now in bearing, and beautiful shade trees add to the attrac- tive appearance of the place. In addition to general farming he engaged in raising stock, keeping registered shorthorn cattle and good grades of hogs. In 1908 he removed to Alta and is now living retired.
Mr. Partridge's private affairs were interrupted at the time of the Civil war, when, loyal to the best interests of his country, he enlisted Sepember 9,
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1861, at Aurora, Illinois, as a member of Company F, Thirty-sixth Illinois Infantry, joining the regiment at St. Louis. From that city they made their way to Rolla, Missouri, and Mr. Partridge participated in many of the important battles, ineluding Pea Ridge, Perryville, Chickamauga, Spring Hill, Franklin and Nashville, and was with Sherman on his march to Atlanta. He was also for four months on duty at New Orleans, his regiment acting as guard to General Sheridan. After a hard service lasting four years and two months, he was mustered out at New Orleans and was honorably discharged at Springfield, Illinois.
When the country no longer needed his services, Mr. Partridge returned to Illinois and took up his abode in Kankakee county, where he purchased eighty acres of land, which he operated for sixteen years prior to taking up his abode in Iowa. It was prior to his enlistment for service in the war that Mr. Partridge was married, the lady of his choice being Miss Harriett Cottew, who was likewise born in England, coming to America when but two years of age. Their marriage was celebrated in Ottawa, Illinois, in 1860, and their union has been blessed with ten children: George, who follows farming in Nokomis township; Martha, the wife of William Miller, a farmer of Linn Grove, Iowa; Lizzie, the wife of Charles Reese, of Nokomis township; Charles, who follows farming on the old homestead in Nokomis township; Lincoln, who is engaged in farming in Minnesota; Ida, the wife of G. H. Tutt, a resident of Marathon, Iowa; Kate, the wife of John Sassman, who follows farming near Albert City, this state; Frank, who earries on farming near Marathon; Hugh ; and William, who died when eighteen months old.
Mr. Partridge gives his political support to the republican party and cast his first presidential ballot for Abraham Lincoln. He has held some town- ship offices. He keeps in touch with his old army friends through his membership in the Grand Army of the Republic at Alta, of which he has served as vice commander. Ile has been identified with the Methodist Episcopal church at Alta for several years. His labors have contributed in substantial manner to the development and progress of Buena Vista county and not only as a worthy pioneer settler but also as a loyal defender of the Union cause he is well deserving of mention in this volume. His circle of friends is large and all esteem him for his gennine worth. In 1908 he had the pleasure of visiting his old home in England, where he remained from July 12 until the 23d of August.
J. HAMILTON LA GRANGE.
J. Hamilton La Grange is known in business cireles of Storm Lake as a real-estate, loan and insurance agent and abstracter, while in the public life of the community he is prominent, his influence being a factor in political eir- eles, while his efforts in behalf of municipal progress along the lines of a elean and straightforward administration of city affairs is widely acknowledged. He is now filling the position of alderman and in other places of official prefer- ment has manifested his public spirit and unfaltering devotion to duty.
J. H. LA GRANGE
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Mr. La Grange is a native of Albany, New York, born September 30, 1849. In the paternal lines he comes of French ancestry, although the family was founded in America in colonial days, and was represented in the Continental army in the Revolutionary war. His father, Isaac J. La Grange, was born in Albany county, New York, and devoted his life to farming and stock raising, his well managed business affairs bringing him a goodly measure of prosperity. He wedded Mary E. McCormack, who was born in Albany, New York, and was of Scotch descent. She held membership in the Methodist Episcopal church and was a devoted mother to her four children. The death of the father occurred in 1853, while the mother passed away in 1874 at the age of forty-nine years.
J. Hamilton La Grange was the second in order of birth in the family and was partially reared upon the farm in the east, while the country schools afforded him his educational privileges. He came to Iowa in 1865 at the age of sixteen years, settling in Winthrop, Buchanan county, where he secured a clerkship in a store in 1873. He had spent the intervening years upon a farm, rendering active aid in the work of the fields. Thinking, however, to find commercial pursuits more congenial and profitable, he sought employment in that line and remained in the service of others until 1880, when he engaged in business on his own account at Winthrop, conducting his store there until 1886.
In the latter year Mr. La Grange removed to Storm Lake and was con- nected with Senator Edgar E. Maek in his abstract office for four years, thus gaining the practical experience which constituted the basis for his present sneeess in that line. In April, 1890, he was appointed a clerk in the United States Census office at Washington, District of Columbia, and there continued for sixteen months, after which he returned to Storm Lake and purchased a set of abstract books. He has since engaged in that business and also conducts a real estate, loan and insurance agency, having secured a good clientage in all departments. His enterprise is an essential factor in his success, and laudable ambition has prompted him to put forth unremitting efforts in the attainment of the prosperity which he now enjoys. He may justly be called a self-made man for, with no pecuniary advantages at the outset of his career, he has steadily worked his way upward by his own efforts.
On the 6th of December, 1877, Mr. La Grange was united in marriage to Miss Maria L. Goodell, who was born in Pardeeville, Wisconsin, in 1857. They have four children: Don G., who is in partnership with his father; F. L., a pianist, who is with the Katherine Ridgeway Concert Company; Zoe M., at home; and Wynn C., also under the parental roof. Mrs. La Grange and the children are members of the Presbyterian church, and the position of the family is one of social prominence, while the hospitality of their own home is one of its attractive features. Mr. La Grange has taken the degrees of the lodge, and chapter in Masonry and is in thorough sympathy with the benefi- eent principle of the craft. In politics he is a republican, recognized as one of the leaders of the party in this county, and upon its ticket he was elected in 1892 to the office of county auditor, in which he served until the 1st of January, 1903, or for a period of ten years. He then retired from the office
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as he had entered it-with the confidence and good will of all concerned, hav- ing made a most creditable record in that capacity. He served for twelve years as a member of the school board and did effective work in upholding the standard of public education. He is now serving as a member of the city council from the fourth ward, and in this as in the other offices which he has held, he is discharging his duties with promptness and fidelity which are win- ning him high commendation.
HENRY W. KRAUSE.
Henry W. Krause is a leading representative of commercial interests in Storm Lake, being at the head of the extensive furniture, undertaking and music house that is conducted under the corporate name of The H. W. Kranse Company. From a humble beginning he has worked his way steadily upward in the business world, winning the entire respect of his associates and the admiration of contemporaries. His life record began in Viroqua, Wisconsin, May 13, 1870.
His father, August Krause, was born in Germany, April 18, 1844, and was but fourteen years of age when he came to the United States in the spring of 1852 with his parents, Carl and Katherine Krause, also natives of Germany, the former born November 4, 1817, and the latter October 5, 1817. The family located in Wisconsin, where the grandfather of our subject followed the shoe- maker's trade for some years. He bought a claim near Rockford in Floyd county, Iowa, and moved to this state, where he and his wife remained resi- dents until called to their final rest.
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