USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress, and achievement, Volume II > Part 14
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of Calhoun had been organized the United States government pro- posed to establish a town about seven miles northeast of Lake City and make it the county seat but as the whole population of the county resided at the present site of Lake City they were ineensed at this move. They sent an emissary to Boonesboro to ask the advice of Judge Phillips. He told them that they should plat a town, organize and hold an election, declaring Lake City to be the county seat. Ac- cordingly on the 10th of June, 1856, Peter Smith laid out the town of Lake City, which was in due time declared the county seat of Cal- houn county and for a number of years it remained the seat of the county government.
Peter Smith engaged in farming until about 1872, when he took up his residence in Lake City and in connection with two of his sons engaged in general merchandising. Three years later he went to Glidden and turned his attention to the elevator business but in 1881 he returned to Lake City, where, in company with a son he established the Lake City Bank, of which he was president until a short time previous to his demise. He proved an excellent executive and under his management the bank gained in business and became firmly in- trenehed in the confidence of the people. His demise occurred on the 27th of September, 1899, when he was in his seventy-fourth year. His first wife passed away at Glidden on the 27th of May, 1875. To them were born six children, five of whom are still living, namely : Cyrus M., of Colorado Springs, Colorado: Clark M., of Otley, Iowa; James Oscar: General C .: and Mrs. Dora B. Patrick, of Lake City, Iowa. The second son, Marcus S., died August 2, 1898, at Independ- ence, Colorado, and was interred at Colorado Springs. The father was married a second time, Mrs. Mary A. Orr becoming his wife on the 22d of August, 1876.
Peter Smith was a member of the Christian church and his political allegiance was given to the demoeratie party. He assisted in organiz- ing the county of Calhoun and was the first county judge and through- out his life was interested in affairs of local government. Although almost sixteen years have passed sinee his demise his memory is still honored and his influence is still felt.
James O. Smith received hut a limited education as the early schools were only held about four months during the year. In 1871 he began farming for himself on the old homestead and remained there for three years. At the end of that time he purchased eighty acres of land in Jackson township, where he resided for a similar period. He then bought an cighty acre tract east of Lake City, to the cultivation of which he devoted seven years. Subsequently he
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removed to Lake City and for twelve years engaged in the groeery business here, after which he returned to the farm, where he remained for seven years. At the end of that time he again located in Lake City and for ten years gave his attention to the eondnet of a grocery store, after which he returned to his farm west of town. He has prospered in all that he has undertaken and has gained finaneial in- dependenee. In addition to his other property he still owns five acres of the quarter section which his father entered from the government on first settling in this county.
Mr. Smith was married on the 2d of October, 1870, to Miss Re- beeea Lindsey, who died in 1883. To this union were born seven ehil- dren, of whom three survive: Ilee the wife of R. Gabel, of Des Moines; Loretta, who married E. W. Ripley, of Farnhamville; and Eva, who gave her hand in marriage to W. O. Wright, a farmer of Jackson township. On the 30th of November, 1884, Mr. Smith married Miss Mary M. Hansen, who was born in Denmark, October 27, 1858. Their children are: Sarah, the wife of O. E. Mabee, of Des Moines; Osear, at home: Lloyd, who is engaged in the mercantile business; and Hilda N., a school teacher by profession.
Mr. Smith is a demoerat and for many years has served as asses- sor. He holds membership in the First Christian church of Lake City and fraternally is identified with the Modern Woodmen of America. For sixty-one years he has been a resident of Calhoun county and in that time has seen a marvelous transformation. Some of the first settlers deseribed the county as a "God-forsaken place of water and bullrushes" but it is now a prosperous and highly developed region with modern farms and thriving towns and cities. Mr. Smith has had a share in bringing about this wonderful change and has at all times been characterized by a progressive spirit and a willingness to eo- operate in seeuring the further advancement of his community and county.
FRED GUTZ.
Fred Gutz, one of the earliest settlers of Calhoun county, whose reminiseenees of pioneer days are an important link between the past and the present. is living retired in Pomeroy and is rich in esteem and honor. His birth oeeurred in West Prussia, on the 18th of August. 1843, a son of Ernest and Caroline (Westfall) Gutz. The father was born in Pomerania, and the mother's birth oeeurred in
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West Prussia. Ernest Gutz was a tailor by trade but on removing to Canada with his family in 1857 he homesteaded land, which he eulti- vated until 1867, in which year he came to the United States, settling in Sherman township, Calhoun county, Iowa. He took up a home- stead near Twin Lakes but was unable to establish title from the gov- ernment as the Swamp Land Company elaimed an earlier title. Five years later he purchased the same land, to which he was really entitled, from the Swamp Land Company at four dollars and a half per acre. Subsequently he bought an eighty aere tract near Pomeroy in Sher- man township, which he improved and eultivated for a number of years, but later returned to the original homestead at Twin Lakes, which he farmed until his demise in 1873, when he was sixty-three years of age. He was a republican in politics and a Lutheran in religious faith. His wife survived him for nine years, dying in 1882 at the age of about sixty-five years. To them were born fourteen children, all of whom are deceased but four, seven dying in infancy. 'Those who grew to mature years are: Fred; Charles, who died in Nebraska: Albert, who passed away when twenty-two years old at Twin Lakes, due to exposure: William, who is farming in Poeahon- tas eounty. this state: Hannah, the wife of John Reese of Pomeroy; Lizzie, the wife of Richard Oman of Chicago; and Matilda, the deceased wife of Emil Diedenbeck.
Fred Gutz was thirteen years of age when the family emigrated to eastern Canada and assisted his father in the arduous work of clear- ing a farm of heavy timber. In January, 1866, when about twenty- two years of age, he left the Dominion and went to the vieinity of Erie. Pennsylvania, where for one winter he was employed in ehop- ping eord wood and getting ont railroad ties. He next went to Chi- cago, where he had an unele living, and remained there for two months, after which he went to Winneshiek county, Iowa. There he worked two months for a farmer and then found employment in the harvest fields of Mitehell and Osage counties. He saved enough money to buy a yoke of steers which he broke, and with them he eame to Sherman township. Calhoun county, arriving September 13. 1866. He entered eighty aeres of land near Twin Lakes, upon which he erected a cabin ten by ten feet inside measurement. During the sum- mers he broke prairie and in the winters he drove stage, being em- ployed on a number of different routes, including those from Sae City to Ida Grove, from Ida Grove to Correctionville and from Twin Lakes to Fort Dodge. At that time there were no good roads and no bridges, and he often was compelled to swim the streams and earry the mail. On the route between Sae City and Ida Grove it was thirty
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miles between houses at one place, which gives some idea of the unset- tled condition of the country. At one time during the winter of 1867 he spent a night on the prairie between Twin Lakes and Sae City when the snow was two feet deep on the level and when the cold was so intense that he unhitched the team and drove them in a circle around the sled all night in order to keep himself and the horses from freezing to death. At the end of that season he gave up stage driving and for several years thereafter devoted his time to farming and breaking prairie during the summer and to trapping muskrats in the winter, and sometimes he also worked in Lake City to get ready money. He hauled coal from the Des Moines river, thirty miles away. with oxen and traded farm produce for the coal. As this sec- tion became more thickly settled and as new towns sprang up which could be used for markets, the farmers secured better prices for their crops and money became more plentiful. Mr. Gutz shared in the increased prosperity and became in time well-to-do. He continued to follow agricultural pursuits for many years but since 1893 has lived in honorable retirement from active labor in Pomeroy. He owns four hundred acres of land which he rents to others.
Mr. Gutz was married in February, 1871, to Miss Anna Se- brantka, who was born near Breslau, Germany, on the 7th of Octo- her. 1849, a daughter of Gottlieb and Elizabeth (Gunther) Se- brantka. Her mother died when she was but four years of age, leaving three daughters: Helen, who became the wife of Phillip Miller, of Fort Dodge, and who died in 1915 at the age of sixty- seven years; Mrs. Gutz: and Johanna, the wife of Fred Mahring, of this county. Mr. Sebrantka married again and in 1867 emigrated to the United States, locating in Chicago, whence he removed to Fort Dodge, Iowa. Later he took up his residence in Manson, Calhoun county, and there he passed away at the venerable age of ninety-three years. His widow resides in Chicago, aged ninety-six years. He brought his youngest daughter with him on his emigration to this country and in 1869 sent money over to Germany to pay the passage of his two older daughters. Mrs. Gutz landed in New York on the 6th of May, 1869, and continued westward to Chicago, where she remained until removing to Fort Dodge, where her marriage occurred.
Mr. and Mrs. Gutz are the parents of nine children, namely: Ida. the wife of Gothalt Schmidt, a farmer of Butler township; John F., cashier of the Pomeroy State Bank: Lena, the wife of William Runge, a farmer of Sherman township; Matilda, the wife of Rudolph Balstadt. cashier of the German State Bank of Merrill, Wisconsin; Henry, who is cashier of the Walworth County State Bank at Selby,
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South Dakota; Laura, the wife of Rev. Angust Zell, of Greenville, Ohio; Walter, eashier of the Camas Bank at Camas, Montana: Dora, who married Arthur Moore, assistant cashier of the Camas Bank: and Edna, bookkeeper for the German State Bank at Merrill, Wiseonsin.
Mr. Gutz easts his ballot in support of the republican party and has held a number of township offices, proving capable and efficient in the discharge of his official duties. He and his wife belong to the Lutheran church and their lives are in harmony with the teachings of that organization. IIe is one of the few pioneers of the county who are still living and, although he has reached the age of seventy-two years, he is active and is enjoying exeellent health. He has been very successful and takes added pride in his prosperity because it is due to his own determination and well direeted industry. Although there were many hardships to be endured in the early days, he had faith in the future of the county and persevered in the work of devel- opment and has lived to see a transformation that is little short of marvelous.
REV. HENRY MEYER.
Rev. Henry Meyer has been pastor of St. John's German Evan- gelieal Lutheran church at Pomeroy for over a quarter of a century and in that time has exerted a large influence on the moral and spirit- ual life of his community. A native of Germany, he was born in the Provinee of Hanover, August 16, 1862, and there grew to manhood. He attended private schools until he was twenty-two years of age and then entered a theological seminary at Hermansburg, where he eom- pleted a four years' course, graduating from that institution in Oeto- ber, 1889, when twenty-seven years of age.
Rev. Meyer at once eame to the United States, landing at New York on the 6th of November of that year. He went to Afton, Minnesota, and was examined as to doetrine at the Lutheran Semi- nary at that place. He received a call as pastor of the charges at Pomeroy and Newell and went to Manson, where he remained for eight days, after which he came to Pomeroy. He was ordained on the 22d of December, 1889, and took charge of the congregation at Pomeroy, which had been organized by Rev. Dagefoerde, of Manson, in June, 1889. The eleven charter members of the church were: C. C. Holtorf, William Knoke, John Breiholz, William Gaedke,
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Henry Beeker, Fred Mathies, Hans Holz, Herman Voss, William Baumgart, Henry Dillemuth and C. HI. Meyer. Rev. Meyer held services in the public schoolhouse at Pomeroy every other Sunday and also preached at Newell, Buena Vista county, where there were seven members in the congregation. In 1890 a church editiee was built at Newell but services were held in the schoolhouse at Pomeroy until 1891, when the congregation here erected a house of worship at a cost of sixteen hundred dollars and paid for the same without outside aid. In 1892 they erected a parochial schoolhouse. On the 6th of July, 1893, the church was destroyed by a cyclone, but it was at once rebuilt on the same site and dedieated in November, 1893. In 1898, a bell weighing, with its mountings, sixteen hundred and ten pounds was purchased and it was used in the new structure. In 1911 a furnace was installed in the church. In that year lightning struck the tower and it was necessary to ereet a new steeple. In 1912 the church was further improved by building a gallery. There are now fifty-one members who have signed the constitution and about twenty-five more who attend but have not signed. In 1914 Rev. Meyer celebrated his twenty-fifth anniversary as pastor of the church. He has baptized four hundred and two persons; confirmed two hun- dred: has administered communion to five thousand, four hundred and ninety-five: has buried eighty-three persons; and has married seventy-six couples. The collections for various benevolenees have amounted to eight thousand, fifty-one dollars and thirty-eight eents, all of which has been sent to those in need of help. Rev. Meyer teaches German to the children of the members of his congregation five months in winter and for two months during the vaeation periods of the publie schools, and all of his sermons are in the German lan- guage. In 1907 the pressure of his work in Pomeroy made it neces- sary for him to give up the pastorate at Newell and since that time his energies have been concentrated upon the affairs of St. John's church at Pomeroy.
Rev. Meyer was married in October, 1889, in Germany, to Miss Mary Schulz. who was also a native of Hanover. She passed away in 1901. leaving three children: Erich, who was graduated from the Lutheran Seminary at St. Paul, Minnesota, with the elass of 1915. was ordained July 4, 1915, by his father and has aceepted a eall to engage in religious work at Yorkton, Canada; Frieda and Bertha are at home. Rev. Meyer was again married, Miss Anna Schroeder, also a native of Germany, becoming his wife. They have four chil- dren, all at home, namely: Erika, Martin, Theodore and Marie.
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Mr. Meyer is liberal in his political views and easts an independent ballot. Hle combines religious zeal with sound judgment and business ability and has not only promoted the spiritual growth of his eongre- gation but has also managed the temporal affairs of the ehnreh well. All movements seeking the civic and moral betterment of his com- munity receive his hearty indorsement and co-operation and he is recognized as a leader in all that makes for the highest things of life. He not only has the loyalty and affection of his people but also the sincere respect of all of his fellow citizens, irrespective of their religious belief.
WILLIAM C. MOODY.
William C. Moody, the progressive and efficient treasurer and manager of the Manson Lumber Company, which he established, was born in Monroe county, Illinois, November 26, 1850. His parents, William C. and Jane M. (Johnson) Moody, were natives respectively of Massachusetts and New Jersey but were married in Philadelphia about 1835. The father was a farmer but also engaged in the real- estate and loan business. Following his marriage he removed to Illinois. where he resided until 1852, when he went to Oregon. He engaged in mercantile business in that state and remained there until 1865. In that year he returned east, taking a steamer from San Francisco to New York. He remained in New York, Massachusetts and Pennsylvania until 1868, when he located in Cleveland, Ohio, becoming superintendent of rolling mills there. In 1871 he loeated in Manson, Iowa, and became the owner of two hundred and ten acres of excellent land near Twin Lakes. He was a Douglas demo- crat before the war but later gave his allegiance to the republican party. He was quite prominent in public affairs, serving as justice of the peace and as mayor of Manson. Fraternally he was a Mason. Hle was successful in business and was personally popular. He passed away on the 1st of November, 1889, when seventy-five years of age, as his birth occurred in 1814. His wife died in 1879, when sixty-three years of age, her natal year being 1816. The Moody family is of English descent. Our subject is one of the two children living in a family of ten. the other survivor being his sister, Mrs. James Glover, of Bluff City, Kansas, where her husband is engaged in the real-estate business.
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William C. Moody received his education in the public schools of Oregon and on putting aside his textbooks became bookkeeper for a mining company. Later he held a similar position in a bank at Sil- ver City, Idaho, where he remained for nine years, during which time he was also agent for the Wells Fargo Express Company and for a stage company. In 1881 he became a resident of Manson and remained with his father until the latter's demisc. In 1911 he organ- ized the Manson Lumber Company, of which he is now treasurer and manager, and to the direction of its affairs he gives his time and atten- tion. The concern is a stock company capitalized for twenty thou- sand dollars and conducts a large retail lumberyard in this city. It is widely patronized and returns good dividends to its stockholders. Mr. Moody also has an interest in a lumberyard at Thor, Iowa, and has gained financial independence.
Mr. Moody was married in 1874 to Miss Sarah Belle Greathouse, a native of California and a daughter of George L. Greathouse, who was engaged in banking and also connected with the Wells Fargo Express Company. To Mr. and Mrs. Moody have been born three children: Louise, a high-school graduate, who is now the wife of Joe Wheeler, a shoe manufacturer of Fort Dodge; Ella C., who married Walter W. Jones, a civil engineer located in Arkansas: and Belle, the wife of E. H. Townsend, who is engaged in the wholesale lumber business in Fort Dodge.
Mr. Moody is a republican and for more than a decade has served as city clerk, discharging his duties to the satisfaction of his fellow citizens. Fraternally he belongs to the Masonic blue lodge, of which he is a past master, and the Royal Arch Chapter, and he is likewise identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. His religious faith is indicated by his membership in the Congregational church. He devotes his energies to the growth and expansion of the Manson Lumber Company and his labors have already produced tangible results as that concern is now recognized as one of the leading lumber companies in this section.
FRANK E. KAUFFMAN, M. D.
Dr. Frank E. Kauffman, who is engaged in the practice of medi- cine at Lake City, was born in Maquoketa, Jackson county, Iowa, November 13, 1868, a son of Charles P. and Katherine (Eidleman) Kauffman. The father was a native of Reading, Pennsylvania, born
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August 1, 1829, and was a son of John Kauffman. He received the usnal education of his period and during his youth also learned the carpenter's trade under his father. He followed that occupation in his native state until 1852, when he made his way to Ohio, where he remained for three years. He then migrated westward and located at Maquoketa, lowa, where he engaged in carpentering and con- tracting. He also purchased a farm, which he hired others to operate for him until 1870. In that year he removed to Grundy county and bought a farm there, the operation of which he supervised until 1900. Ile then took up his residence in Cedar Falls but was not permitted to enjoy his new home long, as he died on the 9th of April, of that year. He was a democrat in politics and took a citizen's interest in the affairs of government. Religion was a vital force in his life and he was a consistent and devout member of the German Reformed church. He was married August 31, 1851, to Miss Katherine Eidle- man, who was also born in Reading. Pennsylvania, her natal day being the 10th of September, 1832. IIer father was Samnel Eidle- man, and on the maternal side some of her ancestors participated in the French revolution. She passed away on the 28th of February, 1908, having survived her husband for almost eight years.
Dr. Frank E. Kauffman attended the common schools in the acquirement of his early education and later became a student in Western College at Toledo, Iowa, from which he received the degree of Bachelor of Arts in 1894. In the fall of that year he began the study of medicine at the State University of Iowa and was graduated from the homeopathic department of the medical college in 1897. He at once began the practice of his profession in Sutherland, Iowa, but in 1900 removed to Lake City, forming a partnership with Dr. II. M. Humphrey, which association was maintained until 1913, when Dr. Humphrey retired. Dr. Kauffman has remained a con- stant student of medical science and in 1904 took post-graduate work in the Illinois School of Electro-Therapeuties, while four years later he took a course of study in the Chicago Polyclinic, specializing in diseases of the eye, car, nose and throat. Although he still engages in the general practice of medicine, he gives special attention to the treatment of the eye, ear, nose and throat. He has a suite of offices over the First National Bank and owns his attractive and commodious residence.
Dr. Kauffman was married August 26, 1903, to Miss Rose John- ston, a resident of Wall Lake, Iowa, who was born in Aurora, Illi- nois, on the 28th of January, 1877. To this union have been born two children, Roma K. and Helen, both in school.
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Dr. Kauffman is a member of the Hahnemann Medieal Asso- ciation of lowa, serving as president of the sanie in 1910-11, and is also a member of the American Institute of Homeopathy. He is a republican and is loyal in his support of the candidates and measures of that party. I''raternally he belongs to Zerrubbabel Lodge, No. 240. A. F. & A. M .; Cypress Chapter, No. 99, R. A. M .; and the Order of the Eastern Star. In all relations of life he measures up to high standards of manhood and exemplifies in his conduet the spirit of fraternity which is the basie principle of the Masonie order. He stands high in the ranks of his profession and personally he is popular.
AUGUST AUSBORN.
It is astonishing to witness the success of young men who have emi- grated to America without capital and who from a position of com- parative obscurity have worked their way upward to sueeess. This is true of August Ausborn, who is successfully engaged in stock dealing and in condueting a harness business in Yetter. He is a native of Holstein, Germany, his birth having there occurred October 6, 1871. He is one of a family of twelve children, of whom one is deceased, and of whom four are residents of America, born of the marriage of Chris- tian and Augusta ( Blaas) Ausborn. The father, a stone eutter by trade, passed away in the fatherland, April 22, 1915.
In 1887, when a youth of sixteen years, August Ausborn emi- grated to the new world in company with an unele, who established. his home in Iowa. Mr. Ausborn remained in his unele's home one year, working for him upon the farm and later became a stoek buyer in the employ of Louis IIenderson at Rockwell City. In 1901 a partnership was formed between them, which existed for three years, or until 1904. Subsequently Mr. Ausborn has continued in the stock business alone and in the spring of 1909 he purchased his present har- ness establishment of Dennis Shea. IIe keeps a large stock of all kinds of harness and saddlery on hand and is at all times able to meet the growing demands of his trade. In addition to these business inter- ests he is also stoekholder in the Farmers Grain Company and the State Savings Bank at Yetter.
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