USA > Iowa > Calhoun County > Past and present of Calhoun County, Iowa, a record of settlement, organization, progress, and achievement, Volume II > Part 29
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L. L. PARKER.
Lohrville has a number of residents who in former years were identified with agricultural pursuits but are now enjoying in well earned rest the fruits of their former toil. To this elass belongs L. L. Parker, who for a considerable period was engaged in general farm- ing and stoek-raising in Calhoun county. He was born in Indiana on the 22d of October, 1855, and is a son of John B. and Elizabeth (Davis) Parker, who were also natives of Indiana. In the year 1856 the father brought his family to Iowa, traveling across the country to Benton county. He cast in his lot with the early settlers of that dis- triet and began farming aeeording to the pioneer methods. The first grain and hogs which he sold he hauled to Iowa City. With eharacter- istie energy he began to improve his land and as the years passed he converted his holdings into a fine farm. In 1870 he removed to Cal- houn county, settling near Lake City, and he was living upon a farm near Lohrville at the time of his death, which oeeurred in 1907, when he had reached the venerable age of eighty-one years. John B. Parker took a very active interest in public affairs in Iowa in an early day and while a resident of Benton county assisted in establishing churches and schools, building roads and otherwise improving the district in which he lived. He was a Baptist in religious faith and had more than loeal fame as an exhorter. After removing to Calhoun county he also continued as an earnest church worker and as a stalwart cham- pion of the public-school system. In fact, his influence was always on the side of progress and improvement and he gave as far as possible of his time and effort to advanee the general good. In his business affairs he won substantial success as a general farmer and stock- raiser notwithstanding the faet that he had to endure many hardships and privations in the early days. He had to haul coal from near Lehigh and there were no available railroad facilities to assist him in getting supplies or in transporting his produce to market. When he first came to Calhoun county there was not a single house in Cedar
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township but he lived to see a marked change as the county became thickly settled and the work of improvement was carried forward. At the time of the Civil war he enlisted from Benton county in response to the country's call for troops and went to the front, but before the expiration of his term of enlistment he was honorably discharged because of illness.
L. L. Parker is the fifth in order of birth in a family of thirteen children. He attended school only a short time while in Benton and Calhoun counties and the schoolhouse in which he pursued his studies while in Benton county was a little log structure. He was only eight years of age when he began to earn his own living as a farm boy, uncovering corn with an old single-shovel plow and feeding the hogs. He drove with an ox team and bobsled in the winter time in order to accomplish his tasks. Later he worked in brickyards in Benton county and in 1870 he came to Calhoun county, after which he was employed at farm labor for several years. After a time he began farming for himself and devoted his attention to that pursuit until he retired from active business life in 1904. He still owns two hundred and forty acres of land in Calhoun county and he has large holdings in Minnesota and South Dakota. Ile certainly deserves much credit for what he has accomplished, for he started out with nothing and has been dependent upon his own resources from the age of eight years. By hard work and good management he has so controlled his affairs that he has become the possessor of a handsome competence. When on the farm he had the reputation of raising the best corn in the county and bought and sold considerable stoek but was not a feeder. While a resident of Union township he there held varions offiees and at one time was nominated for the office of county treasurer. He is still filling the position of trustee in Union township, having served in that capacity for cighteen years, a fact indicative of his capability and fidelity to the trust reposed in him.
In 1876 Mr. Parker was united in marriage to Miss Adaline Greenwood, who was born in Maryland, a daughter of Abraham and Caroline (Schney) Greenwood, who were also natives of that state. The father was a miller by trade and came to Iowa in 1867, settling in Benton county, where he followed the occupation of farming. He was living in Shellsburg, Iowa, at the time of his death. He was drafted for service in the Confederate army ere his removal to the north and once for service in the Union army, but he hired substitutes who went to the front in his stead. In religious faith he was a Presby- terian. Mrs. Parker was the ninth in order of birth in a family of fifteen children and by her marriage she became the mother of five
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children. Howard, who lives on a farm in Minnesota, is married and has five children. Omar, who carries on farming in the same state, is married and has three children. Lawrence, living in Minnesota, is married and has one child. Elsie is the wife of James Oakes, of Minnesota, and Ceeil is at home. The son Lawrence served for four years in the United States Navy, traveling ninety-five thousand miles on the Battleship West Virginia.
Fraternally Mr. Parker is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He belongs to Lohrville Lodge, No. 469, of which he is noble grand. He is regarded as one of the progressive men of his town. He believes in advancement at all times and the spirit of progress has aetuated his life. In all of his business career he placed his dependenee upon his own labors and did not seek to win suceess through fortunate circumstances. Gradually he worked his way upward, gaining the rewards of industry and perseveranee, and today he is numbered among the men of affluence in Lohrville.
ALBERT COON.
Albert Coon is the president of the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company of Farnhamville. For many years he was prominently and actively connected with agricultural and stoek-raising interests, but at length retired from that business and took up his abode in Farn- hamville. where he still makes his home. He was born in Jones county, Iowa, March 11, 1852, and is a son of Samuel and Maria (Woolston) Coon. The father was born in Pennsylvania, in 1823, and his death occurred in Jones county, Iowa, in 1900, when he had reached the advaneed age of seventy-seven years. The mother, who was born in Ohio in 1825, died in 1899, at the age of seventy-four. The father followed farming and carpentering in Ohio but at length with a number of relatives came to the west, journeying aeross the country with ox teams and taking up his abode in Iones county, Iowa, in 1849. Ile lived in a rail pen covered with a thatched roof until a log house eould be built, and in that primitive home he met all of the hardships, privations and experienees incident to pioneer life. Indians were still in the neighborhood, various wild animals were to be seen and game of many kinds, inehiding deer, was to be had in abundanee. Ile was among those who took the initial step in developing the region and reelaiming it for the purposes of civilization. He purchased land at a dollar and a quarter per aere and began the development of
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a farm, his place comprising two hundred and forty aeres. Daven- port, forty-five miles distant, was the nearest trading point and it will readily be imagined that the settlers did not go often to market. Mr. Coon lived for fifty-one years upon the same farm and developed it into a valuable property. At the time of his arrival there were no churches nor schoolhouses in the locality. He took an active part in public affairs in the early days and aided in organizing the Lutheran church.
Albert Coon is one of a family of twelve children. ITis educational opportunities were very limited. He conned his lessons while sitting in a plank laid on trestles in a little log school building, and instruc- tion was given in little else than the "three rs, readin', 'ritin' and 'rith- metic." He spent his boyhood days on the home farm in Jones county and though his educational opportunities were meager, his training at farm labor was not limited. In 1874 he became identified with farin- ing interests in Clinton county and in 1878 removed to Sae county, where he secured land rent free. The preceding years the grasshop- pers had destroyed the crops and the owners wanted the lands culti- vated rather than let them return to sod. In Sae county he faced all the conditions of pioneer life and in 1881 he became a pioneer settler of Greene county, where he purchased land at seven dollars per acre. There he carried on his farm work until 1887, when he removed to Reading township, Calhou county. He has taken an active and helpful part in the pioneer development of five different counties and has thereby contributed much to the material progress of the state. In addition to tilling the soil in the cultivation of crops best adapted to climatic conditions, he has raised polled Durham eattle and Poland China hogs, selling all of his stock in the home market. His invest- ments in farm property made him the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of rich and productive land, from which he annually gath- ered good harvests. He carried on the work of the farm until 1906, when he retired from active life and removed to Farnhamville, where he has since made his home. Indolence and idleness are utterly for- eign to his nature, and as he could not content himself without some business connection and saw the need and the opportunity for the establishment and development of a telephone system, he assisted in organizing the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company, of which he has been president for several years.
On the 28th of February, 1874, Mr. Coon was united in marriage to Miss Maggie Picht, a native of Germany and a daughter of Phillip Pieht, who emigrated to the United States in 1868 and took up his abode in Jones county, Iowa. There he purchased land and carried Fol. 11-19
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on general agricultural pursuits throughout the remainder of his life. Ile was a devoted and consistent member of the Lutheran church, taking an active part in its work. Mr. and Mrs. Coon have five living children, as follows: Elizabeth, who is the wife of Sanford Bassett, an agriculturist residing in Gates, Oregon, and has three children; Emma, who gave her hand in marriage to William Hoyle, a farmer living on his land near Lake City, by whom she had three children; George, an agriculturist of Calhoun county, who is married and has two children; Nettie, living near Gowrie, who is the wife of Clarence Streams and has three children; and Elmer, at home.
In politics Mr. Coon has always been an active and earnest repub- lican and it is well known that he is fearless in defense of his honest convictions, political and otherwise. A member of the Methodist. Episcopal church while in Greene county, he served as Sunday-school superintendent when the meetings were held in the schoolhouse near his home. He is now an active and earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Farnhamville, contributes liberally to its support and does all in his power to further its interests. He has been school director for nine years and for the last eleven years has served as trustee, and he has taken a progressive stand upon many vital ques- tions. He has ever been an earnest advocate of drainage and good roads and is greatly interested in the welfare of the community in which he makes his home. There are few, if any, in the state more familiar with conditions of pioneer life than Mr. Coon, who has lived upon the frontier in five different counties. He was one of those who hauled the lumber from Seranton, Iowa, with which the first store in Lohrville was built, and he has been identified with many of the early events which have left their impress upon the history of county and state. Moreover, he may truly be ealled a self-made man, for when he left home and started out to earn his living he had no financial assist- ance whatever and has depended entirely upon his earnest labor and perseverance for the suecess which has come to him, making him one of the prosperous residents of Calhoun county.
EDWIN L. CRAWFORD.
Edwin L. Crawford, postmaster at Rinard, was born in Portage, Wisconsin, on the 1st of December, 1861, and is a son of Alexander S. and Melissa E. (Wileox) Crawford. ITis father was born in Orange county, New York, and died in 1901 at the age of sixty-four years.
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The mother, a native of Oshkosh, Wisconsin, is still living in Monroe eounty, that state. Alexander S. Crawford was only four years of age when he went to Wisconsin in company with his parents, the journey being made with ox teams and high-wheeled wagons. Ilis father, William Crawford, was one of the early pioneers of the vicin- ity of Portage. As he traveled westward he passed through Chicago, which was then a tiny village and gave no indication of ever becoming the great metropolitan center that it is today. He seeured a large farm and devoted his life to general agricultural pursuits, save for a brief period. In 1861 he made his way westward to the Rocky Moun- tains and worked in the gold fields there for three or four years. He did this to please his wife, who did not wish him to go to war. With this exception his entire life was devoted to general agricultural pur- suits and he owned valuable farm land in Monroe county, Wiseonsin. Upon his place he always kept a large dairy herd and made that part of his business one of the important features of his growing success. He took an active part in community affairs and was an earnest sup- porter of the republican party. He was also a stanch champion of the cause of education, the schools finding in him a most earnest advocate and supporter. He was likewise very active in prohibition work and was instrumental in putting the saloons out of Byron, Wisconsin. He never used alcoholie drinks nor tobaeco and indeed was most temper- ate in all of his habits.
Edwin L. Crawford attended the district schools of Monroe county, Wisconsin, and when twenty-one years of age homesteaded a farm near his parents' place. There he carried on general farming until 1885 and the following year he came to Iowa, where he engaged in farming near Fort Dodge. He continued there for about nine years, or until 1895, when he returned to Wiseonsin, where he con- tinned to live until 1904. That year witnessed his arrival in Rinard, where he began the ereetion of a store building. IIe was associated with J. F. Townsend, of Fort Dodge, in the conduct of a general mercantile establishment, also engaged in dealing in live stock and was manager of the elevator. For two years he likewise condueted a hotel in Rinard and for the past five years he has been connected with general merchandising under the name of the New Exchange Company, the firm being Townsend & Crawford. They had the first store in Rinard and from the time of his arrival here Mr. Crawford has been most active in advaneing the interests and promoting the business activity of the village. He is actuated in all that he docs by a spirit of enterprise and in business affairs he displays sound judg- ment as well as indefatigable energy and persisteney of purpose.
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In 1885 Mr. Crawford was united in marriage to Miss Charity E. Hunt, a native of New York and a daughter of Elijah and Mary (Randall) Hunt, both of whom were natives of New York. The father was a carpenter by trade. In 1890 he removed from Wisconsin to Fort Dodge, Iowa, where he lived retired. To Mr. and Mrs. Craw- ford has been born a daughter, Laura M., whose birth occurred in Fonda, Iowa, and who is now the wife of Thur Catheart, one of the younger farmers of Cedar township. They have one daughter.
Both Mr. and Mrs. Crawford are very active in church work, holding membership in the Methodist Episcopal church. They con- tribute generously to its support and take a helpful part in its work. Mr. Crawford was one of the organizers of the church and has served as one of the trustees, and has borne his full part in every movement for the good of the community. He was the original advocate of the consolidation of the school districts. He has also been an interested factor in politieal affairs in his county, taking as active a part along those lines as his other duties and interests would permit. He is an earnest republican and on the 28th of July, 1905. he was appointed postmaster of Rinard, in which capacity he has since served. He helped organize and became foreman of the Rinard Lodge several years ago and he also helped organize the Woodmen camp at Shen- nington, Wisconsin. He is a member of the Masonic lodge at Lohr- ville, Iowa, the Odd Fellows lodge at Tomah, Wisconsin, and is also connected with the Yeomen and the Modern Woodmen. It would be almost impossible to mention any activity that has had marked effect upon the welfare and upbuilding of this district with which Mr. Crawford has not been associated. He is a capable business man and vet he has never allowed personal affairs to interfere with the per- formance of his publie duties. He has ever recognized his obliga- tions to the community in which he lives and has spent much time and effort as well as money in furthering the public welfare. His fellow citizens entertain for him the warmest regard and appreciate his unselfish, effective efforts for the benefit of the community.
HIERBERT W. WILSON.
Herbert W. Wilson is a general merchant of Farnhamville, where he is also filling the office of city councilman. He was born in Cook county, Illinois, December 11, 1883, a son of William W. and Agnes (Harrison) Wilson, who were also natives of that county. The father
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followed farming in Cook county until 1884, when he removed west- ward to Calhoun county, Iowa, finding here all of the conditions of pioneer life. He took up his abode in Reading township, hecoming the owner of a farm of two hundred acres. The land was raw prairie when it came into his possession but he turned the first furrows. break- ing the sod until he had brought the entire farm to a high state of cultivation and added to it many modern improvements. He also engaged in buying stock. He was an active member of the Congrega- tional church and died in that faith at the age of forty-two years. His widow survives and now makes her home in Farnhamville.
Herbert W. Wilson pursued his early education in the district schools at Farnhamville, and afterward attended Highland Park Col- lege at Des Moines. When fifteen years of age he made his initial step in the business world as clerk in a general store in Farnhamville, remaining there for three years. He afterward attended school at Des Moines and following his return home again engaged in clerking for two years, but during that period carefully saved his earnings with the hope of accumulating sufficient capital to enable him to engage in business on his own account. In October, 1904, he estab- lished a general mercantile store at Farnhamville, where he has since eondneted a growing business, carrying a well selected line of goods. while his honorable methods in trade and his reasonable prices have brought to him a gratifying patronage. He is also a stockholder in the American Merchants Syndicate of Chicago, a corporation com- posed of many of the progressive merchants of the country. They buy merchandise direct from the factory and thus save jobbers' profits, so that they are able to give their customers the benefit of this saving. Mr. Wilson is also a stockholder in the Farmers Lumber Company of Farnhamville and the Farmers Mutual Telephone Company and is recognized as a man of sound business judgment, resourceful and enterprising.
In May, 1904, Mr. Wilson was united in marriage to Miss Fannie Bcaeham, her father being II. W. Beacham, a sketch of whom appears on another page of this work. Our subjeet and his wife have three children, namely: Charles Wayne, June and Henry Warren. Fra- ternally Mr. Wilson is connected with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is treasurer in the local lodge. Ile has filled all of the offices in the Knights of Pythias lodge, is secretary of the Yeomen and is also secretary of the Commercial Club. In politics he is an earnest republican, stanchly advocating the principles of the party because of a firm belief in their efficacy as factors in good government. At local elections, however, where no issue is involved, hic casts an
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independent ballot. He is now serving as a member of the city eouneil and exercises his official prerogatives in support of many measures for the general good. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, taking an active part in its work and in that of the Sunday school and serving as steward in the church. He is justly aecounted one of the progressive young merchants of the town and is recognized as one whose efforts have been of the utmost value and worth in contributing to the material development and to the intellectual, political and moral progress of his community.
F. V. HIBBS, M. D.
Dr. F. V. Hibbs, who sinee 1902 has been successfully engaged in the praetiee of medicine in Lohrville, is a native son of Iowa, his birth having occurred in Polk county on the 12th of February, 1874. He eomes of Quaker stock and is a son of J. L. and Hannah ( Marmon) Hibbs. The father was born in eastern Ohio, a son of William Val- entine Hibbs, who was a native of Virginia. In 1854 J. L. Hibbs accompanied his parents to Polk county, lowa, from the Buekeye state, and both the father and son there engaged in farming. In 1882, however, they took up their abode in Lake City, Calhoun eounty, where they are now living retired. In the meantime, however, J. L. Ilibbs was for a few years engaged in the real-estate and insurance business, in which he met with substantial suceess. In his family were six sons and three daughters but one son is deceased. Another is engaged in the practice of dentistry, two are following farming, and, as above stated, our subject is engaged in the practice of medicine.
Dr. Hibbs was reared in Polk county to the age of eight years and in the common schools began his edueation, which has continued in the schools of Lake City, to which place the family had removed. Having deeided upon the practice of medicine as a life work, to this end he entered the medieal department of the State University of Iowa, from which he was graduated in 1902, being then a young man of twenty- eight years. Having thus carefully prepared for the profession he then came to Lohrville and opened an office, since which time he has been successfully engaged in practice. Dr. Hibbs also has a eredit- able military record, having for eighteen months served in the Spanish- American war as a member of the Fifty-first Iowa Volunteers and doing duty in the army hospital while in the Philippines.
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Dr. Hibbs was married on the 5th of September, 1906, to Miss Minnie E. Baird, of Lohrville, a daughter of Andrew and Elizabeth Baird and one of a family of five children. Mrs. Hibbs was accorded liberal educational advantages, for subsequent to completing the high- school course in Lohrville she pursued a course in Buena Vista Col- lege. By her marriage she has become the mother of a son and a daughter: Wayne, whose birth occurred December 12, 1907; and Ruth, who was born March 5, 1910.
The family attend the Presbyterian church, while in his fraternal relations the Doctor is connected with the Masons and Knights of Pythias. In polities he is a republican and for one year served as mayor of Lohrville, while for five years he has been a member of the town council. He keeps in touch with the advancement that is being made in the medical fraternity through his membership in the Cal- houn Medical Society, of which he is now serving as secretary; is also a member of the Iowa State and American Medical Associations. The Doctor is highly esteemed in Lohrville and vicinity, not only as a professional man but also as a friend and citizen who is ever ready to cooperate in any movement tending to promote the public welfare.
J. C. CRISSINGER.
The business interests of Farnhamville have a worthy representa- tive in J. C. Crissinger, who is proprietor of a drug store. He was born in Columbia county, Ohio, January 25, 1860, and was brought to Iowa when but eight years of age, the family home being established in Iowa county. There he pursued his education in the common schools while spending his youthful days in the home of his parents. Through the periods of vacation he worked upon the farm and was thus employed until he reached the age of seventeen years, when he resumed his education as a pupil in the Iowa City Academy, which he attended for two years. On the expiration of that period he set- tled at Guthrie, Iowa, where he remained for about six months and then came to Farnhamville, where he established a drug store of which he has since been owner and manager. He carefully conducts the business, carrying a well selected line of goods, and his honorable business methods, progressive spirit and careful attention to the wants of his patrons have brought him a constantly growing trade.
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