USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 15
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After his return from army service Mr. Whiteley went to work on land in Fayette county which he had purchased before the outbreak of the war, and
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this property he developed into one of the choice farms of the community. He was an active and progressive farmer and devoted himself assiduously to his farm until October, 1907, when he ceased active labor and has since lived practically retired, enjoying the rest which he had so richly earned. In his early days on the farm he was compelled to undergo many trials and mis- fortunes, but he was accustomed to hard work and had the pluck to persevere and the practical common sense which enabled him to make the best of con- ditions. For two successive years his wheat crops were destroyed by chintz bugs. He then changed from wheat raising to livestock. In this he was prospered and as prices continued to advance he realized handsome profits. He bought more land from time to time and is now the owner of two hun- dred and eighty acres. On the place is a large, convenient and attractive ten-room residence, which cost four thousand dollars at a time when building material was cheap. He has also erected several fine barns, including a gen- eral purpose barn, a horse barn and one which was built specially for a fine stallion in which he has an interest, the animal being a thoroughbred and valued at seventeen hundred dollars. When, in 1907, Mr. Whiteley left the farm and moved to Fayette, he had about seventy-five head of cattle, twenty- five horses (some of which sold at four hundred dollars a span), and a pair of three-year-old horses that brought five hundred and twenty-five dollars.
On November 29. 1863, Mr. Whiteley married Matilda Earl, of Albany, Iowa, a daughter of Richard and Catherine Earl. The family came to Iowa from Freeport. Illinois, in 1855, and the father bought a saw-mill at Albany, afterwards building a grist-mill at the same place. To Mr. and Mrs. White- ley ten children were born, of whom three died in childhood. Those who attained mature years are briefly mentioned as follows: Charles, who lives on and operates his own farm three miles east of Fayette, married Louisa Crim, and they have three children, Harold, Mildred and Grace; Lucy married Thomas Homewood and lives on a farm near Clermont; Mary became the wife of J. A. Kramer, dealer in general merchandise at Elkader, and they have two children, Harriet and Dayton; Frederick is the owner of a fine farm of one hundred and thirty-three acres near his father's farm; James, who lives on the home farm, married Jennie Landers and they have a baby girl, Zadie; Adell became the wife of Marion Dennis, of Fayette, and they have twin babies, Freddie and Marian; Richard, who lives on the subject's home farm three miles east of Fayette, married Anna Wilson.
In politics Mr. Whiteley is a stanch Democrat, though in local elections he assumes an independent attitude, voting for the best man for the office. He attends the Methodist church. He is a man whom to know is to admire and he has many warm friends throughout the community.
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FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
WILLIAM GREMMELS.
The record of the subject of this sketch is that of a man of foreign birth who, coming to the United States in early life, has worked his way from a modest beginning to a position of eminent respectability as a citizen and to a prominent place among the leading farmers and stock raisers of the county of which he has long been an honored resident. William Gremmels is a native of Germany, born at Ahstedt in the kingdom of Hanover, on the 5th day of June, 1851. His parents, Frederick and Dora (Buck) Gremmels, were also Hanoverians and spent the greater part of their lives in the city where the subject first saw the light of day. The father, a carpenter by trade, was for many years in the employ of the government first as a con- structor and later as inspector of various public works. He was a man of sound practical intelligence, a master of his craft and stood high in the esteem of the people of his native place. He and his good wife died at Ashtedt and were laid to rest in the old cemetery where a number of their ancestors have long been sleeping the sleep that knows no waking. Frederick and Dora Gremmels were the parents of eight children, of whom the following are living: Henry, a carpenter, residing in Sioux Falls, South Dakota ; Frederick, also a carpenter by trade and a resident of Iowa; Christian, de- ceased, who was an inspector of government works in Germany ; Wilhelmina, who married Henry Aschemann, of Braunschweig, where they still live. and William, the subject of this review. The following are the names of the deceased members of the family: Dora, Carl and Lena, all of whom de- parted this life in the fatherland. Christian Gremmels, the third in order of birth, was a mechanic of high standing in Hanover and, as stated above, held an important position in the public service. While still a young man he drew plans for the government bridge over the river Rhine at Cologne and Cob- lentz and no mechanic being willing to undertake the work, the contract was awarded to him. He finished the bridge in due time per specifications and it is today one of the finest structures of the kind spanning that his- toric stream. This work, which was completed in 1858, was three years in process of construction and it stands a monument to the skill and effi- ciency of the builder. Christian Gremmels had been in the employ of the Hanoverian government all of his life and had long ranked among the ablest and most trustworthy mechanics and inspectors in the public service of that country. He died November 24, 1909, in Zoelde, Hanover.
William Gremmels attended the Lutheran schools of his native place during his childhood and early youth and while still quite young manifested
MR. AND MRS. WILLIAM GREMMELS.
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the mechanical skill for which he has since been noted. He began working under his father's direction as soon as old enough to handle tools to ad- vantage and at the age of sixteen was sufficiently advanced in carpentry to be styled a finished workman. Thinking to better his condition in a country where better opportunities obtained than in his native land, he came to the United States in 1867 and located at Dubuque, Iowa, where he soon se- cured remunerative employment as a carpenter and builder. After spending several years in that city, he revisited the land of his birth, but in due time returned to Dubuque, near which place he operated a saw-mill for his brother, and later took charge of mills for various other parties, continuing this line of business for several years, in connection with his trade.
Becoming somewhat dissatisfied with mechanical work as a means of livelihood, Mr. Gremmels subsequently turned his attention to agriculture, which he carried on in Dubuque county until 1894, when he moved to Fay- ette county and purchased two hundred acres of land in Jefferson township, on which he has since lived and prospered. The year of his arrival he erected the large and commodious barn which still answers the purposes for which intended and in 1906 he built the large and imposing modern residence which the family now occupy and which is one of the most beautiful and attractive rural homes in the county.
Mr. Gremmels has brought the farm to a high state of tillage, besides making all the improvements, his mechanical skill being greatly in his favor in adding to the beauty and value of his place. In connection with general agriculture, he devotes considerable attention to livestock and poultry and is also identified quite extensively in dairying. He has been signally suc- cessful since moving to his present place of abode, being at this time one of the financially solid men of the township in which he resides. His place, which is known as "Fairview Stock Farm," lies two and a half miles north- east of Oelwein and is one of the finest farms of its size in the county of Fayette, impressing the passersby as the home of an enterprising, up to date man whose interest in his calling he makes paramount to every other con- sideration.
Mr. Gremmels was first married in the year 1876 to Nathalia Schenko- witz, of Dubuque county, who died in 1880, leaving two children, Arthur, a farmer living in North Dakota, and Blanch, now Mrs. L. B. Miller, of Wa- terloo, Iowa. On May 24, 1881, Mr. Gremmels contracted a matrimonial alliance with Mrs. Henrietta Gremmels, widow of Henry Gremmels, her union with him resulting in the birth of four children, viz: William F.,
(55)
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engaged in merchandising at Oelwein; Henry, who is also in business at that place; Julia, wife of Joseph Beck, of Lincoln county, Colorado, and Charles, deceased. By her marriage with William Gremmels Mrs. Gremmels had three children: Warren A., a musician of Oelwein and who is also in the grocery business ; Ada, widow of Robert Brown, and Flora, who died in in- fancy. Mr. Gremmels and family are members of the Lutheran church and interested in all lines of religious and moral work under the auspices of the congregation to which they belong. He is a Republican in politics and while a resident of Dubuque county held various local offices, although never an aspirant for public honors.
Mrs. Gremmels, the present wife of the subject, was born April 27, 1842, at Hoheneggelsen, Hanover, Germany, and is a daughter of Henry and Julia (Flore) Rengell. These parents came to America in 1856 and settled on a farm in Dubuque county, Iowa, Mrs. Gremmels being their only child.
HERMAN BOESS.
The family of this name in Fayette county is part of the German immi- gration which began settling in Iowa at its earliest opening as a state and eventually became an important and influential part of the population. Her- man Boess was born in Hillinghausen, Hanover, Germany, in 1843, but lost his parents by death when still a child. He learned the carpenter's trade and followed it for a living as long as he remained in his native country. He came to the United States in 1881 and located at Richmond, Indiana, where he followed his trade as a carpenter. Two years later he migrated to Iowa and settled in Fayette county in the extreme southwest corner of section 30, Bethel township. One year later he moved to section 20 and the year fol- lowing rented two hundred acres in and near section 32. A year afterward he rented the south half of section 19, where he lived for three years. His next purchase was the northwest quarter of section 23, the place now owned by his son. On January 25, 1895, he was kicked by a horse and died a few" minutes later as the result of his injuries.
In 1869 Herman Boess married Louisa, daughter of Mathias and Elsa (Schnatmeir) Brockman, also a native of Krukom, Hanover, Germany. They had six children, Fred, Marie, Lizzie, Minnie, Adam and Annie. A full sketch of the eldest son appears elsewhere in this volume. Marie, the eldest daughter, married John Erhardt and lives in California. Lizzie married George Hucke and resides near Fredericksburg, Chickasaw county. Minnie married Fred Brenner and lives in California. Adam lives with his mother
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in section 15, Bethel township. Anna married Carl Sinner, of whom a fuller sketch appears below. In 1902, the home place was sold to Fred, and Mrs. Boess bought two hundred acres on the north side of section 15, Bethel town- ship, and moved to this new home in the spring of 1902.
Carl Sinner, who married Anna, youngest daughter of Herman Boess, is a son of William Sinner. The latter is a native of Hesse-Cassel, Germany, and was born in 1851. His parents were John and Philopena Conradeine (Baker) Sinner, substantial people in the old country. In his boyhood days he learned the harnessmaker's trade, at which he worked for four years. In 1870, when nineteen years old, he came to America and pushed immediately for the west until he reached Fayette county. For four or five years he did farm work by the month and then rented one hundred and twenty acres at Arlington owned by his uncle, which he farmed for a year. Later he farmed in Windsor township until 1887, when he removed to eighty acres he had purchased in section 13, Bethel township. Since then he has added forty acres to his holdings in section 13 and has eighty acres in section 23, making two hundred acres in his possession.
In 1875 Mr. Sinner married Anna Margaret, daughter of George Belschner, of Illinois. She died in 1888, after becoming the mother of four children, of whom one died in infancy, two days before the death of the mother. Those living are George, Edward and Carl. The latter married Anna Boess and resides on a farm one mile north and one west of his father's place. They have one child, Florence. Edward resides in North Dakota, on a land claim bought from the government. George studied law at Fort Dodge and graduated in 1904. Besides practicing law, he was inter- ested for two or three years in mining at Basin, Wyoming, but his health failed him and he sought the more congenial climate of Arizona. In Febru- ary, 1889, he married Amelia Schwan, a resident of Sumner, Bremen county, Iowa. He has had four children, William, Alma, Ella and Edna. Alma died when two years old, but the other three children remain at home with their parents.
The Sinner family belong to the German Lutheran church at Hawkeye and no connection enjoys higher esteem in that neighborhood.
THOMAS L. FORDYCE.
It is a pleasure to meet an old settler, one who came here in the com- mencement of the county's widespread development, and learn from his lips of the trials which were endured for the sake of the happy homes which now
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dot the county of Fayette,-a man who has, while advancing his own interests, also labored for the general good. Such a man is T. L. Fordyce, a well known farmer, many of whose early impressions were gained in the woods of the pioneer period and he tells many interesting stories of those times. The pioneers were happy. It is singular how easily a person can adapt him- self to any surroundings and derive comfort therefrom. And yet it fails to be at all singular when account is taken of the selfish desire to be comfortable. If we have enough to eat and enough to wear and a little ahead and an outlook for some good books, we can manage to worry along and get some satisfaction out of life. So the old settler was happy, as everyone will emphatically tell YOU. So says the subject of this sketch.
Thomas L. Fordyce was born December 25, 1839, in the township of Dunham, province of Quebec, Canada, and received his education in that neighborhood, the school being held in his uncle's house, the equipment of which was primitive in the extreme. His services being required in the clear- ing of the small farm owned by his father, his schooling was limited, though by subsequent reading and habits of close observation he has become a well informed man on general topics. His ancestors were originally from Scot- land, though his father was born on the same farm as was the subject, while the mother is supposed to have been born in Vermont.
Mr. Fordyce was married to Cornelia Carter, the daughter of James and Ortha (Cora) Carter, and to this union were born five children, four sons and one daughter, namely : Genevieve, Frank, Jerard (deceased), Clare (de- ceased) and Marcellus. The living children are married and reside in Fay- ette county.
Mr. Fordyce came to Fayette county, Iowa, in March, 1867, and bought forty acres of land, to the improvement and cultivation of which he at once applied himself. He was industrious, economical and a good man- ager and was prospered from the beginning. Having early in life become familiar with general farming, he has made this vocation, together with stock raising. his life work and that a large measure of success has attended his efforts goes without saying. He is now the owner of three hundred and ten acres of excellent land. eighty acres lying in Windsor township, the balance in the old home place. In March, 1900, Mr. Fordyce came to Randalia, this county, to make it his permanent home, having an attractive and nicely fur- nished dwelling here.
Soon after taking up his residence here he was active in the general affairs of the place and a short time age he was appointed justice of the peace to fill a vacancy and he is very ably and conscientiously discharging the duties of
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the same. Politically, he is a Republican and has long taken more or less interest in the affairs of his party. Fraternally, he is a Mason and stands high in that order.
Although he is now living retired from the active duties of life, yet Mr. Fordyce takes a delight in overseeing the general management of his lands, which he has brought up to a high state of improvement and which, under his skillful management, have been producing abundant harvests for years. He is a man of strictly honest principles and has the good will of all who know him.
DR. MARTIN BENTLEY FITCH.
To attain success in any one line of endeavor is within the power of every man of ordinary intelligence and judgment, but to become distinguished in more than one vocation and that, too, at a period of life when the majority of men are supposed to discontinue active duty to spend the remainder of their days in quietude and retirement, indicates a degree of mental and intellectual strength such as few possess. The record of the subject of this review is that of a man who in his prime fitted himself for a sphere of activity in which much more than ordinary technical training was required, but later, when through force of circumstances he could no longer rely upon his voca- tion for a livelihood, he turned his attention to a profession for which its devotees prepare only by long years of painstaking study and research. His career, which has been a strenuous and honorable one, is replete with interest and it is with much satisfaction that the following brief outline is accorded a place in these pages.
Martin Bentley Fitch is a native of Trumbull county, Ohio, where his birth occurred on June 6, 1840, being the eldest son of George and Deborah (Boylen) Fitch, both representatives of well-known families in the north- eastern part of that state. His father dying in 1847, the boy of seven years thereafter lived among strangers, though he kept in touch with his mother, who, as circumstances would permit, maintained a home for the two sons who were with her. But, being a teacher, after the death of her husband, sometimes in Pennsylvania and later in the states of Indiana and Iowa, it was not always convenient for her to keep her children together, consequently they were often separated from her and while still young obliged to rely upon their own resources. Mrs. Fitch remarried in 1862, at which time or soon afterwards her three sons were in the army and from that date she saw little of them.
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Martin B. Fitch attended the public schools and acquired a fair educa- tion in such branches as were then taught, but later by years of painstaking study and investigation he obtained a knowledge of many subjects and be- came a widely read and deeply informed man. When a young man nineteen years of age he was united in marriage with Helen B. Hayes, who bore him five children, viz: George H., who died February 10, 1863, aged two years and six months ; Frank B., Elmer, Alice and Mary. Frank, the oldest sur- vivor of the family, is employed in the railway service at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he married and has a home. Elmer died at the home of his grandmother in Fayette county at the age of fourteen. Alice, now Mrs. Davis, resides in Chicago. Mary was also reared among her mother's peo- ple in Michigan and still lives there. The mother of these children died some years ago in the city of Cedar Rapids, after being divorced from her husband.
In 1873 Mr. Fitch went South and finally located in southeastern Arkan- sas, where for a period of ten years he operated a blacksmithing and machine shop, which was extensively patronized, and he also spent one year in Texas. He was a skillful mechanic both in wood and metals and while in Arkansas his establishment was known far and wide, the most profitable part of the business being the repairing of grills and engines and boilers for the cotton planters of the surrounding country. Failing health compelled him to entrust too much important work to unskilled hired help, which caused him considerable pecuniary loss and as a result he was obliged to sell out and re- turn to Fayette county, his early home. His mother was then living and the first thing he did after his return was to build for her a comfortable house on the farm which his step-father owned. After another disastrous trip to the South, in which he lost heavily, Mr. Fitch located at Decorah, Iowa, where, in 1888, he married Isabel Nelson, who bore him seven children : Roy A., the oldest, who was graduated from the Decorah high school with the class of 1909, is at this time assistant principal of a high school in North Dakota : George, the second in order of birth, married Emma Thomp- son, of Decorah, where he now resides and has a little son named after him- self ; Raymond is a student in a business college of the above city and the others who are old enough are attending the public schools, their names being : Martin D., June E. M., Lillian M. and William R. Both Mr. and Mrs. Fitch are active members of the Methodist Episcopal church and stand high in the social circles of the city in which they reside.
In 1862 M. B. Fitch enlisted in Company H. Eighteenth Iowa Infantry. with which he served until permanently disabled and discharged the follow- ing year. This disability, which was of a most aggravated nature, has been
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continuous throughout all of the intervening years, making a physical wreck of an otherwise robust and exceptionally strong man. For a number of years he was on the pension roll at seventy-two dollars per month, but during the administration of President Cleveland his rating was reduced to thirty dollars; under President Mckinley, however, it was increased to fifty dol- lars and so remains, an insignificant recompense for so costly a sacrifice. He manifests a lively interest in military affairs and all matters pertaining to the old soldiers and for a number of years has been an influential member of the Grand Army of the Republic, also belonging, with his wife, to the Woman's Relief Corps of Decorah.
Being naturally a sympathetic nature and blessed with a good memory. besides being a keen and critical observer, Mr. Fitch became an excellent nurse while among the southern people and was frequently called to treat the sick in preference to the local physicians, who often lived long distances from the homes of the afflicted. In this manner he was finally induced to take up the study of medicine and for more than a quarter century he has been a devotee of that profession and a successful practitioner. Soon after locating at Decorah he opened an office and engaged in the general practice and to his credit be it said that some of his cures have been little short of marvelous and under all circumstances he has demonstrated unusual ability and skill in alleviating human suffering. Being physically incapacitated from meeting country patients at their homes with any degree of certainty, he has relied almost entirely upon his office practice, not going to the trouble and annoyance of complying with the "red tape" requirements surrounding the general practice of medicine. In this way his patronage partakes largely of the form of hospital nursing and care, in which line he has all the business to which he can possibly give attention, all of the rooms of his home, at No. 612 River street, being fitted up and provided with every convenience neces- sary to the successful treatment of those who seek his retreat. By dint of hard and close application, Doctor Fitch has succeeded in mastering the in- tricacies and difficulties of certain lines of professional study and on the 6th of February, 1900, he was awarded a diploma by the Institute of Physicians and Surgeons in the city of Rochester, New York. This institution includes practice along the lines of vitaeology, suggestive therapeutics, magnetic heal- ing and personal magnetism, in all of which he has made commendable ad- vancement and by the application of which many of his most obstinate cases have been successfully treated. The Doctor also holds two diplomas from other scientific schools and is withal especially well equipped both by nature and training for the practice of his profession from the viewpoint indicated by the lines of preparation which he has pursued.
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THOMAS AND RICHARD H. SMITH.
Among the business men of the thriving city of Oelwein, Fayette county, none are more highly esteemed generally than the gentlemen whose names ap- pear above. Years of honest endeavor have brought to them a well-earned prosperity and today they are numbered among the representative citizens of the community.
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