USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 44
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on his farm until his death. The farm in which he took such a pride has been carefully kept by Mr. Grimes, who has kept it well improved and the grounds about the old and picturesque dwelling very tasty. Mr. Grimes has been a good manager and has laid by an ample competence through careful business transactions and the exercise of sound judgment in the management of his place. He has had his fine residence remodeled and has erected a large and substantial barn, octagonal in shape, each side being twenty-four feet, thus making it one hundred and ninety-two feet around the building. Being a lover of good stock and an excellent judge of all kinds of live- stock, Mr. Grimes has devoted considerable attention to this industry with excellent results.
Politically, Mr. Grimes is a Democrat and has served for some time upon the local school board, and he and his wife are members of the Bap- tist church of West Union. He is a liberal contributor to the church and has not been sparing either of his time or means in furthering any measure which he deems of interest to the general public. Personally, he is affable, genial. kind and popular with the people of this community. By a life consistent in motive and because of his many fine qualities he has earned the sincere regard of all who know him, and his success and past usefulness bespeak for him continued service and advancement in the higher sphere of endeavor in the social, civic and industrial world.
REV. PHILIP ACKERMANN.
A man who has accomplished a great amount of good among his fel- lows, won their praise and good will and reared a large family in comfort and respectability is the Rev. Philip Ackermann, of Hawkeye, Fayette county, a man who is deserving of conspicuous mention in the history of his locality, and yet he is unassuming and unostentatious, desiring the approval of his Master and his own conscience rather than the plaudits of men. Such a life should be emulated by the younger generation, for it is free from selfish- ness, paltriness and false show and one fraught with incalculable good to mankind. He is an American by adoption only, having been born in Berfelden, grand duchy of Hessen-Darmstadt, Germany, on September 5, 1850, and is the son of Frederick and Barbara Marguerite Ackermann. The father was a physician, first practicing with great success in the vicinity where his son, Rev. Philip Ackermann, was born; he later moved to Reichelsheim,
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Germany, and finally he retired to the city of Bensheim, where both he and his good wife passed to their reward in the great beyond.
Rev. Philip Ackermann studied at Bensheim and Darmstadt, making an excellent record in the college there ; later he studied at Giessen at the univer- sity ; then at the Preachers' Seminary at Friedberg. In all of these institutions he applied himself very closely to his studies and became highly educated. He came to America in 1874 and located in Wisconsin.
Reverend Ackermann was ordained to the ministry at Buffalo, New York, and his first congregation was at Kirchhain, Ozaukee county, Wisconsin, where he remained three years, then moved to Frazier, Macomb county, Mich- igan, and remained there three years. He then spent fourteen years at Mil- ford, Iroquois county, Illinois, after which he spent eight years at Hull, Sioux county, Iowa. He then moved to Welcome, Martin county, Minnesota. filling his pastorate there for three years. It was in 1903 that he moved to Hawkeye, Fayette county, Iowa, where he has since remained. Wher- ever his lot has been cast he has done very praiseworthy work, greatly strength- ening the congregation and leaving a record behind of which anyone should be proud. for he is a good organizer, careful to look after all the details of his charge, a forceful, earnest and eloquent advocate of the doctrine of the Messialı.
Reverend Ackermann was married in 1875 to Anna Schroeder, at Kirch- hain, Wisconsin. She has proved to be a very helpful help-meet, interested in the work of her husband and all worthy causes. This union resulted in the birth of the following children: Johanna, Hadwig. Robert, Gotthold, Karl and Lydia.
Reverend Ackermann was married a second time, his last wife being Anna Hauschild, whom he espoused in 1890; she is an excellent woman and the daughter of a highly respected family. The following children have been . born to this second union : Frieda, Marie, Friedrich, Paula and Otto.
MARTIN G. FELS.
The life of Martin G. Fels, of Auburn township, Fayette county, has been one of unceasing industry and perseverance and the notably systematic methods he has followed have not only won him financial success but also the confidence and respect of all with whom he has come into contact. He was born in Dubuque, Iowa, February 1, 1859, and was educated in the
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MARTIN G. FELS.
MRS. ADDIE FELS.
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public schools of Auburn, Fayette county. He is the son of Gustave and Henrietta (Swantes) Fels, the father born near Cologne, on the Lower Rhine, Germany, February 8, 1817, and the mother was born in Pomeria, Germany, June 21, 1827, the daughter of Johann and Charlotte Swantes. Mr. Swantes left Germany with his family about 1857 and came to 'America, locating at Dubuque, Iowa. Gustave Fels came to America with his brother, Frederick, about 1848, and bought land within three miles of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they lived two years, when, losing their land, they moved to Dubuque, Iowa. They were cabinetmakers by trade, and Gustave Fels owned the first turning lathe in Dubuque, and he made all the wagon hubs used there at that time, also turned windlasses for the lead mines around Dubuque, own- ing an interest in the lead mines there at one time himself, selling out his interest before they failed. He made the first baby carriage ever made in Dubuque and sold it to a banker for twenty-five dollars. He manufactured buggy bodies for a number of years, also made coffins and conducted an under- taking establishment. He owned a one-horse hearse, supposed to be the first in Dubuque. His brother, Frederick Fels, was a partner in the business for a short time, then bought a farm near Dubuque, where he lived until his death, in 1870. Gustave Fels sold out his business in Dubuque in 1865 and moved to Auburn, Fayette county, where he continued working as a cabinet- maker until about 1870 or 1875, when he took up farming, having bought land upon moving to the county, owning about forty acres. He and his family were members of the Lutheran church. About 1858 he and Hen- rietta Swantes were married in Dubuque, and they became the parents of five children, Martin G., of this review, being the eldest; three sons died young ; one daughter, the youngest of the family, is Mrs. Anna Sutorins, wife of Carl Sutorins, and lives in San Antonio, Texas. The death of Gustave Fels occurred on July 6, 1892, and his widow makes her home with the subject.
Martin G. Fels remained with his parents until the death of his father, when he bought the farm of fifty-two acres, twenty acres in section 25 and thirty-two in section 35. To this he has added about three hundred and twenty-five acres, in sections 15, 34 and 35, Auburn township. After his father's death he built a modern, two-story dwelling on his land in section 35, and everything about his place is up to date, showing thrift and pros- perity. He has established here one of the best water systems in the county, taking the water from a spring located about four hundred feet from the house on a hill-side, about sixty feet higher than the house; he has piped the water below the frost line in the ground, into the cellar, which is there brought
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into contact with an automatic water-lift or pump, the pressure from the "lift" by the spring water forcing the soft water from two cisterns through- out the entire house, supplying kitchen, bath room, etc., with hot and cold water, also soft and cold spring water. The barns, milk-house, hog yards, etc., are also furnished with running spring water, also a tank is supplied and running water is at the road side for the benefit of the public. The entire system of this splendid water plant works automatically, and is without an equal on any farm in this or adjoining counties. The house is lighted with gasoline gas throughout. Mr. Fels also owns "Falling Spring Fork," a popular picnic resort. He keeps more horses on his place than any farmer in the township, and, being a good judge of horses, knows well how to prop- erly care for them, usually having twenty-eight or thirty head of fine ones, which, when he desires to sell, always find a ready market. He carries on general farming and stock raising in a very successful and satisfactory man- ner.
Politically, Mr. Fels is a Republican, and is influential in his party, hav- ing held the office of chairman of the township committee for twenty or thirty years, and has been township clerk for two years. He has been treas- urer of the independent school district for the past fifteen years, and he was a director of the Fayette Agricultural Society for eight years. In all these positions of trust he has performed his duties in a manner to elicit the ap- proval of all concerned and with much credit to himself. He is a member of the German Lutheran church. He has been very successful in all his busi- ness affairs and his home is one of the most attractive and beautifully located in the county, lacking nothing in the way of modern conveniences, being on a par with city homes, with the exception of electricity. But he is a man of progressive ideas, energetic, keeping abreast of the times in every respect. The falling spring mentioned above is one of nature's greatest wonders in this state, a spring of pure cold water gushing over a solid rock, falling about fifteen or twenty feet into a pool or natural basin, a miniature Niagara. The McCreary cave is another natural wonder of the park, being a natural cavern in a solid rock, eight to ten feet high and twenty feet wide and over one hun- dred feet in depth, where it becomes narrower as it descends, continuing under the hill for another fifty feet. The cave is perfectly dry and at the side of the mouth of the cave there gushes a stream of cold sparkling water, called the Spring of the Cave. Another natural wonder is the "Rocky run," a sort of canyon in an immense rock about four hundred feet long, while the walls rise perpendicularly on both sides to a height of about thirty to forty feet. and
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the space between the walls is about seventy-five to one hundred feet wide. These attractions of nature are all in a park, covering less than forty acres. Besides, there are numerous stately trees, everything as nature formed it.
On November 26, 1884, Mr. Fels married Addie Soward, who was born in Bethel township, Fayette county, February 18, 1861, the daughter of Stewart and Mary (Umbarger) Soward, natives of Ohio, the former born in 1834 and died in December, 1909. He was a veteran of the Civil war, and was a pioneer settler of Bethel township, having established his home there in the early fifties. After serving throughout the war in an Iowa cavalry regiment, he returned home and soon afterwards moved to Kansas, later settled in Missouri, where his death occurred. Mrs. Soward died about 1863 or 1864, when about thirty-two years old. She was the mother of three children, of whom Mrs. Fels was the second in order of birth.
To Mr. and Mrs. Fels six children have been born, three of whom are living, Carl H., born February 4, 1891 ; Ray S., born April 10, 1894; Vergie E., born April 12, 1901.
ALBERT B. BLUNT.
The record of Albert B. Blunt, the well known and popular county treas- urer of Fayette county, is that of a man who, by his own unaided efforts, has worked his way from a modest beginning to a position of influence and com- parative affluence in his community. His life has been one of unceasing in- dustry and perseverance, and the systematic and honorable methods he has fol- lowed have won for him the unbounded confidence of his fellow citizens. He has always sought to promote the interests of his county, having the same at heart. He is a native of Westfield township, Fayette county, his birth having occurred on June 7, 1861, and he is the son of Dr. Harrison Blunt, a native of Ohio, but an early settler of this county; he is now living at Geneseo, Illinois. He married Mary Ann Butler, a daughter of Harrison Butler, a pioneer family. Mrs. Blunt is now deceased. Their family consisted of six children, four sons and two daughters, all living, namely: Jennie, now Mrs. Pillsbury, of Milford, Iowa; Albert B .; Clara is the wife of C. T. Hanna, of Carpenter, South Dakota; William H., of Spokane, Washington, where he is connected with the Creamery Supply Company ; George E., of Goldfield, Colorado; J. L., who resides in Charles City, Iowa.
Albert B. Blunt was educated in the public schools of his native county and in the Oelwein city schools. He began his life work as a farmer, and he
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engaged in the grain and produce business at Oelwein and other points for about twenty years. He very ably served as deputy postmaster at Oelwein from 1893 to 1897, and also city recorder during the early nineties, and member of the school board from 1899 to 1902, and elected president three times during his incumbency of that office. In that city he was manager of a lumber business in 1903, and in January, 1904, he was appointed deputy sheriff and served three years in that capacity, during which time he was nominated by the Democratic party and elected at the general election in 1900, as county treasurer, taking possession of that office January 1, 1907, and he made such a splendid record that he was re-elected in 1908. From the first Thomas Loftus has been his efficient deputy.
Mr. Blunt was married August 30, 1884, to Fanny Sadler, of Hazleton, Buchanan county, and a daughter of Wallas Sadler, a farmer at Hazleton. Three children have been born to this union: Bessie; Grover A., teaching in public schools at LeMars, Iowa, who married Helen Schmuhl; and Miles. The daughter is now the wife of W. S. Wiley, a contractor, carpenter and builder at Livingston, Montana, and they have two children, Phyllis an'l Walter.
Mr. Blunt has always taken an active interest in local political affairs and is a recognized leader in Democratic affairs. He is a member of the Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows, subordinate lodge and encampment. He has passed the official stations in all, and since 1896 has been a member of the grand lodge of Iowa, and represented the lodges of his county five years in the grand lodge. He also belongs to the Knights of Pythias, and is past chancellor of the same, and was a member of the grand lodge in 1893. He also belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America. Mrs. Blunt is a Presby- terian and is a representative of a very excellent old family. the Sadlers hav- ing come from Ohio to Wisconsin in an early day, thence to Buchanan county, Iowa.
D. W. WILBUR.
Back to the Revolutionary days is traced the Wilbur family and from that remote period to this the several members of the same have so comported themselves as to be of great service to their fellow men wherever they have lived. A very creditable representative of the family is D. W. Wilbur, of Hawkeye. Fayette county, who was born in Madison county, New York, at the town of Eaton, August 24, 1840, the son of Daniel and Polly (Buck)
IN MEMORIAM
HAWK EYE Post,No.200 HAWK EYE. 100
D. W. WILBUR.
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Wilbur, both born in that part of New York state. The paternal grand- father, whose name was probably Ezry Wilbur, was a soldier in the patriot army during our struggle for independence. The maternal grandfather, John Buck, was born in Pennsylvania, but he spent the major portion of his life in New York. Daniel Wilbur, the father, was reared in New York, from which state he came to Wisconsin and located in Walworth county, where he bought twenty-five acres of land at two and one-half dollars per acre and on this he reared his family and lived the balance of his life. His sons managed the farm while he followed his trade of carpenter. He eventually became the owner of two hundred and forty acres of land. He was a Whig and later a Republican and was active in the party. He reared nine children.
D. W. Wilbur was educated in Wisconsin and he farmed until the war broke out, having lived in Missouri for a year and a half before the opening of hostilities. He returned to Wisconsin in 1861 and on September 16th of that year enlisted in the Seventh Wisconsin Light Artillery, and he very faith- fully served until he was disabled, on account of which he was discharged in 1862. But he re-enlisted in Company A, Fourth Wisconsin Cavalry, in 1863, and served with credit in this command until August 9, 1865, when he was injured in a charge near Liberty, Louisiana; he remained and did light duty until the following April and then returned to Wisconsin on furlough and was discharged on August 9, 1865. Mr. Wilbur had four brothers, three of whom were also soldiers in the Union army: Philander was killed in a charge at Fort Blakely ; the other two, J. F. and C. H., survived, J. F. now making his home in the state of Washington.
On September 6, 1865, Mr. Wilbur started for Iowa with his brother-in- law, and in that month he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Fayette county, south of the present place, and he still owns it. Mr. Wilbur lived on the first land he purchased here until 1896, placing all the improve- ments on the same. In 1887 he bought one hundred and sixty acres, which is now a part of Hawkeye. He has been a general farmer, stock and grain raiser, and he followed grain buying for years. In 1896 he moved to the place where he now lives, having built a splendid residence on the same in 1895. He has in all three hundred and ten acres here. He had nine hun- dred acres in Fayette county at one time, three hundred and twenty acres in Sanborn and Hand counties, South Dakota, and one hundred and sixty acres in Texas. He raised grain extensively on his Dakota land and, as already in- timated, during his most active career he was an extensive grain dealer and stock man, and became well-to-do, all through his own judicious manage- ment and persistent efforts.
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Mr. Wilbur was married on January 1, 1868, thus starting the new year right, having espoused Susan Matthews, and this union resulted in the birth of the following children : William, deceased; John lives in Hawkeye; Mary lives at Chamberlain, South Dakota; Wallace lives in Idaho. The mother of these children died in 1902, and on December 10, 1908, Mr. Wilbur was married to Emma Peterson.
The subject is a Republican in politics and he very ably served as town- ship assessor for ten years, and was treasurer of the school board of Windsor township for sixteen years. He takes considerable interest in lodge affairs, belonging to the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows; he is also a member of the Grand Army of the Republic. He is highly respected by all who know him, for his life has been one of honesty and good deeds to his neighbors. He is a well informed man and is a good conversationalist, especially when recalling reminiscences of the early days.
MELCHIOR LUCHSINGER.
Among the sturdy and progressive Swiss element who have done so much for the general development of Fayette county and at the same time have bet- tered their condition, now owning nice, substantial homes and valuable landed estates, is Melchior Luchsinger, of Pleasant Valley township, who was born in the canton of Glaris, Switzerland, April 9, 1858. He is the son of J. P. and Barbara (Tschudi) Luchsinger, people of high standing in their native community in Switzerland. Their son Melchior received a good education in the schools of his native country, having attended two years in a school that would in America be termed a high school, and since coming here he has greatly broadened his early education by general reading and contact with his fellows. After leaving school he worked for three years in the emigration office. Then, in 1875, at the age of seventeen years, he came to America, first locating in Ohio, later removing to lowa, then to Wisconsin. In 1880 his father and sister came to America, arriving here in the springtime, and in the fall of that year J. P. Luchsinger, the father, returned to Switzerland and brought his wife and his other daughter to the United States. He then purchased a valuable farm of two hundred and thirty acres, about one and one-half miles south of Elgin, where his son, Melchior, of this review, now re- sides, this place having become the permanent home of the family and here they prospered, developed one of the best farms in the township and in due
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course of time had a pleasant home. The father died here some years ago, after a life of honor and usefulness, but his widow survives, living on the old home place, making four generations in the same house.
Melchior Luchsinger has lived here ever since the place was purchased, and he carries on dairying and general farming very successfully. In 1895 he was one of the organizers of the Farmers' Dairy Company of Elgin, which company purchased the holdings of the Union Creamery Company, at which time Mr. Luchsinger became director, remaining as such for a period of three years, then was made secretary, which office he has since held and the large success of the undertaking is due in no small measure to his able management of its affairs. The firm is well known throughout this locality and an ex- tensive trade is carried on throughout the year.
Mr. Luchsinger was married in 1880 to Esther A. Miller, daughter of John F. Miller, Sr., a prominent pioneer citizen of Pleasant Valley township, where Mrs. Luchsinger was reared and educated. To Mr. and Mrs. Luch- singer the following children have been born: Peter married Laura Maurer and he is farming on the home place; Mary and John are both living at home.
Members of this family belong to the Baptist church at Elgin and they are liberal supporters of the same. Politically, Mr. Luchsinger is independent, preferring to cast his vote for the man whom he deems best qualified for the office sought rather than for the party. He has served very ably and accept- ably as clerk of Pleasant Valley township, also as secretary of the township schools.
ALMON DAVIS.
The subject of this sketch, who is a well known dealer in hardware and agricultural implements, also proprietor of the largest wagon, carriage and general repair establishment at Alpha, is a native of Rock county, Wisconsin, where he was born July 12, 1851. When six years old he was brought to Fayette county, Iowa, by his parents and here grew to maturity, spending the summer seasons at various kinds of labor and the winter months in the piner- ies of Wisconsin, the meanwhile, as opportunities afforded, attending the public schools, until acquiring a fair knowledge of the branches constituting the prescribed course of study. When a young man he turned his attention to carpentry and after becoming a proficient workman found remunerative employment at the trade, which he followed with success and financial profit until 1894. While thus engaged he built a number of private residences in
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various parts of the country, also several church edifices and other structures, and in the year 1908 erected the large two-story brick business block, twenty- five by fifty feet in area, which he now owns and occupies, having been engaged in his present line of trade since 1894.
Mr. Davis carries large and complete lines of hardware, handles all kinds of agricultural implements and machinery and by strict attention to business and honorable methods has built up an extensive patronage which from the beginning has grown steadily in magnitude and importance. In his shop he is prepared to do with neatness and dispatch all kinds of repairing on wagons, carriages and other vehicles, also in various other lines and his success in this establishment is in keeping with that of his mercantile trade, the two yielding him a handsome income, making him one of the leading business men of the town. In addition to the large and carefully selected stock referred to he also deals quite extensively in gasoline engines, his patronage in this line being larger than that of any man in Alpha similarly engaged.
Mr. Davis is a public spirited man in all the term implies, although he has never sought office nor had any ambition to distinguish himself as a poli- tician or leader. He served several years as justice of the peace and ac- quitted himself with ability and credit in that position, his rulings having al- ways been fair and impartial and his decisions just and satisfactory to liti- gants. He cast his first Presidential vote for U. S. Grant (second term), since which time he has been somewhat independent in political affairs, al- though he supported President Roosevelt in his campaign and doubtless would do so again should the opportunity present itself. Fraternally, he stands high in the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, being a zealous worker in the sub- ordinate lodge and encampment and is also a member of the Masonic order, belonging to the lodge at Waucoma, in which, as well as in the former organi- zation, he has been honored with important offices from time to time.
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