USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 68
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Fraternally, Mr. Wilbur belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Yeoman lodge at West Union. Mrs. Wilbur belongs to the Lutheran church.
WILLIAM ELMER FITCH.
William E. Fitch, the well-known proprietor of Fitch's Laundry at La- Salle, Illinois, is a native of Fayette county, Iowa, born in Illyria township, April 10, 1867. He is the eldest of a family of seven children born to George W. and Roxcie (Moore) Fitch, both of whom are natives of north- eastern Ohio.
Will E. Fitch was reared and educated in his native county. He at- tended the country schools of Illyria and Bethel townships during the first
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W. E. Fitch
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five or six years of his school life, after which his parents located in West Union, and he there pursued the full course of the graded schools and a special teachers' course at Ainsworth's private academy. He began his independent career as a teacher in the country schools of the county, and was quite successful as a pedagogue. But his inclination was towards mechan- ical pursuits and he was permitted to make his own choice of a life work. When about eighteen years old he went to Cedar Rapids and there learned the "preliminaries" of the laundry business. He was employed for a few months in Muscatine, and afterwards leased a small plant in Minnesota. But this small town and one or two other small places where he set up in trade, did not have the population to sustain the business on the scale which he had in mind. He was employed in various capacities in many of the larger cities of the country and finally worked for the Empire Laundry Machinery Company in the capacity of expert launder, installing new plants and instructing inexperienced buyers in laundry methods. Finally he accepted a position as foreman of a large plant at Ottumwa, Iowa. While so employed he found a plant poorly equipped and operated in what seemed to him a good town, LaSalle, Illinois. After some preliminary skirmishing he bought it, and began building it up and improving it. From that day he began to forge to the front, and has now one of the best-equipped and most up-to-date laundries in the state. He gives employment regularly to about thirty people, exclusive of a considerable number of outside agents. The output of the plant at first was less than a hundred dollars a week; but for the last eight or ten years it has seldom been below five hundred dollars weekly, and often above that figure. Men in the business in Illinois and elsewhere recognize in "Billie" a man who thoroughly understands the business and who is not so selfish as to keep his knowledge to himself. In 1900 he was elected presi- dent of the Laundrymen's Association of Illinois, served one year, was then elected secretary, which responsible office he held for eight years, when he was again given the presidency. During this period he was also elected secre- tary of the National Association and was for five years secretary of the Middle and Western Launderers' Association. Billy's person as well as his home is well decorated with presents received in acknowledgment and appre- ciation of his valued services.
Being of a literary turn of mind, Mr. Fitch is also a paid contributor to the laundry journals of the country, especially the National Journal, and it seems that his contributions, of both prose and poetry, are eagerly sought, and much of this matter has been republished in the regular press of the country.
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"Billie" Fitch is one of the men who believes in going to the bottom of things, as is evidenced in the fact that he passed the necessary examination for the position of grand lecturer (Masonic) for the state of Illinois, and carried off the prize and has served a number of years in that capacity. He is a thirty-second-degree Mason, a Shriner and an Elk.
The subject of this sketch has a character and manner peculiarly his own. Among his business associates he is known as "Pastor Bill." His writings and sayings are always in a highly moral and unselfish tone, which have brought him this unsought, and perhaps undesired, prefix. No man more thoroughly despises wrangling and fault-finding and his competitors cannot but admire his entire fairness, even to the side of personal losses, rather than to engage in any form of self-exaltation.
Mr. Fitch has been twice married, first to Ella Mae Jack, of Muscatine, Iowa. A son and daughter were born to this union, Mary Luella, a stenog- rapher, and Frank, in school. His present wife was Charlottina Trout, of Peru, and they have one son, Harold William, thirteen years of age.
In politics and religion Mr. Fitch is extremely liberal. He is free and outspoken, yet never obtrusive. Politically, he supports the men whose say- ings and doings most cleanly coincide with his own views regarding the issue. But it must be added that such men, thus far, have usually been found in the Republican party. He is not a member of any church organization, though interested in every movement that has for its aim "the greatest good to the greatest number."
GEORGE R. ADAMS.
A well known and progressive citizen of the vicinity of Maynard, Fay- ette county, is George R. Adams, who, like many of the enterprising and honored citizens of this county, came from the great Empire state, having been born in Cattaraugus county, New York, June 17, 1840. He is the son of Albygense and Diana (Latin) Adams, the father having been born in 1801 of Scotch and Irish descent, and the mother born in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1799, of Spanish and English descent. They were the parents of four sons and one daughter, namely: Clarinda, now deceased, married George Fullmer ; Abner died in Helena, Montana ; Henry died in Janesville, Wiscon- sin ; Leander L., a sketch of whom appears elsewhere in this book, is also deceased; George R., of this review, is the youngest of the family.
George R. Adams was five years old when he was brought to Rock
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county, Wisconsin, by his parents in 1845. They located near Janesville and rented land for ten years, then moved to Whiteside county, Illinois, where the father farmed until his death. However, his death occurred in New York, while he was on a visit there. The death of the mother occurred in Wis- consin. They were excellent people, honest, hospitable and successful farm- ers.
George R. Adams did not enjoy extensive advantages of an early educa- tion ; however he is a well read man on current questions of the day and is successful in carrying on all forms of every-day business. While yet a boy he "hired out" to do whatever honest work he could get, remaining in Rock county, Wisconsin, until 1855, when he moved to Whiteside county, Illinois, where he farmed until his enlistment in the Union Army, and after the war closed he remained there until 1867, when he came to Fayette county, Iowa, and purchased eighty acres of land in Harlan township, just west of Maynard.
On January 3, 1871, Mr. Adams married Martha Hiner, of Columbus, Ohio, the daughter of Isaac and Elizabeth (Wengert) Hiner, both natives of Pennsylvania, and pioneers of Whiteside county, Illinois. Mr. Hiner was killed by lightning in 1864 and his wife died in Kansas. She had married a second time, her last husband being O. P. Gray. Eight children were born to Isaac Hiner and wife.
To Mr. and Mrs. George R. Adams four children were born, namely : George Chester, a farmer in Harlan township; Duddthga married Samuel DeLong, of Maynard, Iowa; Bertha Adams is a trained nurse and is living at home; Clarence C. is farming near Fulton, Kansas.
After 1867 Mr. Adams followed farming with his usual success until 1898, when he moved to Maynard and retired, having accumulated a compe- tency for his declining years by his able management and close application to business. He was always considered a good farmer and stock raiser.
On August 15, 1862, Mr. Adams enlisted in Company B, Fifty-seventh Illinois Volunteer Infantry, in Round Grove, and soon the company went in camp at Dixon, Illinois, remaining there until sent to Louisville, Kentucky ; their first serious engagement was at Perryville, that state, where Mr. Adams was severely wounded, being shot through the thigh, and he was incapacitated for further service until March 1, 1863. He took part in the famous Atlanta campaign, fought at Buzzard's Roost, Pumpkin Vine creek, Resaca, Dallas, Kenesaw Mountain, Adairsville, Seymour, Culp Farm, Peach Tree Creek, Jonesboro, Lovejoy Station and Atlanta, serving with credit until the close of the war, being paid off on July 1, 1865, at Chicago, Illinois, and discharged on June 12, at Camp Harker, Tennessee. He is a member of the Grand
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Army of the Republic post at Maynard. Although a loyal Republican, he has never aspired to public office. He has hosts of friends in this section of Fayette county where his life has been conducted along honorable and worthy lines.
JOHN BAUMANN.
Although the republic of Switzerland is small, she has sent a very large number of excellent citizens to America, many of whom have selected the great commonwealth of Iowa as the scene of their life work, and Fayette county has allured such a number to her genial atmosphere and productive soil. Of these, John Baumann is deserving of special mention, for he is one of Pleasant Valley township's worthiest citizens as we shall see by a study of the following paragraphs. His birth occurred in Switzerland in 1857, and he is the son of Jacob and Ann (Hildbrunner) Baumann, both natives of Switzerland, where they grew to maturity and were educated. They came to America in 1864, continuing their long journey until they reached Clayton county, Iowa, where they engaged in farming and soon had a comfortable home. Jacob Baumann was also a minister and he started the Baptist church at Elgin and preached here regularly for eight or ten years, doing a great work in the church of this neighborhood. He was a man whom everybody honored and liked, for he was a good and useful man. He and his wife were the parents of nine children, all of whom are living at this writing.
John Baumann was reared on his father's farm and began working on the same when very young. He received a limited education in the home schools, but he has since become well informed by general reading. He directed his attention to agricultural pursuits early in life and has followed the same continuously ever since. When twenty-five years of age he bought the home place of two hundred and forty acres and remained there three years, carrying on general farming in a most successful manner. He sold out in 1884 and moved to Elgin, Fayette county, and became a partner of Ben Schori, a stock dealer, and they carried on this line of business very extensive- ly for a period of six years. He understood thoroughly the stock business and he was very widely known in this line, but he preferred to go back to farming, and he accordingly purchased the home place again, which he oper- ated for three years, then sold out and returned to Elgin and rented the Ben Schori farm of two hundred and fifty acres, which he worked for five years. Then he bought the old Patterson farm, one half mile west of Elgin, where
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he now resides. This is one of the finest farms in the township and is ad- mired by all. It consists of two hundred and forty acres, well improved and well tilled. He devotes a large portion of his time to various kinds of live- stock, follows dairying, raises large numbers of good hogs, principally Chester Whites, and he is just beginning to raise Swiss cattle. He has a wide repu- tation for the high grade stock he raises and a ready market is always found for them. He has an attractive and substantial home and outbuildings suffi- cient for all his needs. Everything about his place is in excellent repair.
Mr. Baumann was married in 1881 to Caroline Freiburghaus, a sister of C. F. Freiburghaus, whose sketch is to be found on another page of this work and which contains a full history of this splendid family: To Mr. and Mrs. Baumann the following children have been born: Edwin H., Clara E., Walter J., Lillie R., Lulu I., Louis J., Otto J., Richard C., Johnnie C. The first three children, Freddie, Kattie and Frieda, and Carrie, the youngest, died, thus making thirteen children in all born to them.
Politically, Mr. Baumann is a Republican and he and his family belong to the Baptist church. They are highly respected throughout this locality and have numerous friends wherever they are known.
WILL H. BARNES.
An exceptionally careful agriculturist is Will H. Barnes, of Harlan township, Fayette county, for to his energy, enterprise and good management his present station in life is attributed. He started on his career as an inde- pendent factor down toward the bottom of the ladder and is now the owner of a very desirable farm property and occupies a conspicuous place among the successful farmers of this locality. He is a native of the community where he resides, having preferred to remain on his native soil rather than seek his fortune in some distant neighborhood. His birth occurred June 29, 1883, and he received a very good education in the Maynard high school. He is the son of Hiram and Hattie '(Rich) Barnes, who were born near Belvidere, Illinois, the father's birth occurring on September II, 1841, and the mother's on September 8, 1853 ; her death occurred on February 2, 1899. They were the parents of four children, three sons and one daughter, namely : Lillian H., born February 5, 1872, is the wife of Frank Goldsberg, of May- nard, Iowa; Lawrence C. was born July 6, 1877, and resides in Fremont town- ship, and is manager of the German creamery ; Will H., of this review, and Carroll O., born October 22, 1885, lives at Maynard.
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Will H. Barnes grew up on the home farm and assisted with the general work about the place, and attended school at Maynard until seventeen years of age. At the time of his mother's death in Maynard he began learning the carpenter's trade, which he followed for three years, but believing that farm- ing was the more remunerative, he rented his father's farm of one hundred and twenty acres in 1903, and has devoted his attention to farming since that time, his efforts having been rewarded with a large measure of success.
Politically, Mr. Barnes is a Republican, but has never held office. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Maynard Lodge No. 149.
On September 23, 1906, Mr. Barnes married Ellen E. Payne, who was born in Harlan township, November 4, 1887, and is the daughter of Stephen and Carrie (Hollister) Payne, natives of Smithfield township and a well known family there. To Mr. and Mrs. Barnes two children have been born, namely : Louis Eugene, born August 9, 1907, and Doris Winifred, born June 21, 1909.
HIRAM BARNES.
It is the pride of the people of this country that when the great war be- tween the states closed, all the vast army of citizen soldiery quietly laid down their arms and returned to their homes and the arts of peace. It was pre- dicted by the European nations not only that the country would be divided, but that after the war an enormous army would be kept up and a military dictatorship would be established on the fragments; but, instead, they saw the great armies melt away, saw a reunited country in which liberty was a fact as well as a name, and saw the boys in blue return to their wives, homes and their occupations. Hiram Barnes, of Maynard, Harlan township, Fay- ette county, was one of those patriotic citizens. He was born in Erie county, Pennsylvania, September 11, 1839, but he was educated in Boone county. Illinois, in the early district schools. He is the son of Calvin and Elizabeth (Van Atten) Barnes, the father born in Utica, New York, of English parent- age. Calvin Barnes was a contractor and builder, and he and his wife were married in the state of New York and moved to Painesville, Erie county, Pennsylvania, some time afterwards, where Mr. Barnes worked at his trade. About 1847 the family moved to Chicago and remained there some time, probably two years, then moved to Belvidere, Boone county, Illinois, remained there a short time, and on account of the chills attacking the family they
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moved back to Chicago where Mr. Barnes went to work in a furnace plant, making molds. While there the family was taken sick with the cholera, dur- ing the first epidemic of that disease in Chicago. Mr. Barnes and son, Hiram, of this review, recovered, while death claimed Mrs. Barnes. Three other children of the family escaped the disease. In the course of a month or so, Mr. Barnes and his four children returned to Belvidere, Illinois, where he lived until about 1880. During that time he married twice, losing both wives by death. In 1880 he moved to Mosinee, Wisconsin, and made his home with his oldest daughter, Mrs. Michael Clark, where his death occurred about 1882. His family consisted of seven children, four of whom are living : Mrs. Rachel Clark, of Mosinee, Wisconsin; Mrs. Mary Pingree, of Oakland, California ; Hiram, of this review ; Orien, of Maynard, Iowa.
When seventeen years of age Hiram Barnes began working at the carpenter's trade under his father's direction and completed his apprenticeship under the elder Barnes's instructions, and with the exception of one summer on a farm he worked with his father until August, 1862, when he proved his patriotism by enlisting in Company K, Ninety-fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, and was assigned to the Army of the Tennessee under General Grant, until Grant took charge of the Army of the Potomac, when General Blair took charge of the former army (the Seventeenth Army Corps), and with the last named commander Mr. Barnes remained until mustered out in Washington City at the close of the war, he having made a splendid record, on detached service for the most part. During the latter part of the siege of Vicksburg he served in the commissary department, and after leaving that he was an orderly (dispatch bearer), a very responsible position, to Col. J. H. Mills, of the First Kansas Volunteers Infantry, with headquarters in the Seventeenth Army Corps, and he remained in that capacity until the close of the war. During a raid at Providence, Louisiana, he lost the sight of his right eye, having been struck by a gun cap or sliver. At the close of the war he received a recommendation in regard to his honesty and reliability, etc., signed by Maj .- Gen. J. T. Sherman and Adjt .- Gen. J. B. Blair, of the Seven- teenth Army Corps headquarters.
Upon his return from the war, Mr. Barnes entered land in Boone county, Illinois, and took up farming. In 1868 he moved to Fayette county, Iowa, and rented a farm in Harlan township, and worked other land on the shares until 1884, when he bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres in sec- tion 27, Harlan township, where he lived until 1901, when he moved to May- nard, renting his farm to his son, Lawrence. In 1904 he returned to the farm and remained on it two years, and in 1906 moved again to Maynard, where
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he lives at present in honorable retirement, enjoying the fruits of his former years of labor.
Politically, Mr. Barnes is a Republican, but has never held office. He is a member of Reynolds Post, No. 47, Grand Army of the Republic, at May- nard, having been chaplain of the post for the past five years. He belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, having been steward in the local congregation for the past eight years, and treasurer for about the same length of time.
On June 30, 1870, Mr. Barnes was married, at Independence, Iowa, to Mattie Rich, who was born in Boone county, Illinois, September 8, 1853, the daughter of George and Maria (Brown) Rich, natives of Ohio. They moved to Fayette county, Iowa, locating in Harlan township about 1855 or 1856. Mrs. Barnes was the fifth child in a family of six children. Her death oc- curred on February 2, 1899, leaving four children, namely : Lillian M., who was born February 5, 1872, married Frank Goldsbury, and lives in Maynard ; Lawrence C., born July 6, 1877, lives in Center township, and is manager of the German creamery ; Will H., born June 29, 1883, lives on the home farm (see his sketch) ; Carroll O., born October 22, 1885, lives with his father.
On October 1, 1902, Hiram Barnes married Mrs. Mary R. A. (Robbins) Robbins, who was born in Fabius, Onondaga county, New York, January 16, 1841; she is the daughter of Henry D. and Mary (Humphrey) Robbins, the father a native of New York and the mother of Canton, Connecticut. His death occurred in New York; Mrs. Robbins came to Iowa where she died at the home of her daughter, Mrs. Barnes, in West Union.
JERRY D. PERKINS.
To have given thirty years in the service of his country is a lot which falls to few Americans. Then certainly full credit should be given to this man, hero of three wars (the Civil war, 1861-65; the Spanish-American war, 1898, and the Philippine Islands, 1902), in service all over our country and in all our dependencies ; one of the regulars, those men who can be depended on in every fight, whose business it is to fight, for which they often fail to get the glory which the volunteer receives; those regulars who bear the hardest service in war, and yet, perhaps, whose duty in time of peace is most arduous. For then there is no glamour of war, no public recognition of heroism, but just a dull and grinding round of duty, far more difficult to bear than actual campaigning. Honor to the volunteer; more honor to
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the regular. We cannot say more that is fitting in honor of a soldier whose service in both branches has been as long and as meritorious as this man's.
Jerry D. Perkins was born in Walworth county, Wisconsin, December 10, 1849. (See sketch of Mrs. J. T. Gager, his sister.) When but fifteen years old, he enlisted in Company D, Forty-sixth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, of which Col. D. B. Henderson was colonel and A. J. Smith was general commanding. Their old captain, Leonard T. McCowan, of Taylor county, is still living, and Rev. Frank M. Robertson, of Fayette county, was in the same company. From 1871 to 1881, Mr. Perkins was engaged in the cattle business in Texas. On January 12, 1881, he enlisted at San Antonio in Company F, Twenty-second United States Infantry, for five years, and served at most of the posts on the plains. He was discharged January II, 1886. On April 27, 1886, he had re-enlisted in the Fourteenth United States In- fantry at San Francisco and was sent to Vancouver Barracks, Washington, where he served for two enlistments, being discharged April 26, 1891, and re-enlisting the following day in the same company and regiment. He was discharged in 1896 with the rank of sergeant. His next enlistment was on May 2, 1896, for three years in Company A of the Eleventh Infantry, and he was sent to Fort Apache, Arizona, and in the spring of 1898 to Jefferson Barracks, at St. Louis, and then to Camp Alger, at Mobile, Alabama. At the beginning of the Spanish-American war he was sent to Tampa, Florida. In June he was transferred to Company I, same regiment, and on July 23d boarded the transport "Grant" for Porto Rico and was in the engagement with the Spanish troops, following them to the Rio Bravo, where the Spanish troops scattered. He was at San Juan at the surrender. His company re- mained there until November 22, 1900, when it was sent back to the old Arsenal at Washington, D. C. Mr. Perkins re-enlisted in Company I May 2, 1899. The company was sent to the Philippines on the "Kilpatrick" from San Francisco, reaching Manila in May, 1901, and remained in the islands until March, 1904. Mr. Perkins was discharged May 1, 1902, and on May 25th re-enlisted for three years in Company B, Eleventh Infantry. In 1904 he returned to San Francisco on the transport "Thomas" and was assigned to Fort D. A. Russell, near Cheyenne, where, on January 1, 1906, he was retired on account of his thirty years' service. In all his discharges he was recommended by his superior officers for his bravery, honesty and fidelity to duty.
Mr. Perkins had secured a tract of land in the state of Washington, but sold this, and in April, 1908, he retired to Alpha, Fayette county, Iowa, where he now lives, with his sister, Mrs. Eliza Rogers, as housekeeper. She
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is the widow of Joseph C. Rogers, a soldier in Company F, Thirty-eighth Iowa Regiment, in the Civil war, who died January 17, 1907, at Alpha. Her life has been spent at Alpha since the age of twelve years. Of four brothers in the Civil war, Jerry alone survived the war. George H. Per- kins, of Company F, Third Iowa, was shot at Jackson, Mississippi, July 3, 1863. William F., of Company F, Thirty-eighth Iowa, died in a hospital. Charles W., of the same regiment and company, was reported missing and never heard of, being supposedly killed by bushwhackers near New Madrid. They were indeed a family of fighters and loyal to their country to the full extent of giving their lives in her defense. Jerry Perkins is now living quietly, much esteemed by his fellow citizens.
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