USA > Iowa > Fayette County > Past and present of Fayette County, Iowa, Volume II > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38 | Part 39 | Part 40 | Part 41 | Part 42 | Part 43 | Part 44 | Part 45 | Part 46 | Part 47 | Part 48 | Part 49 | Part 50 | Part 51 | Part 52 | Part 53 | Part 54 | Part 55 | Part 56 | Part 57 | Part 58 | Part 59 | Part 60 | Part 61 | Part 62 | Part 63 | Part 64 | Part 65 | Part 66 | Part 67 | Part 68 | Part 69 | Part 70 | Part 71 | Part 72 | Part 73 | Part 74 | Part 75 | Part 76 | Part 77 | Part 78 | Part 79
William Crowe was born in Canada, in March, 1863, and at the age of three came with his parents to Clermont, where he has since lived. He received but a limited education in the schools of Clermont, but his success has demon- strated that school education, while valuable, is not essential. As a young man he learned the business of Doctor Lewis, at the same location where he is now in business as a partner of Doctor Berry. For thirty years he has been in business as a druggist in the same location with various partners.
In 1882 Mr. Crowe married Lily M. Dibble, daughter of M. V. Dibble, mentioned in this work. There have been born to them four children : John W., druggist at Grinnell, Iowa; Mae, teacher; Richard B., of Keota, Wash- ington; and Everett L., at home. Mrs. Crowe is an Episcopalian. Mr. Crowe is a Catholic, and a member of the Elks and Modern Woodmen. He is a Democrat, and has been for some time the assessor of Clermont. Mr. Crowe's drug store is in the very forefront of the retail businesses of Cler- mont, where his capabilities have placed it. In social and family life, as well as in business, his character reaches the same high standard.
LUTHER JIPSON.
Holding worthy prestige among the leading farmers and stock raisers of Fayette county and wielding a wide influence as an enterprising citizen, Luther Jipson, of Jefferson township, has long occupied a prominent place in the esteem of the public and it is a compliment worthily bestowed to class him with the representative men of his day and generation in the county honored by his residence. Mr. Jipson is a native of Fayette county, Iowa, and the younger of two children whose parents were Luther and Helen (Eldridge)
806
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
Jipson, both born in Cortland county, New York. On the paternal side he is descended from sterling New England ancestry, and traces his genealogy to an early period in the history of Vermont, of which state his grandfather, Michael Jipson, was a native. In young manhood Michael Jipson went to Cortland county, New York, where in due time he married and engaged in farming, which vocation he followed with success the remainder of his life, dying in his adopted state many years ago.
Alden and Saline Eldridge, parents of Mrs. Helen Jipson, were natives of Cortland county, New York, and among the early pioneers of Fayette county, Iowa, moving to this state in 1854 and locating on the present site of Oelwein, where Mr. Eldridge procured eighty acres of land, on which he lived until his removal, a few years later, to Buchanan county. Purchasing land near Hazleton, he made a good farm and comfortable home where he spent the remainder of his days as an industrious and prosperous tiller of the soil.
Luther Jipson, senior, father of the subject, became a resident of Fayette county in 1854 and two years later purchased one hundred and twenty acres of land northeast of where Oelwein now stands, being, with the Eldridges, among the earliest settlers of that locality. He was a man of sound practical intelligence, a successful speculator, especially in lands, and became widely and favoraby known as an enterprising farmer and public spirited citizen. He traveled quite extensively over Fayette and other counties in his land deals and made a number of judicious purchases which, had he lived, would have resulted greatly to his advantage. Two years after coming to this state he and one Niner Kise started one day in the month of January on a tour of inspection, intending to walk from Ft. Dodge to Twin Lake, the better to observe the country between those two points. While making their way leisurely they were overtaken by a severe storm and, being far from any home or place of shelter, both were frozen to death. Mr. Jipson's body was dis- covered sometime the following April, but the remains of his companion were never found, their disappearance being to this day an unsolved mystery.
For some time after her husband's death Mrs. Jipson made her home with her parents, but later she became the wife of Hiram Hanson, with whom she lived in Jefferson township until her death in the year 1860, Mr. Hanson de- parting this life in 1904, some years following his third marriage.
Luther and Helen Jipson, as already stated, were the parents of two children, Minnie, the oldest, now Mrs. Preston Fisher, living near Luddington, Michigan; Luther, the subject of this review, being the second in order of birth. By her marriage with Mr. Hanson the mother also had two children. Ira, a farmer living on the old family homestead, and Agnes, who married
807
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
William Slaughterbeck and resides in the city of Seattle, Washington. By his second marriage, with Ann Hickard, Mr. Hanson had a family of four chil- dren, namely: Tillie, Nettie, Nellie, now Mrs. Perry Harmon, and Martha, who married Charles Williams and resides in Oelwein.
Luther Jipson was born June 13, 1856, in Fayette county, Iowa, and spent his childhood at the Hiram Hanson farm in Jefferson township. His education included the branches taught in the public schools and after the death of his mother he went to live with his grandfather Jipson in Cortland county, New York, where he remained from 1863 until 1872, working on the farm and attending school the meanwhile. Returning to Iowa the latter year, he resumed agriculture, which he has since followed and, as already indicated, he is now one of the leading farmers and stock raisers of Fayette county, and as a. citizen interested in all that tends to promote the material progress of the community and the welfare of the people his position and influence are second to those of none of his contemporaries.
On October 16, 1877, Mr. Jipson was married to Mary Beare, Fayette county, Iowa, and for one year thereafter he lived a short distance northeast of Oelwein, moving at the expiration of that time to Center township, where he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land which he made his home dur- ing the nine years ensuing. After selling that farm in 1886 he bought another place southeast of Oelwein, consisting of one hundred and fifty acres, on which he resided for four and a half years, when he sold the farm and moved to Spirit Lake. in the county of Dickinson, where he purchased two hundred and forty acres of fine land which in due time were brought to a high state of culti- vation and otherwise improved. Disposing of the latter place after a resi- dence of two and a half years, he returned to Fayette county and bought his present beautiful and attractive home farm in Jefferson and Oran townships, owning at this time four hundred and sixty acres in one of the best agricul- tural districts of the county and, as stated in a preceding paragraph, becoming one of the leading men of his vocation in this part of the state.
Mr. Jipson cultivates the soil upon quite an extensive scale and by the most approved methods. He is progressive in all the term implies, has always stood for improvements and uses his influence to further these ends. In con- nection with agriculture, he devotes a great deal of attention to the breeding and raising of fine stock, making a specialty of Norman horses, shorthorn cat- tle, and Chester-White hogs, realizing from the sale of his domestic animals no small share of his liberal income. He also conducts a large and success- ful dairy business which he has made quite profitable, milking at the present time fifty cows, all carefully selected and of the best breeds obtainable.
Mr. and Mrs. Jipson began their married life in quite a modest way and
808
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
the success to which they have attained and the prominent position they oc- cupy in the community are the legitimate result of their combined efforts, directed and controlled by able and judicious management. Both are highly esteemed by their neighbors and friends and socially no couple in the town- ship are better known and more widely respected. In his political views Mr. Jipson is a Republican, but aside from serving several terms as school director and town trustee he has held no office nor has he any aspirations for public place or leadership.
Mr. and Mrs. Jipson have a family of twelve children, whose names are as follows : Alice, wife of Albert Kaune, of Oran township; Effie, who mar- ried Fred Smith, of Marion, this state; Bertha, now Mrs. Arthur McClaury, of Jefferson township; Cordelia, wife of Charles Hilsenbeck, who also resides in Jefferson ; Ira, who lives at home and assists his father in the management of the farm; Blanche, Leora, Amy, Inez, Ellen, Raymond L. and Mary, all of whom are still under the parental roof and with the father and mother con- stitute a very happy and contented household. Mr. Jipson has taken great interest in his children, providing them with the best educational advantages the county afforded and otherwise looking after their welfare. The two daugh- ters, Effie and Bertha, taught for a number of years and were considered among the most competent and popular teachers of the county.
Mrs. Jipson is a daughter of Israel and Susan (Younkins) Beare, natives of Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania, and early settlers of Fayette county, Iowa, migrating to that state in 1857 and locating in the county of Linn, where they resided for two years and then removed to a farm one mile east of Oel- wein. Mr. Beare died in 1895, his widow, who is still living on the home place, being one of the oldest and most highly esteemed survivors of the early times. They reared a family of ten children, namely : Mrs. Mary Jip- son, wife of the subject; Daniel, deceased; Cordelia, who married Stephen Heilman ; William, deceased; Everett, Jay, Ray, Ida, John, the last four de- ceased, and Nettie, wife of William McCormich, of Scott township, Fayette county.
HENRY JOSEPH LUTHMER.
Prominent among the leading business men of Oelwein is Henry Joseph Luthmer, proprietor of one of the largest grocery stores in the town and a man of high repute in commercial circles and as a citizen. Mr. Luthmer was born in 1861 in Dubuque county, Iowa, being a son of Ferdinand and Eliza- beth (Varwald) Luthmer, the father a native of Mecklenburg. Germany, the
809
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
mother of Cincinnati, Ohio. Ferdinand Luthmer was brought to America by his parents when eight years old and spent his early life in Dubuque county, Iowa, being left an orphan by the death of both father and mother two years after they came to this country. He grew to maturity in Dubuque county, of which his father was an early pioneer, and from the age of ten was obliged to make his own way in the world. The Varwalds were also among the early settlers of the above county, the subject's mother being about five or six years old when her parents moved west. Ferdinand Luthmer and Elizabeth Var- wald were married in the county of Dubuque and there spent the remainder of their lives.
Henry Joseph Luthmer grew up in his native county, received a fair education in the public schools of the same and on laying aside his studies en- gaged to carry the mail between the towns of Dyersburg and Colesburg, in which capacity he continued for a period of five years. Resigning his position at the expiration of that time, he accepted a clerkship in a general store at Earlville, and when the proprietor died one year later he entered the employ of the Riddell Brothers, of Manchester, who purchased the stock, and was with that firm continuously during the fifteen years ensuing. Severing his connec- tion with the firm at the expiration of the period indicated, Mr. Luthmer en- gaged in business for himself, at Sumner, where he conducted a grocery store for four years and then purchased a similar establishment at Oelwein, which he managed in connection with the former two years longer. Disposing of the establishment at Sumner at the end of that time, he gave all his attention to the business at Oelwein and it was not long until he forged to the front among the leading merchants of the town, and his store is now one of the largest and best patronized of the kind in the county of Fayette.
Mr. Luthmer began business at Oelwein in March, 1904, since which time his career has been remarkably successful and, as already indicated, he now commands a large and lucrative trade and occupies a conspicuous place in the commercial circles of his town. He carries a full line of groceries and his business is such that seven clerks are required to attend to the wants of his numerous customers, his patronage being by no means confined to the town, but including an extensive country trade as well. Mr. Luthmer is a fine business man and his advancement from a very modest beginning to his present enviable position as the head of one of the largest and most successful mercan- tile enterprises of the kind in his part of the state demonstrates the possession of sound intelligence, clear foresight and other abilities of a high order.
Mr. Luthmer was married June 20, 1882, to Ann M. Rubly, of Dela- ware county, Iowa, daughter of Francis Rubly, the union being blessed with
810
FAYETTE COUNTY, JOWA.
three children, Arthur J., Henrietta and Marguerite. Arthur J. married Clara Richie, of Westgate, and is associated with his father in business; the two daughters are still with their parents. Mr. Luthmer and family are high- ly esteemed and move in the best social circles of the community. They are Catholics in religion and devoted to the good work of the church.
THANKMAR VON ROLF.
The United States can boast of no better or more law-abiding class of citizens than the great number of Germans who have found homes within her borders, and whom this country is always ready to welcome to its shores. There have come to this country from the fatherland and other alien lands men of limited financial resources, but imbued with a sturdy independence and a laudable ambition to succeed, and who have taken advantage of the wonderful possibilities afforded here. Gradually, step by step, they have risen to places of prominence in various lines of activity. Of these there can be none mentioned who deserves more favorable attention than the gentleman whose name opens this biographical sketch and who for many years was an honored and industrious resident of West Union, Fayette county, and although he has recently taken up his residence in Omaha, Nebraska, he is still deeply interested in local affairs and is eminently deserving of a place in our history.
Thankmar (usually known as "Theodore") Von Rolf, well known as an insurance man throughout the Middle West, as already intimated, is an American by adoption only, having been born in Germany on January 1, 1863, and he is the son of Thankmar and Frederika Louise Von Rolf, both natives of Germany.
The subject grew to maturity and was educated in his native land, but concluding that greater opportunities for one of his temperament were to be found in the New World, he set sail for our shores in 1891, soon afterward making his way to the state of Iowa, landing at Eldorado, Fayette county, on December 22d of that year. He began life here by working as a farm hand, which he continued for some months. On September 1, 1892, he came to West Union and worked for E. A. Whitney, being employed to look after his telephone and varied interests until the spring of 1893, when he was made local manager for the Iowa & Minnesota Telephone Company, in which he gave very acceptable service and remained in this responsible position until
811
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
March 1, 1898, having been promoted step by step, until he was superintendent for the northern half of Iowa.
Mr. Von Rolf was next employed as local agent for the Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Company, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, becoming dis- trict manager of the same in 1900, and from September 13, 1903, until early in 1910 he was general agent for northwestern Iowa. He rendered this com- pany such service as to greatly augment the prestige of the same in this locality and gave them the most satisfactory and commendable service possible, being popular both with the head officials and their numerous patrons here. He is at present stationed at Omaha, Nebraska, where he is faithfully performing the duties of general agent for this company.
The domestic life of Mr. Van Rolf began on August 25, 1896, when he was united in marriage with Alice Ruth Niles, a lady of culture and refine- ment, the daughter of R. G. and Ruth (King) Niles, an excellent family of Hawkeye, this county. To Mr. and Mrs. Von Rolf the following children have been born : Phillip, born November 18, 1898, and Harold, born October 21, 1900.
Politically, Mr Von Rolf is an independent Republican, and, fraternally, he is a worthy member of the Masonic order. Since coming to America he has been very successful and, in view of the many obstacles he has had to over- come, is deserving of a great deal of credit for the large success he has at- tained, but he belongs to that type of men who would succeed under any en- vironment.
CHARLES H. WRIGHT.
The subject of this sketch, a leading farmer and representative citizen of Oran township, is one of the brave men who in the days when treason was rife and the enemies of the Federal Union threatened its disruption, re- sponded to the call of the government and gave his services to its defense. He not only experienced the dread realities of warfare in camp, on the march and in the awful ordeal of battle, but shed his blood and endured manifold suffering that the cause which he had so much at heart should triumph and the honor of the flag remain unsullied.
Charles H. Wright was born January 7, 1841, in Oneida county, New York, being the fifth of eight children whose parents were William and Ann (Clark) Wright, both natives of Yorkshire, England. In 1814 Wil- liam Wright, then a youth of fourteen, in company with his grandfather,
812
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
Joseph Clark, and Thomas Ripley, an uncle, came to the United States and grew to maturity in Oneida county, New York, where said relatives located. He was reared a farmer and followed that vocation in the above county until 1844, when he went to Chicago, Illinois, where he spent the summer of that year and then located five miles north of Elgin. After spending the ensuing ten years in that part of the state, he decided to move farther west, accordingly, in May, 1854, he started on the journey to Iowa, traveling by the way of Rockford and Freeport, crossing the Mississippi river at Ga- lena and proceeding onward until arriving at Fairbank, in the state of his destination, where he decided to locate. The town of Fairbank at that time was a mere frontier hamlet of four families, the county of Buchanan in the main being but sparsely settled. Mr. Wright purchased sixty acres of land and took up a homestead of eighty near by, on which he erected a log building, sixteen by twenty feet in size, which answered the purposes of a dwelling until replaced by a larger and much more comfortable edifice some years later. He improved his land and in due time had an excellent farm on which he and his good wife spent the remainder of their lives, both being bur- ied in the cemetery at Fairbank, where other settlers are also sleeping the sleep that knows no waking.
The following are the names of the children born to William and Ann Wright: William C., who was accidentally killed by a horse; Mary Ann, widow of the late F. B. Nute, of Oelwein ; Joseph James, a farmer of Poplar Grove, California, who died in 1907; Sarah Jane, wife of Moses Robinson, of Waverly, Iowa; Charles H., of this review; Nettie, who married John Kelsey, and died some years ago in California, her husband having been a member of Company C, Twenty-seventh Iowa Infantry, in the late Civil war, dying at Montgomery, Alabama, while in the service; Robert T., who also served in the above company and later farmed the old homestead, is de- ceased, and Martha, the youngest of the family, is living in the city of San Jose, California.
Charles H. Wright, like the majority of country lads, spent his child- hood and youth in close touch with nature and while still quite young became familiar with the rugged duties of farm life. Growing up in a comparatively new country, he enjoyed limited advantages in the way of obtaining an education, his total schooling being confined to two winter terms of three months each. Later, however, he made up for this deficiency in a great measure by much reading and intelligent observation; his military exper- ience also contributed to the development of his mental faculties, while the mingling with his fellow men in various business capacities has given him
813
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
a valuable practical knowledge and made him one of the well informed men of his community.
Young Wright remained at home, assisting with the cultivation of the farm, until August, 1862, when he exchanged the implements of husbandry for the death-dealing weapons of warfare. Enlisting on the 15th of that month in Company C, Twenty-seventh Iowa Volunteer Infantry, he spent some time at Dubuque drilling, thence accompanied his regiment to Fort Snelling, Minnesota, and later went via Prairie du Chien, Madison, Wiscon- sin, and Chicago, to Cairo, Illinois, where the command embarked for Mem- phis, Tennessee. Shortly after arriving at that city the Twenty-seventh joined Grant's army and the first duty that fell to the regiment was the guard- ing of the railroad bridge at Tallahassee, Georgia, subsequently being sent to Jackson, Tennessee, to guard the Jackson & Memphis railroad. In the summer of 1863 Mr. Wright's regiment was ordered to Helena, Arkansas, where it joined the forces under General Steel, which soon afterwards cap- tured Little Rock. Returning to Memphis, the subject spent three months doing picket duty, which time extended into the winter of 1864, the coldest on record. During the months of December, January and February of that year the weather became so intensely severe that many soldiers had their hands and feet frozen while on duty, not a few being permanently disabled. In the spring of 1864 the Twenty-seventh Iowa was ordered to Vicksburg, where it joined the army under General Sherman and from there marched to Meridian, Mississippi, where many miles of railroad were destroyed and thirteen locomotives captured. Returning to Vicksburg, the regiment was detached from Sherman's command to form part of the force under Gen- eral Banks for the Red river campaign. In the latter expedition Mr. Wright's regiment was in A. J. Smith's division and saw much active service, par- ticipating in a number of battles and skirmishes and experiencing its full share of the suffering and disaster which mark the history of that movement. Later the Twenty-seventh took part in the battle of Tupelo, Mississippi, after which it was ordered to join General Sherman at Atlanta, but the order being countermanded, the regiment with others went to St. Louis to head off the Confederate force under General Price, marching seven hundred and twenty miles without change of clothing and without much time to rest. The object being accomplished, the command went to Nashville to operate against General Hood, who was moving against that city, and in the bloody battle which occurred there and the similar engagement at Franklin the Twenty-seventh bore a conspicuous and gallant part. Without narrating in detail Mr. Wright's further military service, which the nature of this sketch
814
FAYETTE COUNTY, IOWA.
forbids, suffice it to state that he accompanied his command through all of its experiences and vicissitudes at New Orleans, Dauphin Island, Spanish Fort, Fort Blakely and many other places, marching in all thirteen thousand miles and under all circumstances acquitting himself as became a brave and gallant defender of the Union. While on the ill-starred Red river campaign, he was shot through the right thigh, a painful and dangerous wound, but he recovered in due season and from that time until the close of the war was always ready to go where duty called.
Mr. Wright was honorably discharged at Clinton, Iowa, August 8, 1865, after three years of faithful service, after which he returned home and pur- chased a farm of one hundred and sixty acres near the family homestead, which he improved and on which he lived and prospered during the twenty- three years ensuing. At the expiration of that time he moved to Bremer county, where he bought land and farmed for a period of eleven years, dis- posing of his holdings in that part of the state in 1900 and purchasing the beautiful place in Oran township, Fayette county, on which he has since resided.
Mr. Wright's present farm consists of one hundred acres of highly improved and very valuable land and his home is pronounced one of the most beautiful and desirable in the township of Oran. As a tiller of the soil he is enterprising and up to date, being familiar with the various phases of agricultural science, and he seldom fails to realize abundant returns from the time and labor expended on his farm.
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.