USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 67
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early and later periods of development of Jasper county and he has played well his part in the work of transformation, as has many another whose name honors these pages, for no one will deny that to these hardy, self- sacrificing pioneers all honor is due.
Fred Hendricks, was born in Prussia, Germany, October 1, 1843. He is the son of John and Sophia (Gamer) Hendricks, both natives of Germany, the father born in 1805 and the mother in 1800. The parents of the subject grew up and were married in the fatherland, and there engaged in farming. In 1857 these parents emigrated to the United States, locating in Jasper county, Iowa, where John Hendricks purchased forty acres of land and here they established the family home, and here the mother died in 1864 while her son Fred, of this sketch, was away in the Federal army. Fred was the only child by the first marriage of John and Sophia Hendricks. The mother had been formerly married to a Mr. Price and they became the parents of three children, namely : Mrs. Mary ( Price) Brandt, Mrs. Sophia ( Price) Brandt, and Carl, who is deceased.
Fred Hendricks attended school in Germany and for a short time the Jasper county (Iowa) schools and he grew up on the farm, assisting his father with the general work about the place. He proved his loyalty to our flag and the national union by enlisting in our armies in 1862, and he served faithfully as a private in Company E, Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, for a period of three years, receiving an honorable discharge. He returned home from the army and worked on his father's place, one hundred and twenty acres of which was later deeded to him by his father, and on this the subject went to work with a will and subsequently added to his original holdings until he is now the owner of one of the choice farms of the town- ship, consisting of three hundred and fifty acres, which he has kept well cul- tivated and placed under a high state of improvements. This splendid place is known as "Elk Valley Stock Farm." Some time ago he deeded forty acres to his son George. He has made ·a· success as a general farmer and is now well established.
Fred Hendricks was married on January 1, 1874, to Margaret Kling, who was born in Germany on September 12, 1847, and there she spent her girlhood, emigrating to America with her parents in 1871. To the subject and wife two children have been born, namely: George, born in Elk Creek township, Jasper county, Iowa, November 25, 1874, is married and engaged in farming in this township; John, the younger son, is living at home. Po- litically, Mr. Hendricks is a Democrat and he belongs to the Lutheran church.
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WILLIAM SCHULTZE.
There is a great difference in this world of ours as to how we get our property, whether by small degrees and hard toil or by suddenly making it in one or a few lucky ventures or even by inheriting it from successful and thrifty ancestors. It makes a wonderful difference in a man's life also, whether he earns his home by severe toil or by easy methods or secures it from his parents. One important fact will not be disputed, that if a man earns it by hard knocks he is much more likely to retain it than if it had been handed down to him by some hard-working, economical progenitor. "Come easy, go easy" is literally true, and it is not to the credit of anyone that it is so. One of the up-to-date farmers of Elk Creek township who has made his property solely by hard licks, who was taught to depend upon himself early in life and has therefore been independent and self-reliant all his life, is William Schultze, who was born in Hanover, Germany, August 17, 1858. He is the son of Henry and Tobina (Lutman) Schultze, both natives of Germany, the father born in 1829 and the mother in 1828. There they grew up and were mar- ried, in fact, spent their lives in the fatherland, never having come to America. The father was a ship carpenter by trade and was regarded as a very skilled workman. His death occurred in 1904.
William Schultze, of this review, was the oldest of a family of five sons. After attending school in the community where he spent his boyhood, he learned the blacksmith's trade, at which he worked, hiring to various persons, until 1888, when, believing that greater opportunities existed for him in the United States, he set sail for our shores and has since been content to make his home among us, much to our mutital advantage. He at once took up his resi- dence at Orange City, Polk county, Iowa, establishing a shop there, which he conducted for one year. Then he went to Missouri, where he spent nine months, later worked in Chicago five months, then ran a shop of his own in Polk, Iowa, coming to Sully, this state, a year later, where he maintained a blacksmith shop until the spring of 1908, then turned his attention to farming, having saved considerable money from his earnings at the forge. He was regarded wherever he worked as a very skilled blacksmith and always had plenty of work. The place he purchased consisted of one hundred and sixty acres in Elk Creek township, Jasper county, and he moved thereto at once and soon had a good home and the place under good improvements and in a high state of cultivation and here he still lives, being now very comfortably established as the result of his long years of hard and constant toil.
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Mr. Schultze has never been much of a public man and he adheres to no political party, preferring to vote for the best man seeking the office within the gift of the people, irrespective of party. He is a member of the Christian Reform church.
Mr. Schultze was married on April 29, 1890, to Anna Van Vorkum, who was born in Holland, from which country she emigrated to America when young and they were married in Pella, Iowa. To the subject and wife have been born seven children, named as follows: Artie, Henry, Gilbert, William, Lena, Adolf and Jennetta.
HENRY F. PAHRE.
The agricultural interests of Elk Creek township, Jasper county, is well represented by Henry F. Pahre, one of our most typical twentieth-century farmers, enterprising and progressive. His thorough system of tillage, the well- cared-for condition of his fields, the excellent order of his dealings and fences, demonstrate his successful management and substantial thrift. In the commun- ity where he has spent his life he has maintained a very high place in the con- fidence and esteem of his many neighbors and friends, being regarded as a representative citizen in every relation of life, discharging every duty de- volving upon him with commendable fidelity and proving himself worthy the large respect with which he is treated by all who know him. He has always been interested in whatever tends to promote the prosperity of his township and county and to him as much as to any one man is the community indebted for the material development for which it has long been noted. He has also used his influence in behalf of all moral and benevolent enterprises, being a friend and liberal patron of the church and the school, believing these to be the most potential factors for substantial good that the world has ever known or can know.
Mr. Pahre was born in Elk Creek township, this county, on July 19. 1859. He is the son of Ernest and Fredrika (Sanders) Pahre, both natives of Hanover, Germany, the father's birth occurring on November 1, 1822, and the mother's on February 11, 1823. They grew up in their native land and there the father received excellent educational advantages, his parents desiring that he follow the ministry, but it seems that he did not take any too kindly to this idea, and left college and joined a colony of his fellow countrymen who emigrated to Quincy, Illinois, about 1851. Among this number was Fredrika Sanders and she and Ernest Pahre were married in 1851, the first year of
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their stay in Illinois, and in 1854 they came to Jasper county, Iowa, locating in Elk Creek township. Here Henry Frederick Pahre, brother of the sub- ject's father, had located about 1850, having taken up government land, after he had served in the Mexican war. Then he went back to Germany and returned to this country with his father, the latter buying one hundred and forty-three acres upon his arrival in Jasper county, and here the parents of the subject established a comfortable home, became influential in the commun- ity and spent the rest of their lives. The father died on September 13, 1897, and the mother passed away on March 11, 1906.
Henry Pahre, brother of the subject, who was one of the pioneers of Jasper county, became well fixed in a material way here, later adding eighty acres to his original holdings. He broke the wild prairie and endured the privations and hardships incident to pioneer life. When he first came here there were deer in plenty and much wild game of various kinds. Politically, he was a Democrat and he served his district as secretary of the school board. Religiously, he was a member of the Lutheran church.
The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Ernest Pahre : Louisa, Sophia and Louis all died in early childhood of diphtheria, all within two weeks; Henry F., of this sketch, is the oldest living child; Mrs. Martha Rohr- danz, Mrs. Emma O'Brien and Christina.
Henry F. Pahre, of this sketch, grew up on the home farm and there learned valuable lessons relating to the various phases of agricultural work and stock raising. He attended the Andreas district school, and when only nine years of age lie began driving a team and assisting in the farm work in a general way. He remained at home until he was twenty-five years of age, then bought sixty acres. He then worked his father's place on the shares until the death of the father, when the subject bought out the other heirs and is now the owner of one of the choice farms of the township, consisting of two hundred and eight-three acres; he has kept the old place so well tilled, rotating his crops and keeping the fields well fertilized so that the soil has been strength- ened rather than thinned, and abundant harvests reward his annual toil. In 1905 he built a commodious, attractive and substantial dwelling and he has good outbuildings. In connection with general farming he raises and feeds live stock in large numbers, especially hogs.
As a good and intelligent citizen, Mr. Pahre takes much interest in political affairs, voting with the Democratic party, the principles of which he believes to be more conducive to the country's good than those of any other political organization. He has ably and acceptably served his locality as township assessor for a period of eight years and he was also township
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trustee for three terms. He is a member and liberal supporter of the German Lutheran church.
On January 15, 1885, was solemnized the marriage of Henry F. Pahre and Catherine O'Brien, who was born in Fulton county, Illinois, on September 2, 1864. She is the daughter of Pat and Ann (Cunningham) O'Brien. The father was born in Ireland and from that country he emigrated to Illinois when a young man. Four children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Pahre, namely : Elmer, born July 13, 1888; Lawrence, born July 9, 1890; Edna, born September 21, 1892 ; Roscoe, born September 24, 1895.
NICHOLAS LANDMESSER.
Fame may look to the clash of resounding arms for its heroes; history's pages may be filled with the record of the deeds of the so-called great who have deluged the world with blood, destroyed kingdoms, created dynasties and left their names as plague spots upon civilization's escutcheon ; the poet may embalm in deathless song the short and simple annals of the poor; but there have been few to sound the praise of the brave and sturdy pioneer who among the truly great and noble is certainly deserving of at least a little space in the category of the immortals. To him more than to any other is civiliza- tion indebted for the brightest jewel in its diadem, for it was he who blazed the way and acted as a vanguard for the mighty army of progress that within the last seventy-five years has conquered the wilderness, upturned the wild sods of the plains, and transformed them into one of the fairest and most enlight- ened of the American commonwealth's fair domains. They seem to have had the sagacity to foresee the present opulent state of Iowa, having had, in some occult manner, been able to discern the future of this singularly favored sec- tion of the great Middle West.
One of these honored early settlers is Nicholas Landmesser, a venerable agriculturist of Elk Creek township, Jasper county. He was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania. December 27, 1835, and he is the son of Nicholas, Sr., and Catherine (Kriedler) Landmesser, the father born near Saarburg, on the Rhine, in Alsace-Lorraine, Germany, formerly a part of France, on Decem- ber 5, 1811. The mother was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, August 20, 1811. The father was of a Huguenot family and they were persecuted by the Catholics in their native land. The father was a teamster and worked all over western Germany. In the year 1833 he emigrated to America, the tedious voyage requiring seven weeks on an old-time sailing vessel. He was accom-
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panied by a married sister and brother-in-law and an unmarried sister- Nicholas and Louise Bisch and Mary Landmesser. The father of the in- mediate subject of this sketch located in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, when that country was practically new. He found employment first in digging canals. later worked in coal mines. He remained in the old Keystone state many years, but not getting the start he had anticipated he emigrated with his family to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1854. They came to Chicago by train and made the rest of the journey in a wagon, buying a team in the city by the lake. Here the elder Landmesser purchased two hundred and twenty acres in Elk Creek township, to which he later added seventy acres. He prospered in the new country through hard, persistent labor and good management and become one of the substantial and well known men of his community. He was school director and active in Democratic politics. He was reared in the faith of the German Lutheran church and he remained a supporter of the same to the end, his death occurring on March 4, 1879, his widow surviving only a few months, she having joined him in the Silent Land on November Ist of the same year.
There were eight children in the Landmesser family, named as follows : George, Daniel, Louis, Henry, Peter and Nicholas, of this sketch; Louise is deceased and two children died in infancy, the subject having been the oldest of the family.
Nicholas Landmesser, Jr., had to work hard when a boy, assisting his father care for the younger members of the family and clear and develop the home place, in fact, he did a man's work from the age of fifteen years, and he then began working in tunnels and mines. He had little chance to obtain an education, but in later life he made up for this as best he could by home reading and contact with his fellows. Thus he grew to manhood in Pennsylvania, being nineteen years old when he accompanied his parents to Jasper county, lowa, in 1854, and he continued to live with them until he was twenty-six years old, then began renting land of his father. He spent the entire year of 1865 breaking wild prairie land, and that fall he ran a horse-power threshing machine. In 1865 he purchased two hundred and twenty acres and his father bequeathed forty acres to him, so that he is now the owner of a fine farm con- sisting of three hundred and thirty acres in Elk Creek and Buena Vista town- ships, which he has kept well improved and under a high state of cultivation and has met with encouraging success as a general farmer and stock raiser all along the line. For some time he kept between thirty and forty cows, running a dairy for butter, of which he made a success, later sold the cream and shipped it to Chicago. He is one of the most widely known threshers in this section, having owned and operated a threshing machine for the past forty
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years. He keeps full-blooded Polled-Angus cattle, and, being a good judge of live stock, he has met with more than ordinary success in this field of en- deavor.
Mr. Landmesser is a stanch Democrat and has long been active in the affairs of his community, his support always going to such measures as make for the general development of the same. He has been township supervisor for one term.
Mr. Landmesser was married on January 13, 1858, to Louise Keller, who was born in Luzerne county, Pennsylvania, on August 18, 1836, and there she spent her girlhood days. She proved to be a woman of praiseworthy char- acteristics and a fit helpmeet for an enterprising man of affairs. She was called to her rest on January 16, 1910. She was the daughter of Conrad Keller and wife, this family having emigrated to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1856, thus being among the pioneers, like the Landmessers.
To Mr. and Mrs. Landmesser were born eight children, named as follows : Fred, deceased; Charles Henry lives in Canada ; Richard lives on his father's place and assists in operating the same; Isadore lives in Galesburg, this state; Mrs. Henrietta Hieman; Luther, Effie and Wright live at home.
Mr. Landmesser is a well preserved man for his years, hale and active. Personally, he is a man of positive ideas and has the courage of his convic- tions. By a judicious daily life he has won the confidence and good will of all who know him.
GEORGE HEWS.
Standing for upright manhood and progressive citizenship, George Hews, of Newton, one of our honored defenders of the national union during the great Rebellion, occupies a conspicuous place, being widely known in the lo- cality of which this history deals, and his influence in every relation of life has made for the material advancement of the community which he has so long honored by his citizenship and the moral welfare of those with whom he has been brought into contact. He is descended from a sterling pioneer family of the Prairie state, and he himself was born in Illinois when that great com- monwealth was yet in its infancy compared with its present day glory indus- trially, his birth having occurred in Fulton county on December 8, 1842. He is the son of James and Sally Maria (Efnor) Hews, both natives of the state of New York, in which the father of the former engaged in agricultural pur- suits when that country was little more than a wilderness. His family con-
GEORGE HEWS AND FAMILY
5 TPEYEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
ASTOM LENOX T LEEN FOUNDATIONS
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sisted of these children : James, father of George Hews, of this sketch ; Will- iam, Henry, John, Benjamin, Abraham, Anson, Harriet, Katherine and Caro- line, all of whom moved with the family to Illinois and died in that state, ex- cept the subject and Herrick, who was accidentally drowned in the state of New York, also Henry and John, who went south, being at New Orleans at the time of the great yellow fever epidemic and they have never since been heard of, so it is believed that they died there of that dread scourge.
The parents of these children were married on September 30, 1832, and for a time farmed in New York state, driving through to Illinois in the fall of 1838, the journey requiring seven weeks ; they located in Fulton county where they bought land which they farmed until 1853 when they again loaded up their household effects and sought a new country, moving to Jasper county, Iowa, being among the early settlers here, bringing two wagons, one driven by a team of horses and the other by six yoke of oxen. There were four chil- dren in the family ; the sons, George and John, walked behind the wagons most of the way from Illinois, driving their cows. The elder Hews bought eighty acres of prairie and forty acres of timber in Elk Creek township. For this and a team, harness and a wagon he paid the sum of five hundred dollars. The family also entered over two hundred acres of land in different tracts in that and Fairview township, the land they thus entered having been fractional tracts lying along the dividing lines of townships and by the correction lines: were made fractional. Newton was a very small place at that time, in fact, was little more than a cluster of a few log houses in a brush patch. There were no houses between the Hews home and Pella, except along the divide. Their friends warned against their settling so far west of them, saying, among other things, that the wolves would lie in their chimney corner. But the land. was rich and, through hard work, a good farm was developed and a comfort- able home established.
George Hews grew up on the home farm and when but a boy he knew the meaning of hard work, and he attended school in a log school house dur- ing the brief winter months, in Fulton county, Illinois. There was no school in his neighborhood in Jasper county for some time after the Hews family came here ; finally the scattering neighbors banded together and erected a log house in which they proposed to educate their children. Although this was located about three and one-half miles from the Hews home, the subject at- tended school there, walking to and fro through all kinds of weather.
George Hews was the fifth child in order of birth, but two died in in- fancy in New York; the others are: John, who is mentioned elsewhere in this work: Theadata Rosina married M. V. Saunders, a farmer, but they are
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now retired and live in Newton : Sarah Ann married Alex. Snodgrass, who is now deceased, and she makes her home in Newton.
James Hews, father of the above named children, spent the rest of his life in this county, living on his farm in Elk Creek township until his death, on February 16, 1875, at the age of sixty-five, his birth having occurred in 1810. His wife, who was born in 1806, reached an advanced age, her death occurring on February 2. 1895, being eighty-nine years old.
George Hews without reluctance offered his services to the Union during the great conflict between the states, having enlisted on August 21, 1861, in Company I, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, under Captain Garrett, Willliam H. Silsby, first lieutenant, and Steven Pogue, second lieutenant, the latter later becoming captain and being killed in the service. Mr. Hews made a most faithful so dier, according to his comrades, and he saw some hard service ; he was present at the bombardment of Island No. 10, and while at that place he was wounded in the wrist by the accidental discharge of a gun just as he was going off picket duty ; the bone was shattered and the wrist has been stiff ever since. Having been honorably discharged for disability, he returned home and after he had sufficiently recovered he again took up farming. On November 21, 1865, he was united in marriage with Purthenia L. Ramsdale, who was born near Saratoga Springs, Saratoga county, New York, the daugh- ter of Zachariah and Elizabeth ( Crawford ) Ramsdale, the father a native of Pennsylvania and the mother of Ireland. Her death occurred at the birth of the subject's wife November 21, 1845, leaving five children, the other four being John, who died in the state of New York: Mary, who married Edwin Face : Van Buren and Ziba, the latter three al! still living in New York. By a second marriage of the father of these children, one son, Frank, was born, who is now engaged in farming.
Soon after the marriage of George Hews he bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Palo Alto township, this county, and this he still owns, having brought it up to a high state of cultivation and improvement. He worked the place continuously from 1875 till in November, 1902, when, hav- ing accumulated a competency, he retired from active farming and moved to his pleasant home in Newton, having bought a good residence property here. He is a member of Garret Post. Grand Army of the Republic, while his wife belongs to the Woman's Relief Corps, and they are both members of the Christian church. They are the parents of four children, Nellie and Nettie, twins, the former living at home, the latter having died when six years of age : Albert is living in Day county, South Dakota, is married and has two children, Herald and Iva: William H. died when nine years of age.
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WATSON VALENTINE TERPSTRA.
One of the worthy citizens of Elk Creek township, Jasper county, who has long followed agricultural pursuits is Watson Valentine Terpstra, who, by close application when a boy, established those habits of industry and fru- gality which insured his success in later years. Only a cursory glance at his well-tilled fields, well-cared-for buildings and fences and the comfortable build- ings on his place is necessary to demonstrate his successful management and the characteristic thrift of his family, for since the pioneer days of this section of the Hawke; e state the Terpstras have been admired for their enterprise and honesty. In every relation of life they have been regarded as representative citizens, discharging every duty devolving upon them with commendable fidelity and proving themselves worthy in every way of the large measure of respect with which they have been treated by all who know them. Their lives have been as an open book, the pages of which are singularly free from blot or blemish, and citizens in whom all classes have been pleased to repose the most implicit confidence and trust, so that we are glad to give the readers of this work a review of their careers, although somewhat brief and imperfect.
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