USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 69
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Alfred Lust grew up on the home farm and assisted with the general work about the place, attending the Sand Point district schools in the winter months. At the age of twenty-one he began renting land of his father, of whom he has been renting four hundred acres ever since and operating the same in a most successful manner. In connection with general farming he carries on stock raising. He feeds cattle every year. making a specialty of raising Herefords.
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Politically, Mr. Lust is a Republican and fraternally he belongs to the Woodmen of the World and the blue lodge of Masons. He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church at Reasnor.
Mr. Lust was married on June 27, 1900, to Martha Earp, who was born in Elk Creek township, this county, and here she grew up and was educated. She is the daughter of Walter Earp, an early settler in Jasper county. A sketch of Mr. Earp appears on another page of this work.
To the subject and wife three children have been born, Edith, Mildred and Lester R.
HENRY WILLEMSEN.
Henry Willemsen, a prominent farmer and stock raiser residing in sec- tion 14, Buena Vista township, is a native of Holland, having been born in that country on July 6, 1877. He is the oldest in a family of seven children born to John and Jennette (Van Ooigen) Willemsen, both natives of the province of Golderland, Holland. The family emigrated to the United States eighteen years ago and located on a farm four miles south of Sully, this county. They bought one hundred and twenty acres of land in that vicinity, and there they have ever since made their home. Mr. Willemsen, Sr., owned a tobacco plantation in Holland. He was born in 1854 and his wife in 1850. The family came to the United States on the vessel "Rhinedam." Their children, all of whom were born in Holland, are as follows: Henry, the subject of this sketch; Neil, who married Fanny Emmert (deceased), lives near Sully ; Ed., who married Ella Dykens, lives on his farm of one hundred acres two miles north of Lynnville, this county; Jeff J., who married Jennie Vanderwilt, lives on his farm of eighty acres two miles northwest of Tainter; Arie, un- married, is a telegraph operator at Winterset; Diene lives at home with her parents ; Joanna, deceased.
Henry Willemsen was about fifteen years of age when the family came to America, and until he reached the age of twenty-one he lived at home and helped on his father's farm, after which time he started out working for him- self. After laboring as a farm hand for about four years, he rented a farm, and began the pursuit of agriculture for himself. A year later, in June. 1903. he married Sarah Van Rees, daughter of Laurence and Sarah (De Veries) Van Rees. Her father is a native of Iowa, having been born near Sully, in Lynn Grove township, this county. He was a prominent stock buyer and was well known all over the county. He was an outspoken, old-fashioned, "dyed- in-the-wool" Democrat. He died at his home near Sully in March, 1907, at
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the age of fifty-three. Mrs. Willemsen's mother, who is living in Pella, Iowa, is also a native of Holland, but came with her mother to this country at the age of three years, the father having died in Holland. Three days after landing in America the mother died, and the baby was raised by an aunt. To the Van Reeses were born eight children, the seven besides Mrs. Willemsen being as follows: Leonard, the eldest, living three miles southwest of Sully, mar- ried Josie Faust: Andrew, living near Sully, married Nettie De Young : Laurence, unmarried, who has no fixed home, was formerly a butcher in Newton ; Eddie died in infancy : Joe died at the age of ten ; David and Agnes. who are still at home with their mother.
That Henry Willemsen is a man of rare judgment and good manage- ment is shown by the fact that four years after he began farming for himself he was the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of fine land, formerly owned by Ira Elscott. Here they have lived ever since To Mr. and Mrs. Willemsen have been born three children, namely: Joe Raymond. born December 28. 1904: Laura Hilda, born October 18. 1906; Jeannette Wilma, born Septem- ber 5. 1908; Sarah Hendrena. born December 3. 1910.
Besides general farming, Mr. Wellemsen raises stock quite extensively for the markets. He is a genial gentleman, public spirited and of progressive ideas. In politics. he is independent, but of Democratic sympathies.
HARTWELL ZACHARY.
In placing the subject of this review before the reader as one standing in the front rank of Washington township's young farmers, we are doing justice to a fact, recognized by all who are familiar with his history. His career pre- sents a worthy example of the exercise of those qualities of mind and charac- ter which overcome obstacles and win success and his example might be imi- tated with profit by those dissatisfied with present attainments who would aspire to wider fields of usefulness.
Hartwell Zachary was born on his father's farm in Washington town- ship. this county, on March 31. 1871, and here he has spent his life. He is the son of James and Sarah Ann (Fenton) Zachary, the father born in Ohio in 1846 and the mother a native of Iowa. The paternal grandfather, Larkin E. Zachary, was born in Virginia. November 20, 1818, and there grew up, mov- ing with his family to Ohio in 1839. He learned the painter's trade in his native state, which he followed during the summer months after he came to Ohio, but worked in a furniture factory in the winter time. In 1851 he drove
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overland to Jasper county, lowa, from Ohio, bringing his family and all his worldly effects in a one-horse wagon. He arrived here with a cash capital of eighty dollars, fifty of which he paid for forty acres of land in Des Moines township. He began life on the wild prairie in typical pioneer fashion and soon had a good farm and a comfortable home. He became an extensive cattle feeder on the open prairies and by hard work and good management prospered far beyond the average man in a new country, finally becoming the owner of twenty-four hundred acres of land in Jasper county, mostly in Washington township. For many years he was one of the best known, most influential and substantial men in the county. In 1876 he became interested in a bank in Prairie City, later buying full control of the same, and it was known as the Zachary bank and was one of the popular banks of this section of Iowa. Larkin E. Zachary was married on January 29, 1840, to Elizabeth Blee, a native of Ohio, and to their union eight children were born, six of whom are living. His wife lived to an advanced age, dying on May 27, 1890. but he survived her twelve years, dying in 1902. He was a grand old man. whom everybody admired and respected. Politically, he was a strong Demo- crat and pronounced in his convictions on any subject.
The maternal grandfather of the subject of this sketch was John Felton. who came to Jasper county from Ohio and settled on a farm in an early day. where he became well established and well liked
James Zachary, father of Hartwell, of this sketch, worked on his father's farms until his death, in 1899. What little education he received was in the old log school houses, but he was a man of energy and a good observer and succeeded.
Hartwell Zachary grew up on the farm and had little chance to secure an education. When a small boy he herded cattle on his grandfather's farm. When he was only fifteen years of age he began the management of one of the farms and after both his grandfather and father had passed away, he bought eighty acres around the old home place in Washington township. He re- modeled the house and improved the place and has been very successful as both a general farmer and stock raiser. He keeps full blooded short horn cattle, shipping several loads each year as well as many hogs to market. Politically, he is a Democrat and he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America and the Knights of Pythias.
The subject's mother died when he was small and the father remarried. his last wife being Mary A. Shaw, a native of Indiana, and she still lives in Des Moines. The subject has the following brothers and sisters: Robert, deceased ; Mrs. Lida C. Stoner, Mrs. Cormia Belle George ; and a half-sister, Imo Zachary.
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Hartwell Zachary was married on March 14, 1897, to Nettie May Tur- ner, born in Prairie City, Iowa, the daughter of J. P. and Elizabeth Turner. The following children have been born to the subject and wife: Harry Le- land. Loren Gerald, Raymond Fenton and Helen Grace.
ED P. MALMBERG.
One of the most deserving young men in Iowa, a man who has earned the rewards that come as a result of carefully regulated lives and unflagging zeal in whatever is undertaken, working his way unaided from none too fa- vorable environments at the start to a conspicuous position in one of the most exacting of professions, is Ed. P. Malmberg, of Newton, Jasper county.
Mr. Malmberg is a native of the city where he now resides, having been born here on January 14, 1878, the scion of a worthy and highly respected family, being the son of N. K. and Nellie ( Stinson) Malmberg, both natives of Sweden, where they grew to maturity and were educated. They emigrated to America in 1867 and were married at Knoxville, Illinois, where they re- mained until 1875, when they came to Jasper county, lowa. After living a few months at Kellogg they moved to Newton, where they have since re- sided, the father being now seventy-six years of age. He has been a tailor for sixty-six years and is a very skilled workman in this line. He is a quiet, un- assuming man, whose life, though uneventful, has been useful and highly hon- orable. His wife is also living, having reached an advanced age. Six chil- dren have been born to them, those living besides Ed P. of this review, being Mrs. Ida E. Day of Chicago; J. O. and C. A. of Newton.
Ed P. Malmberg grew to maturity in Newton and received his early training in the local schools, graduating from the Newton high school in 1895 when seventeen years of age, having made an excellent record, and in 1897 he was graduated from the Newton Normal College. During these school days he worked at odd jobs and after graduation he began to learn the cigar- maker's trade, at which he worked until he earned enough money to warrant his entering the State University at Iowa City. Having for some time fos- tered the laudable ambition to enter the legal profession, he had been bending every effort to that end, consequently he entered the law department of the last mentioned institution, made a brilliant record and was graduated from the same in 1905. and at once he began the practice of his profession at New- ton. having been admitted to the bar immediately after graduation. He did not have to wait long for clients, his abilities being recognized from the start
Ed P. Malmberg
HC NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AUTOR, LENOX TILELN FOUNDATIONS
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and he made friends easily who were glad to assist him. His abilities being quickly recognized by party leaders, he was nominated in 1906 by the Re- publican party for county attorney. This was an exceptionally hard-fought contest as there were three tickets in the field, but Mr. Malmberg was elected. Something of his popularity is gained from the fact that he was the only Re- publican elected on the county ticket. Useless to add that his selection proved the wisdom of his constituents, for his record was indeed a splendid one, eliciting the hearty approval of all concerned, irrespective of party alignment, and he was re-elected to the same office in 1908, leading his ticket. In 1910 he was chosen as the Republican nominee for state senator, his nomination being regarded by every one at all conversant with his career as a most for- tunate one. He was duly elected at the ensuing election and was a conspicuous member of the thirty-fourth General Assembly.
Mr. Malmberg is regarded as a painstaking, accurate and conscentious attorney, well grounded in the principles of jurisprudence, and as a speaker he is logical, forceful and often eloquent, having great power over a jury. He believes in thorough preparation in the trial of cases and overlooks noth- ing of benefit to his clients. Judging his future by his past excellent record, there seems to be much in store for him. Mr. Malinberg has remained un- married. Fraternally, he is a Mason and Odd Fellow.
IRA ZWANK.
There is a great deal in being born under a good eye, one that watches and guards off the error and folly that overtake so many young men. The father and the mother who are able to infuse into their children the spirit of the Spartans-the spirit that can meet any fate and make the most of the world-will see their children grow to years of maturity with excellent habits and splendid principles and see them become exemplary citizens. The subject of this brief notice was fortunate in having so able and clean a father and so solicitous and gentle a mother. He was taught from the start the duties of life-not ordinary instruction, but the highest duties which all owe to each other and to society. The result has been to give him broad ideas of life and its responsibilities and to fit him for good citizenship. This he no doubt has fully appreciated and has sought to be a worthy representative of an honored old family in all walks of life and has therefore won and retained the good will and respect of all with whom he has come into contact.
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Ira Zwank, farmer, of Elk Creek township, Jasper county, was born in Marion county, Iowa, on January 1. 1872. He is the son of Jacob and Anna (DeBruyn) Zwank, the father born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1847, and the mother in Marion county, Iowa, in 1852, their home being now in New- ton, Iowa. The father came to Marion county when a boy and there he and Anna DeBruyn grew up, attended the common schools of their neigh- borhood and were married. They were both of Hollander descent and the sturdy stock of their progenitors has outcropped in them, enabling them to make a good living and establish a comfortable home. They moved to Jasper county soon after their marriage and bought forty acres of land in Elk Creek township. This they later sold and purchased eighty acres and at the time of the elder Zwank's death he owned a well improved farm of one hundred and eighty acres.
Jacob Zwank endeavored to enlist for service in the Union army during the Civil war, but was too young. However, he ran away from home and started to the front, but was brought back. Politically, he was a Democrat and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His death occurred on August 19. 1897. The mother subsequently re-married, her last husband being Henry Efnor. They have a comfortable home in Newton.
Ira Zwank, of this sketch, had two brothers and five sisters, named as follows: Mrs. Anna Carpenter : Ira was the second in order of birth : Peter, Mrs. Kate Efnor, Harmon, Mrs. Bessie Landmesser, Mrs. Lilly Cary, Ollie ( deceased ).
The subject attended the Rose Hill district school and when but a boy he had to assist with the general work about the home place, he being the eldest of the family. He began plowing when but nine years of age and made a hand in the fields when most boys are spending their time fishing with a pin hook and making flutter mills; but this early experience was good for him in the long run. When a young man he began farming for himself. renting land of the neighbors and staying at home. In 1901 he bought eighty acres which he sold a year later and then bought one hundred acres and he has since added forty acres more where he now resides, making one of the choice farms of the community, which he has kept well improved and well cultivated. He keeps good live stock and has a pleasant home.
Mr. Zwank is a Democrat politically, having followed in the footsteps of his father, and he has always taken a good citizen's interest in the affairs of his community. He has served as township trustee.
Mr. Zwank was married on March 18, 1900, to Edna Winters, who was born in Elk Creek township, Jasper county, June 30. 1880, and here
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she grew to womanhood and received her education in the local schools. She was the daughter of John Winters, a farmer of Elk Creek township, who was born on April 23, 1849, in Ohio and who died on June 5, 1905. He married Phoebe Jane Shroyer, who was born on February 10, 1852, and who is now living at Galesburg, lowa. The union of Mr. and Mrs. Zwank has been without issue. Personally, Mr. Zwank is a 'man of fine physique, pleasant mannered and industrious.
ALVA A. HIGHLEY.
For a number of years Alva A. Highley, of Washington township, Jasper county, has directed his efforts toward the goal of success and by patient con- tinuance has been amply rewarded, having made the rough path of life smooth by untiring perseverance. When one thus wins in the battles of life, whether it be by calm, consecutive endeavor or by sudden meteoric accomplishments. his example must abound in both lesson and incentive and prove a guide to the young men whose fortunes are still matters for the future to determine.
Mr. Highley was born in Hocking county, Ohio, September 21, 1862, and he is the son of Thomas Jackson Highley and Mary Jane ( Walsh) Highley, the father born in Pennsylvania, February 4, 1830, and the mother was born in Ireland. of Scotch descent, on May 26, 1829. She came to America when a young girl and she and Mr. Highley were married in Penn- sylvania, in which state he grew up, and there he was engaged in the salt works for some time. In 1858 he moved to Ohio, locating in Hocking county, where he became the owner of an eighty-acre farm. Remaining there until about 1865, he moved to Barton county. Missouri, and settled at Le Mars, then a new town, and in that vicinity he bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres and there he remained until 1870, then moved to near Fort Scott, Kansas, where he owned one hundred and sixty acres. In 1875 he moved to Warren county, lowa, where he rented land, later moving to Black Hawk county, this state, renting farms near Waterloo. In 1896 he moved to Pali- sades, Colorado, and became the owner of a fruit farm there. He was very successful as a farmer and was favorably known in the various localities in which he lived. His death occurred on February 4. 1909. Politically, he was a Republican and, religiously, a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. His family consisted of four sons and one daughter, namely: Frank is living in Idaho: Alva A., of this review, was second in order of birth ; Theodore W. . is living in Minneapolis, Minnesota: Mrs. Mettie Hampton was next in order ; and Grant, who makes his home in Idaho, was the youngest.
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Alva A. Highiley grew up on the farm and he attended school in Ohio and in Pleasant Hill, Missouri. When thirteen years of age he began working out by the month on farms in Warren county, Iowa, and after his marriage he began renting land in Jasper county, having come here in 1881. He bought a farm in Calhoun county, this state, which he sold, and six months later bought eighty acres in Jasper county, southeast of Mitchellville. In 1892 he bought one hundred and fifty-one acres in Washington township, known as the old Evans farm, and here he still lives. having improved the place in every way, including the building of a good barn. He has prospered by reason of close application and good management and since the purchase of this place he has bought three hundred and twenty acres more. He raises good stock, and feeds quite a number of cattle each year.
Politically, Mr. Highley is a Republican, and he has been school director and road supervisor. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- lows, and he belongs to the Methodist church of Colfax.
Mr. Highley was married on March 4, 1885, to Carrie M. Hibbs, who was born in Polk county, Iowa. May 27, 1866. She was the daughter of George H. Hibbs, a very early settler of Polk county, having taken up his home there in 1852. Six children have been born to the subject and wife, namely : Edwin A. died at nine years of age: Rachel J. died at the age of seven years : Oscar G. died in infancy; Rosa, born November 6. 1895; Edna, born June 30, 1899: May, born March 27, 1908.
WILLIAM CARL HENRY SCHULTZ.
One of the best known and most painstaking of our younger generation of Elk Creek township farmers and one of the worthy representatives of one of the leading German families of Jasper county is William Carl Henry Schultz, a man who could hardly help succeeding at whatever he turned his attention to in view of his thrifty ancestral blood and his excellent early training.
Mr. Schultz was born in the township where he still resides on January 4, 1875. He is the son of Lewis F. and Christie L. ( Rohrdanz) Schultz, he a native of Germany. Their parents came to this country in an early day, and although they found a strange language, strange customs and conditions in general, yet they were tactful and hard-working and in due time had es- tablished a good home and had an excellent farm under cultivation, at the same time winning the friendship and good will of all with whom they came
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into contact. The father was born in Pommerania, kingdom of Prussia, later a part of Germany, on April 2, 1849, and he was the son of Christopher C. and Caroline (Severt) Schultz, both natives of the same place. After long planning, the Schultz family set sail for the shores of the New World in October. 1854, when the subject of this review was six years old. After the usual prolix voyage of those early sailing vessel days, they landed at New York and they proceeded at once to Bruce county, Illinois, where two other members of the family had previously settled and there they engaged in farming and carpentering. building many barns for the early settlers. Remaining there until 1858, they came to Poweshiek county, Iowa, and here worked for some of the large land holders of the county for two years. In 1860 Chris. C. Schultz started in life for himself, buying one hundred and twenty acres there. His wife had died in the spring of 1855 and thus the subject's father was reared by his grandmother. It was in the fall of 1873 that he came to Jasper county and began farming. With some assistance from his father and father-in-law he purchased one hundred and ten acres which he still owns, and. having met with a large measure of success, he has added to his original holdings until he is now the owner of a large amount of the county's richest land, in fact. Lewis F. Schultz has long been regarded as one of our largest land owners and most enterprising agri- culturists, his-holdings now aggregating six hundred and eighty-seven acres, besides other property. He has devoted his life to husbandry, having the inherent love of his race for the soil and growing things, and he has also devoted much attention to the raising of live stock, in connection with his extensive farming.
Christie L. Rohrdanz, mother of the subject of this sketch, was the daughter of John J. and Marie ( Price) Rohrdanz, both natives of Germany, who emigrated to America in 1853, locating at Niagara Falls, New York, and there the father was employed in the construction of the first great suspension bridge ever built across the great gorge near the falls. There Mrs. Schultz was born on November 26, 1854, she being one of three chil- dren, all of whom are living, the other two being Marie, born April 9, 1857, is the wife of Carl Birkenholtz, a Jasper county farmer; and Freda. born in Jasper county, Iowa, February 13, 1858, is still living in this county. Mrs. Schultz's parents came to this county in 1855, after the completion of the big Niagara bridge. They reached here without much of this world's goods, their sole capital being two and one-half dollars. The country was new and they were compelled to undergo the hardships and privations in- cident to the times, but being people of courage and thrift they did not per-
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mit anything to discourage them and each year found them further advanced than the preceding until they finally had a pleasant home and a good farm of three hundred acres. The father of Mrs. Schultz served in the Prussian army, as did the father of Lewis F. Schultz. During the rebellion of the provinces of Holstein and Schleswig, Mr. Rohrdanz was awarded a medal by the German government for signal bravery.
Lewis F. Schultz was one of a family of three sons and one daughter, two of whom are living : Augusta Brooknew, wife of George Brooknew, a farmer, was born in 1851 and died in 1895 while residing in Poweshiek county, Iowa ; Carl A., born in 1853, lives on a farm near Grinnell, this state, and Henry H., born in 1854, died in Poweshiek county in 1883.
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