USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. I > Part 71
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
Marce Turner grew to maturity in his native county and in Kansas, spending his boyhood days assisting his father and attending the public schools. He started in life for himself by driving a stage, later took up freighting, then turned his attention to painting and carpentry. He came to
736
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
Kellogg township, Jasper county, in 1900 and here worked on the farm by the month until in March, 1909, when he rented eighty acres.
Mr. Turner was married October 22, 1899. to Maggie Watson, who was born in Michigan, February 14. 1883, the daughter of Lynn B. and Mary (Roach) Watson, the father having been born in Kansas in 1856, and the mother's birth occurred in Iowa in' 1855. Mrs. Turner received a good education in the common schools and she came to Iowa when young.
Marce Turner is one of a family of ten children, five sons and five daughters, namely: Molly is deceased; George is deceased; Elija is deceased; Laura, Lucy, Cordelia and Cornelius (twins), Eugene, Joseph, Mandy and Marce.
Two children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Turner, a son and a daughter, namely: Virginia F., whose birth occurred November 20, 1900, and Virgil Eugene, who was born December 9, 1903.
Politically, Mr. Turner is a Republican. and, fraternally, he belongs to the Woodmen. He is a member of the Christian church.
ISAIAH W. BLACK.
A representative Iowa farmer, one of that great class of able men who have made Iowa a great state, is Isaiah W. Black. For Iowa is preeminently a farming state, and her farmers are more progressive and efficient than the average of American farmers, and demonstrate this every year by their excellent showing. Mr. Black has spent the years of his active life on the farm in honest and healthful toil, intelligently directed, which have brought to him peace and plenty in his later years, and a consciousness of duty done.
Isaiah W. Black was born in Mercer county, Pennsylvania, on December 28, 1850, the son of Robert and Eliza (Hanna) Black. His father came to Jackson county, Iowa, from Mercer county, Pennsylvania, in 1853. His mother had died at an early age in Jackson county. Robert Black farmed in Jackson county until his death, at the age of seventy-one, and was a man of local influence, filling many offices in the township in which he resided. David M. Black, of Maquoketa, Iowa, is a half-brother, and Mrs. Emma Ward, of Newton, a half-sister of the subject.
Isaiah W. Black farmed for many years in Jackson county, in South Dakota, and in Jasper county, meeting with uniform success. In all the com- munities in which he has lived he has taken an active and prominent part in
RESIDENCE OF ISAIAH W. BLACK
THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY
AUTUM, LENOX TILDEN FOUNDATIONS
737
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
affairs of general interest and has filled local offices. He was married in Jones county, Iowa, to Anna C. Deischer, the daughter of Daniel Diescher, a pioneer of Jones county, to which he had moved from Lancaster county, Pennsylvania. To this marriage were born three children. Charles C. Black is in the lumber business at Mingo, Jasper county, and is thriving successfully. Clarence A. Black of Mingo, Jasper county, is a partner with his brother, Charles C., in the lumber business. Dr. Elmer E. Black, of Colfax, is a veter- inary surgeon, a graduate of the State Agricultural College of Ames, Iowa, in 1909. He began practice at Colfax, and is building up a good reputation by his efficiency.
The Black family is an old and honored one, and all its Iowa members have lived up to the family name. Isaiah W. Black possesses the respect and esteem of all who know him, and has in his lifetime made many friends.
LYMAN C. CLARK.
Washington township, Jasper county has never had a better farmer or a more honorable citizen than the late Lyman C. Clark, and all who knew him well will readily admit that he was ever a gentleman of high standing to whom was not denied a full measure of success, although he was compelled to carve out his own fortune with the assistance of no one but his faithful life com- panion. He was long a recognized factor of importance in connection with the agricultural interests of this locality, being identified with its material growth and prosperity from the pioneer days, his life being very closely inter- woven with its history. His early life was beset with such obstacles as would have discouraged a man of less sterling mettle, but he persevered in the face of all adversity and won, not only material success, but also the good will and esteem of all who knew him, for he was public-spirited, broad-minded, liberal and scrupulously honest.
Mr. Clark was born of an excellent New England family on January 4, 1846, in Worcester, Massachusetts. He was the son of John and Lucy (Bond) Clark, both natives of Massachusetts, where they grew up and were married and there the father spent his life After his death the mother mar- ried a Mr. Stone and they came west.
Lyman C. Clark was educated in the schools of Massachusetts and in about 1853, after having made his home in Vermont for some time, he came to Knox county, Illinois, and there bought one hundred and sixty acres, and
(47)
738
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
later his mother and step-father joined him there, having driven overland from Vermont. He found there a new and sparsely settled country and he tried to develop a farm from the wild sod, but he found it a hard task, one of his chief annoyances being the frequent destruction of his fences by prairie fires. While living in Illinois he was married at Galva, and in r869 he and his family 'emigrated to Jasper county, Iowa, where he bought one hundred and sixty acres in Washington township, and he later bought forty acres of timber in Mound Prairie township. He succeeded in developing a good farm and in gaining a competence, but not without great toil and much sacrifice on his part and that of his wife, to whose sympathy and judicious counsel was due in no small measure his large success. Here they found a new country and they underwent the usual hardships and privations incident to pioneer life. Some of their land has been undermined for coal from shafts from the east. He was an extensive stock feeder and no small part of his income was derived from handling live stock of various grades.
Mr. Clark was married on June 16, 1859. to Cordelia R. Stearns, who was born in Rockingham. Windham county, Vermont, on February 13. 1836. She was the daughter of Samuel E. Stearns and wife, a highly respected fam- ily who spent their lives engaged in agricultural pursuits, moving to Union county, Iowa, in the late fifties. Mrs. Clark died December 25, 1911.
To Mr. and Mrs. Clark the following children were born : Mrs. Alice M. Fry; Mrs. Anna L. Jones; Mrs. Abbey Green, of Luceland, Canada; Norris J. runs the home farm : Mrs. Mary B. Clement : Cyrus L lives in Polk county, Iowa ; Martha S. is deceased : Louis O., Jesse A. and Mrs. Gracia Haldefer.
The death of Lyman C. Clark occurred on May 20. 1908, loved and hon- ored by all who intimately knew him, for he was a man whom to know was to admire.
SAMUEL DECATUR.
Among the successful farmers of Jasper county who have forged their way to the front by sheer force of will and individual merit rather than by the influence and material assistance of others, no worthier example could be found than that of Samuel Decatur, of Rock Creek township. He is a man of excellent judgment, which accounts for his uniform success as an agricul- turist and stock raiser. Being careful in his calculations, resourceful in his dealings and eminently honorable in his relations with others, people have always reposed confidence in his word, as his integrity has ever been above criticism. He is one of the best examples of the truly self-made American
739
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
this county can produce, for he started at the bottom of the ladder and his rise to a topmost rung has been by hard work, close application and the exercise of great patience, making stepping-stones out of the obstacles encountered on the highway of life.
Mr. Decatur was born in Tioga county, New York, October 15, 1850, the son of William and Julia Ann ( Cortwright) Decatur, both natives of New York, he of Binghamton and she of Tioga county, and there they grew up and were married. Mr. Decatur worked by the month until the commence- ment of the Civil war when he enlisted in Company B, One Hundred and Ninth New York Volunteer Infantry. For there months he was sick in the hospital and was finally discharged on account of disability. He brought his wife to Poweshiek county, Iowa, in 1869 and located in Grinnell, their son, Samuel, of this review, having preceded. the parents there the year previous. The father remained in that city until his death, in 1882; however, he spent his last days on the farm with the subject. His family consisted of seven children, five of whom are living. Mrs. William Decatur survived her husband a short time.
Samuel Decatur, of this sketch, was educated in the public schools of New York, and when but eleven years of age he was compelled to work to help support the family while the father was in the war. When eighteen years of age he came to Poweshiek county, lowa, and worked by the month until the spring of 1881. When a boy he worked many a day for fifty cents, cutting wood, and boarded himself, and later he worked for two seasons on the Iowa Central railroad, using his own team. He was economical and thereby got a start. these hard experiences doing him good and insuring his success later in life In 1881 he bought a farm of thirty acres in Rock Creek town- ship; this being timbered, he did a great deal of hard work developing it, but this was his start toward a large and valuable farm, he having added to his original purchase from time to time, as he prospered. until he is now the owner of one of the best improved and most productive farms in his township, con- sisting of three hundred and fifty acres; he has all modern conveniences, in- cluding a good silo, substantial outbuildings and a large and neatly furnished residence. In 1904 he bought the Perry Madison place of two hundred seven- teen and one-half acres which joined his original farm on the south. It is one of the oldest farms in the vicinity, but is still rich and productive, having been carefully tilled. Mr. Madison was one of the first settlers here and took up this farm from the government when this part of the state was yet a wild prairie. He was the first school teacher in Rock Creek township and was well known to the early settlers.
740
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
In politics Mr. Decatur is a Republican and he has held a number of local offices, always with credit to himself and with satisfaction to the people.
In 1876 Mr. Decatur was united in marriage to Orilla Clapp, a native of Walworth county, Wisconsin, and the daughter of Alvin and Martha Clapp, old settlers of that county, having come from New England when Wisconsin was a territory. They began life as typical pioneers, erecting a log house and clearing a small patch, and in time had a good home, and there they spent the remainder of their lives, both being now deceased. Their family consisted of three children : Eli, who died in the army; Orilla, wife of Mr. Decatur ; Marida, who married E. M. Waffle.
Eight children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Decatur, namely : Clarence is married and is living in Poweshiek county ; George; Mable, who married William Tesser, lives in Grinnell; Herbert; Delphina married Arthur Durr and lives in Rock Creek township; Lawrence; William Mckinley ; one child died in infancy.
JACOB SCHMITT.
Among the enterprising Germans who have found homes within our bor- ders and to whom the country has always been ready to extend a hearty wel- come, Jacob Schmitt, farmer of Washington township, Jasper county, is de- serving of specific mention in the list of worthy citizens of Jasper county. He is one of the pioneers of Iowa and has spent most of his long and useful life in the Hawkeye state, having come here when a boy sixty-four years ago, so he has lived to see and take part in the development of the state from the epoch of the wild plains, when wild beasts and painted-faced Indians roamed at will, and it is interesting indeed to hear him tell of the early days. He has won a good home and valuable farmstead through his own indomitable efforts and while he has been laboring for his own advancement he has never let a good opportunity pass whereby he could contribute in some way to the progress of his locality, having ever had the general good of his adopted country at heart. He has led a life of honesty and he has ever commanded the respect and good will of his neighbors and many friends.
Mr. Schmitt was born in Bavaria, Germany, September 10. 1831, the son of Jacob, Sr., and Elizabeth (Beebinger) Schmitt, both born in Bavaria, he in 1799 and she in 1805. The paternal grandfather was also named Jacob. The father of the subject was a weaver by trade and worked his own loom for linen weaving. In July, 1847. he brought his family to America, landing
741
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
at New Orleans after a tedious and trying voyage of sixty-two days. They found it so hot in the Louisiana metropolis that the family decided to ascend the Mississippi to Iowa, so they came to Fort Madison and there located, the father securing employment in a brick yard. Later he rented a farm in Lee county and lived there until his death, in 1863. His family consisted of seven children, of whom Jacob, the immediate subject of this sketch, was the second in order of birth. He attended school in Germany until he was fourteen years of age. Although but sixteen years of age when the family came to America, he left them and started out in life for himself. For some time he worked in Keokuk, Iowa, and he was in the employ of a steamboat pilot, receiving dur- ing the first year only three dollars per month. Later he began learning the blacksmith's trade, which he followed for a time in Missouri, later locating in Franklin, Iowa, where he conducted a blacksmith shop of his own. He worked two years in Louisa county and in 1874 he moved to Prairie City, Jasper county, where he established a blacksmith and repair shop and made wagons which were of such superior quality that they were eagerly sought for. He was in business with his brother Philip for some time. Although he had been very successful as a blacksmith and wagon maker, the subject finally turned his attention to farming and rented land for three years, then bought one hundred and sixty acres in Washington township, in 1881, and here he has continued to reside, having enjoyed a very comfortable income from his well tilled land.
Mr. Schmitt is a Republican in politics, though in his earlier life he voted the Democratic ticket. He has been road supervisor for five years. Reli- giously, he belongs to the German Lutheran church.
On October 26, 1856, Mr. Schmitt was united in marriage with Henrietta Rauscher, who was born on the ocean while her parents were emigrating to America. She is the daughter of Henry Rauscher, who came to Ohio in 1833 and in 1848 moved on to Lee county, Iowa, thus starting life twice in the new world as a pioneer. To the subject and wife the following children have been born: Philip, Henry, Mrs. Anna Anderson, Lizzie and George, who died in infancy.
MRS. JOANNA VALENTINE-EVANS.
The name of this estimable lady is a familiar sound to the people in Wash- ington and surrounding townships, and the brief record of her life outlined in the following paragraphs will doubtless be read with interest by many friends and acquaintances who have learned to prize her for her beautiful
742
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
character and useful life, which has been as an open book in which there are no pages marred or soiled by conduct unbecoming true womanhood, and whose influence has always made for the good of the large circle of friends with whom she has associated.
Mrs. Evans was born on January 28. 1839, in Warren county, Pennsyl- vania, the daughter of Edmund and Hannah Valentine, her father a native of Pennsylvania and her mother of New York. Mr. Valentine grew up in Penn- sylvania and there engaged in the lumber business, working in the timber many years, cutting, rafting and sawing. He is now deceased.
The daughter Joanna grew up and was educated in Pennsylvania and she was married in Warren county, that state, on June 3, 1855, at Enterprise, to George Evans, who was born March 21, 1828, in Franklin county, Penn- sylvania, and there he grew to manhood and when young followed teaming in the town of Franklin. The week after his marriage he and his bride moved to Henry county, Illinois, locating in the town of Cambridge and there farmed in the edge of town for three years; then Mr. Evans managed a hotel in the town of Atkinson, Illinois, for several years. Later he teamed for different companies in Geneseo, that state. He hauled telegraph poles for the Rock Island Railroad Company when they built through Iowa. In 1875 he and his wife came to Polk county, Iowa, and conducted a hotel in the town of Mitchell- ville for a year, and also followed teaming there. The next year he bought one hundred and fifty-three acres in Washington township, Jasper county, and moved to the same. Although he had to pay seventeen per cent. interest on the money with which he paid for the land and met with various drawbacks, he persevered and succeeded, living on the place ten years. Then he bought three hundred and twenty acres in Washington township, just west of the city of Colfax, for which he paid twenty-six dollars per acre. It is now worth one hundred and fifty dollars per acre. He met with increasing success as a gen- eral farmer and stock raiser. He always kept a great number of dairy cows and made large quantities of butter. He established a pleasant home and left a comfortable competency.
Mr. Evans was a Democrat, but he was not an aspirant for public office. He was a man whom everybody liked, being sociable, honorable and neigh- borly. His death occurred on March 4, 1905.
Seven children were born to Mr. and Mrs. George Evans, named as fol- lows: Mrs. Mary DeLong, Mrs. Georgia Rose, Mrs. Mattie Rose, Mrs. Lou Stonehawker, Mrs. Ida Stamper, John and Fred.
The youngest son, Fred, lives with his mother on the home place and has the active management of the entire farm, successfully carrying out the plans
743
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
inaugurated there by his father. They have gone extensively into butter making during the past few years. During the year 1910 they made two tons and eight hundred pounds from their cows. They have a separator and churn run by gasoline engine, in fact, have every modern convenience about the place.
Fred Evans is a progressive. energetie and capable young farmer. for whom the future promises much. He attended school in Colfax, but has been managing the home place since 1901. He is a Democrat, a member of the Eagles lodge and the Improved Order of Red Men. He was married on May 24. 1905, to Mary Carroll, who was born at Council Bluffs, Iowa, the daughter of John Carroll, a railroader.
HENRY SCHMITT.
The family name of the subject of this sketch is familiar throughout the county of Jasper and as highly esteemed as any other in this locality, and Henry Schmitt is recognized as one of its creditable representatives, a true type of a broad-minded, straightforward agriculturist who has not been afraid of hard work and who has succeeded because he has diligently and per- sistently followed a legitimate course, and while he has been laboring for his own advancement he has not been neglectful of his general duties to the com- munity at large.
Mr. Schmitt was born in Lee county, Iowa, on May 6, 1860, the son of Jacob and Henrietta (Rauscher) Schmitt, the father born in Bavaria, Ger- many, on September 10, 1831, and the mother was born on the ocean while her parents were emigrating to this country from Germany. The father of the subject was brought to Fort Madison, Iowa, by his parents in 1847. He learned the blacksmith's trade which he followed successfully for many years in Missouri and lowa, later in life turning his attention to farming, becoming the owner of a good farm in Washington township, Jasper county, in 1881, where he has since resided, being now advanced in years. His family con- sisted of five children, namely : Philip; Henry of this sketch; Mrs. Anna Anderson, Lizzie and George, the latter dying in infancy.
Henry Schmitt attended school first in Lee county, then in Louisa county, later in Jasper county, his parents moving to various places when he was a boy. While they were living in Louisa county, Henry went back to the town of Franklin in Lee county to attend a German school and while there his father moved to Prairie City, Jasper county, and there. in connection with blacksmith-
744
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
ing, conducted a wagon shop, in which the subject assisted, doing the painting. Three years later the family moved south of that town on a farm where they remained four years, then moved to the home farm in Washington township, in 1881, as before stated.
When Henry was married he began renting land in order to get a start, continuing thus for two years on the farm which he now owns. It was in 1893 that he purchased his farm of eight acres and this he has greatly improved and made a good living from the same. He has remodeled the buildings and has a comfortable home.
Mr. Schmitt is school director in his district, and, politically, he votes for the best man, irrespective of politics. He was born and reared in the faith of the German Lutheran church, from which he has not departed.
Mr. Schmitt was married on September 23, 1891, to Anna Warner, a native of Jasper county, and the daughter of Mathew Warner, who came from Indiana to Des Moines township, in a very early day. Three children have been born to the subject and wife, namely : Edwin Lyle, Clifford Vernon and Mildred. They are being very carefully reared by their parents.
DAVID W. STRAIN.
The record of David W. Strain, farmer of Washington township, Jasper county, is that of an enterprising gentleman who worthily upholds an honored family name and whose life has been very intimately associated with the ma- terial prosperity and general advancement of various communities of this part of Iowa during the most progressive period of its history, and he has always been found on the right side of questions looking to the development of his community in any way. While he has been prominent in industrial affairs, he has at the same time won a reputation for honesty and wholesome living. He is a worthy representative of one of the county's sterling pioneer families.
Mr. Strain was born in Highland county, Ohio. June 12, 1845, the son of Thomas and Nancy A. (Winegar) Strain, the father born in Virginia in 1819. but he spent his boyhood in South Carolina. When a young man he went to Highland county. Ohio, and there became owner of a farm. He was a typical frontiersman, and in 1850 he drove a team overland to Jasper county, Iowa, buying a farm here. There were few settlers and the country was a wild prairie. He took some land from the government and bought some from those who had entered land at an earlier period. He became the owner of one hundred and sixty acres of good land in Des Moines township and here
745
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
he went to work with a will and developed a good farin which he later sold and bought two hundred acres in Polk county, Iowa. Subsequently trading that farm for one in Mahaska county, he lived there until his death, which oc- curred in February, 1877. Politically, he was first a Whig, later a Republican. His wife survived until 1895. They were the parents of ten children, an equal number of sons and daughters, and it is somewhat remarkable that so large a family should all be living at their ages, the eldest being now seventy, the Psalmist's allotted three score and ten; they are Ellen J .; John A., of Nebraska ; Mrs. Elvira A. Woods, also of Nebraska; David W., of this sketch, who was the fourth in order of birth ; Libby ; Doctor W. ; Richard P. lives near Altoona, Iowa ; Sarah B., Delilah Emma and Albert Ross.
David W. Strain, of this sketch, spent his boyhood for the most part in Camp township, Polk county, having been five years of age when his parents brought him from Ohio. He attended the pioneer schools of this vicinity. He lived at home until he was married, having helped his father transform raw land into productive fields. He became the owner of one hundred and forty acres in Mahaska county which he continued to operate until 1891, when he sold out and bought two hundred and forty acres in Polk county, which he still owns. He lived there, carrying on general farming with his usual suc- cess until 1900, in which year he bought eighty acres in Washington township. Jasper county, and moved to the same, since adding eighty acres more to it. Under his management this place has taken rank among the best farms of the township.
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.