USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 19
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John H. Sparks was educated in the old-time public schools of Indiana and Iowa, but his text-book training was not very extensive, as was the custom of farmers' boys in those days, especially the sons of pioneers as was he, for it was necessary for him to spend the major part of the year assisting in the general farm work.
In 1861 Mr. Sparks enlisted in Company B, Fifth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, in which he served with much credit for a period of three years. He saw hard service and participated, among other engagements, in those of the famous siege of Vicksburg, battles of Iuka, Mississippi, and Chattanooga, Tennessee. He received an honorable discharge in July, 1864.
After his career as a soldier Mr. Sparks returned to his old home in Iowa and resumed farming, and soon bought eighty acres in Lynn Grove township. It was wild land, but he soon had it broke, properly improved and under culti- vation, and from time to time he added such improvements as were needed, and established a good home and here he still resides. He has not done much work on the place for some time, renting it at times, and leaving the operation of it mostly to his sons. Politically, he is a Republican.
Mr. Sparks was married on April 29, 1866, to Ellen Mathews, a native of Illinois, from which state she moved to Iowa when a child with her parents, Matthew T. and Nancy Mathews, who were very early settlers in Jasper county. -
Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Sparks, namely: Lucy, Perry, Jerry, Moses, Richard, Ray, Robert, Ruth and Guy.
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FRANK CARPENTER, M. D.
To achieve an eminent standing in as exacting a calling as the medical profession requires something more than mediocre talents-a fidelity to duty and the happy faculty of winning and retaining the confidence and good will of all classes. These qualifications the gentleman whose life record is briefly outlined in the following paragraphs seems to possess, for he has, unaided, gradually overcome all obstacles until he stands in the front rank of the med- ical profession of Jasper county, a locality widely known for the high order of its medical talent.
Dr. Lewis Walter Frank Carpenter, of Reasnor, was born in Adams county, Illinois, July 15, 1869, and he is the son of Lewis J. and Sarah E. (Rood) Carpenter, the former a native of Ohio and the latter of Illinois. At the close of the Civil war Lewis J. Carpenter began the practice of medicine and surgery in Schuyler county, Illinois, where he remained for ten years, then, in 1878, he came to Jasper county, Iowa, locating at Adamson's Grove, where he resumed his profession and there continued six years, then moved to Galesburg where he remained a few years, then went to Pella, Marion county, where he now resides, doing principally office work. He is seventy-five years old and his wife is sixty-eight.
Dr. Frank Carpenter received a good education in the common schools and he began life for himself when nineteen years old by teaching school, which he followed two years, after which he went to Des Moines where he was con- ductor on the street railway for three years. He then went to Killduff and engaged in the mercantile business, conducting a general store with much suc- cess until 1900. He had long desired to take up the practice of medicine, and in that year he entered Drake University at Des Moines, Iowa, taking the full four years course in the medical department, graduating in 1904, after which he moved to Ira, Jasper county, in July of that year, and began practicing, being successful from the start, and he remained there until April 1, 1906, when he came to Reasnor, where he has since resided, meeting with great suc- cess as a general practitioner.
On April 6, 1890, Doctor Carpenter was united in marriage with Anna Zwank, daughter of Jacob and Anna (DeBruyn) . Zwank, both natives of Holland, where they grew to maturity, emigrating to America when young and located in Pella, Iowa, where Mrs. Carpenter was born. The father is de- ceased, but the mother, who has re-married, is living in Newton. Mr. Zwank devoted his life to farming.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Carpenter one child has been born, Fred Elton Car- penter, whose birth occurred on June 21, 1892, in this county ; he is attending Drake University, studying medicine.
Doctor Carpenter is one of three brothers, all of whom are living: Oscar Orville, born in 1867, is a practicing physician and surgeon in Sully ; Doctor Frank is the second in order of birth; Fred Farley is a practicing physician at Pella, Iowa, and he was born in 1871.
Mrs. Dr. Carpenter is one of eight children, five girls and three boys, of whom seven are living, namely: Ira lives near Reasnor; Peter and Harmon are farming in this county; Mrs. George Efnor lives near Reasnor; Bessie married Clarence Landmesser, a farmer living near Killduff; Lillie is the wife of Earl Cary, cashier of the Bank of Lynnville; Ollie died in 1896. Mrs. Carpenter was born September 9, 1871.
Doctor Carpenter is a member of the American Medical Association. and the Iowa State and Jasper County Medical societies. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Galesburg, of the Knights of Pythias of Monroe, and the Improved Order of Red Men of Des Moines; also the Woodmen of the World at Galesburg, and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Sully. He stands high in all these orders. Mrs. Carpenter is a member of the Order of the Eastern Star at Galesburg, and she belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church at Reasnor, also the Ladies' Aid Society of that church. She has long been active in church and Sunday school work. Politically, the Doctor is a Democrat.
JOHN CLAUSSEN.
Claus (John) Claussen, aged sixty-six years, was born in Swopsteadt, Germany, March 19, 1844, his father being Hans Claussen, a native of Ger- many, who died in Jasper county, Iowa, on a farm at the advanced age of eighty-six years, his mother being also a native of Germany, her maiden name being Margaret (Block) Claussen, she dying in Germany at the age of thirty years. Mr. Claussen has only one full sister and no brother, but as his father married twice after the death of his mother, he has three half brothers and three half sisters, all of whom reside in Jasper county. The name of his sister is Christina Reincke, and she is the widow of William Reincke, residing in Carroll county, Iowa.
The life history of Mr. Claussen is most interesting. He was but twenty-one years of age when he came to America, coming alone and landing
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at New York. From there he went to Davenport, Iowa, and engaged in the butcher business. After a nine months' stay in Davenport, he came to New- ton, Iowa, where he has since remained. It was something near a year and a half after coming to Newton that Mr. Claussen purchased the two and one- half acres upon which his residence now stands. Starting with very little, he set resolutely to work at his trade of butcher and to this small purchase kept adding and adding until at one time he was one of the large land owners in the county, owning over five hundred acres of land. Subsequent reverses and misfortunes, such as often overtake the most far-sighted and resolute, have lost him a considerable portion of this property, but Mr. Claussen is still well fixed and is as cheerful and undaunted as the day he first landed in Jasper county.
After Mr. Claussen had secured a foothold in this county he sent money back to Germany with which to bring four brothers and sisters over here and at all times he was a considerate and dutiful son.
On October 1. 1868, Mr. Claussen was married to Mary Klopping, her- self a native of Germany, her father being Conrad Klopping and her mother Elizabeth (Reinke) Klopping, also a native of Germany. Mrs. Claussen came with her parents to America when she was but eight years of age and recounts that the ship that carried them was an old sailing vessel which was driven by contrary winds far out of her course. Eleven weeks they were upon the seas before they made port and when, after their provisions were almost exhausted, they came to land, it was the port of New Orleans they entered in- stead of New York as was first intended. Mrs. Claussen states that much of their trouble came from the fact that their captain was making his first voy- age to America and was inexperienced. Even at the time of landing he would have run his ship aground upon a sand bar, but for a pilot who came off from the shore and set them right. Mrs. Claussen's parents both died in Jasper county, Iowa, her father four years after coming to America, her mother thirty-six years after coming to this country. Mrs. Claussen is one of seven children, of whom two besides herself are living: Elizabeth Klopping, a half sister (Mrs. Claussen's mother having been married twice), resides in New- ton, is the widow of William Klopping, deceased, a cousin of Mrs. Claussen upon her father's side; Louise Myers, widow of John Myers, deceased, is a full sister of Mrs. Claussen, and is seventy-one years of age and resides in Newton.
Mrs. Claussen has at all times been a loyal and cheerful companion and helpmate to her husband, working with him to raise money with which to bring his brothers and sisters over to America from Germany and entering
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with spirit and sympathy into all his undertakings. She remembers much of interest concerning the growth of the county and the changes that have come since 1853 when she came here. There were only thirty houses here when she came and Sunday school was held in the old court house. Land was sold at five dollars per acre and she saw the first court house in the county built.
Seven children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Claussen, six of whom are living: Frederick, aged forty-one, resides in Boone, Iowa, his wife's maiden name being May Woodard; Leonora, aged thirty-nine years, is the wife of the Rev. W. McMillan, and resides in Eureka, Illinois; Arthur, aged thirty-seven, is unmarried and lives at home; Christopher, aged thirty-five years, resides in Waterman, state of Washington, his wife's maiden name being Etta Bowker; Henry, of Moline, Illinois; Walter, aged twenty-nine, resides in Newton, his wife's maiden name being Maude Atkins; Una Mar- garet died in infancy.
Besides farming, Mr. Claussen has always paid much attention to stock buying, being still engaged in that business to a considerable extent. He is and always has been a public-spirited citizen, giving liberally towards many public enterprises. In politics he is a Republican. Both he and his wife are members of the English Lutheran church.
FREDERICK A. EATON.
Jasper county is characterized by her full share of the pioneer element who have done so much for the development of the county and the establish- ment of the institutions of civilization in this fertile and well-favored sec- tion. The biographical sketches in this volume are largely of this class of useful citizens and it is not in the least too early to record in print the prin- cipal items in the lives of these hard-working and honest people, giving honor to whom honor is due. They will soon be gone and the past can have no better history or memento than these records. Of this worthy class the name of Frederick A. Eaton, long a prominent farmer of the county, but now living in retirement in Newton, should receive specific mention, for during his active years here he has been conspicuous because of his activity and the progressive and enterprising spirit displayed by him in all the phases of our citizenship.
Mr. Eaton was born of sterling old New England parents, in Rutland county, Vermont, November 12, 1829, being the son of Horace and Amanda (Molten) Eaton, both natives of Vermont, who emigrated to Ohio when their
,
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son, Frederick A., was eight years old and there they remained, becoming well established, until about 1868 when they moved to Jasper county, Iowa, where they spent the remainder of their lives, the father dying about 1884; he was peddler and collector. There were three children in his family, two by his first wife and one by his second wife, Mrs. Emma Hyatt, of Grand Junction, Colorado, a half-sister of the subject, being the other living child. Frederick A. Eaton received a good education in the public schools of his day, and he was twenty-one years of age when he came to Illinois; after remaining there two or three years he returned to Ohio, where he married and remained two years, then came to Jasper county, Iowa, in the spring of 1856, locating on a farm five miles east of Newton, which he developed into an excellent farm and where he established a most comfortable home, in which he remained until 1897, when he moved to Newton. He has lived to see and take part in the wonderful transformation of the county. The present thriving city of New- ton was a brush patch when he first came here. He was for a long period regarded as one of our most progressive farmers and stock men. In 1897 he was elected county recorder, in which position he served most faithfully and well for four years. He had previously served as trustee of Kellogg township. He is a stanch Democrat. In 1870 he was commissioned as census taker for eight townships in Jasper county, which appointment was made without his solicitation or knowledge, the petition having been sent to Washington by a large number of citizens who recognized the peculiar ability of Mr. Eaton for this work, and useless to add that he filled the place acceptably. He was also assessor of Buena Vista and later of Kellogg townships.
Mr. Eaton was married on October 13, 1853. in Ohio, to Caroline M. Hodges, who was born in New York, her parents removing from that state to Ohio when she was twelve years of age. Their family consisted of twelve children, namely: Frankie died when thirteen years of age; W. O. lives four miles north of Newton on a farm; Alma is the wife of George Hart, of New- ton; Carrie is the wife of Gus Erickson, of Red Oak, Iowa; Arthur T. lives in Newton; Truman lives in Kellogg township; Harry E., who lives at Shenan- doah, Iowa, is one of the three state pharmacist commissioners ; Fred lives near . San Diego, California ; Horace died in Newton about 1906; Sherman is de- ceased; Addie is the wife of Alton Reynolds, of Denver; Belle is deceased.
Mr. Eaton is in his eighty-first year and Mrs. Eaton was in her seventy- ninth year when, with her husband on a visit to her daughter in Colorado, she died on December 4, 191I. They had traversed through the sunshine and shadow of life's uneven road, hand in hand, for a period of fifty-eight years, this union having been a fortunate and happy one. Mr. Eaton has never been
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sick and is still hale and hearty. They were a fine old couple whom everybody respected and admired, for their lives were exemplary and they sought to do all the good possible. Mr. Eaton belongs to the Methodist Episcopal church, and fraternally is a Mason, having attained the Knight Templar degree. Mrs. Eaton was a member of the Methodist church.
Mr. Eaton handled live stock on an extensive scale for over twenty years while on the farm. Although a man of meager schooling, he was prevailed upon to teach a school in Jasper county in the pioneer days, after he had been here only a short time, teaching in a log house, handling the school with great success; he was later offered license by Superintendent Lufkin. He has always been a loyal supporter of movements having as their object the general good.
HENRY HERWEHE.
An illustration of high-grade skill as a farmer as well as the ability to concentrate efforts along some special line until success is achieved in that undertaking is found in the case of Henry Herwehe, of Fairview township, a man who takes a general interest in the affairs of his community, but who has never sought to be a leader in public affairs, being satisfied to discharge his obligations as a citizen by lending his support at the ballot box to such men as, in his opinion, will discharge their official duties with the utmost conscientious- ness and integrity.
Mr. Herwehe was born in Des Moines township, this county, March 10, 1858, of German parentage, being the son of Philip and Mary (Vance) Herwehe, both born in Mannheim, Germany, the father in 1829 and the mother in 1831, and they grew up and married in their native country and there be- gan life on the farm. They emigrated to America in 1855, locating in Cin- cinnati, Ohio, where the father worked as a laborer one summer. In the fall of that year they came to Jasper county, Iowa, and rented land near Vandalia. He soon had a good start and in the year 1859 he bought thirty-six acres in Fairview township, and at his death in 1879 he owned a farm of seventy-five acres and another of one hundred acres and one of sixty-eight acres. Politi- cally, he was a Democrat and a member of the German Methodist church. His widow survived over twenty years, dying in 1902. They were the parents of three sons and five daughters, of whom Henry, of this sketch, was the seventh in order of birth.
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Henry Herwehe was reared on the home farm and when but a boy assisted with the general work about the place. He received his education in the dis- trict schools and he remained at home. After his father's death, he began renting the home place, later buying out the other heirs. He has been most successful as a general farmer and stock raiser, and as he prospered he has added to his original holdings until he is now the owner of as valuable land as this part of the county affords, aggregating four hundred and forty acres, all in Fairview township. He has kept the place under modern improvements and has a good home and convenient outbuildings, and has set out a splendid grove.
Politically, Mr. Herwehe is a Democrat and in religious matters he be- longs to the Methodist church. He was married on April 24, 1884, to Anna K. Whitmer, a native of Jasper county and the daughter of George Whitmer, one of the early settlers of the county. The subject's living children are, Hannah, George, Mrs. Ella Walker, Nettie, Grover, Murl. Anna May, Pearl and Viola.
Mr. Herwehe has a cane which he values highly, it having been carved out of one of the logs in the house in which he was born. The log was cut in 1846 by J. Bruner, uncle of the subject. Everything was open prairie here during the boyhood of Mr. Herwehe and there were few settlers. He has watched the county' develop into one of the richest agricultural sections in Iowa.
CHARLES FREMONT ROSS.
One of the up-to-date farmers and stockraisers of Elk Creek township, Jasper county, who has worked hard for what he now possesses is Charles Fremont Ross. He knows how to appreciate the true dignity of labor and to place a correct estimate upon the value of money. Nevertheless, he is liberal in his benefactions and stands ever ready to support with his influence and means all measures for the material and moral welfare of the community in which he has so long resided. Among those who know him best he bears a reputation of a man who exercises sound judgment and who has pronounced views and he keeps himself well informed upon all matters pertaining to the public weal or woe and always exercises the duties of citizenship in a con- scientious manner.
Mr. Ross was born in Van Buren county, Iowa, on July 10, 1856. He is the son of Elisha and Eliza Ann (Shanklin) Ross, the father born in Seville,
CHARLES F. ROSS AND FAMILY
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Ohio, September II, 1818, and the mother in Onondago county, New York, on November 24, 1824. The mother moved to Ohio with John Carns, who was her foster parent, her mother having died when Mrs. Eliza A. Ross was six years old. The parents of the subject grew up in Ohio and were married there. From Seville, that state, they moved to Lee county, Iowa, in 1854, and bought a farm there. After living there a short time they moved to Van Buren county and bought forty acres. In 1862 he left his family on the farm and went to Idaho where he remained three years, working out, and in 1865 he returned to Iowa and brought his family to Jasper county. He traded for sixty-five acres in Elk Creek township on which he lived until his death, on February 25, 1868. Politically, he was a Republican and he and his wife belonged to the Methodist Episcopal church. His widow survived many years, dying on September 5, 1906, outliving her husband nearly forty years.
There were three sons born to Mr. and Mrs. Elisha Ross, namely : Rob- ert, H. Craig and Charles Fremont, of this sketch, the subject being the second in order of birth.
Charles F. Ross helped with the work on the home farm and he attended school at Pleasant View and Galesburg. When sixteen years of age he left his parental roof-tree and began working out by the month, which he con- tinued to do until he was twenty years old. Then he rented a farm two years, after which he bought forty acres of the home place, to which he later added twenty-five acres, now owning a valuable little place of sixty-five acres, which he has placed under excellent improvements, having put most of the buildings on the same. Politically, he is a Republican and he belongs to the Evangeli- cal church
Mr. Ross was married on September 28, 1876, to Almeda Lucretia Smith, who was born in Palo Alto township, Jasper county, Iowa, on October 20, 1857, and here she grew up and attended the common schools in her district. She is the daughter of William J. Smith, a very early settler in this county. He was born in 1834 in Knox county, Ohio, and he came to Jasper county, Iowa, in 1856, settling in Palo Alto township in a log-house and there he spent several years, later moving to Elk Creek township where he became the owner of eighty acres. His death occurred on August 28, 1911, after a fairly suc- cessful and well spent life, having reached an advanced age and died knowing that he left behind a host of friends and no enemies. He had outlived his wife about forty-five years, she having passed away on February 21, 1866. He was justice of the peace for many years, giving eminent satisfaction in this office. He belonged to the Methodist church.
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Twelve children, seven of whom are living, have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Ross, namely : William Albert, Frank, Zel, Harry, Robert Lee, Ruth and Edith and five who died young.
Politically, Mr. Ross is a staunch Republican, and he belongs to the Evangelical church. Personally, he is a genial, neighborly man, who delights in a good joke and likes to see others happy.
HARMON V. VAN EPPS
A man of sterling worth and character is Harmon V. Van Epps. Fear- less and uncompromising where principle is involved, he is one of the sturdy spirits so valuable to any community, and yet he is unassuming and cares little for the admiring plaudits of the world, merely striving to do his full duty as a citizen at all times. Although now well along in years, he is keen and alert in every faculty and can look serenely backward over a life well spent, with no compunction for wrong doing, and forward with no fear. He is one of the substantial citizens of Jasper county. He probably owes his thrift and sterling qualities to characteristics inherited from a long line of Dutch ancestors, which traces back to the coming of the Pilgrim Fathers. This new republic of ours can boast of few families who can trace their ancestors back so far. The first of the family to emigrate to our shores was Dirk Van Epps (or Eppn, as it was then spelled). He was one of the Pilgrims who came from Holland in 1620. He first settled in the city of New York and later in Albany, New York. Johanas, his son, was the first settler in Schenectady county, New York. His estate was on the north side of the Mohawk river, near Huffman's Ferry. He was captured by the Indians and held a prisoner by them for about three years, when he was rescued. During the time he was a captive he learned their language and customs and he was later appointed ambassador to the Five Nations by the government. The third in line of descent was Jan Baptist (John the Baptist), son of Johanas. The fourth in line was . Johanas, who was born May 5, 1700, the son of Jan Baptist. He was a slave- holder and kept a tavern at Hoffman's Ferry in Schenectady county. The windows in the building were supplied with thick wooden shutters, which were always carefully closed at night, and often in the morning Indian arrows would be found sticking in them. His son, Jan Baptist, fifth in line, was the grandfather of the subject. Charles, his son, sixth in line, and father of the subject, was born April 12, 1783, in the state of New York, near Huffman's
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Ferry. He was twice married, his second wife, Angelina Vedder, being the mother of the subject. She was born September 17, 1804, in the state of New York. By the father's first marriage four children were born, namely : Annie M., deceased, married George Johnson; Simon, deceased; Susan, who remained single, is deceased; John C., born in 1821. came west with his par- ents ; he was a member of the famous "Gray Beard" regiment of Iowa in the Civil war; his death occurred in Davenport, Iowa. The other three children all died in New York. By the second marriage of Charles Van Epps the fol- lowing children were born: Charles Henry, born November 25, 1825, lived in Cedar county, Iowa, a number of years, then moved to California, where he died; Elias Vedder, born September 10, 1828, was a sharpshooter in an Illi- nois regiment during the Civil war and was in many an important engage- ment : he was in the grocery business in Davenport, Iowa, but was living re- tired at the time of his death; Sebastian Gonsaulus, born April 19, 1830, died September 25, 1847; he was in the Mexican war; Albert C., born December 21, 1831, was a member of Company D, Twentieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, during the Civil war ; he was a resident of Newton up to three years ago, when he moved to California, in which state his death occurred; Agnes, born Sep- tember 7, 1833, is the wife of S. V. Stacy, a retired farmer living in Daven- port, Iowa; Harmon V., subject of this sketch, was born October 30, 1835, in Albany county, New York; Cornelius, born April 16, 1838, resides at Shel- don, O'Brian county, Iowa; he came here during the first settlement of the county, entered a claim and has continued to reside here; during the Civil war he was a member of the Mississippi Marine Brigade; Mary Angelica, born July 4, 1840, died when six years old; William Henry Harrison, born April 21, 1841, who went to Nebraska in 1870, is still living there; during the Civil war he served four years in Company D, Twentieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry ; Rebecca V., born January 22, 1843, is now the widow of Herman Block, for- merly a prominent lawyer of Davenport; a son, Lewis, is in partnership with Judge Bollinger, of that place; Sarah Eliza, born July 17, 1845, married Price Cunningham, a brother of the wife of the subject; they are now living at Spokane, Washington; Theodore C., born February 15, 1847, who was formerly engaged in the real estate business at Olympia, Washington, is now living in California.
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