USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 22
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Back in Holland the father of the subject was proprietor of a supply house. He brought his family to America in 1855 when his son John, of this review, was seven years old ; the trip was made in a sailing vessel, "Ocean Home," making her first voyage. On her second voyage she sank with all on board. Landing at New Orleans, the family ascended the Mississippi river by steamboat to Keokuk, and from there they journeyed by wagon to Pella, the father walking all the way. He could not speak a word of English. Arriving in Pella, the elder Vandermast began gardening. His death oc- curred when the subject was sixteen years old, leaving him with the entire care of the mother and four children beside himself, he being the eldest of the five. He assumed his responsibilities manfully and although the experience was hard for one of such tender years it fostered in him such principles and qualities as made for large success in subsequent life. By selling papers, gardening and working at anything he could find to do he kept the family from want. When he was twenty-one years of age his mother married again, and then the subject secured employment with the two newspapers at Pella. Prov- ing apt to learn and taking a deep interest in this line of endeavor, he soon advanced and in due course of time became local editor of the Blade, which position he held with satisfaction for three years. Of his brothers and sisters, Joanna and Jane are deceased; Elisha is a farmer in the state of Washington, and Asa is a merchant in Santa Ana, California.
On the day of President Garfield's election, Mr. Vandermast moved into Monroe, Jasper county, having purchased the Mirror, which he has owned and edited ever since. It is one of the best equipped offices in the county for job printing and a large amount of work is done in this department. He has a modern and thoroughly equipped plant and only high grade service is recog- nızed here. The Mirror, conducted as a Republican paper, is one of the oldest in the county and for years has been one of the influential molders of public opinion in this section of the state.
On October 2, 1872, Mr. Vandermast was united in marriage with Martha Champion, of Allegheny, Pennsylvania, the daughter of Joseph and Mary Champion, both now deceased. This union has resulted in the birth of three children, namely : John Q. is connected with his father's paper : Joseph Walter lives in Buffalo, New York ; Leon died in infancy.
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Both Mr. and Mrs. Vandermast are members of the Methodist Episcopal church at Monroe. He has been either a teacher or superintendent in the Sunday school here for the past thirty years. He is a trustee in the church. He has been a member of the town council and was formerly town recorder also. Under Harrison's administration he served four years as postmaster. He takes a keen interest in politics and has been a member of the Republican county committee several times and he has frequently served as a delegate to county and state conventions. He never loses an opportunity to make his influence felt for the good of his party. Fraternally, he belongs to Fairview Lodge No. 194. Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, and both he and Mrs. Vandermast are members of Fairview Chapter. Order of the Eastern Star, at Monroe, of which he is past worthy patron. For a number of years he has been prominent in local fraternal circles.
VICTOR REYNOLDS.
Of the younger business men and farmers of Jasper county, none are more prominent than Victor Reynolds, the subject of this brief review. Alert. genial and of pleasing personality, he is a type of that sturdy American man- hood which has made Iowa one of the great states of the union. He was born on January 22, 1873. in Vermilion county, Illinois, being the son of John W. and Mary A. (Morgan) Reynolds, both natives of Illinois. The father died April 4. 1892. at the age of fifty-seven years : the mother still sur- vives and lives in Newton, Iowa. The father was born July 23. 1837. the mother on June 4, 1843.
It was in the fall of 1872 that Mr. Reynolds' father came from Illinois to Jasper county with his family, buying one hundred acres where the home- stead is now, and forty acres more some fifteen years later, paying from twenty dollars to twenty-five dollars per acre for same. . Here it was that he made his home until his death. following general farming. He was at all times a man of keen public spirit. and while very just, was very outspoken, always taking a middle-of-the-road position upon any of the great moral or political problems of his day. He enlisted as a northern soldier in the One Hundred and Twenty-Fifth Illinois Volunteer Infantry, serving as a good and efficient soldier until he was discharged on account of ill health. He held many pub- lic offices, being treasurer of the school board. a director of schools. and upon occasions preached in the Methodist Episcopal church.
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Mr. Reynolds, the subject of this sketch, is one of eight children, one, Dora M., dying in infancy; Alton; Ida, wife of Harry Van Epps, died in 1897; Luella, deceased; Nellie, deceased ; Foster, deceased.
On March 22, 1900, Victor Reynolds was united in marriage to Ada L. Simpson, daughter of A. J. and Martha (Flaugh) Simpson. She was born July 19, 1881, in Jasper county, Iowa. Her father and mother are both liv- ing near Kellogg. Mrs. Reynolds was one of four children, all of whom are living. To Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds have been born four children, all boys, named as follows: Foster, born June 27, 1901 ; Paul, born December 16, 1903 : Floyd L., born February 19, 1906; and Robert S., born May 17, 1910.
Mr. Reynolds has always taken an active interest in politics and in the progressive movements of the times. He has been secretary of the school board of his township for twelve years, which office he still holds. He has served five years as township clerk. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias lodge at Kellogg, and of the Grange at Buena Vista. Both Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. He has been superintendent of the Sunday school of Pleasant View church for the past six years. In politics Mr. Reynolds is a stanch and outspoken Republican.
CHARLIE B. SCOVILLE.
Charlie B. Scoville was born September 18, 1860, in Buena Vista town- ship, Jasper county, Iowa, and was the son of Joseph and Mary A. (Trotter) Scoville. His father was born near Utica, New York, and his mother was born in Hendricks county, Indiana. His father was born April 13, 1823, and at the age of nine years went with his parents to live in Ohio. Here he stayed until after coming of age. He then lived in Wisconsin for about four years, but in 1854 he came to Jasper county, Iowa, and entered land from the gov- ernment, he and his two brothers, Bennett and Oratio Scoville, entering about three hundred and sixty acres-one hundred and twenty acres apiece. Bennett Scoville afterwards enlisted in the war in an Iowa regiment and died while in the war. Joseph R. Scoville died in Jasper county, October 29, 1889.
Mr. Scoville's mother was born September 16, 1836, and died in October, 1897, while on a visit to a son in Nebraska. Charlie Scoville was one of five children : William A. lives near Sumner, Nebraska, where he owns a fine farm and conducts a real estate business and farming : James E., born January 10, 1863. For a good many years this brother was lost track of, but after an
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extensive search he was located in Minnesota, suffering from tuberculosis, from which disease he died six weeks after being brought back home to Jasper county. He was unmarried; Hattie M., wife of Robert S. Miller, born Feb- ruary 8, 1865, lives on a farm in Kellogg township, near the home of the subject; Martha E., wife of Ed. Van Epps, born January 25, 1867, lives in Buena Vista township on a farm; he died in 19II.
The subject of this sketch was married to Lucy J. Mark, daughter of Samuel and Fanny Mark, June 17, 1895. She was born September 16, 1868, in Marion county, Iowa. Her parents were both natives of Ohio. They re- moved to Iowa and settled in Marion county, and when the daughter, Lucy, was six years old (1876), they moved to Jasper county and bought land in Buena Vista township. Here the father died in 1893. The mother still lives on the place and is sixty-three years old at the time +his sketch is written.
Mrs. Scoville was one of seven children, two of whom died in infancy; Rosaltha, who married William Drake, lives on a farm in Kellogg township near the Scovilles; Ada, widow of George Sampson, who was killed by foul air while engaged in boring out a well, lives with her mother at the old home place ; and Daisy, who married Charles Sampson, a brother of George, men- tioned above. They live on a farm in the northern part of Iowa. Mrs. Sco- ville's father enlisted in Ohio for the Civil war, and served about three years.
To Mr. and Mrs. Scoville were born four children: Robert Mark. born May 10, 1897; Viola, born February 25, 1901 ; Emerson, born September 21, 1902 ; Lester, born May 1, 1899, died in infancy.
Mr. Scoville is the owner of two hundred and twenty-one acres of splendid land, well improved, a part of it being that which his father entered in 1854. He is a member of the Knights of Pythias Lodge No. 376 at Kellogg. He has held township offices, such as road commissioner and supervisor, and school director. In politics he is a Republican. He is not affiliated with any church. Mrs. Scoville is a member of the Methodist Episcopal church.
FRED WHITEHEAD.
Conspicuous among Jasper county's most influential and solid citizens and representative business men of central Iowa, Fred Whitehead, although born in alien lands, has, while advancing his individual interests, done much for the general development of this vicinity, with which the latter part of his life has been closely interwoven. A man of sterling worth, unswerving integrity and
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progressive ideas, his well regulated life has gained the admiration and respect of all who have come into contact with him.
Mr. Whitehead was born in Somersetshire, England, October 4, 1835, the son of William and Maria (Harris) Whitehead, both natives of England, his father being the third in order of birth in a family of four children born to Thomas Whitehead and wife. William Whitehead was a mason by trade, also followed farming later in life. He emigrated to America with his family in 1845, when the subject was ten years old, and they settled in Pittsburgh, Penn- sylvania, in which city a brother John, uncle of Fred, of this review, had located eight years previously. Leaving Pittsburgh in 1851 William White- head moved his family to Chicago, but soon left there and bought a farm near Joliet, Illinois, which he sold in 1856 and moved to Madison county, Iowa, and later to Marion county, where he continued to reside until his death, in 1891, at the advanced age of eighty-nine years. He established a good home in the new world, became active in Republican politics and was highly respected wherever he lived. His widow survived him until 1897, when she died at Monroe, Iowa, having attained the ripe age of ninety-one years.
To William Whitehead and wife four children were born, namely : Matilda, who married William F. Reed, a business man of Pittsburgh, died while on a visit to the subject of this sketch at Monroe; Walter is living on a farm in Kansas; his wife died, leaving eight children: Fred of this review; Elizabeth A. is the widow of William A. Hankins, lives with her son, her only child, who is a rancher and stock man in northwestern Nebraska.
Fred Whitehead obtained his education in the country schools, which was later in life supplemented by wide and careful reading on miscellaneous sub- jects and by actual contact with the world. In speaking of this phase of his life record, he laconically remarked that his early education had been neglected in view of the fact that he had to work instead of go to school. He learned the plumbers' trade in Pittsburgh and also farmed a while prior to the com- mencement of the Civil war. On August 15, 1861, he proved his loyalty to his adopted country by enlisting at Monroe, Iowa, in Company I, Tenth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and he proved to be a very faithful defender of the Stars and Stripes, having taken part in the following engagements: Raymond, Jackson (before the siege of Vicksburg), Champion's Hill, siege of Vicks- burg, second battle of Jackson, Missionary Ridge, New Madrid, Missouri, and Corinth, Mississippi. He received an honorable discharge and was mustered out on September 28. 1864, at Kingston, Georgia. He was wounded in the bat- tle of Champion's Hill.
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After his career in the army Mr. Whitehead returned to Iowa and bought ninety acres in Marion county, for which he paid three dollars and fifty cents per acre. He held this land until five years ago. At the present time he owns a half section of good land in Arkansas and nearly six hundred acres in Ten- nessee. He also owned considerable land in Nebraska. which he later disposed of. In 1894 he retired from active farm life and moved to Monroe, where he has a modern, attractive and pleasant home. He has been very successful in his business operations and is one of the substantial men of the southern part of the county. He has never married.
Mr. Whitehead is a Republican and he cast his first ballot for Fremont. He has always taken an abiding interest in public affairs, especially in what- ever tended to the betterment of Jasper county. Personally, he is a genial, obliging and honest gentleman.
W. S. JOHNSON.
Those who know W. S. Johnson, well known editor and publisher of Jasper county, will readily acquiesce in the statement that there is much in his life record worthy of commendation and admiration. Like many other energetic young men who are leaving their impress upon the magnificent de- velopment of this favored section of the great Hawkeye commonwealth, he did not wait for a specially brilliant opening. Indeed, he could not wait, for his natural industry would not have permitted him to do so. In his early youth he gave evidence of the possession of traits of character which have made his life exceptionally successful and he is today admittedly one of the useful, public-spirited citizens of the locality of which this history treats, having long had its interests at heart and doing all in his power for its general progress along material, civic and moral lines, thereby becoming a molder of public opinion and winning the confidence and good will of all classes.
Mr. Johnson was born at Worthington, Ohio, October 9, 1860. He is the son of Rev. Silas and Harriet L. (Doolittle) Johnson, the father pastor of the Presbyterian church at Worthington for a number of years, and a proni- inent figure in that denomination in the Buckeye state, from which the family moved to Oskaloosa, Iowa, in 1862, thence to Indianola, this state, in 1867, where the subject of this sketch grew to manhood and received his education in the public schools and Simpson College, located in that city. He later at- tended the Iowa State University. In 1883 he read law in the office of Young
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& Parrish at Leon, Iowa, and the same year was admitted to the bar by the district court and he at once opened an office at Leon, where he engaged in the practice of his profession for about two years. Although he was building up a large clientele and meeting with general success, the law was not exactly to his taste and in 1885 he turned his attention to the field of journalism, pur- chasing the Leon Journal, of which paper he was editor and manager for six years; since then he has been owner and editor of the Express at Garden Grove, Iowa, the Pioneer at Sanborn, Iowa, and the Record in the city of Newton, having bought the latter paper in 1905 and he still continues as editor and owner. He has conducted all these popular newspapers in a manner that reflects much credit on his ability and rendered them very potent factors in the community. He has improved the mechanical appearance of each, making them the disseminators of the brightest and best news of the day, greatly in- creased the circulation of each and rendered them most valuable advertising mediums. His editorials are always eagerly read and have much weight on whatever topic that is taken up. These papers are easily the peer of any of their class in the state. Mr. Johnson ranks high in the estimation of his pro- fessional brethren throughout the country.
Mr. Johnson was married on May 20, 1889, at Leon, Iowa, to Julia B. Hoodley, the representative of an excellent family and a lady of many esti- mable traits. This union has been blessed by the birth of three children, namely : Lewis, Ruth and Bertha. Mr. Johnson is a member of the Presby- terian church of Newton, and in his fraternal relations he belongs to the Masonic order. He has been a member of the school board of Newton for four years and he is in his second term as president of the Newton Com- mercial Association. If he takes pride in any one thing it is that he has never lost an opportunity to boost his own city and state. Personally he is a genial, obliging and unassuming gentleman, popular with the masses, irrespective of party alignment.
JOHN P. HUMMEL.
At this point we enter brief record concerning another of the representa- tive agriculturists, now living in honorable retirement in his cozy home in Monroe, Jasper county, and aside from the position he occupies as a leading and highly esteemed citizen of the locality there is added interest attached to the resume of his career from the fact that he came here early in life and lived to see and take part in the wonderful advancement of the Hawkeye state, his
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family have been one of the advance guard of progress and material ad- vancement and while he has benefited himself in a very material way in this community, he has been of much value to the county owing to his public spirit and his loyalty to the support of any movements which have as their ultimate aim the bettering of the community which has long been honored by his resi- dence.
Mr. Hummel was born December 25, 1853, in Montgomery county, Ohio, and he is the son of Benedict and Nancy (Holp) Hummel. The father was born in Wittenberg. Germany, and there grew to maturity and was edu- cated, emigrating to the United States in 1848, no other member of his family coming to our shores for many years afterwards. He settled on a farm in Montgomery county, Ohio, where he lived four years, then moved to Elkhart county, Indiana, and purchased a farm of eighty acres, and there he lived and farmed until 1863, when he brought his family to Jasper county, Iowa, and purchased a farm of two hundred and forty acres in Fairview township, five miles northwest of Monroe. While living in Montgomery county, Ohio, he and Nancy Holp were married. She was the daughter of a farmer and was born in Pennsylvania. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Benedict Hummel ; Elizabeth, who married W. W. Wagoner, a well known farmer in Fairview township, this county, living five miles northwest of Monroe; Mike is married and lives on the home farm; and John P., of this review, who lives in Monroe. The mother of these children died at the old home place in 1887 at the age of sixty-seven years. In 1872 the father went West and was never again heard from.
John P. Hummel, who was the second child in order of birth, was about nine years old when the family moved to Iowa ; he received his education in the country schools in Fairview township near the home farm, remaining at home. assisting with the general farm work, until his marriage, which occurred in January, 1898. His wife was known in her maidenhood as Augusta Russ, daughter of Leonard and Catherine (Hummel) Russ. She was born in Ger- many in 1861, her parents being natives of the fatherland. They came to America in 1871 and settled at Monroe, Jasper county, Iowa. She was one of a family of five children, namely : Mary, who married George Magg, a retired farmer, now living at Prairie City ; Kate, who married William Lotz, lives one mile south of Monroe in Marion county ; Bergie married Lewis Wilhelm and lives on a farm northwest of Monroe; the wife of our subject was the oldest of the family; Lucy married George McCombs, of California, a ranchman. The parents of these children are both deceased.
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After his marriage John P. Hummel left the farm and built a home in Monroe, and it was here that the greatest sorrow as well as the greatest joy visited him, for with the birth of the little daughter, Augusta, on April 13, 1891, the mother's life ended, leaving the husband and the home desolate and the beloved daughter to grow up without a mother's protecting care and love. Mrs. Hummel was a lady of estimable character, kind and gentle mannered, beloved by all who knew her. She was a faithful member of the Catholic church at Des Moines. Since her death Mr. Hummel has lived alone, the child being kept by her aunt and uncle while she is small.
Mr. Hummel has been very successful in a business way. Besides his property in Monroe, which is modern and valuable, he is the owner of one of the choice farms of Fairview township, consisting of two hundred and sixty acres, which he has placed under a high state of cultivation and on which is to be found a good set of buildings. He is now living retired from active life. He is a man of splendid character and has the friendship and respect of all who know him.
EMAL LORAINE WARING.
Everybody in Jasper county knows and likes "Lar" Waring. They could not well help doing so, for he is a jovial, warm-hearted, generous, kindly gentleman, who, while laboring to advance his own interests never loses sight of his obligations to his neighbors and the public in general.
Emal Loraine Waring was born March 3, 1876, and he is the son of John C. and Martha (McCrea) Waring, the former a native of New York and the mother of Indiana, but they came to Iowa when young and the subject was born in Jasper county. When they first came here, the father, then a young man, worked out as a farm hand, and after his marriage he rented land for a number of years, thereby getting a good start. He later purchased eighty acres near Reasnor upon which he made an excellent living, developed a fine farm and remained there the rest of his life, his death occur- ring on November 22, 1889, when he was fifty-two years of age. His widow survives and makes her home in Reasnor. Besides farming, Mr. Waring con- ducted a general grain and lumber business for over twelve years, during the last few years of his life representing the Denniston & Partridge Company. He was a man of splendid business ability, rare probity of character and was known and respected all over this locality.
Emal L. Waring is a member of a family of seven children, named as follows: Verda married S. D. Jones, a mechanical engineer, residing at
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Colfax; James E., a carpenter, lives at Reasnor; Emal L., of this review ; Clyde C. is in the bank at Reasnor; Charles V., commonly known as "Vint," lives on a farm near Newton; Fay is the wife of George Worth, a farmer residing near Monroe; Jesse Leo lives in Reasnor.
After receiving a fairly good education, Emal L. Waring, when twenty- ·one years of age, began life for himself on a farm, which he continued nearly four years, after which he and Albert Lufkin farmed in partnership, contin- uing thus for four years, at the end of which time Mr. Waring came to Reasnor, having laid by some capital, and here he engaged in buying and selling stock and grain. After three successful years in this business he purchased a farm near Kellogg, on which he lived two years, when he sold out and returned to Reasnor and again engaged in the live stock and grain business, which he has continued with uniform success to the present time, building up an extensive and satisfactory business through energy, good management and square dealing.
On November 23, 1898, Mr. Waring was united in marriage with Ollie Blackledge, daughter of Frank and Atlanta Blackledge, natives of Indiana, from which 'state they moved to Nebraska in early life. Mrs. Waring was born in Jasper county, Iowa, July 28, 1876. Mr. and Mrs. Blackledge spent their lives on a farm and they are now both deceased. They were people of excellent worth and highly respected.
To Mr. and Mrs. Waring five children have been born, of whom Rollin died in infancy ; the living are Thelma, Dale, Russell and Warren.
Mrs. Waring is a consistent member of the Methodist Episcopal church of Reasnor. In politics Mr. Waring is a Democrat and he has always mani- fested a lively interest in whatever tended to promote the good of his locality.
E. P. MENDENHALL.
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