USA > Iowa > Jasper County > Past and present of Jasper County, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 26
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Mr. Macmillan has long taken an abiding interest in public affairs in the various communities where he has resided, his support having always been on the side of right as he saw and understood the right in all public matters. He was county superintendent of schools in Wadena county, Minnesota, for one term; he was president of the school board at Verndale, Minnesota, for six years. He was speaker's clerk in the House of Representatives of that state in 1889. He was postmaster at Verndale, Minnesota, and at Barlow, North Dakota. As a public servant he performed his duties in an able and conscien- tious manner, always to the eminent satisfaction of all concerned. Reli- giously, he was one of the first members of the Congregational church at Verndale.
JASPER COUNTY, IOWA.
Mr. Macmillan has been employed in the job offices of the Faithorn Printing Company and Donnelly & Sons, of Chicago; the Pioneer Press Com- pany, of St. Paul, and Miller & Davis, of Minneapolis.
Mr. Macmillan was married in 1882 to Eliza Dougherty, daughter of a highly esteemed family of Waverly, Iowa, and a lady of many praiseworthy characteristics. This union has been graced by the birth of three children, namely : Ethel, who was graduated from the University of Minnesota, and is now teacher of English in the high school at Rochester, Minnesota, having formerly been principal and teacher of English of the high school at Sauk Center, that state, for a period of three years; the two sons, Edward D. and Ralph A., are assisting Mr. Macmillan in the publication of the Newton Herald, each giving promise of bright future careers.
Personally, Mr. Macmillan is a genial and companionable, well-educated. public-spirited and honorable gentleman, whom to know is to respect and admire.
DALLAS HANKE.
The true western spirit of progress and enterprise is strikingly exempli- fied in the lives of such men as Dallas Hanke, one of Jasper county's honored native sons, whose energetic nature and laudable ambition have enabled him to conquer many adverse circumstances and advance steadily. He has met and overcome obstacles that would have discouraged many men of less determination and won for himself not only a comfortable competency, to- gether with one of the very choice farms of this favored locality, but also a prominent place among the enterprising men of this section of the great Hawkeye commonwealth. Such a man is a credit to any community and his life forcibly illustrates what energy and consecutive effort can accomplish when directed and controlled by correct principles and high moral resolves, and no man is worthier of conspicuous mention in a volume of the province of the one at hand.
Mr. Hanke was born in Jasper county on November 25, 1870, the son of Edward and Margaret (Armour) Hanke, both natives of Pennsylvania, where they grew to maturity, were educated and married, and the father worked as a candy-maker in Philadelphia for some time. About forty-five years ago he came to Jasper county, Iowa, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Kellogg township, which he developed and on which he made
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his home for twenty-five years, when he rented his farm, moved to Kellogg, and there engaged in the hotel business for two years, and from there he moved to Stewart for about three years and then he came to Newton, where he lived about three or four years and then returned to his farm for two years and then went to Philadelphia, where he engaged in the grocery and oil business. There his death occurred about fifteen years ago at the age of sixty years. He was familiar with the oil business, having been engaged in that for some time in Pennsylvania. After his death his widow re-married, her last husband being John Ashley, and they are living in Newton, Iowa.
Dallas Hanke was the youngest child in a family of four children. namely: John is engaged in farming east of Newton; George died in Penn- sylvania in very early life; Dena married James Hunter, a machinist, and they are living in Des Moines. By her second marriage Mrs. Hanke has no children.
Dallas Hanke received his schooling in the district school in Kellogg township and also attended school some in Newton. He started in life for himself when twelve years of age and when twenty years old he began farm- ing for himself. He purchased eighty acres of land in Newton township when he was twenty-one years old and this he farmed for sixteen years, when he sold it together with another eighty which he had added to it. This was in 1907. He then bought the place he now owns and put up a fine, modern residence. His splendid farm here consists of two hundred and five acres, well improved and under a high state of cultivation, in fact, there is no more valuable or desirable farm in the county, and, considering the fact that he has made this fine property by his own efforts, he has a just cause to be proud of it. He has never depended upon anyone to do either his work or planning, and, having managed well and closely applied himself, his large success is the legitimate reward of energy well spent. a life honorably lived.
In 1892 Mr. Hanke was united in marriage with Mary Vincent, who was born at Metz, Iowa, the daughter of Platt and Alla ( Hitchler) Vincent. Her parents were very early settlers at Metz. Mr. Vincent, who is now seventy years of age, has been a teacher in the public schools for a period of fifty years and is still engaged in the work, being one of the best known and popular educators of the county, his services having been in great demand, both his ability and character having been fully tested and found of the highest order. His wife died when the daughter, Mrs. Hanke, was three years of age. Mr. Vincent has remained faithful to his wife's memory and has never married again. His only other child, besides Mrs. Hanke, was a son, who died in infancy.
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To Mr. and Mrs. Hanke five children have been born, as follows: Ray- mond, who is attending high school in Newton; Floy has just completed the graded schools; Alva attends school in Newton, as does also Merlo; Earl is a year old at this writing.
Mr. Hanke is a stanch Republican, and while he takes the interest of a good citizen in the affairs of his town and county, he is not a seeker after public honors. He is a worthy member of the Methodist Episcopal church in Newton, as is also Mrs. Hanke, who is a cultured and affable lady, who, like her husband, has made a host of friends since moving here.
HANS PETER ANDERSON.
Kellogg township, Jasper county, can boast of no more typical twentieth- century farmer than Hans Peter Anderson, as is shown by a cursory glance over his well improved, well tilled and well kept farm, where everything seems to be in its place and all under a superb system.
Mr. Anderson was born in Malmo, Sweden, October 23, 1859. He is the son of Peter and Hannah (Swanson) Anderson, both born in 1840 in the same place as their son.
The subject grew to maturity in his native country and went to school in Malmo until he was thirteen years of age. He came to America in 1871 and settled in Kellogg township, Jasper county, Iowa. He saw the future possi- bilities here and has remained. In order to get a start he herded cattle and worked on the farm by the day for five years, devoting his time especially to gathering corn in the fall of the year. Then he railroaded for four years for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific road, serving three years at section work for the same. Upon leaving the road he purchased eighty acres and began farming for himself in 1883. Thirty acres of this land was timbered, about ten acres of which he cleared during the first four years and in 1890 he added one hundred and seventy-three acres, thus making him a splendid farm of two hundred and fifty-three acres, which he has gradually improved and kept well cultivated, raising general staple crops and hogs, cattle and horses. He has an attractive and well furnished home and good outbuildings.
In 1883 he married. in Kellogg, Iowa. Karna Anderson, who was born in Malmo, Sweden, June 16, 1863, and this union has resulted in the birth of eight children, seven daughters and one son, namely : Hannah, born November I, 1883. died December 18th following: Hannah Elizabeth, born November
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RESIDENCE OF HANS P. ANDERSON
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II, 1884; Mary, born September 18, 1886; Hulda Amelia, born October 31, 1888; Carrie, born September 1, 1890; Harry, born August 10, 1893, died November 7th following; Ethel Agnes, born August 28, 1894; Delia Pearl, born November 11, 1896; May, born May 15, 1899; Laurence Wilbur, born September 25, 1903.
Mr. Anderson was formerly a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a Republican and belongs to the Christian church. He has always taken a great interest in public affairs and has held numerous local offices, having been school director for twenty years, holding this position at present. He was président of the school board of his district, his term expir- ing January 1, 1911, he having held that position since 1909, and he has served in that capacity four different times, always most satisfactorily.
Mr. Anderson is president of the Farmers Elevator Company at Kellogg, which was organized in June, 1909, at which time he was elected president, and the large success achieved by this concern has been due principally to his judicious management and wise counsel. He relates with interest of his trip from Sweden which was made on the old Allen line steamer, he having taken passage from Liverpool, England, to Quebec, Canada. He then came direct to Kellogg, Iowa. He could not then understand or speak a word of English, thus finding it very difficult to make himself understood, but he was treated with every courtesy and consideration. He found rather primitive conditions here, most of the settlers still living in rude shanties, and frequently during the long winters he would awaken to find the snow drifting under his bed, but, nothing daunted, he has forged to the front over every obstacle and is today one of the substantial and influential men of his community.
JAMES LEE.
The life history of James Lee, an honored citizen of Newton, Jasper county, is that of a man who has lived for a high purpose and has succeeded because his efforts have been rightly directed, and now in the golden evening of his life he can look over the vista of the past and realize that, after all, the "lines have been cast for him in pleasant places," and he faces the future with the calm assurance that "all is well."
Mr. Lee is of sterling old New England stock, having been born in Bristol county, Massachusetts, June 30, 1831. He is the son of Stephen and Sarah (West) Lee, both natives of Massachusetts, in which state they were
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reared, educated, married and spent their lives on a farm, both being now deceased. They were the parents of eight children, James of this review being the only one living, although they all lived to be over fifty years of age.
James Lee grew to maturity in his native state and received a good pub- lic school education. Believing that the then new Middle West held peculiar advantages for the willing worker, he came to Dubuque, Iowa, in 1854, thence to Bremer county, Iowa, where he remained until 1856, when he moved to Bellevue, Nebraska, where he worked at the carpenter's trade. In 1858 he went to Colorado, where he remained three years, driving from Omaha to Denver, in 1858, the year in which the present great city of Den- ver was started. In 1861 he came to Jasper county, Iowa, and engaged in farming, which he followed successfully up to about twenty years ago when he retired from active work. He has also large interests in Nebraska and town property in Newton. He has been very successful in whatever he has been engaged, having always worked hard and managed well. His fortune will aggregate easily one hundred thousand dollars.
Mr. Lee was married first in 1862 to Sarah Whitcomb, who was born in Indiana and whose death occurred in 1884. To this union six children were born, one dying in infancy, namely: Marietta, wife of Rev. M. L. Rose, of Yakima, Washington : Cady died in infancy ; Hon. C. G. is at present circuit judge of the district embracing Ames, Iowa, in which city he lives; Orpha is the wife of Dick Daley, of Newton, Iowa; James E. and Stephen A. also live in Newton. In 1885 Mr. Lee married Penelope Thralkild, a native of Missouri, who died in 1887.
In 1893 Mr. Lee was married to Eliza E. Davis, who was born in Indiana, but was reared in Iowa, to which state she was brought by her parents when a baby. To this union there was no issue .. She was the daugh- ter of C. M. Davis, an old settler and highly respected citizen of Jasper county.
Mr. Lee is a member of the Christian church, of which he is an elder and a liberal supporter, in fact. a pillar. Mrs. Lee is also a faithful member of this church. He has held several minor township offices, such as town- ship treasurer and he has been school treasurer for many years in Kellogg township where he lived on his farm before he moved to Jasper. He was also township clerk and a member of the school board quite a while. Politically, he has supported both parties as his conscience dictated.
He has a beautiful, modern and commodious home on East Main street, Newton, which was built in 1905. Here the many friends of the family frequently gather, always finding an old-time hospitality and good cheer prevailing.
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Mr. Lee is a man whom to know is to honor, for he is a whole-souled, genial and genteel gentleman, widely read, an excellent conversationalist, a man who has kept abreast of the times and who has always stood ready to support those measures looking toward the general good of his community, and no man in the county is more popular or held in higher esteem; however, he is a plain, unassuming man, contented merely to be a good citizen of a good country.
SAMUEL FAILOR.
It is no easy task to describe adequately a man who has led an eminently active and busy life and who has attained a position of relative distinction in the community with which his interests are allied. But biography finds its most perfect justification, nevertheless, in the tracing and recording of such a life history. It is, then, with a full appreciation of all that is demanded and of the painstaking scrutiny that must be accorded each statement, and yet with a feeling of satisfaction, that the writer essays the task, touching upon the details of such a record as has been that of Samuel Failor, long a well- known business man of Newton, Jasper county, but who is now living in honored retirement.
Mr. Failor was born at Bucyrus, Crawford county, Ohio, on June 10, 1835, the son of Andrew and Elizabeth (Meyers) Failor, natives of Pennsyl- vania. His paternal grandfather was also named Andrew Failor. The father of the subject was a farmer. but in the early part of his life he learned the tailor's trade. He moved to Ohio in 1831 and entered land from the government and there, practically in the wilderness, he developed a good farm on which he spent the balance of his life, his death occurring in 1849, at the age of fifty years, his birth having occurred in 1799. He was a man of advanced ideas, of much more than average intelligence and foresight, and he was prominent socially and politically in his neighborhood. After his marriage he attended school and studied surveying, and always a student, he became a well-informed man. He was a life-long Democrat and active in politics. He was elected associate judge from his district in Ohio on the Democratic ticket, which he held until his death. His wife, whose birth occurred in 1800, also reached the advanced age of ninety years. Their family consisted of nine children, of whom Samuel, of this review, was the sixth in order of birth; they are, Andrew, who came to Iowa in 1855, became well-known and successful as a farmer and stock man, and his death
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occurred in Washington, D. C .; A. Jefferson, who devoted his life to farm- ing, died in Ohio; Katherine E. died in infancy; Benjamin A., for many years a prominent physician of Newton, Iowa, was murdered about nine years ago, one night while answering a sick call, the motive for the tragedy having been robbery, the murderer having been finally captured and brought to justice, this having been one of the most regrettable and sensational mur- ders in the history of the county; he was a veteran of the Civil war, having gone to the front as a lieutenant. and when he was mustered out he ranked as major; he was in the Nineteenth Army Corps; he came to Iowa in 1866; he left one child, a daughter, Anna. Margaret J. Failor, who married John F. Mitchell, died in Springfield, Ohio; Mary, the widow of Joseph H. Lyday, lives in Newton: Elizabeth, who married in Ohio, David Fullerton, later moved to Augusta, Georgia, and is deceased; Cecilia is the wife of Rev. H. S. Cook, formerly pastor of the Lutheran church in Newton, now living in Pennsylvania.
Samuel Failor, of this review, got his education in the public schools of Bucyrus, Ohio. He was apprenticed three years to a tinner to learn that trade. In 1856 he came to Iowa, reaching here in the winter when the ground was covered with an unusually deep snow, having made the trip from Iowa City to Newton by stage, the horses being scarcely able to travel through the deep snow. During his first two years in the new country he broke prairie with an ox team then, after working at his trade for a short time, went into business for himself, but when the Civil war broke out he arranged his affairs in such a manner as would permit him to go to the front, so in 1862 he enlisted in the Fortieth Iowa Volunteer Infantry, but that same day he secured a substitute and then enlisted as a musician in Gen. G. M. Dodge's Third Brigade band, Second Division, Sixteenth Army Corps, and he served faithfully for a period of three years, receiving an honorable dis- charge at Louisville, Kentucky, on July 7, 1865. He was at both battles of Corinth, at Atlanta, Kenesaw Mountain, and many others, and was with General Sherman on his famous campaign. He hired a man to look after his business while he was in the army, at the rate of fifty dollars per month, but when he returned he found his business ruined. Ten days after his return he opened up a hardware store, but seven months later he sold out and bought a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Malaka township, which he farmed for eight years, then sold out and went into the dry goods business in Kellogg : three years later he sold out and again went into the tinning business, in which he continued with his usual success for fifteen years, when he sold
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out and came to Newton and launched a lightning rod and eaves-trough business, in the interest of which he traveled over the county and adjacent territory, covering a radius of forty miles. Continuing in this line three years, he retired from active work, turning his business over to his sons. He met with encouraging success in whatever he attempted. He owns a good residence and several pieces of valuable property in Newton.
In September, 1865, Mr. Failor was' united in marriage with Lucy E. Winslow, who was born August 15, 1843, at Pittsford, Vermont, the daugh- ter of E. S. and Almino Winslow, natives of Vermont. This family came to Iowa in 1855. Mr. Winslow, who devoted his life to farming, died in New- ton, Iowa, at the age of fifty-four years. They were the parents of a large family, twelve children, but only a few of them lived to maturity; Charles F., a veteran of the Civil war, died in Nebraska; H. S., who became a well- known attorney, and at one time judge of this circuit, died at Newton; Clarissa M. married Jeffrey Stone, who at one time lived in Newton, and who died in Lincoln, Nebraska, and she died in Lander, Wyoming; Willard, an old soldier, is living in the state of Washington; Mary, widow of William Whitcomb, lives in Washington.
To Mr. and Mrs. Failor five children, all sons, have been born, namely : Clarence W., who was editor of the Newton Courier for nine years and who has remained unmarried, lives at home; Elmer J. and Holland J. both live in Newton, engaged in the tinning business; they are married and each has five children; H. Virgil lives at Tucson, Arizona, where he is a prominent attorney and is secretary of the Chamber of Commerce of that city ; he was graduated from Grinnell College, also the University of Nebraska, and for some time he was professor of the school at Denniston, Iowa; he is married and has three children. George F. Failor, who formerly taught school at Grinnell, is still a resident of that city; he is married and has two sons.
Mr. Failor is a member of Garrett Post No. 16, Grand Army of the Republic. He is a progressive Republican. He and his wife are members of the Congregational church at Newton. Mrs. Failor is a lady of splendid in- tellectual attainments. She taught school from the time she was fifteen years old until her marriage at the age of twenty-two. For two years she was the state organizer of Bands of Hope, under the auspices of the Good Templar lodge. She has long been an ardent worker for temperance, and is a member of the Order of Eastern Star. She is widely and most favorably known, being a lady of talent and refinement. high social standing and a worker for any cause having for its object the betterment of the community in general.
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WILLIAM J. KLING.
The qualities which have made William J. Kling one of the prominent and most successful of agriculturists and stock men of Palo Alto township, Jasper county, have also brought him the esteem of his fellow citizens, for his career has been one of well directed energy, strong determination and honor- able methods. He works under a superb system, keeps everything in its proper place and does not disregard small details. Such methods as he employs always insure a fair if not very large measure of success in all lines.
Mr. Kling was born December 25, 1863, in Germany. the ninth child in a family of ten children born to John and Elizabeth ( Rotdh) Kling, both natives of Germany. John Kling in his later years followed farming for the most part and in this was very successful. He came to America with his family in 1870 and for a few months they stopped in St. Clair county. Illinois, where some of their relatives were residing, but early in the year 1871 they pushed on farther west and located in Jasper county, Iowa, Mr. Kling buying two hundred acres of land in Elk Creek township. Here he prospered, becoming one of the town- ship's most extensive land owners, and as a child married he gave each a cer- tain amount of land. At the time of his death he owned three hundred acres, but had quit farming ten years previously. His death occurred on June 16, 1899, at the advanced age of eighty-seven years, his wife having preceded him to the grave in 1875 at the age of fifty-two years. Their ten children all grew to sturdy manhood and womanhood.
William J. Kling attended the public schools of Elk Creek township and soon after coming of age his father gave him eighty acres of land. A few years later (1890) he purchased seventy acres more. He now has one of the choicest farms in the township, comprising two hundred and sixty acres, eighty acres of which is in section I and one hundred and eighty acres in sec- tion 12, adjoining. He has brought his land up to a high state of improve- ment and cultivation. He has a fine, modern home and excellent buildings of all kinds. He keeps a good grade of live stock and is in every respect one of our most enterprising farmers.
On April 9, 1891. Mr. Kling was united in marriage with Wilhelmina Andreas, daughter of F. C. and Wilhelmina (Castorf) Andreas, both natives of Germany. She was born in Elk Creek township, Jasper county, Iowa, on January 15. 1870. Her parents were both children when they came to Am- erica ; they became well established here, Mr. Andreas being one of the leading farmers of Elk Creek township. Mr. Andreas died March 18, 1911. Of the ten children born in his family. all survive.
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In 1901 Mr. Kling sold his farm of one hundred and fifty acres in Elk Creek township and bought two hundred and sixty acres in Palo Alto town- ship, where he now lives.
To Mr. and Mrs. Kling four children have been born, namely: Elma, born October 25, 1892; Ada, born July 14, 1895; Leonard, born November 21, 1898; Lorene, born November 1, 1902.
Mr. and Mrs. Kling are members of the Lutheran church. Politically, he is a Democrat. He is a man of high character and sterling worth, of an enterprising and progressive spirit and possessing excellent judgment, and he always stands for a square deal between man and man. It is to men of the character of Mr. Kling that this country owes so much.
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