USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 12
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Andrew Culver, a contracting carpenter of Sibley, Iowa, and the son of Andrew M. and Anna (Kennedy) Culver, was born February 1, 1846, in Portage county, Iowa. His father was born in August, 1811, near Spring- field, New York, and was married in Portage county, Ohio, to Anna Kennedy. Andrew M. Culver's father settled in the Western Reserve of Ohio early in the last century and in 1850 the family moved to Albany, Athens county, Ohio. While living here Andrew M. was mustered into the Ohio National Guard and later served in the Union army in the one-hundred-days' service. Andrew M. and his son Andrew were both in Company H, One Hundred and Forty-first Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for one hun- dred days. The Culver family lived in Athens county until March, 1865, and then moved to Wisconsin, where they lived six years. In the fall of 1870 they moved to southwestern Iowa and in the following spring came to Osceola county, where they homesteaded on section 24. township 29, range 42, about one and one-half miles south of Sibley. During the first summer the family lived in a board shanty, twelve by eighteen feet and seven feet high. In the fall of 1871 they built a house fourteen by twenty-four feet and fourteen feet high and also a sod stable with a roof. The first year Andrew broke up twenty-five acres of land. During the grasshopper years they suffered as did all the other settlers of this section of the state and were oftentimes practi-
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cally on the verge of starvation. One summer the grasshoppers ate up twenty-five acres of fine corn, after it had a good start. Andrew M. Culver was elected county treasurer in the fall of the first year that they lived in the county and served for two years. He lived on his homestead until about 1879, and then sold out and bought eighty acres near Sibley, where he lived three years. He then moved to Sibley where he lived until his death, April IO. 1904. His wife died June 2, 1876. Andrew M. Culver and wife were the parents of a large family of children: One who died in youth; Alonzo, a soldier in the Thirty-sixth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, was killed at Lewisburg. West Virginia, in a battle on May 23, 1862; Mrs. Drusilla Bean, deceased : Mrs. Melissa Thomas, deceased : Andrew, whose life history is here presented to the reader.
Andrew Culver received a limited common school education in the schools of Ohio and, as had been indicated, moved with his family from place to place until he finally reached Osceola county in the spring of 1871. Like his father, he received a soldier's claim and at once set to work to improve his land. He was married in the fall of 1871 and then started to housekeeping upon his homestead. Here they lived for ten years, starting in with a very small shanty in which they lived for a few months. In 1881 they sold their farm and moved to Sibley where they have since lived with the exception of one year when they resided in Morrison, Iowa. For twelve years Mr. Culver was employed in the Sibley Flouring Mills, but, the work proving too ardu- ous, he engaged in carpentering and contracting. Since engaging in this business he has been very successful and now owns three valuable residences in Sibley as well as several lots.
Mr. Culver was married on November 29, 1871. to Fanny Marden, who was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, July 29. 1851. She is the daughter of Ed- ward and Mary ( Hayter ) Marden, natives of England. Her parents came from England and settled in Wisconsin, where they were married, living all of their days in that state. The father died in 1869 and the mother in 1894. Mr. Culver had met his wife while his parents were living in Wisconsin. They were sweethearts in that state before he left for Iowa. Accordingly as soon as he had established his claim in Iowa he returned to Wisconsin, where they were married. . They are the parents of six children : Edgar, a druggist and chemist in a wholesale drug house in Sioux City, Iowa; Cleo. a trained nurse and the widow of H. N. Aplin, has three children, Mildred. Bruce and Warren : Mrs. Lottie Mittinger, of Minneapolis: Bruce, who is as- sisting his father in the carpenter work, and Arthur, who died at the age of four, in 1882. Theer are now four generations of the Culver family living
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in Osceola county, as follows: Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Culver ; their dangh- ter, Mrs. Leo Aplin : Mrs. Aplin's daughter, Mrs. Mildred Whitacre, and Mrs. Whitacre's daughter, Miss Elva Whitacre.
Mr. Culver is a Republican in politics, but has never had inclination for public office. Religiously, he and his family have been loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church, while, fraternally, he is a member of the Mod- ern Brotherhood of America and the Grand Army of the Republic. Mr. Culver is a man of optimistic nature and during his long residence in this county he has won a host of friends who admire him for his genial and un- assuming nature.
GEORGE G. BLAKE.
Among the many foreign nations which have contributed their quota to the cosmopolitan population of O'Brien county, there is no country which has furnished a finer type of citizens than has Ireland, and this county may justly be proud of its hundreds of substantial citizens. There is at least one son of the Emerald Isle who is now living in Primghar, who is a gallant veteran of the Civil War, and George G. Blake, who is now residing in the county seat with his children, is one of those deserving men who have cast their for- tunes with the vast territory west of the Mississippi.
George G. Blake, while not a resident of long standing in the county, yet is nevertheless ably represented by his worthy children, who are now living in the county seat. He was born July 10, 1833, in Belfast, Ireland, his parents being of English descent. His father was an English tithe collector, and at the time of George's birth was residing temporarily in Belfast. Robert and Anne (McWilliams) Blake were the parents of eight children, Eliza. Anna. Rachel, Margaret, Maria, George S., Robert and James. The Blake family came to America in 1842, settling near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where they remained for about twelve years, when they went to Illinois, where Robert Blake died in 1863.
George G. Blake received part of his education in Ireland and the re- mainder of it in Wisconsin. At the opening of the Civil War he enlisted in Company E. Ninety-fifth Regiment Illinois Volunteer Infantry, August 22. 1862, and served for three years. He participated in twelve battles of im- portance, among which were Germantown, Vicksburg, and the siege of Petersburg in the spring of 1865. In this latter battle he was engaged in two fierce charges on the works. After the battle of Vicksburg, General Grant's army was divided, and about one-third of the troops were sent to Sherman
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in the eastern part of Tennessee, and the remainder were attached to the army of General Banks on the Red River expedition. Mr. Blake was attached to the Red River expedition and was later transferred with his regiment to Petersburg, where he participated in the final charges upon that city. He was a participant in the Grand Review at Washington, D. C., in May, 1865, and was mustered out in August of the same year. He arrived in Illinois August 22, 1865, and shortly afterward went to Minnesota, where he worked as a missionary among the Indians. He received twenty-six dollars a month and his board, and continued at this work for the next four years.
Mr. Blake was married in 1869 and at once bought a farm at Shell Rock, Minnesota. The land for which he paid seven dollars an acre in 1869 is now worth one hundred and sixty dollars an acre up to two hundred dol- lars an acre. After buying his farm he settled down to the life of a farmer and became one of the most successful agriculturists of his neighborhood. He applied with quiet determination to the task of improving and developing his farm and bringing it to a high state of cultivation, with the result that his efforts were abundantly successful. Several years ago he retired from active work on the farm and went to Primghar to spend the rest of his days with his children.
Mr. Blake was married to Mary Little and to this union were born six children: Mrs. Nettie Smith, of Primghar, who has four children; Mrs. Minnie Metcalfe, who is the mother of three children; Clara, the wife of J. W. Boyd, of Clarksville, Iowa, has one child living; Mrs. Abigail White- house, of Sioux Falls, Iowa, who has three children ; Mrs. Julia Soules, of Tolly, North Dakota, who has two children, and Robert, who is living on his father's farm in Minnesota, and is married and has four children.
Mrs. Blake died several years ago and Mr. Blake, at the earnest solicita- tion of his children in Primghar, left his farm in Minnesota and took up his residence with them in Primghar, and he is now making his home with his daughter, Mrs. Nettie Smith.
Fraternally, Mr. Blake is a member of the Masonic order and is a loyal adherent of the Baptist church. In politics he has always advocated the prin- ciples of the Republican party, but has never been an active worker in the ranks of his party. Mr. Blake has lived a useful life. He and his good wife reared a family of children who have become useful members of society, and now, in his declining years, he can look back over a life which has been well spent. The gallant old veterans are fast passing away, and we can not do them too much honor while they are still living, and his tribute to this vet- eran is but a feeble expression of what is due to him.
O BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
FRANK PAUL WINKLER, M. D.
Professional success results from merit. Frequently in commercial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but in what are known as the learned professions advancement is gained only through painstaking and long-continued effort. Prestige in the healing art is the outcome of strong mentality, close application, thorough mastery of its great underlying principles and the ability to apply theory to practice in the treatment of diseases. Good intellectual training, thorough profes- sional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attri- butes essential to success have made Dr. Frank Paul Winkler eminent in his chosen calling and he stands today among the scholarly and enterprising physicians in a county noted for the high order of its medical talent.
Dr. Frank P. Winkler, a practicing physician and surgeon of Sibley. Iowa, was born June 24, 1882. at Ida Grove. He is the son of William and Caroline ( Rudloff ) Winkler, who are natives of Germany and early setlers in Ida county, Iowa. In 1891 William Winkler and family left Ida Grove and settled in Lyon county, where they lived until 1909, then moved to Luverne, Minnesota, where they are now living.
Doctor Winkler was educated in the public schools of Doon, Lyon county, lowa: attended Charles City College of Charles City, lowa; State University of South Dakota: University of St. Louis, and finally was granted his degree of Doctor of Medicine from the University of Illinois on June 6. 1906. He has also taken post-graduate work in the University of Illinois since graduating. With this excellent training it can be seen that Doctor Winkler has the practical training which is the first requisite of the suc- cessful physician of today. He keeps fairly abreast of the times by keeping in close touch with the latest literature on medical science and also by attend- ing the various medical societies of the country. He is a member of the Osceola County. Iowa State, Sioux Valley and American Medical Associa- tions. and the American Association of Railway Surgeons, and he is attend- ing surgeon of the Samaritan Hospital, at Sibley.
Doctor Winkler began the practice of his profession in Scotland, South Dakota, and remained there three years. He then went to Bryant, South Dakota, where he practiced for the next three years .. He came to Sibley, September 1, 1912, succeeding the practice of Dr. Hiram Neill, and has continued to practice here since that time.
Doctor Winkler was married in 1903 to Julia Ella Catobius, of St.
FRANK P. WINKLER, M. D.
O'BRIEN AND OSCEOLA COUNTIES, IOWA.
Louis, Missouri, who died December 3. 1909, at the age of thirty years. Fraternally, Doctor Winkler is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Brotherhood of American Yeomen. He is also identified with the Eastern Star and the Daughters of Rebekah. At the present time he is a local surgeon for the Chicago, Rock Island & Pacific. as well as the Chicago, Minnesota & Omaha Railways. Doctor Winkler is still a young man and has a long and brilliant career before him. The success which he has attained since coming to this city indicates that the future holds much in store for him. He is a man of pleasing personality and makes friends easily.
C. W. LEWIS.
It would be interesting to know the underlying reasons which govern the choice of occupation and if it were possible to determine in any way the best occupation for a young man to enter, much of the failure in life would be eliminated. Undoubtedly there are many preachers who ought to be farmers, while, on the other hand, there are many farmers who would fill the pulpit with distinction. At this present day and generation there is such a multi- plicity of professions offered to the young man that he is often bewildered by reason of their large number. Today there are thousands of occupations calling for young men where there was a scarce hundred a century ago. The important thing. after all, is for the young man to pick that occupation for which he is best fitted, then to equip himself that he may be an honor to the profession which he chooses. The life history of C. W. Lewis, one of the enterprising newspaper men of Osceola county, is an example of a man who is peculiarly trained for his chosen life work. As a son of a printer. he has learned the trade from the ground up and consequently there is no angle of the business which he does not thoroughly understand.
C. W. Lewis, the editor and publisher of the .Ashton Leader, was born March 2. 1887, in Marcus, Iowa. He is the son of F. A. and Nettie (Watt ) Lewis, who are natives of Wisconsin and Iowa, respectively. His father was a newspaper man and was editor and publisher of the Marcus News for twenty-five years. He was postmaster of Marcus for nine years, holding that position at the time of his death in 1906. F. A. Lewis and wife were the parents of three children : C. F., a farmer of Woodstock, Minnesota: Wil- son, who resides with his mother, and C. W., with whom this narrative deals.
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C. W. Lewis was educated in the Marcus schools and graduated from the high school at the age of eighteen. Before graduating from the high school he had worked in his father's printing office after school hours and in this way became acquainted with the mechanical side of the business at an early age. For the past fourteen years he has been a printer and in active service, with the exception of three years. when he was assistant postmaster of Marcus. He came to Ashton and began the publication of the Leader December 17, 1909, and has had the satisfaction of seeing this paper increase its circulation and widen its influence in this community.
Mr. Lewis was married May 23. 1911, to Florence Hockert, the daugh- ter of J. S. Hockert, a retired merchant of Sutherland, Iowa. To this union have been born two children. Merton, born in June, 1912, and Merna, born in July, 1913. Fraternally, Mr. Lewis is a member of the Modern Woodmen of America. Politically, he is Democratic, but is not a partisan in any sense of the word. He advocates the best measures in his paper in a fluent and forcible manner and yet in a way which indicates his independence of ex- pression.
FRITZ HINZ.
Our nation owes much of its progressiveness to the infusion of the Ger- manic element amongst its population, for in all walks of life they have been found efficient, energetic and patient, enduring with fortitude the hardships of pioneer life and doing their full share in the work of pushing forward the wheels of progress wherever they are located. There is scarcely a locality in the Union that has not felt their strong and ameliorating influence, conse- quently they have ever been most welcome here and all honor is due them.
Fritz Hinz, a retired farmer of Primghar, is a worthy representative of the sturdy and energetic Germans who have come to this county from their faraway native land, and is one of the twenty-five hundred Germans who have honored O'Brien county with their citizenship. Mr. Hinz was born in Holstein, Germany, January 3. 1838, and was the son of Franz and Elzaba ( Youngley ) Hinz, who were the parents of five children: John, of Suther- land. Iowa: Henry, who still resides in the fatherland ; Peter, deceased : Mar- garet. deceased. and Fritz, whose history is here presented.
Fritz Hinz grew up on his father's farm in Germany and at the age of thirty married Wiebke Ehleis, who was born in Germany in 1842. Imme- diately after their marriage they came to America and first settled temporarily
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in Davenport, Iowa, where they stayed for six weeks, after which they went to Tama county, this state, where they bought one hundred and twenty acres of land which they improved and developed to such an extent that they wer. able to sell it at a considerable profit. In 1885 they came to O'Brien county. bought a farm of three hundred and twenty acres adjoining the town of Gaza, a town which is partially built on the Hinz farm. After moving to this farm Mr. Hinz also engaged in the lumber business and was successful from the first. At one time he was the owner of nearly one thousand acres of land in the county, as well as four hundred acres of Dakota land, and also land in other adjoining states. In 1903 Mr. Hinz retired to Primghar after selling his farm and bought seven acres in the town of Primghar. He still holds two hundred and forty acres in Minnesota, and does a real estate business in connection with George W. Schee.
Mr. Hinz adheres to the principles of the Democratic party and, al- though not an office seeker, he has always taken an intelligent interest in the issues of the day. He and the members of his family are loyal members of the German Lutheran church and they give it their earnest support. Mr. and Mrs. Hinz are the parents of four children : Mrs. Minnie Manly, of Dakota ; Frank, whose wife is deceased and who is now living at home with his par- ents, together with his daughter. Celia: Charles, who is running a store in Sanborn, and Mrs. Kate Hendrey, of Primghar.
Mr. Hinz represents the fine type of emigrants who by thrift and in- dustry have become the present substantial citizens in the various communi- ties in which they have settled, who combine business talent with sound busi- ness judgment and foresight to perceive the value of land, all of which has enabled Mr. Hinz to attain to a respectable and eminent position in the af- fairs of his community and enjoy a very comfortable competence. He is the exemplification of the self-made man who has achieved a reputation in this county which places him among the first of his county's business and pub- lic men.
PATRICK REDMOND.
Among the prosperous farmers of O'Brien county of Irish descent there is no one who deserves more honorable mention than Patrick Redmond, a retired farmer of Lincoln township. He was born in Ireland in 1835 and is the son of Peter and Mary (Whalen) Redmond. Peter Redmond was a farmer and teamster in Ireland and lived there all of his days, dying in 1863.
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Peter Redmond was twice married and by his first marriage the following children were born: James, of Pennsylvania; John, deceased : Peter, of Los Angeles, California : Mrs. Marie Clerey, of Ireland; Mary, who was burned to death when a baby, and Patrick, whose history is here briefly delineated. In 1862 he was married to Marie Harris. There were no children by this second marriage, he dying a year after his second marriage.
Patrick Redmond left his native land when he was twenty years of age and came to America, settling in Bucks county, Pennsylvania. He engaged in farming in Pennsylvania until 1865 and then went to Illinois, where he re- mained until 1873. The latter year he went to Henry county, Iowa, and farmed until 1880. His next move took him into Osceola county where he farmed for the next six years. He settled upon his last farm in Lincoln township. O'Brien county, in 1891. purchased two hundred and forty acres of land and improved in such a way that its productivity was greatly in- creased. He set out five acres of trees, which was the custom of most of the farmers of the county. He has always been interested in the raising of live stock and has been a breeder of registered stock. He makes a specialty of French Percheron horses and has taken many prizes at the county fairs of Osceola and O'Brien counties. He now owns a young French Percheron stallion, two years of age, which he values at two thousand dollars. He is a stockholder in the Percheron Society of America at Chicago, Illinois. Mr. Redmond owns a home in Sanborn where he is spending his declining years.
Mr. Redmond was married in 1863, in Pennsylvania, to Mary Sullivan and to this union have been born seven children: Mary, a graduate of the Howe .Academy of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, and now a school teacher in Sanborn ; Thomas, a real estate business man of Sibley, Iowa; Helen, who is teaching school in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, after taking a college course in Drake University, University of Minnesota and other schools; Steven, a farmer of O'Brien county: Margaret, the wife of Doctor Wheatley, government phy- sician at the Soldiers' Home at Dayton, Ohio, and two children, Catherine and Steven, who died in infancy.
Politically, Mr. Redmond has always identified himself with the Repub- lican party and, while interested in politics, yet he has never been an active factor in the campaigns. He and all of his family are earnest members of the Catholic church and contribute generously of their substance to its sup- port. He is a member of the Catholic organization, the Knights of Colum- bus. Mr. and Mrs. Redmond have reared a large family to lives of useful- ness and have given them the best of educational advantages. The best citi- zen is he who takes his full share in the advancement of his community and
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rears a family of children so that they will be able to take their places among the men and women who are advancing civilization in this country, and by this standard Patrick Redmond has met with unusual success. It is better to give a half dozen children, well trained, to the service of the state than to leave a fortune of one hundred thousand dollars to charity or any other or- ganization and no children for the good of society. Mr. Redmond is highly esteemed by every one who knows him and few men in the county have a wider acquaintance than he.
OLIVER A. METZ.
One of the most popular and efficient county officials who has ever held office by the grace of the suffrages of his fellow citizens is Oliver A. Metz. the present county recorder of Osceola county, who has been elected to this office four times in succession and is still holding it, while his previous offi- cial record was one of merit. Before moving to Sibley he was a resident of Allison township, and was nine years the school treasurer of his township and for eight years was township trustee. He is not only recognized in his own county as a man of more than ordinary ability, but at the last annual meet- ing of the State Recorders' Association of lowa. Mr. Metz was unanimously elected as president of the state association. This honor came to him abso- lutely unsolicited and is a marked tribute to his ability and popularity.
Oliver A. Metz. the son of Samuel J. and Susan ( Diamond ) Metz, was born July 1. 1853. in Pennsylvania. His parents were natives of Maryland and Pennsylvania, respectively, and migrated to Black Hawk county, Iowa. in 1865, where they purchased land and lived until 1881. when they returned to Pennsylvania, and two years later came west and settled in Kansas, where Samuel J. Metz died in 1901. He and his wife were the parents of eight children, six of whom are living: N. D., of Lake Park, Iowa; Mrs. Mary Jacobs, of Hay Springs, Nebraska: Mrs. Florence Secoy, of Hutchinson. Kansas: Mrs. Belle Crandall, who lives in Colorado: William H., of Little River, Kansas, and Oliver A., with whom this narrative deals.
Oliver A. Metz was twelve years of age when his parents came from Pennsylvania to this state and consequently he received some of his educa- tion in his native state. When he was twenty-four years of age he began farming for himself in Black Hawk and Grundy counties, living on rented land. In the spring of 1896 he came to Osceola county and purchased the
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