USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 16
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Frank E. Kennedy was educated in the country schools of LaSalle county, Illinois, and later attended an academy in his home county for a short time All of his spare time in his boyhood was spent upon the farm and he was able to attend school for only a few months each year, during the winter months. . When he was twenty-two years of age he left home and began to work for himself and in the spring of 1889 he came to Osceola county and purchased one hundred and sixty acres in Viola township, which he farmed for five years. He then sold it and bought another farm in Viola township, where he lived until 1897, after which he bought a farm of two hundred and ten acres east of Sibley, in East Holman township, on which he resided for fourteen years. For the past three years he has lived in Sibley, where he has a fine modern residence in the eastern part of the city. Since coming to Sibley he has been engaged in the buying and shipping of live stock, handling about one hundred and twenty-five car loads of live stock
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annually. He has his home farm of two hundred and ten acres in East Holman township. In addition to his other interests he is a stockholder in the Sibley State Bank and is a director and vice-president of that financial institution at the present time.
Mr. Kennedy was married in 1891 to Mary Cajacob, the daughter of P. A. Cajacob and wife, pioneer settlers of Osceola county. The reader is referred to the sketch of P. A. Cajacob, elsewhere in this work, for further details as to the family history. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are the parents of seven children, Edward, Ruth, Winifred. Martin, Helen, Lucille and Lorinda. All of these children except Lorinda are now in school, and Lorinda is now a teacher in the schools of Harris, in this county. She studied at St. Mary's Academy, South Bend, Indiana, while Lucille is a student in Winona College at Winona, Indiana. The other children are attending the schools of their home city. Mr. and Mrs. Kennedy are firm believers in the value of a good education and are anxious that their children be given the best attainable.
Mr. Kennedy is a stanch Democrat in politics and has been one of the leaders in his party for many years. He has held various city offices since moving to Sibley and in all of them has performed faithful and efficient service. He and his family are earnest members of the Catholic church and give it their support at all times. Fraternally. he is a member of the Knights of Columbus at Sheldon, Sac county, Iowa. Mr. Kennedy has been a useful citizen of his county and has at all times done his full share in developing and improving the community in which he has lived. His strenuous life has been rewarded with a large measure of success. Since he has always con- ducted his business in strict accordance with the highest business ethics he is highly esteemed by everyone with whom he has been associated.
THEODORE J. STAGE.
The history of any man is interesting inasfar as he has taken a more or less prominent part in the history of his country and it is often the force of circumstances which puts a man into the limelight. While it is not true that we are mere creatures of circumstances, yet there is much truth in the state- ment of the poet. He said that "Many a mute and inglorious Milton" is never recognized by his fellow men. It is easily understood that the history of a man. who. when a mere lad of fourteen, enlisted in the war for the Union and fought through four years of the bloodiest fighting which the
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world has ever seen, could not be otherwise than interesting. After serving through the entire war Theodore J. Stage became a prominent railroad man before he was twenty years of age and was one of the first settlers of Osceola county.
Theodore J. Stage. who is now living a retired life in the county seat of Osceola county, was born August 5, 1845, at Wassaic. Dutchess county, New York. His parents, James J. and Martha A. (Brinton) Stage, were natives of Scotland and Connecticut, respectively. In 1854 James J. Stage went West to buy land and was killed in a railroad wreck on the Great West- ern Railway in Canada on his return to New York. His widow married Solon D. McLane in 1857. In 1855 the mother and two children, Theodore and his sister, now Mrs. Martha Ann Morrison, moved to Dodge county, Wisconsin, where they lived one year. After her marriage to Mr. McLane the family moved to Freeport, Illinois, in 1858 and a year later moved to Davis, Stephen- son county, Illinois. In 1861 the family moved to Rockton, Illinois, where Mr. McLane was foreman of all the masonry construction on the railroad from Weston to Beloit in Wisconsin. In 1866 the family moved to Jessup. Buchanan county, Iowa, where they lived until Mr. McLane died. Mrs. Mc- Lane. the mother of Theodore J. Stage, then sold the home and went to Spo- kane, where she lived until her death.
Theodore J. Stage was only about a month past his sixteenth birthday when he enlisted for the Civil War at Freeport. Illinois. He enlisted on September 25. 1861, in Company B. Twenty-sixth Regiment Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, and was in continuous service until March 9, 1864, having seen three full years of service and, being then a veteran of nineteen years. he decided to re-enlist and accordingly he re-entered the service and was not mustered out until July 20. 1865. He had served four years and two months and was mustered out before he reached his twentieth birthday. It is im- possible in this brief historical sketch to detail the war record of Mr. Stage. but enough is given to show that he was in some of the hardest fought bat- tles of that memorable struggle. The battles and sieges in which he par- ticipated may be briefly enumerated as follows: New Madrid: Island No. Ten: Farmington ; three days' battle of Corinth; siege of Corinth; Iuka; battles and siege of Vicksburg: siege of Jackson, Mississippi; Missionary Ridge ; Lookout Mountain; all the battles of the Atlanta campaign and siege ; Sherman's march to the sea; burning of Columbia, South Carolina ; Benton- ville and Raleigh, North Carolina. He was present at the final surrender of Johnston in North Carolina and, with his regiment, marched to Richmond, Virginia, and thence to Washington, where he was in the Grand Review.
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This is truely a marvelous record and is rendered more striking because of the youth of Mr. Stage.
Mr. Stage returned to Iowa after he was mustered out in July, 1865. and began to work in the railroad shops of Woodbine, in this state. Shortly after he was made a railroad engineer, but served only three months in this capacity. His disability incurred in the service compelled him to retire from the strenuous work of an engineer. He was then a brakeman, baggageman and conductor until 1870, being employed part of the time on the Union Pacific Railroad. He was then twenty-three years of age and had seen enough service for a man of twice his age. His last work as a conductor was on the Missouri Pacific from Kansas City to Holden, Missouri. In the winter of 1871 he returned to Jessup, Iowa, and in the spring of 1872 came to Osceola county with a team and homesteaded in Viola township in section 30. He reached this county at a most unfortunate time. for the grasshoppers came along and ate his first crops, with the result that he was so discouraged that he left his farm to the grasshoppers. He again returned to railroading and was conductor on the Illinois Central from Waterloo to Fort Dodge. Iowa, and remained with the company for a few years. He then returned to his farm, where he lived until 1892, having been married in 1883. He was successful as a farmer and still owns his homestead of one hundred and sixty acres, which is one of the finest farms in the township. In 1892 he moved to Little Rock, in Lyon county, where he lived for one year. In 1893 he moved to Sibley, where he has since resided.
Mr. Stage was married September 4. 1883, in Sibley, Iowa, to Mrs. Ida Kizer, who was born in 1866 near Independence, Iowa. To this union have been born four children: Dana, born July 16, 1884. now in Seattle, Washington ; Adelbert, deceased; Emory, born July 26, 1888, a hotel pro- prietor in Minneapolis, Minnesota, and Cecil, born November 27. 1892. a lyceum entertainer and professional musician. He is now a student of Grinnell College and has studied in Chicago under one of Richard Mansfield's students. Mr. and Mrs. Stage are justly proud of their children, who are making an enviable record for themselves in the world.
In politics, Mr. Stage has been a stanch Republican all his life and has filled practically every office in his township. Religiously, he and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and has attained to the thirty- second degree. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias and the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows, while he and his wife are both members of the Daughters of Rebekah. As might be expected, he is a loyal member
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of the Grand Army of the Republic of Sibley. Such is the life history of Theodore J. Stage. a man who is well deserving of being remembered in a history of his county. He has always done his duty as he saw it and whether upon the battle field or in the official chair, he has never wearied of his duties. It is needless to say that he is widely respected and highly honored by every- one in the county, for the clean life he has lived and the good he has done.
FREDERICK WARREN CRAM, M. D.
It is not always easy to discover and define the hidden forces that have moved a life of ceaseless activity and large professional success : little more can be done than to note their manifestation in the career of the individual under consideration. In view of this fact, the life of the physician and public-spirited man of affairs whose name appears above affords a striking example of well defined purpose. with the ability to make that purpose sub- serve not only his own ends but the good of his fellow men as well. Doctor Cram, the oldest practicing physician in O'Brien county, has long held prestige in a calling which requires for its basis sound mentality and intellectual disci- pline of a high order, supplemented by the rigid professional training and thorough mastery of technical knowledge with the skill to apply the same. without which one cannot hope to rise above mediocrity in ministering to human ills. In his chosen field of endeavor Doctor Cram has achieved a notable success, which has been duly recognized and appreciated throughout the section of the state in which he lives. In addition to his long and credit- able career in one of the most useful and exacting of professions, he has proved an honorable member of the body politic and in every relation of life he has never fallen below the dignity of true manhood nor in any way re- sorted to methods that have invited censure.
Dr. Frederick Warren Cram, successful physician, business man and public-spirited citizen of Sheldon, was born November 15. 1854, in Bangor. Maine. His parents were Jacob Haskill and Sarah (Wing) Cram. Jacob H. Cram was born in Bangor, Maine. January 12, 1823, and was the son of Joseph Cram, who was a native of New Hampshire. The Crams trace their ancestry back to colonial times, when two Cram brothers, who were natives of England originally, received a large grant of land on the Hudson river on the Connecticut side. Here they settled and their descendants eventually scattered over the United States and formed a large family. Jacob Cram.
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the father of Doctor Cram, married Sarah M. Wing, who was born in Stet- son, Maine, June 22. 1827. After his marriage Jacob Cram and his family came west and located where he died October 29. 1893: the widow died February 27, 1902. Mr. and Mrs. Jacob H. Cram were the parents of seven children : William, deceased: Frank, deceased; Henry, a traveling salesman of Sheldon, lowa; Charles of St. Paul, Minnesota; Georgia, de- ceased : Ida, deceased. and Dr. Frederick W. Cram, whose history is herein presented.
Doctor Cram was educated in the common schools of Minnesota and the St. Croix Valley Academy. He took part of his medical work in the Uni- versity of Michigan and finished his course at the Rush Medical College at Chicago, graduating with the class of 1878. Since then he has taken post- graduate courses in that institution and makes annual visits to the Chicago clinic, in order to keep fully abreast of the time in his chosen field.
Doctor Cram first located in Jordan, Minnesota, upon his graduation in 1878, and a year later located in Sheldon, where he has been continuously practicing since that time. He established Cram's Hospital in 1903 and in 1906 established, his present hospital, which accommodates twelve patients and has two nurses in constant attendance, and is a very successful institu- tion for a town of this size. being of untold benefit to the city and community. Doctor Cram has been a successful physician here from the first and is recog- nized throughout this section of the state and. in fact, throughout this sec- tion of the country, as one of the leading physicians. He is a member of the O'Brien County, Sioux Valley, Iowa State and National medical associa- tions, in all of which he takes an active interest. He is at present the surgeon for the Illinois Central. Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul and Omaha railways.
In addition to his medical practice. Doctor Cram has been one of the most public-spirited citizens of Sheldon. In 1898 he built the first telephone exchange and when he sold it a few years later he had built it up to a high state of efficiency, having increased its subscribers to two hundred. How- ever, it was becoming too much of an enterprise for him to manage suc- cessfully and attend to his medical practice, so he sold it. Doctor Cram owned the first automobile in northwestern Iowa in 1881 and the third in the state. In fact, he has always been prominent in all enterprises and lends his hearty support to every cause which he thinks will benefit the city.
Fraternally, Doctor Cram is a member of the Ancient Free and Ac- cepted Masons, the Knights of Pythias and the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks. He has been twice married, his first marriage occurring in 1880 to Dora Walter, who died in 1888, leaving two children, Mrs. Georgia
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Verbovig, of Sheldon, and Walter W., who will graduate from the Rush Medical College of Chicago in June, 1915. In 1900 Doctor Cram was mar- ried to Mrs. Hattie L. Lanning, who had two children by her former mar- riage : Frederick is now twelve years of age, and Frank H., who died at the age of eight months.
Personally. Doctor Cram is a pleasant gentleman to meet, kind, benevo- lent and honest in all relations of life, and consequently is eminently deserving of the large success which he has attained by his own efforts. He enjoys the confidence of the city of Sheldon and community and is justly held in high esteem by everyone.
ARTHUR THEODORE FILLENWARTH.
Among the younger attorneys of O'Brien county, Iowa, who are fast rising to prominence is Arthur T. Fillenwarth, of Sanborn. He came to this place in the spring of 1913. after having been educated in the best schools of the United States, and such has been his legal training that he has already acquired a very satisfactory practice. The law departments of the University of Michigan and Harvard University are recognized as among the best in the country and a graduate from either school has the best training which can be received. To his wide college education, Mr. Fillenwarth has added a fund of valuable experience gained by extensive travel abroad. After leav- ing college he made an extended tour through Europe and the British Isles, visiting Holland, Germany, France, Switzerland, Belgium and other conti- mental countries.
Arthur T. Fillenwarth, the son of John and Louisa ( Trappa) Fillen- warth, was born August 1, 1887, in Monona, Iowa. John Fillenwarth was the son of Peter, a native of Germany. The Fillenwarth family was one of the early pioneer families of Clayton county, Iowa. and prominently identified with its history for many years. John Fillenwarth, now living a retired life at Britt, Iowa, was one of the most substantial farmers of his county. He and his wife reared a family of five children, three of whom are still living. Mrs. Clara Zuehl, William and Arthur T. The two former are now living in Britt, Iowa.
Mr. Fillenwarth was reared on a farm, received his elementary education in the graded schools and later graduated from the high school at Britt in 1905. He then entered the University of Iowa and took the four-years course leading to the degree of Bachelor of Arts, graduating in the spring
a. J. Fillenwarth
٠
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of 1909. Having decided to make the law his life work, he at once entered the College of Law of the University of Iowa, where he has received much legal training. Later he studied in the law schools of Harvard and Michigan Universities under some of the foremost legal authorities and law book writers of the world. During the summer of 1911 he made an extended trip abroad, returning home in the fall and being admitted to the state bar of Jowa on October 3. 1912. In the spring of the following year he came to O'Brien county and opened his office on April 14. 1913. His splendid legal training, together with his great natural ability, has enabled him to build up a good practice in a short time. He has a keen mind and can grasp legal problems in a way which indicates that he will be one of the leaders at the O'Brien county bar within a few years. He is a Progressive in politics and at the June primaries his party nominated him for the office of county attorney, a position which he is abundantly qualified to fill.
Mr. Fillenwarth was married on June 30, 1913. to Sadie Raecker, of Britt, Iowa, the daughter of Rev. Henry Raecker. He was formerly the minister of the Evangelical church at Hartley, Iowa, but is now stationed at Britt. Mr. Fillenwarth and his wife are the center of a popular social circle in Sanborn and have made many warm friends since their marriage. They are people of winning personality and charm and are admired for their whole- souled hospitality.
A. C. WINTERFIELD.
It is the wise foresight and enterprise of the business men of any com- munity which is, in a large measure, responsible for its prosperity and wel- fare. The county which has progressive, wide-awake men of affairs is to be congratulated, for it is such men who shape and direct the varied interests which make for the welfare of their respective communities. A. C. Winter- field. although not a resident of Sibley for many years, has nevertheless shown his ability as a business man since coming to this county and while advancing his own material interests he has not failed to take his proper share of the burden of promoting the civic welfare of the county.
A. C. Winterfield, the son of Frederick and Christina (Wagner) Winterfield, was born November 1. 1862, in Waukesha county, Wisconsin. Both of his parents were twice married, their first marriages occurring in Germany. Both families came to Wisconsin in the early fifties and were (55)
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living in Milwaukee at the time the Asiatic cholera was prevalent in that city. While this was raging in that city both of them lost their first spouses. Mrs. Winterfield had two children by her first marriage and Mr. Winterfield had four children. After the death of their first spouses they were married in Milwaukee about 1854 and subsequently moved to Waukesha county, Wis- consin, where they lived for about ten years. In 1869 they came to Hardin county, Iowa, and settled on a farm where both died, Frederick Winterfield dying in 1894 and his wife four years later. The children of Frederick Winterfield by his first wife, who are now living, are Fred, of Iowa Falls, Iowa, and William, of Radcliffe, Iowa. The two children of his wife by her first marriage are both deceased. Mr. and Mrs. Winterfield are the parents of four children : Albert and Henry, of Radcliffe, Iowa; Andrew, of Osceola county, and A. C., whose history is here presented.
A. C. Winterfield received his schooling in the country schools of his home county and later studied one year in Des Moines. In 1890 he left home and came to Sibley, but one year later returned to Hardin county and lived one year in Alden. He then located in Harris, in this county, and was engaged in the grain business from 1892 to 1904. He also conducted a lumber yard in connection with his grain business while living in Harris. In 1904 he disposed of his business in Harris and came to Sibley, where he engaged in the real estate and loan business. In 1911 he became a partner of T. S. Red- mond and the firm is now doing a flourishing and prosperous real estate business in Sibley and this section of the state. He owns a fine farm of his own near Harris which yielded him eight dollars an acre on shares in 1913. He also owns four hundred and thirty acres in Osceola county and eighty acres. in Minnesota. He is a stockholder and director of the Sibley State Bank, a prosperous institution of the county seat.
Mr. Winterfield was married in 1895 to Orphan M. Glass, of Harris, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Glass. Mrs. Winterfield died in De- cember, 1910, in Harris, leaving two children, Loraine, who is now seven- teen and a student in the Sibley high school, and Lenore, who is now nine years of age. Mrs. Winterfield was a woman of winning personality and her death was deeply mourned by the family and her numerous friends. She was a loyal member of the Methodist Episcopal church and a faithful worker in that denomination.
Mr. Winterfield is a stanch Republican in politics and has always taken an active interest in public affairs. He was county supervisor from 1898 to 1902 and while a member of the county board helped to select the plan of the magnificent court house which adorns the county seat. Fraternally, he is a
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member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is also a member of the chapter. He is identified with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias.
HEZEKIAH G. DOOLITTLE.
One of the finest and most distinguished men of Osceola county is Hezekiah G. Doolittle. a man who has been as intimately associated with the history of the county as any other resident. There is no phase of the history of the county with which he is not familiar and for this reason the biography of his life should be of intense interest to everyone in the county. He was born in Evans, Erie county, New York, June 18, 1838, and is the son of Anson S. and Frances (Smith) Doolittle. Anson Doolittle was born in Pine Creek, Delaware county, New York, February 28, 1809, while his wife was born in the same town August 25, 1810. Their marriage occurred in Bovina, Delaware county. New York, June 14. 1832.
The children of Anson and Frances Doolittle are as follows: Julia A., of Bovina, Delaware county, New York, born November II, 1833, and now a resident of Sibley. Iowa ; Houston A., born September 25, 1836, in Evans, New York, and now a resident of Sibley; Hezekiah G., with whom this nar- rative deals; Caroline R., born August 4, 1840, in Byron, New York, and now a resident of Fayette county. Iowa : William A., born in Oakfield, New York, October 19, 1842, and now a resident of Sibley; Charles S., born in Oakfield, New York, November 10, 1845, and now resides in Florida, near Tampa ; Addison K., born in Aurora, Illinois, November 18, 1847. and died November 6, 1895, in Indian Territory : Jonathan A., born January. 1849, at Bradford, Illinois, and died in infancy; Albert G., born in Grand Detour, February 20, 1851, and died February 7, 1899; Esther Melinda, born August 19, 1853, and died in infancy, and Dayton S. and Fremont G., twins, who were born in New Amsterdam, Wisconsin, August 19, 1856. and are both deceased.
The Doolittles left New York state in 1846 and located at Aurora, Illinois. Anson Doolittle was a wagon-maker by trade. In 1850 the family moved to Bradford, Lee county, Illinois, and still later to Grand Detour, Illinois. In 1856 they settled in New Amsterdam, Wisconsin, and three years later moved to Delhi, Delaware county, Iowa. The parents later moved to Earlville, Delaware county, where they lived for twenty-two years
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and then moved to Osceola county, where they lived seven years, moving to Hancock county in 1888. Mrs. Anson Doolittle died in March, 1898, and Anson Doolittle in 1901.
H. G. Doolittle enlisted July 15, 1861, in Delaware county, Iowa, in Company K, Fifth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served over three years. He was in the battles of New Madrid, Island No. Ten, Pitts- burg Landing, siege of Corinth, luka, and was wounded in the right leg at the latter battle. The bullet passed through his leg and he was laid up three months in the hospital at Jackson, Tennessee. He later participated in the battles at Fort Gibson, Champion's Hill, Baker's Creek and all of the fighting around Vicksburg up until it was finally captured on July 4. 1863. He was then transferred to the East and followed Sherman to Chattanooga. partici- pating in the battles of Chattanooga, Lookout Mountain and Missionary Ridge. He was captured at the battle of Missionary Ridge and taken to the Rebel prison at Belle Island near Richmond. He was captured on November 25th and escaped on March 16, 1864, by cutting a hole in the bottom of a railroad car, while being transferred to Andersonville in Georgia. He and two others made their thrilling escape at Gaston, North Carolina, and spent the next twenty-four days in the swamps. On April 8th they arrived at Suffolk, Virginia, wading continuously through swamps for eighteen days during the rainy time of the year. They finally reached the Union line and in the summer of 1864 he was sent back to Chattanooga and thence to the camp at Indian Creek, and finally discharged at Chattanooga, July 30, 1864. He was elected sergeant of his company after being mustered in and was appointed first sergeant in 1863.
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