USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 20
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The firm of Linsday & Phelps is located above the First National Bank of Sheldon and has one of the most extensive libraries in this part of the state. Although these young men have been in this state but a short time, they are meeting with great success in this profession and are deservedly popular with all classes of people.
CHARLES BURNS.
The citizens who have come to O'Brien county, Iowa, from the Emerald isle have been uniformly prosperous, and no family has had a greater degree of prosperity than the Burns family, who were among the earlier settlers of this county. The history of Charles Burns, which is herewith presented, together with that of his father, Thomas Burns, makes an interesting chap- ter of the history of the representative men of O'Brien county.
Charles Burns was born September 18, 1857, in Columbus county, Wis- consin, on a farm, and is the son of Thomas and Bridget (Cowan) Burns,
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both of whom were natives of Ireland. Thomas Burns was born in Ireland in 1833, and came to America with his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Michael Burns, in 1847. Michael Burns and family settled in Columbus county, Wis- consin. Bridget Cowan, the wife of Thomas Burns, came to America from Ireland when she was seven years of age with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Pat- rick Cowan. Thomas Burns and Bridget Cowan were married in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and in 1864 they migrated to Iowa and arrived in Steel county on June 8th of that year. In 1874 they came to O'Brien county and settled in Franklin township on the west half of section 30, paying three dollars an acre for one hundred and sixty acres, and three dollars and a half for an- other one hundred and sixty acres. They improved this land and resided on it until about 1907, when they moved to Sanborn, where Thomas Burns died in 1910, and his wife is still living at the advanced age of eighty years in San- born. Thomas Burns and wife were the parents of seventeen children. Twelve of these children grew to maturity and ten are now living: Charles, whose history is here delineated; J. H., of Carroll township; Mrs. Margaret Matson, of Sanborn; William, a farmer of Floyd township; Thomas, of Floyd township: Mrs. Mary Fitzgerald, who lives in North Dakota : James, of Sheldon: Mrs. Nellie Donahue, of Sheldon, lowa; Katie, deceased: Mrs. Jennie Maroney, of Worthington, Minnesota: Edward, a farmer of Frank- lin township; Lucy, who died in infancy, and five others who also died in infancy.
Charles Burns was educated in the schools of O'Brien county and lived on the home farm with his parents until twenty-two years of age. The first money he ever earned was one hundred dollars, which he made by breaking prairie land for his neighbors, and while still a young man he purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Summit township, this county, for four dollars an acre, and lived on this farm for thirty-one years. He then moved to Sanborn, where he has a fine home, and rents his farm out at the rate of six and a quarter dollars an acre. He is the owner of three hundred and twenty acres of fine farming land in this county and a quarter section in Murray county, Minnesota. The Burns brothers are among the heavy land owners of the county, taken collectively: John H. is the owner of five hun- dred and eighty acres ; Thomas, five hundred : James, two hundred and forty : William, two hundred and forty: Edward, two hundred and sixty, and Charles, four hundred and eighty. This gives a total of two thousand two hundred acres which are owned by the six brothers. In addition to this, the mother of these children still owns three hundred and twenty acres on the old home farnı.
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Charles Burns was married November 16, 1892, to Carrie Mullady, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. John Mullady, early settlers of this county, and to this marriage have been born two daughters, Norene, who is a Latin teacher in Halstene, Iowa. She is a graduate of the Sanborn high school, and later from the Cedar Falls Teachers' College. Pauline, the other daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Burns, is in the eighth grade in the Sanborn schools.
Politically, Mr. Burns is a Democrat, and has held the office of township trustee and school director with eminent satisfaction to the citizens of the county and township. Religiously, he and all the members of the family are earnest and zealous adherents of the Catholic church and give freely of their substance for its support.
The Burns family were the fourth to settle in Franklin township, O'Brien county, and Charles, being the oldest son, had to bear a good share of the responsibilities in the struggle for the new home in the prairie. He broke prairie land for incoming settlers and earned money in this way to help sup- port the family. It is a fact that there is hardly a section of land in the county which he has not tramped over during his forty years of residence in the county. Although he had only a very meager schooling, yet he is re- markably well informed, which is due to the fact that he is a great reader all the time. It is recorded that he is one of the twelve men who voted to or- ganize Summit township, and since that time no citizen has taken a greater interest in the development of the county. In his younger days Charley Burns drove teams to supply headquarters in Rock Rapids when there was but the merest track for a road. Although in his prime, he has seen O'Brien county change from a treeless, trackless waste of prairie to smiling farm lands. dotted with groves of large trees, well-laid towns and substantial farm buildings.
PAUL C. WOODS.
It is a well recognized fact that the most powerful influence in shaping and controlling public life is the press. It reaches a greater number of peo- ple than any other agency and thus has always been and always will be a most important factor in moulding public opinion and, in a definite sense, shaping the destiny of the nation. The gentleman to a brief review of whose life the following lines are devoted is prominently connected with the jour- nalism of Iowa, and at this time is editor and publisher of the Sheldon Mail, the oldest paper of O'Brien county, comparing favorably with the best local
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sheets in this section of the state in news, editorial ability and mechanical exe- cution. The county recognizes in Mr. Woods not only a keen newspaper man. but also a representative citizen, whose interest in all that affects the general welfare has been of such a character as to win for him a high place in the confidence and esteem of the people.
Paul C. Woods, the editor and publisher of the Sheldon Mail, the oldest established newspaper in Sheldon, Iowa, was born September 10, 1876, in Ossian, Iowa. He is the son of P. R. and Emily J. (Churchill) Woods. His father was born in Pennsylvania in 1840 and his mother in New York state in 1845. P. R. Woods came to Iowa with his parents in about 1855 and settled in Jackson county and later moved to Benton county. At the time of the opening of the Civil War his parents lived in Fayette county. P. R. Woods enlisted in Company C, Twelfth Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry. from Fayette county and served under Col. C. P. Henderson for four and one-half years. He was in many of the hardest-fought battles in the Civil War, among which were Shiloh, Fort Donelson, Fort Henry and numerous others. "At Shiloh he was taken prisoner and was not exchanged until three months later. P. R. Woods is a finely educated man, being a graduate of Upper Iowa University at Fayette, Iowa. He has been a teacher and school principal in lowa for many years and taught mathematics at Upper Iowa University at Fayette. Previous to his retiring from active life he was in the railway mail service. He is now living in Tama county. Mr. and Mrs. P. R. Woods are the parents of two sons. Herbert was born in 1869 and is a practicing physician in Tama county and Paul C., with whom this narrative deals.
Paul C. Woods was educated in the public schools and later attended Upper Iowa University at Fayette, from which he graduated in 1898 with the degree of Bachelor of Science. His first experience in newspaper work was in college, where he was editor of The Collegian, and thus gained his first preparation for his future career. Since leaving college he has been engaged in the newspaper business and with a success which shows that he has a natural aptitude for this line of business. He was first editor of the Iowa Times at McGregor and in 1904 went to Eldora and published the Eldora Ledger for eight years. The year following his connection with the Eldora Ledger he spent on his ranch in Texas, and on August 1, 1913, he purchased the Sheldon Mail and takes complete charge of the paper, which is the old- est paper in Sheldon, its first issue being on January 1, 1873. It has a cir- culation of two thousand throughout this county and adjoining counties. The paper is a large twelve-page, six-column sheet which is edited with marked
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ability. The printing plant is well equipped with the latest improved ma- chinery and in addition to his paper he conducts a job printing plant and finds it a lucrative part of the business.
Mr. Woods was married December 1. 1808, in New Albin. Iowa, to Amy Luther, whom he had met while a student in Upper Iowa University. He and his wife were students in the university at the same time. Three children have come to bless their union, Kenneth, Lucile and Carol.
Politically, Mr. Woods is a Republican and reflects his political views in his paper. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, the Modern Woodmen of America, the Knights of the Maccabees and the Yeo- men. He and his wife are earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church and contribute liberally of their time and means to its support. They are both workers in the church and do everything they can to enhance its various activities. Mr. Woods is a member of the official board at the present time, and superintendent of the Sunday school.
Mr. and Mrs. Woods are useful citizens of the community and stand for the best things in the welfare of their town. Mr. Woods is an able news- paper man and always advocates the right side of questions which affect his community's welfare. He is keenly alive to the needs of Sheldon and com- munity and never hesitates to express his opinion as to the value of any sug- gestions which might be made for the improvement of his town. The good which a newspaper can do to any community is not measured in dollars and cents, but rather in the effect it has upon the community in awakening its readers to a sense of their duties toward the public. In his paper Mr. Woods always tries to reflect the best means of elevating the intellectual, moral and material tone of his community and in so doing he has the hearty commenda- tion of every one in the county.
FRANK PATCH.
The gentleman to a review of whose life the reader's attention is here respectfully directed is recognized as one of the energetic, well known busi- ness men of O'Brien county, Iowa, who, by his enterprise and progressive methods, has contributed in a material way to the commercial advancement of the locality where he lives. In the course of an honorable career he has been successful in the manifold lines to which his efforts have been directed. and. enjoying distinctive prestige among the representative men of his com-
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munity, it is eminently proper that attention be called to his achievements and due credit be accorded to his worth as an enterprising citizen.
Frank Patch, the president of the Hartley State Bank, of Hartley, Iowa. was born March 4, 1858, in Whiteside county, Illinois, the son of Freeman R. and Malinda (Wier) Patch, natives of Vermont and Indiana, respectively. Freeman R. Patch was an early settler of Whiteside county, Illinois, and was twice married. He died in 1862, leaving two children by his second mar- riage, Frank whose history is here portrayed, and F. R. The mother reared her two sons to manhood and died in 1913.
Frank Patch was only four years of age when his father died and he was reared and educated in the schools of his native county in Illinois. He com- pleted his education by taking a course in St. Cloud's College, at St. Cloud. Minnesota. In 1878, when twenty years of age, he came to O'Brien county. Iowa, and taught school here for one year, after which he located in the ris- ing town of Sanborn in this county, and for the next three years operated a livery and stage in Sanborn in partnership with L. C. Green. He then sold out his interests in the livery business and engaged in the banking business in Hartley, organizing the bank in 1882, when he was only twenty-four years of age. He organized the first bank in this town and on January 1, 1887, the bank was reorganized and made a state bank. It now has a capital stock of fifty thousand dollars, with a surplus of fifteen thousand dollars and deposits of two hundred and eighty thousand dollars. Its total resources are three hundred and fifty thousand dollars. The officials of the bank are as follows : Frank Patch, president: D. A. Patch, vice-president: F. R. Patch, cashier. Mr. Patch is also interested in the Gem Savings Bank, at Melvin, Osceola county, this state. In addition to his banking interests Mr. Patch has heavy landed interests in Osceola county and in Canada. He owns six hundred and forty acres in Osceola county, this state, and ten thousand acres in Canada, near Winnipeg. Mr. Patch was married September 6, 1881, to Delia A. Peck, the daughter of Doctor Peck, who was a practitioner at Springville. Iowa, for thirty years, but has recently retired to his farm in Floyd town- ship, in this county. Mr. and Mrs. Patch are the parents of one daughter. Nellie I., who is still with her parents.
Mr. Patch is a Democrat in politics, but, owing to his heavy business in- terests, he has never felt that he had the time to participate in political af- fairs. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Ma- sons and is a Knight Templar. He is also a member of the Independent Or- der of Odd Fellows. As president of the Hartley State Bank Mr. Patch has demonstrated his possession of business abilities of a high order. The splen-
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did success which has characterized this institution from its organization is due in a great measure to his energetic efforts and personal supervision. He enjoys a large acquaintance throughout the county and has a host of friends who admire him for his many good qualities of head and heart.
BESSIE J. BEERS.
In this twentieth century, women are playing an increasingly important part in the public affairs of the nation. Many states now have women suffrage and within the next generation the possibility is that women will be admitted to all the rights and privileges as are enjoyed by their brothers and husbands today. Ten states now admit women to full suffrage and allow them every privilege within the state. In Iowa, women may hold county offices and it is to the credit of the women of this state that many of them are efficiently filling official positions in the various counties of the state.
Bessie J. Beers, who is now serving her second term as the recorder of O'Brien county, was the first woman ever elected to office in this county. She was born in Essex county, New York, the daughter of Charles A. and Eliza- beth (Denio) Beers. Charles A. Beers was born in 1825 in Essex county, New York, of German and English descent, and migrated to Buchanan county, the eastern part of Iowa, in July, 1866, and engaged in farming. In New York he had followed the occupation of a canal boatman on the Erie canal and Hudson river for several years. In 1873 Mr. Beers came to O'Brien county, bought land in Baker township, the northeast quarter of section 2. and there resided until 1893, when he went to Primghar, where he is now living a retired life. Mrs. Beers was born in Washington county. New York, in 1830, of French Huguenot parentage. and died in Primghar, Iowa, in 1907. Mr. and Mrs. Charles A. Beers were the parents of five children : Mrs. Ella B. Crossland. of Primghar: Fred A., of Corwith, Iowa; James S., of Armstrong, Iowa, formerly recorder of O'Brien county for four years : Mrs. Iowa M. Gere, of this county, and Bessie J.
Bessie J. Beers was educated in the township schools of this county and then took one year in the Sheldon high school. Following this she taught in the district schools of the county for twenty years, with remarkable suc- cess. Her first entrance into the political life of the county occurred in 1910. on the Republican ticket for county recorder, and in November of the fol- lowing year she was elected, being the first woman of the county to hold this
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office. Her administration was so efficient and profitable that she was re- elected in 1912 and is now finishing her second term as county recorder. In her last race for the office she was opposed by two strong opponents, yet such has been her official record that she was elected without trouble. She was a member of the Methodist Episcopal church and belongs to the Daughters of Rebekah and the Yeomen.
PLATCY A. CAJACOB.
A pioneer farmer, business man, public official and booster for Osceola county, Iowa, is Platcy A. Cajacob, an adopted son of this county. For more than forty years he has lived within the limits of this county, and in that time has endured as many hardships as any of the men who came here in the early seventies. He has seen the time when it seemed that there was no hope for success for a farmer in this county, and yet he had the deter- mination to remain here, and now has the satisfaction of knowing that his foresight was not mistaken. Much of the land which he held thirty-odd years ago and could not sell at all. is now worth from one hundred to two hundred dollars an acre. As a public official he has been one of the most efficient and faithful servants which the county has ever had, and in every capacity where he has been found he has given a good account of himself.
Platcy A. Cajacob, who is now living a retired life in Sibley, Iowa, was born January 1, 1843. in the little mountainous country of Switzerland, in Europe. His parents, Martin and Margret Cajacob, lived in the little village of Sunvicks, canton of Groeson, which was situated high up in the Alps. In this lovely Alpine scenery Mr. Cajacob was reared to manhood. In the little schools of his neighborhood he received a good education. for there are no better schools in Europe than those of Switzerland. The success of Mr. Cajacobs is due in a great measure to the excellent training he re- ceived at the public schools of his native land. However, upon reaching manhood he felt that better opportunities awaited a young man in America than in his own country and, with the intention of verifying this fact, he came to this country in 1866, when twenty-three years of age. He at once went to Ohio, where he worked on a railroad for a few months at Piqua. and from thence he went to Wapakoneta. Auglaize county. Ohio, where he worked at the cabinet trade for two years. He then went to Tiffin, Ohio,
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where he was engaged in the dairy business for one year, and while in Tiffin met and married Christina Brown.
In the spring of 1869 Mr. Cajacobs and his young wife went to Grant county, Wisconsin, where they bought a farm and for four years worked the same. He cleared the land, built a rude log house and barn, put up many rods of rail fencing, and was on the road to a successful career in that state as a farmer. However, hearing of the lands to be purchased in Iowa at a low rate, he decided to sell out his holdings in Wisconsin and go farther west. With this idea in mind, he disposed of his interests in Wisconsin. and in the fall of 1872 came to Osceola county, Iowa, where he homesteaded on section 22, in Holman township. For several years things often looked very gloomy and many of the settlers who came here full of faith left their land to the grasshoppers and severe wind storms. In common with all of the other settlers who lived in this section of the state in the latter part of the seventies, Mr. Cajacobs had to suffer the horrible grasshopper period. For the first ten years it seemed that he could not get a start. If the grass- hoppers did not eat things up, it rained so that he could not get in any crops at all. Many of the settlers left the county, but a few stayed and among these few were Mr. Cajacobs and his family. Within four years after he came here, Mr. Cajacobs was so downhearted that he practically gave away his land. In fact, he sold one farm for four hundred and twenty-five dollars. For the next seventeen years he engaged in the retail meat business and gradually became interested in land again and bought here and there over the county until he became the owner of four hundred and fifty acres near Sib- ley, the county seat. While operating his meat market Mr. Cajacobs con- tinued farming and in 1885 moved back on his farm, where he lived until 1908. Since that time he has been living in the county seat.
The history of the agricultural success of Mr. Cajacobs is only a part of his history since coming to this county. For the past twenty years he has been an important factor in the public life of the county. In 1891 he was elected county supervisor on the Democratic ticket and in 1901 was re- elected to that responsible position. He was one of the officials who helped build the new seventy-one-thousand-dollar court house which now graces the county seat. This appropriation not only included the building of the court house, but the construction of the jail, as well as the grounds on which these two buildings are now standing. An evidence of his worth as a man and his popularity as a citizen of the county is shown in the fact that he was elected over one of the strongest Republicans in the county and the first Democrat ever elected in the county, it being a strongly Republican county.
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Nothing can speak higher of a man than the confidence which his fellow citizens repose in him, and in no other way is it so plainly shown as when a man runs for some public office.
Mr. Cajacobs was married in 1858 to Christina Brown, and to this marriage have been born six children: Mrs. Mary Kennedy, of Sibley. Iowa; Magdalene, deceased: John Robert, a druggist of Colusa, California : Mrs. Lorenca Funk, who is living in Chicago Heights, Illinois; Arthur and George are proprietors of a large and well-stocked hardware store at Sibley.
Mr. Cajacobs and all the members of his family are loyal members of the Catholic church and render to it their earnest and zealous support at all times. The life of Mr. Cajacobs shows what can be accomplished by a young man who comes to this country with no capital whatever, and with no assets but a willingness to work. He has shown the possibilities of farming in this county, and had the good judgment to perceive many years ago that land would rise in value. His good judgment told him when to buy and when to sell, with the result that he is today regarded as one of the most enterprising and substantial men of his county. He has keen business ability, which dis- tinguishes the successful man from the one who is barely able to make both ends meet. His life is but another example of the many citizens of this county who have come from foreign lands and made a pronounced success in this favored state of the Union.
PETER SWENSEN.
The little country of Sweden in Europe has furnished some of the finest citizens to be found in any county in lowa today, and among these there is no one who occupies a higher position in his county than Peter Swensen the present chairman of the O'Brien county board of supervisors. Coming to this county with practically nothing but his education and determination to work, he has attained a success which is remarkable. His life story, which is here briefly portrayed, is a conspicuous example of one who has lived to good purpose and achieved a definite degree of success in life. While work ing for his own material advancement. he has been one of the most public spirited citizens who has ever lived in the county. No one today enjoys : wider acquaintance or is more appreciated than is he.
Peter Swensen was born December 7, 1855, in Sweden, and is the son of Swen Tufveson and Bengta Tufveson Swensen. He was given a good
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common school education in the schools of his native land and later studied in an agricultural college, where he was granted a diploma for his excellence in butter and cheese making.
In 1880 Mr. Swensen, who was then twenty-five years of age, decided to come to America to seek his fortune. He at once located in Delaware county, in eastern Iowa, and worked on a farm for three years. He then went to Earlville and clerked in a store for a time and became interested in the creamery business for the next eight years. He then traveled for a New York firm, buying butter and eggs for the next five years. His work was so satisfactory that he was given a substantial increase in salary while in the employ of this firm, John S. Martin & Company. On December 1, 1898, he resigned from the company and was married on the 15th of the same month and came to Hartley where he has since resided. While traveling on the road he saved his money and invested it in land in this county. He is now one of the largest land owners in the countyy. He has built up several farms in the county and then sold them. It has been his practice to buy farms, improve them by erecting buildings, fencing and draining it, and then sell them. He and his wife now own nine hundred and sixty acres of land in O'Brien county and sold nearly one thousand acres of improved land in the fall of 1913. During the past fifteen years he has handled nearly three thousand acres in this county. While he has been a farmer of heavy interest, yet his interests for several years have been largely concerned with the public welfare of his county.
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