USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 21
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In the fall of 1906 Mr. Swensen was elected a member of the board of supervisors of O'Brien county and was re-elected in the fall of 1912. He was elected chairman of the board on January 1, 1913, an honor which he has earned because of the merit of his work since becoming a member of the board of supervisors. The keynote to Mr. Swensen's career as a public offi- cial of this county is his opposition to graft in every way. He is an honest. conscientious public official, and gives his personal attention to the county business. An indication of the interest which he takes in public affairs is shown by the fact that he installed the heating plant in the new county home . out of his own private funds, the plant costing him eleven hundred dollars. When he became a member of the board of supervisors, the county was in debt thirty-two thousand dollars. During his term of office this has been paid off, the twenty-thousand-dollar home for the poor has been erected at Pringhar, concrete bridges and culverts have been built throughout the county, many roads have been improved, sewerage system has been estab- lished in the court house and many other public enterprises have received as- sistance at his hands.
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While he has done much for the county, he has not neglected his duty to his home town. He has served eight years on the town council at Hartley and has pushed public improvements in a way which has made Hartley one of the most progressive towns of this section of the state. He was instru- mental in having the electric light plant installed, cement crossings instead of board crossings and many other improvements. He took a personal in- terest in the electric light plant and opposed a franchise to an outside cor- poration. By his personal influence he succeeded in pushing an election which decided that the city should install the plant. It cost eighteen thousand dol- lars and is now on a paying basis, nearly all of the plant being paid for While the town made many improvements during his term of office in the council it paid all of its debts and is now on as sound a footing as any town in the state of Iowa.
Mr. Swensen was married December 15, 1898, to Ida Cole, of Clayton county, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. James Cole. Mr. Swensen is a mem- ber of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and belongs to the com- mandery at Manchester. He is also a member of the Knights of Pythias, being a charter member of St. Omar Lodge No. 240 at Earlville, Iowa. He is also a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Earlville and assisted in buying the Odd Fellows building at that place. He helped to build the Masonic temple at Earlville, Iowa, and is one of the largest stock- holders in the temple at that place.
Mr. Swensen is the kind of a man who is a real asset to his county. It is interesting to note that when he came here in 1880 he could not speak a word of English and that within a comparatively few years he was in a posi- tion where he was doing as much or more for his adopted county than any citizen within it. He is held in high esteem throughout O'Brien county and no man in the county is more worthy of a place among the representative citizens of this county than is Peter Swensen.
OTTO SAUPE.
In the history of O'Brien county as applying to the agricultural inter- ests, the name of Otto Saupe occupies a conspicuous place, for through a number of years he has been one of the representative farmers of Carroll township, progressive, enterprising and persevering. Such qualities always win success, sooner or later. and to Mr. Saupe they have brought a satisfac-
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tory reward for his well directed efforts. While he has benefited himself and the community in a material way, he has also been an influential factor in the educational, political and moral uplift of the community favored by his residence.
Otto Saupe, the present trustee of Carroll township, O'Brien county. Jowa, was born in 1865 in Germany, the son of Theo and Johann ( Miller) Saupe, who spent their lives in the land of their birth. They were the parents of seven children, all of whom were born in Germany; William, living in Illinois : Bruno, a farmer of O'Brien county, lowa : Mrs. Anna Baker, a resi- dent of Illinois : Frank, deceased; Emil, a farmer of this county ; Mrs. Minnie Retus, living in Illinois, and Otto, whose life history is here delineated.
Otto Saupe came to America when he was twelve years of age, going first to Illinois, where he worked as a farm hand until 1887. He had re- ceived a good common school education in his native land and attended sev- eral seasons here. In 1887 he came to O'Brien county, Iowa, where he pur- chased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Carroll township, at a cost of fifteen and a half dollars an acre. This land had never been broken and he has so improved it that it is today easily worth two hundred dollars an acre. He has built a large and commodious barn, as well as a beautiful home, to- gether with other buildings. He has three acres of orchard and a grove which he set out himself when he came on the land. The same prosperity which has come to all the other German settlers of the county has come to him, and he is now the owner of four hundred acres of fine farming land in Carroll township. He has been a breeder of Durham cattle, Norman horses and Chester White hogs, in addition to general farming, and he also holds a share of stock in the Farmers Elevator Company of this county.
Mr. Saupe was married, in 1888, to Dora Schmidt, who was a resi- cent of Illinois, and to this marriage have been born two sons, Frank and Theo. Theo is at home and Frank is married and is living on one of his fa- ther's farms.
Politically. Mr. Saupe is a progressive voter of the independent type and believes in casting his ballot in local elections for the best men, irrespective of party affiliations, and the fact that he has been elected trustee of his town- ship shows that there are other voters in the township who believe the same way. It is an encouraging thing in our political situation of today to note that many of our citizens are becoming independent in the matter of their voting, and vote for the best men. a change for the better which has come about in state and national politics. Mr. Saupe and the members of his family are strong adherents of the Lutheran church and contribute liberally
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of their substance to its support at all times. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Primghar. Iowa. Mr. Saupe has won his suc- cess solely through his own individual efforts and deserves a great deal of credit for the clean and wholesome life he has led while accumulating his portion of this world's goods. He is a man of pleasing personality and easily wins friends wherever he goes.
ROY HAMLIN KING.
Roy Hamlin King, cashier of the First National Bank of Primghar. was born April 15, 1886, in Marshalltown, lowa. His parents were Lincoln H. and Susan ( Williams ) King, both of whom are now living in the county seat of O'Brien county. Lincoln H. King was born at State Center, Iowa, in 1858, and has been a successful contractor and builder during the active years of his life. He erected the Prudential Life Insurance building in New- ark, New Jersey, and for many years was employed on big contracts through- out the country. Lincoln H. King and his wife had one child. Roy H., who came to Primghar in 1902.
Roy H. King was educated in the Marshalltown and Primghar schools, graduating from the Primghar high school in 1902. Immediately upon his graduation he entered the Farmers Bank as bookkeeper and two years later became teller in the First National Bank of Primghar. He accepted his present position as cashier of the First National Bank in the spring of 1913. He has shown marked ability along banking lines, and for this reason has well deserved the promotions which have come to him. He has applied hin- self with all the enthusiasm of youth to his work, with the result that he is rapidly acquiring an intimate knowledge of the many phases of banking.
Mr. King was married August 6, 1908, to Edith D. Hughes, the daugh- ter of Ellis J. and Luella (Squier) Hughes.
Ellis J. Hughes was born November 19, 1856, in Story county, Iowa. and was the son of Thomas and Elinor (Strawn) Hughes, who were natives of Pennsylvania. Thomas Hughes and his wife came to Iowa and settled in Story county in 1855, remaining there until their death, Thomas dying in 1893 and his wife six years later. To Thomas Hughes and wife were born nine children, John, Richard, William, Ellis, Nathaniel, Ruth (deceased). Mrs. Agnes Dodds, Mrs. Mary Brown and one which died in infancy. Ellis
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J. Hughes, the father of Mrs. King, was reared in Story county on a farm and was married in 1876 to Luella Squier, the daughter of Trueman and Elzina ( Robbins ) Squier. Mrs. Hughes was born in 1859 in Story county. Iowa. Trueman Squier was a native of Vermont and his wife of Ohio. The Squiers came from Germany to this country and settled in Vermont, later moving to Ohio, where Trueman was born in 1826. Elzina Robbins, the mother of Mrs. Hughes, was born in 1827 in Ohio and died in 1868. True- man Squier lived to the ripe old age of seventy-six. He was married twice. Later in his life Mr. Squier owned a farm in O'Brien county, but died in the state of Minnesota. He had five children, Mrs. Mornilva Sheffield, Mrs. Melissa Hamilton, Mrs. Eveline Upton, Mrs. Olive Wilkinson and Mrs. Luella Hughes, the mother of Mrs. King.
After their marriage Mr. and Mrs. Ellis J. Hughes moved to O'Brien county and for the first two years lived on a farm two miles east of Prim- ghar. In 1895 they moved to the county seat, where Mr. Hughes engaged in the real estate business. He was an extensive land owner and at one time owned seventeen hundred acres of land in Iowa and Minnesota : he also han- dled real estate in Dakota, and owned a considerable amount of land in that state. Mrs. Hughes still owns a half section of land in O'Brien county.
Mr. Hughes was a member of the Masonic lodge, the Methodist Epis- copal church, and was a stanch Democrat in his political views. Mr. and Mrs. E. J. Hughes were the parents of five children : Earl T., born in 1877, de- ceased : Alma Ruth, who died at the age of nine; Edith, the wife of Mr. King: Earl T., who married Eva Powell and died at the age of twenty-four. leaving his widow and one child ; and Golda Medora, who is now twelve years of age.
Mr. and Mrs. King have one son. Ralph Hughes, who was born in June, 1909. In his political faith, Mr. King is an independent voter, preferring to cast his vote for the best men irrespective of their party affiliations. In doing this he feels that he is serving the best interests of his community, and it is a fact that there is an increasingly large number of our best citizens who are thus freeing themselves from the shackles of the old parties. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and has taken all of the degrees up to and including the thirty-second. He is a business man. whose heart is in his work, and yet, although he is always busy, he is doing his share to advance the general welfare of his community. He is a genial and unassuming man, with a host of warm and loyal friends in this vicinity where he has lived since entering the business world.
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JACOB HENRY WOLF.
The press is the most powerful instrument in the shaping and molding of public opinion which we have today. It enlightens the people and fights their battles individually and collectively. It makes and unmakes men at will. Likewise it creates or tears down statutes. intended for the good or ill being of the people at large. There is no one power its equal in the length and breadth of the land in this respect. In this land of free speech and free press, it is the most potent factor in the building up of communities. It is conceded that the newspapers of the inland cities enjoy a greater and wider prestige in their locality of circulation and accomplish more direct and last- ing good than even the great metropolitan newspapers of today. The local editor chronicles our successes ; he smoothes over and condones our failures ; he advises us out of the stores of his wisdom gained through long years of experience. He espouses the cause of reform when needed: he advocates publicly in a clarion voice the need of improvments and assists us in pushing them forward to completion. The newspapers of today have advanced with the times and ever keep abreast and even ahead of the procession. O'Brien county boasts an influential newspaper published by a gentleman who has figured prominently in the life of the county for upwards of forty years. He has had a long and distinguished career as a farmer, public official and journalist.
Jacob Henry Wolf was born July 3, 1841, on a farm three miles west of the city of Washington, Washington county, Pennsylvania. His parents were John H. and Maria (Altar) Wolf. He lived on this farm for eighteen years, doing the work incident to an agricultural life; gathering stones off the meadow, so as to clear a way for the scythe; raking grain after the cradlers; cradling, mowing and plowing; making rails and building rail fence ; chopping wood, etc .. all making a fine hardening process for the mus- cles.
Mr. Wolf, as a boy and a man, was a keen hunter, a lover of outdoor life, and a very close observer of birds, animals and nature generally. He loved the rod and gun and few of his day could excel his skill in hunting and marksmanship. He received a very meager school education, having to walk a mile distant from his home to the "Log Pile" school house. He rarely had the advantages of more than three months schooling in any one year, being either too small to go during the rigorous winters or being too large to attend during the summer on account of his services being needed on the farm.
JACOB H. WOLF
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In March, 1859, the family moved to Washington, where Mr. Wolf worked with his father for a short time at the carpenter trade. On May 2, 1859. he entered the office of the Washington Examiner for the purpose of learning the printing trade, being bound out to his employer for four years, with the understanding that he was to receive his board and clothing in re- turn for his labor. He was always attentive to instructions and industrious and soon became a valuable help in the office. When the Civil War broke out he volunteered in 1861, and again proffered his services to the Union in 1862, but was not permitted to go until his indenture was finished. May 2, I 863.
On July 14th of that year Mr. Wolf enlisted in Company H, Forty- sixth Pennsylvania Infantry, and served in that command until the close of the war, and was honorably discharged July 16, 1865. The Forty-sixth Regiment was attached to the First Brigade of the First Division of the Twelfth Corps, Army of the Potomac. In the fall of 1863 the Twelfth and Eleventh Corps were detached from the Army of the Potomac and made one corps, called the Twentieth, under command of General Hooker and sent west to reinforce the army at Chattanooga. This corps guarded the railroad north of Chattanooga during the winter of 1863-4. Then followed the Atlanta campaign and the march to the sea under command of General Sher- man; the campaign through the Carolinas; the close of the great conflict ; the march from Raleigh to the city of Washington: the Grand Review, and the muster out and return home. Mr. Wolf served with his regiment all the time except during part of the winter of 1863-4. when he was in the hospital at Murfreesboro, Tennessee, first as patient and then as nurse.
The returning soldier reached his home on Monday, July 24, 1865, at noon. At seven o'clock the next morning he was setting type at a case in the Washington Reporter office. On September 144th of the same year he was married to Sarah Jane Mickey, the "Girl I Left Behind Me." She has been his faithful and loving wife and devoted companion all these years. Five children were born to them: Fannie E., wife of J. E. Turner, of Oskaloosa, Iowa; Harry E., now deceased; Herbert .\., with his father in the printing office; William A. and Fred B., twins, born in Iowa. November 2. 1874. William A. is now the proprietor of the Hawarden Chronicle, Hawarden, lowa. Fred B. is in the employ of the Redpath Lyceum Bureau as Chautau- qua superintendent and in booking lecture courses.
In the spring of 1866 Mr. Wolf and wife moved to Hopewell town- ship, Washington county, Pennsylvania, and lived on the farm of Mrs.
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Wolf's father for eight years, managing and working the farm in the ab- sence of Mr. Mickey. It was on this farm that the three first children were born to them. In the spring of 1873 the family moved to O'Brien county, Iowa, and settled on a farm two miles north of Sanborn, the southwest quarter of section 14. Here they lived for about ten and one-half years. They were the second family to locate in the township. William H. Dummit and family, on section 8. being the first. The county was entirely new. The nearest neighbor was four miles distant. Here they endured all the priva- tions and hardships of pioneer life, seven years of grasshoppers, driving oxen, burning hay for fuel. without school privileges for their children, and six miles away from Sunday school or church.
In November, 1883, Mr. Wolf bought the Sanborn Pioncer, which he owned, managed and published, with the assistance of his sons, for fifteen years. In 1894, in partnership with Thomas Gravenor, he purchased the O'Brien County Bell, which he still owns and publishes in the Bell block. erected by Wolf & Gravenor and the Odd Fellow's lodge in 1895.
Mr. Wolf was among the first, if not the very first, newspaper men of the county to attack in the columns of his influential organ the old corrupt political ring which dominated the county for years, and which was respon- sible in part for the deplorable condition of the county's finances at that time. He wrote, in his capacity as correspondent of the Sheldon Mail, under the nom de plume of "97-41." that being the town and range of Franklin town- ship as known at this time. In 1878, having been brought into prominence by his writings above referred to, he was nominated for county supervisor on the Republican ticket without solicitation on his part, and elected, leading the ticket by about three hundred votes. He served on the board for three years and took an active and influential part in placing the county in a stable financial condition. During his term of office the county warrants rose in value from thirty-five cents on the dollar to par, and the county debt was refunded at a lower rate of interest. Mr. Wolf was afterward defeated for the nomination for the county treasurership by W. N. Strong, of Sheldon, who was, in turn, defeated by Frank N. Derby, Democrat. Mr. Wolf also suffered defeat at the polls for the same office by Mr. Derby two years later.
Mr. Wolf was converted to the Methodist Episcopal faith and joined the church at Washington, Pennsylvania. in March, 1863, and still holds membership in the Methodist church at Primghar. During the more than forty years that he has lived in O'Brien county he has been Sunday school superintendent for thirty-five of them. For thirty-nine years he has been a member of the board of stewards, and was appointed exhorter in 1900, and
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has served as class leader for some years. At this writing he is teacher of the senior bible class in the Methodist Sunday school of Primghar. He joined the Masonic lodge in Sanborn in 1880 and was master of the lodge for five years: he affiliated with the Royal Arch chapter in 1885 and for eight years was high priest of Samaria Chapter No. 105. In about 1898 he became a member of the commandery of Knights Templar, Cherokee, Iowa, and was for four years most excellent prelate in the same. He still holds membership in all these bodies and is also a member of the Mystic Shrine at Sioux City. In point of years of service Mr. Wolf is probably the oldest Mason in the county. For some years he has been commander of the Grand Army post at Primghar and is still in active command of the post. For eight years, from March 1, 1901, until 1909, he served as postmaster of Primghar under Presidents Mckinley and Roosevelt.
This sturdy and highly esteemed gentleman is now in his seventy-fourth year ; his natural force is unabated, and he goes about his daily tasks with the same zest he has used for a half century or more. His proud boast is that he is seventy-three years young, that he is without physical defect, and in excellent health and vigor, being wonderfully active for one of his years. He is Scout Master No. 10,818 of the Boy Scouts of America and is re- spected and loved by the twenty-five boys of the Primghar troop.
JOHN F. BISHOP.
This honored veteran of the Civil War is to be designated as one of the progressive and influential citizens of O'Brien county, where for more than thirty years he has maintained his home, figuring as one of the builders of the community and especially worthy of consideration in this work. He has, by his industry and sound judgment. not only improved a fine farm and gained a fairly large competency for his old age, but has materially as- sisted in the general welfare of the community, in many ways lending his valuable time and influence in the promulgation of various uplifting move- ments.
John F. Bishop, an ex-railroad man and now a retired farmer of Shel- don, Iowa, was born in 1842 in New York state and is the son of John F. and Allena ( Brown) Bishop. John Bishop was born in 1808 at Belleville, New York, and was a Baptist minister. He traveled over the state of New York and preached for thirty years. He was married in Lorraine, New
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York, to Allena Brown in 1831, and to this marriage were born ten children. seven of whom are living: Judson W., of St. Paul, Minnesota: Luther, of Sheldon, Iowa: Mrs. Anna Chamless, of California: Mrs. Frankie Bidwell. deceased : Levi, who is living on the old home place in New York state: Mrs. Cynthia Gardner, deceased. and John F., whose life history forms the theme of this narrative.
John F. Bishop received his education in the schools of New York and when seventeen years of age on the day after Christmas in 1859. left his parents and settled in the state of Minnesota. He obtained work in a print- ing office on his arrival there and continued to work there until February 10. 1862, when he enlisted at Fort Snelling. Minnesota. in Company B. Fifth Regiment Minnesota Volunteer Infantry. He re-enlisted at Black River Bridge. Mississippi, on February 12. 1864. and was mustered in as first lieutenant. He was in thirty-three separate engagements and sieges during his service in the war. Upon his discharge, on September 6. 1865. he re- turned to Minnesota and became interested in railroad work. He was first in the engineers' corps. at Belleplain. Minnesota, where he continued until it was built through to Sioux City. Iowa. In 1870 he was made superin- tendent of construction of the road running between St. James and Sioux City. In 1874 he was chief clerk of supplies of the shops in Sioux City and in 1880 was made superintendent of a narrow gauge railroad from Sioux City, lowa. to Ponca, Iowa. Two years later he was made roadmaster of the road between Sioux City and Omaha, Nebraska, and held that place until 1883. He was then appointed superintendent of construction of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway from Perry to Council Bluffs. In the follow- ing year he came to O'Brien county, Iowa, and rented nine hundred acres of unimproved land and which he and his brother, Judson, began to farm. In 1902 he retired from active farm life and moved to Sheldon, where he bought a home and has since lived.
Mr. Bishop was married December 27. 1865. in New York, to Ann Augusta Pinney, and to this marriage have been born nine children, seven of whom are living: Mrs. Frankie Belle Clagg, deceased ; Leroy, deceased : Dr. Albert H .. a practicing physician at West Bend. Iowa: Mrs. Ella Reynolds. a widow of Sheldon ; Walter J., of LeMars, Iowa: George H., a hotel man- ager at Newell, Iowa: Mrs. Florence Clagg, of Fort Dodge, Iowa: Mable. who is taking a shorthand course at Fort Dodge, and Arthur, of St. Paul. Minnesota.
In politics, Mr. Bishop is an independent voter, with progressive in- clinations. He is a member of that class of citizens who cast their vote for
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the best men, regardless of their political affiliations. He and his family are regular attendants of the Congregational church. He is a member of the Grand Army of the Republic and the Loyal Legion. He has always taken an active interest in public affairs, and since moving to Sheldon has been a member of the city council. The life of Mr. Bishop has been filled with many interesting incidents. Wherever he has been placed he has always tried to do his full duty; whether upon the battlefield or in the superintendence of construction of railway, he has been found equally efficient and faithful to the tasks imposed upon him. As a public official and as a private citizen he has measured up to the full duty of a true American citizen, and for this reason is highly regarded by everyone who knows him.
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