USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 23
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William Lemke received his education in the O'Brien county schools and helped his father on the farm until he was twenty-one years of age. He then bought the home place, which he farmed for three years, after which he sold it and moved to Hartley. In 1907 he bought a grocery store. which he soon sold and bought a half interest in a department store with W. C. Vo- gel. He remained in the mercantile business for four years, when he, with his two brothers. Robert and Rudolph, purchased a general mercantile estab- lishment in Hartley, which they have since managed. They carry a large and assorted stock of goods such as is usually found in a department store of a town the size of Hartley. The store is well equipped with modern con- veniences and draws a large and lucrative trade from the town of Hartley and surrounding country. In addition to his mercantile interests, Mr. Lemke has an interest in a five-acre orchard tract in Idaho, as well as a share in the plow factory of Hartley. He also has a beautiful home which he has built and improved in Hartley at a cost of six thousand dollars.
Mr. Lemke was married in 1905 to Pearl M. Stanley, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. ( Weightman ) Stanley, of O'Brien county. They have one son, Kennith LeRoy, who is now in the public schools of this city. Politically. Mr. Lemke is a Republican, although he is independent in local politics. He is rendering efficient service to the community as a member of the city council and the school board. He and his wife are attendants of the Methodist Episcopal church, to which they contribute generously of their means. He is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons, the Independent Order
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of Odd Fellows and the Yeomen and takes an interest in the work of these various lodges. Mr. Lemke is a man of keen business ability and because he has exercised tact and courtesy in dealing with his customers, as well as honesty and uprightness in all his financial transactions, he is looked upon as a successful business man in every sense of the word. He is a fine type of the reliable, self-made American, a friend of the poor, charitable to his neigh- bors and always stands ready to unite with them in every good work which promises to benefit the community at large. Although a comparatively young man in years, yet he has already established a reputation which ranks him as one of the representative men of Hartley.
LEVI SHELL.
A life of forty-two years in this county entitles one to the name of pio- neer, and Levi Shell, who has lived here since 1871, is one of the distin- guished pioneers of this county. Schooled in the humanitarian principles which characterize life on the frontier, he caught the spirit of that larger life that is not warped by the spirit of materialism, his life having been built on the broad and generous lines that one seldom meets nowadays. He is a gen- erous, open-hearted man and many are the burdens which he has lifted and many are the tears which he has dried. Not only is he honored today be- cause of the work he did for this county in pioneer times, but also for his distinguished service during the Civil War.
Levi Shell, the president of the Sibley Cement Company, was born in New York state, in St. Lawrence county, September 2, 1838, and is the son of David and Lovina ( Kentner) Shell, who were of German extraction and commonly known as "Pennsylvania Dutch." Levi Shell comes of a family noted for its longevity, his grandmother having lived to the advanced age of one hundred and two.
David Shell and his family moved from New York to Wisconsin in 1849, coming by boat to Buffalo, New York, and making the trip around Niagara Falls by the horse car which was then in use. They embarked on the lake at Lewiston again and continued by boat to Milwaukee, which at that time contained only twenty houses, most of which were mere shacks. From Milwaukee the family proceeded to Sauk county and settled on a piece of prairie land near Prairie due Sac. Here the family lived until the death of David Shell, in 1883, the mother dying in 1898. To David Shell and
LEVI SHELL
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wife were born a large family of children: Conrad, who died in 1908: Mrs. Elizabeth Farnum, of Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin; William, of Sauk Prairie : Levi: Mrs. Barbara Baxter : Daniel, of Worthington, Minnesota; David, of Portland, Oregon : Mrs. Mary Hiland, of Sac City, lowa : Mrs. Laura Page. of Sauk Prairie, Wisconsin, and Maria Hiland, of Sac City, Iowa.
Levi Shell received a good common school education in the schools of Sauk county, Wisconsin, and left the school room to enlist in the service of his country when it was threatened with disunion. He enlisted August 13, 1862, in Company K. Twenty-third Regiment Wisconsin Infantry, and served until May 22, 1863, when he was wounded at Vicksburg, Mississippi. He was shot in the right jaw and shoulder and was so disabled that he was finally discharged on account of disability, in December, 1863. He partici- pated in the battles of Fort Gibson, Arkansas Post. Grand Gulf, Champion's Hill, Black River Bridge and many others. He was with Sherman before Vicksburg, and fought in the skirmishes during the spring of 1862 around Vicksburg. The battle of Champion's Hill, in which he was engaged. is called by historians the bloodiest battle of the Civil War.
After receiving his final discharge from the service, Mr. Shell returned home and then went to Monroe county, Wisconsin, where he engaged in the lumber business with his brothers, Daniel and Conrad. For two years he drove a team. In 1865 he went to Salem, Wisconsin, and managed a lumber yard for two years. In the spring of 1871 he came to Sibley. Osceola county. Iowa, crossing the county by the aid of his compass. . At that time there were no settlers, no roads, no trees, except along the water places, and not much encouragement for a prospective farmer. In making his trip across the county he met only one man, but this did not discourage him and on Decem- ber 6, 1871, he finally selected the southeast quarter of section 36, in Viola township, and immediately erected a house and began to improve the land. In the spring of 1872 he opened a lumber yard at Sibley and when the rail- road reached there, on June 5th of that year, he put in a good stock of lum- ber, shipped from Minneapolis. However, times were hard, money was scarce and within two years he was six thousand dollars in debt. However, the firm in Minneapolis which backed him had every confidence in his ability to succeed, and carried him on their books until he was on his feet again. The "grasshopper days," in the latter part of the seventies, affected not only the farmers, but every other industry in this section of the state. During that period he sold much of his lumber for wood. In the midst of this dis- couraging period his wife died and everything began to have a very gloomy
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appearance. They thought the county was on the verge of starvation and had it not been for outside support many of the people would have actually starved to death. The new Methodist church was turned into a relief depot and the food and medical assistance was generously extended to all those in distress. During the terrible conditions existing at that time. Mr. Shell kept his credit good and managed to pull through. In 1893 he sold out his busi- ness on account of ill health, but two years later bought back a half interest in the business. He also owns a lumber yard at Little Rock, in Lyon county. In 1908 the Shell Lumber Company was incorporated with the following officers : President. W. D. Shuttleworth : vice-president, Levi Shell; secre- tary, treasurer and general manager, G. F. Sokol. The company has yards at Sibley, Little Rock and Allendorf and does an extensive business throughout this section of the state.
Mr. Shell was married in 1868 to Alice Mack, a native of Vermont, and upon her death. in 1874. he was left with two children, now Mrs. Maud Alice Newell, of Portland, Oregon, and Mrs. Mabel Kate Lehman, whose husband is now farming one of Mr. Shell's farms. In 1876 Mr. Shell was married to Lucy Brown, a sister of C. E. Brown, one of the earliest mer- chants of Sibley. She had been a school teacher previous to her marriage and was born in Patch Grove. Wisconsin. To this second marriage have been born two daughters, Mrs. Nellie Clark, of Marquette, Michigan, and Mrs. Vera Blanche Bahne, of Sibley, Iowa.
Mr. Shell has taken an important part in the life of Sibley in many ways. He has served one term as treasurer of Osceola county and twelve years as treasurer of the school board of Sibley. It is needless to say that in both of these official capacities he served with eminent satisfaction to everyone of the citizens of the county. His interests have always been identified with the Republican party, yet he is not a partisan in the strict sense of the word. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and he has been a zealous worker in that denomination for the past forty years in Sibley. In fact, he has been a trustee of the Methodist church of Sibley for more than forty years, serving in that capacity since the first church of that denomination was established in the city. He has also been a member of the board of stewards for the same length of time. Fraternally, he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and holds membership in the Royal Arch and the Knight Templar branches of Masonry. He is an en- thusiastic member of the Grand Army of the Republic at Sibley and has been commander of the local post. Such is the life history of Levi Shell, a man who has been as prominently identified with the interests of Osceola county
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and its county seat as any other man in the county. Every enterprise which he thought would be of benefit to the community at large found in him a hearty supporter. For this reason he is one of the distinguished as well as the representative men of his county.
JAMES S. WEBSTER.
The man whose life history is presented in the following narrative is one of those strong, self-reliant and eminent characters who are occasionally met with and who are of such a distinct type as to seem to be born leaders of their fellow men. It is safe to say that when you come across men in O'Brien county today who went to the front during the Civil War and fought through some of the severest struggles of that immortal conflict, such men are bound to be men of action. The roll of our honored war veterans is fast melting away with the flight of years and each Memorial day fewer and fewer of the gray haired veterans march to the sound of fife and drum. They are fast answering the last roll call and we can not give them too much honor for the fight they made to save the Stars and Stripes.
James S. Webster, a distinguished veteran of the Civil War and a prom- inent business man of Hartley, O'Brien county, Iowa, was born in 1847 in Clark county, Missouri. and is the son of Charles and Anna ( Schee) Web- ster. Charles Webster was born in 1817 in New York state and was educated at Oberlin College. He was a school teacher by profession and died in 1847. when only thirty years of age. Charles Webster was twice married. By his marriage in the year 1836 there were two children, Charlie, deceased, and a daughter who died in infancy. In 1840 he was married to Anna Schee, who was born in 1827 in Ohio and died in 1887 in Illinois. To this second mar- riage were born three children: Mrs. Eleanor Millikan, of Riverside, Cali- fornia : West B., of Gaza, Iowa, and James S., whose history is here delin- eated.
Charles Webster died before James S. was born. Five years later, in 1852, his widow married Simon Shonkwiler, of Ohio, a farmer then living in Illinois. To this marriage were born six children: Mrs. Phoebe J. Welfley. of Illinois; Oliver M., of O'Brien county: Mrs. Martha Moore, of Atwood, Illinois ; Frank M., a lawyer and judge of Monticello, Illinois ; two who died in infancy.
As has been stated, James S. Webster never saw his father, so he lived .
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with his mother and stepfather, who was an excellent man, until he was seven- teen years of age. He received a good common school education and was still in the school room when the war broke out in 1861. Although he de- sired to go to the front, yet he was too young to enlist and it was not until 1864. when he was seventeen years of age, that he was mustered in. He joined Company B. One Hundred and Fifty-fourth Regiment Illinois Volun- teer Infantry, and served until he was mustered out, in September, 1865. He came through the war uninjured and with his health unimpaired. Imme- diately after he was mustered out he returned to the farm in Illinois and re- mained until he was twenty-five years of age, then married and purchased one hundred and sixty acres of land in Illinois, but sold it three years later and took charge of his stepfather's farm of four hundred acres. He remained here for eight years, at the end of which time he came to O'Brien county, Iowa, arriving here in 1883. He at once purchased one hundred and sixty acres of prairie land, set out three acres of groves and orchards and other- wise improved it so that when he sold it three years later he realized a hand- some profit on his investment. He then went to Hartley, in this county, and bought an interest in a hardware store, where he worked for the next seven years, after which, in 1890, he purchased an interest in the Hartley lumber firm, with which he has been connected up to the present time. He is now manager of the firin. He also has a share in the Fullerton Lumber and Hardware Company, of Fullerton, North Dakota, as well as an interest in a lumber and furniture company at Louisburg, Minnesota. He also is heavily interested in land and has an interest in eight hundred and eighty acres of land in North Dakota. Mr. Webster is regarded as a man of good business ability and has won the confidence of the people by his uprightness and strict honesty in everything which he does.
Mr. Webster has been twice married, first, in 1873, to Viola Holtz, and to this marriage was born one daughter, Maud, whose husband, E. S. Thomas, is manager of the Fullerton Lumber and Hardware Company of Fullerton, North Dakota. She is a graduate of the Hartley high school and later at: tended Highland Park College at Des Moines, after which she taught school for four years. Mr. Webster's second marriage, in 1887, was to Emma Beach, who was born in 1858 in Indiana, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Cephas Beach. Cephas Beach was born in 1824 and died in 1890 and his wife was born in 1824 and died in 1912. Mrs. Beach made her home with her daughter, Mrs. James Webster, for the sixteen years previous to her death. The second wife of Mr. Webster had taught school for ten years in O'Brien county. five years being spent in the schools of Hartley. Mr. and Mrs. Web-
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ster adopted two children: Helen, the wife of L. A. Douglas, of Akron, Iowa, graduated from the Hartley high school and went one term to Morn- ingside College at Des Moines, after which she taught school four years at Akron, Iowa. May, the older child of Mr. and Mrs. Webster, is still with her parents and is now attending the Hartley high school.
Mr. Webster is a stanch Republican in politics, but has never felt in clined to take an active part in political affairs. He is an earnest member of the Methodist Episcopal church, and a great worker in the church and Sunday school. He is superintendent of the Sunday school at the present time and president of the O'Brien County Sunday School AAssociation. Fraternally. he is a member of the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and the Grand Army of the Republic at Hartley. Mr. Webster has lived a busy and useful life and from the time he was seventeen years of age he has been an active citizen of the commonwealth, serving his county faithfully. All public measures which promise to help his community have found in him a sympa- thetic helper. On the other hand, everything which he felt would be a detri- ment to his community has met with his strong opposition. Such a man is a blessing to any community and it is such men who make this a better county in which to live.
THOMAS BERNE.
Among the men of sterling worth and strength of character who have made an impress on the life of the locality in which they live, no one has received a larger regard than Thomas Berne, a popular furniture man and funeral director of Hartley. Born of Irish parentage, he has those excellent, characteristics which are common with the people of the Emerald Isle, and the success which attended his father after coming to this country shows that his son comes by his ability naturally. Although he has been in Hartley only a comparatively short time, yet his life here has given the people an oppor- tunity to know him in every phase of his character. That he has been true to life in every phase is manifest in the degree of confidence and regard in which he is held by all of those who know him. He is strictly a self-made man and the success which he has attained was won by hard knocks.
Thomas Berne was born in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1866, and is the son of John and Bridget (Croak) Berne, both of whom were natives of Ireland. John Berne was born in Ireland in 1818 and came to Niagara Falls. New York, from his native land when he was thirty years of age.
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For the next twenty years he followed railroading, but, feeling that there were more opportunities for advancement in the West, he came to Independ- ence, Iowa, and purchased eighty acres of land in 1868, on which he lived until his death in 1902. He had all of those sterling characteristics which mark the natives of the Emerald Isle and he and his good wife reared a large family of children to useful lives. They were the parents of ten children : Margaret, deceased: John, of Missoula, Montana: Mrs. Catherine Pohl, of Montana; William, of Montana; Michael, of Montana; Ellan, deceased ; James, of California; Martin, of California; Mrs. Agnes Sauntry, and Thomas, whose life history is here briefly portrayed.
Thomas Berne came with his parents from Niagara Falls, New York, to Independence, Iowa, when he was two years of age and received his educa- tion in the schools of this state. When a small lad he began to assist his father on the home farm, and this early learned those habits of industry which have characterized his later career. He continued to reside at home until he was thirty years of age, rented land adjoining his father's farm and working by the day's labor at any honest toil which would yield him a fair wage. During these years he was saving his money with the intention of going into business for himself and in 1896 he felt that he had laid by a suffi- cient amount of capital to indulge his desire for an independent career. Ac- cordingly, he went to Hartley, O'Brien county, Iowa, and worked in an im- plement store in order to become thoroughly acquainted with the business. While working in the implement store he married and began to plan to pur- chase a furniture store in Hartley and in 1906 he bought a furniture store and undertaking establishment and has been conducting it successfully up to the present time. In order to be a competent embalmer and undertaker, he took a course in the Hohenschuh Carpenter Embalming School at Des Moines and thus equipped himself for the embalming profession. He was the third man in the state of Iowa to purchase and put in use an automobile hearse, at a cost of $4,500, and the first one built by the Des Moines Casket Company. The success which has attended him since embarking in his new venture shows that he is a man of keen business ability. He needed but the chance to show what he could do when he had a business of his own. He has increased his stock in the furniture store from year to year and thereby brought a better class of trade to his store. His courtesy in dealing with his customers and his honesty in all of his dealings, has won for him the con- fidence of the people of Hartley and the surrounding country.
Mr. Berne was married in 1901 to Barbara Wachtel and to this union have been born two children, who are still with their parents, Clarence J. and
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Mary A. Politically, Mr. Berne adheres to the Democratic party, but has always been so busy with his own individual interests that he has not had the time to take an active part in politics. However, he takes an interest in al! public enterprises such as he deems will benefit his community, by giving his hearty and sympathetic support. He and his family are loyal members of the Catholic church and contribute freely of their means to its support. He is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. His interest in public affairs is shown by the fact that he has been a member of the city council of Hartley. Every measure which he felt would help the city has found in him an enthusiastic supporter. In addition to his mercantile interests he has invested in property in the city and now owns two handsome houses which he has improved in various ways. Such is the life history of Thomas Berne, who tries to do his every- day duty as he see it, having taken the Golden Rule for his guide. The fact that he has the unbounded confidence of everyone with whom he has been associated indicates that he has done to others as he would that others should do unto him.
ALBERT TAGGE.
Clearly defined purpose and consecutive effort in the affairs of life will inevitably result in the attaining of a due measure of success, but in following out the career of one who has attained success by his own efforts there comes into view the intrinsic individuality which made such accomplishment possible, and thus there is granted an objective incentive and inspiration, while at the same time there is enkindled a feeling of respect and admiration. The quali- ties which have made Mr. Tagge one of the prominent and successful men of Hartley have also brought him the esteem of his fellow townsmen, for his career has been one of well-directed energy, strong determination and honor- able methods.
Albert Tagge, for many years a prosperous merchant of Hartley, O'Brien county, Iowa, was born in Scott county, Iowa, in 1871. He is the son of Peter and Lena ( Richie) Tagge, both of whom were born and reared in Germany. Peter Tagge was born in 1824 and spent his boyhood days working on his father's farm in his native land. He was married in Germany to Lena Richie in 1858 and they at once came across the ocean and settled in Davenport, Iowa. There Peter bought two hundred and sixty acres of land, which he improved and lived there for several years. He permanently
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retired from farming in 1893 and moved to Durant, Iowa, where he died in 1906. Peter Tagge and wife were the parents of seven children: One who died in infancy; Mrs. Sophia Peterson, of Durant, Iowa; Fred, a farmer of Canada : Henry, of Hartley, Iowa; Rudolph. a merchant of Durant; Amanda. of Durant. and Albert, with whom this narrative deals.
Albert Tagge lived with his parents until he reached his nineteenth year. He received a good common school education in the schools of Scott county and when nineteen years of age went to Durant where he clerked in his brother Rudolph's store. In 1894 he came to Hartley and bought an inter- est in a mercantile establishment and later acquired the controlling interest in the business. Here he continued until 1912 when he sold the store and then bought an interest in a clothing store. He also has a third interest in three hundred and twenty acres of land in O'Brien county as well as property in the city of Hartley.
Mr. Tagge was married in 1904 to Helen O'Brien, of Des Moines, Iowa. and to this union have been born three children, Dorothy, Marguerette and Edward, all of whom are still with their parents. Politically, Mr. Tagge is a Democrat, but owing to his business interests he has never had the time to take an active part in political affairs. Fraternally, he is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias and takes an interest in the various activities of these fraternal organizations. He has always been a man of public spirit and one who takes a great deal of interest in public affairs. He has been a member of the city council of Hartley and in that position favored such measures as he thought would benefit his city.
E. L. HELMER.
Any man who receives the official sanction of President Woodrow Wilson is sure to be a man of sterling worth and integrity. for it is well known that he does not appoint any man to a position in the United States government without he first has his record thoroughly examined. E. L. Helmer, whose history is here presented, was appointed postmaster of San- born by President Wilson on July 23. 1913, and is now filling that office to the entire satisfaction of its patrons.
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