USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 33
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by. bringing to him greater and greater opportunities for good, he will come to exert an influence far surpassing the bounds of the local community.
Weston D. Ralston is a native of O'Brien county, born in 1889 in Dale township. the son of John and Margaret (Donaghy) Ralston, both of whom are natives of Canada and both born in the year 1853. John Ralston first came to O'Brien county in 1882 and for a few years worked out as a farm hand. Being faithful and diligent in the discharge of his duties, his ser- vices were always in demand and soon he saw an opportunity for himself in the purchase of a tract of one hundred and sixty acres of unimproved land in Dale township. In this lie invested and immediately set about its improvement, succeeding so well that within a short time he disposed of it to considerable advantage and again purchased for himself. This time he purchased two hundred and forty acres in Highland township, which he also industriously set about improving, carrying on general farming for a number of years. Success came to him in a most gratifying manner, due to his unfailing energy and intelligent management, and in 1909 he re- tired from active labor, taking up his residence in Paullina. Altogether he owns four hundred acres of land in this county, the operation of which he superintends himself. Mr. and Mrs. Ralston are the parents of an in- teresting family of four children.
Weston D. Ralston remained under the parental roof until eighteen years of age. receiving his elementary education in the schools of the neighbor- hood and assisting his father in the work about the homestead. When eigliteen years old, he went to Iowa City where he took a course in liberal arts and at the close of his second term he came to Paullina where he secured employment as bookkeeper and teller in the Farmers State Bank. In that capacity he remained for four years and on January 20. 1914, he received the appointment as postmaster at Paullina, the duties of which office he bids fair to fill to the satisfaction of everyone. He is in a way to succeed finan- cially, and already owns part of a tract of one hundred and sixty acres located in South Dakota.
Mr. Ralston's religious affiliation is with the Presbyterian church and in the affairs of this society he takes a deep and abiding interest. Politically, he has always been a Democrat and from the time he attained his majority he has always been looked upon as one of the most active workers of the party in this section. His fraternal affiliation is with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons. Mr. Ralston possesses civic pride in a marked degree and is always anxious to render any service which will advance the best interests of the town and community. At the present time he is acting as
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secretary of the Commercial Club of Paullina, which organization has done much to promote the general welfare of the town. Mr. Ralston possesses a kindly and genial disposition, readily makes friends and is a very agree- able companion. He believes in progress in every department of life and in order to keep himself fully alive to the demands of the time he devotes considerable time to becoming fully informed on the leading questions before the public, in all of which he takes a broad and kindly view of men and things.
THEODORE WIECHNER.
The tide of immigration has brought to American shores and to the con- " fines of O'Brien county many types of humanity, but probably no country has sent to us a greater number of desirable citizens than has the German em- pire, the "fatherland" of so many of our fellow men. Almost without ex- ception, these newcomers have proved to be industrious, thrifty, substantial citizens, and the subject of this review is a striking example of these char- acteristics.
Theodore Wiechner was born in the year 1848 in Germany, the son of Christian B. Wiechner. The father's birth occurred in the year 1817, and from early manhood, throughout the remainder of his life, he was engaged in the occupation of shoe making. He was married in the year 1847 and was the father of two children. The elder was called by the Grim Reaper from his home in Germany, but the younger, Theodore, grew to manhood in the home of his birth and learned the vocation of his father, becoming in his youth an expert shoemaker.
In the year 1871, however, Mr. Wiechner joined the ever-increasing tide of emmigration and sailed for American shores. He settled in the city of New York, finding employment in his chosen vocation, and here he la- bored for two years. Later he was employed in St. Paul, Minnesota, and in St. Louis, Missouri, always working as a shoemaker. In the year 1882 one of the most important steps of his life was taken, for in that year he was united in marriage to Dora Steen, a native also of Germany whose natal day was in 1862. From this time forth he had a faithful friend and ally, and from this time also his prosperity increased. During this same year he mi- grated to O'Brien county, Iowa, and opened a shoe repair shop in Paullina. For ten years he labored diligently, building up a substantial business for himself, and eventually selling out, realizing thereby enough capital to pur-
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chase an interest in a general merchandise store of that place. This venture also proved a profitable one, for he labored assiduously and with sound busi- ness judgment to increase the business of the concern, and here he continued until the year 1911, when it seemed advisable for him to retire from active labor and spend the remaining years of his life enjoying the comforts which his earlier years of toil had prepared for his declining years. During the pre- ceding years his profits had been wisely and judiciously invested, and he is now a stockholder in the Farmers State Bank of Paullina and owner of a tract of one hundred fifty acres of good farm land in Union township.
One child. a daughter, Winnie, has come to bless and brighten the lives of Mr. and Mrs. Wiechner, and she is happily still in the home of her parents.
Politically, Mr. Wiechner is a stanch Republican and consistently votes that ticket. He and his wife are also faithful members of the German Luth- eran church. He is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, among whom he is highly respected, and is allied with the various movements which are brought about for the physical and moral betterment of the com- munity. Quiet and unassuming. he is loved best by those who know him, and has set a notable example of industry and thrift for the profit of the coming generation.
JOHN A. HASTINGS.
Special mention is made of many of the worthy citizens of O'Brien county within the pages of this book, citizens who have figured in the growth and de- velopment of this favored locality and whose interests have been identified with its every phase of progress, each contributing in his own particular way to the well-being of the community in which he resides and to the advancement of its normal and legitimate growth. Among the number is he whose name heads this paragraph, one of the most skilled blacksmiths and automobile repair men in this section of the state.
John A. Hastings is a native of the state of Indiana, born in 1871. be- ing the son of William and Mary ( Matott) Hastings, the former of whom was born in Scotland in 1845, leaving his native country when quite a young man. Shortly after his arrival in America he took up his residence in Michigan, where for a few years he engaged in farming. However, not being satisfied with his prospects there, he went to Indiana and for ten years farmed in that state. In 1879 he left Indiana, coming to Iowa and settled in Summit township. O'Brien county. Here he farmed for two years, when he
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moved to Primghar and opened up a blacksmith shop. By the time this shop was well under way he opened up another in Paullina, being the first shop of that kind in the town mentioned. He was meeting with excellent suc- cess in his new business venture, when the now famous tornado of June 2.4. 1882, struck the town. At that time his home was at Primghar, though he later moved to Paullina. In this tornado he was badly injured and lay for months suffering from broken ribs and limbs, also having his entire be- longings wiped out. While badly crippled at the time he was not permanent- ly disabled, and as soon as health permitted he again set about his business. He remained in O'Brien county until 1895, when he moved to Chandler. Minnesota, where he opened up another blacksmith shop, where he was en- joying an excellent business at the time of his death in 1905. His widow. Mary Hatott Hastings, is a native of Pennsylvania, born there in 1852, and she makes her home at present in Primghar. She is the mother of nine chil- dren, two of whom are dead.
When the subject was eighteen years of age he started out in life for himself and secured employment in a flour mill at Davenport, Iowa. There he remained for two years, when he went to Sioux City, Iowa, and worked for the Silver Horn meat packing plant. In 1895 he severed his connec- tion with the above named firm and came to Paullina, where he opened up a blacksmith and machine shop, and to this enterprise he has since devoted his time and energies, his business at the present time having attained most gratifying proportions. In addition to this business he is interested in the Cherokee well-drill manufacturing concern and owns five business lots and two residence lots, all of them most admirably located. The success which he enjoys is due solely to his own efforts, keen insight and tireless indus- try. There is great demand for such service as he is able to render and he has prepared himself for the growing use of the motor car and its needs.
Mr. Hastings in 1898 was united in marriage with Nancy Gruver, who was born in 1874 in Clinton county, Iowa. To their union have been born two children. Harry and Lois, both of whom are at home with the parents. Politically, Mr. Hastings is identified with the Progressive party and takes an intelligent interest in the current issues of the day. He gives loyal support to the Presbyterian church, with the affairs of which the family is prominently identified. Mr. Hastings' career, although somewhat strenuous and to a marked degree progressive and successful. has always been char- acterized by honorable dealings. He is well known throughout the county and is highly respected by all because of his upright dealings with his fel- low men.
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JOHN P. BOSSERT.
John P. Bossert was born on a farm near Tipton, Cedar county, Iowa, 011 February 19, 1863, where he grew up. He attended the regular rural schools of that county in the usual course. He later took a course in Lenox College at Hopkinton, Iowa. Though not among the very earliest of settlers or homesteaders, he came early enough to have resided in the county for thirty years, or fully long enough and more to be a full-grown old settler and amply long enough to learn of and understand the needs of the county and of its conditions. These years prepared him for the long service of ten years in the office of county auditor, concededly the most important in the county. He came to Paullina in 1883, only twenty years of age, and there engaged in the mercantile business. There were but few old men in the county in those years. The body citizenship were then composed of young men like himself. The town had just started. This is well illustrated in the statement that the store building which he erected and in which he did busi- ness was built from the first shipment of lumber received at Paullina over the then new Northwestern railroad. He was married at twenty-one years of age, on November 27, 1884, to Amy L. Camp, of Cedar county, where they both grew up. He continued in the mercantile business at Paullina until 1887, when he sold out, but remained with his family a resident of Paullina, him- self becoming a travelling salesman.
At the general election of 1902 Mr. Bossert was called upon by the peo- ple of O'Brien county to assume the duties of this important office. While he was well acquainted with the people all over the county, the duties of this office brought him into direct business relations with state, county, town, township and school officials, and indeed with every citizen of the county. Indeed this office is now equal to any bank in the county in the number of its business items as well as in aggregates in dollars computed. The making of the tax lists, the dealings with assessors, school boards and treasurers, road su- pervisors, town and township officials, redemptions from tax sales, the han- dling of the uniform school book system, the issuing of all orders of the board of supervisors and the keeping of their records, all contribute to make this the first office. But it was not merely as an accountant and record man that Mr. Bossert filled the place. He reached out farther as in reality an ad- visor of the board of supervisors, as to the large policies and business items handled.
The board can not always be in session, and in this office it is all but mandatory that they have an auditor, who at each session will have the in-
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stant business at hand, digested and ready for action, with advice that five members of the board can rely upon and will accept. The very fact that for five terms, or ten years, more than four thousand voters continued hin in office by their votes evidences this measure of his qualification for this large office. He retired January 1, 1913, and moved with his family to Koshkonong, Missouri, where he is engaged in fruit growing and other lines of farming.
Mr. and Mrs. Bossert have five children: Mavis M., now the wife of Mr. Kenneth Rerick, abstracter in Primghar : H. B. (Burdette) Bossert, book- keeper for Henry Williams in his store, and his son-in-law; John C. Bossert. at Primghar, and Eleanor and Dorothy, at home. It is not often that three children in turn should acceptably serve in so large an office through the years as did Mavis, Burdette and John, the latter continuing with J. B. Stamp. the present auditor, for about one year.
FRANK N. DERBY.
Frank N. Derby, clerk of the courts for two years and county treasurer for six years, was born at Union City, Indiana, October 11, 1855. His par- ents moved to Ottumwa, Wapello county, when he was six years of age. His father, George A. Derby, was sheriff of that county for four years commenc- ing January, 1866, and during his term hung the notorious Lant Combs. Frank was raised in Ottumwa and attended the graded and high schools there. In 1871 the family removed to Lincoln, Nebraska, where Frank re- mained until 1875. when he came to O'Brien county and clerked in the stores for nine years. In the fall of 1877 he was a candidate for auditor against George W. Schee, but was defeated. In 1878 he was elected clerk of the courts. His brother, Alonzo F. Derby, practically filled the office. though Frank performed many of its duties.
The brother, Alonzo F. Derby, who filled this office and its duties, should perhaps receive a notice in connection with this item. He was born in Licking county, Ohio, March 4. 1847. and was raised in Ottumwa. Though very young, he served one hundred days in the war near its close. He has later been employed in the express offices and as cashier with several railroads. He was appointed deputy clerk by his brother. He will long be remembered at the county seat for his blunt and severe denunciation of everything that in his judgment was not as it should be, and was especially severe in denun-
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ciation of many county matters then needing criticism. There was neither politics or policy in his nature. He spoke his sentiments from the shoulder outward, and made his criticisms as bluntly and vigorously as any official ever in the court house.
Frank N. Derby was elected county treasurer in 1883 and assumed its duties January 1. 1884, and continued in office for six years. He was mar- ried to Marian A. DeLong. They have three children. He now resides in Salem. Oregon. He conducted large farming operations for several years adjacent to Primghar and engaged in stock raising with W. S. Armstrong. He took a leading part in the procuring of a railroad to Primghar and was one of the ten men who signed a guaranty to furnish twenty-two miles of right of way to the Central road to secure its building. He, with James Rowan, of Dubuque, laid out and platted Derby & Rowan's addition to Prim- ghar, which is one of the finest and most beautiful plats in the town. Since going to Salem, Oregon. he has been interested in its street car system and in real estate.
WILLIAM CORY HAND, M. D.
Professional success results from merit. Frequently in commercial life one may come into possession of a lucrative business through inheritance or gift, but in what are known as the learned professions advancement is gained only through painstaking and long-continued effort. Prestige in the healing art is the outcome of strong mentality, close application, thorough mastery of its great underlying principles and the ability to apply theory to practice in the treatment of diseases. Good intellectual training, thorough profes- sional knowledge and the possession and utilization of the qualities and attributes essential to success, have made the subject of. this review eminent in his chosen calling and he is recognized today as one of the leading physi- cians and surgeons in northwestern Iowa.
Dr. William Cory Hand, proprietor of the Hand Hospital and one of the most successful physicians of this section of the state, was born June 12, 1877, in Miami county, Ohio. He is the son of Alvin and Lucinda ( Balzell) Hand, both of whom were natives of Ohio. His parents came to Iowa in 1885 and settled in Franklin county, where the father died. The mother is still living in Hampton, Iowa. To Mr. and Mrs. Alvin Hand were born six children, two of whom died in infancy. The four living children are Roy C., of Los Angeles, California: Doctor Hand, whose life history is here
WILLIAM C. HAND, M. D.
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sketched; John Carl, of Hampton, Iowa, and Harry, a farmer living in Ohio.
Doctor Hand was educated in the public schools of Hampton, Iowa, and later taught school in the country for four years. In 1902 he entered the medical department of the Northwestern University at Evanston, Illinois. and graduated in 1906. He immediately located in Hartley and has been very successful. In 1908 he erected the Hand Hospital, which is a com- modious building. with all the conveniences of a modern hospital; it has accommodation for fifteen patients and has two resident nurses in attend- ance at all times. The hospital takes care of one hundred and fifty patients annually. Practically all of the surgical cases are attended to by Doctor Hand personally. The hospital draws patronage from a large section of this part of the state.
Doctor Hand was married in 1902 to Jessie Ellis, of Sheffield, Iowa. 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 Inde- pendent Order of Odd Fellows. He is a member of the O'Brien County, Sac County, Sioux Valley, Mississippi Valley and American medical associa- tions and takes an interest in the various annual meetings of these organiza- tions. Doctor Hand has achieved a notable success within a short time and has been recognized and appreciated throughout this section of the state for the excellent work he is doing in his field. While he is primarily interested in the practice of his profession, he does not neglect his duties to the body politic. In every relation of life he performs his full duty as an American citizen.
LOUIS WOLLENBERG.
It is well known that the great majority of the successful business men of our country are proud of the fact that they are self-made men. owing the influence and position to which they have attained not to any gift or in- heritance from others, but to those qualities within themselves which make for the accomplishment of the great work of the world. The subject of this review is such a man, and it is by means of his energy, sound judgment and integrity that he has risen to his present position in the community and ac- quired for himself a competence for the declining years of his life.
Louis Wollenberg was born in the year 1858 in Cook county, Illinois, the son of Joseph B., a native of Germany, whose natal day was in the year
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1810. The father spent the early years of his married life in the country of his birth, but as his family increased in numbers and in size the problem of support which confronted him was one of increasing concern, and he set forth with his wife and children to seek the broader opportunities of the New World. But while en route to America, the call of death came to the father and he was buried at sea, leaving the sorrowing mother and her seven chil- dren to brave the future in a strange land. They made their way to the city of Chicago, and in this vicinity was born her youngest son, Louis. She re- mained in the state of Illinois until the day of her death, which occurred in the year 1901 in the town of Beecher. But three of the children are now surviving: John, a retired farmer of Germantown, Iowa; Sophia (Mrs. Awe), a resident of Santa Ana, California, and Louis, the subject of this review.
This youngest son received his education in the schools of Cook county and when he attained to years of maturity he obtained employment in a gen- eral merchandise store. Five years later he migrated to O'Brien county, Iowa, and here he continued the same line of work in a store in Paullina. Here he worked faithfully, living with characteristic German thrift and sav- ing his earnings, and in time he was enabled to purchase an interest in the store of J. W. Bunker. Later he bought Mr. Bunker's interest in the con- cern, and continued with the business. He continued to labor assiduously for the upbuilding of the business in which he was interested, whether in the ca- pacity of proprietor or employe, and each change brought him renewed profit and increased capital for investment. Thus did he continue as the years ad- vanced, ultimately investing his profits in farm lands, and when, in the year 1912, he decided that he had earned the right to enjoy at ease the competence which he had acquired by many years of toil, he found himself the possessor of eight hundred acres of farm land in the states of Minnesota, South Da- kota and Iowa.
In the year 1888 he was married to Belle West, a lady of his own age, she having been born also in the year 1858 in the state of Ohio. No children have been born of this union and they are enjoying the autumn of their life to- gether in their comfortable home in Paullina.
Mr. Wollenberg is a man of progressive ideas, well informed and an interesting conversationalist upon the affairs of the day as well as upon the earlier history of the county. Though he has retired from active business life, he is still interested in all movements looking toward the betterment of the community in which he resides and the good of the country at large.
Politically, Mr. Wollenberg is a firm adherent of the principles espoused
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by the Independent Progressive party and he and his wife are members of the Presbyterian church. He is prominent also in the order of Masons, having served for a number of years in its council. He is widely known throughout the county and is richly deserving of the respect in which he is held by his fellow citizens.
INA DORNBUSCH.
The subject of this review is a typical example of the great things whichi can be accomplished by the steady worker who exercises sound judgment in his labors and wisely directs his business affairs.
Ina Dornbusch, a prominent farmer of Union township, was born in the year 1869 in Germany. His father, Martin Dornbusch, was also a na- tive of the fatherland, his birth occurring in 1820. The father, in his youth, learned the trade of shoemaking, and to this vocation he adhered through- out his life. In the year 1850 he was united in marriage to Trinke Brunken, whose birth was in the year 1827, and to this couple were born seven chil- dren, five of whom are now surviving. In the year 1870, after twenty years of wedded life, the father was taken from the bosom of his family by the call of death, and the following year the mother, with her children, emigrated to America. Here, in Whiteside county, Illinois, they made their permanent abiding place.
The son, Ina, in whom we are directly interested, remained with the family only until his eighteenth year, when he migrated to Plymouth county, Iowa, and obtained employment upon a farm, laboring by the month. Later he was enabled to cultivate a tract of land for himself and here he labored early and late, living frugally and looking forward to the opportunity to ac- quire for himself a competence. In the year 1898 he was enabled to pur- chase a quarter section of land, and to this he gradually added additional tracts, always laboring assiduously to cultivate and improve his holdings. In the year 1895, however, he entered into the state of matrimony, taking for his bride Sarah Moser. Two children, Martin and Ina, were born of this union, both of whom are still residing with the father. The hand of death. however, was laid upon the mother in the year 1904. In 1906 Mr. Dorn- busch was again married, taking for his wife Mrs. Anna Stern, who was born in the year 1870 in Whiteside county, Illinois, and who is now his faith- ful helpinate. Her son, Arthur Stern, is a member of the family also, assist- ing in the labors of the place.
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