USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 56
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FRED REMBE.
The worthy gentleman whose name heads this article is one of the early settlers of O'Brien county who. by ceaseless energy and thrift, has accumu- lated for himself more than a competence for his later days, and by con- scientious adherence to each duty which has presented itself has also won numerous friends among his fellow citizens.
Fred Rembe was born in the far-off country of Bavaria, Germany, in the year 1853, and from his infancy was accustomed to green fields and run- ning brooks and life close to the heart of nature which is dear to us all, and especially to our German brothers. His father, George B. Rembe, who was born in 1813, was a farmer and stock man of Bavaria, and to him the son is indebted for much of his knowledge of agricultural affairs. Mr. Rembe was married early in life to Mary Shaub, of Bavaria, and to them were born seven children as follows: Valentine, now deceased, who was formerly a
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resident of Plymouth county, Iowa ; Phillip, whose death occurred in Chi- cago, Illinois : George, a retired farmer who resides at Le Mars, Iowa; and three daughters, Mrs. Barvia Kiendirst. Sopha Baker and Elizabeth, all of whom still reside in their native country, Germany.
Fred Rembe received his schooling in Bavaria, and assisted his father about the labors of the homestead until his eighteenth year, when he began to long for larger opportunities and new scenes. In 1870, therefore, he sev- ered home ties, and, bidding his loved ones farewell, sailed for the shores of our own America. He soon found his way to the broad fields of the Middle West, and settled in Warren, Illinois, where he was employed for several years as a farm hand. Here, in the year 1875, he met the lady who became his wife. Emma Baker, the daughter of Solomon Baker, of Warren. Four years after their marriage the young couple came to Plymouth county, Iowa, and purchased eighty acres of unbroken prairie land for the sum of five dollars per acre. The arduous labor involved in the early cultivation of this tract was endured gladly, for they were building for themselves a home- stead. A large grove was planted and buildings erected, and the place rap- idly increased in beauty and value. But Mr. Rembe saw in O'Brien county still greater opportunities for their advancement, and in 1885 brought his family to Highland township where a tract of one hundred twenty acres was purchased. Here again their endeavors were put forth in the effort to improve and beautify the homestead, and the aspect of the country was soon changed. More ground was added to their original purchase, an orchard of mixed fruits was planted, also a grove of shade trees, three acres in all, and now their homestead is one of luxury. Two hundred eighty acres of land is in a high state of cultivation and various kinds of live stock are raised.
Five children have come to bless their home, viz .: Byron, who is his father's able assistant in carrying forward the work of the farm; Arthur, whom death claimed in 1906: Roy, himself a farmer in O'Brien county ; Ernest, who attended the high school of Primghar; Lillian, now Mrs. Fields, a resident of Highmore, South Dakota.
Politically. Mr. Rembe is an adherent of the Republican party, and he is affiliated with the Independent Order of Odd Fellows also. He and his family are attendants of the Congregational church at Primghar, where he has his membership.
During his long residence in this county, Mr. Rembe has become well known, and his position as one of the substantial, dependable members of the community is undisputed. Industrious, conscientious and intelligent, his success in life is the inevitable result of the life he has lived.
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HARLEY DAY.
Harley Day was born in St. Lawrence county, New York. March 27. 1841. and was raised on a farm. He first learned the cooper's trade, and taught school at the age of sixteen. At the age of twenty-one he enlisted in Company K. One Hundred and Sixth New York Infantry, and served three years and became second lieutenant. When about to be discharged he was taken prisoner at the battle of Monocacy, Maryland. July 9. 1864. and held until long after the war was over. until February 22. 1866. A little later he came to Parkersburg. Iowa, where he resided until 1868. He was married to Margaret A. Braden in 1867 at Independence. Iowa. They had two chil- dren. The daughter, a young lady. died at Primghar with diphtheria in 1880, and the son Edward is engaged in railroad work. Mr. Day came to O'Brien county in 1871 and homesteaded the northwest quarter of section 26 in Carroll, where he remained until the fall of 1874. when he removed to Primghar, where he taught the high school for three and one-half years. While at this work he studied law with Charley Allen and J. L. E. Peck and was admitted to the bar in 1877. In the fall of 1871 he was elected a mem- ber of the board of supervisors and held one term. At the election of 1877 he was elected county superintendent, and held the office four years. In March. 1880. he removed to Sanborn and practiced law with .J. A. Stocum as the firm of Stocum & Day until 1888. Later he was engaged in insurance business as general agent. Being put on the stand in the court house at Primghar some years later, he was asked if he was a lawyer, and replied that "No, he had reformed and quit."
In referring to the past incidents in his life he gave this amusing item in his life as a homesteader in Carroll township: "I remember an incident that occurred while I was on my homestead in Carroll township. A young man had taken a homestead adjoining mine. About the second year there this ambitious young man made up his mind that he would like to teach school, and speaking to me on the subject. I questioned him somewhat as to his knowledge of the subjects that he would be expected to teach. I found him a natural mathematician, but of geography he knew almost nothing. So to enable him to acquaint himself with the study, he proposed that we manu- facture a globe, and to do that he went about the neighborhood asking the women to surrender to him some of the old-fashioned hoops for skirts, that he and I might use them in the manufacture of a globe. He made several applications before he was successful. As a result we made a globe. though rude in construction. Never, however. did a globe answer better purpose
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and never did a student apply himself more energetically. In due time he passed a satisfactory examination and taught school." Mr. Day added that his neighbor homesteader, George W. Schee, could explain more about this odd incident.
THOMAS J. ALEXANDER.
Thomas J. Alexander, treasurer of O'Brien county for six years and county auditor four years, was born in Indiana in 1842. On February 19. 1864, at Madison, Wisconsin, he enlisted and served in the Fifth Wisconsin Battery. Light Artillery, Third Brigade. Third Division. Fourteenth Army Corps. He was engaged in the battles at Island No. 10. Shiloh. Corinth. Perrysville, Stone's River. Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Dalton. Tunnell Hill, Rocky Face, Kingston, New Hope Church, Big Shanty, Marietta. Chattanooga. Peach Tree Creek, Atlanta, Jonesboro, Sherman's march to the sea, Goldsboro, North Carolina, and took part in the Grand Review at the close of the war at Washington. He was honorably discharged at Madison, Wisconsin. June 6. 1865. Thus as a mere boy soldier he was a rider of the lead horses of a field gun.
Mr. Alexander came to O'Brien county in 1869 and at once homesteaded the southwest quarter of section 33 in Liberty township, and proved up as a homesteader in 1875. He served in several township offices and in 1877 was nominated in the Republican convention by a majority of one-seventh of a delegate vote for county treasurer and was elected. This office was contested before a court with Stephen Harris, as seen elsewhere, and which contest cost him some four hundred dollars which was quite a sum in those days for a homestead candidate. He assumed his duties January 1, 1878, and com- menced his remarkably long career as an official. He was elected county treasurer for three successive terms and in 1883 and 1885 was elected county auditor. He espoused strongly the side of payment as against repudiation of the public debt, and participated in the various items of the refunding of the debt and in the various large tax sales of that period. He took part in the payment of county warrants during a portion of the years when the county was still endorsing them "not paid for want of funds," and when they were below par, and also participated in the resumption on a cash basis and other items, as related elsewhere. In 1886 he removed to Sutherland and pur- chased a half interest with Clinton E. Achorn in a general store, and was with D. M. Sheldon in the same business later on. He was married to Martha
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Brown, a daughter of James Brown, who homesteaded the quarter section long known as the postoffice at Erie. the half-way stopping place of all the old homesteaders who went to Cherokee to trade.
We must here also record the sad and tragical death of Mrs. Martha Alexander at Winterset. Iowa, in 1908, at which time they were just moving into a new home just built, where her clothing caught fire from a gasoline stove, inflicting such injuries that she died the following day.
HENRY EPPING.
The history of O'Brien county, Iowa, will show that there are several descendants of the little country of Holland within its borders and it may be expected that they would be among the most prosperous citizens of their respective communities. The word "thrift" is always associated with the Holland people and they have a reputation the world over as being the most thrifty people in the world. Some one has said that a Dutchman could take one acre and make as much money off of it as an American could with ten acres. AAmong the few farmers of this county of Dutch descent is Henry Epping, a prosperous farmer and stockman of Lincoln township.
Mr. Epping was born in Davenport. Iowa, in 1857, and is the son of Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Epping. Bernard Epping was born in Holland in 1831 and followed the trade of a carpenter in his native land. When a young man he came to this country and settled in St. Louis, Missouri, and two years later settled in Scott county. Iowa, where he engaged in farming until his death, which occurred in 1886. Mr. and Mrs. Bernard Epping were the parents of seven children : Mrs. Dora Linderman, deceased : Mrs. Mary Milder. a resident of Nichols, Iowa: Theodore, a farmer living near Daven- port. Iowa: William, deceased, who is buried at Davenport : Andrew, a res- ident of Davenport: John, a farmer of Clinton county, Iowa : one who died in infancy, and Henry, with whom this narrative deals.
Henry Epping received a good common school education in the schools of Scott county, Iowa, and worked with his father on the home farm until he was twenty-two years of age. after which he worked out as a farm hand in the immediate neighborhood for three years, when he married and rented land in Clinton county. He prospered as a renter and four years later he purchased one hundred and eighty acres of land in Clinton county. It it needless to add that with this amount of land he rapidly accumulated
HENRY EPPING
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a small fortune, with the result that in 1906 he came to O'Brien county and purchased five hundred and twenty acres of land in Lincoln township. Since buying this tract he has set out a large grove of trees and made many ex- tensive improvements. He raises a large amount of stock and makes a specialty of Percheron horses, having some of the best horses of this breed in the county. He feeds a large number of cattle and Duroc Jersey hogs each year and realizes a handsome profit from his annual stock sales.
Mr. Epping was married in 1884 in Clinton county, Iowa, to Minnie T. Porth, and to this union have been born eleven children: Harry, who is a graduate of Davenport College; Tracy, deceased; William, who is farm- ing with his father; Francis; Ralph; Cecelia, deceased; Agnes; Minnie, de- ceased : Leon : Walter and Helen.
In his politics Mr. Epping subscribes to the principles of the Democratic party, but has been so busy with his agricultural interests that he has not had time to take a prominent part in politics. He and all of his family are earnest members of the Catholic church and subscribe generously to the support of that denomination. He is a member of the Knights of Colum- bus, a Catholic organization, which has a large number of members in O'Brien county. Genial and unassuming in manner, Mr. Epping easily wins friends and is known throughout the township where he lives as a man of his word. Although he has been a resident of this county only a com- paratively short time, yet his worth as a member of society and as a man is already recognized and the township has no more enthusiastic supporter than Mr. Epping.
ANDREW J. BROCK.
[ This biography was written out by Mr. Brock himself, for the senior editor twenty years ago, and is given just as he wrote it. ]
Andrew J. Brock was born at Bono, Hooppole township. Lawrence county, Indiana, on the banks of Nettle creek, A. D. 1843. Five years later his father, not waiting for the noted Greeley advice, emigrated to Carroll county, Illinois. Chicago was then the nearest grain market, one hundred and fifteen miles distant. From that time up to October 26, 1861, the years were spent at "deestrect skule," in the corn field and catching rabbits. On the 26th day of October, 1861, he concluded that he knew more than his parents, became satisfied that the then existing dispute between Abe Lincoln and Jeff Davis could not be settled in proper shape without his assistance,
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jumped into a suit of army blue, kissed his best girl good bye, forever, and for three of the best years of his life, namely from eighteen to twenty-one, helped Company H of the Fifty-fifth Illinois Infantry, First Brigade. Second Division, Fifteenth Army Corps. Army of the Tennessee, keep hard tack from getting mouldy and coffee from getting cool; was engaged in seventeen battles : was first sergeant and had command of his company in the last bat- tle he took part in, namely. Jonesboro. Georgia: ran when opportunity af- forded; had bullets through his clothing, but never received a scratch, and up to 1891 never received a pension.
In 1870 he emigrated to and settled in O'Brien county, and accepted a situation with William Clark Green as head clerk and deputy postmaster in the first store in the county, when one dollar's worth of sugar brought in five muskrat skins or one mink if it was not a spike tail. When he was not busy sorting mail, selling nails, tar paper, salaratus, apples and tobacco, was engaged with Lem Green hauling wood from the Sioux River bottoms and gathering perrywinkles. This was at a time when prairie wolves in the county were more numerous than the neighbors. One cloudy afternoon he traded a fourteen-dollar overcoat for the southwest quarter of section 10 in Carroll township, then on the wild prairie and considered worthless [which in this 1913 is worth twenty-four thousand dollars].
One year later there appeared among the incoming emigrants, who after locating his homestead on southwest quarter of section 14 in Carroll, and who later was deputy sheriff under Clark Green during a large part of his eight-year term, leased the O'Brien House, the only hotel in Old O'Brien, and proceeded to keep hotel, where many a pleasant evening was spent in social dances, parties, etc., for in early times we had to make our own amuse- ment. The family consisted of mine host, L. G. Healy and wife, three boys and three girls. Meanwhile this, your sugar dispenser, after selecting the best of the three girls to his liking, succeeded in persuading her to marry him, which event took place on the 18th day of September. 1872. and settled down just like old folks would on their homestead on the southwest quarter of section 10 in Carroll, four miles southwest of Sheldon, and in a few weeks was lucky enough to be appointed the first postmaster of Sheldon. through Congressman Jackson Orr of this district. The first mail pouch into Shel- don contained three letters and two newspapers, and the salary was twelve dollars per year. Later he assisted as clerk in several of the county offices. Having been elected county recorder in 1872, on January 1. 1873, he as- sumed its duties and appointed D. A. W. Perkins as deputy postmaster at Sheldon, and took up his residence at Primghar, where two years later his
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son Herbert was born, the first child born in Primghar. He bought forty acres and, with John T. Stearns, laid off and platted Brock & Stearns' ad- dition to Primghar. For several years he was engaged as partner with. Clark Green in general merchandise. He left the state and settled at Little Rock. Arkansas, in 1878. but later returned to Iowa with his family. [Hc died about 1905.]
WILLIAM CLARK GREEN.
William Clark Green, ex-sheriff and pioneer merchant of O'Brien county. was born September 7. 1842, in Jackson county, Indiana. His father, Mc- Allen Green, once recorder of O'Brien county, resided on a farm in Indiana until Clark was seven years of age, when the family removed to a farm near Sterling. Whiteside county, Illinois. There he attended the district school, when not at work on the farm, until he was about eighteen years of age, when he took a course at Northwest College. at Fulton, Illinois. He then engaged as clerk with a mercantile firm and continued three years as clerk at Sterling, when he took an additional course at Eastman's Business College in Chicago. He again returned to Sterling and resumed his posi- tion as bookkeeper and clerk. These two courses of study, with several years' practical experience in the mercantile business, fully equipped Mr. Green for his long career in O'Brien county. as the pioneer merchant. sheriff and other public duties in the county. Mr. Green, or Clark, as he is famil- iarly called. landed at Old O'Brien on the 22d day of August. 1869. then a young man almost twenty-seven years old. He had met Archibald Murray at I ennison, seventy-five miles from Old O'Brien and then nearest railroad station, and Murray induced him to come to O'Brien. On the road they had to cross the Maple river at Mapleton. The river was high, and there was no bridge and they were detained and had to camp out several days in oat shocks. using the sheaves for bed. Murray got sick and with no medicine Clark acted as physician as well as he could. No house was near of any service. The river went down somewhat. A railroad contractor was along by the name of Martin, who, as Green afterward found out, had seven thou- sand dollars in currency and was very nervous. An old man on the river had a square box. like a piano box. that he propelled across by a pulley and wire stretched across the river. They all got in. Green said: "All hands set still now or we'll tip." The seven-thousand-dollar man got excited,
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thought they would go over and dived off into the water, which so over- balanced things that over they all went, with the water very deep. The seven-thousand-dollar man finally reached a tree and climbed. He got so nervous over himself and money that he kept on climbing, higher than neces- sary, clear to the top until he was in as much danger there as in the water. Clark also reached some boughs on the bank with which he bobbed himself up and down and sang out to the seven-thousand-dollar man in the tree: "A life on the ocean wave, a home on the rolling sea : you had better come down in- stead of going up; you are high enough." They got ashore, and the seven- thousand-dollar man, all dry. Their mules and wagon was floated across. The next day a family going back from Dakota was upset in the same way, and a little girl hung on to the boat, but thought it was the "worstest place she ever see."
That fall there were fifty-seven votes cast in O'Brien county. Mr. Green bought his stock of goods in Chicago and hauled them by team from Dennison. Crawford county. This teaming was done by his brother, Lemuel C. Green. He opened up his first store in a lean-to or old addition to the house of Archibald Murray, about nine by sixteen in size, and sold the first goods out of a store in O'Brien county, October 7. 1869. A new store building, however, was put up in the spring of 1870, out of native lumber sawed at the Peterson saw mill. The business directory of Old O'Brien then consisted of A. L. Bostwick and R. G. Allen, blacksmiths: J. G. Ar- buckle and A. J. (or Peg Leg ) Allen, shoemakers, and Rouse B. Crego, who ran a hotel.
His brother, Lemuel C. Green, hauled the goods seventy-five miles. When they got to the Mapleton river with a load of goods, they first un- loaded the goods and placed them in the frail scow boat or skiff and pulled them across by the pulley, then took the wagon box off and scowed it across; then put the running gears on the wagon straddle of the skiff for a third or fourth load and let the horse swim behind.
It is hard to say whether they had a bank or not. John R. Pumphrey arranged to draw checks on Weare & Allison, of Sioux City, but did not formally open as a bank until they all moved to Primghar. In 1872 Mr. Green bought a half interest in the town site of Pringhar of James Roberts. a homesteader of Carroll township, and the two men platted the town in 1873.
Mr. Green became postmaster of Old O'Brien in 1870. Chester W. In- man preceded him as postmaster and J. R. Pumphrey was Mr. Inman's deputy. Mr. Pumphrey brought the postoffice and that which pertained
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thereto over to Mr. Green in a wash tub, and delivered over the honors of the office. Mr. Green also became Primghar's first postmaster in 1873. to which place he moved June 17, 1873, and at once built and opened up the first and pioneer store.
In 1874 he made A. J. Brock a partner with a half interest. They continued one year. J. R. Pumphrey bought Brock's interest. The new firm continued until January 1, 1878, when they dissolved. Mr. Green then continued one year, when he failed. December 31, 1878. The hard times period just preceding during the grasshopper period was too much. Mr. Green had generously extended credit to the scores of needy settlers. Their willingness, but inability, to pay did not meet his wants quick enough. Dur- ing those years also Mr. Green was everybody's bondsman and was very lib- eral in signing security. In 1873 he was a candidate for the Legislature, carried his own county unanimously, but a Mr. Woods, of Spencer, beat him in the convention. In 1879 he ran against Mart Shea for sheriff. but. owing to the fact that it was only Mr. Shea's second term and his popularity he was defeated. In 1881, however. his hundreds of old customers and the county rewarded his generosity as the pioneer merchant and elected him sheriff, which they repeated in 1883 and for the third and fourth times and he held the office until January 1, 1890, eight years. After his failure in 1879 he removed to Sanborn and sold rubber stamps, then for a time sold lightning rods through Minnesota, then sold wholesale clothing on the road for awhile, and then engaged with Teabout & Vallea at his original vocation by the month as clerk in their store. Mr. Green after his unprecedented period of four successful terms as sheriff re-established himself as a mer- chant, but unfortunately again failed a few years thereafter.
As can be seen, Clark Green was a man of ability. He was up against it, however, in the homestead trials and county debt difficulties. His gener- osity could not stand the appeals of a poverty-stricken old settler. It all re- quired far more capital than he had. Public funds through the bank were resorted to to meet the occasions. He was for ten years compelled to take county warrants for his goods at all kinds of prices. We can thus again see at least a partial excuse for a part of those troubles connected with county matters. As stated, it broke him up in 1879 and unfortunately again in 1895. The old homesteaders righteously rewarded him by giving him the sheriffship for eight years. In 1887 he carried out the very delicate and at times piteous duty in the eviction of about one hundred and twenty-five families known as squatters from the Milwaukee lands. His was indeed the
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lot of the first and pioneer merchant, the only general merchant in the whole east half of the county for about ten years. His experience can never be repeated in the county. He died at Sanborn.
Mr. Green was married November 30, 1876. to Melvenah S. Kidder, of Dixon, Illinois. Their two children, Lulu and Edna, are both married.
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