USA > Iowa > O'Brien County > Past and present of O'Brien and Osceola counties, Iowa, Vol. II > Part 7
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William James Edward Thatcher, the present clerk of the district court of the county of O'Brien, was born May 8, 1882. in Spencer, Iowa. His parents were Wiley Washburn and Mary (Kelly) Thatcher. Wiley W. Thatcher was a decorator by trade and was born in Peoria, Illinois. After his marriage he came to Iowa and located in Spencer about 1880. He is now engaged in the furniture business at Hartley.
William J. E. Thatcher is the only child of his parents and went with them from Spencer to Hartley in 1884. Shortly afterward they moved to Sanborn, where they remained two years, then returned to Hartley, where they are still living. He was educated in the Hartley high school and studied one year in the University of South Dakota and one year in the Commercial Col- lege. While he was attending school he taught in this county in order to pay his expenses in college, spending three years as a teacher in the public schools of the county. While teaching he began the study of law under Mr. Conn, of
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Hartley. In 1906 he was appointed deputy clerk under H. C. May and two years later was elected to the important office of clerk of the district courts. Such was his excellent service in this office that he was re-elected and is now serving his third term, a fact which testifies to his efficiency in office as well as his popularity throughout the county. He was admitted to the bar in Oc- tober, 1912. but, owing to the fact that he is still serving as clerk, he has not yet entered the active practice of his profession.
Politically, Mr. Thatcher is a Republican and very naturally has taken an important part in the interests of his party. He is a member of the An- cient Free and Accepted Masons and also of the Order of the Eastern Star. Mr. Thatcher was married in August. 1908, to Hilma Johnson, daughter of August Johnson, and to this union has been born one son, Sherwood Yale. born January 23, 1912. Mr. Thatcher's straightforward methods have given him the confidence and good will of the people of the county and he is in every way deserving of the high esteem in which he is held by all classes. He keeps well abreast of the times, being a wide reader and a clear thinker. He is now in the prime of his life and many years of usefulness are still before him.
ORLANDO B. HARDING.
A retired farmer of Sibley, Iowa, who has been identified with the his- tory of Osceola county for more than forty years is Orlando B. Harding. He is one of the men who came to this county when it was a trackless prairie and by ability and industry won a success through his farming operations. He has not only contributed to the material advancement of his county, but dur- ing the course of an honorable career he has been an influential factor in bet- tering the moral, social and intellectual welfare of his community.
Orlando B. Harding was born in Pennsylvania September 20, 1847, and is the son of Curtis and Elizabeth ( Sands ) Harding. Curtis Harding was born and reared in Pennsylvania of English parentage and in 1868 came to central Wisconsin from the state of Pennsylvania, where he lived until his death. Curtis Harding was twice married, and by his first marriage had six children, while to the second marriage nine children were born. Five of the children by his second wife finally settled in Iowa.
Orlando B. Harding was a son of the second marriage of his father and was reared and educated in the schools of Pennsylvania. In the spring of
ORLANDO B. HARDING
.
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1868 he was married and he and his young wife came with his father and the remainder of the family to Wisconsin, where Orlando and his wife settled in the central part of the state and lived there until 1873. He then moved to Osceola county, Iowa, and settled on section 2, township 98, range 41. Here they lived for twenty-seven years and reared their family to majority. They passed through all the experiences incident to the "grasshopper" period and although there were many times when things looked very gloomy, they re- mained with the farm and made a success of it. In 1900 the father and mother moved to Sioux City, where they lived until 1907, when they moved to Sibley, where they are now living. Mr. Harding still owns three hundred and twenty acres of fine land in Osceola county, having sold two hundred and forty acres in 1911 at a good price.
Orlando B. Harding was married May 17, 1868, to Emily Moyer, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Philip Moyer. of Pennsylvania. To this marriage have been born seven children : E. L .. who is on the father's farm in Osceola county ; G. M., who is living in Idaho on a ranch: Mrs. Almira Barkhuff, of South Dakota : W. L., who is lieutenant-governor of Iowa, and is a candidate for re-election : C. E., who graduated from the University of Iowa and is now publisher and postmaster in Church's Ferry, North Dakota: Mrs. Stella Hall, whose husband is a fariner in Osceola county, and W. W., an architect of Sioux City.
W. L. Harding, one of the sons of Mr. and Mrs. Orlando Harding, was born in Osceola county in 1875. After receiving a good common school edu- cation, he studied in Morningside College, later studied law in the State Uni- versity of South Dakota, then located in Sioux City, lowa, where he has been a prosperous lawyer. He has served three terms in the Legislature from Woodbury county and in the fall of 1912 was elected lieutenant-governor of the state.
Politically, O. B. Harding is a Republican and has held various township offices at the hands of his party. He and his family are loyal members of the Methodist Episcopal church and have always taken an active part in all the activities of that denomination. Mr. Harding is one of the industrious pio- neers of the county, who has always been firm in his convictions, whether religious, political, intellectual or financial, and it can be said that he has al- ways taken the right stand on every important question. He and his wife have reared a large family to lives of usefulness and have the satisfaction of knowing that their children are performing well their part in the world of today.
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MILO AVERY, M. D.
O'Brien county, Iowa, has reason to take pride in the personnel of her corps of medical men from the earliest days in her history to the present time. and on the roll of honored names that indicates the services of distinguished citizens in this field of endeavor there is reason in reverting with gratification to that of Dr. Milo Avery. of Priinghar, who has attained eminence in his chosen calling and for a number of years has stood among the scholarly and enterprising physicians in a community long distinguished for the high order of its medical talent. He realized early that there is a purpose in life and that there is no honor not founded on worth and no respect not founded on accomplishment. His life and labors have been eminently worthy because they have contributed to a proper understanding of life and its problems.
Dr. Milo Avery, one of the most prominent physicians of Primghar and vicinity, was born October 27. 1853, in Vermont. His parents, Melwell Mal- colm and Abby ( Robie) Avery, were natives of the same state and descended from an old New England family. Melwell M. Avery came west after the Civil War, in 1865, and bought land near Montour, Tama county. Later he moved to Cherokee county, where he died. Mr. and Mrs. M. M. Avery were the parents of four children : Doctor Milo: Delno, deceased : Mrs. Abby Brown, of Texas, and Jonathan R., of Montour, Iowa.
Doctor Avery was educated in the Montour high school and later en- tered the Wilton Collegiate Institute. His medical education was received al the State University at Iowa City and Rush Medical College at Chicago, graduating from the latter institution in 1884. He commenced practice at Springdale, Iowa, and after three years moved to Aurelia, in Cherokee county, where he practiced for the following seventeen years. He then spent a half year in Canon City, Colorado, for his health, and in May. 1907. lo- cated in Primghar, where he has since resided.
Doctor Avery was married October 8, 1878. to Jennie Dudley. the daugh- ter of Jonathan and Rachel (Emery) Dudley. Jonathan Dudley was born in Ohio, June 28, 1833, and was one of the early pioneers of Muscatine county. Iowa. Mrs. Dudley died in the winter of 1913, at the advanced age of eighty years. Doctor and Mrs. Avery have two sons of their own and one adopted daughter, who was the niece of Doctor Avery. The oldest son. Dr. Harold Leroy, was a graduate of the College of Physicians and Surgeons and the University of Illinois: Dr. George Emery, the second son, is a dentist at Cherokee. Iowa; the daughter. Gladys Catherine Dudley. is still at home and is now fourteen years of age.
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Doctor Avery has devoted his whole life to the alleviation of suffering and has always been interested in everything which pertains to his chosen profession. He is a member of all of the various medical societies which might assist him in any way in keeping abreast of the times and is now serving his third term as president of the O'Brien County Medical Society. He also has acted as coroner of his county for the past five years. Fraternally, he is a member of the Knights of Pythias, while in his religious affiliations he is connected with the Methodist Episcopal church, to which he gives generously of his means. Doctor Avery is a genial hearted man, and since residing in the county seat he has secured his share of the medical practice and is widely recognized as a man of superior talent.
REV. JOHN PETER HOFFMANN.
The amount of good which comes from the work done by the church can never be calculated, for the reason that its results are not in a tangible form. In no profession do men lead such unselfish lives as those who minister to our spiritual wants. Their sole desire is to make the world better and lead men to higher and better things. Among the men of Osceola county who are devoting their lives to the uplifting of their fellow men there is no one who deserves a greater amount of praise than Rev. John Peter Hoffmann, the pastor of the Ashton Catholic church. He is entirely unassuming and un- pretentious and content in the thought that he is continuously putting forth his best efforts in following in the footsteps of the lowly Nazarene and in- ducing others to follow in the same path.
Rev. John P. Hoffmann, the pastor of Our Lady of Perpetual Help. Ashton, Iowa, was born November 11, 1855, in the grand duchy of Luxem- burg. His parents, John and Mary ( Weber) Hoffmann, came to America in 1871 and located in Council Bluffs, in the Plumber settlement. Mills county, Iowa, upon a farm. Reverend Hoffmann received the elements of his educa- tion in his native country and upon arriving in this state with his parents he assisted his father upon the farm until he was twenty-three years of age. He then began his studies for the priesthood: he entered Calvary College in Wis- consin and took the classical course as outlined in that institution. He later took the philosophical courses at St. Joseph's College in Dubuque, Iowa, and followed this with the theological course in Montreal, Canada. He was or- dained by his grace, Archbishop John Hennessey at St. Rafel's Cathedral,
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at Dubuque on December 8, 1886, and assigned to the parish at Pleasant Valley. Carroll county, Iowa, immediately after his ordination. He re- mained here nine months and in September, 1887, was transferred to Festina. Winneshiek county, Iowa. He came to Ashton, January 27, 1890, and has been in continuous charge of the church at this place since that time.
Since coming to Ashton Father Hoffmann has had the satisfaction of seeing the church grow in members and influence, so that today it occupies a prominent place in the spiritual life of this community. In 1893 he built the church at a cost of eight thousand three hundred dollars and in 1910 built an addition which cost fourteen thousand dollars. The church is now modern throughout and is sufficient for the needs of the rapidly growing congrega- tion. In 1898 he was instrumental in having a five-room parochial school building erected, which is now under the charge of five Sisters. Later the parsonage was remodeled for a Sisters' dwelling, while the old school build- ing was arranged as the parsonage. The first church building is now used as a public hall and opera house in Ashton. The church is now in a flourishing condition and is one of the important features in the spiritual life of the people of this community. Reverend Hoffmann is a man of genial personality and is untiring in his efforts to advance the good of his church in this community.
JOSEPH B. STAMP.
Official position usually tests a man's ability and qualifications to an extent that few situations do, and it is generally found that when a citizen measures up to the standard required in the conduct of an office within the gift of the people, he is well rewarded with further emoluments in appre- ciation of his manifold attainments. It is frequently found that a man will become matured and have proceeded along ordinary lines for many years before his real worth is developed and he is able to fit in the special niche for which he was originally intended. These things we cannot control, but the historian can record for all time the plain facts incidental to each life which comes within the scope of his field. This review will especially treat of Joseph B. Stamp, the genial and kindly auditor of O'Brien county, whose success in politics and rise in public life has been little short of meteoric since he first held office in his home town.
Mr. Stamp was born November 3. 1861, in the town of Gainesville.
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Wyoming county. New York. His father was William Stamp, who was born February 24, 1822, in Yaddlethorpe, Lincolnshire, England, the son of William Stamp, who died March 1, 1833, at the age of forty-five years and who was born at Frodingham, Lincolnshire, England, and took to wife Catharine Altoft. The latter was born at Botsford, England, county of Lincolnshire, and died April 27, 1862, at the age of seventy-one years. The father of Joseph B., who is better known as William, Sr., was married to Sarah Pinder, who was born at Crowley, Lincolnshire, England, April 27. 1825. Mr. and Mrs. William Stamp reared the following children: George, born July 14. 1845: John, born November 15, 1847; Catharine, born August 13, 1849: Rebecca, born October 25, 1851 : Edward, born May 17. 1853. and deceased at the age of twenty-five years : William, Jr., born August 15, 1855: Isaac. born July 5. 1857: Mary. born August 6, 1859: Joseph, born November 3. 1861: Sarah. born November 2. 1863: \delbert and Adell, twins, born February 6. 1868. William Stamp migrated to America and settled in New York in about 1850. His demise occurred in the land of his adoption, where he was engaged in agricultural pursuits. George Stamp died in 1904: John still resides in New York: Mrs. Catharine Quick lives in San Diego, California : Rebecca died in 1903 : Edward is a resident of San Diego, California : William died in New York in 1878; Isaac is a resident of New York; Mrs. Mary Brewer lives at Bliss Station, Wyoming county, New York; Mrs. Sarah Kaynor resides in Ellensburg, Washington; Mrs. Adell Copeland and Adelbert reside in New York.
It is with the life and fortunes of Joseph B. Stamp, however, that this chronicle is directly concerned. He received a good education in the schools in the locality of his New York home and early engaged in teaching at the age of twenty years. In 1882 he became employed as clerk in a general mer- chandise store in New York, but became dissatisfied with his job, its emolu- ments and dreary outlook for the future, and "pulled out" for the West. He landed at Ames, Iowa, and secured a position in a general store in Straw- berry Point. a nearby town. He worked here for about nine months and then returned to Ames and again took employment in a general store and cream- ery. He remained at Ames for three years, then removed to Clinton, Iowa, where he had similar employment for one year. For three years he then managed a shoe store at Rochelle, Illinois. In 1887 he came to Sanborn, O'Brien county, and operated the Clark Hotel. In 1888 he went to Spencer, Iowa. and opened a large hostelry, which he conducted for thir- teen years. For a short time thereafter he was engaged in the real estate
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business at Clear Lake, Iowa, and in 1902 went to South Dakota. He led the life of a rancher for five years in South Dakota, and in 1907 returned to Spencer, where he was employed in a tile factory from April to September. He again returned to Sanborn and became transfer foreman for the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad. A few months later he was promoted to the chief clerkship of the railroad business at this division point. It is well to add here that Mr. Stamp has been engaged in railroad work off and on for over twenty-five years. He served as president of the Sanborn school board for six years and was elected mayor of the city in the spring of 1912. He defeated a very strong man for the mayoralty and his political opponents so admired him that they ran him for county auditor. It is a remarkable fact that when he was elected auditor, in the fall of 1912. he received two hundred votes out of a total of two hundred and eighteen cast in the city of Sanborn. This is evidence of the high esteem in which Auditor Stamp is held by those who know him. He is a Republican in politics. His fraternal connections are with the Knights of Pythias at Spencer, of which lodge he is a charter member; the blue lodge of Ancient Free and Accepted Masons at Sanborn, and the chapter of Royal Arch Masons at Primghar.
Mr. Stamp's happy wedded life began in 1888, when he was married to Anna W. Kaynor, who has borne him three children: Joseph, who assists his father in the auditor's office: Dorothy Sarah, a teacher in the Primghar schools; Donald H., now in Seattle, Washington. By a first marriage Mrs. Anna Kaynor Stamp had six children. namely: Kathryn, a trained nurse, who specializes in obstetrics and performs the duties of her calling in Primghar and Sheldon; Beatrice Kaynor Schroeder, who died at Spencer in 1904; Frank K., residing in Seattle, Washington; Warren F., at Beacon Falls, Connecticut ; William Kirk, of Springfield, Massachusetts: William Kaynor, a resident of Dubuque, Iowa.
It is characters such as is possessed by Mr. Stamp that leave an im- pression upon the understanding which means much for good in the com- munity. His conduct of the high office to which the people have called him has been such as to commend him favorably to all classes in O'Brien county. He possesses one of those rare, genial, whole-souled dispositions which com- pels an immediate and sincere liking on the part of the people with whom he comes in contact in the routine of his duties and daily life. No citizen of O'Brien county is eminently more entitled to representation in this valuable work, and this review is presented for the perusal of his many friends and acquaintances.
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HOMER E. RICHARDS.
A man of strong character, good business ability and possessing all of those qualities which make an efficient public official is Homer E. Richards. the present treasurer of Osceola county, Iowa. Starting in life as a teacher in the public schools and later serving many years as a railroad telegrapher. he acquired habits of industry and integrity which have made him an impor- tant figure in the life of his county. He has also served as a postmaster, and was for many years bookkeeper and assistant cashier of a bank, and in all of these various capacities he has acquitted himself with credit. He has per- formed all of his duties in a way which was highly satisfactory to all of those concerned.
Homer E. Richards, treasurer of Osceola county, Iowa, was born in Pepin, Pepin county, Wisconsin, in January, 1866, the son of Linus and Isa- bel (Lowry) Richards, natives of New York and Michigan, respectively. Linus Richards was born in 1823 and died in 1878. He came west to Galena. Illinois, in the early fifties, and from there freighted goods to Reed's Landing. Minnesota, where he opened a general grocery store. During the Civil War he was provost marshal of Minnesota, and at the close of the war moved to Pepin county, Wisconsin, where he again engaged in the mercantile busi- ness until his death. He was twice married, having one child by the first mar- riage. Linus G .. and by his second marriage there were three children: Ho- mer E., whose history is here delineated : Clarence A., who lives at Langford, South Dakota, and Mrs. Althea Robertson, who is a resident of Steele. North Dakota. The second wife of Linus Richards is now living in Steele. North Dakota, with her daughter.
Homer E. Richards graduated from the Pepin high school in Wisconsin, and while attending school worked at the printer's trade. However, at the age of fifteen an unfortunate accident changed his whole career. At this time he lost his right arm while working in a sorghum mill. After this accident he went back to school and graduated from the high school and then taught in the public schools for two years, after which he learned the trade of a teleg- rapher and worked in Minneapolis for the first three years after qualifying for actual service. From that city he was transferred to Ellsworth, Minne- sota, and from thence to Lake Park, Dickinson county, Iowa. In the fall of 1892 he became telegrapher and agent for the Rock Island Railway at Harris, Osceola county, Iowa, and has lived in this county since that time. He re- mained at Harris for thirteen years. Upon the organization of a bank there
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in 1905 he became the bookkeeper and assistant cashier of the institution and remained in that capacity until 1911. In the fall of 1910 he was elected treasurer of Osceola county, and took his office January 1, 1911, at Sibley. In the fall of 1912 he was re-elected to this responsible position and will hold until January 1. 1915. While living at Harris Mr. Richards was postmaster from 1900 to 1910.
Mr. Richards was married in 1893 to Ida M. Ward, the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. J. C. Ward. of Ocheyedan, Iowa, and to this marriage have been born two children, Clarence C., born October 17. 1894, and Marie M., born .April 27, 1896.
Mr. Richards has been actively identified with Republican principles and politics since reaching his majority and has always taken a prominent part in local political affairs. The Republican party nominated him for the office of county treasurer and as a Republican he was appointed postmaster at Harris. He and his family are attendants of the Congregational church and give to it their earnest support. Fraternally, he is a member of the In- dependent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. Mr. Richards has always taken an active part in the various public enter- prises which affected his community and has never withheld his hearty sup- port from any movement which would be of benefit to the community at large. He is a man who keeps in close touch with current events and is al- ways found on the right side of all questions affecting the welfare of his locality.
MRS. EVELYN (PEASE) STEARNS.
Among the women of O'Brien county, Iowa, who have witnessed the growth of this county from the time when it was largely a broad expanse of prairie to its present condition of finely cultivated farms, is Mrs. Evelyn (Pease) Stearns, who was the third woman to live in the town of Sheldon. She and her husband, who has now been dead many years, were important factors in the material advancement of this county, and her husband will long be remembered as a man who stood for the rights of the settlers who were struggling to secure homes in this county.
John Tyler Stearns, the friend of the settler, and the husband of Mrs. Evelyn ( Pease ) Stearns, was born at Castleton, Rensselaer county. New York. April 12. 1841, and died after a long and useful career at Primghar, O'Brien county, Iowa, in 1906. He was the son of John E. and Elizabeth
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(Proseus) Stearns. John E. Stearns was born February 5. 1810. in Lee, Massachusetts.
The Stearns ancestry has been traced back to the colonial days. and has been worked out from generation to generation to the great-great-grand- father of Mrs. Evelyn P. Stearns. The first Stearns whose history is on rec- ord was living at the time when Governor Bradford, of Massachusetts, was in office. He moved to Waltham, ten miles west of Cambridge. Massachu- setts, and there reared a family of ten children, and the names of four of the sons have been preserved. David, Jonathan, Daniel and John. Jonathan, the second in line and the direct ancestor of John T. Stearns, of this nar- rative, married Beulah Chadwick, and moved to Milford. Massachusetts, where they reared a large family of children, Jonathan, Beulah. George, Ebenezer, Lydia, Abigail, David, John, Mary, Abraham, Hannah and Jona- than. John, the eighth child born to this marriage, became the direct an- cestor of the branch with which we are interested. This John settled in Berk- shire county, Massachusetts, and was a soldier in the War of the Revolu- tion. At the close of that war he was married to Lucy Merrill, and to this union were born eleven children, Polly, Sally. John, Abigail, Fanny. Thomas. Betsy, James, Beulah, Dumby and Betsy. Of these eleven children, John, the first son born and the third child, became the progenitor of the Iowa family of Stearns. This John married Nancy Esleeck. at Castleton. New York, August 28, 1808, and two years later John E., the father of John T., whose history is here presented, was born.
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