Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa, Vol. 2, Part 24

Author: White, Edward Speer, 1871-
Publication date: 1915
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen
Number of Pages: 874


USA > Iowa > Shelby County > Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa, Vol. 2 > Part 24


Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).


Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13 | Part 14 | Part 15 | Part 16 | Part 17 | Part 18 | Part 19 | Part 20 | Part 21 | Part 22 | Part 23 | Part 24 | Part 25 | Part 26 | Part 27 | Part 28 | Part 29 | Part 30 | Part 31 | Part 32 | Part 33 | Part 34 | Part 35 | Part 36 | Part 37 | Part 38


Mr. Potter was married in November, 1881 to Martha J. Wood. a daughter of William Wood of Oakland, Iowa. He is a member of and liberal supporter of the Harlan Congregational church. He is fraternally connected with the Ancient Free and Accepted Masons and is a Knight Templar. Mr. Potter is president of the Harlan Country Club, an organiza- tion whose object is to provide recreation for its members.


Mr. Potter has been a life-long Republican in his political preferment and has taken a rather active part in local and state politics. He was a dele- gate to the national convention of his party which nominated William H. Taft for the presidency in Chicago in 1908. His influence has been felt in various ways at different times along political lines. Besides attaining emin- ence as a financier and serving his state as an honored and capable member of the legislature his sense of civic responsibility has found outlet in the per- formance of those duties which are the part of the average citizen. He was one of the promoters of the Shelby County Chautauqua Association, an institution which has met with popular favor and been very successful each year. He was president of the Chautauqua Association for four years. IIe was one of the prime movers in the inception of the Harlan Commercial ex- change which numbers among its members the most progressive and hustling citizens of the city and has for its object "A greater and better Harlan."


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He filled the office of president of this organization for several years. Mr. Potter is also connected with the Shelby county Fine Live Stock Exchange as its treasurer. This is one of the first if not the first organization of its kind in the United States and has accomplished wonders in advertising the greatness of Shelby county as a fine live stock producing center and bringing the producers together to work harmoniously.


By virtue of his ancestry, Mr. Potter is a member of the Sons of the American Revolution. He is also a member of the Iowa State Historical Society. Another organization of which he is a contributing and active member is the famous Burbank corporation, composed principally of men of means who are banded together for the purpose of promoting publicity of the discoveries and propagations made by Luther Burbank, the California scientist and naturalist.


Sufficient has been said to indicate the character of Mr. Potter and to show his high standing in the community which has been his residence for the past fifteen years, and it only remains to be said that throughout his entire financial and civic career he has been animated by good motives and made personal considerations subordinate to the claims of duty. Broad and liberal in his views, his associations with his fellowmen have been characterized by the best of fellowship and his record bears out the idea that a man gifted with talents supplemented with an educational training, can, with little or nc assistance other than that afforded by his hands and brain, overcome obstacles and achieve a high position and success even in the smaller communities. This review is intended as an appreciation of the accomplishments of Mr. Potter and will ultimately prove an inspiration to those of a younger genera- tion who are seeking to find a way to rise above the average. Of such men does history mainly treat. The historian records the acts accomplished by men, and the biographer chronicles the personal facts regarding the indi- vidual. Thus is a complete and concise history of any community created.


REV. PETER BROMMENSCHENKEL.


There is no higher earthly calling than the ministry of the Gospel; 110 life more uplifting and grander than that which is devoted to the ameliora- tion of the human race; no life which demands more sacrifices. The true minister is willing to cast aside all earthly crowns and laurels of fame in order to follow in the footsteps of the lowly Nazarene. It is not possible to measure adequately the height, depth and breadth of such a life, for its


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REV. PETER BROMMENSCHENKEL.


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influences continue to permeate the lives of others through succeeding gen- erations, so that the real power it has can not be known until "the last day when the trumpet shall sound and the dead shall be raised incorruptible."


One of the self-sacrificing, ardent, loyal and true men who has been a blessing to the community in which he has lived is Father Peter Brommen- schenkel, the pastor of St. Boniface church at Westphalia, in this county. He was born September 27. 1846. in Prussia, in the Rhine Province. His parents were Nicholas and Catherine Brommenschenkel, who came to this country in June. 1850, and settled at Hennepin, Illinois. Two years later the family moved to Chicago and here the father pursued his usual occupa- tion for a short time. The family next went west and eventually located in Dubuque, lowa, where Nicholas established a wagon shop of his own and managed it until his death. To Nicholas Brommenschenkel and wife were born nine children. all of whom are deceased except Father Brommen- schenkel and one sister, who is a nun in a convent at Ashland, Wisconsin.


Father Brommenschenkel was three and one-half years of age when his parents left Germany and came to this country, and, consequently, all of his education has been received in this country. He first attended the Catholic school at Dubuque, Iowa, and then entered St. Francis Seminary at Mil- waukee, Wisconsin, to study for the priesthood. He became a student in this excellent institution in 1861 and remained in actual attendance until 1869. He was ordained to the priesthood August 1, 1869, by Bishop Hen- nessey, of Dubuque, Iowa, receiving the ordination at St. Raphael's Cathe- dral.


Immediately after his ordination he was assigned to the St. Mary's church parishi at Iowa City, but remained there only a short time, being transferred to Council Bluffs, Iowa, to assist Father McMennomy, of St. Mary's church. He was stationed at Council Bluffs until July, 1870, when he was put in charge of the church at Marshalltown, Iowa, remaining at that place until November. 1875. He was now assigned to the Holy Trinity church at Richmond, lowa, and for the next five years ministered to the spiritual needs of his people at that place. In the fall of 1880 he was sent to Riverside, Iowa, to assume the charge of St. Mary's church in that city. Nearly six years of zealous pastoral labor and devotion marked his career in . this place.


For the past twenty-eight years (since May 20, 1886). Father Brom- menschenkel has been in charge of St. Boniface church at Westphalia, Iowa, having the mission at Harlan under his direction as well. During this time he has had the pleasure of seeing his church grow in power and influence and


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his people living lives in accordance with the teachings of the church. He takes his share of the burden of civic life and is a firm and consistent advo- cate of good government, casting his ballot on election days for the best men irrespective of their political affiliations. Father Brommenschenkel is highly respected by all the people of the city where he has spent so many years of his active life, knowing. as they do, that he is a man who is working to raise the standard of civilization and thereby make this a better place in which to live.


SAMUEL G. POOLE.


A good citizen, a widely known pioneer of Shelby county, and a valiant soldier of the Civil War, was the late Samuel G. Poole of Lincoln township. In the respect that is accorded to men who have fought their own way to success through unfavorable environment we find an unconscious recognition of the intrinsic worth of a character which could not only endure so rough a test as the Civil War but gain new strength through the discipline which carried him through the long years of warfare in behalf of his country and enabled him to carve a fortune for himself in Shelby county. Samuel G. Poole was not favored by inherited wealth or by the assistance of influential friends, but in spite of this, by perseverance, industry and wise economy, he had atttained a comfortable station in life and made his influence felt for good in his community in Lincoln township, where he had long maintained his home. His career was an honorable one of which his descendants can be justly proud, and they can also be proud of the fact that he was numbered among those patriotic sons of the North who assisted in saving the nation's integrity in the dark days of the sixties. No man is more worthy of an honorable place in the annals of this county.


Samuel G. Poole was born May 29, 1841, in Delaware county, Ohio, and died in Shelby county, Iowa, September 24, 1914. His parents, Peter and Frances ( Wilson) Poole, were born in Blue Ridge Summit, Pennsyl- vania, in 1800 and 1810, respectively. Peter Poole settled in Ohio in the early history of that state and lived the life of a simple farmer there until his death in 1865. They were the parents of several children, two of whom, . Mrs. William Southwick and Mrs. Marion Mittchell, are yet living.


When Samuel G. Poole was eighteen months of age his parents moved to Washington county, Pennsylvania, where they resided for a time. They then went to Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, where they lived until the


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son grew to manhood. Mr. Podle's father died when he was yet a lad and he was reared on a farm and received his education in the district schools of the neighborhood. When he was seventeen years of age, he came to Davenport, Iowa, where he worked for eighteen months at the trade of carpenter. He went from Davenport to St. Louis where he worked for a time. He was also employed in Alton, Illinois, and journeyed as far south as New Orleans, arriving in this city just before the outbreak of the Rebel- lion. It was in this far southern city that he heard a number of prominent southern men addressing the people, inciting them to revolt against the Wash- ington government and go to Washington and kill President Lincoln. He returned to the north and went to Salem, Ohio, where his mother was re- siding.


He responded to President Lincoln's call for three hundred thousand men on August 13, 1861, and became a member of Company C, Eleventh Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and served for three years, being honorably dis- charged at Chattanooga in 1864, his time of enlistment having expired. 1Ie again enlisted and joined General Hancock's veteran corps and served until his discharge in March of 1865. He participated in the great battles of Shell Mountain (Virginia), where he was first under fire, Gally Ridge (Vir- ginia), Bull Run. Antietam, South Mountain, Nashville, Hooper's Gap. Chickamauga, Missionary Ridge, Buzzard's Roost, Dalton and Resaca, be- side many minor engagements. Mr. Poole received his final discharge from the service in New York city and at once returned to his old home in Ohio and worked at various occupations until the year 1870 when he came with his family to Shelby county, settling on the Rock Island railway land. He squatted on the railroad land for three years and then purchased a tract of one hundred and sixty acres at eight and ten dollars an acre in Lincoln town- ship. After making his first payment on this land he was too poor to buy horses to break it up. He hired it broken up for the first time and gradually got a start, but it was many years before he could call himself a prosperous farmer. He put up a shanty with two rooms and lived in it umtil 1892 when he built the present substantial home. The country at the time Mr. and Mrs. Poole came here was mostly an unbroken prairie and there was a time when Mr. Poole hauled his corn to a market twelve miles away and received only fifteen cents a bushel for it. He and his good wife met with many discouragements and hardships, but they stayed with the farm and had the satisfaction of seeing it yield more satisfactory returns as the years went by. At the time of Mr. Poole's death September 24, 1914. he was the possessor of one of the best improved farms in the county.


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The funeral of Samuel G. Poole was held on the Sunday following his demise and the services were conducted by Rev. Hardaway, of the Methodist Episcopal church. A short talk was also made by D. O. Stuart. The body was interred in the city cemetery in the presence of a large assemblage of friends and relatives and members of the Grand Army post of which Mr. Poole was a member.


Mr. Poole was married July 13, 1860, to Mary ( Tucker) Brown. To this imion eight children were born. Joseph R., Willian L., Nevada (wife of P. F. Wash), Rolla A., Ralph E., Nellie (wife of R. W. Boardman), Pearl (wife of Clinton Hoover) and Mount Trevada, who died in infancy. Mrs. Poole is residing on the old home place in Lincoln township. She was born January, 22, 1841, in West Virginia, the daughter of Shertan and Julia (Tucker) Brown.


Mr. Poole voted the Republican ticket for more than fifty years, hav- ing cast his first vote for Abraham Lincoln in the fall of 1864. He was a member of the Grand Army post and took a deep interest in its affairs. For over forty-four years he was a resident of Shelby county and had the satisfaction of seeing it emerge from a broad and trackless waste of prairie land to its present prosperous condition and did no inconsiderable part in the bringing about of this wonderful transition. No man in the county is more deserving of a higher regard than he, and when he answered the last roll call, there was removed from the county one of its worthiest pioneers. He was a kind and true husband, a loving father, a good neighbor and was respected by all who knew him.


PERLEY B. BROWN.


The newspaper of today is the most powerful factor in the molding of public opinion that we have. Through the influence of its editorial ex- pressions men are made and unmade; governments are created or over- thrown; new policies are exploited and the existing powers in control of the government for the time being are compelled to hearken to the voice of the people as expressed through the medium of the all-powerful press. The press, like many of our best institutions, has undergone a wonderful trans- formation for the better during the past decade and has grown in inde- pendence, prestige and financial strength owing to the adoption of pro- gressive business methods in the management of the hundreds of newspapers


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in the towns and cities of the country. It is now universally recognized and conceded that a newspaper located in a town or city is one of the business institutions of the community and all of its activities must be conducted upon a firm business standpoint. While the times still call for adherence on the part of the editorial department to more or less editorial allegiance to one of the political parties, it is conceded that there should be more inde- pendence of thought and expression on the part of the editors than hereto- fore. We are living in a progressive age and the people are becoming more and more independent in their thinking as regards public questions of mo- ment. This change is undoubtedly due to the molding power of the news- papers of the present decade which have a decided influence toward develop- ing independent lines of thought in the minds of its readers.


The Harlan Republican, edited by P. B. Brown, is an advanced type of the modern newspaper conducted along successful business lines and in such a manner as to serve best the people of Shelby county. It is a high-class weekly newspaper, ably edited, and wielding a certain influence among the people of the county. Its development in late years is practically due to the activity and decided ability of its proprietor and editor. of whom it is our province to speak biographically.


Mr. Brown was born near the village of Oakfield. Perry county, Ohio, on June 29, 1859. He is the son of David and Arminda Frances ( Latta) Brown. David Brown was of New England ancestry and his forbears were among the early pioneer settlers of the New England country. Mr. Brown's mother was of French descent.


David Brown was a soldier of the Union army and fought in defense of the Union in the Civil War. He enlisted in 1861 in Company D. Thirtieth Regiment Ohio Volunteer Infantry, and died of typhoid fever at Sutton. West Virginia, after four months of service. Three brothers of David Brown also fought in the Union army, namely : William, Merrick and Joseph. David was the father of the following children, Perley Benton and Mary Elizabeth, the wife of Frank Okell of Morning Sun, Jowa.


In 1863. the mother of Perley B. married Cyrus Green of Perry county. Ohio, and migrated to Iowa shortly afterward and settled on a farm near Morning Sun. In his old age Mr. Green retired to a residence in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, where his widow still resides at the advanced age of seventy- five years. To this union were born the following children: James C. and Grant, of Iowa; Mrs. Frank Grow and Mrs. Albert Grow, of Brunswick. Nebraska : Mrs. David McCahan, of Kansas :. Mrs. David Rich of Mt. Pleas- ant, Iowa ; and May, at home with her mother.


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married to Mary Lucas, who was born in Ross county, Ohio, in 1835. and shortly afterward made the long overland trip to Iowa. He settled in Shelby county on the farm in Center township where his son, Charles, is now living. He took a very active part in the affairs of the county from the beginning and was connected with every movement which he thought would help his county in any way. He was one of the largest land owners of the county and at one time owned fourteen hundred acres of land in the county. He made a specialty of stock raising and kept large herds of cattle on his farms. Ile died in 1904 and his widow passed away five years later, both being laid to rest in the beautiful cemetery at Harlan. He was a man of the strictest integrity and highest ideas of honor, and in his death the county lost one of its earliest pioneers and most useful citizens.


Charles N. Sunderland received such education as was given by the rude schools of his boyhood days and early in life began hard labor upon his father's home farm. Ile was the only child and. since his father had plenty for him to do. he remained on the home farm after he was married in 1891. At the death of his father he bought three hundred and sixty acres of the old home farm and continued to live on the same part of his father's farm where he was born. He has given most of his attention to stock raising and as a breeder of Aberdeen Polled .Angus cattle has won a reputation which extends far beyond the limits of his own state. He has shipped some of his best cattle to all parts of the United States and has been a frequent prize winner at county and state fairs. He also raises full blooded Percheron horses and a high grade of hogs, having found by experience that it pays to handle only the best grades of live stock. He has ten acres of highly prized natural timber on his farm and a profitable fruit orchard of three acres.


Mr. Sunderland was married in 1891 to Mae Thomas. His wife was born in Indiana and is the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Absolem Thomas, her father having been a farmer and school teacher and a man of unusual ability. To this marriage have been born two children, Roy and Cecil. Roy is a graduate of the high school at Harlan and is now assisting his father on the home farm. Cecil is also a graduate of the Harlan high school and mar- ried Robert Henry, a farmer now living in Crawford county, Iowa.


The Democratic party has been the preference of Mr. Sunderland and he has always been interested in local political affairs. He has served in a creditable manner as the trustee of his township. Fraternally, he is a mem- ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and the Modern Woodmen of America. He and his family are consistent members of the Baptist church.


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HAROLD JOHNSON.


The fame of Shelby county. Iowa, seems to have spread far and wide. Nearly every European country has sent some of its best citizens to this county and among these the people of Denmark occupy an important place. The present mayor of Elkhorn was born in Denmark and did not come to this county until he was twenty years old and, yet. in a comparatively short time he has risen to a position where he takes his place among the leaders of his community. He has done this because he is a man of ability and energy and has applied himself with that perseverance which characterizes the people of his nation.


Harold Johnson, mayor of Elkhorn and secretary and manager of the Elkhorn Telephone Company, was born in 1863 in Denmark. Ilis parents, Jens and Mary Johnson, were born in Denmark in 1828 and 1830. respec- tively. and lived all their days in the land of their birth. Jens died in 1888 and his widow passed away in 1903. The five children born to them are all living.


Harold Johnson was given a good education in Denmark and worked with his father, who was a carpenter, until he was twenty years old. In that year ( 1883) his father died and he left his native country and came to America and settled in Elkhorn. Shelby county, Iowa. Some of his country- men had already located in this county and this had been the reason why he had come to Shelby county. For the first four years after coming to the county he worked on the farms near Elkhorn, but he was not satisfied to be working for some one else. He wanted a farm of his own to operate, and not having the money to buy a farm, he rented one and started his inde- pendent career in Clay township. lle lived on a rented farm until 1908, marrying in the meantime, and then moved to Elkhorn where he has since resided. Upon locating in this city he became the manager and secretary of the local telephone company and has since been connected with the company in this capacity. He is a man of excellent business ability and has demon- strated his fitness for the responsible position which he holds. Within a year after moving to Elkhorn he was elected mayor of the city on the Repub- lican ticket and in this capacity has used his influence to further the welfare of the city in every possible way. His election to this important office by the citizens of the city is ample evidence of the high esteem in which he is held and the excellent service which he is giving the city fully justifies his elevation to the position.


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Mr, Johnson was married in 1897 to Aria Baird, who was born in 1871. in Des Moines, Iowa. To this union there have been born three children : George, who is farming in Monroe township; Woodman, who is farming in Jackson township: and William, who is still living with his parents in Elkhorn. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson have given their sons the benefit of a good education and have the satisfaction of seeing them ready to become useful members of the community where they live.


Politically, Mr. Johnson has identified himself with the Republican party sinee acquiring the right of suffrage and has always been interested in political matters. As mayor of his home city he is naturally the local leader of his party and his leadership has been sneh as to merit the approbation of his party. He and his family are members of the Danish Lutheran church and in its welfare are deeply interested at all times. Fraternally, he is a member of the Woodmen of the World and the Danish Brotherhood.


CHARLES A. COCKERELL.


It is presumed that there is a niche for every man but observation dis- closes the fact that many men never find their proper niche. There are many trite sayings to this effect. probably the most famous being that of the late Senator Ingalls, who wrote the famous little poem entitled "Opportunity." In this he makes a special plea for every man to be on his guard constantly for the opportunity which "never knocks at your door but once." The great English poet, Shakespeare, iterates the same thought when he says, "There is a tide in the affairs of men, which. taken at the flood. leads on to fortune." In other words many men pass by their proper niche and fail to realize that it was made for them. One of the men of Harlan who has found his niche and is filling it in a way to. indicate that he is a man of ability, is Charles A. Cockerell, the proprietor of a plumbing and heating establishment in this city.


Charles A. Cockerell, the son of William and Eleanor (McMillian) Cockerell, was born in Mishawaka, Indiana, December 17, 1877. William Cockerell, the son of William and Elizabeth ( Hoburn) Coekerell, was born in England, May 23, 1852. and came to this country when he was nineteen years of age and located in Chicago where he followed the brick maker's trade for a short time. Ile then went to Indiana and branched out as a


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