USA > Iowa > Shelby County > Past and present of Shelby County, Iowa, Vol. 2 > Part 28
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"We began breeding Aberdeen-Angus in 1892, and in the period that has intervened we have bred, bought and sold a great many cattle-prob- ably more than any other breeder or firm in the Aberdeen-Angus cattle breed- ing business in America today. Our foundation herd numbered close to one hundred head and when you consider from that time on we have made Aber- deen-Angus cattle breeding and steer feeding a practical farin work you will better understand how, by honest dealing and never tiring effort. we have attained our present station. We have endeavored to keep step with the march of progress, and the degree with which we have succeeded is best evidenced by the work we have performed. Our transactions reveal a large volume of business but our record is Amtainted and our cattle have been mak- ing good. Our customers remain our warmest friends. We have made four importations from Scotland in the past ten years and these importations aggregate one hundred and fifty head and in the judgment of Britain's great authorities, 'She gave up her best.' Our record as purchasers of 'tops' at
GRAND CHAMPION CARLOAD 1 BRED, FED & EXHIBITED BY ESCHER&RYAN IRMA To Be Sold By BOWLES LIVE STOCK COMMISSION CO.
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America's leading sales in the past twenty years stands without a peer in Aberdeen-Angus history today. Our continued purchases at home and abroad, along with the natural increase gives us the largest herd of strictly high-class cattle in this country. If we were making a grand parade we could pass the judge's stand with a string of Doddies one and one-half miles long by allowing each of the cattle a space of ten feet. There have been fourteen international shows and we have shown at seven of them and have never been lower than second place. We have won more championships than any other exhibitor and are the only exhibitors who have produced a grand champion car load and held the reserve champion load at the same show and this we did twice in succession, in 1911 and 1913."
Mr. Escher has an annual sale, usually in the spring, which is attended by buyers from all over the United States. In the spring of 1914 the sale was held on Wednesday and Thursday, April first and second.
Mr. Escher has sold animals singly or in car load lots to the following states : Washington, Oregon, Utah, Idaho. Nevada, New Mexico, Okla- homa, Texas, Kansas, Nebraska, North Dakota, South Dakota, Minnesota, Missouri, Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina, Pennsylvania, New York, Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, Maine and Canada. The Aberdeen -. Angus Association records reveal the facts that Mr. Escher and his father have raised. recorded. bought and sold more registered Aberdeen-Angus cattle than any breeder or firm in the busi- ness today. They have made four importations from Scotland as follows: 1900, 1902. 1906 and 1909, and during those years have imported a grand total of one hundred and fifty head of cattle and in the words of Great Britain's authorities along this line, "We purchased their best at prices as high as one thousand to one thousand five hundred dollars each for prize winning animals." Mr. Escher has twice been director of the National Aberdeen- Angus Breeders' Association.
Mr. Escher is a Democrat in politics and is a man of great influence in his party in county and state affairs. He was county supervisor for one term and was a member of the state legislature of Iowa at the thirty-fourth general assembly. While in the legislature, he introduced a bill creating an appropriation for the encouragement of the beef cattle industry in Iowa. He succeeded in getting the bill passed. Subsequently, he was elected presi- dent of the Iowa Beef Producers' Association, an organization which he helped to establish. He has been elected president of this association at each annual session since its organization and has always taken an active interest
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in everything pertaining to its welfare. He has served as judge on numerous occasions at the Chicago International, Des Moines, Lincoln, Denver, Fort Worth, St. Paul and Huron, South Dakota, stock shows. He was ap- pointed a delegate by Governor Shaw to represent Iowa at the National Live Stock Association's meeting at Fort Worth in 1901. In 1905 he was re- appointed by Governor Albeit Cummings to represent Iowa at the same association's annual meeting in Denver.
Mr. Escher was married November 21, 1894, to Myrtle Ryan. She was born August 2, 1875, in Poweshiek county, Iowa, and is the daughter of Thomas and Mary ( Grant) Ryan, natives of New York and Iowa, re- spectively. Mary Grant was the daughter of Henry Grant, a native of Glasgow, Scotland, and an early settler of Iowa. Mr. and Mrs. Thomas Ryan are the parents of five children, Myrtle ( the wife of Mr. Escher). Robert R., Earl C., Voda and Grace.
Mr. Escher and his wife are loyal supporters of the Methodist Episcopal church and one of his brothers, George W., is a minister of that denomina- tion. Mr. Escher is a man of genial personality and one of the best known men, not only in his own home county but throughout the state of Iowa. He has a beautiful residence site and is planning the erection of a handsome home in the near future.
NELS BISGARD.
It is generally considered by those in the habit of superficial thinking that the history of so-called great men only is worthy of preservation, and that little merit exists among the masses to call forth the praises of the his- torian or the cheers and the appreciation of mankind. A greater mistake was never made. No man is great in all things. Many, by a lucky stroke, achieve lasting fame who before that had no reputation beyond the limits of their immediate neighborhoods. It is not a history of the lucky stroke which benefits humanity most, but the long study and effort which made the lucky stroke possible. It is the preliminary work, the method, that serves as a guide for the success of others. Among those in Shelby county who have achieved success along steady lines of action is Nels Bisgard, of Harlan.
Among the hundreds of Danish emigrants who have attained to a defi- nite prosperity in this county there is no one more worthy of mention in this
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volume than Nels Bisgard, who was born in the little peninsula of Jutland in 18SS. His parents, Christ and Mary ( Justisen) Bisgard, were born in Denmark in 1835 and 1843, respectively, and lived in the land of their birth until 1890. Christ Bisgard was a farmer in his own country, and the glow- ing reports which he received from his countrymen in the United States regarding the fortunes which were to be made here, induced him to bring his family to this country and settle in Shelby county, Iowa. Upon coming here he commenced farming in Monroe township, and later purchased land in Lincoln township. During the years that he managed his farming inter- ests in this county he proved to be very successful, and in 1910 he retired from active farm life and moved to Harlan, where he is now living. Christ Bisgard and wife are the parents of eleven children, six of whom are still living.
Nels Bisgard was only two years of age when his parents left Denmark and came to the United States, and consequently has but very little remem- brance of his native land. He also has the distinctive advantage of being brought up in this country and thereby acquiring a knowledge of the English language and American customs. His parents gave him an excellent educa- tion and after graduating from the high school at Harlan he went to the State University at lowa City. Iowa, where he took a course in liberal arts. When twenty-three years of age he embarked in the grocery and queensware business in Harlan, and although engaged in this business only three years. yet he has demonstrated that he has peculiar fitness for a business career. Ile has a modern store, equipped with all the latest fixtures for the display of his goods in an effective manner. He carries a large stock of all goods which are usually found in an establishment of this character, and by his deferential treatment of his customers and his strict business integrity. he has built up a large and lucrative trade. Starting in with a small stock he has gradually increased it until he now carries about six thousand dollars' worth of stock on hand at all times.
Mr. Bisgard was married in 1913 to Lillie Mae Sorensen, who was born in 1890 in Nebraska, the daughter of James G. Sorensen. Mr. Bisgard and wife are both loyal and earnest members of the Baptist church at Har- lan, and are in hearty sympathy with the good work done by this denomina- tion and help it in every way possible.
In politics, Mr. Bisgard identifies himself with the Republican party, but owing to his heavy business interests, he is not enabled to take an active part in political affairs. He is still a young man with a bright future before
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him, and the energy and ability which he has displayed since engaging in business for himself, shows that he has a long and prosperous career before him. No young man of the city is more interested in the growth and de- velopment of his community and every enterprise which he feels will benefit in any way receives his hearty endorsement.
PRESSLEY H. RUFFCORN.
The Ruffcorn family have been prominent members of the various communities in which they have lived in the United States from Colonial times. Pressley H. Ruffcorn, whose history is here presented. was a dis- tinguished soldier of the Civil war. His grandfather. Lewis Ruffcorn, was a member of a Pennsylvania regiment in the War of 1812, while his great- grand father, Simon, fought throughout the Revolutionary war. It is no small honor to be a member of such a distinguished family and Pressley H. Ruffcorn is a worthy scion of a family which has performed such a promi- nent part in the history of his country from the time of its organization. As a resident of this county for the past thirty years he has given the com- munity in which he lives the benefit of his talents, not only in the way of adding to its material prosperity, but as a member of the body of officials which has administered its civic duties.
Pressley H. Ruffcorn was born in Fayette county, Pennsylvania, March 26, 1844. and is the son of John and Eunice (Smith) Ruffcorn. John Ruffcorn, the son of Lewis Ruffcorn, the son of Simon Ruffcorn, was born in Pennsylvania in the latter part of the eighteenth century and was reared to manhood in his native state. He was married December 6, 1832, to Eunice Smith, a native of Maryland. He lived in Pennsylvania until 1867. when he moved to Adams county, Illinois, where he died in 1883. The first wife of John . Ruffcorn died February 13, 1858, and he then married Susan Dawson, but there were no children by his second marriage. By his first marriage John Ruffcorn became the father of fourteen children : Simon, Elizabeth. George W., Henry, Catherine, James, Pressley, Mary, Lewis, Leander, Susan, Nancy, Ellen and John. All of these children are de- ceased with the exception of Lewis, Leander, John, Pressley and Ellen.
Pressley H. Ruffcorn was educated in the schools of his native state and remained at home until the opening of the Civil war, when he enlisted
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MR. AND MRS. PRESSLEY H. RUFFCORN.
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September 21, 1861, as a member of Company B. Eighty-fifth Regiment Pennsylvania Infantry, and served for three years. He was mustered ont November 22, 1864, at Petersburg, Virginia, after having participated in many of the bloodiest battles of that memorable conflict. After being mus- tered out he was sent to Savannah as a detail from Portsmouth, Virginia, guarding provisions and did not get home until December. His record in the war may be briefly summed up as follows: He left home in De- cember, 1861, and camped in winter of 1861 at Washington, D. C. In March. 1862, he marched to Alexandria, and embarked for Old Point Com- fort, landing April 1, 1862. He then marched to Yorktown and got his first introduction to warfare ; fought at Williamsburg in General Mcclellan's Peninsular Campaign of 1862 and fell back to Fair Oaks or Seven Pines and fought a battle May 30, 1862. He participated in the Seven Days' bat- tle and retired to Malvern Hill. Harrison's Landing, where his division lay behind fortifications until August 16. Then he marched against Fort- ress Monroe. In October, 1862, he went to Suffolk on Hampton Roads, fighting many skirmishes on the way.
December 5, 1862, he marched to Chowan River and took transports to Newborn, South Carolina. He went on an eighteen-day expedition across North Carolina and fought battles at Kentstown and Goldsboro Bridge across Neuse River. In February, 1863, he was transported to Fort Royal, St. Helena Island, South Carolina. In March he was taken to Folly Island, south of Charleston, a fortified island, and on July 16, 1863, took posses- sion of the south end of Manis Island. July 18, 1863. his regiment was badly repulsed at Ft. Wayne. Until April. 1864. he guarded islands and was then returned to Fortress Monroe. They landed on transports and run up James River to Bermuda Hundred, arriving there May 6, 1864. Under General Q. A. Gilmore, they began siege of fortifications and were attacked by Generals Beauregard and Longstreet and driven back. Gilmore's army remained there during May and June, fighting many battles. They spent the rest of the summer in Petersburg campaign. He enlisted when seventeen years of age. Ile was never sick for a day, always with his company and on duty and on the firing line. Immediately after the close of his enlistment he re- turned to his home in Pennsylvania and remained there until February, 1866. At that time he went to Illinois and worked as a farm hand for one man until 1870. He saved his money and with the small amount which he had accumulated during his four years as a farm hand he went to lowa and located in Dubuque county. He married while living in the latter county
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and lived there until 1884, when he came to Shelby county, Iowa, and located in Union township. He first bought one hundred and sixty acres of land and has since increased his land holdings to two hundred and eighty acres, all of which is well improved and in a high state of culti- vation. He continued to work upon the farm until 1912, when he retired from active farm life and moved to Defiance, where he and his family are now living, surrounded by all the comforts and conveniences of modern life.
Mr. Ruffcorn has been twice married. his first marriage occurring May 8, 1873, to Josephine Hooper. the daughter of James and Sarah Hooper. and to this first union four children were born: Frank, Mary. William and Elmer. Frank is single : Mary is the wife of Henry Davis: William married Laura Scott, and they have one daughter, Vera : Elmer married Fossie Cox, and has one daughter, Elsie. The mother of these four children died in October. ISSO, and a few years later Mr. Ruffcorn married Flora Batchelder. the daughter of Daniel Webster and Myra ( Wooster ) Batchelder, and to this second union five children were born: Olin. Albert, Everett, Wayne and Alice. Olin married Floy Wickersham; Albert married May Hunter, and has one son. Howard Gayle. The history of Albert is given elsewhere in this volume. Everett, Wayne and Alice are still single.
Mrs. Ruffcorn's parents were natives of New Hampshire and early settlers in Jones county, Iowa. Her father was a stone mason by trade and was working in the gold mines of Colorado when he was killed by falling timbers in the mine. His widow and her children then moved to Dubuque county, lowa. and lived there for several years. Mrs. Batchelder is now liv- ing in Sacramento, California. Eight children were born to Daniel W. Batchelder and wife: Narcissus. Flora, Caroline. Mary, Francis, Eunice, Webster, Albert and Emery.
Mr. Ruffcorn has always been identified with the interests of the Re- publican party .. and has given it his unswerving support since he cast his first vote in 1865. Since coming to this county he has served four years on the board of supervisors, and previously filled the important office of trustee of Union township for six years. He has always been interested in every movement which promises to benefit his community, and has taken a lead- ing part in the various activities connected with the growth of his town- ship and county. He is a man of sterling integrity and rugged honesty. and is well deserving of the high esteem in which he is universally held throughout the county.
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JENS P. NIELSEN.
A prosperous merchant and public spirited citizen of Elkhorn, Iowa, is Jens P. Nielsen, a native of Denmark and a resident of this city for the past twenty-two years. Coming to this country at the age of twenty, he has labored to a definite end and with a success which indicates that he is a man of more than ordinary ability. He had no resources to start with, but with a determination born of necessity, he commenced to work at any kind of honest labor he could find to do. A very interesting feature of Mr. Nielsen's career is the fact that he attended Elkhorn College for two years although he was twenty-two at the time he entered. He felt the need of a better educa- tion and his future career shows that he profited by his course in the college. His life since coming to this county has been such as to merit the hearty commendation of every one with whom he has been thrown in contact.
Jens P. Nielsen, the proprietor of a general mercantile establishment at Elkhorn, was born in 1868, in Denmark. His father, Peter Nielsen, was born in 1837 and spent his whole life as a farmer in his native land, dying in 1909 .. His mother, Marie Jensen, was born in Denmark in 1844 and is still living on the old home place in the land of her birth. Of the nine chil- dren born to Peter Nielsen and wife, four are still living.
Jens P. Nielsen attended the country schools of Denmark and helped his father on the farm until he was twenty years old. He then decided to come to the United States to seek his fortune, feeling that this country offered much better opportunities than his native land. He first located in Council Bluffs, lowa, where he found work as a section hand on a railroad. Being offered a better place as a farm laborer he left the employ of the railroad and started to work on a farm in the vicinity of Council Bluffs. Two months later he left the farm and went to Chicago where he worked at differ- ent occupations for less than a year, after which he came to Shelby county. Iowa. He worked on a farm in this county for a year and in the fall enrolled as a student in Elkhorn College. He was in attendance at this excellent insti- tution for two full years and has always felt that the training which he re- ceived there was of inestimable benefit to him. After leaving college he be- came interested in the making of butter and for the next fifteen years was engaged in the creamery and butter business in different parts of Iowa. In 1907 he returned to Elkhorn and purchased a half interest in a general mer- cantile store with Joseph James and five years later MIr. Nielsen bought out his partner's share. Since acquiring the store he has increased the stock and
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now has abont fifteen thousand dollars worth of goods in the store. He has his stock arranged in an attractive manner and has a large trade in the city and surrounding country. In addition to his interest in the store he is a stock holder in the Atlantic Northern railroad and the Farmers' Lumber Yard of Elkhorn and Brayton, Iowa.
Mr. Nielsen was married in 1896 to Kattie Johnson. She is the daugh- ter of Mr. and Mrs. James C. Johnson and was born in Illinois in 1874. To this marriage have been born two daughters, Agnes and Anna. Agnes graduated from the common school of Elkhorn and is now clerking in her father's store.
Politically. Mr. Nielsen is a member of the Progressive party and takes a deep interest in its success. He has always been interested in local politics and is now serving as a member of the city council of Elkhorn. He and his family are loyal members of the Danish Lutheran church and in its welfare they are very much interested. Mr. Nielsen deserves a great deal of credit for the success which he has attained for it is solely due to his own efforts. Ile has a winning personality and is one of the best known and most highly respected men of his community.
GEORGE W. HARNESS.
A residence of thirty-two years in Shelby county, Iowa, has given George W. Harness the opportunity to accumulate a fine farm of five hun- dred and twenty-three acres in Union township. His career has been won- derfully successful and has been marked throughout by careful and consci- entious attention to his agricultural interests. He has found that the rais- ing of stock is the best method by which the farmer in this county can se- cure the greatest returns from his land. and his record along this line has been as successful as that of any farmer in the county. However, he has not been negligent of his duties as a true American citizen and has filled various official positions with a degree of efficiency which stamps him as a man of exceptional executive and administrative ability. As township trustee, school director and assessor. he has given his fellow citizens faithful service, and no charge of maladministration has ever been brought against him. In view of the fact that he has played such an important part in the history of his township and county, it seems peculiarly fitting that his his- tory be recorded in the annals of his county.
MR. AND MRS. GEORGE W. HARNESS.
RESIDENCE OF GEORGE W. HARNESS.
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George W. Harness, the son of James A. and Mary ( Bethurum) Ilar- ness, was born in Lincoln county, Kentucky. December 6, 1855. His par- ents were both born in Kentucky and his father was a distiller in his native state for several years. Subsequently James A. Harness disposed of his interests in the distillery and engaged in farming with his father, David Harness, in which he continued until the time of his marriage. He then bought a farm in Kentucky, which he operated for himself until 1863. when he moved to Mercer county, Ilinois. Within a short time he removed from the farm to Reynolds, Illinois, and lived there until his death in Au- gust, 1908. His wife died in 1912. There were six children born to James A. Harness and wife: William, Elizabeth, David. James H., George W. and John. Three of these children are still living, James II., William and George W.
The education of George W. Harness was received in the schools of Mercer county. Illinois, as he was but seven years of age when his parents moved from Kentucky to that state. Ile grew to maturity and married in Illinois, after which he purchased a farm of one hundred and twenty-three acres in Mercer county and began farming for himself. In 1883 he re- moved with his family to Shelby county, Iowa, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Union township. He came to this county after the grasshopper period had passed and at a time when conditions were such that any man of energy and ability could get a good start. With the quarter of a section which he first purchased he began a career of successful farm- ing which has had few equals in the county. Year by year found him more prosperous and with an increased acreage, until he owned five hundred and twenty-three acres of excellent farming land at the time of his retirement from the farm in 1912. As has been stated he has made his greatest success in the raising of live stock, and in the management of his live stock he has become an expert. His career strikingly exemplifies what the possibilities of farming are in this county and shows what can be accomplished by a farmer who devotes himself to his work with enthusiasm and energy.
Mr. Harness was married on January 22, 1876, to Nancy Boulting- house, the daughter of John and Diana ( Williams) Boultinghouse, and to this union ten children have been born: Naney, Mary C., Clara B., Martha E., John S., Sarah .A., George H., William H., Catherine D. and Elsie M. All of these children, with the exception of George, William and Elsie M .. are married. Nancy is the wife of Patrick MeCord, and has three children. Cleo, Verne and Ivan: one of Naney's children, Cleo. is married. being the wife of Luther Brasel, and has one son, Verne. Mary C. is the wife of
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Joseph Ray, and has four children. Paul. Bella, Mildred, and Leo, de- ceased. Clara B. is the widow of H. J. Mcknight, and has two children, Howard and Ilarold. Martha is the wife of Edward Chris, and has six children, Edna, George, Robert, Mae, Melvin and William. John S. mar- ried Martha Wickersham. and has three children, Bernice, Zella and Will- iam. Sarah is the wife of Alfred Hulsebus, and has one son, Leonard. living, and one who died in infancy. Catherine is the wife of Arthur Berg.
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