Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1, Part 44

Author: Patrick B. Wolfe
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 829

USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 44

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).

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He was a man whose zeal and energy made him prominent in whatever he undertook, and he was always interested in whatever would benefit the com- munity.

James Joseph Nelson studied with the Christian Brothers in St. John's College, at Prairie du Chien, Wisconsin, finished at St. Francis Seminary, at Milwaukee, and was ordained a priest on May 26, 1878, at Dubuque, Iowa, by Bishop Hennessy. His first appointment was to Deep Creek, as assistant to Father O'Farrell; next he was pastor of the Church of the Immaculate Con- ception at Wexford, Iowa, there remaining four years. For twenty-two years and two and one-half months he was pastor of the Church of the Im- maculate Conception at Louders, Howard county, Iowa, and on December 6, 1904, was appointed pastor of St. Joseph's church at De Witt, where he has since been located.

EDWARD L. HALLINAN.

Sacrifice of some sort is involved in most professions. The physician has more than his share. He has no time that he can call his own; he must be ready to go at a patient's call at all times and to all places. He cannot stop for needed rest, social convenience or for serious business; when life is at stake, his personal affairs, of however great import to himself, must become of secondary importance and pass from view. Not only does he sacrifice time, but also health. He goes freely into the presence of all diseases, and undergoes all exposure, and, though protected by the best of his own skill and by all sanitary care, he often falls a victim to disease induced by caring for others.

Edward L. Hallinan was born in Clinton, Iowa, September 1, 1878, son of Patrick F. and Savina Hallinan. His parents came from Ireland during the Civil war, and his father has since been engaged in the furniture business. and is at present conducting such an establishment. He has had an excellent business and has won a reputation for square dealing. He, his wife and six children are all living.

Edward L. Hallinan attended Iowa State University and Illinois Uni- versity. He graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons at Chi- cago in 1904. Then he returned to Clinton and took up the practice of med- icine here and has not seen fit to change his location. He gives his whole attention to his profession and is very successful, having obtained a good practice in his short experience. He is a member of the American, the Iowa

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State and the Clinton County Medical associations. In politics he is a Demo- crat. His fraternal relations are with the Elks and the Knights of Columbus. He is a member of the Catholic church.

Doctor Hallinan is well equipped in his chosen profession and should continue to be very successful, as by application and study he constantly is keeping up with all the advances in medical science and is gaining in practical experience daily. He has many friends and is popular in social circles.

CHRIST MAGNUSSEN.

Another of the enterprising and successful business men of Clinton county who owe their place of birth to Germany is Christ Magnussen, a well known hardware merchant of Lyons, a man who has succeeded in the in- dustrial world from no other cause then because he has worked persistently and along proper lines, never relying upon others to do what he felt it his duty to do himself, and he has not only succeeded in business, but also has won a reputation for honesty and fair dealing.

Mr. Magnussen was born in Germany, on February 11, 1865, and he is the son of Hans Henry and Clelia (Sonnichen) Magnussen, both natives of Germany. The father was a prominent physician and practiced at Leck, Germany, all his life, dying in 1876. His widow came to America not long afterwards and made her home with her son, Christ of this review, her death occurring in 1891. There were eight sons and three daughters in this family, named as follows: Sophus, who is living in Germany; Henry, Marcus and Hans, all live in Australia; Anna, who is deceased, was the wife of W. A. Iunger. a hardware man of Lyons; John lives in Munich, Germany; Christ, of this review; Hattie is the wife of Rev. Theodore Wolfram, of Waterloo, Iowa; Gustav, who is a talented artist, lives in Los Angeles, California; Martin Luther, of Gorvine, Iowa; Mary lives in Burg, Germany ; she is the wife of a professor in the schools there.

Christ Magnussen was educated in Germany in the preparatory branches, and after leaving school came to America where he took up farming. working for a dollar and fifty cents per month. In 1882, seeking to better his condi- tion and get a start in life, he came direct to Lyons, Iowa. He worked for a time at Bryant. Iowa, on a farm. In the spring of 1884 he came to Lyons and worked for W. H. Iunger in his hardware store, covering a period of thirteen years. during which time he gave eminent satisfaction to his employer,

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established a reputation among the citizens as a courteous and honest gentle- man and learned, incidentally, the various phases of the hardware business. In 1893 he bought his employer out and continued the hardware business him- self. This store is located at No. 618 Main street, Lyons, and it is one of the most popular and most extensively patronized hardware stores in the county. Since Mr. Magnussen has taken control his business has greatly in- creased. He maintains a neat, well arranged and carefully stocked store and his numerous patrons come from all parts of the county.

Mr. Magnussen takes a great deal of interest in local affairs, and he has served on the school board for six years and as alderman at large, for two years, in Clinton, making a splendid record. Politically, he is a Republican and he belongs to the Congregational church. Personally he is well liked, being jovial, good natured and he likes a good joke.

Mr. Magnussen was married on October 17, 1895, to Laura Ingwersen, a lady of excellent characteristics and the representative of one of the best old families in the country, many members of which have distinguished them- selves in various walks of life. She was born at Bryant, Iowa, in 1865 and is the daughter of Peter B. and Catherine Ingwersen. This union has re- sulted in the birth of the following children : Hans P., Anna K., Carl Chris- tian, Ernest O., Harro J. and Marcus J.

CLAUS J. CLAUSSEN.

Whether the elements of success in life are innate attributes of the indi- vidual or whether they are quickened by a process of circumstantial develop- ment, it is impossible to clearly determine. Yet the study of a successful life, whatever the field of endeavor. is none the less interesting and profitable by reason of the existence of this same uncertainty. So much in excess of those of successes are the records of failures or semi-failures, that one is constrained to attempt an analysis in either case and to determine the measure of causation in an approximate way. But in studying the life history of Claus J. Claussen, one of the enterprising business men of Clinton, we find many qualities in his makeup that always gain definite success in any career if properly directed. as his has evidently been done, which has resulted in well earned success for him- self and of good to others.

Mr. Claussen was born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, January 5, 1858, and he is the son of Peter and Margaret (Kaese) Claussen. The

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mother died when her son Claus J. was three years old, and the father, who was a farmer and a man who stood high among his neighbors, lived until 1909.

Claus J. Claussen spent his youth and early manhood in his home com- munity and was educated in the schools of his native vicinity. Believing that America held greater opportunities for a young man of his ambitions, he came to our shores in 1880 and first found employment in the large lumber camps of Wisconsin. He came to Clinton, Iowa, in 1881 and worked for C. Lamb & Sons in their lumber yard, then worked in the Chancy lumber yards for four years. He then went to Crawford county, Iowa, and farmed two years, then to La Crosse, Wisconsin, and entered college, graduating from the insti- tution there on April 24, 1887. He is deserving of a great deal of credit for the courage he displayed in obtaining a higher education, for he worked his way through college by working in the lumber yards. The big fire at LaCrosse in 1887 resulted in throwing Mr. Claussen out of work and he came to Clinton. He worked for W. J. Young one summer, then entered the grocery business under the firm name of Claussen & Petersen. After con- tinuing in this line for three years they sold out and bought the Park Place grocery. which was conducted with equal success for two years, then Mr. Claussen came to Camanche avenue, where he continued in the grocery busi- ness for a period of ten years, then bought the Clinton Milling Company. He rented it for a period of six years and in the meantime again engaged in the grocery business. He was later interested in the Critron Manufacturing business. In 1906 he took active charge of his mill and has since operated the same with signal success, doing a large and growing business and reaching new territory constantly. His mill is well equipped in every respect and is popular with his patrons. He has proven himself to be a business man of no small magnitude and he has succeeded at whatever he has directed his atten- tion, believing in doing well whatever is worth doing at all. The Clinton Milling Company. of which he is proprietor, is across the road from Curtis Brothers' old flour mill, which was built in 1864 and which has long been one of the most widely known mills in eastern Iowa. It is three stories with a basement, one hundred by ninety feet. with an engine room attached. It has a capacity of fifty barrels of buckwheat and thirty of corn meal. five people being employed.

Politically. Mr. Claussen is a Republican, but he does not find time from his business affairs to take any special part in political matters. Religiously he is a Lutheran and fraternally he belongs to the Independent Order of Odd Fellows.

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The domestic life of Mr. Claussen began in September, 1882, when he married Augusta Gathe, who was born in Holstein in 1859, of an excellent old family. To this union four children have been born, named as follows : Emma, wife of F. Hayungs, who lives in South Dakota; Minnie and Freda are members of the family circle, and Hulda is attending school.

SILAS WRIGHT GARDINER.

No man of a past generation in Clinton county, Iowa, is deserving of a more conspicuous place in this history than the late Silas Wright Gardiner. a man of talent and who made his influence felt in many walks of life. He was ever mindful of the basic principles that make for the amelioration of society, being a man of high ideals and correct principles, so that his career. an interesting and strenuous one, might well be held up to the youth of the land as a fitting type to be emulated. Although he rests serenely in "that low, green tent whose curtains never outward swing," his influence is still pervad- ing the lives of the myriad friends and acquaintances he left behind.

Mr. Gardiner was a son of Stimson B. Gardiner, one of the pioneer lum- bermen of Clinton and Lyons, Iowa. The latter was born in western New York and shortly after his marriage at Penn Yan, that state, in 1844, in com- pany with Chancy Lamb and wife, moved near Mount Carroll, Carroll county, Illinois. It was on the Illinois prairie, August 20, 1846, that a son was born who was named Silas Wright. Receiving an offer of a good position from a friend in Penn Yan, New York, the family returned there in the spring of 1847. It was in Penn Yan that this future associate director in large lumber- ing enterprises spent his youth and secured his education. When he reached young manhood's estate his father had charge of a small saw-mill and also a mill for grinding land plaster, a sort of fertilizer. During his minority Silas W. Gardiner was employed a part of the time working in these mills. He attended the public schools and a local academy. finishing with the latter when he was sixteen years old. His early life was that of a normal, healthy- minded young man who gave heed to paternal authority and helped in the way that would do the most good. His first responsible post was secured in 1863, when he performed the duties of assistant postmaster at Oil City, Penn- sylvania. In the winter of 1864-65 he supplemented his education by a course in the Eastman College at Poughkeepsie, New York, one of the early business educational institutions. Meeting with financial reverses at Penn Yan in

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1866, he and his father decided to ascertain if better opportunities existed in the then rapidly developing Western states. They reached Chicago in the latter part of 1866. Employment was secured and a few months later the remainder of the family joined the prospectors. Silas W. Gardiner secured a position in the Chicago office of Rogers Brothers & Company, a commission concern, and later with the insurance agency of Holmes Brothers & Company, where he remained during his stay in Chicago. His father's old friend, Chancy Lamb, in whose company he had moved to Illinois, in 1844, had lo- cated at Clinton, Iowa, and engaged in the manufacturing of lumber. In April, 1867, his father went with the family to Clinton and secured a posi- tion as yard superintendent with C. Lamb & Sons, proving a valuable assistant to a friend who had developed into one of the big lumbermen on the upper Mississippi, and in April, 1868, Silas W. joined the rest of the family at Clinton. This marked his first connection with the lumber manufacturing interests.

The business and social relations between the Lamb and Gardiner families, which began in 1842, have continued until the present. This friendly relation not only gave the Gardiners opportunity to recoup their fortunes. which had been dissipated by the collapse of speculation in the oil fields of Pennsylvania, but a warm, friendly welcome to the new country.

Men were wanted in those days ; men of large caliber, capable of handling satisfactorily great enterprises. Those were the days when the foundation for the northern pine manufacturing industry was laid. In this preliminary work Silas W. Gardiner, his father, Stimson B., his brother, George S., and his brother-in-law, Lauren C. Eastman, had important parts.

When the Gardiners looked about for new fields their attention was at- tracted by the vast pine timber resources of Mississippi. In 1890 a large tract of timber land in Jones county was bought, which purchase included a small mill at Laurel. This was the beginning of the great yellow pine manufactur- ing concern of Eastman, Gardiner & Company. The original purchase was twenty thousand acres, which has been added to from time to time of yellow pine timber. With the increase of timber holdings the capacity of the mill has been enlarged and from a plant of twenty million to twenty-five million feet a year in 1894 it has been extended and better equipment provided so that the product now is seventy-five million feet annually, this being the range of the output during the last several years. This gigantic development was due largely to the judicious management and wise foresight of Mr. Gardiner, who was by nature a man of keen discernment, of large capacity and far-seeing.

Mr. Gardiner's life was not without its trials and its disappointments.

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In September, 1878, he met with an accident and during the last twenty-seven years he necessarily had to deny himself some of the pleasures of an active life. His philosophy, however, was sufficient to meet his heavy call upon it and, while taking an active interest in the operations of Eastman, Gardiner & Company, he was forced to content himself to some extent with paper accounts of the firm's operations. His affliction turned his attention to important political, economic and industrial questions, and from time to time to debates on questions of current interest. He always took as active a part in social and political affairs as the business demands upon his time permitted. His interest in political matters made him the choice of his Iowa district for state senator in 1892, when he was elected as a Democrat, and he won a rec- ord in that important public trust that was a credit to himself and elicited the praise of his constituents. His interest in local affairs is illustrated by his selection as director of the public schools of Lyons, Iowa, for seven years.

Silas W. Gardiner was married at Clinton on November 9, 1870, to Louisa C. Henkel, a lady of culture and refinement and the representative of a prominent old family. Of this union four children were born. The eldest, Philip S. Gardiner, is now general manager of the plant of Eastman, Gardiner & Company ; Elizabeth Louisa, the second child. is now Mrs. Arthur J. Cox and lives in Iowa City, Iowa; Mary Jeanette, now Mrs. Frank J. Wisner, lives at Laurel, Mississippi; and Charlotte Margaret, now Mrs. George Huest of Mt. Clair Heights, New Jersey, all of whom, with their mother, survive.

Mr. Gardiner had two homes, one at Clinton, Iowa, and the other at Laurel, Mississippi. These show in some measure the character of their owner in that both contain fine libraries, many beautiful pictures and other works of art, by which the dreamer and the idealist have sought to convey ideas of life and beauties of nature. He spent about seven months of each year in Laurel. Much of the remainder of his time was spent in Clinton, although, in company with his family, he traveled not a little about the country. Each of the homes is completely furnished and all that was necessary to do when moving from one to the other was to pack up personal effects and take the train.

Mr. Gardiner was a very companionable man. It was a privilege to talk with him and secure his views on any matter of current interest or any subject with whose solution the people of the country are concerned. From a well kept history of the family Mr. Gardiner could easily trace his ancestry back to the Colonists. He was a thirty-third-degree Scottish-rite Mason and a Knight Templar, a Shriner and a Hoo-Hoo. Advancing from the position of assistant bookkeeper to that of partner in one of the large manufacturing

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concerns of the North, and later as an organizer and associate of one of the largest lumber-producing companies in the South, is a great step for anyone to take. His life was a demonstration of his ability to grasp important de- tails and to assist in active direction of large interests. A review shows that within two years of the time he landed in Clinton he was secretary and treas- urer for the Lamb-Byng Lumber Company and retained that position for seven years. When the corporation of Gardiner, Batchelder & Welles was organ- ized he was made secretary and treasurer, which position he retained during the life of the organization; and he acted in the capacity of treasurer for Eastman, Gardiner & Company. In each instance the finances were in safe hands and the affairs of the operating concerns were wisely and ably safe guarded.

Mr. Gardiner represented the type of a business man to whom the world owes much. He labored honestly for the betterment of his own fortunes and in like manner for the advancement of the general welfare, believing that only through prosperity of the people is permanent and stable welfare of the indi- vidual made possible. He was a man of a kindly sympathetic nature, and his purse was always open to the appeals of charity. He was an attendant of the Episcopal church.

This prominent citizen, loyal friend and genial companion was called to close his earthly accounts on June 13, 1907, at his home in Clinton, Iowa, whither he had just returned from his home in Laurel, having been in failing health for some time before the end, and he passed away with that Christian fortitude and assurance that marks the end of the truly noble of mind and heart.

WILLIAM R. ASHFORD.

The editor of a newspaper has a more responsible part in the molding of public opinion than perhaps any other person in the community. Fortunate it is for a community when the editor of one of its influential papers is a man whose very appearance betokens square dealing and honesty, which principles he carries out in his daily life and work.

William R. Ashford was born July 8, 1865, in Columbus City, Iowa, the son of William D. Ashford, born in Indiana February 29, 1840, and Eliza- beth (Bond) Ashford, born October 10, 1840, in Ohio. His ancestry is largely English and Scotch.

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William D. Ashford was educated in the country schools and came to Louisa county, Iowa, with his parents in 1854. He enlisted in Company C, Eleventh Iowa Infantry, and was severely wounded at Yazoo City after the fall of Vicksburg. On recovering he rejoined his regiment at Raleigh, North Carolina, and served to the end of the war. In 1866 he moved to Maryville, Missouri, there engaged in brick manufacturing and as a building contractor, and there still lives, having been successful. He is a strongly active Repub- lican, and a member of the Odd Fellows. His determination and strength of character are very marked.

William D. Ashford was married in 1864, while home on a furlough, to Elizabeth Bond, who had come with her parents to Louisa county in 1855. Mrs. Ashford was a consistent Methodist, and died in that faith in 1896. To this marriage were born five children: William R .; Charles W., a brick manufacturer of Pickering, Missouri; Eva; Edith, who married Richard Hamlin, of Maryville, Missouri; and Elizabeth.

William R. Ashford was educated in the country schools, and carried on the work of a small fruit farm for his father. In 1886 he entered Moran's Shorthand School at Iowa City, and the following January entered the em- ploy of the Cedar Rapids Gazette as a stenographer. He continued with this paper and the Cedar Rapids Republican in different capacities until the spring of 1901, when he bought an interest in the Estherville Vindicator, of Esther- ville, Iowa, which was consolidated the next year with the Estherville Repub- lican, and he remained as editor of this paper until the fall of 1903, when he returned to Cedar Rapids to accept a position on the Gazette, and remained in that capacity until May, 1908, when he became clerk to the city council of Cedar Rapids. In January, 1909, he became editor of the Clinton Herald, a very up-to-date newspaper, and the leading Republican paper of the congress- ional district. With this he has been since connected in that capacity and by his work has done much to keep up the high standard set before and to ad- vance that standard.

Mr. Ashford was married on January 21, 1892, to Maude Carnicle, who was born in Cedar Rapids August 12, 1867, the daughter of Isaac and Ange- line (Dunning) Carnicle. Her parents were pioneers of Clinton county, Iowa, and her father was a skillful carpenter. Mr. and Mrs. Ashford are the parents of two children, Angeline, born August 7, 1897, who died when seven months old, and Marian Louise, born August 11, 1899. Mrs. Ashford is a member of the Episcopalian church.

Mr. Ashford is a regular Republican. He is a strong man, well fitted for his position, and has the ability of easily making friends.

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HENRY C. JOEHNK.

Among the enterprising and progressive citizens of Lyons, Clinton county, is Henry C. Joehnk, proprietor of the Champion Feed Milling Com- pany, a widely known, popular and prosperous concern of this place. He is a progressive and enterprising man of affairs who has achieved success because he has worked for it along legitimate lines and has been upright in all the re- lations of life. He has very worthily upheld an honored family name which has been prominent in Clinton county since the pioneer days, he himself hav- ing been born here on October 19, 1867. He was the son of Hans J. and Katherine (Kleink) Joehnk, both born in Germany where they were reared and educated and from which country they emigrated to America in 1852 and 1865, respectively. Hans J. Joehnk accompanied his parents to the New World and the family located in Davenport, Iowa, where they remained one year, then moved to Center township, Clinton county, and there Hans J. was reared and later followed farming, becoming in due course of time an ex- tensive land owner. When the Civil war came on he enlisted in a company of Iowa volunteer infantry, and saw some hard service, including the famous march to the sea under Sherman. After returning home he devoted his time and attention very largely to farming and stock raising, and he was rewarded by a large measure of success in these lines. He is now living retired at No. 614 North Sixth street, Lyons, Iowa. His wife died in February; 1893. They were the parents of two children. Henry C. and Millie, the latter now a resident of Chicago.

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Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1, Part 44

Author: Patrick B. Wolfe Publication date: 1911 Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen & Co. Number of Pages: 829

Author: Patrick B. Wolfe
Publication date: 1911
Publisher: Indianapolis, Ind. : B.F. Bowen & Co.
Number of Pages: 829