Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1, Part 45

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 45

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).

Henry C. Joehnk was educated in the country schools of Clinton county and was reared on his father's farm. He farmed for himself two years. On account of ill health he moved to Nebraska and there became interested in the feed business and also in the electric light and cold storage business in company with others, and he soon had a good start. He remained in that state until 1898, in which year he gave up the electric light and cold storage business and entered the sugar beet industry in the state of New York, and there remained until he and his associates had built a factory at Lyons and started to operate. He then began to pay his attention to this industry in other states. He located in Lansing, Michigan, where he worked up an ex- tensive trade, increasing very largely the acreage there and contracted to start a factory at that place. He then went to Mt. Clemens, Michigan, where he followed the same course and established another factory.

During the time that he was connected with the beet sugar company he always experimented with the molasses of sugar beets for feed, and he finally

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decided this would be a valuable product on the market, consequently he re- turned to Lyons, Iowa, in 1903 and started the Champion Feed Milling Com- pany, the product of which is "molasses feed," a substitute for cotton seed meal and oil meal, and which is rapidly growing in general favor and finding a very ready market. Mr. Joehnk gives all his time and attention to this work and his judicious and able management has made it a pronounced success. Eighteen men are now employed to carry on the work. The business started in a rather small way, and only seven tons daily were turned out; now they have two large and well equipped mills with a capacity of ninety tons daily. The prod- ucts are shipped to surrounding states and the territory covered is within a radius of two hundred and fifty miles, in fact, the business is growing by leaps and bounds and is rapidly taking its place among the large manufactur- ing concerns in eastern Iowa. Mr. Joehnk is a conservative man and never seeks the praise of his fellow citizens, but he is eminently deserving of a great deal of credit for establishing and promoting this important industry and it proves him to be the possessor of rare business ability and foresight.

Politically. Mr. Joehnk is a Republican and he belongs to the Masonic fraternity, Lodge No. 93, and Demolay Consistory of Clinton. He also be- longs to the Wapsipinicon Club and the Antenem Club.

Mr. Joehnk was married in 1892 to Louisa Otto. a native of Germany and the daughter of Jergen and Margaret Otto, also natives of Germany, in which country the father died, the mother subsequently coming to America. To Mr. and Mrs. Joehnk two daughters have been born, Beulah and Grace, both students of the Lyons high school and young ladies of culture and much promise.

GUSTAV GRADERT.

In the course of an honorable career, Gustav Gradert, well known and influential in financial circles of Clinton county, has been successful in the manifold lines to which his efforts have been directed, and enjoying dis- tinctive prestige among the representative men of his city and county, it is eminently proper that attention be called to his achievements and due credit be accorded to his worth as an enterprising and public-spirited citizen, for by his enterprise and progressive methods he has contributed in a material way to the general uplift of the town of Lyons and vicinity, and is therefore de- serving of the high esteem in which he is held by all who know him.

Mr. Gradert was born on November 5, 1861. on a farm in Center town-

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ship, Clinton county, Iowa. He is the son of John and Magdalene (Hoeft) Gradert, the father born in Schleswig-Holstein, Germany, where he grew to maturity and was educated. Having heard of the splendid opportunities ex- isting in Clinton county, Iowa, he resolved to try his fortune here, and in 1856 made a tedious voyage across the Atlantic and no less prolix journey from the Eastern coast and came direct to this county. He proved to be one of those sturdy farmers and energetic, conscientious citizens who did so much for the general progress of the county in the early stages of its develop- ment. He was a man whom everybody liked, because they knew that he could be trusted at all times and was neighborly and kind. Politically he was a Democrat, and belonged to the German Lutheran church. His death occurred in 1873.

John Gradert married Magdalene Hoeft before leaving Germany. She was born in the fatherland in 1831 and she still survives. Nine children were born to them, six of whom are living, namely: Louis, Carl and Otto live at Bryant. Iowa; Augusta is the wife of Christ P. Naeve, also of Bryant, this state; Amelia is the wife of Eugene Hanssen, of De Witt, Clinton county ; Gustav, of this review.

Gustav Gradert was reared on his father's farm in this county, on which he worked when a boy and attended the home schools,. becoming well edu- cated and remaining under the parental roof-tree until 1884. Starting in life for himself. he engaged in the lumber business in Kingsley for a short time. The banking field appearing as particularly attractive to him, he went to West- side, Crawford county, Iowa, and was engaged in a bank there for a period of five years. He then started a private bank in that town which he main- tained with much success for a period of seven years, then went to Fulton, Illinois, and assisted in the organization of the Fulton Bank, which has proven to be a thriving institution, of which Mr. Gradert is now president. In 1905 Mr. Gradert assisted in the organization of the Iowa State Bank in Lyons. He was elected cashier and still holds that position. Having a genius for organization and the development of financial institutions, Mr. Gradert has won a reputation second to none in this respect and has won the confidence of the numerous patrons of the banks he has been connected with. doing much to increase their prestige by his courteous and kind treatment of patrons and his able and conservative management. Broad-minded, far-seeing and alert, he is apparently able to forecast with accuracy the outcome of a present trans- action, being a man of keen discernment and rare business acumen, but withal, a man who is plain and entirely unassuming.

Mr. Gradert stands high in Masonic circles, and politically he is a Demo-

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crat and a member and liberal supporter of the Lutheran church. He takes much more than a passing interest in everything which has for its object the betterment in any way of the community, county and state, and always stands on the right side of each question that arises demanding settlement.

Mr. Gradert's domestic life began on December 11, 1891, when he led to the hymeneal altar Helen Ingwersen, a lady of estimable traits, the repre- sentative of an excellent family of Bryant, Iowa. She was born January II, 1867, and this union has resulted in the birth of four children, Grace, Blanche, Helen and Robert.

AUGUSTUS L. ANKENY, M. D.

The history of a county or state, as well as that of a nation, is chiefly a chronicle of the lives and deeds of those who have conferred honor and dignity upon society. The world judges the character of a community by those of its representative citizens and yields its tribute of admiration and respect to those whose works and actions constitute the record of a state's prosperity and pride. Among the prominent citizens of Clinton county, who were well known because of their success in professional, civic and social circles, was the late Dr. A. L. Ankeny, a man in whom there was such a union of sterling characteristics that he easily won and retained the confidence, good will and esteem of all who knew him.

Augustus L. Ankeny was born in Brownsville, Jo Daviess county, Illinois, March 13, 1828, the son of John and Mary (Kimmel) Ankeny, a prominent pioneer family of Illinois, having located there in 1818. John Ankeny kept the first hotel in Kaskaskia during the first session of the Legislature of that state, that town then being the capital. He and two sons participated in the Black Hawk war of 1832. During that war, Chief Peppernong, of the Pot- tawatomies, came to the home of John Ankeny at night and warned the fam- ily, who were there alone, entreating them to flee for safety. Augustus I .. . Ankeny, the subject, was then the youngest and a small child. The vicinity of the Ankeny home was at that time overrun with hostile Indians.

A. L. Ankeny spent his boyhood days in Jo Daviess county, Illinois, re- maining there until he was fourteen years of age. He was an ambitious lad and studied such books as he could obtain, and when he entered Mt. Morris College, in Ogle county, Illinois, he made a splendid record. He turned his attention to the science of medicine, studying at Elizabethtown, near Galena, Illinois, and later entered Rush Medical College at Chicago in the winter of

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AUGUSTUS L. ANKENY

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THE NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

ASTOR, LENOX, AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS B L

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1848 and 1849, and was graduated from that institution. He came to Lyons, . Iowa, in April, 1850, and was therefore one of the pioneer physicians of Clinton county, and he underwent the usual privations and hardships of the country doctor in the new settlements of the West, traveling on horseback over rough and unfrequented roads. He soon had all the practice he could attend to and took a position in the front rank of practitioners in this locality, which he maintained until his death, on November 24, 1887, his office being at Lyons and Clinton. He was well equipped in every way for his profession and kept well abreast of the times in his calling and was very successful.

In 1851 Doctor Ankeny married Valeria M. Perin, the daughter of Noble and Sarah (Nixon) Perin, who were among the very early settlers of Iowa, having come to Clinton from Indiana in March, 1837. Noble Perin's ancestry is traced back to John Perin, who came from England to Braintree, Massa- chusetts, landing there from the ship "Safety" August 10, 1635, and from that remote day to the present the Perin family has been a prominent one in many walks of life in America. Noble Perin continued to reside in Clinton county until he met death in an explosion of the steamboat "Potosi" at Quincy, Illinois, September 27, 1844. He was a man of many sterling traits and was prominent in the early Mississippi river days. His widow survived over a half century, dying at the remarkable age of ninety-four years in June, 1906. She was descended from the famous Nixon family of South Caro- lina, an early member of which is credited with having been the man who read the Declaration of Independence to the people in Independence Square, Philadelphia, in 1776.

The following children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Noble Perin : Sarah Gregory, Valeria M., Samuel Thompson, Nancy E .. Mary A., Elizabeth J., Noble and Rachael R. In the third generation descendants are numbered in Iowa among the Millers, Seamans, Lambs, Bonneys, Givens and Vosbughs. A three-column sketch of Mrs. Perin, by Welker Given, was published in the Des Moines Register and Leader, February 18, 1906, from which we quote: "Taking up her home on the banks of the Mississippi near the Iowa end of the Northwestern Railroad bridge, Mrs. Perin. while remaining under the same roof, was in succession a resident of Michigan, Wisconsin Territory, the ter- ritory of Iowa and finally the state of Iowa. When she was born, the three future great men of the century, Lincoln. Darwin, Tennyson, were little chaps. three years old. She lived to see them rise to perform their great works and pass away long before. She reads the papers as carefully as she did fifty years ago and with the same glasses used for three decades. Her

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· hearing is perfect, her form full and unbent, her nerves without a tremor, and if all women resembled her, house-maids and cooks would find no one to hire them." She was sixty-four years a resident of Clinton county.

LUCIUS PUTNAM ALLEN.

When the twilight of age is enveloping us it is quite the usual thing for a person to look back over his life to discover whether the world is any bet- ter for his having lived in it. It must be a gloomy retrospect, indeed, when no good can be found, upon such an examination. On the contrary what a consolation it must be to any one to feel that his life has been an example worthy of emulation. Without any show of ostentation, Lucius Putnam Allen, one of the best known and most highly esteemed citizens of Clinton county. could, no doubt, say, after a retrospective glance over the long path- way that stretches backward to the days of "life's morning march when his bosom was young," that he had endeavored to set such an example. Those most familiar with his career are unstinted in their praise of his fidelity to principle, wholesome living, patriotism and loyalty to whatever has tended to ameliorate his fellow men in all the relations of life, and he therefore. for many reasons is eminently deserving of conspicuous mention in the history of his county.

Mr. Allen was born on May 5, 1833, at Columbia, New York, a repre- sentative of a sterling old New England family of an interesting and historic lineage. many of his ancestors having been eminent in various walks of life. He is the son of Rev. Aaron P. and Maryette (Hannahs) Allen. The father was born in March, 1801, in Pomfort, Connecticut, and was of English descent. and traced his lineage back accurately to the "Mayflower." He was reared in New England, was graduated from Union College at Schenectady, New York, from which institution he received the degree of Doctor of Divin- ity, and at once began his chosen work as a Presbyterian minister. His last pastorate was for a period of eight years. at Deposit, New York, after which he retired and, organizing a stock company, built the Laurel Bank Seminary at Deposit, afterwards becoming the proprietor. It was a coeducational insti- tution, which, under his energetic and judicious management, gained a wide popularity and accomplished a great good, being a fitting and worthy monu- ment to his ability and genuine worth. He died in March, 1857.

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The Rev. Aaron P. Allen married Maryette Hannahs on October 20, 1831. She was the daughter of Dr. Abel Hannahs, a prominent citizen of Columbia, Herkimer county, New York, where she was born on October 16, 18II. She was a woman of many praiseworthy traits of character. Mrs. Allen passed to her rest at Binghamton, New York, November 12, 1890.

Lucius P. Allen, of this review, their eldest child, was educated in the common schools of Deposit, New York, and was graduated from the Laurel Bank Seminary in 1852. Turning his attention to the law, he took a four years' course in New York city. In his early life he taught school in the seminary under his father and he had charge of the business, and, in fact, of the institution at the end, taking charge of the same at his father's death and conducting it until the close of the term, and afterwards sold the institution for a soldiers' and sailors' orphans home. While yet a young man Mr. Allen turned his attention to the newspaper business, becoming editor and proprietor of the Deposit Courier and managed the same for several years in a manner that indicated his innate genius for this special line of endeavor. While mak- ing his home at Deposit he very faithfully served as postmaster for a period of eight years, resigning this office in 1868 for the purpose of coming to Clinton, Iowa, where he purchased an interest in the Clinton Herald, in March of that year, the firm name being Leslie, McAllister & Company. Later Mr. Allen bought out the interests of the rest of the firm and H. S. Hyatt was taken in as a partner. Soon afterwards Mr. Hyatt purchased the interest of Mr. Allen, who then established a job printing office and bookbindery, in Clinton, subsequently issuing the Clinton Bee, a weekly, which he ran successfully for a period of two years, when it was absorbed, in exchange, by the Clinton Herald. Since then he organized and has given his attention to the manage- ment of the Allen Printing Comapny, which has an excellent, well equipped and up-to-date plant and turns out high-grade work expeditiously.

Mr. Allen has been a very successful newspaper man and the papers with which he was connected were powerful exponents of the people's rights and were moulders, of public opinion. He made their editorial columns strong, their mechanical appearance bright, their worth as advertising mediums he increased and gave his subscribers a newsy, praiseworthy sheet in every respect. He has always been a very public spirited citizen and ready at all times to do his full share in the general development of the country.

Mr. Allen is the author of the history of Clinton county, Iowa, published in 1879, which is a very ably written and valuable work and which was well received. Politically, he is a Republican, and always loyal to his party's principles. Fraternally, he is a Mason and has attained the thirty-second

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degree in that time-honored order, and has long stood high in the circles of the same throughout the state and his daily life would indicate that he at- tempts as best one may to carry its sublime precepts into the various relations of society and civilization. He is an able, educated, well-read and progres- sive gentleman, a fine type of a self-made man, who has confidence in the peo- ple and ready to do his full share in the work of amelioration among his fel- low men. His business has been crowned by success. He is a director in the City National Bank.

Mr. Allen was married to Susan P. Edwards at Windsor, New York, May 30, 1861. She was the daughter of Julius and Parthenia Edwards, and was born September 28, 1837. She was a most estimable woman, a sweet and lovely character, beloved by all who knew her. She was called to her rest in March, 1901. The husband and two daughters mourn her absence.

F. L. BUTZLOFF.

One of the influential citizens of Charlotte, Waterford township, Clin- ton county, is F. L. Butzloff, the genial cashier of the Charlotte Savings Bank. A man of excellent endowments and upright character, he has been a valued factor in local affairs and has ever commanded unequivocal confidence and esteem, being loyal to the upbuilding of the community and ever vigilant in his efforts to further the interests of his city along material, moral and civic lines.

Mr. Butzloff is, as his name implies, of Germanic descent, in fact he is a native of Germany, having been born at Hamburg, that country, on July I, 1868, but he has spent the major part of his life in America, having been reared in Iowa on a farm and educated in the district schools, and also attended business college at Holland, this state. He is the son of William and Marie (Struve) Butzloff, both natives of Germany where they grew to maturity and were married. There the father engaged in the manufacture of safes and locks, and was an enterprising man, successful in business and honored for his upright character. He was killed by accident in his plant. His loss was keenly felt not only to his relatives, but to the industrial world. He was a consistent member of the Lutheran church, a man of sterling worth and honest impulses. His widow emigrated to America in 1871, being twenty- one days on a sailing vessel crossing the Atlantic. She landed in New York City and then went to Buffalo, thence to Iowa, first locating in Jackson

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county, and there she was again married, her second husband being Nicholas Gries, also a native of Germany and an early settler here, who engaged in farming. His death occurred in 1898 and his widow, mother of the subject, died on October 13, 1900. Both were members of the Lutheran church. This last union was without issue.

F. L. Butzloff was three years old when he came to America. He was reared on a farm and remained on the same until he was twenty years of age. He was then employed by the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railroad Com- pany as station agent and operator, principally at Browns. He proved to be a very valuable employe and was changed around from place to place, continuing in this work until 1896. He had saved his money and erected a bank building on the south side of First street, Charlotte, and he here opened the Charlotte Exchange Bank, and, in connection with A. J. Al- bright, who was president, the former being cashier, they did a very satis- factory business from the start, having a capital stock of ten thousand doľ- lars. He was thus engaged for seven years, then he was the chief organizer of the Charlotte Savings Bank, in which he continued successfully until 1908, increasing its capital stock to fifty thousand dollars, and erected the present handsome and substantial building in which this popular institution is housed, this well known commercial institution having been a success from the first, its officers and directors being solid and substantial men of the community, who have the universal confidence of depositors and all who know them. The building is equipped with steel-lined burglar-proof vaults and safe time-lock doors. It is careful, safe. unquestionable, accommo- dating. A statement of conditions on February 16, 1910, showed that its total resources were $357,626.03; liabilities-stock paid in cash, $50,000; undivided profits, net, $1,251.76; deposits. $306.374.27; total $357,626.03. The following are its officers : C. W. Beeby, president; Martin Dolan, vice- president ; F. L. Butzloff, cashier ; B. E. Marlow, assistant cashier ; directors, R. T. Troy, C. W. Beeby. M. H. Hynes, Martin Dolan, R. M. J. Winey, Fred Jaeger, Jurgen Rathmann, M. H. Illemann. F. L. Butzloff.

Mr. Butzľoff has also engaged in the realty and insurance business, in which he is very successful, for he gives his undivided attention to his busi- ness, especially the bank, and he is one of the busiest men of Charlotte. He is enterprising and public-spirited and is to be found in the front rank in assisting any worthy enterprise to benefit Charlotte and vicinity. He is an excellent financier, keen and alert. and it is clear that the directors of the bank made no mistake in selecting him for the position which he so worthily holds.

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Mr. Butzloff was married in 1893 to Alice C. Marlowe, a lady of intel- ligence and culture, who was born in Jackson county, Iowa, in 1872, the daughter of Eli and Margaret (Lowderbaugh) Marlowe, both natives of Pennsylvania, from which state they emigrated to Iowa when young and were married in Jackson county. The father was a prominent farmer, raised and fed stock extensively and shipped them to market. His death occurred in November, 1891, and his wife passed away in October, 1893. They were members of the Methodist church and were the parents of seven children.

Five children were born to Mr. and Mrs. William Butzloff, parents of the subject, namely: Hannah, the widow of Mr. Fink; Pauline, Mrs. H. Gries; Minnie, Mrs. Lornzen; F. L., of this review; William, a hardware merchant at Belle Plaine, Iowa.

Six children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. F. L. Butzloff, namely : Harold M., born February 4, 1896; Clifford, born April 23, 1904; Floyd, born May 23, 1908. The other three children died young.

Mr. and Mrs. Butzloff are affiliated with the Methodist Episcopal church, and he belongs to the Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of America.

FRED B. HEMINGWAY.

One of the best managed manufacturing plants in Clinton is that of the Hemingway Furniture Company. In 1880 F. B. Hemingway and W. E. Hemingway started a canning factory as partners under the name of F. B. Hemingway & Company, and continued in business until 1884. Then, on account of a disastrous fire, they abandoned the business and established them- selves at No. 721 Second avenue as furniture manufacturers. Their business grew rapidly and in 1890 they incorporated under the name of the Heming- way Furniture Company. That year they built an office. One of the old buildings of the canning factory remained, and a new brick building was added in 1890. When they first entered the furniture business they made only lounges, mattresses and spring beds. Since then they have dropped the manufacturing of beds, and have added couches, parlor furniture, and a year ago added buffets. So their line now consists of upholstered work and buffets. They employ thirty to thirty-five men, and carry on business in the states of Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. These entire states are covered and the bulk of the business of the company is done in them, but some shipping is done to other points, even as far as Brooklyn, New York.

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Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1, Part 45

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