USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 47
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WILLIAM KOONS.
Whatever may be our views on the life beyond the grave, and however strong may be our faith in the resurrection to a happier and more harmonious state of existence "beyond this bank and shoal of time," knowing that the dead do not suffer and all are supposed to be better after they have passed through "this Ajalon of tears," nevertheless when our home is visited with
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WILLIAM KOONS
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D'E MIC LIB .. ARY 1. # . I' SOY, AND 2. 1KS FOUNDATIONS L
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the "angel with the backward look and folded wings of ashen gray" and takes from us one whom we have long cherished, the world is never again quite the same to us, especially if one of fine character is claimed, as was the case when the late William Koons was summoned to his reward, for he was a man whom to know was to greatly admire, his life having been so modulated as not to give offense to anyone with whom he came into contact. He was well known to the German element and, in fact. to a wide circle of warm friends in Clinton, Iowa. He was born in Germantown, Pennsylvania, of German parentage, and, having been thrown upon his own resources early in life and compelled to provide for himself, he received a meager education, but he was courageous and let nothing stand in his way of success. Early in youth he learned the carpenter's trade and was ever afterwards connected with building interests. He was a skilled workman and his services were in great demand. He was located in Lockport, New York. until 1845, when he came to Clinton, Iowa, among the pioneers, as a carpenter for the Chicago & Northwestern Railroad Company ; but he remained with that company only a short time, when he be- gan contracting and building for himself, and many excellent buildings now stand as monuments to his enterprise, skill and esthetic taste, especially the three-story Koons block, at the corner of South Second street and Seventh avenue. He was a man of keen business ability and foresight and he had a fortune in his old age that was the well merited reward of his earnest and indefatigable labor and his honest dealing with his fellow men.
Mr. Koons never took an active part in political matters, but he was al- ways ready to aid in any cause that had for its object the betterment of Clinton and vicinity, devoting much of his time, talent and energy to the general up- building of the city. It was only a small settlement when he first came here. and he lived to see it grow into a thriving metropolis and he did as much as any other man to bring about its later-day progress and popularity, his labors benefiting not only himself but the community at large. He enjoyed the public confidence and had the good will of every one. He was just and hon- orable in all the relations of life. At his death he owned considerable valu- . able real estate, besides having a comfortable competency and a good income. This excellent citizen was called away in 1889.
William Koons was married in early life to Ann Thompson, of New York, and this union resulted in the birth of two children, one of whom, Mrs. P. Davis, of Clinton, is now living. After the death of his first wife. Mr. Koons was united in marriage with Phillippi Retallick, a lady of culture and many praiseworthy characteristics and the representative of an excellent and highly honored family, her birth having occurred in county Cornwall, Eng-
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land, in 1830. There she grew to maturity and attended school, coming to America in 1845. She now lives at the family home, an attractive, neatly kept, commodious and substantial dwelling on Camanche avenue. She is a woman of generous and kindly impulses, well preserved, widely read and an intelligent and interesting conversationalist, a woman greatly beloved and admired by a wide circle of friends; especially is she liked by the young people of her community who delight in honoring her, for her life has been one fraught with much good and many charitable deeds. She is a splendid type of the grand old pioneer woman, whom to know is to admire and accord the utmost respect and civility. The trials and vicissitudes common to all who tread the winding path of life have only given her fortitude and she serenely waits through the mellow twilight of her years for the summons of the Good Shepherd whom she has so long sought to serve, knowing that there is laid up for her a "crown of life" in the mystic beyond.
Three children blessed this union, named as follows: Nellie, wife of John Pringle, of Rochelle, Illinois; Charles W., an engineer on the Chicago Northwestern railroad, who lives in Clinton; Frank also lives in Clinton. They are all highly respected and are well established in life.
JOHN COPELAND WESTON.
No one among the residents of Clinton has been more prominently identi- fied with her higher financial interests, or has had a life richer in varied and valuable experience than has Mr. Weston. Starting in life with little money and less schooling, his sole assets a strong and powerful body and a capable and intelligent mind, he has by his own efforts raised himself to the position which he now occupies.
John Copeland Weston was born in Hancock, New Hampshire, October 26, 1834, son of William and Mary D. (Copeland) Weston. His ancestry was English, Scotch, Irish and Welch.
John C. Weston attended the common schools of Hancock for a short time, and remained on the farm until sixteen. At that time he shipped on the "John Wade," a Boston clipper ship, and on her sailed around the world, by way of Cape Horn, China and the Cape of Good Hope, the voyage occupy- ing eleven months. Thus before he was eighteen he had had an experience the like of which falls to few boys, and was gaining an education by traveling superior to that given in the schools. At the end of his voyage he returned
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to his New Hampshire home. He remained at home but a short time until he got the gold fever, and went to California by the isthmus of Panama, which he has crossed six times during his life. For fifteen years he was a prospector, miner and mine operator in California and bore his part in the rough life of the times. In 1855 he went to Oregon to take charge of the mines of a large California operator.
That same year Mr. Weston was married to Jennie Sibley, of Sailor Diggings, Oregon, a native of Little Falls, New York. She bore to him three children, two of whom died in Oregon and one of whom, Eugene, is now liv- ing in Los Angeles. She died in Oregon February 14, 1865. After his wife's death Mr. Weston returned to New England, but, used to the rugged activities of the west, could find nothing there to hold him and started to re- turn to Oregon. On his way back he stopped at Clinton to visit a sister, and has since remained in the city, which he entered October 27, 1868. He had also a brother at Low Moor, George W. Weston, of "underground railroad" fame, whose operations are elsewhere mentioned in this work, and who was concerned in the operation of one "station" at Low Moor.
In the spring of 1869, Mr. Weston became associated with the Clinton National Bank, and was for nineteen years its cashier and six years president. He has served as treasurer of the following organizations and companies since his stay in Clinton : The Clinton Savings Bank, Clinton Water Com- pany. Clinton Gas Company, Clinton independent school district, and Clinton Mining Company. This record alone shows the confidence in financial mat- ters which his associates have always reposed in him. In 1895 he retired from active business, and has since lived in his beautiful and commodious residence on Tenth avenue.
Mr. Weston was a second time married on January 14, 1869, to Caro- line F. White. a native of Massachusetts. They are the parents of four children, Lucian, of Los Angeles; Clarence, of the Northern Trust Company, of Chicago; Mary F., wife of J. E. Wenks, of Des Moines; and Leonard. at home, manual training teacher in the Lyons schools.
Mr. Weston has always been a keen and sagacious business man, not overly sanguine, but using that degree of caution which has brought success to his undertakings, and has brought to him the confidence of those who know him and given him the reputation of a successful financier. That this reputa- tion is not confined to Clinton is shown by the fact that the Chicago Tribune, when in 1909 running its series of birthdays of prominent men, saw fit on the 26th of October to give mention to Mr. Weston. And Mr. Weston has truly been the architect of his own fortunes. He is at present in his seventy-sixth
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year, but is very active, with the appearance of a much younger man, his intellect not only undimmed, but keener than ever, and he bids fair to continue to receive the esteem of Clinton citizens for many years.
STEPHEN BRIGGS.
The career of Stephen Briggs, the well known and popular president of the First National Bank at Lyons, Iowa, and one of the leaders in financial circles in Clinton county, though strenuous, has been fraught with much good to his fellow men, and in it there is much that is commendable. for his life forcibly illustrates what a man of energy and courage can accomplish when his plans are wisely laid and his actions governed by right principles, noble aims and high ideals. Although he does not court the distinction of being one of the leaders in local affairs, for he is entirely unassuming, yet his great force of character and his zeal and progressiveness in whatever he undertakes naturally places him at the head of the crowd and he has been a potent factor in the development of the city of Lyons and vicinity, where he has long main- tained his home and where he is well known to all classes for his honorable and industrious life, in both private and public.
Mr. Briggs has come to us from our sister country across the Atlantic, having been born in Nottingham, England, on April 2. 1829. and therefore he is now in the serene twilight of his years, but hale and hearty, having, like Shakespeare's "Jaques," lived such a consistent and even tenored life in his youth and early manhood that nature has granted him vigor of both body and mind that his last years might be happy and replete with success. He is the son of William and Sarah Briggs. For many years the father was cashier in a wholesale house in Nottingham, and he was a successful business man. These parents spent their lives in England, dying there many years ago. They were people of sterling worth and integrity.
Stephen Briggs grew to maturity in his native land and received a good education in the home schools. He emigrated to America in 1861 and came direct to Lyons. Iowa, and he has remained in this vicinity ever since, witness- ing and taking part in the marvelous growth of this community during the past four decades. He farmed for awhile after reaching here, then bought a grocery store, which he maintained a short time. Later he had an interest in a boat on the Mississippi river. He prospered from the first, being a hard worker and a good manager, a man endowed by nature with keen perceptive
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faculties and able to forecast with remarkable accuracy the outcome of a present transaction. He has bought and sold a great many farms and at the present time he owns the following very valuable farms: Five hundred and sixty acres in Whiteside county, Illinois; eight hundred and six acres near Sioux City, Iowa; four hundred and twenty-eight acres in O'Brien county, Iowa, and four hundred acres near Oskaloosa, Iowa, making a total of twenty- eight hundred and thirty-four acres. He has a modern, commodious, beauti- ful and elegantly furnished home and a fine and well improved farm just in the edge of Lyons.
Mr. Briggs is deserving of a great deal of credit for what he has ac- complished, being an excellent example of the self-made man, having acquired his large holdings all through his individual efforts. He is a modern twen- tieth-century business man in every sense of the word, and he has acquired every dollar in his possession in an honest manner, dealing with everyone in a just but firm manner. He was one of the original stockholders of the Trinity Lumber Company, which still operates on a large scale in Texas. He is also largely interested in the Southern Investment Company of Louisiana. In 1908 Mr. Briggs was elected president of the First National Bank of Lyons, which position he still holds, discharging the duties of the same in an able and faithful manner, reflecting much credit upon his own ability and to the entire satisfaction of all concerned; in fact, his judicious management of the affairs of this popular and strong institution has been very largely responsible for its wide prestige. He is easily one of the most substantial and able men in financial circles and every phase of citizenship in Clinton county, though, as already intimated, he is conservative and has never sought the limelight of publicity. He has always been identified with the growth of Lyons, and served very acceptably on the local school board and in the council for many years. Politically, he is a Republican and takes an abiding interest in the affairs of his party .- in fact, in everything that tends to the general welfare of his locality and the state. In religious matters he is a Congregationalist. He is a man who has never shirked his duty in any walk of life, but has been liberal to charity and in supporting any worthy cause, and owing to his public spirit, his integrity, kindness, generosity and genteel demeanor, he is popular with all classes.
Mr. Briggs' domestic life was a happy and fortunate one. It began in 1853 when he led to the hymeneal altar Sarah Holmes, a lady of many praise- worthy attributes. the representative of an excellent old family, and a sister of the late William Holmes. whose life work is fully mentioned in another part of this history. Five children blessed this union, all of whom are living.
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namely : William, Albert, Stephen, Jr., Arthur, and Sarah, the daughter being the wife of R. Blake and a resident of Clinton. The mother of these children was summoned to her reward in Colorado, in 1894, leaving behind her the memory of a wholesome life and an exalted Christian womanhood.
NILS PETERSEN.
This well known and venerable farmer, who is now living practically re- tired on his well cultivated farm in the western part of Clinton county, has been a resident here during many decades and has assisted in playing his part in the general development of the community and has made his influence felt for good in the section where he has lived. Like many of the excellent citizens of this locality, he hails from Norway, but most of his life has been spent in America and, useless to say, he has been loyal to our institutions and has never regretted taking up his residence here. He has led a life of upright- ness and sobriety and has won the confidence and esteem of his neighbors.
Mr. Petersen's birth occurred in Norway on January 18, 1832, and he is the son of Peter Oleson Berge and Mattie Berge, both born in Norway, where they both were reared, educated, married and, in fact, spent their lives. They were the parents of nine children, of which number, Nils of this review, is the only one living. His brother, Harlow Petersen, came to America and died in Clinton county, Iowa.
The subject of this sketch was reared on a farm and was educated in the common schools of Norway, where he grew to manhood. He decided to come to the United States and try his fortune in the new republic of the West, so in 1856 he made a tedious voyage across the Atlantic and he came to the state of Illinois, where he remained until 1859, when he crossed the Mississippi river and located in Olive township, Clinton county, Iowa, settling on forty acres, which he later sold and purchased eighty acres where he now lives. He worked hard and laid by a competence. so that he added to his original purchase, now owning an excellent farm of one hundred and sixty acres, also twenty acres in another place. He has kept his l'and well improved and he has a very comfortable home and good outbuildings. He has been practically retired for about fifteen years, merely overseeing his farm. He has not only been a general farmer, but has also devoted much time to stock raising.
Mr. Petersen has taken a great deal of interest in the affairs of his com- munity and county, and for a period of nine years he was township trustee,
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very ably discharging the duties of the same. He was also trustee of the Norwegian Lutheran church when it was built and was one of the organizers of the same and he has been deacon for over fifty years, being very faithful in the discharge of his duty in the church.
Mr. Petersen was married on March 24, 1856, to Mrs. Carrie Hansen, who was born in Norway in 1832, the daughter of Hans Hansen and Carrie Hansen, both of whom lived and died in Norway.
Eight children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Petersen, only three of whom are living, and three of them died in infancy; Peter died when twenty- one years old; Mattie died when one and one-half years old; Hans is engaged in the mercantile business under the firm name of Hayes & Company ; Sam- uel is a merchant in Perley, Minnesota ; Cornelius is managing the home farm.
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CHRIST MEINTS.
For a number of years Christ Meints has been actively identified with the agricultural interests of Orange township. He represents that class of earnest, foreign-born citizens, who have done so much for the development of the United States while at the same time they have benefited themselves in a very material manner. His birth occurred in Holstein, Germany, in 1857, and he is the son of Claus and Catherine (Wriedt) Mients, both natives of Holstein, Germany. where they grew to maturity, were educated and mar- ried. In 1875 the entire family came to the United States and located at Grand Mound, Clinton county, Iowa, near which town Claus Meints pur- chased a farm of one hundred and twenty acres, lying just south of Grand Mound. He was soon very comfortably established and as he prospered he added to his original purchase until he had a fine farm of two hundred and fifty acres. His death occurred in 1882. He was a general farmer and stock raiser. He started with but little and by hard work and thrift he ac- cumulated rapidly. His family consisted of four sons and one daughter. They are all living at this writing. This family are members of the Lutheran church. The father was a Republican and after becoming naturalized voted this ticket.
Christ Meints obtained his schooling in Germany for the most part, and spent two winters in school. after coming to America. He began working on the home place when a boy and he has continued to live on the same with his mother. whose every want he delights in promptly attending to. He has been
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very successful as an agriculturist, and besides the home place he owns three hundred and ten acres elsewhere. He keeps all his land well improved and carefully tilled, operating the home place and his other land, carrying on general farming in a manner that stamps him as being fully abreast of the times as an agriculturist and stock raiser, always keeping an excellent grade of stock which finds a very ready market.
Mr. Meints was married in 1885 to Louise Maas, who was born in Germany, from which country she came to America with her father in 1883 and located in Clinton county, Iowa. This union has resulted in the birth of the following children: Harry lives on his father's farm; August, Sallie, Malinda and Louise are all at home; Otto died when thirteen months of age. The mother of these children passed to her rest on September 17, 1899.
Mr. Meints is independent in politics. He has one of the most attractive farms in the township and has spared neither time nor expense in bringing it up to a high state of improvement. He has erected substantial, comfort- able and attractive buildings, and he has laid a great deal of tile, his fields now being well drained.
WILLIAM JOHN YOUNG.
As it was pre-eminently the lumber industry which was the cause of the growth of Clinton, so in the history of that industry at Clinton a few names overshadow all others, and no name is more prominent than that of William J. Young, the account of whose extensive operations is here recorded, and no citizen of Clinton has ever done more for its advancement than did he.
William John Young was born at Belfast, Ireland, on February 27, 1827. and came to America in 1846. For several years he was employed in railway offices, and in ten years he became the general freight agent of the Cincinnati, Logansport & Chicago railroad. His executive ability having attracted the attention of some moneyed men of Cincinnati, he was sent by them to look into the conditions of a saw-mill which they owned at La Crosse, Wisconsin, which was proving a losing venture. Mr. Young had already decided to go into the retail lumber industry at Clinton. Iowa, and when he went to La Crosse and had finished his investigations, he recommended the removal of the mill to Clinton, which was done against the will of the La Crosse superin- tendent, who owned a small interest in the mill.
This mill was set up and began cutting in Clinton in August, 1859. It was small, having a capacity of only seven to ten million feet per year, but
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CLINTON COUNTY, IOWA. 489
formed the nucleus of his later great operations, and in conducting this he gained valuable experience in milling management. In 1860 he built a new mill, in 1866 another and in twenty years' time became the proprietor of the largest sawmill in operation on the American continent. The Cincinnati men who owned the mill at La Crosse were at first partners in the firm of W. J. Young & Company, but he bought them out in a few years and formed a connection with John McGraw, of Ithaca, New York, one of the largest eastern lumbermen, and with him bought largely of the Cornell University. lands in Wisconsin, which the university had obtained by donations from the New York and national school funds, and which were some of the best timber lands in Wisconsin. The firm name of W. J. Young & Company was con- tinued during the operations of the mills, although after the death of Mr. McGraw and his daughter and heir, Jennie McGraw Fisk, Mr. Young bought out the interest of their estate and became the sole owner of the company.
The development of the operations of Mr. Young is shown by the follow- ing figures : In 1859 the cut was about ten million feet of lumber per year; in 1874, thirty million feet of lumber and eight en million shingles; in 1880, fifty million feet of lumber and twenty million shingles ; and in the year of the highest cut, one hundred and ten million feet of lumber and forty million shingles. During the latter eighties no mill in the world could compare in cut with Young's "Big Mill" in capacity. this having been greatly increased by improved machinery. But at last the supply of timber owned by Mr. Young was exhausted, as were all the Wisconsin forests, and during the last years of his life the cut was small. During the years from 1859 to 1898 his mills cut a total of one billion seven hundred million feet of lumber, and seven hundred and fifty million shingles. Mr. Young's death took place on June 8, 1896, and shortly after the milling business was closed up.
Mr. Young introduced two of the greatest innovations in the method of rafting logs. In earlier days the rafts were floated down the stream, but he conceived the idea and introduced the system of towing them by steamers, thus saving much time and labor. He also originated and introduced the system of brail rafting. in which loose logs, arranged in tiers or ranks, are surrounded by a log boom and swiftly towed to their destination by steamers. Under the old plan the logs were all bound together with poles and pins, and much of the lumber was damaged by the many auger holes. His system was soon adopted on all the Mississippi rafts.
Mr. Young was a member of the Mississippi Logging Company, a director of the Clinton National Bank, president of the Clinton Savings Bank. and was prominent in financial circles. He took little active part in politics.
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