USA > Iowa > Clinton County > Wolfe's history of Clinton County, Iowa, Volume 1 > Part 69
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Charles F. Curtis was married in October, 1873, to Nancy Hosford, who was born in Illinois, the daughter of A. P. Hosford, long a respected and prominent resident of Clinton, and Priscilla (Davis) Hosford. To this mar-
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riage four children were born : Mabel, who died when eleven years old; Lucy, who married Charles B. Towle, the manager of the branch house at Lincoln, Nebraska ; and Edith and Florence, twins, now at home.
Mr. Curtis is a Mason, having taken the degrees of both the Scottish and York rites. In politics he is a Republican and he attends the Presbyterian church. His business connections in Clinton are varied, he being a director in the City National Bank, president of the Clinton Saddlery Company, presi- dent of the Clinton Furniture Company, vice-president of the Clinton Wire Cloth Company, and president of Curtis Brothers & Company. His success in business has been so marked as to rank him among the greatest business men of his state and of the middle West, and his fortunes have been self-made, for he started in the grocery business with one thousand dollars which his father kindly loaned him and has built up from that small start, meeting and overcoming many obstacles. While the firm of Curtis Brothers & Company have been so eminently prosperous, their road has not been always clear, and they have passed through three panics which proved the ruin of many similar establishments. The young men of Clinton have certainly in Mr. Curtis an example of the opportunities open to a young man of the right kind of intelli- gence and ability, even though he is not supplied with wealth at the beginning of his career.
CHRIST JENSEN.
In later years there has been a strong influx of Danish settlers into the agricultural districts of Iowa. No better class of settlers could be desired, for of the European nationalities the Danes take extremely high rank in the virtues which make desirable citizens. and there is nowhere in Europe a more orderly, thrifty, honest and law-abiding people than are the residents of Den- mark, nor are the mass of the residents as well educated in any other country, for Denmark has paid more attention to schools than to armies. And all these qualities mature to a stronger fruition when transplanted into this land of large opportunities.
Christ Jensen was born in Denmark on May 1, 1870, the son of Soren and Kirsten (Tobiesen) Jensen. His parents were natives of Denmark, and there his father died in 1893; his mother is still living. Of their family of twelve children, seven are living. Christ Jensen was reared to a farmer's life, and received his education in the schools of his native land. In 1890 he came to America, stopped at De Witt. Clinton county, Iowa, and for sixteen
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MR. AND MRS. CHRIST JENSEN
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ASTOR, LENOX, AND TILDEN FOUNDATIONS R L
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years rented the farm which he now owns. By careful management he ac- cumulated money, and in 1907 purchased this farm of one hundred and ninety acres. Mr. Jensen carries on general farming. stock raising and feeding, and finds these lines very profitable. Politically, he is a Democrat, but he has never aspired to office. He and his family are active members of the Lutheran church.
In 1894 Christ Jensen was married to Bertha Blunk, the daughter of J. Henry Blunk, mentioned elsewhere in this work. To this marriage four children have been born : Arthur, deceased; Herbert, Lillie and Marion. Mr. Jensen is well liked by his neighbors and highly regarded for the stronger elements of his character. His career is an example of what may be ac- complished by an immigrant to this country who has the right kind of deter- mination, for when yet a young man. coming to this country without money, and where language and customs were new, he has achieved results which many a native-born citizen of his age, with vastly greater opportunities, has failed to attain.
JOSEPH HUNTER.
The changes in the methods of farming in the last fifty years have kept full pace with other progress. Formerly wheat was harvested with a cradle or sickle, and the man who could cut four acres a day was a prince among workers; now the binder will cut and bind twenty with as little difficulty. Then corn was plowed with a single or double shovel plow, making from two furrows to four necessary in cultivating a single row. Now a riding cultivator is used which cultivates one or two rows completely at a time. Then almost every variety of farm work was done by hand, now by machinery, and on the largest farms steam and gasoline are called upon to aid in carrying on opera- tions enormous in their extent. Not only have the improvements enabled the farmer to do a great deal more work in the same time, but have also made it possible to do the work better and in an easier manner.
Joseph Hunter was born in Clinton county, on the farm on which he now resides, October 10, 1882, the son of Isaac and Mary (MacElhatton) Hunter. Isaac Hunter was a native Canadian and came early to Clinton county, Iowa, where he was married, his wife being a native of Ohio. He bought land rather extensively. three hundred and twenty acres in all, and practically ceased to work at the carpenter's trade, in which he was skilled and which he had practiced in Canada. He put up various improvements on
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his farm. He was a Catholic in religion, while in politics he allied himself with the Republican party. Throughout life he was a hard working and thrifty man. A citizen of plain and substantial virtues, he won many friends.
Mr. Hunter's family consisted of five sons and one daughter : John, of Davenport; James, of De Witt township; Margaret, of Davenport; Charles, of De Witt township; Frank, of Berlin township; and Joseph, of De Witt township, whose name heads this sketch.
Joseph Hunter has followed farming and cultivates eighty acres. He is a Republican and a member of the Catholic church, in both respects fol- lowing the parental example. He is unmarried. Though young, he has at- tained a good start in life and is the possessor of the qualities which make for success and of those which secure friends for a man.
GEORGE A. SMITH, M. D.
Herein we record the life of one who has brought exceptional abilities and attainments to the practice of one of the noblest professions and who has correspondingly had a career in that profession which has been extraordinary. Among the physicians of this section of the state none ranks higher, either in a professional way or personally, than does Doctor Smith.
George A. Smith was born in Center township, Clinton county, Iowa, July 6, 1854, the son of John Henry and Emily (Cooley) Smith. His pa- ternal grandparents were natives of Albany county, New York, where they lived and died, and were of German descent and residents of a German com- munity. His grandfather was a wagonmaker by trade. His maternal grand- parents were Thomas and Ann (Kennedy) Cooley, and were residents of Hartford, Connecticut, where their daughter Emily was born. This grand- father was the officer in charge of the United States arsenal there. In the early forties they came to Kane county, Illinois, and later removed to Black Hawk county, Iowa, residing at Waterloo until their death.
John H. Smith and Emily Cooley were married in Illinois in 1851, where he was engaged as a locomotive engineer, and was one of the first to run over the Chicago & Northwestern railroad to Dixon, Illinois. He later came to Clinton county, Iowa, and went to farming on government land, at which he continued until the Civil war. He then recruited Company A, Sixteenth Iowa Volunteers, and was its first captain. He received rapid promotion on account of gallant service, being advanced to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, and was
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mustered out in that capacity at the Grand Review in Washington in 1865. Because of physical hardships endured in Southern prisons he did not feel equal to the hard labor of farming and in 1865 he opened a flouring mill at Camanche and was engaged in that business for several years. Then he was appointed to a position in the United States internal revenue service which he held for some years but has now retired to a farm in Camanche township where he is spending his old age in small fruit farming and finds in it much enjoyment. He is now eighty-four. In 1865 he was elected as state senator for four years. Before this he had served as a member of the first board of supervisors of Clinton county when organized. His wife died in 1893. She had borne to him seven children, of whom three are living. He has been a man of much prominence and influence, and the recollection of his life has been an inspiration to his children.
George A. Smith attended the schools of Clinton county, and took his professional course at the State University, graduating in 1881. He then located in Camanche, was there four years and then in 1885 came to Clinton, . where he has since practiced. During five years of this time he operated a drug store in connection with his practice, but aside from this has devoted himself to his profession with great success. He has made his name as a physician widely known in this section of Iowa. He has always taken an active part in politics, but was never a candidate for office until this spring when he ran for mayor of the city of Clinton. He was school director from 1897 to 1903. In 1891, under President Harrison, he was United States ex- amining surgeon. In 1895 and '96 and in 1902 he was physician to the board of health, and in 1903 was city physician. During the Spanish-American war he was appointed by President Mckinley a brigade-surgeon, ranking as major, and was in command of the field hospital of the Second Division. Third Army Corps, at Chickamauga, Georgia. He was given special command to precede and arrange a reception hospital for Gen. Fitzhugh Lee's command on its arrival at Havana, but was prevented by typhoid fever. He is a member of the Clinton County and Iowa State Medical Societies, and of the American Medical Association and the Second District Medical Society. In his fra- ternal relations he is a Mason, a charter member of the Odd Fellows at Clin- ton, and one of the organizers of Lodge No. 199, Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks, at Clinton.
Mr. Smith was married on October 4, 1882, to M. Nettie Ireland, a daughter of A. B. and Mary (Cady) Ireland. A. B. Ireland was a pioneer in Iowa, first locating in Belle View in 1847, spending the years from 1849 to 1852 in California, returning to Camanche in the latter year, and was one
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of the first doctors in Clinton county. He was a man of prominence and in- fluence and succeeded John H. Smith as senator from this district. He and his wife are dead. Dr. and Mrs. Smith are the parents of two children, Mabel Ireland, born September 8, 1884, wife of Carlos G. Tredway, of St. Louis, and Homer Ireland, born July 7, 1890, now a student in Iowa State University.
The Doctor is one who has many warm personal friends, gained by the geniality of his nature. He is respected by the members of his profession and has a strong and powerful influence in the county. He is one of whom his city is justly proud, both as a man and because of his professional record.
FRANK W. LEEDHAM.
Local politics in Clinton county have been marked by a strong spirit of independence, and the county officers are chosen by the voters on account of personal merit, and not because of partisanship. This is shown by the fact that the officers are usually divided between the parties, and that officers who have rendered exceptional services have been retained long in office. So in this county more than in most it is a personal tribute to a man to re- tain him in office for several terms, and it is an indication of unusual merit and a proof of the people's confidence when one man has been twelve years auditor of his county, and during that time has received large majorities, when the most of the officers elected were on the ticket of the opposite party.
Frank W. Leedham was born on May 10, 1867, in Lyons, Iowa, the son of Thomas and Ann (Welch) Leedham. Thomas Leedham was born in Lincolnshire, England, on July 21, 1828, the son of Thomas and Martha (Missens) Leedham, who both were natives of the same county. He learned the butcher's trade, and worked at the same in London for seven years; then in 1853 emigrated to Lyons, Iowa, and was engaged as a butcher there until 1862, when he visited his native country. On his return he again took up the meat business, and was very successful. He was also a stock buyer and shipped large numbers of cattle to the Chicago markets, and was a large owner of city and farm property and a stockholder in the Clinton and Ful- ton High Bridge. In 1901 he retired from active business, and died in 1906. He was a member of the Ancient Order of United Workmen. In politics he was an independent voter, and in religious affiliation a member of the Episcopal church. Mr. Leedham was a man of high rank and standing in the business world of his city, and had many personal friends. In 1849
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he was married to Ann Welch, a native of England, who was born in 1826, and died in 1896. She bore to him seven children.
Frank W. Leedham received his education in Lyons and in Griswell's College at Davenport, Iowa. For several years he was employed as a book- keeper by the Lyons Lumber Company and by W. J. Young & Company, where he became a valuable man. In 1900 he was nominated for county auditor on the Republican ticket, was elected, and has been six times re- elected, on some occasions in the face of a Democratic landslide. In 1908 he was one of the few Republicans elected, and received a majority of over twelve hundred and in 1910 a majority of nearly seventeen hundred, while one of the Democratic candidates for county office received a majority of two thousand. This shows how the people of Clinton county appreciate Mr. Leedham's services in office better than could any words of encomium. In 1907, when the Legislature passed a law requiring the adoption of certain blank forms and books by county officers, Mr. Leedham was one of the two auditors on a committee of seven chosen to prepare the forms. In 1909 he was elected president of the County Auditors' Association of Iowa. Mr. Leedham is a thirty-second-degree Mason, an Odd Fellow and a Knight of Pythias, and takes active part in the work of all these lodges.
In 1892 Mr. Leedham was married to Blanch Leffingwell, of Lyons, an accomplished lady of especial musical talent. To this marriage have been born four bright and interesting children, Harry L., Helen A., Donald W. and Margaret W.
Mr. Leedham is well known to the people of Clinton county as an ac- complished accountant, a man whose honor and integrity are such that they have absolute confidence in him, and a courteous and accommodating gentle- man. His many friends have been deservedly gained on account of his en- during qualities of manhood.
JAMES DE LANGE.
In this article are narrated the events of one who has made his life pleasant and prosperous and has gained a leading place among the merchants of his city. Born in the little country of Holland, whose descendants have proven themselves most capable and enduring, he has in a foreign country won suc- cess by his merits.
James De Lange was born in The Hague, Holland. June 30, 1877. son
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of Abram Peter De Lange. His parents were probably natives of France. His father was a stock buyer and traveled widely in Europe, dwelling in Hol- land for only a short time. James De Lange's mother died when he was three years old, and after her death his father came to this country and re- married, sending for his children, two sons and a daughter, two years later. They arrived in Iowa in 1882 or 1883, and the children were placed in school, where, after learning the English language, they soon surpassed the other children. Most of James's education was received at Iowa City, and when yet a boy he entered a drug store. On October 4, 1897, he came to Clinton and clerked in Major's store for three and one-half years. At Mr. Major's death he bought the store and has since carried on the business and has built up an enlarged and increasing trade, now keeping one of the most attractive and up-to-date stores in the city. He studied optometry at the Northern Illinois College of Opticians and Optometrists, and has practiced it for five years. In politics he is independent. He is a member of the Elks. The Iowa State Druggists' Association has received much hearty co-operation from him as a member.
Mr. DeLange was married in May, 1900, to Anna Greve. a native of Germany, and they are the parents of one bright and attractive daughter, Grace Maria.
Mr. De Lange has many friends in the city and many satisfied patrons of his store. In everything he is progressive and up to the times. He is a young man of splendid character.
JOHN F. HOMRIGHAUSEN.
Iowa has a large German population, and the settlers of this nationality have contributed much to her high rank as a state. Everywhere thrifty, patient, persevering and orderly, these Germans seem specially adapted to succeed in life, both in the accumulation of property and in the securing of happiness. During the Civil war, our country found no more active defend- ers than her citizens of German birth or parentage; in time of peace, she has no stronger cònservers of liberty than these same citizens or their descendants. Mr. Homrighausen is a man who exemplifies the strong characteristics of his race.
John F. Homrighausen was born in Wheatland, Clinton county, Iowa. on December 18, 1861, the son of Frank and Anna Homrighausen. His
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parents were natives of Germany, who came to Ohio at an early date, then removing to Clinton county, Iowa, they were among the pioneer farmers of the county. Frank Homrighausen added to his farm until he owned five hundred and thirty-six acres of land. A hard worker and careful manager, he was also clever and genial, had many friends, and died in 1907 at the age of nearly one hundred years, closing a well-rounded and useful life. In politics he was a Democrat, and a member of the Reformed church. His wife died in April, 1908, aged eighty-eight, having been a faithful wife and mother, and lived to see her children filling their places in the world's work honorably.
John F. Homrighausen was reared on the home farm, having lived on the place on which he now resides since he was nine years old, and obtained his education in the common schools. He now owns one hundred and eighty- three acres of land, on which he has built a fine modern barn, forty by eighty- seven feet, erected other buildings, and has in many ways brought up the fertility of his farm, largely by raising stock in connection with his general farming. In politics he is a firm Democrat.
Mr. Homrighausen was married on December 9, 1892, to Minnie Putsch, who was born in Clinton county, Iowa, the daughter of Christ and Minnie Putsch, early settlers of the county. Her father is dead, and her mother is living in Wheatland. Four children were born to this marriage: Herman, Otto, Christ, and Albert, deceased. Mr. Homrighausen is regarded by his neighbors as an excellent farmer and as one of the substantial men of the neighborhood.
HENRY PENNINGROTH.
No life compares in freedom and independence with that of a farmer. He is master of his time and regulates his own hours of labor, and is really less restricted by his occupation than is a city business man who is the proprietor of his establishment. During some seasons of the year the farmer must give to his crops much attention, but even then his presence is not at all times indispensable. And not only is the life of a farmer an independent one; it is the most healthful of all lives, and to a good manager and energetic man like Mr. Penningroth the farmer's occupation is full of profit in a mone- tary way.
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Henry Penningroth was born in Clinton county. Iowa, on June 9, 1875, the son of William and Johannah (Lanmeyer) Penningroth, natives of
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Germany. William Penningroth was born on April 29, 1835. His father died in Germany, and in 1846 his mother came to America, bringing William, and locating in Randolph county, Illinois. Here he grew to manhood, and in 1857 he came to Clinton county, Iowa, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land. He then went to St. Louis and for three years worked in a brickyard. In 1861, after his marriage, he settled on his Clinton county farm, and investing his profits in land, added to the original farm until he had two hundred and forty acres in Clinton county and eighty acres in Cedar county, Iowa. His death occurred on January 17, 1885, at the close of a comparatively short but very useful life, during which he had made himself much respected. In politics he was a Republican, and he and his family were members of the Reformed church.
William Penningroth and Johanna Lanmeyer were married on April 26, 1861, in St. Louis. His wife was born in Germany on February 14, 1835, and came to St. Louis with her parents when young. She is now living, at the age of seventy-five, on the old homestead, where she has spent her life since her marriage. Twelve children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Penningroth, of whom ten are living.
Henry Penningroth grew up on a farm, and attended the country schools. He now manages the homestead of two hundred and forty acres and one hundred and sixty acres that has been added since his father's death. Gen- eral farming and stock raising have been very profitable on this land under his management. In politics Mr. Penningroth is a Republican. He is un- married. Few men in the community stand higher in the regard of their neighbors than he.
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