SOESBE, James

SOESBE

Posted By: Karon Velau (email)
Date: 6/1/2021 at 00:52:17

James Soesbe
born April 1838, Illinois

James Soesbe, one of the citizens of Ida County, has been a resident of Battle Creek since the spring of 1882. James Soesbe was born in Whiteside County, Illinois, in April, 1838, son of Samuel and A. L. (Butler) Soesbe, natives of Kentucky and Pennsylvania, both are deceased. When he was two years old the family moved to Cedar County, Iowa, located at what is now Mechanicsville, where he was reared on a farm and received a limited education in the primitive schools of that place. In his youthful days, there being many more Indians in Cedar County than white, he played with them and they were his friends. In 1860, at age twenty-two, he began dealing in stock in Cedar County. In 1871 he went to Story City and in 1881 came to Ida County. During his early experience in the stock business, he often spent days and weeks in driving hogs from various places to the shipping points and has marketed dressed hogs at two cents per pound. Mr. Soesbe has experienced all the hardships incident to pioneer life and has unaided won his way to financial success. He is a stock holder and Director in the City Bank at Battle Creek. He owns considerable real estate in the county, which he has improved. He is an Independent in the political game. He affiliates with the A. F. & A. M., Perseverance Lodge, No. 446, in which he is Treasurer. Mr. Soesbe was married in 1865 to A. M. Fuller of New Hampshire. They have two children: Minnie E. and Ada L., both at home.
Source: Biographical History of Crawford, Ida, and Sac Counties, Iowa, 1893, p.640