Frederick J. LUICK

LUICK, ELDER, OVERACKER, PACKARD, BAILY, LINBAUGH, NELSON, FURUSETH

Posted By: Sarah Thorson Little (email)
Date: 4/3/2016 at 14:04:13

Character of the highest class has been developed in the life and career of Frederick J. Luick, a noted farmer and cattleman, now retired, and banker of Belmond, Wright county, Iowa, who, from the small beginning of forty acres of land, has acquired three thousand acres, all located in Wright county, Iowa, besides a charming town home in Belmond. Frederick J. Luick is the son of Henry and Catherine Luick, and his birth occurred on August 20, 1839, on his father's farm, in Washtenaw county, Michigan. Henry J. Luick was a native of Germany, where he was married and where three of his children were born. With his wife and three sons, he immigrated to America and settled in Washtenaw county, Michigan, where he operated his farm, and in the time not occupied by the cultivation of the crops worked at his trade of carpenter and joiner. His wife died in 1845 and two years later he remarried. From the time of purchase he resided on his farm until his death, in 1860. He was a member of the German Lutheran church and a Democrat in his political faith.

Henry Luick, with his family, and David Luick, who was then single, removed to Iowa in 1853 and settled on the north side of Franklin grove, being among the first settlers of Wright county. In August, 1856, their sister, Catherine, joined then in Iowa, coming from the old home in Washtenaw county, Michigan, and in the late fifties she was married to Adrian Elder, whom she survived for many years, her death occurring in March, 1915, at the age of seventy-eight years. In the year following Catherine's arrival in Iowa, the brother, William Luick joined them, his arrival being on January 1, 1837. Transportation facilities were very poor, there being no way of reaching his destination other than by walking, this brave young man traveled afoot, from Dubuque, Iowa, to the home of his brother, Henry, and arrived with toes, ears and nose frozen. This experience, never to be forgotten, took place during the most severe winter Iowa had ever known.

Wonderful tales of the fertility of the soil and of future opportunities must have been sent hack to Michigan by the first members of the Luick family who came to Iowa, for one by one the remaining members migrated to this state until they were all united once more and became neighbors in the state of their adoption, Frederick J. Luick was the last child to leave his home in Michigan and seek his fortunes in Iowa, having arrived in 1857, the year of the Spirit Lake massacre, and amid the scenes of consequential excitement began his residence among new people and customs. He was at the impressionable age of seventeen at the time of this experience and was accompanied on the journey by Simeon Overacker and his family. For several years Frederick J. Luick made his home with his brother, Henry Luick, but after David Luick was married, resided at his home.

In 1858, at the age of nineteen years, Frederick J. Luick purchased his first land, consisting of forty acres, in section 30, which he later traded for eighty acres farther north and located on the Pleasant township main road, and this, in turn, he traded into the old homestead of his brother, Henry Luick, on which stood the original log cabin, one of the first homes erected in the county of Wright. Through all of his agricultural operations, Frederick J. Luick has been interested in general farming and stock raising, and in this line has met with success.

In 1865 Frederick J. Luick was united in marriage to Alice Packard, daughter of Edwin C. and Caroline (Bailey) Packard, and to this union four children were born: Albert, who died when four years of age; Edith, Chester P. and Harold Frederick. Edith was married to Samuel Linbaugh, and to them were born these children: Beatrice, Frederick II, Elizabeth, Samuel, Rogers and Louise, also Alice, who died when about the age of two years. Chester P. is single and lives at home with his parents on their place, which is located at West Bend, Iowa. Harold F. was married to Ella Furuseth, daughter of Christian L. and Minnie (Nelson) Furuseth, and is residing on the original farm, just southeast of Belmond, Iowa. They have one child, Muriel A.

The "father and son movement," though not a formal organization as it is today, had its inception among the fathers and sons of yesterday, and the ties were just as strong and true as in the present day. Frederick J. Luick formed the business partnership between himself and his son, Chester P., and their relations have remained firm through all these years. The active work and management of the farm and stock interests have been assumed by Chester P. and Harold, the father now resting from his long life of well-concerted effort and arduous toil. Chester P. specializes in Polled Angus, Hereford and Durham cattle, while Harold specializes in Holstein cattle. Together they feed out annually about twelve carloads of cattle and five carloads of hogs.

Frederick J. Luick is president of the Belmond Savings Bank and was for twenty years a member of the Board of directors of the State Bank of Belmond. In his political faith, he is an earnest supporter of the Democratic party, but his zeal has never carried him beyond his convictions and he has always claimed the inalienable right to vote for the best candidate, regardless of party machinery, Frederick J. Luick, through diligent seeking, has found and gathered many of life's beautiful flowers, and in the seventy-fifth year of his career he can look back over a well-spent life.

History of Wright County, Iowa, Ed. by Hon. B. P. Birdsall. Indianapolis, Ind: B. F. Bowen, 1915, page 454.