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[page 432] Alfred
Falk is the proprietor of the Boundary Grove Farm, one of the valuable
properties of Nebraska township. Here he devotes his energies extensively
to the raising of stock and also to the production of corn and his success
indicates his sound judgement and his undaunted enterprise. He was born
in Henry county, Illinois, December 4, 1862, his parents being John
A. and Elizabeth Falk, both of whom were natives of Smoland, Sweden,
where they were reared and married. On crossing the Atlantic to the
United States they landed first in Rock Island, Illinois, in 1854 and
afterward became residents of Henry county. In 1882 they arrived in
Page county, Iowa, where their last days were passed. The father's surname
was originally Anderson but owing to the fact that there were so many
of the name in the locality in which he located and that it was with
difficulty that he obtained the mail which was intended for him he changed
his name to Falk.
Unto him and his wife were born ten children: Louise, who died in
1865; A.P., who is living in Council Bluffs; C.M., who died in 1906,
leaving two daughters; Hannah, who is the widow of Andrew Shellburg,
of Moline, Illinois, and the mother of a family who are a credit to
her name, one son being a prominent lawyer; August, who enlisted from
Rock Island, [page 433] Illinois, and died
while in the services in the Civil war; J.F., who resides in Essex,
Iowa; Lydia, who became the wife of Alfred Halburg, who conducted a
store at Essex, but after his death she removed to Wakefield, Nebraska,
where she is now living; Clara, the deceased wife of C.L. Larson; Nora,
the wife of Rev. G.O. Gusteson of Red Oak, Iowa; and Alfred.
The last named spent the first twenty-four years of his life in
the place of his nativity. He acquired his early education in the public
schools and spent his youthful days in the usual manner of most lads
of the period. When he was twenty years of age his father retired and
left him to operate the farm of one hundred and sixty acres, following
which time he conducted the property for four years along. In 1886 he
went to Essex, Iowa, to which place the family had preceded him, and
purchased a farm southwest of the town comprising one hundred and sixty
acres. This was the first property that he had ever owned. He lived
upon the farm for five years and then traded it for a farm near Essex,
on which he lived for four or five years, when he sold it. He then cultivated
two hundred and forty acres of rented land for three years.
Prospering in his undertakings as time passed by, in 1901 Mr Falk
purchased his present farm of four hundred and eighty acres lying on
sections 25 and 26, Nebraska township. There are excellent buildings
upon it which were erected by him and the farm is today a very well
improved property. There are three dwellings upon the place, one occupied
by his son and another by his son-in-law, while the third is the family
residence of Mr Falk. He plants about two hundred and fifty acres of
corn each year and usually harvests a large crop, but he feeds all he
raises on his farm for he is an extensive dealer in live stock, selling
about one hundred head of cattle, four hundred head of hogs and about
a carload of horses each year. His places is known as the Boundary Grove
Farm and the name is a snyonym for progressiveness and successful accomplishments
along agricultural lines in this county. Mr Falk is also a stockholder
in the Chautauqua and Fair Associations and makes annual exhibits of
his stock at the Fair, where he has won many premiums.
Mr Falk has been married twice. In 1883 he wedded Helen Wilhelmina
Swanson, who was born in Sweden in 1863 and came with her parents to
America when six years of age. She was a daughter of C.W. and Mary (Stroburg)
Swanson, who became residents of Illinois, where the mother died but
the father is now residing in Rio, that state. Mrs Falk passed away
in 1895, leaving three children: Elesef Marie, now the wife of W.E.
Brown, who resides on her father's farm and by whom she has one child,
Beulah; Arthur W., who married Candace Latherop and lives on his father's
farm; and Leslie R., at home. For his second wife Mr Falk chose Miss
Eugenia Falk, whom he wedded in 1899. She was born in Page county May
15, 1872, and is a daughter of C.A. and Cecilia C. (Hendrickson) Falk,
who were natives of Sweden.The mother now resides in Fremont township,
this county, while the father is deceased. There are no children of
the second marriage but they have adopted a little daughter, Bernice,
the child of Mrs Falk's sister.
[page 434] In his political views Mr
Falk is a stalwart republican and has served as trustee of his township.
He was reared in the Lutheran church but his family attend the Methodist
Episcopal church of Hawleyville and he aids in its support. His life
has been one of diligence and usefulness, characterized by fidelity
and activity in business affairs and by progressiveness in citizenship.
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[page 444]Fred
Boles - Death claimed Fred Boles on the 24th of January, 1905, and East
River township lost one of its representative citizens and progressive
farmers. He was a resident of the county from 1870 and throughout that
period had manifested all the sterling traits of the loyal citizen and
reliable business man. He was born in Trumbull county, Ohio, on the
22d of February, 1838, and was a son of Cyrus and Sarah A. (Boston)
Boles. The father was a na[page 447]tive of Trumbull county, while the mother's
birth occurred in Westmoreland county, Pennsylvania. They removed to
Michigan when their son Fred was only a year old and remained residents
of that state for four years, after which they went to Wisconsin, where
they maintained their residence for three years. During the succeeding
five years they made their home in Cass county, Illinois, and afterward
were again residents of Pennsylvania until 1884.
During his boyhood and youth Fred Boles was employed in various
ways whereby he might provide an honest living for himself. He was thrown
upon his own resources at the age of fourteen and after that had no
opportunity to continue his education, which up to this time had been
acquired in the public schools. In the school of experience, however,
he learned many valuable lessons and gained also practical information
which served him well in all the duties of life that afterward befell
him. In the year 1854 he accompanied his parents on their removal to
Illinois, where he remained until the spring of 1855, when he resumed
his westward journey, traveling through Iowa to Minnesota. He spent
about two years in the two states and then returned to Illinois, settled
in Cass county. He had been living there for three years when the Civil
war was inaugurated, and when it was seen that the conflict was to be
no mere holiday affair he offered his services to the government, enlisting
in 1861 as a member of Company G, Thirty-fourth Illinois Volunteer Infantry,
with which he served for three years. He was with the regiment the greater
part of the time on active duty in the south and at the close of his
term of enlistment received an honorable discharge and returned to Cass
county, Illinois. There he resumed farming on his own account, for in
the meantime his parents had returned to Pennsylvania. From that time
until his death his attention was devoted to general agricultural pursuits
and, realizing that energy and earnestness are the basis of success,
he labored diligently and unfalteringly with the purpose in view of
obtaining a comfortable competence for his family.
It was on the 10th of March, 1869, that Mr Boles was united in marriage
to Miss Rebecca Lacy, a daughter of John and Mary W. (Emerson) Lacy,
who were natives of England and came to this country about the year
1844. They settled in Illinois and Mrs Boles was born in Morgan county,
that state, on the 17th of October, 1847, so that she was twenty-one
years of age at the time of her marriage. Unto them have been born five
children: Alma, who was born February 2, 1872, and is the wife of Ira
Shortridge, a resident of Greeley, Colorado; Hulda, who was born January
20, 1874, and is the wife of Samuel Hutcheson, of Poplar Bluff, Missouri;
Ned D., who was born December 24, 1876, and is living in Greeley, Colorado;
Archie, who was born July 20, 1878, and died April 9, 1907; and Anna
R., who was born May 11, 1882, and is at home.
In the winter of 1870 Mr Boles came to Page county and located on
a farm midway between College Springs and Braddyville in Amity township.
there he secured eighty acres of land, which he improved and cultivated
making his home thereon until 1882, when he sold that property and bought
a farm on one hundred and twenty acres in East River township. There
he resided until his death, January 24, 1905, and his widow yet maintains
the ownership of the farm although she has resided in Shambaugh since
the winter of 1906. Mr Boles was an energetic and progressive farmer,
who carefully tilled the soil and kept in touch with modern, progressive
methods of agriculture. He was a member of the Mason order and both
himself and wife belonged to the Methodist church. In his political
views he was a republican but was not active in politics, preferring
to lead a quiet home life, his attention being given to the development
of his farm and to the enjoyment of the pleasures of the home circle.
While he did not seek to figure prominently in public life he was recognized
as a man of genuine worth and he left to his family the priceless heritage
of an untarnished name.
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[page 448]
C.E. Ellison, the proprietor of the Orchard Grove Fruit Farm, which
name indicates the specialty of his interests in the tilling of the
soil, was born in Monroe county, Iowa, December 8, 1852, and is the
eldest in a family of four living children whose parents were Thomas
and Katharine (Elder) Ellison. The father was born in England and after
coming to the new world established his home in Monroe county, Iowa.
He was there living at the time of the outbreak of the Civil war and
in response to the call for troops he joined the Eighth Iowa Cavalry
and served for three years. He then returned home but died in Missouri
two or three years after the war. His wife was a native of Pennsylvania
and they became the parents of eight children, of whom four died in
childhood. The others are: C.E. Ellison, of this review; J.W., who is
living in Albany, Oregon; I.E., a resident of Wisconsin; and Mrs Mary
C. Moss, whose home is in Monroe county, Iowa. After losing her first
husband Mrs Ellison became the wife of John Burtt and unto them were
born three sons: George H., now deceased; William L., who is living
in Ottumwa, Iowa; and Fred, whose home is in Minnesota.
During the period of his boyhood C.E. Ellison accompanied his parents
on their removals to Wapello and Mahaska counties. In those two counties
and in his native county he resided from the period of his birth until
1881, when he came to Page county and took up his abode on his present
farm, which consitutes one hundred and twenty acres of rich and well
cultivated land on sections 23 and 26, East River township. It is known
as the Orchard Grove Farm and is well improved with good buildings,
all of which were erected by Mr Ellison. Here he pays considerable attention
to fruit and also carries on general farming. In all of his work he
is practical, readily seeing the needs and the opportunites of the place,
meeting the former while improving the latter. When he took up his abode
here in 1881 there was a little one-story house, fourteen by twenty-four
feet, upon the place. Now they have various good buildings, including
[page 449] a substantial residence. The
farm has also been fenced by Mr Ellison, who has converted it from a
wild tract into one of rich fertility. There was nothing but wild grass
upon it but he at once began its improvement, not only for the purposes
of cultivation but also to enhance its attractive appearance. He set
out a fine grove of catalpa trees which had been raised from the seed
that he brought with him. Four of these fine trees are about a foot
in diameter. He also has evergreens, European cutleaf and the weeping
birch. He likewise has an apple orchard of thirteen acres, all of which
he set out, and he takes great pride in his trees, which constitute
one of the most attractive features in the landscape.
In 1877 Mr Ellison was united in marriage to Miss Mary Jane Miller,
who was born in Mahaska county, Iowa, on the 26th of February, 1856,
and there resided until her marriage. She is a daughter of Henry Clay
and Angeline (Harper) Miller, natives of Ohio and Indiana, respectively.
The father died in 1863 but the mother now resides in Eddyville, Iowa.
They were the parents of three children: Mrs Ellison; Roy, who died
at the age of nine years; and Fred, who is living in Eddyville, Iowa.
Unto Mr and Mrs Ellison have been born eleven children: Eva May, now
the wife of James Stirk, of Guthrie, Oklahoma; Wilber C., who is living
in Nodaway township; Ethel M., the wife of Firman Hughes, who is located
near Page Center, Page county; Nellie A., the wife of Fred Handorf,
of Yorktown, Iowa; Lula Pearl, who is a trained nurse, now in Guthrie,
Oklahoma; Floyd, at home; Amy D.; Nina V.; John Edward; Flora H.; and
Fred Wayne.
Mr Ellison is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows,
his associations being with the lodge at Clarinda. He does not take
a very active part in public interests, however, as he prefers to concentrate
his energies upon his business affairs. He is a native son of Iowa and
for more than a half century has been a witness of its development and
progress. Throughout the entire period he has been more or less closely
associated with farming interests and that his ideas are practical and
his labors unremitting is shown in the success which he has achieved.
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[page 487] Ludvig
T. Falk. The extent and importance of the farming and stock-raising
interests of Ludvig T. Falk, make him one of the representatives of
modern, scientific farming in Page county. He is living on section 20,
Fremont township, and is conducting a farm of three hundred and twenty
acres, whereon he is extensively breeding and raising live stock. His
birth occurred in Henry county, Illinois, September 20, 1874, his parents
being John F. and Sophia (Johnson) Falk, both of whom were natives of
Sweden. The father was brought to this country by his parents when but
three years of age, while the mother in early womanhood crossed the
Atlantic. They became residents of Henry county, Illinois, where they
were married, and the year 1881 witnessed their removal from that locality
to Page county, Iowa, where the father purchased the first land that
he ever owned, making investment in what is now known as the Falk homestead
of three hundred and twenty acres on section 20, Fremont township. He
resided upon this place until the spring of 1902, when he resolved to
retire from active life, for he had acquired a handsome competence,
his financial resources being sufficient to enable him to live comfortably
without further recourse to labor. He then turned the farm over to his
son and removed to Essex, where he has since lived a retired life. He
was very energetic and industrious and in addition to the home property
he also owned a quarter section of land in Pierce township, adjoining
Essex on the east. In business matters his judgment is sound and reliable,
and what he has undertaken he has carried forward to successful completion,
his record proving what may be accomplished when one has the will to
dare and to do. His political allegiance is given to the democracy,
and while in Henry county he was a candidate for sheriff but was defeated.
He never sought nor desired office in Page county, preferring to concentrate
his energies upon his business affairs, which carefully directed, brought
to him the success which places him among the men of affluence in this
part of the state.
Ludvig T. Falk spent his youthful days in the usual manner of most
farm lads. He was but seven years of age when he accompanied his parents
to Page county and here he was reared on the old homestead, acquiring
his education in the public schools and spending many happy hours in
sports education in the public schools and spending many happy hours
in sports in which boys of the period indulged. He also received ample
training in the work of the farm and in the spring of 1897 he began
farming on his own account and for two years cultivated a portion of
his father's land. In 1899 he removed to the farm near Essex and to
its further development [page 487] devoted
his energies for three years, or until 1902, when his parents removed
to Essex and, as stated, he took charge of the homestead of three hundred
and twenty acres in Fremont township. This he has since conducted. He
not only has practical knowledge of the work of the fields but also
a comprehensive knowledge of scientific farming, knowing much of the
nature of the soil and the needs of the crops, together with the best
methods of production. He is now one of the more successful agriculturist
of this part of the county, annually harvesting rich crops, while at
the same time he has been extensively engaged in the breeding and raising
of horses. For some years past he has been feeding from one hundred
to one hundred and twenty-five head of cattle and in fact in all of
his farm interests his work is conducted along an extensive scale.
On the 6th of September, 1899, Mr Falk was married to Miss Alice
Shoberg, of Pierce township. They have three children: Annis M.H., Vina
E., and Elpha C. In the community they are widely and favorably known.
Mr Falk belongs to Mountain Lodge, No 36, F. & A.M. and gives his
political support to the republican party. While he does not seek office
as a reward for party fealty, he is never neglectful of the duties of
citizenship. He is serving as president of the school board and is a
stalwart champion of progressive education. In business affairs he is
thoroughly energetic and reliable, and his well managed and extensive
interests make him one of the leading representatives of farming and
stock raising in the county.
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