1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa
Page Index:
Head |
Mischo |
Hummert |
Reyelt |
Fish |
Sorenson |
Paup |
Patterson |
Scheef |
Fountain
The history of any county is the history of the people who have developed its resources. It is largely the farmers of any county who are responsible for the prosperity of the county as a whole. Were it not for the farmers of Shelby county, Iowa, there would be small excuse for banks within the county, and many of the industries of the urban centers would disappear the farmer were to stop production. One of the many farmers of Shelby county, who have been devoting their talents and energies to the agricultural field is Carlos E. Head, an enterprising farmer of Grove township. Like his sterling father before him he has been a man of well defined purpose and
has never failed to carry to successful completion any work to which he has addressed himself. He has long been actively engaged in agricultural pursuits and the honorable life he has led and the worthy example he has set to the younger generation makes his history one of interest to the coming generation.
Carlos E. Head, the sos of Thomas H. and Sophronia (Allen) Head, was born July 27, 1862, in Mills county, Iowa. His father was a native of Kentucky and grew to manhood in that state. When nineteen years of age he enlisted for service in the Mexican War and served throughout the two years of that struggle with distinguished bravery. While at the front the parents of Thomas H. moved to Illinois and located in Fulton county, and there Mr. Head went after he was mustered out of the service. He learned the trade of a millwright after locating in Fulton county, Illinois, and followed that trade the rest of his life. After his marriage he removed to western Iowa and built many of the first mills in this section of the state, holding the agency for the Turbine Water Wheel Company, of Dayton, Ohio, for many years. When the Civil War broke out Thomas Head organized a company in Mills county, Iowa, and was elected the captain of Company A, which was later attached to the Fourth Regiment of Iowa Volunteer Infantry. He served throughout the Civil War and made an enviable record in that terrible conflict. After returning home from service at the front, he again engaged in the millwright business, following it until he retired from active work in 1884. His death occurred in 1891. The wife of Thomas Head was born on October 19, 1828, and died November 13, 1908.
Carlos E. Head attended school at Glenwood, Iowa, and after leaving school learned the barber's trade and followed it for a period of thirteen years. He then bought a farm in Grove township, Shelby county, and has since been engaged in agricultural pursuits. He now has a well improved farm of one hundred and twenty acres of the best land in the township, and has been living on this place for the past twenty years. He devotes most of his attention to the raising of corn which he feeds to his hogs and cattle.
Mr. Head was married in 1888 to Clara May Ash, the daughter of J. B. and Martha (Fox) Ash, and to this union six children have been born, Lulu, Loren, Harold, Vesta, Donald and Edna. Lulu is the wife of John Michols, and has three children, Dona, Dena and Vivian. Loren married Pansy McCord and has two children, Vernon and Veneta Beneta. Harold married Ada Price. Vesta is the wife of Wendel Leenan and has two children. Donald and Edna are still single. Mrs. Head's parents were born in Kentucky and Iowa, respectively, and were early pioneers in Cass county, Iowa, where they lived for many years. For the last twelve years of his business career Mr. Ash was a bridge builder contractor in Cass county. Mr. Ash and his wife are now living a retired life in Omaha, Nebraska. He has been
married three times and is the father of five children.
The Republican party has always claimed the loyal support of Mr. Head and in its success he has been deeply interested. He has served as township clerk for six years and secretary of the school board for five years. He has been on the board of directors of the Farmers' Mutual Insurance Company of Shelby County for twelve years. The world judges the character of a community by those of its representative citizens and yields its tribute to those whose words and actions constitute the record of a state's prosperity and pride. The character of Mr. Head has been such as to win the esteem of his fellow citizens and his many warm friends attest to his sterling worth as a man and neighbor.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 850 - 852.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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A prosperous farmer of Cass township, Shelby county, Iowa, is John Mischo, who was born of German parentage in this same county thirty-eight years ago. His parents were among the earliest pioneers of the county and have been residents here for nearly forty years. Mr. Mischo is a man of strong character and high ideals, and has so conducted himself as to justly merit the high esteem in which he is held by everyone who has been associated with him in any way.
John Mischo, the son of Michael and Apolonia (Leonardy) Mischo was born January 28, 1877, in Westphalia township, Shelby county, Iowa. His parents were both natives of Germany and came to America shortly after the close of the Franco-Prussian War in 1871. Michael Mischo served throughout the Franco-Prussian War with distinguished bravery, and after the close of that war he was one of many thousands of his countrymen who came to America. The Mischo family first located in Chicago, Illinois, where Michael worked in a tannery for a few years. His health became impaired and he then moved to Iowa, and located in Westphalia township in Shelby county, where he bought a farm of one hundred and twenty acres. From that year, 1875, down to the present time, Michael Mischo has been a prominent factor in the life of his community. He retired from active labor a few years ago and is now making his home in Panama, Iowa. Nine children have been born to Michael Mischo and wife: John, with whom this narrative deals; Peter, who married Amelia Ettel; Mary, the wife of John Oppold; William, who married Rosa Oppold; Gertrude, the wife of Clarence Eckley; Barbara, deceased; Jacob, single; Lena, deceased; Mikey, deceased.
John Mischo was educated in the Catholic schools of Westphalia, Iowa, and after leaving school farmed with his father until he was twenty-two years of age. He then married and began farming for himself. Two years ago he moved on the farm where he is now living. He raises about forty acres of corn and thirty-five acres of other farm produce each year, and feeds most of his grain to his live stock. He markets about fifty head of thoroughbred Chester White hogs annually, having found that live stock raising is more profitable than the raising of grain alone. Mr. Mischo also raises Polled Durham cattle and has been very successful in handling this breed.
Mr. Mischo was married June 19, 1900, to Katherine Schomers, a daughter of Michael Schomers, and to this union have been born four children, Michael, Loretta, Isadore and Virgilius. The reader is referred to the history of Mathias Schomers, elsewhere in this volume, for further information in regard to the Schomers family history.
Politically, Mr. Mischo is a Democrat but has never cared to take an active part in political life. He and his family are consistent and devout members of the Catholic church, and deeply devoted to its welfare. Mr. Mischo holds his membership in the Knights of Columbus, a Catholic fraternal organization which includes a large number of the Catholic citizens of the county.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 852 - 853.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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Shelby county, Iowa, has a large Catholic population and early in the history of the county the church made preparations to attend to the spiritual wants of its people. One of the priests who worked long and faithfully in this county is Rev. Joseph B. Hummert, who spent twenty-eight years ministering to the needs of the parishes at Earling, Portsmouth and Panama. He was the moving spirit in the organization of churches in these three towns and labored faithfully with his people in these places for more than a quarter of a century. He retired from active work on account of failing health and is now making his home in the St. Joseph Sanitarium, San Diego, California.
Rev. Joseph B. Hummert, the son of John A. and Elizabeth (Lubecka) Hummert, was born March 25, 1860, in Quincy, Illinois. His parents were born and reared in Ankum, Hanover province, Germany, and emigrated to the United States in 1849. They settled in St. Louis, Missouri, and were married in that city in 1850. Two years later John A. Hummert removed with his family to Quincy, Illinois, where he engaged in brick making for the next twenty years. He then became interested in the grading and contracting business, and graded twenty-five miles of the Quincy, Missouri & Pacific railroad. Ten children were born to John A. Hummert and wife,
six sons and four daughters, Joseph being the fourth child. Two of the sisters entered the work of the church, the younger taking smallpox and dying at the pest house in Chicago where she was performing her first work of charity. The older sister, M. Odilia. is now connected with St. Mary's Hospital at St. Louis. The rest of the children live in Quincy, Illinois. The grandmother spent the last twenty years of her life with John A. Hummert and wife. This grandmother was afflicted with blindness, and died at the age of eighty-nine. The wife of John A. Hummert died in 1890 at the age of fifty-seven and he died in 1902, at the age of seventy-six.
Rev. Joseph B. Hummert was reared in Quincy, Illinois. When he had finished the elementary training of the parochial schools of that city he took private lessons for one year in Latin and other classical studies at St. Mary's Hospital in Quincy, while at the same time he did a full day's work in his father's brick yard. In 1876 Father Hummert went to St. Francis Seminary, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to finish his classical course. Later he studied philosophy at Dubuque, Iowa, and completed his theological education at St. Mary Seminary, Baltimore, Ohio. However, before he graduated from the seminary his health broke down and he was compelled to relinquish his studies. Father Hummert was ordained September 19, 1885, by his bishop, the Rt. Rev. H. Cosgrove, at Davenport, Iowa, and on the following day read his first mass in St. Boniface church, Quincy, Illinois. It was the same parish in which he had received his early religious training, and where he had been given the first sacraments of his church.
Father Hummert began his connection with the churches of Shelby county, Iowa, in 1885. On October 19th of that year, his bishop sent him to start the new parishes of Earling, Portsmouth and Panama, and here he spent the next twenty-eight years of his life. Father Hummert has given very interesting account of his work in Shelby county in another chapter, an the reader is referred to it for the history of his work in the county.
The health of Father Hummert has never been very good, and the exacting nature of his duties in Shelby county were such that he had to be constantly on his guard in order to he able to do his work. By the summer of 1913 he realized that his physical condition was such that he could no longer do justice to the congregation which he had served so long and faithfully. In June of that year his health broke down completely so that he was unable to continue his parish duties, and on the 27th of the month his bishop, the Rt. Rev. Austin Dowling, made him rector emeritus of his parish. This was a signal recognition of the most excellent work which Father Hummert has done for the churches in Shelby county. After being relieved of his duties, Father Hummert removed to San Diego, California, where he is now
waiting with pleasure the time when he shall be laid to rest beside the people of Shelby county.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 853 - 855.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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The citizens of German birth who have located in Shelby county, Iowa, have been successful in whatever occupation they have chosen to follow. The largest harness shop in Shelby county is owned by Adolph D. Reyelt, who has been in the harness business in Harlan for many years. He came to America when he was only seventeen years of age and, despite the fact that he had hardly any money, he has been able to build up a business for himself which is bringing him a very comfortable income year after year. He learned his trade after coming to America and has met with unusual success along this particular line of activity.
Adolph D. Reyelt, the son of Henry and Katherine (Reysen) Reyelt, was born in Germany, March 17, 1862. His parents were both natives of Germany and lived there all of their lives, his mother dying in 1903 and his father in the following year. Henry Reyelt was the son of Nicholas Reyelt, who was also a farmer and a lifelong resident of Germany. Eight children were born to Henry Reyelt and his wife, Peter, Claus, Adolph, William, Henry, Annie, Dora and Bertha. All of these children are still living with the exception of Claus and Annie.
Adolph D. Reyelt was educated in Germany and worked on his father's farm until he was seventeen years of age. He then came to America by himself and located in New York City, where he clerked for a time in a store. He then moved to Davenport, Iowa, where he farmed for a few months, after which he took up the harness maker's trade in Davenport. After working at this for a time, he went to Durant, Iowa, where he engaged in the harness making trade and completed his apprenticeship, He remained in Durant only a short time and in the fall of 1881 came to Shelby county, Iowa, where he engaged in the harness waking business and seven years later started in business for himself in Shelby, Iowa. A few years later he sold his shop in Shelby and moved to Harlan, where he has since been
located. Mr. Reyelt has the largest stock of harness in Shelby county and has the satisfaction of seeing his business constantly increasing.
Mr. Reyelt was married in October, 1890, to Mary Abbesen and to this union five children have been born, Eana, Olga, Norman, Alfred and Helmer, all of whom are still single and living with their parents. Politically, Mr. Reyelt is a Democrat, but has never had any inclination to take any part in political matters. He is essentially a self-made man and solely through his own efforts has acquired a very comfortable competence.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 855 - 856.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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The oldest settler in Clay township, Shelby county, Iowa, is George M. Fish, who has been a continuous resident of this township since the year 1867. There is not a hardship which has befallen the early pioneers of this county through which he has not passed and the period of his residence in this county covers practically all of its active history. He passed through some terrible experiences, during the latter part of the sixties and nothing but his rugged constitution enabled him to survive. Probably the most terrible experience which has befallen Mr. Fish occurred in 1869 during the terrible blizzard of that year. His father had made a trip to the Harlan mills and on his return the blizzard overtook him and became so fierce that he was lost on the prairie. Mr. Fish waited several hours for his father's return and then started out to find him. The storm became so violent that he himself became finally lost and it was not until he reached a certain bunch of willows along Indian creek
that he knew where he was. He followed Indian creek to a log house and from Indian creek he retraced his steps home. When he reached there he was so cold he could not dismount from his horse. He found that his father turned up earlier in the evening on his mule and still had his grist with him. He had been lost for hours on the treeless and trackless prairie and had floundered through the snow drifts until he was nearly exhausted. Mr. Fish is the only man living in Clay township today who went through the terrible blizzard of that year.
George M. Fish, the son of Nathan and Clarice (Lyon) Fish, was born February 16, 1846, in Summit county, Ohio. His parents were natives of Cayuga and Onondaga counties, New York, respectively, his father leaving that state in his young manhood. Nathan Fish removed from New York to Warren county, Pennsylvania, in 1822, and engaged in the lumber business there until 1844. He then took his family and went to Summit county, Ohio, where he rented a farm and stayed for six years. In 1850 the Fish family removed to Kane county, Illinois, where Nathan Fish cut wood for fifty cents a cord. Two years later the family went to Grant county, Wisconsin, where Nathan Fish entered four hundred acres of government land and lived for fourteen years. In the year 1857 the family located in Shelby county, Iowa, and bought one hundred and sixty acres of land in Clay township for five dollars an acre. A rude log cabin was hastily constructed and with the
team of oxen which had brought them to their new home, Nathan Fish and his son; George, broke eighty acres of land the first year. Nathan Fish was one of the most influential men of his township and county for many years. He held several official positions, serving as justice of the peace for a number of years. He was also a school director and served on the board of trustees. He died September 15, 1878, and is buried in the Oak Ridge Cemetery. He was married in 1832, in Warren county, Pennsylvania, to Clarice Lyon, who was born in Onondaga county, New York, in 1815. She was the daughter of Jeremiah Lyon, a native of New York, and a soldier in the War of 1812. The wife of Nathan Fish died in 1881. Ten children were born to Nathan Fish and wife, six of whom are still living.
George M. Fish lived the first four years of his life in Ohio, the next two in Kane county, Illinois, and the next fourteen in Grant county, Wisconsin. He was married in the same year his parents removed from Grant county, Wisconsin. to Shelby county, Iowa, and brought his young bride with him to this county. The second year after arriving in Shelby county, he bought a farm of eighty acres adjoining his father on the west, put out a grove of fruit and forest trees, and began to farm for himself. He is still living on the eighty acres on which he settled forty-seven years ago. It is needless to enter into a discussion in this brief history of the many discouragement's and
trials which befell Mr. Fish and his family. It is sufficient to say that they survived every misfortune and lived through all of the blizzards, the droughts, grasshopper scourges and other perilous features of the early history of the county. Mr. Fish has always taken an active interest in his township and county and has saved his party on many occasions in various capacities.
Mr. Fish was married in 1867, in Lafayette county, Wisconsin to Rachel I. Gray, the daughter of Socrates Gray, who was born in Onondaga county, New York, in 1808, Mrs. Fish being born in Boone county, New York, January 18, 1846. Socrates Gray came to Wisconsin in 1849 and lived there until 1870, when he removed to Clay county, Iowa, and lived until his death in 1881. Socrates Gray married Anna M. Ten Eyck, who was born in New York state in 1815 and died in Wisconsin in 1853.
Mr. Fish and his wife are the parents of three children: Stella M., the wife of David Lamer, of Clay township; William H., who is still living with his parents, and Eleanor, who died at the age of eleven. The family are consistent members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Fraternally, Mr. Fish has long been a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows and is deeply interested in the welfare of that fraternal organization. He has served his fellow citizens in the capacity of justice of the peace and school director and in both positions has administered the respective duties with credit to himself and satisfaction to the citizenry of his township. Mr. Fish is one of the best known and highly respected men of his township and county, and can recount many interesting experiences of the early times and pioneers of the county. It is eminently fitting that this brief summary of his life be placed in the history of his county in order to show future generations something of the trials and tribulations of the men who first settled this
county.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 856 - 858.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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An enterprising farmer of Danish birth who is now making his home in Harlan, Iowa, is Peter Sorenson, who came to Shelby county from his native land in 1878. He has now been in this country nearly forty years. and although he came here without any assets whatever other than a good constitution and a willingness to work, yet he has accumulated a fine farm by his own unaided efforts. He has taken an active part in the civic life of the community in which he has resided, and is in every way a fine type of the good American citizen.
Peter Sorenson, the son of Soren Peter and Anna (Christensen) Mortensen, was born in Denmark May 13, 1856. His parents were born, reared and married in Denmark and lived in their native land until 1882, when they came to America and located in Shelby county, Iowa, where they lived with their children for a short time. Then Soren Peter Mortensen moved to Woodbury county, Iowa, where he bought a farm and operated it until his death, in 1894. The seven children born to Soren Peter Mortensen and wife are still living and are as follows: Mary, Peter, Hannah, Carrie, Martin, William C. and Louise.
Peter Sorenson was educated in the schools of his native land and after leaving school served in the Danish army for six months, during which time he played in the band attached to his regiment. When he was twenty years of age he came to America and located in Shelby county, Iowa, where he worked for his uncle as a farm hand for a year and a half. He next went to Council Bluffs, Iowa, and for four years he and his cousin, James Petersen, engaged in the dairy business. He then sold out and moved about twelve miles east of Council Bluffs, where Peter farmed with his father for two years. He then moved to Woodbury county, Iowa, and farmed for himself until 1892. In that year his father sold out his holdings in Woodbury county and moved to Shelby county, and in the same year Peter Sorenson bought a
farm of two hundred and sixty acres in this county and began farming. He had owned two hundred and forty acres of land in Woodbury county before coming here, which he sold and invested in Shelby county land. Mr. Sorenson has been unusually successful as a farmer, and now is the owner of three hundred and sixteen acres in Shelby county, Iowa, one hundred and sixty acres in Oklahoma and three hundred and twenty acres in Canada. He is an extensive stock raiser and feeds out several car loads of hogs and about one car load of cattle each year. He gives especial attention to the breeding of Aberdeen Angus cattle, and did have one of the finest herds in the county.
Mr. Sorenson was married April 18, 1887, to Maggie Johnson, the daughter of Jens and Mary (Inger) Paulson, and to this union nine children have been born: Oliver (deceased), Anna, Lenard (deceased), Harry, Clarence, Nettle, Lenora (deceased), Harold, and Oliver, a second son by the same name. Oliver married Theo Paup, and has one child. Anna is the wife of Merritt Wright, and has one child, Jane Alice, while the rest of the children are still single and at home.
Mrs. Sorenson was born in Denmark, as were her parents. Her father, who was a captain on a life saving boat for forty-two years and had saved eighty-eight people from a watery grave. He followed the sea until he was seventy-two years of age in his native land, never came to this country, both of her parents living all of their days in the land of their birth. Her parents reared a family of sixteen children, thirteen of whom are still living: Nels, Peter, Mark, Andrew, Ellen, Lena, Anna, Maggie, James and Sina are living in this country, while three, Carl, Lena and Anthon, are still living in Denmark. The deceased children are Soren, Peter and Stina.
Mr. Sorenson has been identified with the Republican party since coming to this country and has served as school director for a number of years, and also held the office of road supervisor. He and his family are loyal members of the Danish Baptist church and are interested in its welfare and generous contributors to its support. Mr. Sorenson deserves a good deal of credit for the success which has come to him as the result of his efforts and his whole life in this country has been such as to commend him to his fellow citizens.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 862 - 864.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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The twentieth century is essentially one of progress and development. Old methods of agriculture are being revised or discarded, and new methods. and ideas are being examined and questioned as never before. A successful business man, whether he be a farmer or a merchant, knows more of the business in which he is engaged than an outsider can know. There never was the demand for farmers with good business judgment as there is today, Thousands of the farmers of Iowa now hold stock in a great variety of corporations. The farmers of this state have shares of stock in railroads, telephone companies, banks, co-operative stores and many other enterprises. The best farmer of Shelby county today is the man who not only raises good crops and keeps high class live stock, but the man who can step into the business world and make his presence felt as well. Such a man is Frank B. Paup, the proprietor of the "Rosene Stock Farm," of Douglas township.
Frank B. Paup, the son of George and Margaret (Paris) Paup, born February 24, 1879, in Clinton county, Iowa. His father and grandfather father were both born in Pennsylvania and followed farming all of their Iives, In 1891, George Paup and his family moved to Harlan, Iowa, and remained there one year, after which Mr. Paup bought two hundred and ten acres of land north of Harlan, where he has since continued to reside. His wife died in November, 1893. George Paup has been an extensive breeder of Aberdeen Angus cattle and raised the first cattle sold by Charles Escher, Sr, These cattle were sold at Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, in 1901, for twenty-one and one-half cents a hundred. George Paup and wife were the parents of four children: Leonard, who married Kate Edwards; Frank B., whose history is here recorded; Clifford, who married Goldie Laughman, and died in February, 1914, and Leroy, who died at the age of nine.
Frank B. Paup was educated in the public schools of Harlan, Iowa, and spent his summer vacations on his father's farm. He never had any intention of following any other vocation than that of agriculture and stock raising, consequently from his boyhood days has been a student of agriculture in all its different phases. Marrying at the age of twenty-one, he and his wife moved on his present farm of two hundred and eighty acres in section 21, in Douglas township. In 1910 he built his present modern country home of eight rooms. He built a large barn on his farm in 1901, and has made practically all of the improvements which are now on the farm. In 1901 he started in as a breeder of Aberdeen Angus cattle, starting in with three cows and one bull. He usually has between sixty and seventy head of registered
Aberdeen Angus cattle on his farm all the time. He also raises Poland China hogs and Percheron horses. He has been a member of the Aberdeen Angus Breeders' Association since 1901. He is one of the best judges of live stock in the county and frequently officiates at fairs as a judge on the live stock. Mr. Paup has adopted the modern system of farming, treats his soil with the proper fertilizer, natural arid commercial, carefully rotates his crops of corn, oats and clover, takes care of his orchard, has time to look after his garden and never neglects his chicken yard and barn yard. He has made a success in every enterprise to which he has addressed himself and has reaped a reward commensurate with his well directed efforts.
Mr. Paup was married in 1900 to Alta Young, the daughter of Alexander and Olive (McConnell) Young, and to this union have been born two children: Ruth, who died at the age of one year and ten months, and Frank B., Jr., born June 3, 1914.
Mrs. Paup's father was born in Rock Island county, Illinois, and her mother in Ohio. Her parents were married in 1871, and located in Monroe township, Shelby county, Iowa, in 1878, where they lived six years. Mr. and Mrs. Young then moved to Illinois, where he engaged in the merchandise business at Edgerton for three years. He then removed to Harlan with his family, where he resided until his death, September 20, 1903. His widow is still living in Harlan. Three children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Young: Cora Morris, of Harlan; Mrs. Alta Paup and Arthur, of Taylor Ridge, Illinois. The Young family are all members of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. Young was a stanch Republican in politics.
Politically, Mr. Paup is an adherent of the Republican party, but his agricultural interests demanding so much of his time and attention, he has never been an active participant in political affairs. However, he is interested in all public matters pertaining to the civic welfare of his community He and his wife are loyal and earnest members of the Methodist Episcopal church and contribute generously to its support. Fraternally, Mr. Paup is a member of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows at Harlan, and has passed all the chairs in his lodge. He was district deputy of the lodge for two terms and in this capacity did everything he could for the growth of the order. He and his wife are both members of the Daughters of Rebekah. Mr. Paup has always been greatly interested in the public schools of his township and served twelve years as a member of the school board, during which time he was largely instrumental in bringing about the consolidation of the district schools of his township. He is a man of courage and self-reliance, and of the utmost integrity of purpose. As a result he has stood high in the estimation of his friends throughout his entire life in this county.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 864 - 866.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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One of the early pioneers of Shelby county, Iowa, who has never been seized with the desire to wander from the county of his adoption is Moses H. Patterson, who has lived nearly his whole life of more than half a century within its precincts The success which attended his father in agricultural pursuits in this county has caused his son to make this his permanent home. Iowa has long been noted as one of the first states in the Union for the production of corn. This is due to two reasons, partly because of the richness of the soil and partly because of the skill employed by the farmers who till it. They seem to understand better than the farmers of some sections of the United States the fact that thorough preparation of seed beds, intelligent selection of seed and good cultivation are vitally essential and must be employed. They realize that to attempt to grow the one-hundred-bushel crop by these means alone is like trying to build a house by constructing the roof before laying the foundation. The basis of a large corn crop is a fertile soil, a soil containing sufficient plant food to produce such abundant crops as are seen in this world-renowned corn belt, a soil so intelligently drained that these elements in plain food solution shall not be weakened by over dilution. Mr. Patterson, as a private citizen and as a public official, has performed well his every duty in this county and justly deserves a place in this history of his county.
Moses H. Patterson. the son of Hugh and Eleanor (Carder) Patterson, was born in Knoxville, Marion county, Iowa, February 6, 1861, and came with his parents to Shelby county when seven years old, Hugh Patterson was born near Athens, in Athens county, Ohio, where he was reared, educated and married. In 1858 he and his family came to Iowa, and bought a farm near Knoxville, in Marion county, which he was farming at the time the Civil War began. In 1861 he enlisted in Company A, Thirty-third Regiment Iowa Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war.
After the close of the war, Hugh Patterson returned to Iowa and farmed in Lucas countv, Iowa, for three years, after which he went to Dallas county, and in 1869 settled in Shelby county, where he lived until his death on his farm in Jackson township, December 19, 1883. He took an active part in public affairs, filled several township offices and in 1882 was elected sheriff of Shelby county and died while filling this office. He was a member of the Baptist church and served several years as superintendent of the Sunday school. He and his wife, who died December 28, 1900, were the parents of ten children, the following being alive: Moses H., with whom this narrative deals; Chandler, who married Luella Downs, and has three children, Herman, George and Edna, by his first marriage, and two children, Eleanor and Margaret, by his second marriage; Caroline married William Miles and has three children, Ancel, Lowell and Blanche; Ota, wife of Sheldon Miller, is the mother of four children, George, Eleanor, John and Marjory.
Moses H. Patterson was educated in the public schools of Jackson township, this county. From earliest boyhood down to the present time he has worked on the farm. At the age of twenty-one he rented a farm, on which he lived until 1900, when he purchased his present farm of one hundred and twenty acres. He carries on a general system of farming, paying particular attention to the raising of Shorthorn cattle. Mr. Patterson had the sagacity in youth to see that better opportunities waited for him' right here in Shelby county than elsewhere and his whole life has been spent in this county, rather than in distant fields, and his present success testifies to his
foresight in deciding to make this his permanent home. His farm is highly improved in every way and yields him a handsome income.
Mr. Patterson was married on June 21, 1883, to Paulina Swinehart, who was born January 25, 1858, in Elkhart county, Indiana, the daughter of Henry and Sarah Swinehart, and to this union have been born three children, Ethel, Hugh and Clarence. Ethel is still unmarried and at home with her parents; Hugh married Beulah Findley, and Clarence married Dessie Gish, and is the father of one son, Gerald Otis; born August 31, 1914. Henry Swinehart was a native of Ohio, and his wife, Sarah, of Pennsylvania. They migrated to Elkhart county, Indiana, and died there. Mrs. Patterson came to Shelby county, Indiana, in 1880.
Politically, Mr. Patterson is a Republican, and has always been interested in the welfare of his party in this county. Evidence of his ability as a man and his worth as a citizen is shown by the fact that his party nominated and elected him to the office of township trustee, an office which he filled to the entire satisfaction of his constituents for six years. He also served several years as school director, and while in this office he favored every measure which he felt would benefit the schools of his township. He and his family are members of the Methodist Episcopal church and give freely of their means and time to its support. His life has been marked by
courage, self-reliance and the utmost integrity of purpose, and as a result he stands high in the estimation of his neighbors and friends.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 869 - 871.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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In the year 1871 there came to Shelby county, Iowa, a young German by the name of Fritz Scheef. He was poor in purse but rich in ambition, and this same penniless youth is today one of the wealthiest men of Clay township. Such men as Mr. Scheef are responsible for the position which Shelby county holds today among its sister counties of Iowa, and the material prosperity of the people of this fair county is due to the perseverance of such men.
Fritz Scheef, the son of Guy H. and Katherine Scheef, was born in Holstein, Germany, April 2, 1846. His father was born in Germany in 1791, farmed in his native land all of his life and died in 1858; His mother was also a native of Germany, born in 1806, and died there in 1864. The eight children born to Guy H. Scheef and wife are all deceased with the exception of Fritz.
The education of Fritz Scheef was received in the schools of his native land, where he remained until after the death of both parents, and in 1868, he came to the New World to seek his fortune. After leaving school in Germany, Fritz Scheef learned the cooper's trade and then for three years longer traveled over Germany working at his trade in various towns and cities. He first located in Clinton county, Iowa, where he worked as a farm hand for three years, but he was not satisfied to work for some one else. He wished to begin on his own account, and with this desire uppermost in his mind, he came to Shelby county in 1871, rented a farm of eighty acres and started in to lay the foundation of his future success. He rented land for five years and then bought land in Douglas and Clay townships for ten
dollars an acre. He bought some land also at six dollars an acre. For ten years after coming to this county he worked by himself and with no wife to share his labors. Year by year saw him more prosperous and with an increased acreage, and such has been his success that today he owns five hundred and sixty acres of land in Iowa and six hundred and forty acres in Nebraska. His beautiful country home in Clay township is suggestive of the thrift and taste of its owner, while his barns and other outbuildings are striking proof of the material prosperity which has come to him. He has placed at least twelve thousand dollars' worth of improvements upon his land and his farms are now models of completeness in every particular. The latest improved farming machinery enables him to get the maximum results
from the soil, and by the employment of the best agricultural methods he has risen to a place of prominence in the agricultural world of this section of the state.
Mr. Scheef was married in 1880 to Fredericka Kuchel, who was born in Germany in 1859, and to this union four children were born: Mrs. Anna Byer, of Pottawattamie county, Iowa; Henry, of Shelby county; Mrs. Nora H. Carbuhn, of Pottawattamie county, and Mrs. Emma Hansen, of Shelby county. The mother of these children died in 1890, and in 1893 Mr. Scheef was married to Margaret Rohweder, who was born, in Germany, August 29, 1870. She left her native land in 1890 and settled at Davenport, Iowa, having left both of her parents in her native land. To the second union of Mr. Scheef have been born four sons, all of whom are single and still living with their parents: Fred, Louis, John and Harry.
Politically, Mr. Scheef is allied with the Democratic party, but has preferred rather to give all of his attention to his own interests, rather than mingle in political affairs. He and his family are loyal members of the German Lutheran church, of Walnut, Iowa, and generous contributors to its various activities. Fraternally, he holds his membership in the Woodmen of the World. Mr. Scheef is a man of wide acquaintance, throughout the county and a man whose word is as good as his bond.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 872 - 874.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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There is an old saying that the dead are forgotten, but in the case of Pierson Fountain the adage asserts an untruth. No man in the history of Shelby county lives today in the memories of its inhabitants in greater measure of esteem than he. The life and development of this honest man was parallel with the growth of the county, and the present prosperity of the community in which he lived is largely the result of the influence of such pioneers. We are fast losing the grand old men, the stalwart oaks of the primal forest, so it is with pleasure that we review the interesting details of his career. A gallant soldier of the late Rebellion, a progressive farmer and business man, a devoted Christian, quiet, unobtrusive, charitable and democratic, such a man was Pierson Fountain.
Pierson Fountain, the son of William and Maria Fountain, was born in Meade county, Kentucky, March 5, 1838, and died in Shelby county, Iowa, August 16, 1910. He was reared in his native state and lived there until he was twenty-three years of age, when he moved to Noblesville, Indiana, and remained there until 1862. He then went to Boston, Massachusetts, and enlisted in Company D, Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, and served until the close of the war. He participated in a number of the bloodiest battles of that struggle and was twice wounded during the battle of Honey Hill, South Carolina, November 30, 1864. His record in the Civil War was a worthy one in every respect and, whether on the battle field or in the tent, he performed every duty assigned him in such a way as, to commend him to his superior officers.
Immediately after the close of the war Mr. Fountain returned to Boston, and a short time afterward moved to Hamilton county, Indiana, where he married Elizabeth A. Roberts, a native of that county. Shortly after their marriage they came to Shelby county, Iowa, and located on a farm of one hundred and sixty acres in Douglas township, where he lived the remainder of his days. Later he bought forty acres additional, making a fine estate of two hundred acres. He was one of the first pioneers to settle in this county and consequently was intimately connected with the early history of the county. He gradually improved his farm by building a fine residence, commodious barns and other outbuildings and had the satisfaction of seeing his farm yield him gratifying returns. He took an active part in the political
life of his county and always took a great deal of interest in the success of the Republican party. He was never an aspirant for any public office, although he once held the position of road supervisor in his township. No man in the early history of the county took greater interest in the advancement and progress of the county, and for half a century he was regarded as one of the most influential citizens of his township. He commanded the esteem and respect of all who knew him because of his upright life and wholesome manner of living.
Mr. and Mrs. Fountain were the parents of four children, Augustus, Edward, Ida and Jessie Harrison. Edward married Alma Johnson and has two children, Edna Margaret and Roy Wilfred; Ida became the wife of Charles Brown; Jessie H. was born August 12, 1888, and died January 26, 1905.
Source: 1915 Past and Present of Shelby County, Iowa, pp. 876 - 877.
Contributed by: Marthann Kohl-Fuhs
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