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Fremont Ogle

Joseph Ogle

This Gentleman is a splendid example of the successful American farmer and stock raiser. Without large capital to start with or the assistance of others, he has labored to goodly ends by persistency and honorable business methods, so that he has ever held high rank among the citizens of Fayette county, especially of Illyria township, of which he is native and where he has always maintained his home.

Fremont Ogle was born November 7, 1862, on the old homestead here, and he is the son of Joseph Ogle, of Carroll county, Ohio, who was born June 2, 1828, of Irish stock, and the son of John and Rebecca Ogle, natives of Pennsylvania, who finally moved to Ohio, where they spent the rest of their lives. Their children were Joseph, father of Fremont; Sarah Ann, who married John Lucas, is now deceased, as is also Mr. Lucas; Lizzie, who married John Boyer, is deceased; Jane, who married Michael Boyer, is also deceased.

Joseph Ogle received a common school education and grew to maturity in Carroll county, Ohio, and assisted his father to clear and improve his farm. In 1844 he married Sarah Barnhouse, of Carroll county, Ohio, daughter of William and Mary (Graham) Barnhouse, the father a native of Manchester, Virginia, and the mother of Ireland, from which country she came to America when twelve years of age and married in Carroll county, Ohio. They obtained raw land there which they cleared and made a good home. In 1844 they came to Fayette county, Iowa, locating three miles east of West Union, and there spent the rest of their lives. Mr. Barnhouse was a millwright by trade and he also engaged in farming. He and his wife were members of the Methodist Episcopal church. They were the parents of the following children: Franklin, who died when twenty-six years of age; Sarah, wife of Joseph Ogle; Jane, living in Nebraska, is the widow of William Sanderson; Anna lives on the old place, and is the widow of James Kennedy; Irene married Gill Hazlett, of Allison, Iowa; Milton died at the age of twenty-two years, while a soldier in the Civil war; James lives east of West Union, this county; John, the fifth child in order of birth, who served through the Civil war, is engaged in the real estate business at Trinidad, Colorado.

Nine children were born to Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Ogle, five of whom are living at this writing, namely: Marie, who married Luther Schaeffer, died February 22, 1906; Rebecca married Robert Peters and lives in Clayton county, Iowa; Mary married Scott Wickham, and lives at Silver King, Idaho; Mattie married Marshall Prouty and they live at Elkader, Iowa; Fremont, of this review; Clara married John Foster and lives at Elkader, Iowa; Willie is deceased; Eva and Ella, twins, are deceased.

The parents of these children came overland to Fayette county, Iowa, from Ohio, being thirty-four days on the trip. They located in Illyria township and procured one hundred and sixty acres of land, on which was a small log cabin and a little clearing. They set to work with a will and soon had a very comfortable home and a well improved place which ranked with any in the community, and there Mr. Ogle died on August 28, 1899; his widow is still living on the place, at the advanced age of seventy-seven years. Joseph Ogle was always a farmer and was very successful. He was a Republican and a member of the Methodist Episcopal church. He stood well in each community where he lived.

Fremont Ogle was educated in the home schools and he has always followed farming, having spent his life on the old home place, taking charge of the same about 1889, and he has managed it in a very able manner. On December 17, 1895, he married Mary J. Wilson, who was born on October 23, 1874, in Grant county, Wisconsin, the daughter of Robert and Catherine (Garvey) Wilson, the mother born near Dublin, Ireland, and the father was of Scotch-Irish stock. The mother came to the United States in 1865 and she and Mr. Wilson were married in Great Barrington, Massachusetts. After living in New York City for awhile, they came West, locating in Grant county, Wisconsin, where Mr. Wilson secured a farm. In the spring of 1875 the family moved to Pleasant Valley township, Fayette county, Iowa, and bought the farm where they still live. Nine children have been born to Mr. and Mrs. Robert Wilson, namely: Mary Jane, wife of Fremont Ogle, of this review; William is living at home; Belle married M. Richey, of Oelwein, Iowa; Robert married Ruth Connor and they live on a part of the old place; Alice married Hans Winkler, of Illyria township; Kate is a stenographer at Grundy City, Iowa; John is a farmer in Pleasant Valley township; he married Della Kohler; Annie, who married Thomas Howard, Jr., lives in Pleasant Valley township; Lottie, who married Hugh Connor, also lives in Pleasant Valley township.

Of the children born to Mr. and Mrs. Fremont Ogle, Robert Joseph died when eight months old; John Thomas and Sarah Catherine are living.

Mr. Ogle, besides carrying on general farming, is a breeder of Poland-China and Duroc-Jersey hogs, Grundy Shorthorn cattle, Cottswold and Shropshire sheep and draft horses. Owing to this splendid knowledge of livestock and how to handle the same successfully, he is well known as a stock man in this part of the county, and his stock always find a ready market. He is the owner of a half section of good land in Clark county, South Dakota.

Politically, Mr. Ogle is a Republican and he belongs to the Modern Woodmen of America at Wadena, this county. Like his father, he is well and favorably known in this locality, his life having been led along conservative lines and his conduct above cavil.

~Transcribed for the Fayette County IAGenWeb Project by Tom and Sharon Dorland