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Jasper County, Iowa
Historical and Genealogical Data Exchange
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H.
C. Korf Among
the earnest young men whose depth of character and strict adherence to principle
have gained for him the admiration of his contemporaries, H. C. Korf, well known
attorney of Newton, Jasper County, is numbered, and in his professional career
he has shown a tenacity of purpose, an indomitable energy and that self-reliant
courage whose natural concomitant is definite success. Mr.
Korf is one of the native sons of this County of whom she should be justly
proud. His birth occurred on April 25, 1876.
He is the son of Henry and Wilhelmina (Weseman) Korf, the father a native
of Germany and the mother of Freeport, Illinois.
The former came to America in 1848 when eight years of age, accompanied
by his parents, who located on a farm near Freeport. Illinois. Henry Korf grew
to maturity in Illinois and was educated there, remaining on the home farm
during his youth. He came to Jasper
County, Iowa, in 1867, locating on a farm in Malaka township, where he became
well established, developed a good farm and where he lived until 1906; when he
retired and moved to Newton, where he now resides, spending his declining years
in the midst of plenty and in comfort as a result of his long life of hard work
and good management. He is a member
of the Presbyterian Church, and he and his wife have many friends throughout the
County. They are the parents of seven children, namely: H. C., of this review;
Mrs. Hermina Rourke, of Marion, Ohio; Mrs. Marie J. Babcock, of Des Moines,
Iowa; Amanda is in the law office with her brother, H. C.; L. G. lives in
Newton; E. T. is a civil engineer and lives at Ogden, Utah; E. O. is a student
at the State University. H.
C. Korf grew to maturity on the home farm and there he assisted with the general
work during the crop seasons during his early life, receiving in the meantime,
his primary education in the country schools and at Hazel Dell Academy at
Newton, later attended Highland Park College at Des Moines, also took a course
at the State University, graduating from the law department in 1899, having made
a very commendable record there, and in the same year he was admitted to the
bar, soon afterwards beginning active practice at Newton, where he has since
remained, building up a very satisfactory clientele and taking a very high rank
among the men of this profession in central Iowa.
He has kept well informed on all the important court decisions and
revised codes, being at all times an assiduous student.
He has been most successful in all his legal work and he stands second to
none of his contemporaries in a locality noted for the high order of its legal
talent. Owing to his marked ability
and his public spirit, he was soon singled out for positions of public trust,
and for a period of four years he was city attorney of Newton, the duties of
which important office he discharged in a manner that reflected credit upon
himself and proved the wisdom of his constituents in selecting him for the
place. This was from 1903 to 1907. Mr.
Korf was married on August 9, 1905 to Patience E. Wormley, of this County, where
she was born, reared and educated, being the representative of an excellent
early family here. This union has
been graced by the birth of one child, Wilimenia, born June 30, 1910. Mr.
Korf is a director in the First National Bank and the Newton Savings Bank; he is
secretary and director of the Jasper County Telephone Company, and is also a
stockholder in a number of local manufacturing concerns and he has an interest
in several large farms, joint ownership in a number of large landed estates, in
this state, and a large tract in Minnesota and Nevada. Mr.
Korf has been very successful in a business way, being a man of rare executive
ability, soundness of judgment and able to foresee with remarkable accuracy the
future result of a present transaction. Politically,
he is loyal to Republican principles, and fraternally, he is a member of the
Knights of Pythias. He is one of
the trustees of the Congregational Church, of which Mrs. Korf is also a member. Mr.
Korf has led an exemplary life and has the confidence and good will of all who
know him, and he is regarded as one of the most substantial and representative
citizens of his County, as well as a lawyer of unusual capability. He has been
the artificer, very largely, of his own fortunes, and though he has encountered
numerous obstacles, his courage has never flagged and he has shown himself to be
one thoroughly appreciative of the dignity of honest toil and endeavor. He has
done much to improve the agricultural prosperity of the County as well as
encourage improvement along various lines, and, judging from his past honored
and praiseworthy record, it is safe to predict that the future has much of good
in store for him and his fellow men a still greater need of his services. The Past and Present of Jasper County, Gen. James B. Weaver, Editor-In-Chief, 1912 B.F. Bowen Co., Indianapolis, IN, p. 536. |
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